Gatty Lecture Series

Join us for a talk by Nielson Sophann Hul, PhD Candidate in the Department of Linguistics at Cornell University, who will discuss the implosives in Khmer.

This Gatty Lecture will take place at the The Kahin Center, 640 Stewart Ave. Lunch will be served. For questions, contact seapgatty@cornell.edu.

About the Talk

Implosives are a class of consonants characterized by their unique articulation and acoustic properties. Despite their linguistic significance, their detailed analysis in Khmer, a language with a notable presence of these sounds, remains underexplored. This study aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive analysis of implosive consonants in Khmer. The primary objective of this research is to analyze the acoustic properties of implosives in Khmer and to understand how these properties compare to those of other consonant types within the language. We also aim to explore how implosives interact with other phonetic variables. Acoustic data were collected from native Khmer speakers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Long Beach, California; and Seattle, Washington focusing on implosive consonants in various phonetic contexts. Using advanced acoustic analysis techniques, including spectral and temporal measurements, I examined the characteristics of implosives. The analysis revealed distinct acoustic signatures for Khmer implosives, including specific patterns in spectral frequency and temporal duration. Significant variations were observed based on phonetic context, with differences in implosive characteristics across word positions and speaking rates. These findings highlight the complexity of implosive articulation in Standard Khmer and its interaction with other phonetic features as well as that of the American diasporic varieties of Khmer. This research provides new insights into the acoustic properties of implosives in Khmer, contributing to a deeper understanding of their role in the language's phonetic inventory. The findings have implications for both theoretical phonetics and practical applications, such as speech synthesis and language teaching.

About the Speaker

Nielson Sophann Hul was born in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge period and escaped to the United States of America when he was very young. After High School, he joined the U.S. Army and deployed during OIF/OEF as a Combat Medic. During his breaks in service, Nielson graduated from UCLA with a BA in English Literature and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa with an MA in Linguistics. He is currently working toward his PhD in Linguistics at Cornell and is interested in the acoustic phonetics of laryngeal sounds in Khmer.