Tone-to-Tune Mapping in Maninka Song
Advisor: Christina Bjorndahl聽
Major: Human-Computer Interaction
Abstract
In tonal languages, pitch can change a word鈥檚 meaning. Maninka, a West African tonal language spoken primarily in Guinea, uses pitch to distinguish words (e.g., wa can mean either 鈥渢o go鈥� [w谩, High tone] or 鈥渨ilderness鈥� [w脿, Low tone]) and to encode grammatical information, including a mid-tone marking definiteness often not distinguished in writing from the high tone (e.g., k貌n贸 鈥渂ird鈥� vs. k貌n贸 鈥渢he bird鈥�), though the difference is audible in speech. But what happens when these words are sung? This project investigates what acoustic features distinguish these tones in speech, and what happens to those features when tone interacts with melody in Maninka songs. To do so, I first analyze tonal production across generations of speakers, then conduct a perception study of lyrics from a Maninka song to assess how melody affects the Maninka high- and mid-tones; finally, I will run a production experiment testing whether singers can preserve tonal meaning under melodic constraints. This work provides the first empirical study of tone in Maninka, examines whether the high-mid contrast is changing across generations, and contributes to broader theories of how listeners understand language when pitch is shaped by music.
Bio
I was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, and raised in Conakry, Guinea, growing up between languages like Maninka, French and English, which might explain why I picked up four more and still code-mix mid-sentence without noticing. Speaking these languages taught me how much more you can learn about the world, about people, and about their culture when they don鈥檛 have to translate themselves for you, which naturally connects to my academic path.
I鈥檓 pursuing dual degrees in Human-Computer Interaction and Linguistics, with a minor in Arabic Studies, and I鈥檓 interested in how technology and human experience intersect, specifically, how to build products and systems that go beyond functionality and are useful and inclusive to the community they serve.
Outside the classroom, I lead organizations like the Young African Leaders Association, ColorStack and the French-Speaking Student Association, and participate in a few others; these are the spaces where I learn from and have fun with my peers and contribute to communities that have shaped and supported my growth throughout college.
In my free time, you鈥檒l find me reading novels and Arab poetry, learning Hausa or Yoruba, translating songs, talking with family in various hybrid languages, and attempting 鈥� sometimes successfully 鈥� to cook Guinean meals.