32.1836, Diss: Formosan; General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; Language Documentation; Phonetics; Phonology: Author: Benjamin K Macaulay: ''Diss Title: Prosody and intonation in Formosan languages''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-1836. Wed May 26 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.1836, Diss: Formosan; General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; Language Documentation; Phonetics; Phonology: Author: Benjamin K Macaulay: ''Diss Title: Prosody and intonation in Formosan languages''

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Date: Wed, 26 May 2021 13:35:21
From: Benjamin Macaulay [bkmacaulay at gmail.com]
Subject: Diss Title: Prosody and intonation in Formosan languages

 
Institution: CUNY Graduate Center 
Program: Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2021 

Author: Benjamin K Macaulay

Dissertation Title: Prosody and intonation in Formosan languages 

Dissertation URL:  https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4148/

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
                     Historical Linguistics
                     Language Documentation
                     Phonetics
                     Phonology

Language Family(ies): Formosan


Dissertation Director(s):
Jason Kandybowicz
Juliette Blevins
Daniel Kaufman
Arthur Holmer

Dissertation Abstract:

The Formosan languages are the languages of the Aboriginal peoples of Taiwan.
These languages are part of the Austronesian language family, and represent
all but one primary branch of this family of 1,200+ languages. The Formosan
languages are endangered, some critically so. While these languages have seen
attention in the literature for their syntactic and phonological systems,
little work has been done on their prosodic structure or intonation.

This dissertation analyzes the prosodic structure and intonational phonology
of Mantauran Rukai, Budai Rukai, Tsou, Kanakanavu, Hla’alua, Sandimen Paiwan,
Piuma Paiwan, Kavalan, Amis, Bunun, Tgdaya Seediq, Truku Seediq, and Pazeh,
based on original fieldwork. In addition, archival materials are incorporated
into analyses of Tsou, Truku Seediq, Tgdaya Seediq, and Puyuma.

This study finds that the Formosan languages show rich tonal phonologies in
their intonational systems, and have complex interactions between stress
assignment and morphology. Some examples include the following: Mantauran
Rukai, previously described as an initial-stress language, actually has a
complex stress assignment system with an alternation between first- and
third-syllable stress, which as a system is unique in descriptions of stress
assignment in the world’s languages. Hla’alua (Saaroa), previously described
as having free variation between antepenultimate and penultimate stress,
actually has an accent system in which some lexical items are consistently
produced without an accented syllable, while others are. Hla’alua also has a
rich tonal phonology assigned at two higher levels of the prosodic hierarchy.
Kavalan has a unique rule that causes spreading tones to shift to the opposite
domain edge when a certain number of tonal elements are aligned to the same
boundary. Elements of the intonational phonology in Amis and Kavalan include
glottal stops in addition to tonal elements. Bunun has distinct pitch accent
melodies for words vs. clitics.

In addition to the unique features found in individual Formosan languages,
this dissertation’s comparative study finds at least two geographic areas
within Taiwan in which features of prosody and intonation cluster. One is
southwestern Taiwan, including Tsou, Kanakanavu, Hla’alua, and Rukai, which
share features including a lack of glide-vowel contrasts and variability of
initial H vs. L elements in certain prosodic domains. The other is eastern
Taiwan, including Amis, Kavalan, and Puyuma, which share features including
suppression of non-IP-final pitch accents, alternations between ultimate and
pre-ultimate F0 peaks across intonational contours, and interactions between
glottal stop epenthesis and intonational phonology.




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