Phonological Contrast in Bai by Michael M. Opper A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Linguistics) in The University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Andries Coetzee, Co-Chair Professor San Duanmu, Co-Chair Professor William Baxter Professor Patrice Beddor Michael M. Opper [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5222-7010 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated in memory of my Aunt Nina and Uncle John ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not be possible without my colleagues and friends throughout my graduate career (Fall 2010-Fall 2016) at the University of Michigan. First and foremost, I must single out my advisors Andries Coetzee and San Duanmu. Although my research interests do not align with the inquires which Andries would have preferred me to explore, he was very supportive throughout my time at Michigan. Furthermore, I would not have been able to accomplish much in graduate school without his patience, insistence on maintaining a schedule (which I did not usually follow effectively), and rigor in accuracy. I think of him as my role model to academic success. The acts of friendship he and Gary offered included several dinners, alcoholic beverages, their guestroom for a week in summer 2014, and many other interactions. I acknowledge San in a similar vein. In addition to our regular meetings on campus, he and I socialized often in China and at his house in Ann Arbor. The majority of my work on Bái in this dissertation is modeled after his work on Chinese and phonological theory. I have been fortunate to work with an advisor whose academic interests align so nicely with my own, it has been nothing short of inspiring to work under the expert of Chinese phonology. The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without my other committee members, Bill Baxter and Pam Beddor. Bill is a great colleague to chat with about anything. His stories are always insightful and interesting. In addition to being an encyclopedia of language data, linguistics, politics, and history, he is an all-around great person to know. Pam is one of my favorite teachers at Michigan. Of all the courses I took iii during my time as a grad student, Ling 512 was the course I enjoyed and appreciated the most. Her comments on my prospectus and original phonetic data have improved the quality this work considerably. Over my years as a graduate student at Michigan I have had fruitful exchanges with several faculty members in our department and in other departments. I particularly make note of Sam Epstein, Jeff Heath, Ezra Keshet, and Sally Thomason. Additionally, Will Styler was indispensible to the outcome of my phonetic measurements presented in this dissertation. Staff members from our department – Jen Nguyen, Sandie Petee, and Talisha Winston – have always made sure I was on track with regard to academic success and reimbursement for flights. Although my degree is in linguistics I have entertained employment opportunities involving the pedagogy of Chinese throughout my studies at Michigan. Haiqing Yin was a great mentor in this regard. I am especially grateful that she helped arrange for me to have the opportunity to teach second-year Chinese in Fall 2015. Nicole Scholtz from the Clark Library was instrumental to producing the maps in Appendix B. I also make note of the many rewarding friendships with students in our department and in other departments through the duration of my degree. Some of these great Michigan friendships include: Ariana Bancu, Marcus Berger, Uffe Bergeton, Chris Blakley, Sagan Blue, Dominique Bouavichith, Eric Brown, Justin Craft, Tridha Chatterjee, Tim Chou, Katie Dimmery, Yan Dong, Caleb Ford, Hayley Heaton, Brook Hefright, Sujeewa Hettiarachchi, Tamarae Hildebrandt, Josh Hubbard, Alan Ke, Chris Kier, Jiseung Kim, Harim Kwon, Glenn Lashley, Kenneth Lim, Jared Maher, Kevin McGowan, David Medeiros, Kevin Mulholland, Will Nediger, Dave Odgen, Michael iv Prentice, Feng Qi, Zuxuan Qin, Cameron Rule, Emily Sabo, Moira Saltzman, Kate Sherwood, Jae-Young Shim, Batia Snir, Theodore Stern, Alicia Stevers, Lauren Squires, Terry Szymanski, Stephen Tyndall, Joseph Tyler, Hongtao Wang, Rachel Weissler, Li “Daisy” Yi, Jon Yip, Xinting Zhang, Min “Kevin” Zhou, Yiwen Zhou, in addition to several others. My closest friend throughout my studies was Ben Sweeney from the Ford School who lived with me in the Washtenaw dungeon on East William Street – we had some great times. I also want to acknowledge of some of my professors at Rutgers, specifically Richard V. Simmons, Paul de Lacy, Shigeto Kawahara, and Dietrich Tschanz who wrote letters of recommendation on my behalf for PhD programs and provided encouragement toward my academic interests. Richard, in particular, inspired me to pursue an academic career focusing on the languages of China. Without his guidance and friendship, I would have never made it to Ann Arbor and then later to Yunnan. Furthermore, Seunghun Lee was the first linguistics teacher I had as an undergraduate student who engaged with me on a serious academic level. He and I are still in contact, over a decade since we first met, and occasionally visit Sino-Tibetan speaking communities together. Unlike most people who pursue a PhD in linguistics in the US, I spent two years away from my home department. I primarily lived in Kunming where I was loosely affiliated with the School of Humanities in Yunnan University. My time in Kunming was very special and has shaped the person I have become. I was fortunate to meet Na Su (who everyone just calls “Nana”). In addition to being an amazing girlfriend, she continues to help proofread most of the Chinese language materials I prepare including powerpoint slides, fieldwork notes, and other necessary documents for my research. v Above any other academic colleagues in China I have to offer particular gratitude to Yanzhen Zhao. I have benefitted immeasurably from our collaborative friendship. Aside from arranging the invitation letter required to get a visiting affiliation with Yunnan University, she made it possible for me to work with numerous Bai speakers in the Erhai area. On top of all this, she also helped ensure that the syllable inventory table presented in Appendix C is accurate. Furthermore, this connection would not have been possible without Alexis Michaud, who graciously let me follow him to Lijiang in 2013 to explore the possibility of working on Naxi. Brook Hefright, who I only knew in passing during my first-year, also helped make this research possible by setting a path for me to follow with affiliations and grant applications. He was very generous in sharing his collection of materials on Bai. I also acknowledge ongoing academic exchanges with Jincan Zhao and Haiqing Yang. Jincan Zhao has offered considerable insight on the phonological system of his native Heqing variety discussed in this dissertation. Haiqing Yang offered his vocal cords for the recordings used in the tone identification task and arranged for me to elicit data from other speakers from Wanqiao. Jinxi Zhao, Zhiqing Zhao, and members of their families also made it possible for me to collect data from a range of Erhai Bai speakers. My time in Kunming would have been less enjoyable if not for my close friendships with several expat friends, most notably James Boorman, Sandro Cagnin, Greg Dennis, Andrew Dunn, Dale Dreckman, and Fried Feige. Friends and colleagues at other institutions also contributed to my academic and emotional success throughout my graduate career. I would like to acknowledge Nathan Loggins, Sarah Plane, Alec Sugar, and Huang Xiaodong for their conversations related to the languages of China (and other banter) over these past few years. Furthermore, e-mail vi communication with David Bradley, Françios Dell, and Laurent Sagart has improved the accuracy of numerous statements in this dissertation. In addition to the stimulating exchanges and support offered by my colleagues, I am delighted to acknowledge the external funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Grant No. 1000117925) and a US Student Fulbright Research Grant to China (Grantee ID 34130558). Last but not least I make mention of my connections back home. These past several years have put a serious strain on my family relationships and friendships in New Jersey and New York. I want thank my parents (Mary Ellen and Michael Opper Jr.), sibilings (Liz and Mark Opper), cousins (Helene and John Mattera) and their families, as well as close friends (particularly Marc Ullman, Rahul Srinivasan, Yasaswi Vishnu, and Dave Yoon), for continued emotional support. I sincerely apologize for my prolonged absence in all of your lives, especially after I went to China in summer 2013. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES xiii LIST OF APPENDICIES xviii ABSTRACT xix CHAPTER 1. Introduction 1 2. Previous Research on Bái 5 2.1 Bái People and their Languages 6 2.2 Bái as a Sino-Tibetan language 9 2.2.1 Features of Sino-Tibetan Languages 10 2.2.2 Bái as a Tibeto-Burman Language 13 2.2.3 Bái as a Sinitic Language 18 2.2.4 Other Possibilities 23 2.2.5 Summary 25 2.3 Lexical and Descriptive Work on Bái 26 2.3.1 XÚ & ZHÀO (1984) 27 viii 2.3.2 Dell (1981) 28 2.3.3 DUÀN (2008a) 28 2.3.4 Wiersma (1990), (2003) 29 2.3.5 Fēng WĀNG (2006) 29 2.3.6 ZHÀO Jīncān (2011) 30 2.3.7 ZHÀO Yànzhēn (2012) 31 2.3.8 LǏ Zhèngqīng (2014) 31 2.3.9 Other Relevant Works 32 2.4 Experimental and Phonetic Work on Bái 33 2.4.1 Phonation in Jiànchuān Bái 34 2.4.2 Acoustic Description of the Tone System in Xǐzhōu Bái 36 2.4.3 Aspirated Fricatives in Bái 37 2.4.4 Summary 38 2.5 Sociolinguistic Work on Bái 39 2.5.1 Allen (2004) 39 2.6 Summary and Context for Dissertation 40 2.5.2 Hefright (2011) 40 3.