An acoustic, historical, and developmental analysis of Sarikol Tajik diphthongs

252 Pages·2016·1.53 MB·English

by  Arlund Pamela S.

AN ACOUSTIC, HISTORICAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL
ANALYSIS OF SARIKOL TAJIK DIPHTHONGS

by

PAMELA S. ARLUND

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
December 2006
Copyright © by Pamela S. Arlund 2006
All Rights Reserved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am thankful to all those people who have encouraged me along the way to
make the time for this and to not give up.
I would like to thank my Mom and Dad, Tom and Judy Arlund, first and
foremost. They weren’t always sure what to do with their daughter who loved books
more than playing, but they always encouraged my desire for knowledge. They may not
know any Tajiks, but the Tajiks know Mom and Dad through me.
Thank you to all the people in China. The students, faculty and foreign affairs
staff at Xinjiang University have always been so gracious and affirming. The Tajik
people themselves are so willing and eager to have their language studied. I hope this
work lives up to their hopes and expectations.
Thank you to Dr. Jerold Edmondson whose assistance helped me to take a whole
new approach to the problem of diphthongs.
There are so many people in so many far-flung places who have encouraged me.
Thanks to all those at Metro in Kansas City, at Hillside in Perth, at New City in New
Zealand and at Colleyville in Texas. Your love, encouragement, and support have kept
me going on this project.
November 9, 2006
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ABSTRACT

AN ACOUSTIC, HISTORICAL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL
ANALYSIS OF SARIKOL TAJIK DIPHTHONGS

Publication No. ______

Pamela S. Arlund, PhD.

The University of Texas at Arlington, 2006

Supervising Professor: Jerold A. Edmondson
Sarikol Tajik has been reported to be an unusual language, containing up to
twelve diphthongs and being the only language in the Gorno-Badakhshan family to not
contain a short and long vowel distinction among monophthongs. However, the basis of
such claims is not clear and could be accounted for by any of several factors. For
example, different researchers have utilized different definitions of diphthongs, some
researchers have (perhaps unknowingly) studied different dialects at different times,
while others simply failed to account for the variation that is often found in languages in
change. This dissertation reevaluates these claims and the potential reasons behind such
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claims by examining field recordings from Sarikoli speakers in three locations, utilizing
prototype theory, time analysis, and the nature of diphthongs.
Spectrographic analysis reveals that, contrary to previous reports, Sarikoli
contains both long and short vowels and three diphthongs. After examining the
definition of a diphthong, this dissertation takes the approach that diphthongs can be
more or less prototypical instantiations, showing that some Sarikoli long monophthongs
are very diphthong like, particularly in their release pattern. Spectrographic and
statistical analysis also revealed dialectal differences in the instantiations of the
diphthongs across dialects, with the eastern most dialect (Burungsali) containing lower,
more central vowels than the eastern most dialect (Tashkorgani).
After examining the data, a prediction is made about the developmental pattern
among the Pamiri mountain languages and the three dialects of Sarikoli. Implicational
scales show that the Burungsal dialect of Sarikoli is the most advanced in a process of
diphthongization of long monophthongs. This change is traced historically in relation to
Avestan and across four current Pamiri mountain languages. All things being equal, it is
predicted that all of these languages will continue in a pattern of developing diphthongs
from long monophthongs.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................... iii

ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS..................................................................................... x

LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................... xii

Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Diphthongs............................................................................................... 1
1.2 Sarikol Tajik............................................................................................ 3
1.3 Studies of Sarikoli.................................................................................... 5
1.4 The Pamiri Mountain Language Family.................................................. 10
1.5 Sarikoli Vowels....................................................................................... 13
1.6 Overview of the Dissertation................................................................... 15
2. LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................................... 18
2.1 Introduction.............................................................................................. 18
2.2 Language Specific Studies....................................................................... 22
2.2.1 English...................................................................................... 22
2.2.2 Maithili..................................................................................... 33
2.2.3 Shona........................................................................................ 34
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2.2.4 Hausa........................................................................................ 35
2.2.5 Pennsylvania German............................................................... 36
2.2.6 Austrian German....................................................................... 38
2.2.7 Italian........................................................................................ 39
2.2.8 Spanish...................................................................................... 42
2.2.9 Estonian.................................................................................... 44
2.2.10 Dutch....................................................................................... 45
2.3 Cross-linguistic Studies........................................................................... 49
2.4 Conclusions.............................................................................................. 53
3. ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF DIPHTHONGAL SEGMENTS........................................ 55
3.1 The Problem............................................................................................. 55
3.2 Method..................................................................................................... 60
3.3 Results...................................................................................................... 70
3.3.1 [ai]............................................................................................ 70
3.3.2 [ui]............................................................................................ 75
3.3.3 [ei]............................................................................................ 80
3.3.4 [ou]........................................................................................... 91
3.3.5 [oi]............................................................................................ 96
3.3.6 [iu]............................................................................................ 102
3.3.7 [Ei]............................................................................................ 104
3.3.8 [Eu]............................................................................................ 108
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3.4 Conclusions.............................................................................................. 112
4. ACOUSTIC AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF DIALECT VARIATION................... 120
4.1 Previous Proposals................................................................................... 120
4.2 Method of evaluation............................................................................... 123
4.3 Results...................................................................................................... 129
4.3.1 Segment [ai]............................................................................. 129
4.3.2 Segment [Ei]............................................................................. 142
4.3.3 Segment [Eu]............................................................................. 147
4.3.4 Segment [ei].............................................................................. 157
4.4 Discussion and Conclusions.................................................................... 163
5. HISTORICAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS............................................... 168
5.1 The Problem............................................................................................. 168
5.2 An Analysis of the Pamiri Mountain languages...................................... 177
5.3 An analysis of Sarikoli dialects............................................................... 192
5.4 Conclusion............................................................................................... 200
6. THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS.......................................................................... 202
6.1 Pamiri Mountain Languages.................................................................... 202
6.2 Approaches to Diphthongs...................................................................... 206
6.2.1 Variation Theory....................................................................... 208
6.2.2 Time Theory............................................................................. 212
6.2.3 Prototype theory........................................................................ 215
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6.2.4 Diphthong Theory..................................................................... 220
6.3 Directions for Future Research................................................................ 222
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 225
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION......................................................................... 239

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page

1.1 Map of China showing location of Tajiks in black......................................... 5
1.2 A representation of the relationships among Eastern Iranian languages........ 11
2.1 Schematized representation of a diphthong with two steady......................... 23
2.2 Schematized representation of a moderate or rapidly spoken
diphthong which fails to reach a second steady state position........................ 33
2.3 Traditional representation of Italian diphthongs............................................. 40
3.1 Map of Tashkorgan Tajik Autonomous County showing the location of
Tashkorgan, Vacha, and Burungsal.................................................................61
3.2 Spectrogram and formant tracks of [nai] ‘no’................................................. 72
3.3 Spectrogram and formant tracks of [tsaiz] ’what’......................................... 73
3.4 Spectrogram and formant tracks of [dZui] ‘place’........................................ 76
3.5 Spectrogram and formant tracks of [adZuib] ‘strange’.................................. 78
3.6 Spectrogram and formant tracks of [adZuib] ‘strange’
exhibiting little change between onset and offset steady states...................... 79
3.7 Spectrogram and formant tracks of [deig] ‘pot’............................................. 81
3.8 Spectrogram and formant tracks of [Xeil] ‘kind/type’................................... 83
3.9 Spectrogram of [peiSin] ‘evening’ showing a monophthong......................... 85
3.10 Spectrogram of [peiSin] ‘evening’ in which the second................................. 87
3.11 Spectrogram with intensity contour of [tou] ‘you’......................................... 93
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