LINGUIST List 16.3579
Sat Dec 17 2005
Diss: Phonetics/Typology: Michaud: 'Prosodie de lang...'
Editor for this issue: Megan Zdrojkowski
<meganlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Alexis
Michaud,
Prosodie de langues à tons (naxi et vietnamien), prosodie de l’anglais : éclairages croisés
Message 1: Prosodie de langues à tons (naxi et vietnamien), prosodie de l’anglais : éclairages croisés
Date: 14-Dec-2005
From: Alexis Michaud <Alexis.Michaud
univ-paris3.fr>
Subject: Prosodie de langues à tons (naxi et vietnamien), prosodie de l’anglais : éclairages croisés
Institution: University of Paris 3, Sorbonne Nouvelle
Program: Laboratoire de Phonétique et de Phonologie
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2005
Author: Alexis Michaud
Dissertation Title: Prosodie de langues à tons (naxi et vietnamien), prosodie de l’anglais : éclairages croisés
Linguistic Field(s):
Phonetics
Typology
Subject Language(s): Naxi (nbf)
Dissertation Director:
Jacqueline Vaissière
Dissertation Abstract:
Comparison of English with two Asian tone languages (Naxi and Vietnamese)
suggests that lexical specifications (phonemic contrasts and lexical
accentuation) and intonation stand in a relationship of resource-sharing:
the former provide the framework within which intonational variation takes
on its meaning. Typologically, each language arguably allows speakers a
given degree of freedom; Naxi (4 lexical tones) appears more constrained
than English, and also than Vietnamese (although the latter has 6 tones).
The experimental results (which include an estimation of voice quality by
electroglottography) hint at the presence of a superposition of several
phenomena, rather than one single prosodic structure. They allow for a
discussion of a question raised by the autosegmental-metrical framework of
intonation studies: do accentuation and intonation converge to shape a
tonal string for the utterance (in all languages)? The results suggest that
the latter view may be an oversimplification.