Headed tone melodies in Iquito (Zaparoan, Peru) (2024)

The Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) potentially acts as a constraint on adjacent identical tones. This is why, in tone languages, underlying /HHL/ and /LLH/ may surface as [HL] and [LH] respectively. (Igboid: West-Benue Congo, Nigeria), a relatively unknown small dialect, exhibits such OCP-motivated adjustments on adjacent identical tone structures. Adopting the Optimality Theory, this study accounts for the tonal modifications in order to complement the earlier findings in the literature that advance our understanding of how the OCP shops for adjacent identical tones in representations but may fail to do so due to attested structural exceptions in its tonology. Therefore, the study examines tonal patterns such as, juncture tone deletion, consecutive high and low tones, tonal affix, downstep and final high tone displacement. The findings showed that the OCP can be dominated by some higher-ranked constraints in the tonal grammar, like is the case in some languages,. This study draws some theoretical implication. The tonal system provides further evidence that suggests the OCP is not universal; it is violable just like other constraints active in Universal Grammar.

2014

This thesis bridges accounts of tonogenesis to representations of contour tones in the dominant framework, autosegmental phonology. Accounts of tonogenesis reference phonetic features and structures that are unable to be represented in autosegmental phonology. As these features are required for the phonologization of contour tones, it is argued that they must also receive some representation in the synchrony. This is done under the Evolutionary Phonology framework of sound change. An attempt to reconcile the disparity between perceived phonetic features and synchronic structure is made by discussing the implications of the sequencing of targets within autosegmental contours. This innovation would better reflect the tonal systems of the world’s languages as well as other asymmetries in segmental phonology.

It is generally assumed that sound changes target classes of features, rather than phonemes. Here I shall argue that while this is true of segmental features, tone changes (with one exception) do not take place by feature. This leads us to claim that tones should not be defined in terms of features, but instead should be viewed as indivisible units. If the widely held view were correct that tones should be represented by matrices of features (and that contour tones consist of sequences of such matrices), we would expect historical change to affect tones AS SERIES, as it does in the case of consonants. The extensive literature and my own comparative field work on the evolution of tonal systems in Asian languages show that tones typically evolve independently of one another. The one exception occurs when the merger of two (rarely three) series of initial consonants leads to the phonologization of a pitch feature on a vowel. In this case, analyses such as and , where one feature represents the proto-tonal opposition and another feature represents the feature contributed by the consonant, can be maintained. However, once the tone system is fully constituted, each tone follows its own path and this individual evolution constitutes a counter-example for a feature analysis of purely tonal systems.

The tone system of Meꞌphaa, an Otomanguean language (or group of languages) spoken in the eastern part of the state of Guerrero, Mexico, is quite complex, largely due to the complex agreement systems used with nouns and verbs. Aspects of the tone system have been described to some degree for the Malinaltepec and Azoyú varieties, but little has been documented about tone in other varieties. This thesis focuses on the tone system of a less-documented variety, Acatepec, with the goal of broadening the understanding of the tone systems of other Meꞌphaa varieties. The thesis follows the methodology set forth in Snider (2013) by presenting the underlying tone melodies found among different categories and classes of morphemes, focusing on nouns and verbs, and how those melodies are realized in different phonological and grammatical environments. All nine possible melodies consisting of sequences of up to two tones from the three-height system are found among disyllabic nouns. The /HL/ melody is realized differently on nouns having /ʔ/ or /h/ foot-medially than it is on other nouns. The melodies /MH/, /ML/, /LH/, and /LM/ are not found among monosyllabic nouns with long vowels. Comparison with some other varieties of Meꞌphaa suggests these may have been neutralized with the /L/ melody in these syllable profiles in Acatepec. Only the melodies /H/, /M/, and /L/ are found among monosyllabic nouns with short vowels. In most classes of verbs in the corpus, verbs having disyllabic stems have examples of all underlying melodies except /LH/. Only the melodies /H/, /M/, and /L/ are found among verbs that have monosyllabic stems. There is no difference in the realization of the /HL/ melody between verbs having /ʔ/ or /h/ foot-medially and those that do not. Comparing differences in the realizations of tone melodies of some nouns in the Acatepec variety with corresponding nouns in the Malinaltepec and Huehuetepec varieties has proven helpful.

Unless explicitly concerned with developing a system of features per se, most studies of tonal phonology refer to contrasting high, mid, low and contour tones as H, M, L, HL, LH (etc.), or with integers, rather than with features such as [±UPPER], [±RAISED]. Since this practice stands in marked contrast to vowel and consonant phonology, where features seem unavoidable, it is natural to ask whether this difference in practice is due simply to convenience or whether tones lend themselves less naturally to a featural interpretation than vowels and consonants. In this paper I suggest that this is indeed the case: while features sometimes facilitate a general and insightful account, there are inconsistencies, indeterminacies, and other reasons to doubt the value of tonal features (and tonal geometry). This then naturally leads to a more general question: Why should tone be different? In Hyman (in press), I provide evidence to suggest that tone is different in its capabilities: tone can do everything that segmental and accentual phonology can do, but the reverse is not true. I start by illustrating some examples to make this point then turn to the question of how this provides insight into the relative unimportance of featural analyses of tone. In this paper I also raise the question of why tone, which might seem like a good bet, is not a linguistic universal (as compared to consonants and vowels). I suggest that it is the relative autonomy and "non-integration" of tone that accounts for its versatile and unique properties. Since some tonal phenomena have no segmental or stress analogues, I argue that anyone who is interested in the outer limits of what is possible in phonology would be well-served to understand how tone systems work.

2012

2019

The Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) has been shown to both motivate certain tonological processes, as well as act as a constraint, blocking an otherwise productive process. In this paper, we describe and analyze the role of the OCP in Malawian CiTonga, an under-described Malawian Bantu language. We show that OCP violations involving High tones are sometimes repaired and sometimes not. When they are repaired, there is not a single repair strategy, but five possible ones, where the strategy employed depends on two crucial factors: 1) the morpho-syntactic domain containing the two High tones, and 2) whether the H autosegments in question are linked to a single TBU or multiple TBUs.