class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide .title[ # Prospectus Defense ] .subtitle[ ## Documenting nominal and agreement systems of North-Western Edoid languages–Oloma and Akuku ] .author[ ### Olawale Akingbade ] .date[ ### November 01, 2026 ] --- <style type="text/css"> .grey { color: #888888; } .light-grey { color: #bbbbbb; } .dark-grey { color: #555555; } </style> # Agenda 1. Overview 1. Oloma and Akuku 1. Dissertation chapters 1. Dissertation timeline 1. Significance 1. Future Work --- # Overview This dissertation documents the nominal and agreement systems of Oloma and Akuku (North-Western Edoid languages) Oloma and Akuku, both understudied... .pull-left[- Nominal system - Noun class - Linearity and noun-modifier relationship in NP ] .pull-right[ - Agreement <img src="Images/04_agreement_schematic.png" width="700px" style="display:block; margin:auto;">] --- # Overview This dissertation documents the nominal and agreement systems of Oloma and Akuku (North-Western Edoid languages) Oloma and Akuku, both understudied... .pull-left[- Tone Behavior <img src="Images/HL melody_contour incorporation.jpeg" width="1000px" style="display:block; margin:auto;">] .pull-right[- UD treebank for Oloma <img src="Images/03_conllu_example.png" width="1000px" style="display:block; margin:auto;"> <img src="Images/02_ud_dependency_tree.png" width="800px" style="display:block; margin:auto;">] --- # Oloma and Akuku .pull-left[<img src="Images/map_sequence.png" width="700px" style="display:block; margin:auto;"> <img src="Images/Oloma_Akuku_highlighted_in_akoko_edo_lga_map.png" width="400px" style="display:block; margin:auto;">] .pull-right[<img src="Images/Classification_tree.png" width="500px" style="display:block; margin:auto;">] --- background-image: url("Images/Oloma_market.JPG") background-size: cover # Oloma --- background-image: url("Images/Akuku_village.JPG") background-size: contain # Akuku --- # Dissertation Chapters - Ethnographic landscape of Oloma and Akuku - Nominal system - Agreement system - Tone behavior of Oloma and Akuku noun phrase - Corpus development: A Universal Dependencies treebank in Oloma --- # Dissertation Chapters .pull-left[ - __Ethnographic landscape of Oloma and Akuku__ - .grey[Nominal system] - .grey[Agreement system] - .grey[Tone behavior of Oloma and Akuku noun phrase] - .grey[Corpus development: A Universal Dependencies treebank in Oloma] ] .pull-right[ - Purely qualitative - Based on my field notes and interviews - Intelligibility status ] --- # Dissertation Chapters .pull-left[ - .grey[Ethnographic landscape of Oloma and Akuku] - __Nominal system__ - .grey[Agreement system] - .grey[Tone behavior of Oloma and Akuku noun phrase] - .grey[Corpus development: A Universal Dependencies treebank in Oloma] ] .pull-right[ - qualitative - Analysis - noun class - noun phrase - noun-modifier relationship - universal linear ordering of NP (Guglielmo Cinque 2005) - similarities and differences ] --- # Dissertation Chapters .pull-left[ - .grey[Ethnographic landscape of Oloma and Akuku] - .grey[Nominal system] - __Agreement system__ - .grey[Tone behavior of Oloma and Akuku noun phrase] - .grey[Corpus development: A Universal Dependencies treebank in Oloma] ] .pull-right[ - Purely qualitative - Analysis - noun phrase and sentence - Canonical agreement ] --- # Dissertation Chapters .pull-left[ - .grey[Ethnographic landscape of Oloma and Akuku] - .grey[Nominal system] - .grey[Agreement system] - __Tone behavior of Oloma and Akuku noun phrase__ - .grey[Corpus development: A Universal Dependencies treebank in Oloma] ] .pull-right[ - Purely qualitative - noun phrase (Oloma and .grey[Akuku]) - tone-intonational interface ] --- # Dissertation Chapters .pull-left[ - .grey[Ethnographic landscape of Oloma and Akuku] - .grey[Nominal system] - .grey[Agreement system] - .grey[Tone behavior of Oloma and Akuku noun phrase] - __Corpus development: A Universal Dependencies treebank in Oloma__ ] .pull-right[<img src="Images/01_ud_pipeline.png" width="1000px" style="display:block; margin:auto;">] - Steve's comment about Intellectual property rights... (Org permission...) - --- # Methodology ## Fieldwork .pull-left[* In person <img src="Images/Detroit-Oloma.gif" width="600px" style="display:block; margin:auto;">] .pull-right[* virtual data elicitation for Akuku - agreement in noun phrase - tone behavior in noun phrase] --- # Dissertation timeline <img src="Images/Dissertation Timeline.png" width="1200px" style="display:block; margin:auto;"> --- # Significance and Contributions - Scholarship - Linguistic diversity - understanding culture through the lens of language - Tone and intonation - Theoretical (Agreement) - Typological (Functional vs Vestigial; Principles of noun class assignment) - Advancement of NLP research in Africa --- # Significance and Contributions - Scholarship - Linguistic diversity - understanding culture through the lens of language - Tone and intonation - Theoretical (Agreement) - Typological (Functional vs Vestigial; Principles of noun class assignment) - Advancement of NLP research in Africa - Community - Language materials (understanding the grammar of these languages set the foundation for developing pedagogical materials) - Corpus development aids creation of language technology