Doctoral Dissertation Research: Phonology of Betsimisaraka Malagasy

这个研究项目的目标是通过记录和分析在马达加斯加东海岸使用的马达加斯加语Betsimisaraka方言的未被充分研究的音系，加深我们对人类语言可能的音系系统范围的理解。该项目包括对北别齐米萨拉卡至少六个月的实地考察，目的是对方言进行完整的音系分析。仔细观察母语，单语者的发音和声学测量将用于回答有关语言声音清单的基本问题。系统的发音变化将被记录和分析，特别注意在马达加斯加标准方言中已知的过程。在启发式会议期间收集的所有数据将输入数据库，然后按照E-Meld的最佳实践学校存档。除了理论上对音系的中性描述外，还将在基于规则和基于约束的理论框架中进行分析。施乐有限状态传感器软件将协助这些分析的构建，从而产生提供语言音韵学完整模型的脚本。值得注意的是，尽管北贝齐米萨拉卡语通常被认为是一种方言，但根据最近对马达加斯加语变体相互可理解性的研究，它甚至可能构成一种语言本身。这个项目的数据和语音分析可以用来帮助确定马达加斯加确切的方言。声音档案、数位照片和影片将公开提供给那些希望进一步研究马达加斯加语音系的人，以及马达加斯加的文化机构。声音和视频文件将主要由当地的故事和对话组成，赋予它们在音韵学之外的应用，从希望调查Betsimisaraka句子结构的语言学家到那些对人类学和其他文化研究感兴趣的语言学以外的研究人员。

The goal of this research project is to deepen our understanding of the range of possible phonological systems across human languages by documenting and analyzing the understudied phonology of the Betsimisaraka dialects of Malagasy, spoken on the East coast of Madagascar. This project consists of at least six months' fieldwork on Northern Betsimisaraka with the aim of producing a complete phonological analysis of the dialect. Careful observations of native, monolingual speakers' articulations and acoustic measurements will be used to answer basic questions regarding the language's sound inventories. Systematic variations in pronunciation will be documented and analyzed, with special attention paid to processes known to occur in the Standard dialect of Malagasy. All data collected during elicitation sessions will be entered into a database and later archived following E-Meld's school of best practices. In addition to theoretically neutral descriptions of the phonology, analyses will be provided in both rule-based and constraint-based theoretical frameworks. Xerox's Finite State Transducer software will assist in the construction of these analyses, resulting in scripts that offer complete models of the language's phonology. It should be noted that Northern Betsimisaraka, though usually referred to as a dialect, may even constitute a language itself, based on recent studies on the mutual intelligibility of Malagasy speech varieties. The data and phonological analysis from this project could be used to help determine the Madagascar's exact dialectology. Sound files, digital photos, and videos, will be made publicly available to those who wish to do further phonological studies on the language, as well as to cultural institutions in Madagascar. Sound and video files will largely consist of local stories and conversations, granting them applications outside of phonology, from linguists wishing to investigate Betsimisaraka sentence structure to those researchers outside linguistics with interests in anthropology and other cultural studies.