Guest Lecture: Acoustic phonetic research in Hawaiian: Challenges and opportunities
Lectures on Linguistics and Language Series
April 23, 2025
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Speaker: Thomas Kettig, Ph.D. (York University)
Title: Acoustic phonetic research in Hawaiian: Opportunities and challenges.
Abstract: The majority of the world’s languages lack documentation of their phonetic patterns, limiting our ability to test (socio-)phonological theories against empirical evidence reflective of the full range of human linguistic experience. This talk will address the sounds of Hawaiian, an actively revitalizing Polynesian language. My analysis of ‘traditional’ pre-revitalization Hawaiian vowel pronunciation has so far focused on a sample of eight elders interviewed on the Ka Leo Hawaiʻi radio show in the 1970s, enabling a description of overall phonetic patterns and the initial identification of within- and between-speaker structured variation. I present some results regarding reduction in diphthongs and acoustic cues to lexical stress in monophthongs, along the way highlighting several technical and statistical tools that have helped to address challenges posed by the finite amount of data from native speakers of pre-revitalization dialects. Given the endangered nature of Hawaiian, I also reflect on possible benefits of this research for the burgeoning revitalization movement.
Thomas Kettig, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at York University in Toronto. His research investigates how speech sounds vary and evolve across different regions and historical periods, drawing insights from multiple interconnected fields, including endangered language documentation, sociolinguistic variation, historical linguistics, theoretical phonology, and quantitative experimental methods. Dr. Kettig also employs advanced articulatory and acoustic phonetic techniques to deepen our understanding of linguistic sound systems and their transformations over time.
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Date posted
Mar 18, 2025
Date updated
Mar 20, 2025