Phonetic and Phonological Documentation of Kalasha, an endangered Indo-Aryan language

人类的声道是人类发出声音的地方，空气从肺部向上流动，穿过声带所在的地方(喉部)，然后经过喉腔上方的空间(喉部)，最后通过鼻腔或口腔流出。不同的部分(“发音器”)通过改变气流来产生语音。由于许多发音器在语音产生时都隐藏在视线之外，语言学家已经找到了其他装置来研究发音器在哪里以及如何工作。这一点很重要，因为在一种特定的语言中，不同的声音可能是有意义的。例如，“p”和“b”在英语中是不同的发音，因为“bit”和“bit”的意思不同。超声波等仪器工具和测量口鼻气流的设备使语音的准确发音得以理解。因此，声音将更准确地转录在语言文档中，并由学习者产生。声音系统也是通过收集和分析以更程式化的方式使用的语言来研究的，比如押韵或不同体裁的重复辅音(头韵)。了解一种语言的语音系统对于编纂词典、开发系统的正字法系统和语言教材都是至关重要的。这个项目将记录一种高度濒危语言的语音，这种语言具有异常多的声音，这些声音是通过将舌尖向上卷曲到硬腭(“卷舌”)而形成的。更广泛的影响包括编写供濒危语言界直接使用的语言和文化材料，培训一名博士后研究员和本科生，以及与当地一所大学和一个非政府组织开展新的国际合作。在该地区从事教育和扫盲项目的美国国际开发署研究人员也将受益于该项目的产品。NSF国际科学与工程办公室正在为与该项目相关的国际活动提供支持。该项目将汇集一个由语言学家和当地语言文献研究人员组成的团队来描述卡拉沙语(3000-5000人)的声音系统，卡拉沙语是巴基斯坦北部的一种濒危的达迪克语。卡拉沙在语言上具有重要意义，部分原因是它的许多后屈音，因为这些和其他语音的广泛范围在世界上不到1%的语言中存在。该项目将通过语言超声波等工具技术记录卡拉沙的语音学和音系学，并将利用语言记录的最佳做法汇编在线词典和转录口头文学(歌曲、短篇小说、叙事、诗歌)。研究人员还将开发灵活的语音分析工具，并通过现有的跨语言数据库和档案提供数据和发现。舌超声和口鼻气流是描述卡拉沙的卷舌辅音、鼻和卷舌韵母的理想方法。器乐语音研究将使人们能够更好地理解这些不常见的语音，并将生成一个音频-视频超声语料库。音频-视频语料库和其他自发的语音数据将被用于修订卡拉沙的正字法，并为社区编写教学材料。

The human vocal tract is the cavity in human beings where speech sounds are made as air flows from the lungs upward and travels through where the vocal cords are (the "larynx") and then the space above the laryngeal cavity (the "pharynx") until it exits either through the nasal cavity or through the mouth. Different parts ("articulators") modify the airflow to create speech sounds. Since many articulators are hidden from view when the speech sounds are produced, linguists have found other devices to investigate where and how articulators operate. This is important because different sounds can be meaningful in a particular language. For example, "p" and "b" are different sounds in English since "pit" and "bit" mean different things. Instrumental tools like ultrasound and devices that measure oral-nasal airflow enable the precise articulation of speech sounds to be understood. As a result, sounds will be more accurately transcribed in language documentation and produced by learners. Sound systems are also researched by collecting and analyzing the language used in more stylized ways, like rhyme or repeated consonant sounds ("alliteration") in different genres. Understanding the sound system of a language is critical for compiling dictionaries, developing a systematic orthographic system and language teaching materials. This project will document the speech sounds of a highly endangered language that has an unusually large number of sounds that are formed by curling the tip of the tongue up towards the hard palate ("retroflex"). Broader impacts include the production of linguistic and cultural materials for direct use by the endangered language community, the training of a post-doctoral researcher and undergraduate students, and a new international collaboration with a local university and an NGO. USAID researchers working on education and literacy projects in the region will also benefit from the products of this project. The NSF Office of International Science and Engineering is providing support for international activities associated with this project.This project will bring together a team of linguists and local language documentation researchers to describe the sound system of Kalasha (3000-5000 speakers), an endangered Dardic language of Northern Pakistan. Kalasha is of linguistic importance in part due to its many retroflexed sounds, since the wide range of these and other speech sounds are found in less than 1% of the world's languages. The project will document the phonetics and phonology of Kalasha through instrumental techniques like lingual ultrasound, and will use best practices in language documentation to compile an online dictionary and to transcribe oral literature (songs, short stories, narratives, poems). The researchers will also develop flexible speech analysis tools, and make data and findings available through existing cross-linguistic databases and archives. Lingual ultrasound and oral-nasal airflow are ideal methods for describing the retroflex consonants, and nasal and retroflex vowels of Kalasha. The instrumental phonetic investigation will enable a better understanding of these uncommon speech sounds and will generate an audio-video ultrasound corpus. The audio-video corpus and other spontaneous speech data will be used to revise the orthography of Kalasha and to develop pedagogical materials for the community.