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end of the syllable on which it is expressed. For example, in 2 the three Soyaltepec Mazatec words that are presented differ only in their tone.
2 Minimal Tone Set Mid, Low, rising Mid-high to High comparison
Transcription Tone
Gloss a.
ʃa˧ M
2
‘wild cat’ b. ʃa˩
L ‘fog’
c. ʃa˦˥ M
1
-H ‘work’
7
The rise in tone represented in 2c does not indicate any difference in the duration of the syllable. The duration of the syllable is not significantly different for any of the syllables represented in 2.
Two syllable words also have the tone marked at the end of each syllable as in 3. When the tone on two syllable words is abbreviated, the tone abbreviations are listed in order and separated by a space. If
the tone abbreviations are connected by a dash as in 3a, this indicates a contour tone on a single syllable. 3
Two syllable Minimal Tone Pair Transcription
Tone Gloss
a. ts︢ɛ˧hɛ̃˧˦
M
2
M
2
-M
1
‘visible’ b. ts︢ɛ˧hɛ̃˧
M
2
M
2
‘he fell’ In 3, both words begin at a Mid tone; however, 3a ends with a rising Mid to Mid-high tone while 3b
ends with a level Mid tone.
1.5.2 Autosegmental Phonology
The introduction of Autosegmental Phonology Goldsmith 1976 increased our understanding of tone immensely and is now generally accepted among phonologists. To briefly summarize the theory as it
pertains to tone, the features that define tone occupy a separate tier from the features that define the segments of a morpheme. The tone can therefore act independently from the segments. Tones exist on their
7
The noun as in, “The work of teaching…”
12
own plane and are, for all practical purposes, adjacent to one another regardless of the number of segments which intervene on the feature skeleton. The general representation employed in order to show a one-to-one
association between tone and syllables appears in 4 below.
8
4 General autosegmental representation
T
1
T
2
CVCC CV
The tones T
1
and T
2
are linked to the tone bearing unit TBU of the syllable which is usually centered on the most sonorous part of the syllable the nucleus; however, it has been argued that associations are
actually made to prosodic entities rather than segments Yip 2002:74, i.e., the syllable or mora. In Soyaltepec Mazatec, all syllables are open and no vowel length distinctions exist, as will be addressed in
Chapter 3, therefore, tonal associations are directed to the syllable in general. Tones are linked to the TBU via association lines. How the links between the tones and TBUs are
formed has been a matter of debate. One of the original components of Autosegmental Phonology is the Universal Association Convention UAC which states that tones are linked to TBUs one-to-one in a left to
right direction until all tones and TBUs are associated. When a disparity exists between the numbers of tones and TBUs, language specific techniques are employed to resolve the unmatched units. Some of these
techniques include stray erasure or deletion of extra tones and the formation of tonal plateaus or contour tones. As the theory progressed, the left-to-right directionality of the association was questioned. In Hausa
Newman 1986, it was found that the direction of association needs to be right-to-left. Some have even adopted a bi-directional approach such as Archangeli and Pulleyblanks 1994 proposed Edge-In
Association to account for the patterns in Mende. Zoll 2003 proposed Optimal Tone Mapping in which she questions the idea of directionality all together, though she maintains the need to associate tones via
conventions, in this case constraints. Despite the literature and debate surrounding tonal mapping which calls into question the universality of the UAC, some languages appear to conform while others require that
8
The segments represented as C consonant and V vowel would also be hierarchically arranged bundles of features hanging off the skeleton from a place-holder X, sometimes referred to as the anchor for the
features. The skeletal layer itself does not contain any information other than linear ordering of timing slots. However, since other segmental features are not in focus, this shorthand approach helps locate the
tones.
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some or all tones need to be assigned in the lexicon. Soyaltepec Mazatec is one of the languages in which at least some tones need to be pre-linked; however, it is not necessary to associate all of the tones in the
lexicon. Throughout the dissertation I will indicate tonal associations in Soyaltepec Mazatec which are in agreement with the UAC as well as tonal associations which either need to be pre-linked or in some way
contradict the expectations of the UAC. As stated above, no part of the theory requires that the number of tones and the number of TBUs
must be the same. In fact, some key advantages of Autosegmental Phonology are observed when there is a disparity of tones and TBUs. First, there may be more TBUs than tones in which case a tonal plateau is
formed, as in 5 where two TBUs are linked to the same tone and would therefore be articulated at the same level of pitch.
5 Tonal plateau
T TBU
TBU When, however, there are more tones than TBUs there are two possible outcomes. Either all of the tones
will be associated and a contour tone will form, as in 6a where T
1
and T
2
are linked to the same TBU, or one or more tones may be left floating meaning it has no association to a TBU, as in 6b, where the
floating tone is represented by a circled tone, in this case T
2
. 6
a. Contour tone b. Floating tone
T
2
T
3
T
1
T
2
TBU TBU
In order for a tone to be directly expressed it must be linked, or associated, with a TBU.
9
Floating tones can originate as part of the lexical representation of a word or when the segmental information of a syllable is deleted leaving a tone stranded. The independent nature of tones which can lead
to tonal stability despite the deletion of its initial segments is another of the theoretical advantages of an autosegmental analysis.
9
Note, however, that a floating tone may still have an effect on the pronunciation of the surrounding tones, even if it is not expressed; this situation produces downstep in many languages such as Bimoba Snider
1998 and Konni Cahill 1999.
14
Another aspect of tonal behavior involves the Obligatory Contour Principle OCP which prohibits identical adjacent elements, in this case tonal features, from existing in the representation of a morpheme.
One of the primary effects of the OCP is the prohibition of two identical tones being linked to the same or adjacent syllables. For example, a word with two syllables both of which are articulated at a low pitch will
have only one Low tone which is shared by both syllables. An example from Soyaltepec Mazatec appears below 7.
7 The representation of a disyllabic Low-toned word
su˩sɛ˩ ‘green’ L
su s ɛ
This principle is regularly extended to address elements brought into adjacency by the concatenation of morphemes and closely associated words as well. When two morphemes come together to form a lexeme,
the OCP indicates that if their tones are identical, some form of repair must occur. This repair could be dissimilation as in Meeusen’t rule in Bantu or tonal deletion with subsequent default tone insertion. A
third possibility is tonal merger, as occurs in Soyaltepec Mazatec. Notice example 8 in which a low-toned possessive suffix is added to a low-toned noun, placing two Low tones on adjacent syllables within one
grammatical word. Since these two syllables are articulated at the same pitch level, it is clear that no dissimilation has occurred. It is possible that one or the other L tones has been deleted with subsequent L
tone spread to the adjacent or that merger has occurred since no default L tone has been hypothesized in Soyaltepec Mazatec, this possibility will not be entertained here. If the OCP is strictly obeyed, the two
Low tones should not remain independent on adjecnt syllables. A bimorphemic, disyllabic word with only one Low tone is indicated in 8.
8 OCP merger produces the surface form of t
ʃ︢u˩-ʔɛ˩ ‘his animal’ L
L L
t ʃ︢u +
- ʔɛ → tʃ︢u-ʔɛ
‘animal’ ‘his’
‘his animal’
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The two morphemes each start out with their own Low tone, but, in the result, they share one Low tone. This is true only if the two syllables are articulated at the same pitch level. If two Ls remain overtly, RTT
which will be discussed in §1.5.4 below will dictate that the second L must be articulated at a lower pitch. The level of adherence to the OCP is a language specific parameter; some languages strictly forbid feature
adjacency while others completely allow it, and there are varying degrees of partial adherence. Another aspect of tonal behavior which is easily represented using Autosegmental Phonology is
tonal spreading. The process of spreading involves a tone extending an association line to an adjacent TBU. Example 9 comes from Chumburung as demonstrated by Snider 1999:11 and involves a High tone
spreading to an adjacent syllable which is linked to a Low tone. The High tone spread is indicated by a dashed association line. In this case, the Low tone that was originally linked to that syllable is then delinked
which is indicated by the two parallel bars across the association line. 9
Chumburung HTS with Lo tone delink
10
H L
H L
ka + mb
ʊja →
ka mb
ʊja ká
m̀bʊ̀jà ká m
́bʊ̀jà ‘wife’s blood’
When the nouns in 9 come together in the associative construction,
11
the tone from the first noun spreads to the first syllable of the second noun and displaces the original tone from that syllable. This
accompanying delinking is separate from the tone spreading process; it does not happen in every instance of High Tone Spread HTS in every language, alternatively, a contour tone is sometimes formed.
The theory of Autosegmental Phonology explains how tones behave as if they are adjacent to one another even though there are segments, in the linear sense, which separate them. In the above discussion,
we have seen that Autosegmental Phonology describes tones as existing on a separate tier from the segments of an utterance. This separation allows for the existence of both more TBUs than tones i.e., tonal
10
In this example, the acute accent indicates a High tone while the grave accent a Low tone.
11
The associative construction is a grammatical construction in which two nouns are placed together to indicate possession.
16
plateaus or a one-to-many relationship and more tones than TBUs i.e., contour tones and floating tones or a many-to-one relationship. Occasionally a segment or TBU can be deleted without affecting the tone, in
essence leaving the tone stranded tonal stability. OCP violations can encourage adjacent tones to merge which also results in tonal plateaus. Finally, the process of tonal spreading demonstrates tonal mobility.
Each of these tonal processes is explained simply and elegantly using Autosegmental Phonology.
1.5.3 Tonal Hierarchy
