Primary and Secondary Geminates in Ingrian
Primary and Secondary Geminates in Ingrian

Summary/Abstract: The paper provides empirical evidence on the status of primary and secondary geminates in Soikkola Ingrian. The material for the study was recorded during the summer of 2009 from present-day speakers of Ingrian. The paper focuses on secondary geminates after a short vowel as compared to primary geminates occurring in the same environment. Experimental results confirm the ternary opposition of consonants: singletons vs. secondary geminates vs. primary geminates. The opposition between the two types of geminates is manifested in duration. Another feature distinguishing the two types is the duration ratio of a geminate to the following vowel. Both the duration of geminates and the degree of difference between the two types correlate significantly with the structure of the word, being greatest in disyllabic words with an open second syllable, medium in disyllabic words with a closed second syllable, and smallest in trisyllabic words.

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