Speaker: Andre Batchelder-Schwab (Boston University)
Title: Undocumented Whistled Languages in Africa
Time: Thursday, October 3rd, 12:30pm – 2pm
Location: 32-D461
Abstract: Although a few dozen whistled languages are attested across the world, it seems that sub-Saharan Africa could easily double that number, including Akan-Twi, Kinande, isiXhosa, TshiVenda, and many more. While many of these systems conform to expected typologies, some could contribute evidence towards theories about speaker/hearer syntactic heads, sonority scales, and intelligibility. The presentation will end with a discussion on current directions in research on whistled language, and possible uses in orthography and tone acquisition.