1. An acoustic study of Dimasa tones Priyankoo Sarmah and Caroline Wiltshire University of Florida priyanku@ufl.edu wiltshir@ufl.edu

2. The Dimasa Language Tibeto-Burman Language of the Bodo-Garo family. Spoken by 88,543 people in Assam and Nagaland. (1991 Indian census report) RCILTS, IIT Guwahati (http://www.iitg.ernet.in/rcilts/dimasa.htm ) 2 tones: High, Unmarked Level Singha (2003) 3 tones: High, Low and Unmarked Level

3. This study… How many tones are there in Dimasa? What are the acoustic properties of Dimasa tones? How do tones operate in monosyllables and disyllables?

4. Methodology: Wordlist and speakers A list of segmentally homophonic words was constructed using data from a native speaker of Dimasa. The words were arranged in random order in the list. 10 native speakers of Dimasa (5 male, 5 female) were asked to produce the words in a sentence frame. ang X thiba Each word was repeated four times by the speakers. Only the first three iterations were included in analysis to avoid listing effect.

5. Methodology: Recording the data Recorder: Marantz PMD660 solid state Sampling frequency: 48 Khz Microphone: Audio-Technica AT4041 Storage: HP compact flash card

6. Methodology: Analyzing the data Praat v.4.5.04 Measure 1: Track the pitch on the TBU at every 2% of the length of the TBU Measure 2: The initiation point of the pitch on TBU Measure 3: 20ms after initiation of the pitch on TBU

7. Methodology: Analyzing the data Measure 1 is taken to track the pitch of the TBU in detail.  Automatic pitch tracking of Praat is not detailed enough.  It also normalizes the length as % values are derived. Measure 2 and Measure 3 are taken to see if and to what extent the consonant in the onset affects the pitch of the TBU.

8. Methodology: Analyzing the data Measure 1: Every 2% of the pitch on TBU = 50 points

9. Methodology: Analyzing the data Measure 2: Point of initiation of the pitch on the TBU (Pi) Measure 3: 20ms after the point of initiation (Pi+20)

10. Methodology For all the measurements specific scripts were written. The script were run on 103 underived words of Dimasa. The 103 words included monosyllabic and polysyllabic words.

11. Measure 2 and 3 Pi and Pi+20 are compared statistically A standard t-test (p<0.05) is conducted on the data. Grouped by the onset consonant.

12. Results: Measure 2 and 3 Vowelsbd 0.0702387555.53732E-143.06496E-08 dzgh 0.0265745880.0294064933.09369E-08 khkh lm 4.03054E-062.20243E-050.089387967 rssh 0.0007236915.13417E-051.39625E-12 thth wz 1.22493E-100.8264798480.000801464

13. Results: Measure 2 and 3 [p h ], [k h ], [b], [d], [g], [dz], [h], [l], [r], [s], [sh], [z] Showed significant effect on the following pitch. [m] and [w] did not show significant effect on the following pitch. Pi – (Pi+20) showed that [p h ], [k h ], [b], [d], [dz], [h], [l], [s], [sh], [z] raises the following pitch. [r] depresses the following pitch.

14. Results: Measure 1 Pitch points were calculated on 50 points across the pitch of each TBU (every 2%) These 50 points were replotted on a graph to reconstruct the pitch track.

15. Results: Measure 1 Initial examination of data set in Singha (2003): thi ‘speak’ thi ‘to die’ thi‘blood’ lai‘page’ lai‘easy’ lai‘wish’ maithai‘year’ maithai‘crop’ maithai‘source’

16. Results: Measure 1 Demonstrates tonal distinction in segmentally homogeneous pairs.

17. Results: Measure 1

18. /mait h ai/ ‘crop’

19. Results: Measure 1 /mait h ai/ ‘source’

20. Results: Measure 1 /mait h ai/ ‘year’

21. Results: Measure 1 Compared to Singha (2003): /thi/ shows evidence for three distinct tones  /lai/ does not show evidence for three tones  /mait h ai/ does not show evidence for three tones.

22. Results: Measure 1 Another interesting set: bai‘to break’ bai‘to cross’ bai‘to dance’ bai‘to order’ bai‘to ship’ bai‘to spin’

23. Results: Measure 1

24. In most of the cases:

25. Results: Measure 1 Tones: Dimasa has three lexical tones: A high tone (rising) A level mid tone A low tone (falling)

26. Bisyllables in Dimasa No mention in Singha (2003) Bodo-Garo languages primarily show tone assignment on only one syllable. (Joseph and Burling, 2001; Sarmah 2003)

27. Bisyllables in Dimasa goroncompany goronto confuse miyabamboo shoot miyamale person miyayesterday

28. Results: Bisyllables /goron/ ‘company’

29. Results: Bisyllables /goron/ ‘confuse’

30. miya‘male person’

31. miya‘bamboo shoot’

32. miya‘yesterday’

33. Results: Bisyllables Tone assigned only on the second syllable. Similar phenomenon to Bodo (Sarmah 2003) The first syllable is assigned a mid level tone. Similar phenomenon in other 9 sets of bisyllables we examined.

34. Summary of results Significant consonantal effects on pitch 3 tones in Dimasa  A high tone (rising)  A level mid tone  A low tone (falling) A mono/disyllabic word can have one and only one tone assigned to it.

35. Association of glottal stops with high tones. Trisyllabic words. A perception test More data…

36. References Joseph, U. V., and Burling, Robbins. 2001. “Tone correspondences among the Bodo Languages. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 24.2: 41-55. Sarmah, Priyankoo. 2003. Some Aspects of the Tonal Phonology of Bodo. M.Phil. dissertation, CIEFL, Hyderabad, India. Singha, Dhiren. 2003. The Phonology & Morphology of Dimasa. M.A. dissertation, Assam University, Silchar, Assam

37. Acknowledgment Mr. Uttam Bathari, Asst. Director, ICHR, Guwahati, Assam. University of Florida, Graduate Research Program. and…

38. Acknowledgment The Dimasa Students’ Association Guwahati

39. This presentation is available: By email: priyanku@ufl.edu Online: http://plaza.ufl.edu/priyanku/neils.ppt