Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Lisu is a Sino-Tibetan language of Central Ngwi branch. It has multiple tonal contrasts and a typologically unusual vowel inventory. In this talk, I present an acoustic phonetic study based on data collected from eleven speakers of Northern Lisu, spoken in Nujiang Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, Southwestern China. The study focuses on the vowels and tones of the language, and their interaction. Northern Lisu has six tones, including four modal and two creaky-voiced tones; it has ten vowels, including five front vowels, four back vowels, and a central “fricative” vowel. Tone and vowel interaction is analyzed using Esling’s Laryngeal Articulator Model. Results show all speakers produce a lower f0 in the retracted vowel context, but it is not the case that all tones are creakier in this same vowel context. Simultaneously, male and female speakers show differences in terms of voice quality. Examination of the vowel space shows a reduction in many vowel contrasts. It is suggested that the vowel space is becoming regularised, with perceptually difficult contrasts being neutralised. In addition, it is shown that the fricative vowel contains minimal frication compared to the fricative consonants, and as such is better described as a syllabic retroflex approximant.</jats:p>