LING 120
Introduction to Speech Analysis
Fall 2009

LAB 8: VOT in Swahili (data provided by Prof. Chilin Shih)

1. Read the introduction of Swahili on this page, and listen to the Swahili song below.

Malaika
Malaika, nakupenda Malaika
Malaika, nakupenda Malaika.
Nami nifanyeje, kijana mwenzio,
Nashindwa na mali sina, we,
Ningekuoa Malaika.

Kidege, hukuwaza kidege.
Kidege, hukuwaza kidege.
Nami nifanyeje, kijana mwenzio,
Nashindwa na mali sina, we,
Ningekuoa Malaika.

2. Listen to the words in the list below. Where is the stress in a word in Swahili?

[b]	[b]	bidii	effort	shaba	copper	mbuzi	goat	bila	without	bubu	mute
[d]	[d]	dawa	medicine	bado	not	ndege	bird	kondoo	sheep	dede	surprised
[f]	[f]	fujo	chaos	kufa	to	mfano	example	halafu	after	fifia	disappear
[g]	[g]	geuzo	change	kidogo	small	ngoma	drum	rungu	cudgel	genge	cliff
[h]	[h]	hasa	especially	mihadi	appointment	mhogo	cassava	mahali	place	hapa	here
[j]	[dʒ]	joto	hot	moja	one	njia	way	mjanja	clever	jioni	evening
[k]	[k]	kamba	crab	haki	justice	mkate	bread	kiko	elbow	mkeka	mat
[l]	[l]	labda	perhaps	swala	antelope	mlango	door	leo	today	lulu	pearl
[m]	[m]	meno	teeth	kama	if	mwaka	year	mmea	plant	mimi	me
[n]	[n]	nipe	give	sana	very	nuko	smell	nne	four	nini	what
[p]	[p]	pamba	cotton	mapafu	lungs	mpango	plan	pipi	candy	punda	donkey
[r]	[r]	rais	president	barafu	ice	mrefu	tall	kura	vote	ruka	Jump!
[s]	[s]	siku	day	ghasia	confusion	staka	sandals	nso	kidney	siasa	politics
[t]	[t]	tarehe	date	tukio	event	mtoto	child	binti	daughter	tatu	third
[v]	[v]	viazi	potatoes	kivuli	shadow	mvua	rain	hivyo	those	vuvia	Blow!
[z]	[z]	zaidi	more	ndizi	bananas	nzito	heavy	mzuzu	fool	zoezi	exercise
[ch]	[tʃ]	chuo	college	macho	eyes	nchi	country	chache	few	mchoro	drawing
[dh]	[ð]	dhana	idea	kadha	several	mdhana	bad	radhi	apology	dhambi	sin
[gh]	[g,R]	ghafla	suddenly	lugha	language	shughuli	business	ghafi	raw	mghani	singer
[ng']	[ŋ]	ng'ombe	cow	nong'ona	Whisper!	nyang'anya	Steal!	ng'ong'a	Buzz!	ng'ondi	ram
[ny]	[ɲ]	nyoka	snake	panya	rat	nyinyi	you	mnyama	animal	nyayo	footprints
[sh]	[ʃ]	shaka	doubt	mwisho	final	mshamba	farmer	shauri	plan	kasheshe	chaos
[th]	[θ]	thumu	garlic	hadithi	story	theluji	snow	thamani	price	thabiti	firm

3. Measure the VOTs of the voiced stops /b, d, g/ and the voiceless stops /p, t, k/ in the syllable initial position (remember VOT can be positive, negative, or zero). Draw boxplots of VOT for voiced and voiceless stops (on the same graph), and compare the mean VOTs of the two categories using a t-test.

4. Choose a dozen of words in English that start with a prevocalic /b/, /d/, or /g/. Record the words in Praat and measure the VOTs of the stops. How do the voiced stops /b, d, g/ in English differ from those in Swahili with respective to VOT? Draw a spectrogram of two words that start with /d/ side by side, one in English and the other in Swahili, to illustrate the difference of VOT between English and Swahili.

The lab is due Nov. 6.