intonation and phonation type as markers in ikaan yes/no

Intonation and phonation type as markers in Ikaan Yes/No questionsDescription and analysis Comparison with other languages
Summary References
Intonation and phonation type as markers in Ikaan Yes/No questions
Sophie Salffner School of Oriental and African Studies, London
TIE4, Stockholm, 10 Sept 2010
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Description and analysis Comparison with other languages
Summary References
Summary References
2 Data
3 Description and analysis Intonation Phonation mode Clitic solution instead of phonation mode? Question marker summary
4 Comparison with other languages
5 Summary
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Summary References
Research context
question markers: high/tense vs. low/lax
lax question prosody for West African languages
breathy termination as an understudied type of question marker
so far only attested for Gur languages in the work of Rialland and her colleagues
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Summary References
Niger-Congo > Benue-Congo > Ukaan > Ikaan
vowel epenthesis, deletion of final /g, m/
Yes/No questions no morphosyntactic markers necessary intonation, phonation mode, loudness? gestural cues: raised eyebrows, inquisitive facial expression, slight tilt of the head
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Summary References
one male speaker, 60+ years, well known to the community
statements and questions identified by ten speakers
Praat annotations
impressions from fieldwork and participant observation
in elicitations speaker’s voice gets higher and higher statements end abruptly, questions end in [h] native speaker’s intuition: ‘It goes up!’
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Summary References
Intonation Phonation mode Clitic solution instead of phonation mode? Question marker summary
Register expansion in questions
potentially higher register/starting pitch
Ikaan
not yet investigated downdrift
Summary References
Greater pitch range
O- 3S.NFUT-
nE defecate.NFUT
He defecated.
QU
O- 3S.NFUT-
nE defecate.NFUT
Summary References
O` n E´
didhedefecate
Figure: Pitch tracks of OnE in (2a) and OnE in (2b)
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Summary References
Greater pitch range?
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↑ O` j a ˜` n O` b E` g E`
L L L L L
100
300
150
200
250
L L L L L
100
300
150
200
250
sheboughtplantain
Figure: Pitch tracks of Oj`anObEgE in (3a) and Oj`anObEgE in (3b)
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Summary References
Higher starting pitch
Pitch of initial L higher in questions
Statement vs. Question (examples (1a) and (1b)) 126Hz vs. 138Hz δ 12Hz / 1.6 semitones
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Summary References
Higher starting pitch?
successively lower pitch — list intonation? 1st/2nd: δ 21Hz/2.4 semitones 2nd/3rd: δ 12Hz/1.5 semitones
‘absolute pitch’?
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↑U` hj a ´: ↑U` hj a ´: ↑U` hj a ´:
L H L H L H
Time (s) 0 3.026
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Breathy termination
lengthened vowel?
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V-final utterances
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O` kp I´ P
Time (s) 0 0.7821
Figure: Spectrograms of OkpIP in (5a) and OkpIh in (5b)
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Breathy termination?
Perception experiment
Nasal vowels
Summary References
o j o m o j ih
Time (s) 0 1.443
Summary References
Vowel epenthesis: C-final utterances
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o S e ´ dZ i b E` w I´ E`: dZ
Time (s) 0 2.543
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o S e ´ dZ i b E` w I´ E`: dZ Ih
Time (s) 0 2.507
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/g/ deletion: g → ∅ / C
Summary References
O` k I´ g
Time (s) 0 0.7533
O` k I´:h
Time (s) 0 0.9611
Figure: Spectrogram of OkIk in (8a) and OkI:h in (8b)
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Summary References
/m/ deletion: m → ∅ / {#, C}
Summary References
O` m a ˆ
Time (s) 0 0.7927
↑ O` m a ˆh
Time (s) 0 0.8352
Figure: Spectrograms of OmaP in (9a) and Omah in (9b)
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Summary References
Pro’s and con’s of the clitic analysis
Pro’s
similar sentence-final clitics attested in Ikaan (-g NEG)
clitics are ‘normal’ cross-linguistically
less coherent prosody package as markers
parallel with Gur languages lost
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Summary References
Summary of question markers
greater pitch range
but all-L sentences?
higher starting pitch
breathy termination
to do: loudness, gestural cues
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Summary References
low/falling pitch: finality, statements
high/rising pitch: tentativeness/non-finality, questions
hybrid question prosody
Summary References
cancellation/reduction of final lowering
final HL melody
distribution: Niger-Congo periphery
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Summary References
vowel lengthening
breathy termination
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distribution
not in the ‘core’ area of the Niger-Congo family — periphery? Baule (Kwa): L% and (maybe) register expansion Bambara (Mande): final -a/-wa and rising intonation Izon (Ijoid): final L and H raising contact, convergence?
mentioned but not discussed in detail in Rialland (2007, 2009)
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Summary References
‘lax’: breathy termination
in the ‘mixed’ Benue-Congo subgroup neighbouring languages:
Yoruba (Yoruboid): register expansion? Yekhee (Edoid): H% Isoko, Degema (Edoid): L% Engenni (Edoid): register expansion, reduction of downdrift, L%, final /-a/, possibly final /-e/
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Summary References
Summary
Ikaan poses a challenge for a tense vs. lax dichotomy because it marks Yes/No questions with both tense and lax markers.
tense prosody: greater pitch range in which its two tones are realised, higher initial pitch lax prosody: abrupt termination in a glottal stop in statements, breathy termination on a vowel in questions, vowel epenthesis and consonant deletion
Ikaan supports Rialland’s (2007, 2009) findings on breathy termination as a question marker.
first language outside the Gur family to be shown to have breathy termination as a question marker a clitic analysis creates more problems than it solves
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Summary References
various speakers elicitations through translation naturally occurring questions in staged communication naturally occurring question in free narratives
from a recent acoustic phonetic study
audio and laryngograph data 14 speakers (and one semispeaker) 19 statement/question pairs controlled elicitation setting
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Summary References
speech perception experiments isolating the individual markers — but with what data?
quantitative analysis
implications for ‘absolute’ vs. relative pitch
Thank you — mana kaka o:!
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Summary References
Tone marking
a – high tone on vowel [a], a – low tone on vowel [a], H – high tone, M – mid tone, L – low tone, – downstep, – register raising, V – vowel/verb, C – consonant, # – word boundary, % – boundary tone
Glossing
3S – third person singular, NFUT – non-future tense, QU – question marker, ST - statement marker
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Summary References
the people of Ikakumo , in particular Mr Fred Adekanye, Mr
Patrick S. Olusi and Mr Festus O. O baude
, Justin Watkins for
feedback on an earlier version of this paper, Adrian Fourcin and Evelyn Abberton for help with understanding phonation modes and laryngography data, the Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Sprachen, SOAS, ELDP and the AHRC for funding.
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Summary References
Bolinger, D. (1964). Intonation: around the edge of language. Harvard Educational Review, 34, 282–296.
Bolinger, D. (1989). Intonation and its Uses. Melody in grammar and discourse. London: Edward Francis.
Ohala, J. J. (1984). An ethological perspective on common cross-language utilization of f0 of voice. Phonetica, 41, 1–16.
Rialland, A. (2007). Question prosody: an African perspective. In T. Riad & C. Gussenhoven (Eds.), Tones and tunes. Typological studies in word and sentence prosody (pp. 35–64). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Rialland, A. (2009). The African lax question prosody: Its realisation and geographical distribution. Lingua, 119, 928–49.
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Data
Question marker summary

intonation and phonation type as markers in ikaan yes/no

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