Doctoral Dissertation Research: Tone and Variation in Idakho

像许多班图语一样，卢亚语用旋律的高音来标记语言的区别。不同的时态在分配这些旋律高音时针对词干的不同位置，一些语调规则将适用于某些时态的动词，但不适用于其他时态。这个项目的目标是评估变种间音调证据在定位历史重建中的有用性。在探讨这一问题时，该项目将全面描述和分析卢亚语群的六个肯尼亚语种的动词和名词性声调：Idakho、Isukha、Nyore、Kisa、Marama和Tsotso。我们将通过一份调查问卷来探讨动词的语调，问卷内容涉及动词形式的不同特点。一份调查问卷要求说话者在不同的语义和句法上下文中发音许多名词，这将探讨名词性声调。这些问卷将产生一个丰富的数据集，允许将基于分段证据的历史重建与由音调证据建议的历史重建进行比较。声调证据在定位历史重建方面的有用性将通过对伊达胡语种内的同步变化的调查来进一步评估。我们将比较6组大约36名说话者的讲话，特别注意三个指标：(I)说话人保持的时态区别的数量和类型，(Ii)音调旋律的语法特性，以及(Iii)音调产生的语音方面。划分这六个群体的参数是：(一)家乡(三个伊达胡农村社区)和(二)现居住地(原家乡与内罗毕)。该项目将阐明像卢亚语这样的声调系统变化的敏感性，特别是在与其他语言接触时的反应。此外，语言学习者、语言教师和非政府组织工作人员将获得迄今无法获得的词典材料、名词和动词构成的说明，以及包含许多以英语为母语的人发音的音频档案。

The Luyia languages, like many Bantu languages, mark verbal distinctions with melodic high tones. Different tenses target different positions of the stem in assigning these melodic high tones, and some tonal rules will apply within verbs in some tenses, but not others. The goal of this project is to assess the usefulness of inter-varietal tonal evidence in positing historical reconstructions. In probing this question, the project will comprehensively describe and analyze the verbal and nominal tonology of six Kenyan varieties of the Luyia language group: Idakho, Isukha, Nyore, Kisa, Marama, and Tsotso. The verbal tonology will be probed through a questionnaire which varies features of the verbal form. A questionnaire asking speakers to pronounce many nouns in a variety of semantic and syntactic contexts will probe the nominal tonology. These questionnaires will produce a rich dataset that will allow for the historical reconstructions based on segmental evidence to be compared with those suggested by tonal evidence. The usefulness of tonal evidence in positing historical reconstructions will be further assessed through an investigation of the synchronic variation within the Idakho variety. The speech of approximately 36 speakers subdivided into 6 groups will be compared, with special attention paid to three indicators: (i) the number and type of tense distinctions speakers maintain, (ii) grammatical properties of the tonal melodies, and (iii) the phonetic aspects of tone production. The parameters dividing the six groups are: (i) hometown (three rural Idakho communities) and (ii) current residence (original hometown vs. Nairobi). The project will shed light on the susceptibility of tonal systems like those of the Luyia languages to change, especially in response to contact with other languages. Furthermore, language learners, language teachers, and NGO workers will gain access to hitherto unavailable dictionary materials, descriptions of noun and verb formation, and an audio archive containing native-speaker pronunciations of many words.