Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Acoustic and Articulatory Study of Burmese Tone

博士论文研究：缅语声学和发音研究

• 批准号: 0844031
• 负责人: Elizabeth Zsiga
• 金额: $ 1.17万
• 依托单位: Georgetown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-02-15 至 2011-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0844031&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Acoustic; Articulatory

Many languages use tone, which is defined as a contrast in pitch pattern, to create a distinction between words. Burmese is unusual, however, in that its "tone" contrasts involve a poorly-understood combination of pitch and breathy or creaky voice quality. This study investigates the phonetic qualities that are universally available to encode the lexical contrasts of a language, focusing on the problem of tonal contrast in Burmese. The experiments conducted for this study will test which acoustic and articulatory dimensions are most strongly associated with the production of each tone. Twelve Burmese speakers will read a scripted list of contrasting words, once while wearing sensors that measure the opening of the glottis (electroglottography) and a second time wearing an oro-nasal mask that measures airflow from the mouth and nose. Both of these non-invasive techniques offer a way to measure the physiological states responsible for tonal distinctions and therefore provide data that will augment the study's digital analysis of the acoustic waveforms.The study contributes to phonetic research by investigating relationships between the (indirect but easily accessible) acoustic signal and direct articulatory measures of airflow and glottal width. The research is also significant for the theory of tone development (tonogenesis), and language change more generally. Better understanding of the present contrast in Burmese thus has implications for the socio-cultural issues of how and why languages undergo sound change over time and form new language or dialect communities. Finally, a clearer knowledge of how Burmese syllables differ from one another will contribute to our understanding of the dimensions of sound structure that are under the speaker's control. This knowledge can improve language teaching, of Burmese and other tonal languages specifically, and of second and foreign languages in general.

许多语言使用声调来区分单词，声调被定义为音高模式的对比。然而，缅语的不同寻常之处在于，它的“音调”对比包括人们很难理解的音调和气息或吱吱作响的音质。这项研究调查了普遍可用于编码一种语言的词汇对比的语音特征，重点关注缅甸语调对比的问题。为这项研究进行的实验将测试哪些声学和发音维度与每种音调的产生最密切相关。12名说缅甸语的人将阅读一份对照单词的脚本列表，第一次是戴着测量声门打开程度的传感器(电声门图)，第二次是戴着口鼻罩测量嘴巴和鼻子的气流。这两种非侵入性技术都提供了一种测量导致音调差异的生理状态的方法，从而提供了数据，将增强研究的数字分析的声波波形。这项研究通过调查(间接但容易获得的)声音信号与气流和声门宽度的直接发音测量之间的关系，为语音研究做出贡献。这项研究对声调发展理论(声调发生)和更广泛的语言变化理论也具有重要意义。因此，更好地理解缅语目前的对比，对于语言如何以及为什么随着时间发生声音变化以及形成新的语言或方言社区的社会文化问题具有重要意义。最后，更清楚地了解缅语音节之间的差异将有助于我们理解说话者控制的声音结构的维度。这种知识可以改善语言教学，特别是缅语和其他声调语言，以及一般的第二语言和外语。