Research

Presentation

Kettig, Thomas

Hawaiian is normally described as having a typologically unusual consonant inventory that lacks /t/ (Parker Jones 2018). While in Standard Hawaiian /k/ emerged through an unconditioned *t>k sound change (Blust 2004), the dialect on the island of Niʻihau preserves a more conservative [t] reflex. Though Newbrand (1951: 106) describes Niʻihau /t~k/ as being in “free variation”, Wong (2019), a native speaker, describes a system favouring [k] in words containing /n/ or /l/ (e.g. kanaka, ʻiniki, kalaka, lokeloke); dissimilation in words containing multiple /t~k/ (e.g. kātou, kikiti, koto, tokoleka); and [t] elsewhere. Blust (2004) observes that /tVt/ sequences tend to dissimilate the first stop to [k], but notes many counterexamples. This variation has not previously been investigated quantitatively. The present study analyzes 4,345 tokens of [t] (n=2,991) and [k] (n=1,354) extracted from the transcribed speech of Elama Kanahele, a native Niʻihau speaker (Kanahele et al. 2007). Extensive within-lexeme variation (e.g. kekahi n=10, ketahi n=118) makes this variable ideal to explore using variationist methods. Conditional inference trees were constructed to examine which linguistic factors emerge as most predictive of [t] vs. [k] (cf. Tagliamonte & Baayen 2012). Thirty-five predictors were included, including adjacent vowels, closest preceding/following consonants, and whether /n/, /l/, and/or another [t] precedes/follows the token within its word, foot, or prosodic word (PWd) domains (cf. Parker Jones 2010). Figure 1 shows one such tree. In the top-level split, the presence of a coronal within the PWd emerges as most explanatory; for tokens with a coronal in the PWd, a split separates those which do (95.2% [k]) and don’t (67.3% [k]) cooccur with /l/ in the same foot. For those without a coronal in the PWd, a split separates tokens which are (99.3% [k]) and are not (85.5% [t]) preceded by an /l/ within the word. This analysis confirms Wong’s (2019) native speaker intuitions and suggests a role of metrical domains in Niʻihau coronal dissimilation. Defining the envelope of /t~k/ variation is an essential prerequisite to investigating its social dimensions (cf. Richardson 2023), given the unique positioning of Niʻihau’s isolated, uninterrupted transmission community in relation to the broader Hawaiian revitalization movement (NeSmith 2019).

Paper

Davidson, Lisa & Parker Jones, Oiwi

Hawaiian, or ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi, is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken on the islands of Hawaiʻi. This study examines oral stops in Hawaiian as produced by speakers on the 1970–80s radio program Ka Leo Hawaiʻi, first, to establish whether the voiceless stops of this generation of Hawaiian speakers were aspirated or unaspirated, and second, to determine whether word-level prosodic structure has an effect on either the implementation of voice onset time (VOT) or closure duration, or how often stops are lenited. Hawaiian has only two primary oral stops /p k/ ([t] is a rare variant in these speakers’ dialects), and the results indicate that /p/ and /k/ are unaspirated for these speakers. Prosodic influences are examined by coding each stop for lexical word position (initial, medial), prosodic word position (initial, medial) and whether it is in a primary stressed, secondary stressed, or unstressed syllable. Results indicate that prosodic word initial position conditions both longer VOT, closure duration, and fewer lenited productions, separately from lexical word position. Moreover, there is an interaction indicating that word initial position leads to longer VOT in unstressed and secondarily stressed syllables, but not in syllables with primary stress. These results are discussed with respect to the prosodic and phonotactic structure of Hawaiian, which may rely on acoustic cues for the disambiguation of prosodic structure and segmentation of lexical items.

Talk Story

Cheng, Andrew; Davidson, Lisa; Parker Jones, Oiwi; Kettig, Thomas; Solomon, N. Haʻalilio

Come talk story about fostering relationships between ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi speakers and linguists! Building on the success of the revitalization movement and ʻōlelo’s increasing use in contemporary contexts, we aim to facilitate scientific research on pronunciation that is relevant to teaching and learning. All manaʻo welcome, in both ʻōlelo and English!