Recent and ongoing projects
SÜMI CORPUS DEVELOPMENT
What semantic and discourse pragmatic factors influence the use of probabilistic case marking of noun phrases? For my dissertation, I compiled a small spoken language corpus of Sümi consisting of short narratives, interviews and video description tasks that were recorded, transcribed, translated and tagged with Dr Salome Kinny (ICFAI). Funded by the National Science Foundation (DEL-DDRIG 1723519). With Scott DeLancey (Oregon).
QUANTIFYING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LANGUAGES
How different are languages? How might we measure cross-linguistic differences along a specific grammatical feature? In this project, I use parallel text data and clustering techniques to quantify differences in core case marking patterns across various Tibeto-Burman languages.
INTERACTION BETWEEN TONE & INTONATION
Differences in pitch are used to convey both lexical tone and intonation information. How might they interact in languages with simple tone systems? What consequences are there for lexical tone perception? In this project, we show how words in Yolmo and Syuba, two language varieties of Nepal, can accommodate both types of information. With Lauren Gawne (La Trobe Uni) & Melissa Baese-Berk (Oregon).
TENYIDIE TONE: VARIATION & CHANGE
Five level tones is often taken to be the maximum possible number of contrasts in a language. Tenyidie/Angami (Nagaland) has been described as having five such tones. In this project, we provide the first acoustic description of the tones, comparing productions from older and younger speakers living in Kohima. With Priyankoo Sarmah (IIT Guwahati) & Mimi Ezung (Nagaland University).
SÜMI CULTURAL DOCUMENTATION
November 2010 – October 2012
Principal investigator, worked with the Sümi Cultural Association to document traditional agricultural songs and stories of the Sümis (Nagaland, North-East India). Funded by the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) and the Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research. Data available at Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) [link].
SÜMI LITERACY DEVELOPMENT
October 2012 – June 2014
Main organizer of a mother tongue literacy workshop held in Zunheboto town with the Sümi Literature Board and North-east Literacy Network to develop children’s books in Sümi. Supported by the Foundation for Endangered Languages.
Other projects
– Karbi tone production and perception, with Linda Konnerth (Oregon)
Amos Teo 