Journal of th International Phonetic Association, 2020
Studies have shown that the voice onset time (VOT) of alveolo-palatal affricates is the longest, ... more Studies have shown that the voice onset time (VOT) of alveolo-palatal affricates is the longest, followed by velars, dental/alveolars, and bilabials. In a reciprocal pattern, closure duration is the longest for bilabials, followed by dental/alveolars, and then velars. Longer VOT is also associated with high and front vowels and tones with rising components. Moreover, the VOT of voiceless unaspirated stops is reported to be longer and closure duration shorter in nasal words. Finally, the voiceless interval has been described as constant in some languages and inconstant in others. Given the evidence of previous research, this study investigates the effects of place, nasality, tone, and vowel quality on the VOT, closure duration, and voiceless interval of the voiced and voiceless obstruents of Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), a language of Thailand. N. Pwo (ISO 639-3 pww) is a ‘true voicing’ language with a three-way distinction in stops, voiceless aspirated and unaspirated affricates, oral and nasal vowels, and six tones (four modal tones and two glottalized tones). In N. Pwo, the place effects on VOT and closure duration pattern reciprocally. Whereas, both VOT and the voiceless interval are longer before oral vowels compared to nasal vowels. VOT is longest before the mid tone, which has a slight rise, while it is the shortest before the falling-glottalized tone. This pattern is reversed for the closure duration of aspirates and voiced stops. Finally, VOT, closure duration, and the voiceless interval are the longest before high and front vowels.
Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 2019
The Tai Lue language has a complex numeral classifier system in common with other Southeast Asian... more The Tai Lue language has a complex numeral classifier system in common with other Southeast Asian languages. Using data from a 344,000-word corpus of Tai Lue texts, this paper catalogues Tai Lue numeral classifiers and the constructions in which they occur. Like Standard Thai and Lao, the general inanimate classifier an⁴ and the animal classifier too¹ can substitute for specific classifiers, including classifiers for humans, when they host a demonstrative, adjective, or relative clause. Moreover, the human classifier, pʰuu³, occurs almost exclusively in these descriptive constructions.
Journal of the Southeast Asia Linguistics Society, 2018
West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen (Karenic, Tibeto-Burman) is one of several mutually unintelligibl... more West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen (Karenic, Tibeto-Burman) is one of several mutually unintelligible varieties of Pwo Karen found in Myanmar and Thailand. This paper represents an updated version of a phonological description (Phillips 2000). The study includes a comparison of the phonologies of Burmese Eastern Pwo Karen (Hpa-an and Tavoy) and the Thailand Pwo Karen varieties, West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen and Northern Pwo Karen. While the consonant inventories are similar, the vowel inventories exhibit diphthongization of some nasalized vowels. Also, some former nasalized vowels have lost their nasalization. This denasalization is most pronounced in the Burmese Eastern Pwo Karen varieties. Moreover, these varieties have either lost the two glottalized tones, or are in the process of losing them, while this process has only begun in West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen. In contrast, all six tones are present in Northern Pwo Karen.
Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), an under-described, isolating Tibeto-Burman language of northern Tha... more Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), an under-described, isolating Tibeto-Burman language of northern Thailand, makes extensive use of clausal nominalizations in narrative discourse. Furthermore, the language has preserved a split-ergative system, based on person, in its personal pronouns. In this system, first- and second-person pronouns exhibit a nominative-accusative pattern, while third-person pronouns exhibit an ergative-absolutive pattern. Moreover, all of the third-person pronouns only occur intermittently, or optionally. Given these phenomena, this dissertation first answers the question of how clausal nominalizations are used in N. Pwo narrative discourse. It also answers the question of how nominals are used for reference tracking, especially in third-person contexts. To investigate the function of clausal nominalization and the tracking of participants, a selection of N. Pwo traditional narratives were entered into a spreadsheet and tagged for characteristics related to their function. For clausal nominalization, this included the grounding value, such as foreground vs. background information. For participant tracking, this included the person of the argument, the identification of the most important participant in a stretch of discourse, and the rank of the participant or the participant’s relative importance in the narrative. The resulting data frame was then used to quantify and correlate the occurrence of clausal nominalization and participant reference forms with discourse constructs such as the textual grounding value, in the case of clausal nominalization, and the relative importance of the participant, in the case of participant reference. Clausal nominalizations were found to occur in both narrative and conversation and are used to express background, supportive information that is off the time line, such as setting, possible states of affairs, or explanations. Non-embedded clausal nominalizations also occur in both narrative and conversation. In narrative, they are used to express the prevailing state of affairs and often occur at the end of episodes. In conversation, they are used to express a prevailing state of affairs or the speaker’s desired state of affairs. In third-person contexts, the ergative and third-person accusative pronouns are used to reference the most important participant in a stretch of discourse and typically occur at points of either temporal or participant discontinuity. Conversely, the third-person absolutive pronoun is used to reference either non-human or less important participants when a narrator chooses to emphasize that participant. Otherwise less-important participants are referenced by zero or a noun phrase. Finally, in addition to the account of the function of clausal nominalization and reference-tracking patterns, the dissertation includes an extensive morpho-syntactic overview of N. Pwo basic and nominalization constructions.
Journal of th International Phonetic Association, 2020
Studies have shown that the voice onset time (VOT) of alveolo-palatal affricates is the longest, ... more Studies have shown that the voice onset time (VOT) of alveolo-palatal affricates is the longest, followed by velars, dental/alveolars, and bilabials. In a reciprocal pattern, closure duration is the longest for bilabials, followed by dental/alveolars, and then velars. Longer VOT is also associated with high and front vowels and tones with rising components. Moreover, the VOT of voiceless unaspirated stops is reported to be longer and closure duration shorter in nasal words. Finally, the voiceless interval has been described as constant in some languages and inconstant in others. Given the evidence of previous research, this study investigates the effects of place, nasality, tone, and vowel quality on the VOT, closure duration, and voiceless interval of the voiced and voiceless obstruents of Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), a language of Thailand. N. Pwo (ISO 639-3 pww) is a ‘true voicing’ language with a three-way distinction in stops, voiceless aspirated and unaspirated affricates, oral and nasal vowels, and six tones (four modal tones and two glottalized tones). In N. Pwo, the place effects on VOT and closure duration pattern reciprocally. Whereas, both VOT and the voiceless interval are longer before oral vowels compared to nasal vowels. VOT is longest before the mid tone, which has a slight rise, while it is the shortest before the falling-glottalized tone. This pattern is reversed for the closure duration of aspirates and voiced stops. Finally, VOT, closure duration, and the voiceless interval are the longest before high and front vowels.
Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, 2019
The Tai Lue language has a complex numeral classifier system in common with other Southeast Asian... more The Tai Lue language has a complex numeral classifier system in common with other Southeast Asian languages. Using data from a 344,000-word corpus of Tai Lue texts, this paper catalogues Tai Lue numeral classifiers and the constructions in which they occur. Like Standard Thai and Lao, the general inanimate classifier an⁴ and the animal classifier too¹ can substitute for specific classifiers, including classifiers for humans, when they host a demonstrative, adjective, or relative clause. Moreover, the human classifier, pʰuu³, occurs almost exclusively in these descriptive constructions.
Journal of the Southeast Asia Linguistics Society, 2018
West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen (Karenic, Tibeto-Burman) is one of several mutually unintelligibl... more West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen (Karenic, Tibeto-Burman) is one of several mutually unintelligible varieties of Pwo Karen found in Myanmar and Thailand. This paper represents an updated version of a phonological description (Phillips 2000). The study includes a comparison of the phonologies of Burmese Eastern Pwo Karen (Hpa-an and Tavoy) and the Thailand Pwo Karen varieties, West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen and Northern Pwo Karen. While the consonant inventories are similar, the vowel inventories exhibit diphthongization of some nasalized vowels. Also, some former nasalized vowels have lost their nasalization. This denasalization is most pronounced in the Burmese Eastern Pwo Karen varieties. Moreover, these varieties have either lost the two glottalized tones, or are in the process of losing them, while this process has only begun in West-Central Thailand Pwo Karen. In contrast, all six tones are present in Northern Pwo Karen.
Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), an under-described, isolating Tibeto-Burman language of northern Tha... more Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), an under-described, isolating Tibeto-Burman language of northern Thailand, makes extensive use of clausal nominalizations in narrative discourse. Furthermore, the language has preserved a split-ergative system, based on person, in its personal pronouns. In this system, first- and second-person pronouns exhibit a nominative-accusative pattern, while third-person pronouns exhibit an ergative-absolutive pattern. Moreover, all of the third-person pronouns only occur intermittently, or optionally. Given these phenomena, this dissertation first answers the question of how clausal nominalizations are used in N. Pwo narrative discourse. It also answers the question of how nominals are used for reference tracking, especially in third-person contexts. To investigate the function of clausal nominalization and the tracking of participants, a selection of N. Pwo traditional narratives were entered into a spreadsheet and tagged for characteristics related to their function. For clausal nominalization, this included the grounding value, such as foreground vs. background information. For participant tracking, this included the person of the argument, the identification of the most important participant in a stretch of discourse, and the rank of the participant or the participant’s relative importance in the narrative. The resulting data frame was then used to quantify and correlate the occurrence of clausal nominalization and participant reference forms with discourse constructs such as the textual grounding value, in the case of clausal nominalization, and the relative importance of the participant, in the case of participant reference. Clausal nominalizations were found to occur in both narrative and conversation and are used to express background, supportive information that is off the time line, such as setting, possible states of affairs, or explanations. Non-embedded clausal nominalizations also occur in both narrative and conversation. In narrative, they are used to express the prevailing state of affairs and often occur at the end of episodes. In conversation, they are used to express a prevailing state of affairs or the speaker’s desired state of affairs. In third-person contexts, the ergative and third-person accusative pronouns are used to reference the most important participant in a stretch of discourse and typically occur at points of either temporal or participant discontinuity. Conversely, the third-person absolutive pronoun is used to reference either non-human or less important participants when a narrator chooses to emphasize that participant. Otherwise less-important participants are referenced by zero or a noun phrase. Finally, in addition to the account of the function of clausal nominalization and reference-tracking patterns, the dissertation includes an extensive morpho-syntactic overview of N. Pwo basic and nominalization constructions.
Uploads
Papers by Audra Phillips
Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), a language of Thailand. N. Pwo (ISO 639-3 pww) is a ‘true voicing’ language with a three-way distinction in stops, voiceless aspirated and unaspirated affricates, oral and nasal vowels, and six tones (four modal tones and two glottalized tones). In N. Pwo, the place effects on VOT and closure duration pattern reciprocally. Whereas,
both VOT and the voiceless interval are longer before oral vowels compared to nasal vowels. VOT is longest before the mid tone, which has a slight rise, while it is the shortest before the falling-glottalized tone. This pattern is reversed for the closure duration of aspirates and voiced stops. Finally, VOT, closure duration, and the voiceless interval are the longest before high and front vowels.
Thesis Chapters by Audra Phillips
To investigate the function of clausal nominalization and the tracking of participants, a selection of N. Pwo traditional narratives were entered into a spreadsheet and tagged for characteristics related to their function. For clausal nominalization, this included the grounding value, such as foreground vs. background information. For participant tracking, this included the person of the argument, the identification of the most important participant in a stretch of discourse, and the rank of the participant or the participant’s relative importance in the narrative. The resulting data frame was then used to quantify and correlate the occurrence of clausal nominalization and participant reference forms with discourse constructs such as the textual grounding value, in the case of clausal nominalization, and the relative importance of the participant, in the case of participant reference.
Clausal nominalizations were found to occur in both narrative and conversation and are used to express background, supportive information that is off the time line, such as setting, possible states of affairs, or explanations. Non-embedded clausal nominalizations also occur in both narrative and conversation. In narrative, they are used to express the prevailing state of affairs and often occur at the end of episodes. In conversation, they are used to express a prevailing state of affairs or the speaker’s desired state of affairs.
In third-person contexts, the ergative and third-person accusative pronouns are used to reference the most important participant in a stretch of discourse and typically occur at points of either temporal or participant discontinuity. Conversely, the third-person absolutive pronoun is used to reference either non-human or less important participants when a narrator chooses to emphasize that participant. Otherwise less-important participants are referenced by zero or a noun phrase.
Finally, in addition to the account of the function of clausal nominalization and reference-tracking patterns, the dissertation includes an extensive morpho-syntactic overview of N. Pwo basic and nominalization constructions.
Northern Pwo Karen (N. Pwo), a language of Thailand. N. Pwo (ISO 639-3 pww) is a ‘true voicing’ language with a three-way distinction in stops, voiceless aspirated and unaspirated affricates, oral and nasal vowels, and six tones (four modal tones and two glottalized tones). In N. Pwo, the place effects on VOT and closure duration pattern reciprocally. Whereas,
both VOT and the voiceless interval are longer before oral vowels compared to nasal vowels. VOT is longest before the mid tone, which has a slight rise, while it is the shortest before the falling-glottalized tone. This pattern is reversed for the closure duration of aspirates and voiced stops. Finally, VOT, closure duration, and the voiceless interval are the longest before high and front vowels.
To investigate the function of clausal nominalization and the tracking of participants, a selection of N. Pwo traditional narratives were entered into a spreadsheet and tagged for characteristics related to their function. For clausal nominalization, this included the grounding value, such as foreground vs. background information. For participant tracking, this included the person of the argument, the identification of the most important participant in a stretch of discourse, and the rank of the participant or the participant’s relative importance in the narrative. The resulting data frame was then used to quantify and correlate the occurrence of clausal nominalization and participant reference forms with discourse constructs such as the textual grounding value, in the case of clausal nominalization, and the relative importance of the participant, in the case of participant reference.
Clausal nominalizations were found to occur in both narrative and conversation and are used to express background, supportive information that is off the time line, such as setting, possible states of affairs, or explanations. Non-embedded clausal nominalizations also occur in both narrative and conversation. In narrative, they are used to express the prevailing state of affairs and often occur at the end of episodes. In conversation, they are used to express a prevailing state of affairs or the speaker’s desired state of affairs.
In third-person contexts, the ergative and third-person accusative pronouns are used to reference the most important participant in a stretch of discourse and typically occur at points of either temporal or participant discontinuity. Conversely, the third-person absolutive pronoun is used to reference either non-human or less important participants when a narrator chooses to emphasize that participant. Otherwise less-important participants are referenced by zero or a noun phrase.
Finally, in addition to the account of the function of clausal nominalization and reference-tracking patterns, the dissertation includes an extensive morpho-syntactic overview of N. Pwo basic and nominalization constructions.