EAPSI: Investigating the Sound System of a Minority Language by Building a Speech Corpus

本研究旨在通过建立语音语料库，更好地了解彝族南部的语音系统。南彝语是中国云南的一种少数民族语言，属于汉藏语系藏缅语分支。迄今为止，有关南彝的研究主要集中在孤立的单音节词和框架句中的单音节词。本研究的目的是探讨如何在连续语音中实现声音系统。将在中国云南进行彝族南部的田野调查，并招募不同年龄段的演讲者参与录制语音语料库。随后将分析语音语料库，以评估个体说话者在发音方面的差异以及说话者之间是否存在一致的年龄差异。本研究将与云南民族大学民族语言文学系的颜璐教授合作进行，旨在建立南方彝族语音语料库，研究连续语音中的一种持续音变。彝族南部的元音有一个语域对比，通常被称为紧张与放松对比。发音在语域对比中的作用已经得到很好的证实。此外，南部彝族在两个语域之间的F1、F2和F0表现出差异。语域对比正处于从以发声为主要线索向以共振峰为主要线索转变的过程中。本研究将在云南建立一个包含阅读式言语和自发言语的彝族南方口语语料库。将记录音频和电声门图（EGG）信号。语料库将在句子、单词和音素级别上进行分段和注释。由此产生的语料库将被用于1）研究如何在单个说话人和不同说话人之间的连续语音中实现语域对比，和2）以更好地了解社区中不同年龄组的作品如何反映出持续的声音变化。东亚和太平洋暑期研究所计划下的这个奖项支持美国研究生的暑期研究，并由联合资助由NSF和中国科学技术部。

This study intends to better understand the sound system of Southern Yi through building a speech corpus. Southern Yi is a minority language spoken in Yunnan, China, and it belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. So far, all studies on Southern Yi have focused on monosyllables elicited either in isolation or in a frame sentence. The goal of this study is to investigate how the sound system is realized in continuous speech. Fieldwork on Southern Yi will be carried out in Yunnan, China, and speakers from different age groups will be recruited to participate in recording a speech corpus. The speech corpus will subsequently be analyzed to evaluate how individual speakers differ in their articulation and whether there are consistent age differences between the speakers. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Professor Yan Lu of the Department of Ethnic Languages and Literature at Yunnan Nationalities University.The aim of building a speech corpus of Southern Yi is to study an ongoing sound change in continuous speech. Southern Yi has a register contrast in its vowels, typically referred to as the tense vs. lax contrast. The role of phonation in the register contrast has been well established. Additionally, Southern Yi exhibits differences in F1, F2, and F0 between the two registers. The register contrast is in the process of shifting from using phonation as the primary cue to using formants as the primary cues. A corpus of spoken Southern Yi containing both reading style speech and spontaneous speech will be recorded in Yunnan, China. Both audio and electroglottograph (EGG) signals will be recorded. The corpus will be segmented and annotated at the sentence, word, and phoneme levels. The resulting corpus will be used 1) to study how the register contrast is realized in continuous speech within an individual speaker and across different speakers, and 2) to better understand how the ongoing sound change is reflected in the production from different age groups in the community.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.