Doctoral Dissertation Research: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Multilingualism, Phonation and Tone

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Languages change naturally over time. Much linguistic work attempts to understand what gives rise to common patterns in language change. "Tonogenesis," the development of tone in a language, is one such change. In a tonal language, speakers use pitch to distinguish different words, for example, the word "kha" meaning "leg" when spoken with a rising pitch, but "kill" when spoken with a falling pitch. Tonogenesis is theorized to take place when pitch becomes a primary cue in a contrast. In order to understand tonogenesis, the co-PI, a doctoral student, will work with speakers of three endangered non-tonal languages spoken in a region where the dominant language is tonal. The contrast to be studied is voice quality, the distinguishing of words by the degree of constriction of the vocal folds. Manipulating voice quality modulates pitch as a secondary cue and this can lead to tonogenesis. The high-quality phonetic recordings from this project will be invaluable for advancing general understanding of voice quality and for the preservation and revitalization efforts in these language communities.Rapid modernization and centralization lead to greater usage of the dominant language at both the community and individual levels. Studying language usage in minority languages in such situations is crucial to understanding language change. The co-PI will carry out experiments in which speakers produce words differing in voice quality. When the dominant language is tonal, speakers who use it more and/or are more integrated into mainstream society are expected to weigh voice quality cues less heavily and pitch cues more heavily, laying the foundation for pitch to become a primary cue, and thus leading to tonogenesis. This study will provide a better understanding of language change and of cue weighting as a psychological process generalizable beyond language.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.