Translating Diacritics A Comparison of Historic Transcriptions of Karuk Accent Clare S. Sandy University of California, Berkeley SSILA January 2014 Overview 1 Introduction 2 Correspondences Between the Accent Transcription Systems Harrington’s Orthography Word Accent Unaccented Syllables 3 Discrepancies and Points of Interest Discourse Markers Other Anomalies Abstract Representation 4 Discussion C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 2 / 26 Introduction The Karuk language • Highly endangered Hokan isolate of Northern California • 6-12 first language speakers, 20-50 second-language speakers • Prosodic system: two types of accent, at most 1 per word • Historic linguistic documentation • 1920s: John P. Harrington • 1949-1950: William Bright Making use of Harrington’s materials • Segmental transcriptions: phonetically precise, over-differentiated • What about suprasegmental transcriptions? • Can we make sense of his notations of Karuk accent? C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 3 / 26 Example of Harrington’s Orthography 3 word accents in Karuk: • Acute: chavura´ ‘finally’ • Circumflex: kachakaachˆ ‘bluejay’ • Unaccented: upiip ‘he said’ Diacritics in Harrington’s writing: • Arch • Acute • Lowering T • Tilde-acute • Low arch Beginning of ‘Bluejay Myth’ in ‘Transcriptions of Karok Texts Recorded with Franz Boas’ Northern and Central California: Karok/Shasta/Konomihu, • Low circumflex John Peabody Harrington papers • Grave C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 4 / 26 Data Harrington materials: • 1929 recording of Phoebe Maddux on aluminum disc (PHM-24-343, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology) • Harrington’s transcription with translation (John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution) For comparison: • 1949 recording of Nettie Reuben (LA 78.1, Berkeley Language Center) • William Bright’s transcription (Archives, American Philosophical Society) • Translation by Karuk elder Vina Smith (2013) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 5 / 26 Correspondences Between the Writing Systems JPH Corresponding Accent 1. ˜´a; aaˆ Circumflex 2. a´; aa´ Acute (in polysyllabic word) 3. a´; aa´ Acute (underlying unaccented monosyllable) “ > 4. a; aa Unaccented (prepausal, final stress) 5. a; aa Unaccented (underlying acute monosyllable) ˆ C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 6 / 26 Correspondences Between the Writing Systems JPH Corresponding Unaccented Syllable 6. a; aa Unaccented (non-prepausal final unstressed) ˆ a 7. a’ aa Unaccented (prepausal final unstressed) | 8. a; aa Unaccented (mid pitch) 9. a`; aa Unaccented (low pitch) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 7 / 26 Circumflex Accent 350 300 Harrington diacritic 1: High/middle falling tone ) z 200 H ( plus high pitch mark: h c t i P kachak˜a;´ chich 100 50 ‘bluejay-DIM’ kachakâachich 0 1.102 Time (s) 350 300 Circumflex accent: “strong stress plus falling pitch, ) z 200 H without glottalization (Bright ( h c t i P 1957)” 100 50 kachakaachˆ kachakâach ‘bluejay’ 0 0.7814 Time (s) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 8 / 26 Acute Accent on Long Vowels 350 300 Harrington diacritic 2: ) High pitch mark: z 200 H ( h c ’utha´;n’niv t i P 100 ‘she was lying there’ 50 utháaniv 0 1.005 Time (s) Acute accent: 350 300 “strong stress and high level pitch, ) z 200 H ( without glottalization h c t i P (Bright 1957)” 100 50 k´ıik’uummih kíikuumih ‘go ahead (and doctor)’ 0 0.869 Time (s) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 9 / 26 Acute Accent on Short Vowels 350 300 Harrington diacritic 2: ) High pitch mark: z 200 H ( y a h c kunp´ıkk a’ r t i P 100 ‘they went to get her’ 50 kunpíkaar 0 1.006 Time (s) Acute accent: 350 300 “strong stress and high level pitch, ) z 200 H ( without glottalization h c t i P (Bright 1957)” 100 50 kiikp´ıkkaan kiikpíkaan ‘go get her’ 0 0.9706 Time (s) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 10 / 26 Acute Accent in Monosyllabic Words 350 300 Harrington diacritic 3: ) z 200 H High pitch mark plus “inlaut form” ( h c t i P of low falling tone mark if long: 100 50 ka´;n ‘there’ káan “ 0 0.3835 Time (s) 350 300 Acute accent: ) Underlyingly unaccented monosyllabic words z 200 H ( h c receive acute accent except prepausally t i P 100 (Bright 1957): 50 káan kaan´ ‘there’ 0 0.2945 Time (s) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 11 / 26 ‘Unaccented’ Words Before Pause 350 300 Harrington diacritic 4: ) Low falling tone: z 200 H ( > h c ’u’ u;m t i P 100 ‘she got there’ 50 u’uum. 0 0.7493 Time (s) 350 Unaccented words: 300 Receive strong stress ) with low pitch on final z 200 H ( h c syllable prepausally: t i P 100 kun’uum 50 kun’uum ‘they got there’ 0 0.8797 Time (s) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 12 / 26 Unaccented Monosyllabic Words 350 300 ) Harrington diacritic 5: z 200 H ( h “Inlaut form” of low falling atonic: c t i P 100 ’u;m ‘3SG’ 50 ˆ uum 0 0.2214 Time (s) 350 300 Unaccented: ) Underlyingly acute-accented monosyllabic z 200 H ( h c words lose their accent except in isolation t i P 100 (Bright 1957): 50 uum ’uum ‘3SG’ 0 0.09065 Time (s) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 13 / 26 Example of Diacritic on Unaccented Syllable 300 250 200 ) z H ( 150 h c t i P 100 50 kun’áraarahitihanik 0 1.543 Time (s) Harrington diacritic 8: Mid pitch mark: kunPar´ a| ;rahitihanik ‘they were living (there)’ Unaccented: A non-final long vowel directly following an acute-accented syllable receives mid pitch (Bright 1957) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 14 / 26 Correspondences Between the Writing Systems JPH Corresponding Accent 1. ˜´a; aaˆ Circumflex 2. a´; aa´ Acute (in polysyllabic word) 3. a´; aa´ Acute (underlying unaccented monosyllable) “ > 4. a; aa Unaccented (prepausal, final stress) 5. a; aa Unaccented (underlying acute monosyllable) ˆ C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 15 / 26 Correspondences Between the Writing Systems JPH Corresponding Unaccented Syllable 6. a; aa Unaccented (non-prepausal final unstressed) ˆ a 7. a’ aa Unaccented (prepausal final unstressed) | 8. a; aa Unaccented (mid pitch) 9. a`; aa Unaccented (low pitch) C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 16 / 26 Discrepancies and Points of Interest Discrepancies and Points of Interest • Discourse Markers • Other Anomalies • Abstract Representation C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 17 / 26 Discourse Markers 350 300 300 250 200 ) ) z 200 z H H ( ( 150 h h c c t t i i P P 100 100 50 50 kári xás kári xás 0 0.5348 0 0.6482 Time (s) Time (s) Phoebe Maddux Nettie Reuben transcribed by Harrington: transcribed by Bright: karixas ‘then, so’ kari´ xas´ ‘then, so’ Some words we would write with acute accent Harrington writes unaccented • All discourse markers or function words • Can have low or high pitch, but low intensity C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 18 / 26 Unusual Pronunciation of imsh´ıinaavish ‘may you shine this way upriver’ 350 300 ) z 200 H ( h c t i P 100 50 imshîinaavish 0 1.121 Time (s) • Expected accent: acute on long ii imsh´ıinaavish ‘may you shine this way upriver’ • Harrington writes: high falling tone (=circumflex) ’imsh˜´i;nna;vish ‘may you shine this way upriver’ • Falling high on second syllable C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 19 / 26 Unusual Accent in uknˆı´ı ‘once upon a time’ 350 300 ) z 200 H ( h c t i P 100 50 uknîí 0 1.629 Time (s) > Harrington transcribes low falling tone: ’ukni; ‘once upon a time’ 400 300 ) z H ( 200 h c t i P 100 50 uknîí 0 1.368 Time (s) Bright transcribes falling-rising accent: ’uknˆı´ı; ‘once upon a time’ C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 20 / 26 Two Pronunciations of kaan ‘there’ 350 350 300 300 ) z 200 H ) ( z 200 h H ( c t i h P c t 100 i P 100 50 káan 50 káan 0 0.3835 Time (s) 0 0.8695 Time (s) • Expected: • Expected: kaan´ ‘there’ kaan´ ‘there’ • Harrington writes: • Harrington writes: low falling tone ka´;n ‘there’ k>a;n ‘there’ “ • Level high pitch • Rising pitch long clip C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 21 / 26 Two Pronunciations (?) of pay ‘this, that’ 350 350 300 300 ) ) z 200 z 200 H H ( ( h h c c t t i i P P 100 100 50 50 páy páy 0 0.2458 0 0.2326 Time (s) Time (s) • Expected: • Expected: pay´ ‘this, that’ pay´ ‘this, that’ • Harrington writes: • Harrington writes: low pitch pay´ ‘this, that’ pay` ‘this, that’ • High in context • High in context C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 22 / 26 Discrepancies Between the Writing Systems • Harrington writes unaccented where we would expect acute • All discourse markers or function words • Can have low or high pitch, but low intensity • Words with unusual pronunciations or accent • Anomalous pronunciation - Harrington writes accurately • Unusual accent - Harrington writes in a surprising way • Normal pronunciation - Harrington writes in a surprising way C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 23 / 26 Level of Representation • Harrington generally concerned with surface phonetics • Instance where he appears to be making reference to an abstract level of representation • Notation for underlyingly unaccented acute monosyllables - distinct from other acute accent, though phonetically same • Example: ka´;n ‘there’ vs. ’utha´;n’niv ‘she was lying there’ “ C. Sandy (UC Berkeley) Translating Diacritics SSILA 2014 24 / 26 Discussion John P. Harrington’s suprasegmental notation • Like segmental notation: precise, over-differentiated • Phonetically accurate • Corresponds to phonemic categories we recognize • Describes same phonological system in Karuk C.