Expressivity and performance. Expressing compassion and grief with a prosodic contour in Gunwinyguan languages (northern Australia)

In order to shed light on how emotions surface in language, this article addresses a gap in our empirical knowledge about ‘expressive’ linguistic resources. Expressive resources are classically defined as ‘symptoms’ or ‘indices’ of the speaker's emotional states at the time of speech, which suggests that they are essentially reflex – i.e. spontaneous and sincere. This article shows how actual expressive resources largely depart from this ideal type, by analyzing a case where they are performed and operate in a frame where sincerity remains largely irrelevant. Based on first-hand data, the study analyzes how expressivity combines with performance in a highly conventionalized prosodic contour used to express compassion in several Aboriginal languages of the Arnhem Land region in Australia. The form, semantics and pragmatics of this contour are described and analysed for the Dalabon (Gunwinyguan) and Kriol language (creole), and the study of how it is used shows that performance can channel elaborate communication around deep emotions such as grief. The article discusses how the performance of this ‘compassionate’ contour contributes to communication strategies that help the speakers deal with grief, and highlights how this performed linguistic tool channels emotional expression and management at the same time

Alignment and Adjacency in Optimality Theory: evidence from Warlpiri and Arrernte

The goal of this thesis is to explore alignment and adjacency of constituents in the framework of Optimality Theory. Under the notion of alignment, certain categories, prosodic and morphological, are required to correspond to certain other categories, prosodic or morphological. The alignment of categories is achieved through the operation of constraints which evaluate the wellformedness of outputs. The constraints on the alignment of categories and the ranking of these constraints are examined with emphasis on two Australian languages, Warlpiri and Arrernte. The aim is to provide an adequate account in the theory of Optimality of the processes of stress, reduplication and vowel harmony evident in the data. The thesis expands on the range of edges for the alignment of feet. Foot alignment is developed to account for the fact that the edges of intonational phrases, morphemes, and specific morphemes, as well as phonologically specific syllables, play an active role in determining the location of feet. An additional finding is that the location of feet can also be determined by adjacency, resolving conflict between morphological alignment, and ensuring rhythmic harmony. Requirements on adjacency are further supported to account for segmental harmony, where harmony provides evidence for the simultaneous action of segmental and prosodic processes. The analysis provides a unified account of binary and ternary rhythm recommending modifications to alignment of certain categories, thereby laying the groundwork to deal with variation. The account of variation involves relaxing certain constraints. In addition, the notion of rhythm is expanded to account for onset sensitivity to stress, with evidence of this sensitivity found in reduplication and allomorphy. The interaction of prosodic categories with each other and with morphological categories can be directly captured in OT, providing a unified and coherent account of phenomena, some of which were previously seen as exceptions and, therefore unrelated and arbitrary

Moraic onsets in Arrernte

The Australian language Arrernte has been argued by Breen & Pensalfini (1999) and Evans & Levinson (2009) to present a case of VC syllabification with coda maximisation, rather than CV syllabification with onset maximisation. In this paper we demonstrate that greater insights into a number of phenomena are achieved when they are analysed with CV syllabification and onset consonants that are moraic, a possibility independently proposed for a wide range of languages by Topintzi (2010). We review a range of evidence from phonetic studies, acquisition and musicology that points towards CV syllabification in Arrernte, and analyse allomorphy, stress assignment, reduplication and the transpositional language game 'Rabbit Talk' in terms of reference to moraic structure. The results lend themselves to new directions in the analysis of Arrernte, and provide further evidence for moraic onsets in prosodic morphology

Directional reference in discourse and narrative: Comparing indigenous and non-indigenous genres in Ahtna

National Foreign Language Resource Cente

A typological study of noun phrase structures in Australian languages

This dissertation presents a general analysis of noun phrase (NP) structures in Australian languages. I use a sample of 100 Australian languages, which represents about 40% of all Australian languages at first contact, and about 65% of all Australian languages for which relatively detailed descriptions are available. The analysis is developed in two main parts, each with a different aim and focus. The first part of the dissertation presents a general survey of NP features. In this survey, I try to develop a synthesis of the available Australianist literature, testing some of the ideas from the literature on the languages of my sample, and showing where Australian languages stand in relation to other languages in the world. The survey consists of three chapters, with domains grouped together on the basis of how well they have been described in the literature. Chapter 1 deals with nominal classification, which is the best-described aspect of NP structure for Australian languages. Chapter 2 discusses the domains of qualification and quantification, which have received some attention in the literature, but not to the same extent as classification. Chapter 3 introduces the domains of determination and NP constituency, which are most poorly understood, due to a general lack of attention in the case of determination, and a failure to test wide-ranging claims in the case of constituency. The second part of the dissertation then takes up the last two aspects, determination and NP constituency, for more detailed analysis. Chapter 4 deals with the question of NP constituency, which is a rather problematic issue in the available literature. On the basis of my sample, I show that the idea that Australian languages tend to lack clear phrasal structure is over-stated. I suggest an alternative approach to the question of NP constituency, and argue that it is more interesting to typologise languages on the basis of where and how they allow phrasal structure rather than on the basis of a simple yes-no answer to the question of NP constituency. This alternative approach is followed up in an analysis of discontinuous structures. Chapter 5, finally, investigates the domain of NP determination, which is overall the least well-studied aspect of NP structure for Australian languages. Within this domain, I focus on the syntactic status of determining elements. Australian languages generally lack ‘classic’ determiner features, like obligatory use in particular (e.g. definite) contexts or a restriction to one determiner for each NP. I show that there is good evidence to identify a determiner slot in approximately half of the languages of the sample, and I discuss which types of elements tend to occur in these slots, including some less well-studied ones like personal pronouns and quantifiers

Onsets Contribute to Syllable Weight: Statistical Evidence from Stress and Meter

While some accounts of syllable weight deny a role for onsets, onset-sensitive weight criteria have received renewed attention in recent years (e.g. Gordon 2005, Topintzi 2010). This article presents new evidence supporting onsets as factors in weight. First, in complex stress systems such as those of English and Russian, onset length is a significant attractor of stress both in the lexicon and in nonce probes. This effect is highly systematic and unlikely, it is argued, to be driven by analogy alone. Second, in flexible quantitative meters (e.g. in Sanskrit), poets preferentially align longer onsets with heavier metrical positions, all else being equal. A theory of syllable weight is proposed in which the domain of weight begins not with the rime but with the p-center (perceptual center) of the syllable, which is perturbed by properties of the onset. While onset effects are apparently universal in gradient weight systems, they are weak enough to be usually eclipsed by the structure of the rime under categorization. This proposal therefore motivates both the existence of onset weight effects and the subordination of the onset to the rime with respect to weight.Linguistic

ANALISIS PROSODI KAJIAN FONETIK AKUSTIK PADA BAHASA BATAK ANGKOLA

ABSTRAK: Tujuan penelitian ini dilakukan adalah untuk mengidentifikasi bunyi ujaran kalimat imperatif,kalimat ekslamatif dan kalimat berita dalam bahasa Batak Angkola. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan Praat untuk mengukur parameter akustik dalam kajian fonetik seperti frekuensi ,durasi, dan intensitas . Pengukuran bunyi ujaran eksperimental ini menggunakan sinyal yang diekstrak menggunakan analisis spektrum dengan bantuan komputer dan software yang ada di komputer bernama Praat.Hasil rekaman suara dalam bahasa Batak Angkola tersebut disimpan dalam bentuk WAV dan software Praat versi 6.0.14 ( Boersma Weenik , 2016 ) yang digunakan untuk menganalisis fitur fitur suprasegmental tersebut.  Praat adalah program komputer yang memiliki fungsi untuk media menganalisis , sintesis, dan manipulasi bunyi ujaran. Kemudian metode penelitian yang dilakukan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode eksperimental. Eksperimen terkait dengan identifikasi dan verifikasi bunyi uajaran penutur menggunakan parameter akustik melalui analsisis spektograf .kajian fonetik akustik ini digunakan sebagai pembeda antara bunyi asli dan bunyi tiruan yang diucapkan oleh penutur.  Hasil penelitian mengindikasikan bahwa parameter akustik seperti frekuensi , durasi dan intensitas dapat digunakan untuk membedakan bunyi ujaran asli dan yang palsu atau tiruan oleh penutur. KATA KUNCI: Kata kunci 1; Bahasa Batak Angkola 2; Kajian Fonetik 3; Prosodi   PROSODY ANALYSIS ACOUSTIC PHONETIC STUDY IN BATAK ANGKOLA LANGUAGE   KEYWORDS: The purpose of this study is to identify the speech sounds of imperative sentences, exclamative sentences and news sentences in the Batak Angkola language. This research is conducted using Praat to measure acoustic parameters in phonetic studies such as frequency, duration, and intensity. This experimental speech sound measurement uses a signal extracted using spectrum analysis with the help of a computer and software on a computer called Praat. The results of the voice recording in the Batak Angkola language are stored in WAV and Praat software version 6.0.14 (Boersma Weenik, 2016) which used to analyze these suprasegmental features. Praat is a computer program that has functions for media analyzing, synthesizing, and manipulating speech sounds. Then the research method used in this study is the experimental method. Experiments related to the identification and verification of the speaker's speech sound using acoustic parameters through spectrograph analysis. This acoustic phonetic study is used as a differentiator between the original sound and the artificial sound spoken by the speaker. The results of the study indicate that acoustic parameters such as frequency, duration and intensity can be used to distinguish the original speech sound and the fake or imitation by the speaker.KEYWORDS: Keyword 1; Batak Angkola Language  Keyword 2; Fonetic Study  Keyword 3; Prosod