Abstract
According to the non-experimental literature, Intemelian Ligurian, unlike closely-related dialects such as Genoese and Western Ligurian, does not display vowel length distinctions anymore. This research is the first attempt to carry out an experimental analysis of temporal and spatial correlates of vowel length (i.e. vowel and post-tonic consonant durations; F1 and F2 formant values) in Intemelian, compared with the neighboring dialects and across different prosodic contexts (i.e. utterancefinal position and discourse focus). Two patterns were detected: the first one represented by Genoese and Western Ligurian, where temporal differences between long and short vowels are consistently implemented, and the second one by Intemelian, in which such opposition is not found, thus confirming the impressions provided by the previous literature. Finally, we discuss some variation observed in the Intemelian vowel space and we assess the impact of different prosodic contexts on both vowel quantity and quality.
Garassino, Davide