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• [u] - 50h
• [ũ] - 50e
• [i
ɛ] - 50b Of the five simple vowels, one is nasal and the remaining four are oral. The high front vowel is only
present in the diphthong. Only two grammatical categories occur: •
Nouns - 50d, e, g, h, i •
Verbs - 50b The Low to Mid-high contour only occurs on the two disyllabic words already listed above 50g, h and
each time it is on the final syllable. In the first example 50g, the contour in question follows a Low to Mid rising contour and the second 50g it follows a level Low tone.
Similar to the Low to Mid rising contour, the Low to Mid-high contour is rare and occurs with limited types of onsets which for the most part do not overlap with each other. Most of the words that
appear with this contour are very common in Mazatec culture, e.g. ‘woman,’ ‘hominy,’ ‘egg.’ Again, it seems to be an archaic form that has become fixed on these common words and not a contour which is in
complementary distribution with another contour as will be seen in §4.3.8.
4.3.6 Mid-High to Low Falling Tone Contour
˦˩
The Mid-high to Low falling contour tone is not common on single syllable words; it is, however, slightly more common on multisyllabic words. It is the usual tone used on borrowed words. Phonetically,
the syllable sounds somewhat clipped and rapid. More research is needed to discover if the duration of the syllable which contains this type of tone is statistically shorter than it is with other tones. The pitch begins
at a Mid-high level and drops uniformly to a Low level. Occasionally the syllable surfaces with a level Mid-high tone. Phonologically, the Mid-high to Low tonal contour results from a Mid-high tone H l and a
Low tone L l being expressed on the same syllable 51a. Because there are two identical l tonal registers attached to the same tone bearing unit, the two merge producing the representations in 51b-c. These two
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representations are alternative phonological ways to represent the same phonetic reality and are being considered equivalent for the sake of this dissertation.
51 Phonological representation of
thãĩ˦˩ ‘fungus’ a. Two tones attached to one TBU
l l
H L
thãĩ b. OCP Register Merger
with two TRNs c. OCP Register Merger
with one TRN l
l H
L H L
thãĩ thãĩ
Comparing 51 with 49 above, the representations are exactly the same except for the linear ordering of the two tonal melodies.
Examples appear arranged according to onset type in 52 and 53. In 52, simple onsets are listed with the point of articulation listed in the first column while manner is in the second. The majority of
the examples occur in multisyllabic words. The syllable in focus is underlined for clarity. 52
Examples of the M
1
-L falling contour with simple onsets POA
Manner Transcription
Gloss a.
Labial fricative
none b.
Coronal stop
t ʃ︢i˧tu˦˩
‘cat’ c.
Coronal stop
ya˧tiu˦˩ ‘wooden beam’
d. Coronal
fricative sũ˦˩
‘song’
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e. Coronal
affricate t
ʃ︢ɛ̃˦˩ ‘trap’
f. Coronal
lateral mu˧la˦˩
‘mule’ g.
Coronal flap
ʔma˥rɛ˦˩ ‘know’
h. Coronal
nasal none
i. Dorsal
stop t
ʃ︢a˧ki˦˩ɲa˧˦ ‘our breast’
j. Glottal
fricative ndz︢i˧hĩ˦˩
‘equals’ k.
Glottal fricative
ɲa˧hõ˦˩ ‘ear’
l. Glottal
stop none
Examples of Mid-high to Low toned words with complex onsets are given in 53. The onsets are again grouped according to the categories discussed in §3.4.3. ‘Type’ of onset refers to the following
possibilities: S-stopstop-stop, Contains ʔ, Contains h or Begins with N. Next, the ‘Sub-type’ of the
onset further divides Contains ʔ and Contains h into categories based on whether or not the onset
contains an obstruent or a sonorant. Monosyllabic examples were not available for all of the categories in 53 so the syllable with the tone and onset, always the final syllable in this case, is underlined for clarity.
53 Examples of Mid-high to Low contour with complex onsets
Type Sub-type
Transcription Gloss
a. S-stopstop-stop
ʃkiɛ˦˩ ‘frog’
b. S-stopstop-stop
ts︢i˧skũã˦˩ ‘pulverizes’
c. Contains
ʔ Obstruent
ts︢u˧kʔũ˦˩ ‘crab’
d. Contains
ʔ Sonorant
ja˧ʔwa˦˩ ‘wooden meat hook’
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e. Contains h
Obstruent thãĩ˦˩
‘fungus’ f.
Contains h Obstruent
th ɛ˦˩
‘racebreed’ g.
Contains h Sonorant
ngu˦hɲa˦˩ ‘yesterday’
h. Begins with N
fi˧ndu˦˩ ‘rots’
i. Begins with N
na˧ngui˦˩ ‘land’
j. Begins with N
t ɛ˧ndz︢u˦˩
‘goat’ There are no examples of the Mid-High to Low falling contour occurring with labials 52a, glottal stops
52l or simple nasals 52h, there are, however, examples of each of these consonantal types as members of complex onsets e.g., 53d, c, g respectively.
Examples of eight out of the ten vowels are available: •
[i] - 52i
• [ĩ] - 52j
• [
ɛ] - 52g, 53f •
[ ɛ̃] - 52e
• [a] -
52f, 53d, g •
[ã] - none •
[o] - none •
[õ] - 52k
• [u] -
52b, 53h, j •
[ũ] - 52d, 53v
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Only the [o], a rare vowel, and the [ã] fail to co-occur. There are also five diphthongs, three oral and two nasal:
• [i
ɛ] - 53a •
[iu] - 52c
• [ui] -
53i •
[ãĩ] - 53e •
[ũã] - 53b There are also examples of various grammatical categories including:
• Nouns -
52b, c, d, e, f, i, k, 53a, c, d, e, f, i, j •
Verbs - 52g, j 53b, h
• Adverbs - 53g
While the Mid-high to Low falling contour is found occasionally on monosyllabic words 54a, it mostly occurs on the final syllable of disyllabic words 54b. There is one example of a disyllabic word with the
fall on the first syllable 54c. It also occurs on the final syllable of trisyllabic words 54d. The final position that occasionally surfaces with the falling contour is the penultimate syllable when it constitutes a
morpheme boundary 54e. The syllable in focus is underlined. 54
Word placement of M
1
-L falling contour Position
Soyaltepec Mazatec Gloss
Tone pattern a. mono
- σ
ʃkiɛ˥˩ ‘frog’
M
1
-L b. final σ
ʔma˥rɛ˦˩ ‘know’
H M
1
-L c. 1
st
σ t
ʃ︢ha˦˩wa˩ ‘grasshopper’ M
1
-L L
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d. final σ khua˩ki˧ʃi˦˩
‘law’ L M
2
M
1
-L e. penalt.
σ w
i˧si˦thɛ̃˦˩ʔã˩ ‘I get up’
M
2
M
1
M
1
-L L The Mid-high to Low falling contour is not pervasive, but it co-occurs with most of the onset
types as well as the vowels and various grammatical categories. Within the word it is mostly limited to the stem final position 54a, b, d, e.
4.3.7 Mid to Low Falling Tone Contour
