The parallel phonemic universes of Australian and Dravidian languages

The languages of Aboriginal Australian and the Dravidian languages of Indian are remarkably similar in terms of phonemic structure, yet very little work has compared these two groups of languages directly. In this study we conduct direct comparisons of phonetic data from the two groups of languages using both articulatory and acoustic techniques. Results from this study are expected to provide insight into just why these two ‘parallel universes’ seem to have developed, and to what extent they are truly similar in terms of phonetic realisation.

A collaborative project between Dr Alexei Kochetov (University of Toronto) and Dr Marija Tabain, Associate Professor (La Trobe University).