Shakuntala Mahanta 

Shakuntala Mahanta 

Professor 
Education: PhD
Linguistics
smahanta@iitg.ac.in
+91 361 2582565
Room No: 218
Personal Website

Research Interests: Theoretical Phonology, Acoustic Phonetics and perception, Information Structure, Tone and intonation

Journal Publications


1. Priti Raychoudhury and Shakuntala Mahanta, "Sound Change and Tonogenesis in Sylheti", Linguistics Vanguard, Walter de Gruyter [2022], https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2021-0098

2. Shakuntala Mahanta, Amalesh Gope and Priti Raychoudhury, "Pitch range and voice quality in Dimasa focus intonation", 'Languages' Special Issue on Exploring the Interaction between Phonation and Prosody https://www.mdpi.com/journal/languages/special_issues/Phonation_Prosody, MDPI, vol.6, Issue no.4, ISBN.ISSN 2226-471X [2021], https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6040185

3. Shakuntala Mahanta, Indranil Dutta, "Prolegomena to a special volume on South Asian phonetics and phonology", Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, Walter De Gruyter, vol.7, Issue no.1, pp.0-0, ISBN.0 [2020]

4. Prarthana Acharyya, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Language Documentation and Conservation", Language vitality assessment of Deori: an endangered language., University of Hawaii Press, vol.13, Issue no.0, pp.514-544 [2019]

5. Kalyan Das, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Glossa: A journal of general linguistics", Boro Intonational Phonology, Ubiquity Press, vol.4(1), Issue no.103, pp.0-0 [2019], https://www.glossa-journal.org/articles/10.5334/gj

6. Kalyan Das, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Distribution of Lexical Tones in Boro", Himalayan Linguistics, University of Santa Barbara, vol.17, Issue no.2, pp.56-67 [2018]

7. Shakuntala Mahanta, Amalesh Gope, "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness", Language Sciences, Elsevier, vol.69, Issue no.0, pp.80-97 [2018], 10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010

8. Shakuntala Mahanta, Indranil Dutta and Prarthana Acharyya, "Lexical tone in Deori: Loss, contrast and word based alignment", Papers in Historical Phonology, Edinburgh University Press, vol.2, Issue no.0, pp.51-87, ISBN.2399-6714 [2017]

9. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Natural Language and Linguistic Theory", Locality in exceptions and derived environments in vowel harmony, Springer, vol.4, Issue no.30, pp.1109-1146 [2012]

10. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Journal of the International Phonetic Association", Assamese: Language Description, Cambridge University Press, vol.2, Issue no.42, pp.217-224 [2012]

11. Shakuntala Mahanta, "The EFL Journal (special issue on Optimality Theory)", CHAIN SHIFTS, FEATURE DISTANCE AND CONTRAST PRESERVATION, Open Humanities Alliance (EFLU Press), vol.2, Issue no.3, pp.85-107, ISBN.0 [2012]

12. Shakuntala Mahnata, "Prominence as a left-edge parameter in Assamese, Bangla and Oriya: A phonetic and phonological investigation.", International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics. Vol XXXIII:, vol.Vol XXXIII, pp.101-128 [2010]

Conference Proceedings


1. Sneha Ray Barman, Shakuntala Mahanta, Neeraj Kumar Sharma, "Deciphering Assamese Vowel Harmony with Featural InfoWaveGAN", Interspeech, ISCA, pp.1510-1514 [2024], https://www.isca-archive.org/interspeech_2024/raybarman24_interspeech.pdf

2. Sneha Ray Barman, Shakuntala Mahanta, Neeraj Kumar Sharma, "Unsupervised modeling of vowel harmony using WaveGAN", Speech Prosody, ISCA, pp.200-205 [2024], https://www.isca-archive.org/speechprosody_2024/barman24_speechprosody.pdf

3. Krisangi saikia and Shakuntala mahanta, "Exploration of Speech Rhythm in Deori L1 and L2", 2023 26th Conference of the Oriental COCOSDA International Committee for the Co-ordination and Standardisation of Speech Databases and Assessment Techniques (O-COCOSDA), IEEE [2023], https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10483002

4. Moumita Pakrashi, Brigitte Bigi and Shakuntala Mahanta, "Resources Creation of Bengali for SPPAS.", 10th Language & Technology Conference: Human Language Technologies as a Challenge for Computer Science and Linguistics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Apr 2023, Poznań, Poland, pp.218-222 [2023], https://hal.science/hal-04081305/

5. Krisangi Saikia & Shakuntala Mahanta, "Rhythm Measures and Language Endangerment: The Case of Deori", Speech and Computer - 25th International Conference, SPECOM 2023, Dharwad, India, November 29 - December 2, 2023, Proceedings, Part II. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 14339, Springer, pp.222-230 [2023], https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-48312-7

6. Rosie Nempalching Hanshing & Shakuntala Mahanta, "Lexical Tones in Paite: A preliminary examination", In Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Gaurant International, pp.1980-1984 [2023], https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS2023/FINAL-PROCEEDINGS_TOC_HTML.html

7. Shakuntala mahanta, Bibungshri Boro and Priti Raychoudhury, "Focus and Intonation in Dimasa", 2023 26th Conference of the Oriental COCOSDA International Committee for the Co-ordination and Standardisation of Speech Databases and Assessment Techniques (O-COCOSDA), IEEE [2023], https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10482993

8. Moumita Pakrashi, Brigitte Bigi, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Automatic Syllabification of Bengali in SPPAS", 2023 26th Conference of the Oriental COCOSDA International Committee for the Co-ordination and Standardisation of Speech Databases and Assessment Techniques (O-COCOSDA), IEEE [2023], https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10483002

9. Malek Al Hasan and Shakuntala Mahanta, "The effect of post-tonic lengthening and F0 in Syrian Arabic prosody", Proceedings of Tone and intonation Conference, Singapore, ISCA [2023], https://www.asianlp.sg/conferences/tai2023/proceedings/

10. Neetesh Kr. Ojha, "Vowels, Tones and Tonogenesis in Braj Bhasha", Proceedings of Tone and intonation Conference, Singapore, ISCA [2023], https://www.asianlp.sg/conferences/tai2023/proceedings/

11. Krisangi Saikia and Shakuntala Mahanta, "Exploring Rhythmic Patterns in Deori and Mising using Read Speech Data", Proceedings of Tone and intonation Conference, Singapore, ISCA [2023], https://www.asianlp.sg/conferences/tai2023/proceedings/

12. Malek al Hasan and Shakuntala Mahanta, "The Intonational Phonology of Syrian Arabic: A Preliminary Analysis", Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2022, International Speech Communication Association (ISCA), vol.2022, pp.190-194 [2022], doi: 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2022-39

13. Moumita Pakrashi; Shakuntala Mahanta, "Analysis-By-Synthesis Modeling of Bengali Intonation", Speech and Computer: 24th International Conference, SPECOM 2022, Gurugram, India,, Springer, pp.533-544 [2022], https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20980-2_45

14. Priti Raychoudhury and Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of Speech Prosody, Tokyo, Japan", The three way tonal system of Sylheti, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.503-507, ISBN.0 [2020], 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2020-103

15. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of ICPHS", Voiceless sonorants and lexical tone in Mog, In Sasha Calhoun, Paola Escudero, Marija Tabain & Paul Warren (eds.) Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.3852-3856, ISBN.0 [2019]

16. Shakuntala Mahanta, Somnath Roy, "Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH", A hybrid approach to grapheme to phoneme conversion in Assamese , ISCA, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.0-0, ISBN.0 [2018]

17. Shakuntala Mahanta, Prarthana Acharyya, "Proceedings of TAL 2018", Production and perception of lexical tone in Deori, Proc. 6th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2018), ISCA (International Speech Communication Association), vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.93-97, ISBN.0 [2018], doi: 10.21437/TAL.2018-19

18. Shakuntala Mahanta, Kalyan Das and Amalesh Gope, "Proceedings of the Annual Meetings on Phonology, 2016", On the phonetics and Phonology of Focus marking in Boro, Linguistic Society of America Open Journal systems, vol.2, Issue no.0, pp.307-311, ISBN.2377-3324 [2016], doi: 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2016-63

19. Asim I. Twaha, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of the Annual Meetings on Phonology, 2015", The Phonology of Contrastive Focus in Standard Colloquial Assamese, Linguistic Society of America Open Journal systems, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.152-156, ISBN.2377-3324 [2016], 10.21437/TAL.2016-33

20. Kalyan Das, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of Tonal Aspects of Languages", Tonal Alignment and Prosodic Word domain in Boro, ISCA, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.0-0 [2016]

21. Asim Twaha, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages, 2016", Morphological Focus Marking in Standard Colloquial Assamese, University of Konstanz Open Journal Systems, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.45-52, ISBN.2510-2818 [2016]

22. Kalyan Das, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2016", Focus marking and pitch register modification in Boro, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.864-868 [2016], 0.21437/SpeechProsody.2016-177

23. Amalesh Gope, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of the Annual Meetings on Phonology, 2016", Perception of Lexical Tones in Sylheti, Linguistic Society of America Open Journal systems, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.307-311, ISBN.0 [2016], 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2016-63

24. Amalesh Gope, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2016", Correlation between Sylheti Tone and Phonation, ISCA, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.307-311 [2016], 10.21437/SpeechProsody.2016-63

25. Asim Twaha, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of Tonal Aspects of Languages", Phonetic cues to contrastive focus in Standard Colloquial Assamese, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.152-156 [2016], doi: 10.21437/TAL.2016-33

26. Amalesh Gope, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of the International Conference of Phonetic Sciences", Lexical Tones in Sylheti, ICPhS, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.10-14 [2015]

27. Shakuntala Mahanta, Asim Twaha, "Proceedings of Interspeech 2013", Presentational Focus in the Nalbariya variety of Assamese, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.0-0, ISBN.0 [2013]

28. D. Govind, SRM Prasanna, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2012", Significance of Duration in the Prosodic Analysis of Assamese, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.0-0, ISBN.0 [2012]

29. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Proceedings of NELS 2007", Sequential Markedness Constraints and iterativity, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.0-0 [2008]

30. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Local vs. non-local consonantal intervention.", Proceedings of ConSOLE XV. Sylvia Blaho, Camelia Constantinescu and Eric Schoorlemmer Eds. 165-188., ConSOLE, pp.165-188, ISBN.1 [2008]

31. Shakuntala Mahanta, "On Consonantal Intervention in Vowel Harmony", Proceedings of WECOL (Western Conference in Linguistics) 2007. Erin Bainbridge and Brian Agbayani eds. 134 - 148., Western conference on Linguistics, vol.1, pp.134-148 [2007], https://cah.fresnostate.edu/linguistics/documents/WECOL%202006%20VOLUME%2017.pdf

32. Shakuntala Mahanta, "On the Convergence of Positional Faithfulness and Positional Markedness. edited by Aviad Eilam, Laia Mayol, Tatjana Scheffler, and Joshua Tauberer.", University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 13.1. 197-210, University of Pennsylvania, vol.1, pp.197-210, ISBN.1 [2006]

Book Chapter


1. Shakuntala Mahanta and Paul Arsenault, "The Oxford Handbook of Vowel Harmony, Nancy Ritter and Harry van der Hulst (eds.)" , Vowel harmony in the languages of India , Oxford University Press , [2024] https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-vowel-harmony-9780198826804?cc=pl&lang=en&

2. Shakuntala Mahanta, "The Oxford Handbook of Vowel Harmony, Nancy Ritter and Harry van der Hulst (eds.)" , Directionality in vowel harmony , Oxford University Press , [2024] https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-vowel-harmony-9780198826804?cc=pl&lang=en&

3. Chandni Khaund & Shakuntala Mahanta, ""Predicting Reading Development in Assamese Primary School Children With Accuracy and Fluency Tasks."" , In Developmental Language Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence edited by Dimitra V. Katsarou, 145-156. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2023. , IGI Global , [2023] https://www.igi-global.com/book/developmental-language-disorders-childhood-adolescence/323653

4. Asim Twaha, Shakuntala Mahanta, "Prosodic Variation (with)in Languages - Intonation, Phrasing and Segments - Marisa Cruz" , Prosody of contrastive focus in two varieties of Assamese , London: Equinox Press , vol.0 ISBN.9.78E+12, pp.0-0, [2018]

5. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Cognitive biases in the learning of opacity in vowel harmony" , "Where the principles fail: A Festschrift for Wim Zonneveld on his on the Occasion of his 64th Birthday." eds. Kager R., Grijzenhout J., Sebregts K. , Utrecht: LOT Press , pp.135-147 [2014]

6. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Morpheme Specific Exceptional Processes and Emergent Unmarkedness in vowel harmony" , "Annual Review of South Asian Languages and Linguistics: 2009": Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs 222. , Walter De Gruyter ISBN.222, pp.66-95 [2009]

7. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Kamrupiya, a dialect of Assamese." , "Novye indoariyskie yazyki. (Modern Indo-Aryan languages) Series Yazyki Mira, , Russian Academy of Sciences. Moskva (Moscow): Nauka , vol.16 , [2007]

8. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Assamese Nasals blocking harmony" , A. Kerkhoff, O. Sadeh Leicht and J. de Lange eds. Utrecht Institute of Linguistics Publications. , Utrecht Institute of Linguistics , vol.2004 ISBN.1, [2004]

Books


1. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Where the principles fail: A Festschrift for Wim Zonneveld", Cognitive biases in the learning of opacity in vowel harmony, Utrecht: LOT Press, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.135-147 [2014]

2. Shakuntala Mahanta, "Annual Review of South Asian Languages and Linguistics: 2009", Morpheme Specific Exceptional Processes and Emergent Unmarkedness in vowel harmony, Walter De Gruyter, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.66-95 [2009]

3. Shakuntala Mahanta, "LOT Dissertation Series 173", Directionality and Locality in Vowel Harmony, Utrecht: LOT Press, vol.0, Issue no.0, pp.0-0, ISBN.9.79E+12 [2008]

4. S. Mahanta, A. Asbury and I.Brasileiro, "UiL-OTS Yearbook co-edited with A. Asbury and I. Brasileiro. Utrecht: Utrecht Institute of Linguistics Publishers. ISSN 1387-8360", Utrecht Institute of Linguistics-OTS, vol.1, ISBN.1 [2005]

1

An integrated approach to develop Morphological Awareness among bilingual learners with Developmental Dyslexia
Funding Agency : SERB
Principal Investigator: Shakuntala Mahanta
Co-investigator: Prof. Shyamanta Mani Hazarika
Duration/Starting Year: 2024-02-25 to 2024-02-27
Status: New

2

Speaker centric documentation of Phalee to understand generational language change and loss
Funding Agency : IIT Indore
Principal Investigator: Shakuntala Mahanta
Co-investigator: Debapriya Basu
Duration/Starting Year: 2024-08-01 to 2026-08-01
Status: Ongoing

3

Digital preservation, analysis and technology development of the languages of Northeast India
Funding Agency : DeITy
Principal Investigator: Shakuntala Mahanta
Co-investigator: SRM Prasanna
Duration/Starting Year: 0000-00-00 to 0000-00-00
Status: Completed

4

A phonological and sociolinguistic study of variation in Deori: An endangered language
Funding Agency : ICSSR
Principal Investigator: Shakuntala Mahanta
Co-investigator:
Duration/Starting Year: 2012-07-15 to 2015-07-14
Status: Completed

View Details

5

Word and sentence level prosody in Boro and Assamese
Funding Agency : IIT Guwahati
Principal Investigator: Shakuntala Mahanta
Co-investigator:
Duration/Starting Year: 2010-07-01 to 2012-07-09
Status: Completed

View Details

6

Computational resources for NE languages
Funding Agency : DeiTy
Principal Investigator: Prof Gautam Barua
Co-investigator: Shakuntala Mahanta
Duration/Starting Year: 2008-02-19 to 2010-02-19
Status: Completed

Sl.No Name Thesis Title PhD Status
1 Priti Raychoudhury PROSODIC ASPECTS OF SYLHETI Completed
2 Kanak Kanti Bera Vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in Bangla: An Experimental-acoustic study Completed
3 Prarthana Acharyya Prosodic features of Sylheti Completed
4 Kalyan Das Tone and intonation in Bodo Completed
5 Asim-Ul Islam Twaha Intonational phonology and focus in two varieties of Assamese Completed
6 Amalesh Gope The phonetics and phonology of sylheti tonogenesis
7 Neetesh Kumar Ojha Prosodic features of Braj APR1
8 Krisangi Saikia Prosodic Aspects of Deori and Mising APR3
9 Baidurya Kanti Mandal Course Work
10 Bhargav Goswami
11 Malek Al Hasan Aspects of Syrian Arabic Prosody SOAS
Sl.No Name Year Dissertation Title
1 Mohima Basumatary 2012 A Socio-linguistic Survey of Bodo Community

No Data Available!

Sl.No Name Year
No Data Available!
Sl.No Program Name Email Year Thesis/Project Title Affiliation

Awards and Achievements


Award Title : GIAN course on Harmonic Grammar

Contribution to Linguistic theory
Awarded By : MHRD
2016-12-14 National
Award Title : Fulbright for Academic and Professional Excellence

Contribution to Languages
Awarded By : USIEF
2015-2016 International
Award Title : Linguistic Society of America award 
International
Award Title : Fully funded scholarship for Phd from Utrecht University, The Netherlands (along with tuition waiver)

Contribution to Linguistics
Awarded By : Utrecht University, The Netherlands https://www.uu.nl/en
International

Patents


No Data Available!

Sl.No Name of Faculty and co-researcher Title Application No Date of Award Year Status

Attended


Title: Tone in Deori: A generational account

Name of Conference: 33rd South Asian Languages Roundtable

Adam Mickiewicz University , Poznan, Poland May 15, 2017 - May 17, 2017 International

Organised


Title: Microsoft Research

Name of Conference: Workshop on Tone and Intonation (WTI 2016)

Jan 7, 2016 - Jan 8, 2016 No.of Partcipants: 40 International View

Invited


Title: Women scientists in NLP/Science/ Linguistics in India

Name of Invited Lecture: Women scientists in NLP : ICON -2016 IIT-BHU

IIT BHU, Benares Jan 10, 2017 - Jan 10, 2017 No.of Partcipants: 100 International
Title: Invited talk, School of Language Sciences, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. August 24, 2010

Name of Invited Lecture: Cognitive biases in the learning of opaque segments.

English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. Aug 24, 2010 - Aug 24, 2010 National
Title: Invited talk, University of North Texas, 24 April 2016

Name of Invited Lecture: Nasal Harmony in Deori

University of North Texas Apr 24, 2016 - Apr 24, 2016 International
Title: Invited Talk in the Department of Cognitive Science, University of Potsdam, Germany, March 26 2010

Name of Invited Lecture: Phonological bias in the learning of opaque segments in vowel harmony.

University of Potsdam, Germany, Mar 26, 2010 - Mar 26, 2010 International
Title: Dhanivandanam, EFLU, Hyderabad

Name of Invited Lecture: Some aspects of intonation in Assamese

EFLU, Hyderabad Feb 10, 2017 - Feb 10, 2017 National
Title: Keynote speech, ICOLSI

Name of Invited Lecture: Focus and phrasing in Assamese

Jadavpur University,, Kolkata Jan 16, 2017 - Jan 16, 2017 National
Title: Intonation in Dimasa

Name of Invited Lecture: Intonational Phonology of Typologically Rare or Understudied Languages

Melbourne University, Melbourne Aug 19, 2019 - Aug 19, 2019 International

Invited


Title: Experimental methods for working on Tone and intonation

Name of Workshop: Workshop on Experimental and Empirical Methods in Linguistics

IIT BHU, Benares Jun 4, 2018 - Jun 11, 2018 No.of Partcipants: 100 International
Title: Intonation in South Asian langauges

Name of Workshop: Six-day national-level workshop on Advanced Workshop-cum-Training Programme on Laboratory Phonetics and Phonology

CIIL Mysore, Mysore Sep 25, 2017 - Oct 1, 2015 No.of Partcipants: 100 International
Title: Documenation of tone and intonation in endangered languages

Name of Workshop: 3 Day Workshop on Documentation of Language: Techniques and Technologies| IIT Indore

IIT Indore, Indore Feb 19, 2024 - Feb 21, 2024 No.of Partcipants: 100 International

Organised


Title: MHRD

Name of Short-term Course: GIAN course on Harmonic Grammar: Models and Methods

Dec 14, 2017 - Dec 21, 2017 No.of Partcipants: 26 National View
Title: KIC

Name of Short-term Course: TEQIP Symposium on Language Literature and Cognition

Nov 25, 2015 - Nov 27, 2015 No.of Partcipants: 20 National View