Alexis Michaud
2021
Mazaudon, Martine; Michaud, Alexis
Tone and voice quality in TGTM (Tamang-an) languages Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Mazaudon2021,
title = {Tone and voice quality in TGTM (Tamang-an) languages},
author = {Martine Mazaudon and Alexis Michaud},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
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pubstate = {published},
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}
Michaud, Alexis; Vaissiere, Jacqueline
Reflections about the phonemic analysis of Yongning Na (Tibeto-Burman): perceptual transcription and acoustic data Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021c,
title = {Reflections about the phonemic analysis of Yongning Na (Tibeto-Burman): perceptual transcription and acoustic data},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Jacqueline Vaissiere},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
abstract = {A preliminary phonemic inventory of the dialect of the Na language spoken in Yongning, China (a.k.a. Eastern Naxi 纳西语东部方言/ Mosuo 摩梭话) is presented, on the basis of first-hand fieldwork data. Some reflections are offered on three interrelated issues commonly encountered in fieldwork, namely (i) To what extent does perceived allophonic variation correspond to articulatory/acoustic reality, to what extent does it merely reflect the investigator’s perceptual expectations? (ii) How can acoustic data help select International Phonetic Alphabet symbols for the phonemic units brought out by distributional analysis? (iii) How can acoustic data help characterise the vowels and consonants encountered in fieldwork, both in a structural (language-internal) perspective, and in a cross-language perspective?},
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pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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A preliminary phonemic inventory of the dialect of the Na language spoken in Yongning, China (a.k.a. Eastern Naxi 纳西语东部方言/ Mosuo 摩梭话) is presented, on the basis of first-hand fieldwork data. Some reflections are offered on three interrelated issues commonly encountered in fieldwork, namely (i) To what extent does perceived allophonic variation correspond to articulatory/acoustic reality, to what extent does it merely reflect the investigator’s perceptual expectations? (ii) How can acoustic data help select International Phonetic Alphabet symbols for the phonemic units brought out by distributional analysis? (iii) How can acoustic data help characterise the vowels and consonants encountered in fieldwork, both in a structural (language-internal) perspective, and in a cross-language perspective?
Michaud, Alexis
Conservation des langues et partage des ressources : le rôle des chercheurs dans la mise en place de banques de données Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021g,
title = {Conservation des langues et partage des ressources : le rôle des chercheurs dans la mise en place de banques de données},
author = {Alexis Michaud},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
abstract = {La réflexion part d'un constat paradoxal: les bases de données sonores abritées par les centres de recherches en phonétique sont relativement peu développées. Les centres de recherche assurent rarement le suivi des documents enregistrés par leurs chercheurs. Le présent article, qui se place principalement du point de vue de la conservation des langues en danger, présente une réflexion sur le rôle que pourraient jouer des « phonothèques universitaires », centres de diffusion mais aussi de création de bases de données.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
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La réflexion part d'un constat paradoxal: les bases de données sonores abritées par les centres de recherches en phonétique sont relativement peu développées. Les centres de recherche assurent rarement le suivi des documents enregistrés par leurs chercheurs. Le présent article, qui se place principalement du point de vue de la conservation des langues en danger, présente une réflexion sur le rôle que pourraient jouer des « phonothèques universitaires », centres de diffusion mais aussi de création de bases de données.
Michaud, Alexis; Vaissiere, Jacqueline
The phonetic evolution of reduplicated expressions: reduplication, lexical tones and prosody in Na (Naxi) Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021h,
title = {The phonetic evolution of reduplicated expressions: reduplication, lexical tones and prosody in Na (Naxi)},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Jacqueline Vaissiere},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
abstract = {In Na, a Sino-Tibetan language with lexical tones, some reduplication schemes involve tone change, whereas others consist in full reduplication without tone change. The synchronic coexistence of these two sets allows for an experimental comparison, which leads to a simple explanation. Both sets appear to originate in total reduplication, without tone change, the schemes which now involve tone change resulting from a later evolution: the phonologisation of the effect of intonational boundaries on pitch. A High tone in final position within the reduplicated compound is lowered to Mid; an initial Low tone is raised, also to Mid. A reflection is set out concerning the historical conditions under which the allophonic variation of lexical tones could be reinterpreted as a difference of tonal categories.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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In Na, a Sino-Tibetan language with lexical tones, some reduplication schemes involve tone change, whereas others consist in full reduplication without tone change. The synchronic coexistence of these two sets allows for an experimental comparison, which leads to a simple explanation. Both sets appear to originate in total reduplication, without tone change, the schemes which now involve tone change resulting from a later evolution: the phonologisation of the effect of intonational boundaries on pitch. A High tone in final position within the reduplicated compound is lowered to Mid; an initial Low tone is raised, also to Mid. A reflection is set out concerning the historical conditions under which the allophonic variation of lexical tones could be reinterpreted as a difference of tonal categories.
Michaud, Alexis
The Complex Tones of East/Southeast Asian Languages: Current Challenges for Typology and Modelling Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021i,
title = {The Complex Tones of East/Southeast Asian Languages: Current Challenges for Typology and Modelling},
author = {Alexis Michaud},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
abstract = {In some of the tone systems of East and Southeast Asian languages, linguistic tone cannot simply be equated with pitch; some tones have phonation-type characteristics as part of their phonological definition; and there is no compelling evidence for analyzing tonal contours into sequences of levels. Salient findings are reviewed, first from a synchronic perspective, then from a diachronic one, to bring out facts that are relevant for tonal typology and for evolutionary approaches to phonology.},
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In some of the tone systems of East and Southeast Asian languages, linguistic tone cannot simply be equated with pitch; some tones have phonation-type characteristics as part of their phonological definition; and there is no compelling evidence for analyzing tonal contours into sequences of levels. Salient findings are reviewed, first from a synchronic perspective, then from a diachronic one, to bring out facts that are relevant for tonal typology and for evolutionary approaches to phonology.
Michaud, Alexis; Kuhnert, Barbara
Does the curve of F0 of syllable initial sonants play a prosodic role? British English Data Pilot Study Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021j,
title = {Does the curve of F0 of syllable initial sonants play a prosodic role? British English Data Pilot Study},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Barbara Kuhnert},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
abstract = {Several recent publications raise the issue whether the F0 curve of syllable-initial sonorants can play a prosodic role. The experimental evidence adduced in the present pilot study consists of 15 C1VC2 words, where C 1 = / p /, / b / or / m /, V = / ɑ: /, / i: /, / u: /, and C2 = / t /; these words were said twice inside a carrier sentence by four speakers of Standard Southern British English. Comparison of the F0 curves of the / m / -initial syllables with those of the obstruent-initial syllables suggests that only the part of the F0 curve which corresponds to the syllable rhyme is to be taken into account at the stage of the interpretation of the word's prosodic information.},
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Several recent publications raise the issue whether the F0 curve of syllable-initial sonorants can play a prosodic role. The experimental evidence adduced in the present pilot study consists of 15 C1VC2 words, where C 1 = / p /, / b / or / m /, V = / ɑ: /, / i: /, / u: /, and C2 = / t /; these words were said twice inside a carrier sentence by four speakers of Standard Southern British English. Comparison of the F0 curves of the / m / -initial syllables with those of the obstruent-initial syllables suggests that only the part of the F0 curve which corresponds to the syllable rhyme is to be taken into account at the stage of the interpretation of the word's prosodic information.
Michailovsky, Boyd; Michaud, Alexis; He, Xueguang
Locky's Naxi-English Encyclopedia Pinyin System and International Phonetic Alphabet Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michailovsky2021b,
title = {Locky's Naxi-English Encyclopedia Pinyin System and International Phonetic Alphabet},
author = {Boyd Michailovsky and Alexis Michaud and Xueguang He},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
abstract = {Executive summary: This article provides a concise introduction to facilitate readers to better understand the phonetic system used by Joseph Locke in his Naxi English Dictionary (Rock 1963 1972).},
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pubstate = {published},
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Executive summary: This article provides a concise introduction to facilitate readers to better understand the phonetic system used by Joseph Locke in his Naxi English Dictionary (Rock 1963 1972).
Mazaudon, Martine; Michaud, Alexis
An Acoustic and Electroglottographic Study of Tamang Tones: Fundamental Frequency, Voice Quality and Realisation of Consonants Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Mazaudon2021b,
title = {An Acoustic and Electroglottographic Study of Tamang Tones: Fundamental Frequency, Voice Quality and Realisation of Consonants},
author = {Martine Mazaudon and Alexis Michaud},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
abstract = {The history of East Asian languages offers evidence for a range of transphonologisations of the contrasts borne by voiced vs. unvoiced obstruent initials: these contrasts turned to voice quality contrasts in some languages, to vowel contrasts in others and to tonal contrasts in yet others. Tamang (Bodic branch of Tibeto-Burman) appears as an intermediate case: following the loss of voicing contrasts on consonants, Tamang has four tonal categories instead of an earlier two-tone system; its tones are phonetically realised by a complex bundle of pitch, voice quality and other characteristics that include the realisation of syllable-initial consonants. Acoustic and electroglottographic recordings of five speakers of the Risiangku dialect in their 30s or 40s were conducted; a pilot study (Michaud and Mazaudon 2006) showed that tones 3 and 4 tend to be realised with higher glottal open quotient (indicative of higher airflow) than tones 1 and 2. Other cues are investigated here, in particular the presence or absence of voicing (full or partial) during initial consonants. Among 312 tokens produced by one speaker, the initial consonant is voiced (fully or partially) in 40% of cases for tone 3 and 33% for tone 4, whereas it is not voiced in any case for tones 1 and 2. This confirms the presence of a tone-linked allophony of initial consonants, supporting the phonological claim that Tamang tonemes are characterised in terms of multiple correlates and call for a template representation, rather than for an analysis into distinctive features that would describe voice quality and consonantal realisation as secondary characteristics.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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The history of East Asian languages offers evidence for a range of transphonologisations of the contrasts borne by voiced vs. unvoiced obstruent initials: these contrasts turned to voice quality contrasts in some languages, to vowel contrasts in others and to tonal contrasts in yet others. Tamang (Bodic branch of Tibeto-Burman) appears as an intermediate case: following the loss of voicing contrasts on consonants, Tamang has four tonal categories instead of an earlier two-tone system; its tones are phonetically realised by a complex bundle of pitch, voice quality and other characteristics that include the realisation of syllable-initial consonants. Acoustic and electroglottographic recordings of five speakers of the Risiangku dialect in their 30s or 40s were conducted; a pilot study (Michaud and Mazaudon 2006) showed that tones 3 and 4 tend to be realised with higher glottal open quotient (indicative of higher airflow) than tones 1 and 2. Other cues are investigated here, in particular the presence or absence of voicing (full or partial) during initial consonants. Among 312 tokens produced by one speaker, the initial consonant is voiced (fully or partially) in 40% of cases for tone 3 and 33% for tone 4, whereas it is not voiced in any case for tones 1 and 2. This confirms the presence of a tone-linked allophony of initial consonants, supporting the phonological claim that Tamang tonemes are characterised in terms of multiple correlates and call for a template representation, rather than for an analysis into distinctive features that would describe voice quality and consonantal realisation as secondary characteristics.
Michaud, Alexis; Ngoc, Vo
Fluid or non-agglomerated bars for long-lasting bars Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021ib,
title = {Fluid or non-agglomerated bars for long-lasting bars},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Vo Ngoc},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-25},
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pubstate = {published},
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Michaud, Alexis; Ngoc, Vo
Fluid or non-agglomerated bars for long-lasting bars Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021,
title = {Fluid or non-agglomerated bars for long-lasting bars},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Vo Ngoc},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-22},
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pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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Michaud, Alexis; Mazaudon, Martine
An Acoustic and Electroglottographic Study of Tamang Tones: Fundamental Frequency, Voice Quality and Realisation of Consonants Journal Article
In: 2021.
@article{Michaud2021b,
title = {An Acoustic and Electroglottographic Study of Tamang Tones: Fundamental Frequency, Voice Quality and Realisation of Consonants},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Martine Mazaudon},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-22},
abstract = {The history of East Asian languages offers evidence for a range of transphonologisations of the contrasts borne by voiced vs. unvoiced obstruent initials: these contrasts turned to voice quality contrasts in some languages, to vowel contrasts in others and to tonal contrasts in yet others. Tamang (Bodic branch of Tibeto-Burman) appears as an intermediate case: following the loss of voicing contrasts on consonants, Tamang has four tonal categories instead of an earlier two-tone system; its tones are phonetically realised by a complex bundle of pitch, voice quality and other characteristics that include the realisation of syllable-initial consonants. Acoustic and electroglottographic recordings of five speakers of the Risiangku dialect in their 30s or 40s were conducted; a pilot study (Michaud and Mazaudon 2006) showed that tones 3 and 4 tend to be realised with higher glottal open quotient (indicative of higher airflow) than tones 1 and 2. Other cues are investigated here, in particular the presence or absence of voicing (full or partial) during initial consonants. Among 312 tokens produced by one speaker, the initial consonant is voiced (fully or partially) in 40% of cases for tone 3 and 33% for tone 4, whereas it is not voiced in any case for tones 1 and 2. This confirms the presence of a tone-linked allophony of initial consonants, supporting the phonological claim that Tamang tonemes are characterised in terms of multiple correlates and call for a template representation, rather than for an analysis into distinctive features that would describe voice quality and consonantal realisation as secondary characteristics.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The history of East Asian languages offers evidence for a range of transphonologisations of the contrasts borne by voiced vs. unvoiced obstruent initials: these contrasts turned to voice quality contrasts in some languages, to vowel contrasts in others and to tonal contrasts in yet others. Tamang (Bodic branch of Tibeto-Burman) appears as an intermediate case: following the loss of voicing contrasts on consonants, Tamang has four tonal categories instead of an earlier two-tone system; its tones are phonetically realised by a complex bundle of pitch, voice quality and other characteristics that include the realisation of syllable-initial consonants. Acoustic and electroglottographic recordings of five speakers of the Risiangku dialect in their 30s or 40s were conducted; a pilot study (Michaud and Mazaudon 2006) showed that tones 3 and 4 tend to be realised with higher glottal open quotient (indicative of higher airflow) than tones 1 and 2. Other cues are investigated here, in particular the presence or absence of voicing (full or partial) during initial consonants. Among 312 tokens produced by one speaker, the initial consonant is voiced (fully or partially) in 40% of cases for tone 3 and 33% for tone 4, whereas it is not voiced in any case for tones 1 and 2. This confirms the presence of a tone-linked allophony of initial consonants, supporting the phonological claim that Tamang tonemes are characterised in terms of multiple correlates and call for a template representation, rather than for an analysis into distinctive features that would describe voice quality and consonantal realisation as secondary characteristics.
2020
Michaud, Alexis; Adams, Oliver; Galliot, Benjamin; Wisniewski, Guillaume; Lambourne, Nicholas; Foley, Ben; Sanders-Dwyer, Rahasya; Wiles, Janet; Guillaume, Séverine; Besacier, Laurent; Cox, Christopher; Aplonova, Katya; Jacques, Guillaume; Hill, Nathan W.
User-friendly automatic transcription of low-resource languages: Plugging ESPnet into Elpis Book
Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Computational Methods for Endangered Languages, 2020.
@book{Michaud2020,
title = {User-friendly automatic transcription of low-resource languages: Plugging ESPnet into Elpis},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Oliver Adams and Benjamin Galliot and Guillaume Wisniewski and Nicholas Lambourne and Ben Foley and Rahasya Sanders-Dwyer and Janet Wiles and Séverine Guillaume and Laurent Besacier and Christopher Cox and Katya Aplonova and Guillaume Jacques and Nathan W. Hill},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.33011/computel.v1i.969},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-12-15},
volume = {1},
publisher = {Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Computational Methods for Endangered Languages},
abstract = {This paper reports on progress integrating the speech recognition toolkit ESPnet into Elpis, a web front-end originally designed to provide access to the Kaldi automatic speech recognition toolkit. The goal of this work is to make end-to-end speech recognition models available to language workers via a user-friendly graphical interface. Encouraging results are reported on (i) development of an ESPnet recipe for use in Elpis, with preliminary results on data sets previously used for training acoustic models with the Persephone toolkit along with a new data set that had not previously been used in speech recognition, and (ii) incorporating ESPnet into Elpis along with UI enhancements and a CUDA-supported Dockerfile.},
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This paper reports on progress integrating the speech recognition toolkit ESPnet into Elpis, a web front-end originally designed to provide access to the Kaldi automatic speech recognition toolkit. The goal of this work is to make end-to-end speech recognition models available to language workers via a user-friendly graphical interface. Encouraging results are reported on (i) development of an ESPnet recipe for use in Elpis, with preliminary results on data sets previously used for training acoustic models with the Persephone toolkit along with a new data set that had not previously been used in speech recognition, and (ii) incorporating ESPnet into Elpis along with UI enhancements and a CUDA-supported Dockerfile.
Michaud, Alexis; Sands, Bonny
Tonogenesis Book Chapter
In: vol. 1, pp. 1-27, Oxford University Press, 2020, ISBN: 9780199384655.
@inbook{Michaud2020b,
title = {Tonogenesis},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Bonny Sands},
doi = {10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.748},
isbn = {9780199384655},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-09-08},
volume = {1},
pages = {1-27},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
abstract = {and Keywords Tonogenesis is the development of distinctive tone from earlier non-tonal contrasts. A well-understood case is Vietnamese (similar in its essentials to that of Chinese and many languages of the Tai-Kadai and Hmong-Mien language families), where the loss of final la ryngeal consonants led to the creation of three tones, and the tones later multiplied as voicing oppositions on initial consonants waned. This is by no means the only attested di achronic scenario, however. Besides well-known cases of tonogenesis in East Asia, this survey includes discussions of less well-known cases of tonogenesis from language fami lies including Athabaskan, Chadic, Khoe and Niger-Congo. There is tonogenetic potential in various series of phonemes: glottalized versus plain consonants, unvoiced versus voiced, aspirated versus unaspirated, geminates versus simple (and, more generally, tense versus lax), and even among vowels, whose intrinsic fundamental frequency can transphonologize to tone. We draw attention to tonogenetic triggers that are not so well-known, such as [+ATR] vowels, aspirates and morphotonological alternations. The ways in which these common phonetic precursors to tone play out in a given language depend on phonological factors, as well as on other dimensions of a language's structure and on patterns of language contact, resulting in a great diversity of evolutionary paths in tone systems. In some language families (such as Niger-Congo and Khoe), recent tonal devel opments are increasingly well understood, but working out the origin of the earliest tonal contrasts (which are likely to date back thousands of years earlier than tonogenesis among Sino-Tibetan languages, for instance) remains a mid-to long-term research goal for comparative-historical research.},
type = {inbook},
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and Keywords Tonogenesis is the development of distinctive tone from earlier non-tonal contrasts. A well-understood case is Vietnamese (similar in its essentials to that of Chinese and many languages of the Tai-Kadai and Hmong-Mien language families), where the loss of final la ryngeal consonants led to the creation of three tones, and the tones later multiplied as voicing oppositions on initial consonants waned. This is by no means the only attested di achronic scenario, however. Besides well-known cases of tonogenesis in East Asia, this survey includes discussions of less well-known cases of tonogenesis from language fami lies including Athabaskan, Chadic, Khoe and Niger-Congo. There is tonogenetic potential in various series of phonemes: glottalized versus plain consonants, unvoiced versus voiced, aspirated versus unaspirated, geminates versus simple (and, more generally, tense versus lax), and even among vowels, whose intrinsic fundamental frequency can transphonologize to tone. We draw attention to tonogenetic triggers that are not so well-known, such as [+ATR] vowels, aspirates and morphotonological alternations. The ways in which these common phonetic precursors to tone play out in a given language depend on phonological factors, as well as on other dimensions of a language's structure and on patterns of language contact, resulting in a great diversity of evolutionary paths in tone systems. In some language families (such as Niger-Congo and Khoe), recent tonal devel opments are increasingly well understood, but working out the origin of the earliest tonal contrasts (which are likely to date back thousands of years earlier than tonogenesis among Sino-Tibetan languages, for instance) remains a mid-to long-term research goal for comparative-historical research.
Michaud, Alexis; Nguyen, Minh-Chau; He, Likun
Voix de « ceux qui ne sont rien » en Asie du Sud-Est Journal Article
In: Cahiers de littérature orale, vol. 3, 2020.
@article{Michaud2020c,
title = {Voix de « ceux qui ne sont rien » en Asie du Sud-Est},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Minh-Chau Nguyen and Likun He},
doi = {10.4000/clo.7019},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-08-12},
journal = {Cahiers de littérature orale},
volume = {3},
abstract = {The editorial team of the Cahiers de literature oral inviting contributions around “anti-establishment oralities”, we offer an overview of three documents of oral literature coming from the civilizations of East Asia and South-East: a Naxi historiette, khamou, and a Vietnamese song, each in dialogue with a text (article or book) taken from social and political news.},
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The editorial team of the Cahiers de literature oral inviting contributions around “anti-establishment oralities”, we offer an overview of three documents of oral literature coming from the civilizations of East Asia and South-East: a Naxi historiette, khamou, and a Vietnamese song, each in dialogue with a text (article or book) taken from social and political news.
Michaud, Alexis; Mortensen, David; Li, Xinjian; Littell, Patrick; Rijhwani, Shruti; Anastasopoulos, Antonios; Black, Alan; Metze, Florian; Neubig, Graham
AlloVera: A Multilingual Allophone Database Conference
A Multilingual Allophone Database, Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, 2020.
@conference{Michaud2020d,
title = {AlloVera: A Multilingual Allophone Database},
author = {Alexis Michaud and David Mortensen and Xinjian Li and Patrick Littell and Shruti Rijhwani and Antonios Anastasopoulos and Alan Black and Florian Metze and Graham Neubig},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-04-16},
booktitle = {A Multilingual Allophone Database},
publisher = {Language Resources and Evaluation Conference},
abstract = {We introduce a new resource, AlloVera, which provides mappings from 218 allophones to phonemes for 14 languages. Phonemes are contrastive phonological units, and allophones are their various concrete realizations, which are predictable from phonological context. While phonemic representations are language specific, phonetic representations (stated in terms of (allo)phones) are much closer to a universal (language-independent) transcription. AlloVera allows the training of speech recognition models that output phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), regardless of the input language. We show that a "universal" allophone model, Allosaurus, built with AlloVera, outperforms "universal" phonemic models and language-specific models on a speech-transcription task. We explore the implications of this technology (and related technologies) for the documentation of endangered and minority languages. We further explore other applications for which AlloVera will be suitable as it grows, including phonological typology.},
keywords = {},
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We introduce a new resource, AlloVera, which provides mappings from 218 allophones to phonemes for 14 languages. Phonemes are contrastive phonological units, and allophones are their various concrete realizations, which are predictable from phonological context. While phonemic representations are language specific, phonetic representations (stated in terms of (allo)phones) are much closer to a universal (language-independent) transcription. AlloVera allows the training of speech recognition models that output phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), regardless of the input language. We show that a "universal" allophone model, Allosaurus, built with AlloVera, outperforms "universal" phonemic models and language-specific models on a speech-transcription task. We explore the implications of this technology (and related technologies) for the documentation of endangered and minority languages. We further explore other applications for which AlloVera will be suitable as it grows, including phonological typology.
2019
Michaud, Alexis; Nguyen, Minh-Chau; Buchman, Lise; Demolin, Didier
A glottalized tone in Muong (Vietc): a pilot study based on audio and electroglottographic recordings Conference
A glottalized tone in Muong (Vietc): a pilot study based on audio and electroglottographic recordings, 2019.
@conference{Michaud2019,
title = {A glottalized tone in Muong (Vietc): a pilot study based on audio and electroglottographic recordings},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Minh-Chau Nguyen and Lise Buchman and Didier Demolin},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-19},
booktitle = {A glottalized tone in Muong (Vietc): a pilot study based on audio and electroglottographic recordings},
abstract = {The combination of pitch and glottalization (glottal constriction or lapse into creaky voice) as relevant phonetic/phonological dimensions of lexical tone is found in several language families in Asia. The Vietic subbranch of Austroasiatic stands out in that all its languages have at least one glottalized tone. Vietnamese is a well documented example, but the others remain little studied. The research reported here contributes experimental evidence on one of these languages: Muong (Mường). Excerpts from a database of audio and electroglottographic recordings of twenty speakers allow for a characterization of this dialect's glottalized tone, as contrasted with the four other tones of this five tone system. The ultimate goal is to determine what (sub)types of glottalized tones exist in the world's languages, bringing out typological differences in terms of (i) phonetic realizations and (ii) degree of importance of glottalization as a feature of linguistic tones.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
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}
The combination of pitch and glottalization (glottal constriction or lapse into creaky voice) as relevant phonetic/phonological dimensions of lexical tone is found in several language families in Asia. The Vietic subbranch of Austroasiatic stands out in that all its languages have at least one glottalized tone. Vietnamese is a well documented example, but the others remain little studied. The research reported here contributes experimental evidence on one of these languages: Muong (Mường). Excerpts from a database of audio and electroglottographic recordings of twenty speakers allow for a characterization of this dialect's glottalized tone, as contrasted with the four other tones of this five tone system. The ultimate goal is to determine what (sub)types of glottalized tones exist in the world's languages, bringing out typological differences in terms of (i) phonetic realizations and (ii) degree of importance of glottalization as a feature of linguistic tones.
2018
Michaud, Alexis; Adams, Oliver; Cohn, Trevor; Neubig, Graham; Guillaume, Séverine
Integrating automatic transcription into the language documentation workflow: Experiments with Na data and the Persephone toolkit Journal Article
In: Language Documentation and Conservation, vol. 12, pp. 393-429, 2018, ISSN: 1934-5275.
@article{Michaud2018,
title = {Integrating automatic transcription into the language documentation workflow: Experiments with Na data and the Persephone toolkit},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Oliver Adams and Trevor Cohn and Graham Neubig and Séverine Guillaume},
issn = {1934-5275},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-09-01},
journal = {Language Documentation and Conservation},
volume = {12},
pages = {393-429},
abstract = { Automatic speech recognition tools have potential for facilitating language documentation, but in practice these tools remain little-used by linguists for a variety of reasons, such as that the technology is still new (and evolving rapidly), user-friendly interfaces are still under development, and case studies demonstrating the practical usefulness of automatic recognition in a low-resource setting remain few. This article reports on a success story in integrating automatic transcription into the language documentation workflow, specifically for Yongning Na, a language of Southwest China. Using Persephone, an open-source toolkit, a single-speaker speech transcription tool was trained over five hours of manually transcribed speech. The experiments found that this method can achieve a remarkably low error rate (on the order of 17%), and that automatic transcriptions were useful as a canvas for the linguist. The present report is intended for linguists with little or no knowledge of speech processing. It aims to provide insights into (i) the way the tool operates and (ii) the process of collaborating with natural language processing specialists. Practical recommendations are offered on how to anticipate the requirements of this type of technology from the early stages of data collection in the field.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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Automatic speech recognition tools have potential for facilitating language documentation, but in practice these tools remain little-used by linguists for a variety of reasons, such as that the technology is still new (and evolving rapidly), user-friendly interfaces are still under development, and case studies demonstrating the practical usefulness of automatic recognition in a low-resource setting remain few. This article reports on a success story in integrating automatic transcription into the language documentation workflow, specifically for Yongning Na, a language of Southwest China. Using Persephone, an open-source toolkit, a single-speaker speech transcription tool was trained over five hours of manually transcribed speech. The experiments found that this method can achieve a remarkably low error rate (on the order of 17%), and that automatic transcriptions were useful as a canvas for the linguist. The present report is intended for linguists with little or no knowledge of speech processing. It aims to provide insights into (i) the way the tool operates and (ii) the process of collaborating with natural language processing specialists. Practical recommendations are offered on how to anticipate the requirements of this type of technology from the early stages of data collection in the field.
2017
Michaud, Alexis; He, Limin; Zhong, Yaoping
Nàxī language / Naish languages Journal Article
In: Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics, vol. 2, pp. 144-157, 2017.
@article{Michaud2017,
title = {Nàxī language / Naish languages},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Limin He and Yaoping Zhong},
doi = {10.1163/2210-7363_ecll_COM_00000247},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
journal = {Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics},
volume = {2},
pages = {144-157},
abstract = {References: MICHAUD Alexis, HE Limin & ZHONG Yaoping, forthcoming. "Naxi (Naish)." In: Rint Sybesma, Wolfgang Behr, Zev Handel & C.T. James Huang (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.},
keywords = {},
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References: MICHAUD Alexis, HE Limin & ZHONG Yaoping, forthcoming. "Naxi (Naish)." In: Rint Sybesma, Wolfgang Behr, Zev Handel & C.T. James Huang (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.
Michaud, Alexis; Jacques, Guillaume
André-Georges Haudricourt Book
Rint Sybesma, 2017.
@book{Michaud2017b,
title = {André-Georges Haudricourt},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Guillaume Jacques},
doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2210-7363_ecll_COM_000143},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
volume = {2},
publisher = {Rint Sybesma},
abstract = {Haudricourt's main legacies to the field of Chinese historical phonology are his systematic account of tonogenesis, and his reconstruction of final *-s and of labiovelars. The method that he proposed under the term of Panchronic Phonology holds special promise for the study of the languages of China in their universal context.},
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Haudricourt's main legacies to the field of Chinese historical phonology are his systematic account of tonogenesis, and his reconstruction of final *-s and of labiovelars. The method that he proposed under the term of Panchronic Phonology holds special promise for the study of the languages of China in their universal context.
2016
Michaud, Alexis; Nguyen, Minh-Chau; Pham, Hien
Z in company names: trendy clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound Z in company names: trendy clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound 1 Journal Article
In: Mon-Khmer Studies, vol. 45, pp. 53-65, 2016, ISSN: 0147-5207.
@article{Michaud2016,
title = {Z in company names: trendy clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound Z in company names: trendy clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound 1},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Minh-Chau Nguyen and Hien Pham},
issn = {0147-5207},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {Mon-Khmer Studies},
volume = {45},
pages = {53-65},
abstract = {The letter Z is not part of the Vietnamese alphabet, any more than F, J and W. But it is far from uncommon in language use. It appears in the names of companies that target a popular audience, e.g. Zing for a local competitor to Yahoo. Why is Z, the least used letter of the English alphabet, so trendy in present-day Vietnamese? The evidence reported here suggests that the letter Z constitutes foreign-looking clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound. In Hanoi Vietnamese, historical /ð/, /ʒ/ and /r/ (orthographic D, GI and R) merged to /z/, making the voiced alveolar fricative a highly frequent sound – and a potential identity marker for Hanoian speakers, with Z as a unified written rendering. The results of an automated search through a large corpus of contemporary texts support the conclusions drawn from the qualitative analysis of examples.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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The letter Z is not part of the Vietnamese alphabet, any more than F, J and W. But it is far from uncommon in language use. It appears in the names of companies that target a popular audience, e.g. Zing for a local competitor to Yahoo. Why is Z, the least used letter of the English alphabet, so trendy in present-day Vietnamese? The evidence reported here suggests that the letter Z constitutes foreign-looking clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound. In Hanoi Vietnamese, historical /ð/, /ʒ/ and /r/ (orthographic D, GI and R) merged to /z/, making the voiced alveolar fricative a highly frequent sound – and a potential identity marker for Hanoian speakers, with Z as a unified written rendering. The results of an automated search through a large corpus of contemporary texts support the conclusions drawn from the qualitative analysis of examples.
2015
Michaud, Alexis; Mac, Dang-Khoa; Nguyen, Lan; Tran, Do Dat
Influences of speaker attitudes on glottalized tones: a study of two Vietnamese sentence-final particles Conference
Influences of speaker attitudes on glottalized tones: a study of two Vietnamese sentence-final particles, vol. 2, 2015.
@conference{Michaud2015,
title = {Influences of speaker attitudes on glottalized tones: a study of two Vietnamese sentence-final particles},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Dang-Khoa Mac and Lan Nguyen and Do Dat Tran},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-08-14},
booktitle = {Influences of speaker attitudes on glottalized tones: a study of two Vietnamese sentence-final particles},
volume = {2},
abstract = {Attitudinal information in a spoken utterance can be lexically encoded; it can also be conveyed by intonation, including modification of voice quality. This study aims to investigate how speaker attitude affects the realization of glottalized tones in Vietnamese. A specific recording setup was designed; a corpus containing attitudinal sentence-final particles (SFPs) was recorded by ten speakers. The present report contains qualitative observations and quantitative assessments for two glottalized tones (B2, the " drop tone " , and C2, the " broken tone ") in utterances realized with attitudes of SURPRISE or IRRITATION, as contrasted with simple DECLARATION. The results suggest that there is a considerable range of intonational (allotonic) variation in the realization of glottalization, and that it contributes to expressing speaker attitude – and is not unlikely to convey other types of prosodic information as well.},
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pubstate = {published},
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Attitudinal information in a spoken utterance can be lexically encoded; it can also be conveyed by intonation, including modification of voice quality. This study aims to investigate how speaker attitude affects the realization of glottalized tones in Vietnamese. A specific recording setup was designed; a corpus containing attitudinal sentence-final particles (SFPs) was recorded by ten speakers. The present report contains qualitative observations and quantitative assessments for two glottalized tones (B2, the " drop tone " , and C2, the " broken tone ") in utterances realized with attitudes of SURPRISE or IRRITATION, as contrasted with simple DECLARATION. The results suggest that there is a considerable range of intonational (allotonic) variation in the realization of glottalization, and that it contributes to expressing speaker attitude – and is not unlikely to convey other types of prosodic information as well.
Michaud, Alexis; Likun, He
Phonemic and Tonal Analysis of the Pianding Dialect of Naxi (Dadong County, Lijiang Municipality) Journal Article
In: Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 1-35, 2015, ISSN: 0153-3320.
@article{Michaud2015b,
title = {Phonemic and Tonal Analysis of the Pianding Dialect of Naxi (Dadong County, Lijiang Municipality)},
author = {Alexis Michaud and He Likun},
issn = {0153-3320},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-08-12},
urldate = {2015-08-12},
journal = {Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale},
volume = {44},
number = {1},
pages = {1-35},
abstract = {This article sets out a phonemic and tonal analysis of the second author's native language: the (heretofore undescribed) Naxi dialect spoken in the village of Pianding (Dadong County, Lijiang Municipality, Yunnan). A distributional inventory brings out two pairs of phonemes that are of special interest to Naxi dialectology: (i) two apicalized vowels, / ɿ̟ / and / ɿ̠ /, and (ii) two rhotic vowels, / ɚ / and / ɯ˞ /, instead of only one apicalized vowel and one rhotic vowel in Old Town Naxi, the best-described dialect to date. These observations confirm and complement reports from other dialects; information on the lexical distribution of these conservative oppositions enriches the empirical basis for comparative – historical studies within the Naish subgroup of Sino – Tibetan. In the course of the discussion, observations about the Pianding dialect are placed in cross-dialect perspective; this article can thus serve as an introduction to key aspects of Naxi phonemics. This article presents an analysis of the phonemes and tones of the second author's mother tongue: the Naxi dialect (not described so far) from Pianding village (Dadong county, Lijiang municipality, Yunnan). A distributional inventory reveals two pairs of phonemes that are of particular interest for the Naxi dialectology: two apical vowels, / ɿ̟ / and / ɿ̠ /, and two rhotic vowels, / ɚ / and / ɯ˞ /, where the dialect of Lijiang Old Town (Dayanzhen) - the best-described dialect to date - has only an apicalized vowel and a rhotic vowel. The lexical distribution of these conservative oppositions, which had already been reported in other dialects, is set out here in detail, which consolidates the empirical basis necessary for the study of the historical phonology of the Naish language group. As the talk progresses, the characteristics of Pianding's speech are compared with those of other dialects, so this article can serve as an introduction to the central issues in Naxi phonology.},
keywords = {},
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This article sets out a phonemic and tonal analysis of the second author's native language: the (heretofore undescribed) Naxi dialect spoken in the village of Pianding (Dadong County, Lijiang Municipality, Yunnan). A distributional inventory brings out two pairs of phonemes that are of special interest to Naxi dialectology: (i) two apicalized vowels, / ɿ̟ / and / ɿ̠ /, and (ii) two rhotic vowels, / ɚ / and / ɯ˞ /, instead of only one apicalized vowel and one rhotic vowel in Old Town Naxi, the best-described dialect to date. These observations confirm and complement reports from other dialects; information on the lexical distribution of these conservative oppositions enriches the empirical basis for comparative – historical studies within the Naish subgroup of Sino – Tibetan. In the course of the discussion, observations about the Pianding dialect are placed in cross-dialect perspective; this article can thus serve as an introduction to key aspects of Naxi phonemics. This article presents an analysis of the phonemes and tones of the second author's mother tongue: the Naxi dialect (not described so far) from Pianding village (Dadong county, Lijiang municipality, Yunnan). A distributional inventory reveals two pairs of phonemes that are of particular interest for the Naxi dialectology: two apical vowels, / ɿ̟ / and / ɿ̠ /, and two rhotic vowels, / ɚ / and / ɯ˞ /, where the dialect of Lijiang Old Town (Dayanzhen) - the best-described dialect to date - has only an apicalized vowel and a rhotic vowel. The lexical distribution of these conservative oppositions, which had already been reported in other dialects, is set out here in detail, which consolidates the empirical basis necessary for the study of the historical phonology of the Naish language group. As the talk progresses, the characteristics of Pianding's speech are compared with those of other dialects, so this article can serve as an introduction to the central issues in Naxi phonology.
Michaud, Alexis; Vaissiere, Jacqueline; Nguyen, Minh-Chau
Phonetic insights into a simple level-tone system: ‘careful’ vs. ‘impatient’ realizations of Naxi High, Mid and Low tones Journal Article
In: vol. 1, 2015.
@article{Michaud2015c,
title = {Phonetic insights into a simple level-tone system: ‘careful’ vs. ‘impatient’ realizations of Naxi High, Mid and Low tones},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Jacqueline Vaissiere and Minh-Chau Nguyen},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-08-10},
volume = {1},
abstract = {The Naxi language has three level tones: H, M and L (plus a marginal Rising tone). The present study aims to offer phonetic insights into this simple system through examination of production data from three male speakers and one female speaker: realizations of the three level tones on CV syllables, under two reading conditions, labelled as ‘CAREFUL’ and ‘IMPATIENT’. Fundamental frequency (F0), glottal open quotient (Oq), and formant frequency characteristics are estimated. The three level tones span about 8 semitones under ‘CAREFUL’ reading and 11 semitones under ‘IMPATIENT’ reading. The average distance separating H from M is on the same order as that separating M from L. Under ‘IMPATIENT’ reading, F0 register is higher. Oq follows speaker-specific patterns. No clear pattern of influence of tone or reading condition on vowel articulation was found. These findings (along with the original data, made available in full) offer a basis for cross-linguistic comparison.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The Naxi language has three level tones: H, M and L (plus a marginal Rising tone). The present study aims to offer phonetic insights into this simple system through examination of production data from three male speakers and one female speaker: realizations of the three level tones on CV syllables, under two reading conditions, labelled as ‘CAREFUL’ and ‘IMPATIENT’. Fundamental frequency (F0), glottal open quotient (Oq), and formant frequency characteristics are estimated. The three level tones span about 8 semitones under ‘CAREFUL’ reading and 11 semitones under ‘IMPATIENT’ reading. The average distance separating H from M is on the same order as that separating M from L. Under ‘IMPATIENT’ reading, F0 register is higher. Oq follows speaker-specific patterns. No clear pattern of influence of tone or reading condition on vowel articulation was found. These findings (along with the original data, made available in full) offer a basis for cross-linguistic comparison.
Michaud, Alexis; Ferlus, Michel; Nguyen, Minh-Chau
Strata of standardization: The Phong Nha dialect of Vietnamese (Quảng Bình Province) in historical perspective Journal Article
In: Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 124-162, 2015.
@article{Michaud2015d,
title = {Strata of standardization: The Phong Nha dialect of Vietnamese (Quảng Bình Province) in historical perspective},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Michel Ferlus and Minh-Chau Nguyen},
doi = {10.1075/ltba.38.1.04mic},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-07-16},
journal = {Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area},
volume = {38},
number = {1},
pages = {124-162},
abstract = {The present research, based on first-hand data, is intended as a contribution to the study of the present-day diversity of lesser-described Vietnamese dialects, and of the range of evolutionary paths to which they testify. The Vietnamese dialect of the hamlet of Phong Nha (commune of Sơn Trạch, county of Bố Trạch, Quảng Bình) is one of the “heterodox” dialects of Vietnamese, which are known to present considerable interest for the historical study of Vietnamese and of the Vietic group at large. These dialects are the product of the southerly expansion of Vietnamese over related (Vietic) languages, a process which involved various interferences. Comparative evidence reveals strata of standardization: some words are phonologically identical to Standard Vietnamese; others are of Southern Vietic stock, as demonstrated by the absence of telltale historical changes that took place in Vietnamese, such as the spirantization of medial stops; still others appear to be the result of hybridization.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The present research, based on first-hand data, is intended as a contribution to the study of the present-day diversity of lesser-described Vietnamese dialects, and of the range of evolutionary paths to which they testify. The Vietnamese dialect of the hamlet of Phong Nha (commune of Sơn Trạch, county of Bố Trạch, Quảng Bình) is one of the “heterodox” dialects of Vietnamese, which are known to present considerable interest for the historical study of Vietnamese and of the Vietic group at large. These dialects are the product of the southerly expansion of Vietnamese over related (Vietic) languages, a process which involved various interferences. Comparative evidence reveals strata of standardization: some words are phonologically identical to Standard Vietnamese; others are of Southern Vietic stock, as demonstrated by the absence of telltale historical changes that took place in Vietnamese, such as the spirantization of medial stops; still others appear to be the result of hybridization.
Michaud, Alexis; Niebuhr, Oliver
Speech data acquisition: the underestimated challenge Journal Article
In: Kieler Arbeiten in Linguistik und Phonetik (KALIPHO), vol. 3, pp. 1-42, 2015, ISSN: 2364-2440.
@article{Michaud2015f,
title = {Speech data acquisition: the underestimated challenge},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Oliver Niebuhr},
issn = {2364-2440},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-02-04},
journal = {Kieler Arbeiten in Linguistik und Phonetik (KALIPHO)},
volume = {3},
pages = {1-42},
abstract = {The second half of the 20th century was the dawn of information technology; and we now live in the digital age. Experimental studies of prosody develop at a fast pace, in the context of an "explosion of evidence" (Janet Pierrehumbert, Speech Prosody 2010, Chicago). The ease with which anyone can now do recordings should not veil the complexity of the data collection process, however. This article aims at sensitizing students and scientists from the various fields of speech and language research to the fact that speech-data acquisition is an underestimated challenge. Eliciting data that reflect the communicative processes at play in language requires special precautions in devising experimental procedures and a fundamental understanding of both ends the elicitation process, speaker and recording facilities. The article compiles basic information on each of these requirements and recapitulates some pieces of practical advice, drawing many examples from prosody studies, a field where the thoughtful conception of experimental protocols is especially crucial.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The second half of the 20th century was the dawn of information technology; and we now live in the digital age. Experimental studies of prosody develop at a fast pace, in the context of an "explosion of evidence" (Janet Pierrehumbert, Speech Prosody 2010, Chicago). The ease with which anyone can now do recordings should not veil the complexity of the data collection process, however. This article aims at sensitizing students and scientists from the various fields of speech and language research to the fact that speech-data acquisition is an underestimated challenge. Eliciting data that reflect the communicative processes at play in language requires special precautions in devising experimental procedures and a fundamental understanding of both ends the elicitation process, speaker and recording facilities. The article compiles basic information on each of these requirements and recapitulates some pieces of practical advice, drawing many examples from prosody studies, a field where the thoughtful conception of experimental protocols is especially crucial.
Michaud, Alexis; Vaissière, Jacqueline
Tone and intonation: introductory notes and practical recommendations Journal Article
In: 2015.
@article{Michaud2015j,
title = {Tone and intonation: introductory notes and practical recommendations},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Jacqueline Vaissière},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-02-04},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Michaud, Alexis
Phrasing, prominence, and morphotonology: How utterances are divided into tone groups in Yongning Na Journal Article
In: Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics, vol. 8, pp. 112-152, 2015.
@article{Michaud2015h,
title = {Phrasing, prominence, and morphotonology: How utterances are divided into tone groups in Yongning Na},
author = {Alexis Michaud},
doi = {10.1163/2405478X-00801006},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-02-01},
journal = {Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics},
volume = {8},
pages = {112-152},
abstract = {Yongning Na is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in an area straddling the border between Yunnan and Sichuan. The Yongning Na tone system is based on three levels: L, M, and H. It comprises a host of rules that are specific to certain morphosyntactic contexts. These rules represent the bulk of what language learners must acquire to master the tone system. Different rules apply in the association of a verb with a subject or an object, the association of two nouns into a compound, that of a numeral and classifier, and that of a word and its affixes, for instance. The domain of tonal computation is referred to here as the tone group; tonal processes never apply across tone-group junctures. The present study investigates how utterances are divided into tone groups in Yongning Na, building on examples from narratives and elicited combinations. There is no hard-and-fast correspondence between syntactic structure and tone group divisions: several options are generally open for the division of an utterance into tone groups. The choice among these options depends on considerations of information structure. This study is intended as a stepping-stone towards the long-term goal of modelling the Na tonal system (its morpho-phonology and its phonetics), and placing the findings in a typological perspective.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Yongning Na is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in an area straddling the border between Yunnan and Sichuan. The Yongning Na tone system is based on three levels: L, M, and H. It comprises a host of rules that are specific to certain morphosyntactic contexts. These rules represent the bulk of what language learners must acquire to master the tone system. Different rules apply in the association of a verb with a subject or an object, the association of two nouns into a compound, that of a numeral and classifier, and that of a word and its affixes, for instance. The domain of tonal computation is referred to here as the tone group; tonal processes never apply across tone-group junctures. The present study investigates how utterances are divided into tone groups in Yongning Na, building on examples from narratives and elicited combinations. There is no hard-and-fast correspondence between syntactic structure and tone group divisions: several options are generally open for the division of an utterance into tone groups. The choice among these options depends on considerations of information structure. This study is intended as a stepping-stone towards the long-term goal of modelling the Na tonal system (its morpho-phonology and its phonetics), and placing the findings in a typological perspective.
Michaud, Alexis; Michailovsky, Boyd; He, Xueguang
Locky's Naxi-English Encyclopedia Pinyin System and International Phonetic Alphabet Journal Article
In: vol. 4, pp. 119-124, 2015.
@article{Michaud2015i,
title = {Locky's Naxi-English Encyclopedia Pinyin System and International Phonetic Alphabet},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Boyd Michailovsky and Xueguang He},
url = {https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00376259},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-01-26},
volume = {4},
pages = {119-124},
abstract = {This article provides a concise introduction to facilitate readers to better understand the phonetic system used by Joseph Locke in his Naxi English Dictionary (Rock 1963 1972). This paper provides a simple guide for deciphering the idiosyncratic phonetic notation used by J.F. Rock in his Na-khi﹣English dictionary. Correspondences with the International Phonetic Alphabet are set out on the basis of a phonemic analysis.
},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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This article provides a concise introduction to facilitate readers to better understand the phonetic system used by Joseph Locke in his Naxi English Dictionary (Rock 1963 1972). This paper provides a simple guide for deciphering the idiosyncratic phonetic notation used by J.F. Rock in his Na-khi﹣English dictionary. Correspondences with the International Phonetic Alphabet are set out on the basis of a phonemic analysis.
Michaud, Alexis; Michailovsky, Boyd; He, Xueguang
International Phonetic Alphabet correspondences for the phonetic notations used by J.F. Rock in his Nakhi-English dictionary Journal Article
In: Chama Gudao Yanjiu Jikan, vol. 4, pp. 119-124, 2015.
@article{Michaud2015g,
title = {International Phonetic Alphabet correspondences for the phonetic notations used by J.F. Rock in his Nakhi-English dictionary},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Boyd Michailovsky and Xueguang He},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-01-23},
journal = {Chama Gudao Yanjiu Jikan},
volume = {4},
pages = {119-124},
abstract = {This article provides a concise introduction based on the phoneme of Lijiang Naxi language to facilitate readers to better understand the phonetic system used by Joseph Locke in his "Naxi English Dictionary" (Rock, 1963 1972) . This paper provides a simple guide for deciphering the idiosyncratic phonetic notation used by JF Rock in his Na-khi﹣English dictionary. Correspondences with the International Phonetic Alphabet are set out on the basis of a phonemic analysis.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article provides a concise introduction based on the phoneme of Lijiang Naxi language to facilitate readers to better understand the phonetic system used by Joseph Locke in his "Naxi English Dictionary" (Rock, 1963 1972) . This paper provides a simple guide for deciphering the idiosyncratic phonetic notation used by JF Rock in his Na-khi﹣English dictionary. Correspondences with the International Phonetic Alphabet are set out on the basis of a phonemic analysis.
2014
Michaud, Alexis; Jacques, Guillaume; Rankin, Robert L.
The transfer of nasalization characteristics in historical evolution-from consonant initials to vowels? Or is it a vowel to a consonant initial? Journal Article
In: Eastling, vol. 14, pp. 159-188, 2014.
@article{Michaud2014,
title = {The transfer of nasalization characteristics in historical evolution-from consonant initials to vowels? Or is it a vowel to a consonant initial?},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Guillaume Jacques and Robert L. Rankin},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-10-01},
journal = {Eastling},
volume = {14},
pages = {159-188},
abstract = {Comparing the relevant data of several language families, it can be seen that the transfer of nasalization features occurs between the first consonant cluster of the syllable and the subsequent vowels. This article summarizes the data discovered so far and makes a new analysis of a set of Sino-Tibetan languages. It shows that this kind of evolution occurs in two directions at the same time: from the consonant initials to the subsequent vowels appearing in the Zhuang-Dong language family (Taiwan-Kadai language family), Austro-Asian language family, Sino-Tibetan language family, Niger-Congo language family (Kwa language) In the Indo-European language family (Celtic); the shift from vowels to consonants occurs in Su language. Carefully examine the conditions of evolution and bring out a (regular) asymmetry. In most cases, the transfer of nasal features is from the consonant initials to the subsequent vowels. Regular changes in the opposite direction often require any one of the following restrictions on nasal sounds: (i) nasal consonants are nonphonemic (contextual predictable); or (ii) nasal vowels and accent vowels after nasal consonants The opposition occurs in neutralization (preferably nasal vowels). This is a translation of: Michaud, Alexis, Guillaume Jacques & Robert L. Rankin. 2012. "Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel: from C to V or from V to C?" Diachronica 29(2). 201- 230 (also available from the HAL preprint archive). The Abstract of the original is as follows: Comparative data from several language families show that nasality can be transferred between a syllable-initial consonant cluster and the following vowel. The cases reported to date are summarized,},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Comparing the relevant data of several language families, it can be seen that the transfer of nasalization features occurs between the first consonant cluster of the syllable and the subsequent vowels. This article summarizes the data discovered so far and makes a new analysis of a set of Sino-Tibetan languages. It shows that this kind of evolution occurs in two directions at the same time: from the consonant initials to the subsequent vowels appearing in the Zhuang-Dong language family (Taiwan-Kadai language family), Austro-Asian language family, Sino-Tibetan language family, Niger-Congo language family (Kwa language) In the Indo-European language family (Celtic); the shift from vowels to consonants occurs in Su language. Carefully examine the conditions of evolution and bring out a (regular) asymmetry. In most cases, the transfer of nasal features is from the consonant initials to the subsequent vowels. Regular changes in the opposite direction often require any one of the following restrictions on nasal sounds: (i) nasal consonants are nonphonemic (contextual predictable); or (ii) nasal vowels and accent vowels after nasal consonants The opposition occurs in neutralization (preferably nasal vowels). This is a translation of: Michaud, Alexis, Guillaume Jacques & Robert L. Rankin. 2012. "Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel: from C to V or from V to C?" Diachronica 29(2). 201- 230 (also available from the HAL preprint archive). The Abstract of the original is as follows: Comparative data from several language families show that nasality can be transferred between a syllable-initial consonant cluster and the following vowel. The cases reported to date are summarized,
Michaud, Alexis; Do, Thi-Ngoc-Diep; Castelli, Eric
Towards the automatic processing of Yongning Na (Sino-Tibetan): developing a 'light' acoustic model of the target language and testing 'heavyweight' models from five national languages Journal Article
In: Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Spoken Language Technologies for Under-resourced Languages, pp. 153-160, 2014.
@article{Michaud2014b,
title = {Towards the automatic processing of Yongning Na (Sino-Tibetan): developing a 'light' acoustic model of the target language and testing 'heavyweight' models from five national languages},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Thi-Ngoc-Diep Do and Eric Castelli},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-05-14},
journal = {Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Spoken Language Technologies for Under-resourced Languages},
pages = {153-160},
abstract = {Automatic speech processing technologies hold great potential to facilitate the urgent task of documenting the world’s languages. The present research aims to explore the application of speech recognition tools to a littledocumented language, with a view to facilitating processes of annotation, transcription and linguistic analysis. The target language is Yongning Na (a.k.a. Mosuo), an unwritten Sino-Tibetan language with less than 50,000 speakers. An acoustic model of Na was built using CMU Sphinx. In addition to this ‘light’ model, trained on a small data set (only 4 hours of speech from 1 speaker), ‘heavyweight’ models from five national languages (English, French, Chinese, Vietnamese and Khmer) were also applied to the same data. Preliminary results are reported, and perspectives for the long road ahead are outlined. },
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Automatic speech processing technologies hold great potential to facilitate the urgent task of documenting the world’s languages. The present research aims to explore the application of speech recognition tools to a littledocumented language, with a view to facilitating processes of annotation, transcription and linguistic analysis. The target language is Yongning Na (a.k.a. Mosuo), an unwritten Sino-Tibetan language with less than 50,000 speakers. An acoustic model of Na was built using CMU Sphinx. In addition to this ‘light’ model, trained on a small data set (only 4 hours of speech from 1 speaker), ‘heavyweight’ models from five national languages (English, French, Chinese, Vietnamese and Khmer) were also applied to the same data. Preliminary results are reported, and perspectives for the long road ahead are outlined.
Michaud, Alexis; Brunelle, Marc
Information Structure in Asia: Yongning Na (Sino-Tibetan) and Vietnamese (Austroasiatic) Journal Article
In: Oxford University Press, pp. 2048-2070, 2014.
@article{Michaud2014c,
title = {Information Structure in Asia: Yongning Na (Sino-Tibetan) and Vietnamese (Austroasiatic)},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Marc Brunelle},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-02-13},
journal = {Oxford University Press},
pages = {2048-2070},
abstract = {Languages of Asia are highly diverse. Rather than attempting a review of the literature about information structure in this huge linguistic area, this chapter provides observations about two languages that differ sharply in terms of how they convey information structure. Yongning Na (Sino-Tibetan) is an example of a language with abundant morphemes expressing information structure, whereas Vietnamese (Austroasiatic) makes little use of such morphemes. Along with key morphosyntactic facts, this chapter presents the role played by intonation in conveying information structure in these two tonal languages.},
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Languages of Asia are highly diverse. Rather than attempting a review of the literature about information structure in this huge linguistic area, this chapter provides observations about two languages that differ sharply in terms of how they convey information structure. Yongning Na (Sino-Tibetan) is an example of a language with abundant morphemes expressing information structure, whereas Vietnamese (Austroasiatic) makes little use of such morphemes. Along with key morphosyntactic facts, this chapter presents the role played by intonation in conveying information structure in these two tonal languages.
Michaud, Alexis; Michailovsky, Boyd; Mazaudon, Martine; Adamou, Evangelia; Guillaume, Séverine; François, Alexandre
Documenting and researching endangered languages: the Pangloss Collection Journal Article
In: University of Hawaiʻi Press , vol. 8, pp. 119-135, 2014, ISSN: 1934-5275.
@article{Michaud2014e,
title = {Documenting and researching endangered languages: the Pangloss Collection},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Boyd Michailovsky and Martine Mazaudon and Evangelia Adamou and Séverine Guillaume and Alexandre François},
issn = {1934-5275},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-01-01},
journal = {University of Hawaiʻi Press },
volume = {8},
pages = {119-135},
abstract = {The Pangloss Collection is a language archive developed since 1994 at the Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale (LACITO) research group of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). It contributes to the documentation and study of the world's languages by providing free access to documents of connected, spontaneous speech, mostly in endangered or under-resourced languages, recorded in their cultural context and transcribed in consultation with native speakers. The Collection is an Open Archive containing media files (recordings), text annotations, and metadata; it currently contains over 1,400 recordings in 70 languages, including more than 400 transcribed and annotated documents. The annotations consist of transcription, free translation in English, French and/or other languages, and, in many cases, word or morpheme glosses; they are time-aligned with the recordings, usually at the utterance level. A web interface makes these annotations accessible online in an interlinear display format, in synchrony with the sound, using any standard browser. The structure of the XML documents makes them accessible to searching and indexing, always preserving the links to the recordings. Long-term preservation is guaranteed through a partnership with a digital archive. A guiding principle of the Pangloss Collection is that a close association between documentation and research is highly profitable to both. This article presents the collections currently available; it also aims to convey a sense of the range of possibilities they offer to the scientific and speaker communities and to the general public.},
keywords = {},
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The Pangloss Collection is a language archive developed since 1994 at the Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale (LACITO) research group of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). It contributes to the documentation and study of the world's languages by providing free access to documents of connected, spontaneous speech, mostly in endangered or under-resourced languages, recorded in their cultural context and transcribed in consultation with native speakers. The Collection is an Open Archive containing media files (recordings), text annotations, and metadata; it currently contains over 1,400 recordings in 70 languages, including more than 400 transcribed and annotated documents. The annotations consist of transcription, free translation in English, French and/or other languages, and, in many cases, word or morpheme glosses; they are time-aligned with the recordings, usually at the utterance level. A web interface makes these annotations accessible online in an interlinear display format, in synchrony with the sound, using any standard browser. The structure of the XML documents makes them accessible to searching and indexing, always preserving the links to the recordings. Long-term preservation is guaranteed through a partnership with a digital archive. A guiding principle of the Pangloss Collection is that a close association between documentation and research is highly profitable to both. This article presents the collections currently available; it also aims to convey a sense of the range of possibilities they offer to the scientific and speaker communities and to the general public.
Michaud, Alexis; Pain, Frederic; Ferlus, Michel; Phạm, Thị Thu Hà
EFEO-CNRS-SOAS Word List for Linguistic Fieldwork in Southeast Asia Journal Article
In: 2014.
@article{Michaud2014f,
title = {EFEO-CNRS-SOAS Word List for Linguistic Fieldwork in Southeast Asia},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Frederic Pain and Michel Ferlus and Thị Thu Hà Phạm},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-01-01},
abstract = {This word list aims to allow researchers (i) to conduct in-depth lexical investigation when doing fieldwork on languages of Southeast Asia, and (ii) to navigate between languages and dialects, through the use of a unique identifier for each lexical entry. The first version of this word list was created by Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) for a broad investigation launched in 1938 and interrupted by the war in 1940. A second version of the word list was elaborated at the CNRS laboratory CeDRASEMI (Centre de documentation et de recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est et le monde insulindien). This overhaul was supervised by Lucien Bernot, probably between 1960 et 1970; the list was jointly prepared by the Centre de documentation et de recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est et le monde insulindien (EPHE-CNRS, Paris) and the Department of South Asia and Oceania of the School of Oriental Studies (University of London) with a view to creating an Ethnolinguistic Atlas of Southeast Asia. Michel Ferlus re-typed the 22-page list to adopt a format suitable for use in the field. As the list remained insufficiently comprehensive for in-depth linguistic fieldwork, Michel Ferlus added further items in the course of his field trips to Vietnam in the 1990s. This list was circulated among Michel Ferlus's colleagues and collaborators. Khmer glosses were added by Frédéric Pain, based on a version of the CeDRASEMI-SOAS list to which Marie Martin had added Khmer glosses. The present version was updated at the International Research Institute MICA in 2013-2014. Chinese glosses were added; English glosses were supplemented; and Vietnamese glosses were revised. The word list is offered online in Open Office format (.ods). The PDF printout constitutes a preview; for reasons of page layout, the PDF does not include all the data, eg indications of semantic field.},
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This word list aims to allow researchers (i) to conduct in-depth lexical investigation when doing fieldwork on languages of Southeast Asia, and (ii) to navigate between languages and dialects, through the use of a unique identifier for each lexical entry. The first version of this word list was created by Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) for a broad investigation launched in 1938 and interrupted by the war in 1940. A second version of the word list was elaborated at the CNRS laboratory CeDRASEMI (Centre de documentation et de recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est et le monde insulindien). This overhaul was supervised by Lucien Bernot, probably between 1960 et 1970; the list was jointly prepared by the Centre de documentation et de recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est et le monde insulindien (EPHE-CNRS, Paris) and the Department of South Asia and Oceania of the School of Oriental Studies (University of London) with a view to creating an Ethnolinguistic Atlas of Southeast Asia. Michel Ferlus re-typed the 22-page list to adopt a format suitable for use in the field. As the list remained insufficiently comprehensive for in-depth linguistic fieldwork, Michel Ferlus added further items in the course of his field trips to Vietnam in the 1990s. This list was circulated among Michel Ferlus's colleagues and collaborators. Khmer glosses were added by Frédéric Pain, based on a version of the CeDRASEMI-SOAS list to which Marie Martin had added Khmer glosses. The present version was updated at the International Research Institute MICA in 2013-2014. Chinese glosses were added; English glosses were supplemented; and Vietnamese glosses were revised. The word list is offered online in Open Office format (.ods). The PDF printout constitutes a preview; for reasons of page layout, the PDF does not include all the data, eg indications of semantic field.
2013
Michaud, Alexis
Studying level-tone systems in Asia: the case of the Naish languages Journal Article
In: Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong, pp. 1-6, 2013, ISBN: 978-962-442-371-6.
@article{Michaud2013e,
title = {Studying level-tone systems in Asia: the case of the Naish languages},
author = {Alexis Michaud},
isbn = {978-962-442-371-6},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-12-01},
journal = {Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong},
pages = {1-6},
abstract = {This paper discusses the prosody of Naxi, Yongning Na and Laze, three Sino-Tibetan languages of the Naish subgroup. These three languages have three level tones (High, Mid and Low). Level tones are not unattested in China and Southeast Asia, but have received somewhat less attention than the phonetically complex tones typically found in Sinitic and other families in the area. The study of level-tone systems in Asia appears as a promising field of research, now still in an early stage of development. Central issues concern these languages ’ place in prosodic typology, and the ways in which intonation interacts with level tones. The paper explains how answers to these questions gradually emerged. The three languages considered here illustrate the great diversity of situations that one may expect to encounter in the field: the tones of Laze and Yongning Na fall squarely in the level-tone type, whereas Naxi is somewhat of an outlier among level-tone systems.},
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This paper discusses the prosody of Naxi, Yongning Na and Laze, three Sino-Tibetan languages of the Naish subgroup. These three languages have three level tones (High, Mid and Low). Level tones are not unattested in China and Southeast Asia, but have received somewhat less attention than the phonetically complex tones typically found in Sinitic and other families in the area. The study of level-tone systems in Asia appears as a promising field of research, now still in an early stage of development. Central issues concern these languages ’ place in prosodic typology, and the ways in which intonation interacts with level tones. The paper explains how answers to these questions gradually emerged. The three languages considered here illustrate the great diversity of situations that one may expect to encounter in the field: the tones of Laze and Yongning Na fall squarely in the level-tone type, whereas Naxi is somewhat of an outlier among level-tone systems.
Michaud, Alexis
De Gruyter Mouton, 2013.
@book{Michaud2013f,
title = {The tone patterns of numeral-plus-classifier phrases in Yongning Na: a synchronic description and analysis},
author = {Alexis Michaud},
url = {https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00821180},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-12-01},
volume = {34},
number = {1},
publisher = {De Gruyter Mouton},
abstract = {In Yongning Na, there exists a bewildering diversity of tone patterns on numeral-plus-classifier phrases. A systematic investigation brings out no less than nine sets of classifiers on the basis of their tonal behaviour in association with numerals. These phenomena are analyzed here as part of the irregular tonal morphology found in Yongning Na. The present work represents a contribution towards a complete description of the rich tonal morphology of this language.},
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tppubtype = {book}
}
In Yongning Na, there exists a bewildering diversity of tone patterns on numeral-plus-classifier phrases. A systematic investigation brings out no less than nine sets of classifiers on the basis of their tonal behaviour in association with numerals. These phenomena are analyzed here as part of the irregular tonal morphology found in Yongning Na. The present work represents a contribution towards a complete description of the rich tonal morphology of this language.
Michaud, Alexis; Nguyen, Lan; Tran, Do Dat; Mac, Dang-Khoa; -Khoa, Dang
The interplay of intonation and complex lexical tones: how speaker attitudes affect the realization of glottalization on Vietnamese sentence-final particles, Lyon, France, 2013.
@conference{Michaud2013c,
title = {The interplay of intonation and complex lexical tones: how speaker attitudes affect the realization of glottalization on Vietnamese sentence-final particles},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Lan Nguyen and Do Dat Tran and Dang-Khoa Mac and Dang -Khoa},
doi = {10.13140/2.1.2748.0961},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-08-25},
booktitle = {The interplay of intonation and complex lexical tones: how speaker attitudes affect the realization of glottalization on Vietnamese sentence-final particles},
publisher = {Lyon, France},
abstract = {A salient aspect of the tone system of Hanoi Vietnamese is its use of phonation-type characteristics. This pilot study investigates intonational variation in the realization of two tones: tone 3 (ngã), a rising tone with a strong glottalization in its first half, and tone 6 (nặng), which starts on a middle pitch and usually falls dramatically because of a strong glottalization in its second half. This study focuses on how speaker attitude affects the realization of glottalization on two sentence-final particles (SFPs) carrying tones 3 and 6: đã [IPA: ɗa3], conveying tense-aspect-modality information, and ạ [IPA: a6], conveying politeness. Audio and electroglottographic recordings from 4 male speakers suggest that glottalization is phased earlier for surprise than for declaration. Irritation also tends to be reflected in earlier glottalization, but with an added glottal constriction at the very end. A methodological challenge is that phonetic realizations of tones 3 and 6 span a wide range of states of the glottis. A procedure is proposed for detecting the complex-repetitive patterns found in cases of lapse into creaky phonation (vocal fry). This helps quantify glottalization phenomena, with a view to arriving at a model that can be used in speech processing.},
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A salient aspect of the tone system of Hanoi Vietnamese is its use of phonation-type characteristics. This pilot study investigates intonational variation in the realization of two tones: tone 3 (ngã), a rising tone with a strong glottalization in its first half, and tone 6 (nặng), which starts on a middle pitch and usually falls dramatically because of a strong glottalization in its second half. This study focuses on how speaker attitude affects the realization of glottalization on two sentence-final particles (SFPs) carrying tones 3 and 6: đã [IPA: ɗa3], conveying tense-aspect-modality information, and ạ [IPA: a6], conveying politeness. Audio and electroglottographic recordings from 4 male speakers suggest that glottalization is phased earlier for surprise than for declaration. Irritation also tends to be reflected in earlier glottalization, but with an added glottal constriction at the very end. A methodological challenge is that phonetic realizations of tones 3 and 6 span a wide range of states of the glottis. A procedure is proposed for detecting the complex-repetitive patterns found in cases of lapse into creaky phonation (vocal fry). This helps quantify glottalization phenomena, with a view to arriving at a model that can be used in speech processing.
Michaud, Alexis; Jacques, Guillaume
André-Georges Haudricourt (1911-1996) Journal Article
In: Brill, vol. 2, pp. 349-354, 2013.
@article{Michaud2013h,
title = {André-Georges Haudricourt (1911-1996)},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Guillaume Jacques},
url = {https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00793597},
doi = {10.1163/2210-7363_ecll_com_000143},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-06-20},
journal = {Brill},
volume = {2},
pages = {349-354},
abstract = {Haudricourt's main legacies to the field of Chinese historical phonology are his systematic account of tonogenesis, and his reconstruction of final *-s and of labiovelars. The method that he proposed under the term of Panchronic Phonology holds special promise for the study of the languages of China in their universal context.},
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Haudricourt's main legacies to the field of Chinese historical phonology are his systematic account of tonogenesis, and his reconstruction of final *-s and of labiovelars. The method that he proposed under the term of Panchronic Phonology holds special promise for the study of the languages of China in their universal context.
Michaud, Alexis; Zhong, Yaoping; He, Limin
Naxi (Naish) Journal Article
In: Brill, vol. 3, pp. 144-157, 2013.
@article{Michaud2013i,
title = {Naxi (Naish)},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Yaoping Zhong and Limin He},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-02-22},
journal = {Brill},
volume = {3},
pages = {144-157},
abstract = {References: MICHAUD Alexis, HE Limin & ZHONG Yaoping, forthcoming. "Naxi (Naish)." In: Rint Sybesma, Wolfgang Behr, Zev Handel & C.T. James Huang (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.},
keywords = {},
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References: MICHAUD Alexis, HE Limin & ZHONG Yaoping, forthcoming. "Naxi (Naish)." In: Rint Sybesma, Wolfgang Behr, Zev Handel & C.T. James Huang (eds.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill.
Michaud, Alexis
Review of: Pinson, Thomas M. 2012. A Naxi-Chinese-English Dictionary (Naqxi-Habaq-Yiyu Ceeqdiail / Naxi Chinese-English Dictionary) Journal Article
In: Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 129-137, 2013.
@article{Michaud2013j,
title = {Review of: Pinson, Thomas M. 2012. A Naxi-Chinese-English Dictionary (Naqxi-Habaq-Yiyu Ceeqdiail / Naxi Chinese-English Dictionary)},
author = {Alexis Michaud},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-01-01},
journal = {Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area},
volume = {36},
number = {2},
pages = {129-137},
abstract = {This is a review of: Pinson, Thomas M. 2012. A Naxi-Chinese-English Dictionary (Naqxi-Habaq-Yiyu Ceeqdiail / Naxi Chinese-English Dictionary)},
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This is a review of: Pinson, Thomas M. 2012. A Naxi-Chinese-English Dictionary (Naqxi-Habaq-Yiyu Ceeqdiail / Naxi Chinese-English Dictionary)
2012
Michaud, Alexis; Guillaume, Severine; Hardie, Andrew; Toda, Martine
Combining Documentation And Research: Ongoing Work On An Endangered Language Conference
IALP 2012 (2012 International Conference on Asian Language Processing, vol. 1, Proceedings - 2012 International Conference on Asian Language Processing, IALP, 2012, ISBN: 978-1-4673-6113-2.
@conference{Michaud2012h,
title = {Combining Documentation And Research: Ongoing Work On An Endangered Language},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Severine Guillaume and Andrew Hardie and Martine Toda
},
url = {https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00731261},
doi = {10.1109/IALP.2012.32},
isbn = {978-1-4673-6113-2},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-11-01},
booktitle = {IALP 2012 (2012 International Conference on Asian Language Processing},
volume = {1},
pages = {169-172},
publisher = {Proceedings - 2012 International Conference on Asian Language Processing, IALP},
abstract = {This paper is intended for an audience of speech technology specialists who believe that "automatic processing of under-resourced languages is a way to study language diversity with a multi-disciplinary view" (L. Besacier, keynote speech at this conference). It aims (i) to provide an illustration of the way in which data are collected in fieldwork on endangered languages, bringing attention to the quality of the transcriptions and annotations created by linguists, (ii) to present the contents and format of a set of endangered-language documents synchronizing sound and text, which are currently available online, and (iii) to sketch out some of the research purposes and applications to which these documents lend themselves, and which we intend to pursue in future work.},
keywords = {},
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This paper is intended for an audience of speech technology specialists who believe that "automatic processing of under-resourced languages is a way to study language diversity with a multi-disciplinary view" (L. Besacier, keynote speech at this conference). It aims (i) to provide an illustration of the way in which data are collected in fieldwork on endangered languages, bringing attention to the quality of the transcriptions and annotations created by linguists, (ii) to present the contents and format of a set of endangered-language documents synchronizing sound and text, which are currently available online, and (iii) to sketch out some of the research purposes and applications to which these documents lend themselves, and which we intend to pursue in future work.
Michaud, Alexis; Jacques, Guillaume; Rankin, Robert L.
Appendix to Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel Journal Article
In: Diachronica, vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 1-11, 2012.
@article{Michaud2012k,
title = {Appendix to Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Guillaume Jacques and Robert L. Rankin},
doi = {10.1075/dia.29.2.04mic.additional},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-06-20},
journal = {Diachronica},
volume = {29},
number = {9},
pages = {1-11},
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Michaud, Alexis; Jacques, Guillaume; Rankin, Robert L.
Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel: From C to V or from V to C? Journal Article
In: Diachronica, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 201-230, 2012.
@article{Michaud2012i,
title = {Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel: From C to V or from V to C?},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Guillaume Jacques and Robert L. Rankin},
doi = {10.1075/dia.29.2.04mic},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-06-01},
journal = {Diachronica},
volume = {29},
number = {2},
pages = {201-230},
abstract = {Comparative data from several language families show that nasality can be transferred between a syllable-initial consonant cluster and the following vowel. The cases reported to date are summarized, and a new analysis is proposed for a set of Sino-Tibetan data. The evolution appears to go in both directions: from the consonantal onset to the following vowel in Tai-Kadai, Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo (Kwa) and Indo-European (Celtic), and from the vowel to the preceding consonant in Siouan. However, an examination of the conditions on these changes brings out an asymmetry. In most cases, transfers of nasality take place from a consonantal onset to a following vowel; the instances we found of a regular change in the opposite direction all come from languages where there is one of the following restrictions on nasal sounds: (i) nasal consonants are nonphonemic (contextually predictable), or (ii) the opposition between nasal and oral vowels is neutralized after nasal consonants (in favor of nasal vowels).},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
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}
Comparative data from several language families show that nasality can be transferred between a syllable-initial consonant cluster and the following vowel. The cases reported to date are summarized, and a new analysis is proposed for a set of Sino-Tibetan data. The evolution appears to go in both directions: from the consonantal onset to the following vowel in Tai-Kadai, Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo (Kwa) and Indo-European (Celtic), and from the vowel to the preceding consonant in Siouan. However, an examination of the conditions on these changes brings out an asymmetry. In most cases, transfers of nasality take place from a consonantal onset to a following vowel; the instances we found of a regular change in the opposite direction all come from languages where there is one of the following restrictions on nasal sounds: (i) nasal consonants are nonphonemic (contextually predictable), or (ii) the opposition between nasal and oral vowels is neutralized after nasal consonants (in favor of nasal vowels).
Michaud, Alexis
The Complex Tones of East/Southeast Asian Languages: Current Challenges for Typology and Modelling Journal Article
In: Third International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2012), Nanjing, China (2012), pp. 1-7, 2012.
@article{Michaud2012g,
title = {The Complex Tones of East/Southeast Asian Languages: Current Challenges for Typology and Modelling},
author = {Alexis Michaud
},
url = {https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00676251},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-05-26},
journal = {Third International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2012), Nanjing, China (2012)},
pages = {1-7},
abstract = {In some of the tone systems of East and Southeast Asian languages, linguistic tone cannot simply be equated with pitch; some tones have phonation-type characteristics as part of their phonological definition; and there is no compelling evidence for analyzing tonal contours into sequences of levels. Salient findings are reviewed, first from a synchronic perspective, then from a diachronic one, to bring out facts that are relevant for tonal typology and for evolutionary approaches to phonology.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In some of the tone systems of East and Southeast Asian languages, linguistic tone cannot simply be equated with pitch; some tones have phonation-type characteristics as part of their phonological definition; and there is no compelling evidence for analyzing tonal contours into sequences of levels. Salient findings are reviewed, first from a synchronic perspective, then from a diachronic one, to bring out facts that are relevant for tonal typology and for evolutionary approaches to phonology.
Michaud, Alexis; Jacques, Guillaume
The phonology of Laze: phonemic analysis, syllabic inventory, and a short word list Journal Article
In: 2012.
@article{Michaud2012l,
title = {The phonology of Laze: phonemic analysis, syllabic inventory, and a short word list},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Guillaume Jacques},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-01-01},
abstract = {Laze is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in the county of Muli, in Sichuan, by a population of less than 1,000. The article proposes a synchronic account of Laze phonology, supplemented by a list of about 1,400 words in the Appendix. A phonemic analysis is proposed, with an inventory of syllables that brings to light the synchronic distributional properties of Laze onsets and rhymes - properties that are crucial to ongoing research into the historical phonology of the subgroup of Sino-Tibetan to which Laze belongs.},
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pubstate = {published},
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Laze is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in the county of Muli, in Sichuan, by a population of less than 1,000. The article proposes a synchronic account of Laze phonology, supplemented by a list of about 1,400 words in the Appendix. A phonemic analysis is proposed, with an inventory of syllables that brings to light the synchronic distributional properties of Laze onsets and rhymes - properties that are crucial to ongoing research into the historical phonology of the subgroup of Sino-Tibetan to which Laze belongs.
Michaud, Alexis; Xu, Jirong
Research about the phonemic system of the Naxi dialect of Ciending village, Shangri-la prefecture Journal Article
In: 2012.
@article{Michaud2012m,
title = {Research about the phonemic system of the Naxi dialect of Ciending village, Shangri-la prefecture},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Jirong Xu},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-01-01},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Michaud, Alexis
Monosyllabicization: patterns of evolution in Asian languages Journal Article
In: 2012.
@article{Michaud2012n,
title = {Monosyllabicization: patterns of evolution in Asian languages},
author = {Alexis Michaud},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-01-01},
abstract = {Asian languages reveal a continuum from quasi-disyllables to highly eroded monosyllables. These variegated states are now understood to be different stages along a common evolutionary path. An overview is proposed, beginning with the earliest stages of monosyllabicization, before the generalization of a strictly monosyllabic phonological structure. The well-documented processes of consonantal depletion which lead to the development of phonation-type registers and tones are set out within a general model. Lastly, phonological evolutions observed at advanced stages of segmental depletion are discussed. The concluding note concerns the aftermath of segmental depletion: the re-creation of polysyllables.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Asian languages reveal a continuum from quasi-disyllables to highly eroded monosyllables. These variegated states are now understood to be different stages along a common evolutionary path. An overview is proposed, beginning with the earliest stages of monosyllabicization, before the generalization of a strictly monosyllabic phonological structure. The well-documented processes of consonantal depletion which lead to the development of phonation-type registers and tones are set out within a general model. Lastly, phonological evolutions observed at advanced stages of segmental depletion are discussed. The concluding note concerns the aftermath of segmental depletion: the re-creation of polysyllables.
2011
Michaud, Alexis; Jacques, Guillaume
Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages: Naxi, Na and Laze Journal Article
In: Diachronica, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 468-498, 2011, ISSN: 0176-4225.
@article{Michaud2011h,
title = {Approaching the historical phonology of three highly eroded Sino-Tibetan languages: Naxi, Na and Laze},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Guillaume Jacques},
url = {https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00537990},
doi = {10.1075/dia.28.4.02jac},
issn = {0176-4225},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-12-14},
journal = {Diachronica},
volume = {28},
number = {4},
pages = {468-498},
abstract = {Naxi, Na and Laze are three languages whose position within Sino-Tibetan is controversial. We propose that these languages are descended from a common ancestor ("proto-Naish"). Unlike conservative languages of the family, such as Rgyalrong and Tibetan, which have consonant clusters and final consonants, Naxi, Na and Laze share a simple syllabic structure (consonant+glide+vowel+tone) due to phonological erosion. This raises the issue of how the regular phonological correspondences between these three languages should be interpreted, and which phonological structure should be reconstructed for proto-Naish. The regularities revealed by the comparison of the three languages are interpreted in light of potentially cognate forms in conservative languages. This comparison brings out numerous cases of phonetic conditioning of the vowel by the place of articulation of a preceding consonant or consonant cluster. Overall, these findings warrant a relatively optimistic conclusion concerning the feasibility of unraveling the phonological history of highly eroded language subgroups within Sino-Tibetan.
},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Naxi, Na and Laze are three languages whose position within Sino-Tibetan is controversial. We propose that these languages are descended from a common ancestor ("proto-Naish"). Unlike conservative languages of the family, such as Rgyalrong and Tibetan, which have consonant clusters and final consonants, Naxi, Na and Laze share a simple syllabic structure (consonant+glide+vowel+tone) due to phonological erosion. This raises the issue of how the regular phonological correspondences between these three languages should be interpreted, and which phonological structure should be reconstructed for proto-Naish. The regularities revealed by the comparison of the three languages are interpreted in light of potentially cognate forms in conservative languages. This comparison brings out numerous cases of phonetic conditioning of the vowel by the place of articulation of a preceding consonant or consonant cluster. Overall, these findings warrant a relatively optimistic conclusion concerning the feasibility of unraveling the phonological history of highly eroded language subgroups within Sino-Tibetan.
Michaud, Alexis; Latami, Dashi
A description of endangered phonemic oppositions in Yongning Na (Mosuo) Journal Article
In: Intellectual property publishing house, Beijing, pp. 55-71, 2011.
@article{Michaud2011b,
title = {A description of endangered phonemic oppositions in Yongning Na (Mosuo)},
author = {Alexis Michaud and Dashi Latami},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-12-01},
journal = {Intellectual property publishing house, Beijing},
pages = {55-71},
abstract = {The investigation concerns phonemic contrasts (including tonal contrasts) that are under a severe danger of disappearing from the Na language spoken in the plain of Yongning (Ninglang prefecture, Lijiang municipality, Yunnan province, China). This language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family; it is also known as "Mosuo" and "Yongning dialect of Eastern Naxi". The overall tendency is, unsurprisingly, that the phonemic contrasts found in Mosuo but not in Mandarin Chinese tend to become lost by the speakers who are most proficient in Chinese. We discuss several examples in detail. Among other consonants, Na contrasts /l/，/ɬ/，/ʁ/，and /ɻ/; this set is fully preserved in the speech of a 55-year-old speaker, whereas in the speech of a schoolgirl (currently in senior high school) the four have simplified to /l/: /Mli/ "to look" and /Mɬi/"ear; moon" have both simplified to /li/; the syllables /ʁæ/ and /ɻæ/ in /Mʁæ.mi/"sword" and /#Hkʰwæ.ɻæ/ "satin" all simplified to /læ/. In-between these two extremes, in the speech of a speaker aged 35, these phonemic contrasts are preserved but their lexical distribution is becoming somewhat imperfect. For instance, she pronounces the word "sword", /Mʁæ.mi/, which is not in common use anymore, as /Mɻæ.mi/; this example arguably constitutes an indication that the opposition between /ʁ/ and /ɻ/ is weakening. As far as tones are concerned, the differences between the oldest generations and the speakers under 60 years set in sharp relief the complexities of the tonal system of Na: the contrasts that are neutralized in citation form tend to be overlooked by the less proficient speakers, leading to a major transformation of the architecture of the tonal system.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The investigation concerns phonemic contrasts (including tonal contrasts) that are under a severe danger of disappearing from the Na language spoken in the plain of Yongning (Ninglang prefecture, Lijiang municipality, Yunnan province, China). This language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family; it is also known as "Mosuo" and "Yongning dialect of Eastern Naxi". The overall tendency is, unsurprisingly, that the phonemic contrasts found in Mosuo but not in Mandarin Chinese tend to become lost by the speakers who are most proficient in Chinese. We discuss several examples in detail. Among other consonants, Na contrasts /l/，/ɬ/，/ʁ/，and /ɻ/; this set is fully preserved in the speech of a 55-year-old speaker, whereas in the speech of a schoolgirl (currently in senior high school) the four have simplified to /l/: /Mli/ "to look" and /Mɬi/"ear; moon" have both simplified to /li/; the syllables /ʁæ/ and /ɻæ/ in /Mʁæ.mi/"sword" and /#Hkʰwæ.ɻæ/ "satin" all simplified to /læ/. In-between these two extremes, in the speech of a speaker aged 35, these phonemic contrasts are preserved but their lexical distribution is becoming somewhat imperfect. For instance, she pronounces the word "sword", /Mʁæ.mi/, which is not in common use anymore, as /Mɻæ.mi/; this example arguably constitutes an indication that the opposition between /ʁ/ and /ɻ/ is weakening. As far as tones are concerned, the differences between the oldest generations and the speakers under 60 years set in sharp relief the complexities of the tonal system of Na: the contrasts that are neutralized in citation form tend to be overlooked by the less proficient speakers, leading to a major transformation of the architecture of the tonal system.