Tone and intonation in Kammu David House (KTH) Jan-Olof Svantesson (Lund) Contribution to: Word Accents and Tones in Sentence Perspective A symposium in conjunction with the 60 th birthday of Professor Gösta Bruce
Kammu in northern Laos
Words illustrating Kammu tonogenesis E Kammu N Kammu W Kammu taaŋ táaŋ ‘pack’ daaŋ tàaŋ thàaŋ ‘lizard’ thaaŋ tháaŋ ‘to clear’ o raaŋ ráaŋ ‘tooth’ raaŋ ràaŋ ‘flower’
Northern Kammu …. . táaŋ ___ tàaŋ Eastern Kammu …. . taaŋ ___ daaŋ
Production experiment Northern Kammu speaker Eastern Kammu speaker Average tone curves normalized for duration
Perception experiment
Intonation in Kammu New Project: (Sift) Separating intonation from tone – – Phrasing Focussing Questions Vocative chant In elicited and spontaneous speech Anastasia Karlsson Funding from The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation
Theoretical issues • Can we find evidence that the tonal and non -tonal dialects have the same underlying intonation system? • If so, how do tones affect and constrain the intonation system?
Northern Kammu Speaker (tonal) nàa màan pɨan cét píi ` (pregnant for about seven years) Eastern Kammu Speaker (non-tonal) …bɨan cet pii …maan gəə gniʔ bɨan cet pii
Northern Kammu Speaker (tonal) cét píi (seven years) Eastern Kammu Speaker (non-tonal) cet pii
Northern Kammu Speaker (tonal) yòŋ kə ə yɔ h mə h (Father he went where? ) Eastern Kammu Speaker (non-tonal) yoŋ gəə yɔh məh o
Northern Kammu Speaker (tonal) yòŋ kə ə yɔ h mə h (Father he went where? ) yòŋ Eastern Kammu Speaker (non-tonal) yoŋ gəə yɔh məh o
Selected references Gandour, Jackson T. , Eva Gårding & Kristina Lindell (1978). Tones in Northern Kammu: a perceptual investigation. Acta Orientalia 39. 181 -189. Gårding, Eva & Kristina Lindell (1977). Tones in Northern Kammu: a phonetic investigation. Acta Orientalia 38. 321 -332. House, David (1990). Tonal perception in speech. Lund: Lund University Press. Svantesson, Jan-Olof (1983). Kammu phonology and morphology. Lund: Gleerup. Svantesson, Jan-Olof (1989). Tonogenetic mechanisms in Northern Mon-Khmer. Phonetica 46. 60 -79. Svantesson, Jan-Olof & David House (2006). Tone production, tone perception and Kammu tonogenesis. Phonology 23. 309 -333.