The Rhythm of Hul’q’umi’num’: An Exploration of Salish Phonetics
Date
2018-04-23
Authors
Marshall, Mackenzie
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Abstract
This research was done collaboratively with the Hul’q’umi’num’ language community to initiate phonetic documentation of Hul’q’umi’num’, a dialect of the Coast Salish Hul’q’umi’num’-Halq'eméylem-hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, and to support its second language learners. Moreover, this research added to the small, but growing, body of phonetic research of Salish languages. Salish languages have rich sound systems, with many consonants not found in English. In addition, consonants are often strung together in long sequences, partly because of the language’s complex morphological system. These consonantal sequences in particular give the language a unique rhythm, which is often challenging for second language learners to acquire. As a first step towards supporting learners, the goal of this project was to document the rhythmic structure of Hul’q’umi’num’. This was done by analyzing an audio file of an Elder telling a story. The story was segmented and phonetically transcribed using acoustic analysis software (Praat), and rhythm metrics were calculated based on the segmentation. Additionally, Hul’q’umi’num’ language experts phonetically transcribed the story by ear. Rhythm metrics demonstrated that consonantal intervals of Hul’q’umi’num’ varied considerably from other languages (according to ΔC and VarcoC) previously documented. In terms of vocalic intervals (%V, ΔV, and VarcoV), Hul’q’umi’num’ patterned with English in the same rhythmic category (‘stress-timed’). Interestingly, several differences between the acoustic phonetic description and the language experts’ transcription were found, such as consonant cluster reductions, loss of glottal stops, and vowel alternations. Further investigation of their systematicity and their effects on Hul’q’umi’num’ rhythm as a whole is needed to understand what components of the language give it its unique rhythm, and how to best teach these components to learners
Description
This research was supported by the Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Award
Keywords
Salish Languages, Linguistics, Phonetics