sleVowVVowelsofTaa !tof (Wes sleowTaaof Taa(West nXoo !Xoon!Xoon) !t (Wes) nXoo and and theirand acoustic properties Afrikalinguistisches Kolloquium, 05. November 2013 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Seminar für Afrikawissenschaften Christfried Naumann 1. Introduction 2. Research questions 3. Procedure 4. Examples 5. First results 1 Introduction: Taa "Khoisan" 1. Hadza (isolate) Hadza Sandawe 2. Sandawe (isolate) 3. Khoe-Kwadi Kwadi† Cape Khoekhoe† ǃOra-Xiri(†) Eini† Namibian Standard Khoekhoe (Nama-Damara, Haiǁom, ǂAakhoe) Kwadi† Shua (Cara, Deti†, ǀXaise, Danisi ...) Kxoe Tshwa (Kua ...) ǂAakhoe ǃXun Kxoe (Khwe, ǁAni ...; Ts'ixa ?) Haiǁom Shua Gǁana (incl. Gǀui) Juǀʼhoan Tshwa Naro (Naro, Tsʼao ...) Naro Herero Gǀui-Gǁana 4. Kxʼa Nama- TaaKgalagadi ǂʼAmkoe (NW) ǃXun Damara Lower Juǀʼhoan (incl. ǂXʼao-ǁʼaen) Nossob† Afrikaans ǁXegwi† ǂʼAmkoe (ǂHoan/Nǃaqriaxe, Sasi) Nǁng 5. Tuu ǃOra- Xiri(†) Eini† Taa (West ǃXoon, East ǃXoon, ...) Lower Nossob† (ǀʼAuni, ǀHaasi, ...) ǀXam† Nǁng (Nǀuu = ǂKhomani, ...) ǀXam† (Strandberg, Achterveld, ...) Cape Khoekhoe† 2 ǁXegwi† "San" Cf. Güldemann (in press). Introduction: Taa Taa dialects 3 Introduction: Taa Taa dialects Mamuno/Charles Hill Gobabis Okwa BOTSWANA Takatswane Central Tsachas Kalahari Tjaka/ Bere Uichenas Kacgae Ben Hur Kule Lone Tree Game Reserve Okomboha Ranyane Baruchwe Ncojane East ǃXoon Otjikoto Metsimantle Lokalane West ǃXoon Hunhukwe Okonyoka ǃAma Ncaang Ohe Leonardville Corridor 13 Ukwi Corridor 15 Tsetseng Okongowa Monong Make Aminuis Corridor 18 Kang Gunkas Corridor 17 Ngwatle Lotlhake Kumu Phephane Tswane Lehututu Phuduhudu Dutlwe Oorwinning Hukuntsi Maretswane Khekhenye Bosduin Morwamasu Aranos Zutshwa Tshane Tshaasi Inalegolo Kokong Kanaku NAMIBIA Mabutsane ǂHuan Kutuku Sekoma Khakhea Gochas Kgalagadi Kokhotsha Mabuasehube Transfrontier Goa Park Werda Makopong SOUTH ca. 50 km 4 CC-BY Naumann 2012 AFRICA Introduction: Taa vowels Front Back Restrictions Close Mid Open Mid Close modal, oral i e a o u nasal ĩ <in> ã <an> ũ <un> V 2 only pharyngealised aˁ <aq> oˁ <oq> uˁ <uq> V 1 only tense ~ glottalised aˀ <a'> oˀ <o'> uˀ <u'> V 1 only breathy a ̤ <ah> o̤ <oh> ṳ <uh> V 1 only strident a ̳ <aqh> o̳ <oqh> u̳ <uqh> V 1 only (various combinations in diphtongs, including non-modal vowels in V1 and nasal vowels in V2, e.g. /u+i/, /u+ĩ/, /ṳ+i/, /ṳ+ĩ/, /o+e/, /o+a/, /o+ã/, /o̤+ã/, ...) Lexical stems in native vocabulary: C(C)V1CV2 C(C)V1N 5 C(C)V1V2 Boden et al. (2008) Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Introduction: Taa vowels Khwe Ṽ Ts'ixa Juǀ'hoan Ṽ Shua Non-modal/non-oral Ṽ, Vˁ("Vʢ"), Vˀ, V̤ Ṽ Naro N.Kua vowels in selected Ṽ, Vˁ Ṽ Khoe, Kx'a and Tuu S.Kua Khoekhoe Gǀui Ṽ, Vˁ, V̳ languages Ṽ Taa Ṽ, Vˁ Ṽ, Vˁ, Vˀ, V̤, V̳ ǂ'Amkoe Ṽ, Vˁ, Vˀ Nǁng ʢ ǃOra Ṽ, Vˁ ("V ") Ṽ ǀXam† Ṽ, Vˁ, Vˀ ? Traill (1980), Fehn (p.c.), Gerlach (p.c.), Güldemann in Vossen (2013: 80), Haacke in Vossen (2013: 52ff.), Miller et al. (2009), 6 Miller in Vossen (2013: 46ff.), Nakagawa (2006), Visser in Vossen (2013: 60), Vossen in Vossen (2013: 71). Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Research questions 1. Distinct acoustic properties (plotting vowels) TWb130316-0110 [ ʔ a: ḁ ] 5000 4000 3000 2000 Frequency (Hz) Frequency 1000 0 12.05 12.4 Cf. broad band spectrogramTime (s) (window 0.005s) of Taa /ʔaa/ "you" for one male speaker. 5000 4000 3000 2000 Frequency (Hz) Frequency 1000 0 Vowels of American English (Peterson & Barney 1952) 12.05 12.4 Cf. narrow band spectrogramTime (s) (window 0.02s). 7 7 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Research questions 1. Distinct acoustic properties (plotting vowels) 1400 1300 q<a > 1200 <aqh> 1100 (Hz) (Hz) (Hz) (Hz) 1000 1 1 1 1 F F F F 900 h<a > <a> 800 700 600 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 HarmonicsHarmonicsHarmonics-Harmonics---totototo----noisenoise rationoise ratio Plot of F1 vs. harmonics-to-noise ratio of four phonation types for one female speaker of West !Xoon (Boden et al. 2008) 8 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Research questions 2. Simple underlying contrast /a, aˁ, aˀ, a̤, a̳/ vs. /u, uˁ, uˀ, ṳ, u̳/ in V1? (Nakagawa 2010 for Gǀui) >> /u/ vs. /o/ in V1 in Taa? Nakagawa (2010: 31) 9 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Research questions 3. More research questions • allophones & allophonic variation • phonological representation of [i:], [e:], etc. (/a+i/ ~ /i+i/ ?, /a+e/ ~ /e+e/ ?, etc.) • consistent representation of [u] vs. [o] (e.g., for q__, !__ ) • further phonotactic restrictions (e.g., in diphtongs) >> phonological questions for a concise description of West ǃXoon 10 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Procedure Background • phonological analysis – structuralist linguistics: through minimal pairs (tea vs. pea, contrast in identical environments ) > sound categories (phonemes) by function (differentiation of meaning) – (acoustic / articulatory data secondary) • here: (hybrid categorical) usage-based approach (Pierrehumbert 2001, 2003, 2006) – phonemes = sound categories with frequency distributions on the phonetic level to one abstract unit on the discrete phonological level – > primary phonetic properties, secondary usage in sound systems – equivalent to contrast in analogous environments ("no plausible statement of environmental conditioning") (cf. Burquest 2006: 35) – distinct (non-overlapping) distributions (clusters) for comparable environments, e.g., F1 + F2 values for vowels #{t/th/d/s/z/l}___{t/th/d/s/z/l}# 11 Burquest (2006:35) Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Procedure • March 2013: elicitation of words (in isolation) • one female and two male speakers • ca. 1500 ~ 750 vowels • different contexts: • C1__C(V) (C1 = anterior egressive or ʔ) • C1 __ __ [CVV] • ǀ__C(V), ǀ__ __ • ǃ__C(V), ǃ__ __ • Q__C(V), Q__ __ (Q - uvular egressive) • CVC__ • annotation/labelling in PRAAT • script-run measurements • duration • F1, F2, F3 (at 1/8, 2/8 ... 7/8) • shimmer, jitter, harmonics-to-noise ratio • H1, H2, "A1" • centre of gravity • extraction of long-term average spectra ("LTAS", 1-1 and 12 bandwidth = mean F0) Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Examples Modal vowel /a/ (/ʔaa/ "you.SG", anaphoric pronoun) TWb130316-0110 [ ʔ a: ḁ ] 5000 40 4000 30 Hz) / 20 3000 10 2000 Frequency (Hz) Frequency 0 1000 (dB Soundlevel pressure -10 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 10.52 10.686 11 Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Narrow band spectrogram (window 0.015s) of Taa Spectral slice from 10.686 s +/- 20ms (= 1/4 of /ʔaa/ "you" for one male speaker. vowel length). 13 13 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Examples Nasal vowel /ã/ (/ʔaã/ "it", anaphoric pronoun, agreement class 2i) TWb130316-0110 [ ʔ ã: ḁ ] 5000 40 4000 30 Hz) / 20 3000 10 2000 Frequency (Hz) Frequency 0 1000 (dB Soundlevel pressure -10 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 26.46 26.794 27.05 Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Narrow band spectrogram (window 0.015s) of Taa Spectral slice from 26.794 s +/- 20ms. /ʔaã/ "it" for one male speaker. 14 14 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Examples Pharyngealised vowel /aˁ/ (/aˁa/ "father") TWb130316-0110 [ aˁ a ḁ ] 5000 40 4000 Hz) / 30 3000 20 2000 10 Frequency (Hz) Frequency Sound pressure level (dB level Sound pressure 0 1000 -10 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 62.96 63.162 63.58 Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Narrow band spectrogram (window 0.015s) of Taa Spectral slice from 63.162 s +/- 20ms (= 1/4 of /aˁa/ "father" for one male speaker. vowel length). 15 15 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Examples Glottalised vowel /aˀ/ (/taˀa/ "you here") TWb130316-0110 [ t aˀ a ḁ ] 5000 40 4000 Hz) / 30 3000 20 2000 10 Frequency (Hz) Frequency 0 1000 (dB Soundlevel pressure -10 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 517.7 517.945 518.3 Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Narrow band spectrogram (window 0.015s) of Taa Spectral slice from 517.945 s +/- 20ms (= 1/4 of /taˀa/ "you here" for one male speaker. Formant vowel length). contours in red, intensity contour in white. 16 16 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Examples Breathy vowel /a̤/ (/ta̤a/ "to refuse") TWb130316-0110 [ t a̤ (a) ḁ ] 5000 40 30 4000 Hz) / 20 3000 10 2000 Frequency (Hz) Frequency 0 1000 (dB Soundlevel pressure -10 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 191.8 192.033 192.4 Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Narrow band spectrogram (window 0.015s) of Taa Spectral slice from 192.033 s +/- 20ms (= 1/4 of /ta̤a/ "to refuse" for one male speaker. Formant vowel length). contours in red, intensity contour in white. 17 17 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) Examples Strident vowel /a̳/ (/a̳a/ "porridge") TWb130316-0110 [ ʔ a̳ a ḁ ] 5000 30 4000 Hz) / 20 3000 10 2000 0 Frequency (Hz) Frequency 1000 (dB Soundlevel pressure -10 -20 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 77.01 77.218 77.62 Frequency (Hz) Time (s) Narrow band spectrogram (window 0.015s) of Taa Spectral slice from 77.218 s +/- 20ms (= 1/4 of /a̳a/ "porridge" for one male speaker. Formant vowel length). contours in red, intensity contour in white. 18 18 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) First results: Phonetic properties F2 2800 2600 2400 2200 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 100 ih u 200 i 300 400 i' e' o 500 e 600 F1 700 ah a 800 > 5 phonetic clusters 900 by F1 x F2 aq > modal and non-modal aqh 1000 phonations similar 1100 Vowels in C__ __ context (with formant quality of V1 = V2): F1 vs. F2 for male speaker 278-FT 19 19 Vowels of Taa (West ǃXoon) First results: Phonetic properties Same procedure for a second speaker F2 3200 3000 2800 2600 2400 2200 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 200 300 400 500 600 700 F 1 800 900 > similar contrasts > mid vowels more closed 1000 1100 1200 Vowels in C__ __ context (with formant quality of V1 = V2): F1 vs.