INTONATION IN CONTACT: PROSODIC TRANSFER AND INNOVATION AMONG YAMI-MANDARIN BILINGUALS by Li-Fang Lai B.A. Double major in Chinese Literature and Language; Geography, National Changhua University of Education, 2007 M.A. in Sinology, National Taiwan Normal University, 2011 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2018 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Li-Fang Lai It was defended on April 24, 2018 and approved by Seth Wiener, Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University Karen E. Park, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics Melinda Fricke, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics Dissertation Advisor: Shelome Gooden, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics ii Copyright © by Li-Fang Lai 2018 iii INTONATION IN CONTACT: PROSODIC TRANSFER AND INNOVATION AMONG YAMI-MANDARIN BILINGUALS Li-Fang Lai, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2018 Yami, an Austronesian language spoken on Orchid Island, Taiwan (less than 1,500 fluent speakers), is currently facing endangerment due to heavy contact with Mandarin. This dissertation investigated whether there is contact-induced prosodic variation in Yami-Mandarin bilingual speech, while also describing and documenting the evolution of Yami intonation. I advanced the description of key aspects of Yami intonation, which allowed the examination of Yami-Mandarin bilingual intonation patterns. This permitted identification of potential Mandarin influence in Yami and vice versa. Five sentence types (statement, neutral question, confirmation-seeking question, default statement question (SQ1), and statement question conveying lighter incredulity (SQ2)) were elicited using a new paradigm – the Interactive Card Game. Three acoustic parameters were considered: final boundary tone, F0 slope, and mean pitch height. To gauge the impact of language background, 44 participants were divided into Yami-monolingual, Yami-dominant bilingual, balanced bilingual, Mandarin-dominant bilingual, and Mandarin-monolingual groups. Older fluent Yami speakers distinguished falling statements and neutral questions from rising confirmation-seeking questions and SQ1s, but had no authentic SQ2. Bilinguals, however, transferred this Mandarin question type (SQ2) into Yami. This was then intertwined with Yami intonation to form a hybrid pattern. For Mandarin production, ethnically Yami, linguistically Mandarin-monolinguals patterned exactly with mainland Mandarin speakers by making a three- way distinction among falling, level, and rising intonation patterns. Bilinguals only showed a two- iv way distinction merging SQ1 and SQ2 into a single SQ category (a Yami substrate effect), which was then realized with a Mandarin-SQ2-like level contour to form another hybrid pattern. The current linguistic ecological context plays a crucial role in determining the evolution of bilingual intonation. Specifically, considering the imbalanced power relationships between the groups and the socioeconomic pressures on Yami speakers, the two innovative hybrid patterns suggest an in-progress asymmetrical convergence of the intonation systems. This research expands the body of work on contact-induced prosodic change underscoring that higher-level prosody is permeable under contact. It also adds to studies on Austronesian/indigenous language intonation features. The broader impacts extend to heritage language education as the study has the potential to help Yami teachers develop new strategies in teaching language prosody. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. XIX 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 BROAD GOALS ................................................................................................... 2 1.1.1 Why Yami intonation? ................................................................................................ 2 1.1.2 Why Yami-Mandarin bilingual intonation patterns? .............................................. 3 1.1.3 Intellectual merit and broader impacts ..................................................................... 3 1.2 A SOCIAL PORTRAIT OF ORCHID ISLAND ............................................... 4 1.2.1 Social portrait – From isolation to post-insularity ................................................... 4 1.2.1.1 Orchid Island in isolation .................................................................................................... 5 1.2.1.2 From openness to post-insularity ........................................................................................ 5 1.2.2 Language contact and sociolinguistic effects ............................................................. 8 1.2.2.1 Japanese influence on Yami ................................................................................................ 8 1.2.2.2 Mandarin influence on Yami .............................................................................................. 9 1.2.3 Inter-group conflicts between Yami and Taiwan societies .................................... 10 1.2.3.1 Sociopolitical conflicts between the Taiwanese government and the Yami community .. 10 1.2.3.2 Tourism as a double-edged sword? Sociocultural clashes with tourists............................ 13 1.3 DISSERTATION OUTLINE ............................................................................. 14 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 16 2.1 VARIATION AND CHANGE IN DYING LANGUAGE ............................... 16 2.1.1 Speaker typology in endangered language communities ....................................... 16 2.1.2 Loss of linguistic features in dying speech communities: Alternative models ..... 18 2.1.2.1 Contact-induced change .................................................................................................... 18 2.1.2.2 Language decay ................................................................................................................. 19 vi 2.2 CONTACT-INDUCED PROSODIC CHANGE IN DIFFERENT SCENARIOS ....................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 22 2.2.1.1 Terminology ...................................................................................................................... 22 2.2.1.2 Prosodic hierarchy............................................................................................................. 23 2.2.2 Language contact and prosodic transfer in multilingual communities ................. 25 2.2.2.1 Italian influences on Buenos Aires Spanish ...................................................................... 26 2.2.2.2 Influences of L2 Majorcan Spanish on L1 Peninsular Spanish ......................................... 26 2.2.3 Co-existence of distinct systems – Bilingual individuals ........................................ 27 2.2.3.1 Dutch-Greek bilinguals ..................................................................................................... 28 2.2.3.2 Turkish-German bilinguals ............................................................................................... 28 2.2.3.3 Quechua-Cuzco Spanish bilinguals ................................................................................... 29 2.2.3.4 Catalan-Spanish bilinguals ................................................................................................ 29 2.2.4 Contact between distinct prosodic typologies ......................................................... 30 2.2.4.1 Contact between tone and stress languages in western China ........................................... 30 2.2.4.2 Contact between tone and stress languages in Caribbean creoles ..................................... 31 2.3 YAMI AND TAIWANESE MANDARIN INTONATIONS: AN OVERVIEW …………………………………………………………………………………... 33 2.3.1 Taiwanese Mandarin ................................................................................................. 33 2.3.1.1 Linguistics background ..................................................................................................... 33 2.3.1.2 Sentence formation and intonation .................................................................................... 34 2.3.2 Yami ............................................................................................................................ 37 2.3.2.1 Linguistics background ..................................................................................................... 37 2.3.2.2 Sentence formation and intonation .................................................................................... 38 2.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES .............................................................................. 41 2.4.1 What is missing from previous literature? .............................................................. 41 vii 2.4.2 Research objectives .................................................................................................... 42 2.4.2.1 Description of Yami intonation ........................................................................................