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# Phoneme Quality, Voice Quality, and Tone: Origins of the Recently Discovered Contrasts in Languages of Western Sichuan, China

Angelique Amelot, Katia Chirkova

► To cite this version:

Angelique Amelot, Katia Chirkova. Phoneme Quality, Voice Quality, and Tone: Origins of the Recently Discovered Contrasts in Languages of Western Sichuan, China. Les 50 ans du LPP, Jun 2024, Paris, France. hal-04846689

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https://hal.science/hal-04846689v1

Submitted on 27 Dec 2024

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Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
# Phoneme Quality, Voice Quality, and Tone:
Origins of the Recently Uncovered Contrasts
in Languages of Western Sichuan, China

PhoTon

ANR-23-CE54-0003

Sichuan Province in the
People's Republic of China
is home to little-explored
multi-lingual areas. Scholars
recently uncovered contrasts
involving sounds of the lower
vocal tract in Qiangic and
Tibetic languages (Sino-Tibetan)
spoken these areas

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## Importance

Contrasts involving sounds of the lower vocal tract are not common in the languages of the world, which makes their discovery in Sichuan all the more spectacular. These recently uncovered contrasts are of great interest for our understanding of sounds of the lower vocal tract, and, more generally, for the typology of phonological systems. They also have the potential to contribute significantly to our understanding of sound change. And they can shed light on the historical development and genetic relationships of various phylogenetically obscure Sino-Tibetan languages of Sichuan

## Combined Methodologies

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documentary and
descriptive linguistics

We first examine
synchronie aspects
of the reported contrasts

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instrumental and
experimental phonetics
comparative linguistics

We do acoustic analysis,
electroglottography, and
ultrasound imaging

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historical and
comparative linguistics

We examine diachronie
aspects of the reported
contrasts
by applying comparative-
historical methods

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### Laryngeal
Articulator
Model

The Laryngeal Articulator Model by Esling et al. (2019) will serve as a guide for related work providing some key details of laryngeal behavior in producing voice quality and associated segmental and phonatory phenomena.

## The contrasts in our project include:

<table><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Gloss</th><th colspan="2">Tibetic varieties</th></tr><tr><th>Chos-rje</th><th>Baima</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>he, she, it</td><td>kʰo [kʰó]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>house</td><td>kʰo [kʰɔ:]</td><td>(ŋgo [ŋgɔ:])</td></tr><tr><td>hempen cloth</td><td></td><td>tʰa [tʰa]</td></tr><tr><td>thick rope</td><td></td><td>tʰa [tʰa:]</td></tr></tbody></table>

Paired sets of vowels in some local Qiangic languages (Qiang or Rma, Rgyalrong, Khroskyabs, Horpa), of which one is plain and the other is associated with secondary articulatory gestures (variously described as velarization, uvularization, and pharyngealization)

<table><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Gloss</th><th colspan="2">Qiang varieties</th></tr><tr><th>Mawo</th><th>Yunlinsi</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>be burdened with work or responsibilities</td><td>zi</td><td>zi [zi]</td></tr><tr><td>ladle</td><td>ziS</td><td>zi S [zi]</td></tr><tr><td>wait</td><td>zu</td><td>zu [zu]</td></tr><tr><td>hail</td><td>zuS</td><td>zuS [zu]</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Contributions

* a wealth of experimental data on typologically rare contrasts accompanied by underlying data in open access

* reconstructions of the developmental pathways of the contrasts in our case studies, which have the potential to shed new light on various characteristic phonological developments in Sichuan, including vowel harmony, uvulars, and tonogenesis

* analysis of the role of language contact in the propagation of the contrasts across varieties that are but distantly genetically related (Qiangic, Tibetic) and related mecha.nisms of contact-induced change

* an exploration of the potential for instrumental phonetic methods to bolster the documentation of endangered languages

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CRLAO

The Center for East Asian Studies is the reference laboratory for the study of Sino-Tibetan languages in France.

CRLAO team members are Katia Chirkova (scientific coordinator), Redouane Djamouri, Guillaume Jacques, and postdoctoral researcher Yao Dong.

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LPP

The Phonetics and Phonology Laboratory is an important laboratory in the field of phonetics and phonology at the national level.

LPP team members are Angélique Amelot (scientific coordinator), Lise Crevier-Buchman, Claire Pillot-Loiseau, and a postdoctoral researcher (to be recruited).

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external members and senior advisors

This research project is fortunate to count on the experience and expertise of external members and senior advisors, including Jackson T.-S. Sun (Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica), Jonathan Evans (Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica), John Esling (University of Victoria), and Nathaniel Sims (University of Oregon).

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RÉPUBLIQUE
FRANÇAISE

Liberté
Égalité
Fraternité

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