Collaborative Research: Investigations into tone and stress in a complex prosodic system

任何学习外语的学生都知道，人类语言的语音系统差异很大。语言的不同之处之一是它们对重音和语气的使用。英语是一种使用重音来区分单词含义的语言：比较“record”一词用作动词（“to record”）和用作名词（“the record”）时的情况。其他语言使用重音来标记单词的边缘。音调也存在类似的模式：例如，在东京日语中，“hashi”一词的含义取决于所说的音高旋律（高低旋律表示“筷子”，低高旋律表示“桥”）。仅使用这些功能之一的语言非常常见。同时使用重音和声调的语言不太常见，也较少被研究。在对这些语言进行更详细的研究之前，我们无法全面了解人类语言的声音系统及其变化方式。该项目调查了乌斯潘泰科语的重音和语调，乌斯潘泰科语是一种高度濒危的玛雅语言，危地马拉中部高地约有 1000-3000 人使用这种语言。 Uspanteko 使用声调来区分单词含义，例如“síip”（高声调，意思是“滴答”）与“siip”（无高声调，意思是“礼物”）。除了声调之外，Uspanteko 中还使用重音来标记单词的边缘。该项目的主要目的是记录和分析 Uspanteko 中的重音和音调的声学结构。由于 Uspanteko 的声音系统在类型上不寻常，因此该项目有可能为我们理解重音和音调领域的跨语言变化做出重大贡献。这项研究的一个产品将是一个大型的带注释的乌斯潘泰科语自发语音语料库。该项目还包括为美国和危地马拉的语言学学生提供大量培训。

The sound systems of human languages differ widely, as any student of foreign languages knows. One way in which languages differ is their use of stress and tone. English is a language which uses stress to distinguish word meanings: compare the word "record" when used as a verb ("to recórd") and as a noun ("the récord"). Other languages use stress to mark the edges of words. Similar patterns are found with tone: in Tokyo Japanese, for instance, the meaning of the word "hashi" depends on the pitch melody with which it is spoken (with a high-low melody it means "chopsticks", and with a low-high melody it means "bridge"). Languages which use just one of these features are very common. Less common, and less studied, are languages which use stress and tone together. Until such languages are studied in greater detail, we will not have a complete picture of the sound systems of human languages and the ways in which they can vary.This project investigates stress and tone in Uspanteko, a highly endangered Mayan language spoken by approximately 1000-3000 people in the central highlands of Guatemala. Uspanteko uses tone to distinguish word meanings, as in "síip" (high tone, means "tick") vs. "siip" (no high tone, means "gift"). Alongside tone, stress is used in Uspanteko to mark the edges of words. The primary aim of this project is to document and analyze the acoustic structure of stress and tone in Uspanteko. As the sound system of Uspanteko is typologically unusual, this project has the potential to contribute substantially to our understanding of cross-linguistic variation in the areas of stress and tone. One product of this research will be a large, annotated corpus of spontaneous speech in Uspanteko. The project also involves a substantial training component for linguistics students in the U.S. and Guatemala.