The acoustic and perceptual features of tone in the tibeto-burman language ao naga

Abstract

The tonemes of the Waromung Mongsen dialect of Ao Naga, a Tibeto-Burman of northeast India, are described with respect to their auditory and acoustic features. Even though rather small FO differences are found to separate each contrasting toneme, the results of a perception test nevertheless demonstrate that these small differences are perceptually salient to a native speaker and are readily identifiable. Each two demonstrate varying degrees of phonological, morphological and lexical divergence. A preliminary survey suggests that every village speaks its own variety; native speakers report that the unique village-specific characteristics of each variety serve as shibboleths to identify their speakers’ origin. Tonal across