Phonetic Realisation of the Contrast of Short and Long Geminates at the Boundary of the 2nd/3rd Syllable and 3rd/4th Syllable in Soikkola Ingrian

The study aims to explore the phonetic realization of the rare ternary quantity contrast of consonants in Soikkola Ingrian at the boundary of the 2nd/3rd and 3rd/4th syllables in trisyllabic and tetrasyllabic words respectively. The ternary quantity consonantal contrast has been experimentally confirmed for the position between the 1st and the 2nd syllables in Soikkola Ingrian (i.e. after the primary stressed syllable) in earlier studies. However, the positions studied here show different prosodic properties, and there is a general Finnic tendency towards a merge of quantity contrasts outside of the primary stressed syllable. No prior research has thoroughly investigated Finnic consonantal ternary quantity contrasts in these specific positions. Given the endangered status of Soikkola Ingrian, documenting and analyzing its linguistic features becomes imperative. Additionally, this work contributes to our general typological and theoretical knowledge of rare ternary quantity.