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Stop laryngeal contrasts of endangered languages of Northern Pakistan

2018; Acoustical Society of America; Volume: 143; Issue: 3_Supplement Linguagem: Inglês

10.1121/1.5035740

1520-9024

Qandeel Hussain, Jeff Mielke,

Linguistics and Cultural Studies

Iranian, Indo-Aryan (Dardic), and Tibeto-Burman languages of Northern Pakistan are characterized by 2-, 3-, and 4-way laryngeal contrasts at four or five places of articulation (e.g., Balti, Kalasha, Wakhi, etc.). However, the number of stop laryngeal contrasts, their phonetic realization, and the exact place of articulation of retroflex stops (apical or sub-apical) are still controversial in most of the endangered languages of Northern Pakistan. The current study provides the first detailed acoustic and articulatory (Ultrasound for coronals and velars and aerodynamic for all stops) description of the stop laryngeal contrasts of six languages of Northern Pakistan: Balti (Tibeto-Burman), Burushaski (Isolate), Kalasha, Khowar, Shina (Indo-Aryan, Dardic), and Wakhi (Iranian, Pamir). Given that there are languages belonging to different families, we may expect differences in the phonetic realization of stop laryngeal contrasts and the articulation of retroflexes across languages. The acoustic, articulatory, and aerodynamic data were collected in Chitral and Gilgit, Pakistan in 2017. A total of 33 participants were recorded (Balti: 5; Burushaski: 4; Kalasha: 9; Khowar: 5; Shina: 6; and Wakhi: 4). The results of this study will help understand the diverse nature of stop consonants in the endangered languages of Northern Pakistan.