An Acoustic and Articulatory Study of the Consonants of Setswana

博茨瓦纳人说的茨瓦纳语证明了一些不寻常的辅音和辅音组合，其中一些被语言学理论预测为不存在。本研究将运用声学、知觉、空气动力学和超声技术对茨瓦纳语的辅音系统进行研究。这些不寻常的声音将被记录下来，以测试文献中报道的一般描述是否事实上是准确的。拟议的研究的智力价值在于收集了新的经验数据，将根据这些数据来检验语言主张。这项研究的结果将对声音的可能清单、声音变化的物理发音和声学基础、语言的处理方式以及声音在物理和认知层面上的顺序交互方式的理论产生影响。该项目将为一种具有许多罕见类型特征的语言提供新的声学和发音数据。结果将通过多个地点发布。这项研究将促进乔治敦大学和博茨瓦纳大学的合作。新的超声波设备将永久性地增强乔治敦大学的研究基础设施。这项研究还将包含重要的培训部分。研究生和本科生都将接受声学和发音数据分析方面的培训。最后，这项研究将通过向当地一名茨瓦纳族顾问提供培训和支持一名非洲妇女担任博士后研究员，促进代表人数不足的群体参与科学。

The Setswana language, spoken in Botswana, evidences some unusual consonants and consonant combinations, some of which are predicted by linguistic theory not to exist. The present study will investigate the consonant system of Setswana, using acoustic, perceptual, aerodynamic, and ultrasound techniques. The unusual sounds will be documented in order to test whether the general descriptions that have been reported in the literature are in fact accurate.The intellectual merit of the proposed research resides in the collection of new empirical data against which linguistic claims will be tested. The results of this research will have implications for theories of possible inventories of sounds, of the physical articulatory and acoustic bases of sound changes, of the way language is processed, and of the way sounds in sequence interact, both at the physical and cognitive levels.This project will provide new acoustic and articulatory data for a language with a number of typologically rare features. Results will be disseminated via multiple venues. The research will promote cooperation between Georgetown University and the University of Botswana. New ultrasound equipment will permanently enhance the research infrastructure at Georgetown. The research will also have a significant training component. Both graduate and undergraduate students will receive training in acoustic and articulatory data analysis. Finally, the research will contribute to the participation of under-represented groups in science by providing training to a local Setswana consultant and by supporting an African woman as a postdoctoral researcher.