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Post-Focus-Compression (PFC) in Tibeto- Burman Languages: Is PFC a Genetic Feature?

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Post-Focus-Compression (PFC) in Tibeto- Burman Languages: Is PFC a Genetic Feature? Post-focus-compression (PFC) in Tibeto- Burman Languages: Is PFC a Genetic Feature? Bei Wang [email protected] Minzu University of China Acknowledgement Yi Xu (University College London) Qifan Ding (Mandarin), Liu Lu (Bai), Qingyi Song (Tujia), Xueqiao Li (Bai), Yuanyuan Zhang (Wu, Gulin), Xiaxia Zhang (Lasha Tibetan, Qiang), Fanglan Li (Nanchang), Qian Wu (Li, Hainan Tsat), Baofeng Wang (Buyi), Shaobo Sun (Mogolian, Jing), Ling Wang (Deang, Wa, Ando Tibetan), Wei Lai (Shanghai), Miaomiao Yang (Hmong), Sisi Chen (4 Wu dialects), Qiaoyun Yin (Deang), Chao Wang (Xian), Qubi Erlian (Lolo), Erkbulan (Kazakhstan) National Social Science Foundation of China (18BYY079) National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 60905062) Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University of Ministry of Education of China (NCET-12-0584) “111” Project of Minzu University Contents Post-focus-compression (PFC) in Beijing Mandarin and Taiwanese Worldwide Distribution of PFC Distribution of PFC in Tibeto-Burman Languages General Discussion on the origin of PFC Focus is to highlight part of a sentence against the rest of the sentence as motivated by a particular discourse situation. Focus can be realized prosodically. (Bolinger, 1958; Eady & Cooper, 1986; Ladd, 1996; Xu, 1999, 2005 among many others) Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus 250 Initial Focus: Who is stoking the kitten? ) 200z H Medial Focus: What is mom doing on the kitten? ( Neutral 0 Final Focus: What is mom stoking? 150F Neutral Focus: What do you see? 100 Ma Monol maingual Beimojing Mandarimaon mi 50 mother stoke kitten Normalized time Post-focus-compression (PFC): F0 and intensity is compressed in post-focal words. 妈 妈 叫 妹 妹 去 买 槟 榔 (Wang et al., 2012) ((Xu, Wang & Chen, 2012; Xu, 1999; Chen & Gussenhoven, 2008; Wang & Xu, 2011; among many others) PFC is the key feature to distinguish focus from new topic. (Wang & Xu, 2011). Initial Focus: 不是李晓。汪英参观车间。 It is not Lixao. Wangying visited the factory. New Topic: Wangying Canguan Chejian. 大家都有事情要做。汪英参观车间。 Wangying visited the factory. Everyone has something to do. Wangying visited the factory. PFC • PFC is a robust feature, which applies in question intonation as well. • PFC can go across a strong prosodic boundary with a long silent pause. 肖英担心张薇开车发晕？ Wo mai le Youli, dou song gei Mao nainai le. XiaoYing danxin ZhangWei kaiche FaYun I buy ASP Youli, all give to Mao grandma. Xiaoying worry Zhangwei drive dizzy I bought Youli, and gave all of them to grandma Mao. Xiaoying worried that Zhangwei got dizzy while driving. (Liu & Xu, 2005) (Wang, Xu & Ding, 2017). 250 Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus 250 Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus 200) 200) z z Unexpected H ( H ( 1500 0 F 150 F Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus 100 250 100 ) Monolingual Taiwanese 200z H Bilingual Taiwanese 50 ( 50 0 Normalized time F 150 Normalized time 250 250 Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus 100 ) 200) 200 Monolingual Beijing Mandarin z z 50 H H ( ( 0 1500 150 Normalized time F F 100 100 Monolingual Taiwan Mandarin Bilingual Mandarin 50 50 Normalized time Normalized time Taiwan Mandarin and Taiwanese are closely related to Beijing Mandarin, but with a very different focus intonation, i.e., without PFC!! Chen, Xu, & Wang, 2009 Xu, Chen, Wang, 2012. The Linguistic Review Post-focus-compression (PFC): F0 and intensity is compressed in post-focal words. PFC only presents in Beijing Mandarin, but not Taiwan Mandarin or Taiwanese. PFC is critical for focus perception! 9 250 Why does BeijingInitial Focus Medi alMandarin Focus Final Focus have PFC? 200) z H ( 1500 The three possibilities:F Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus 100 250 ) (1) it emerged locally inMonol theingual language, Taiwanese • PFC 200doesz not depend on linguistic features of a H 50 ( 0 language.F (2) it developed through languageNormalized time contact 150 • PFC is hard to evolve automatically in a language. 100 (3) it was inherited from a proto-language. • PFC is hard to transferMonolingual in language Beijing Mandari contact.n 50 Normalized time (Chen, Wang, & X产， 2009； Xu, 2011; Xu, Chen & Wang, 2012) Inheritance Hypothesis of PFC (Xu, Chen & Wang, 2012) PFC is inherited from a proto-language, which implies that Mandarin is a descendant of Altai languages, and there is a common ancestor to both European and Altaic languages. Contents Post-focus-compression (PFC) in Beijing Mandarin and Taiwanese Worldwide Distribution of PFC Distribution of PFC in Tibeto-Burman Languages General Discussion on the origin of PFC PFC Languages Altaic Dravidian Indo-European (Brahvi: Syed, Shah, Xu & Xu, 2018) (Kazakhstan: Erkebulan, 2018) Uralic Indo-Iranian (English: Xu & Xu, 2005) (Finnish: Arnhold, 2013) (Hindi: Fery, Pandy & Gerrit, 2016) (Persian: Ardali & Xu, 2012) Language Families Astro-Asiatic Astronesian without PFC (Deang (Mon-khmer): Wang, 2011) (Tagalog: Nagaya & Hwang, 2017) Kra-dai Kra-dai Niger-Congo (Zhuang: Zhang, et al., 2017) (Thai: Thongsrinut, 2018) (Aka: Genzel, 2013 pp.215) Distribution of PFC in world languages Uralic Altaic Indo-European Indo-European Altaic Indo-Irania ??? Tai-Kadai Austro-Asiatic Austronesian Nilo-Saharan Dravidian Niger-Congo Indo-European Northern Chinese Dialects www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-language/chinas- languages.htm Sinic Lanyin Mandarin: Shen & Xu, 2016 Jinan: Duan & Yuan, 2015 (Xiang: Yang, 2012) Shanghai Songjiang Ningbo Suzhou Wuxi suzhou Shanghai Ningbo Wuxi Northern Han admixture proportion in southern Hans Wen et al. (2004) Demic diffusion vs. Cultural diffusion Demic diffusion: the incoming migration of groups of people who rely on agriculture, and who can thereby support large populations. The incomers replace less populous and less powerful existing forager populations. Cultural diffusion: resident populations remain in place, but adopt new practices and ways of speaking. (Bellwood 1992; Blust 1994; Higham 2002; Edmondson and Gregerson 2007; Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza 1971; Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi, and Piazza 1993; Nichols 1992) Guilin: North dialect of Chinese Gulin has a long history back to 10,000 years ago. In 214 B.C. the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.) set up the Guilin Shire in this region. At the same time, due to the construction of the Ling Canal, Guilin became one of the gateways between the Central Plains and the Lingnan Region (current Guangdong, Guangxi and part Hunan, (Wang et al., ms.) Jiangxi). Tibetan (Anduo) (Wang et al., 2011) Tibetan (Lasha) (Zhang, Wang, Xu, 2012) Yi Qiang (Wang et al., 2011) (Zhang & Wang, 2019) Hahka (Guangxi) Bai Tujia Neutral Initial Final (Zhang et al., 2017) (Liu & Wang, 2017) (Song & Wang, ms) A brief history of Bai Dai (1994) Some basic words and ancient phonetic and syntactic features are similar to Burmese- Yi languages. Basically their genetic relatedness could be confirmed. However, due to the heavy contact with Chinese for over 2000 years, lots of Chinese elements have been transmitted into Bai. That’s why 70% of the elements of the Bai language are of Chinese characteristics. Due to the long-term influence from the language of different family, a certain language becomes more and more different from languages of the same family. Then it may become a Creole, or closer to languages of a different family. Translated by Wang. F. (2005) The genetic position of Bai Language Bai people were from Kiangsu near Nanking, mixed in race. Chinese, Mosso, Lolo and Tibetan words have been adopted, and Mon character of the language is still recognizable. (de Lacouperie, 1887; Davies, 1909) Bai is a dialect of Chinese, which split from the mainstream before the Han Dynasty (206BC to 220 AD) (Zhao, 1940; Greenberg, 1953; Benedict, 1982; Starostin, 1994; Zhengzhang, 1999, Wang, 2013). Bai belongs to Lolo (Yi)-Burmese branch (Li, 1916, 1937; Luo, 1943; Wiersma, 1990; Zhao, 1982; ; Lee &Sagart, 1998; Wu, 2000, Dai, 1994) Bai is a separate subgroup of Tibeto-Burman (Mitisoff, 2001). Wang, F. (2005). On the Genetic Position of the Bai Language. Cahiers de linguistique - Asie orientale, 34(1), 101-127. PFC is hard to gain by L2 speakers L1 Taiwanese→L2 Mandarin 250 250 Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus Initial Focus Medial Focus Final Focus ) 200) 200 z z H H ( ( 0 1500 150 F F 100 100 Monolingual Taiwan Mandarin Bilingual Mandarin 50 50 Normalized time Normalized time Xu, Chen, Wang (2012) L1 Deang → L2Mandarin 22 21 20 ) 音 半 ( 19 频 基 18 句首焦点 句中焦点 句末焦点 宽焦点 17 16 0 妈妈 1 摸 2 猫咪 3 王玲，2011 L1 Hainan Tsat → L2 Mandarin Wang et al., 2012 L1 Cantonese → L2 English Wu, 2011 Perception of focus in Mandarin by Mandarin and Tsat speakers Quanzhou Min L1 and Mandarin L2 Chen, Guion-Anderson, and Xu, (2012) Lolo-Burmese (Burmish, Nusu, Loloish) Na-Qiangic(Qiangic, Erusish, Naic) Bodic (Bodish, Gurung-Tamang, Kinnauri) Majiayao (5300-4000 BP) Nungish Yangshao Tani Culture Digarish 7000-5000 BP Sal Kuki-Chin-Naga (Naga, Kuki-Chin) Karenic Sinitic (Zhang, Yan, Pan, Jin, 2019 Nature) Distribution of PFC in world languages Uralic Altaic Indo-European Indo-European Altaic Indo-Irania Tai-Kadai Austro-Asiatic Austronesian Nilo-Saharan Dravidian Niger-Congo Indo-European Nostratic Macrofamily Barbujani and Pilastro (1993, PNAS) provided genetic evidence on the Nostratic Macrofamily, which includes Indo-European, Elamo-Dravidian and Altaic speakers, but not Afro-Asiatic. Renfrew (1992) proposed that Nostratic was spoken by populations of the Near East more than 10,000 years ago. Barbujani & Pilastro, 1993, PANS Diamond, J., & Bellwood, P. (2003). Farmers and their languages: the first expansions. Science, 300(5619), 597-603. Novembre, & Ramachandran (2011). Fig. 1. Map of sites and postulated migratory pathways associated with modern humans dispersing across Asia during the Late Pleistocene. Bae, Douka & Petraglia, 2017. Science PFC might make it possible to uncover language relationships at far deeper levels The traditional comparative method with cognate words can only be used to make inferences about languages that diversified within the last 6,000-10,000 years (Nicholas, 1992; Ringe, 1995; Kaufman & Golla, 2000).
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