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While the Mid-high to High contour can occur on any syllable of a trisyllabic word, there are no examples of the Mid-high to High tone occurring before a Mid or Low tone in trisyllabic words. There are also no
examples in which it occurs on every syllable of a multi-syllabic word. The Mid-high to High contour occurs on all syllable types of Soyaltepec Mazatec regardless of the
segmental characteristics or grammatical category of the morphemes involved. It is possible that there is a restriction about the placement of the Mid-high to High contour before a Mid or Low tone in multisyllabic
words or that tone sandhi actively obliterates the contour in this environment.
4.3.2 Mid to Mid-high Rising Tone Contour
˧˦
The Mid to Mid-High tone contour is less common than the Mid-high to High rising tone discussed in
§4.3.1, but still fairly common. Examples are readily found on all word types in Soyaltepec Mazatec. Phonetically, the pitch begins at a Mid level and rises with no leveling in the slope. The endpoint
of the rise is somewhat indeterminate in isolation. Some speakers allow the rise to continue seemingly unchecked, a phenomenon more common among female speakers, while others allow only a slight rise.
110
Phonologically the Mid to Mid-High tonal contour occurs when a Mid tone L h and a Mid-High tone H l are linked to the same syllable. Similar to the Mid-high to High contour discussed above, this contour
occurs predominantly in isolation. Unlike the Mid-high to High contour, there are not identical tonal melodies or registers attached to the same tone bearing unit TBU, so no OCP motivated merger is
possible or necessary. An example of the phonological representation appears in 34. 34
Phonological representation of tu ˧˦ ‘fruit or seed’
h l
L H
tu
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This phenomena may account for the confusion of this tone contour with the Mid-high to High contour as was reflected in the data from Pike 1956.
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Examples appear in 35 and 36 arranged according to onset type. Examples of syllables with simple onsets and a Mid to Mid-high contour tone appear in 35. The place of articulation and manner are noted.
There are several onset types that do not occur with monosyllabic words, but they do occur with multisyllabic words. When the multisyllabic examples are necessary, sometimes the contour occurs on the
first syllable 35a and sometimes on the last 35b, c. For clarity the syllable in focus is underlined. The onset type refers to the syllable which contains the Mid to Mid-High contour.
35 Examples of the M
2
-M
1
contour tone ˧˦ with simple onset
POA Manner
Transcription Gloss
a. Labial
glide w
ɛ˧˦ndu˧ ‘they are going to stay’
b. Labial
fricative ndi˦˥fua˧˦
‘water’ c.
Labial fricative
ndiu˩fuɛ˧˦ ‘opossum’
d. Coronal
stop tu˧˦
‘fruit or seed’ e.
Coronal fricative
sa˧˦ ‘moon’
f. Coronal
affricate ts︢i˧˦
‘your’ g.
Coronal glide
ja˧˦ ‘wood, tree’
h. Coronal
nasal ɲã˧˦
‘we inclusive’ i.
Dorsal stop
kã˧˦ ‘twenty’
j. Glottal
fricative hĩ˧˦
‘eight’ k.
Glottal fricative
hõ˧˦ ‘six’
l. Glottal
stop ʔai˧˦
‘heavy’ m Glottal
stop ʔɛ̃˧˦
‘bunch’ Examples of Mid to Mid-high words with complex onsets are given in 36. 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
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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 36 so the syllable with the tone and onset in focus is underlined for clarity.
36 Examples of M
2
-M
1
contour tone with complex onsets Type
Sub-type Transcription
Gloss a.
S-stopstop-stop tki˧˦
‘medicine’ b.
S-stopstop-stop w
ɛ˦tkũ˧˦ ‘respect’
c. Contains
ʔ Obstruent
t ʃ︢ʔã˧˦
‘ice’ d.
Contains ʔ
Obstruent ki
˧ts︢ʔo˧˦ ‘breaks’
e. Contains
ʔ Sonorant
tõ˧ʔwɛ˧˦ ‘hates’
f. Contains
h Obstruent
ts︢ha˧˦ ‘bitter’
g. Contains
h Sonorant
ja˧tu˦hmã˧˦ ‘amaranth plant’
h. Begins with N
ngu˧˦ ‘one’
In 35 and 36 there are examples of words containing all of the major onset types co-occurring with the Mid to Mid-high tone. There are no gaps; however, occasionally multisyllabic words are necessary to find a
given onset type. Syllables with all ten vowels can be found: •
[i] - 35f, 36a
• [ĩ] - 35j
• [
ɛ] - 35a, 36e •
[ ɛ̃] - 35m
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• [a] -
35e, g, 36f •
[ã] - 35h, i, 36c, g
• [o] -
36d •
[õ] - 35k
• [u] -
35d, 36h •
[ũ] - 36b Examples of diphthongs also occur, but there are no examples of nasalized diphthongs:
• [ua] - 35b
• [u
ɛ] - 35c •
[ai] - 35l It is interesting that there are no nasal diphthongs, but this does not constitute a significant gap considering
the fact that diphthongs are comparatively rare and nasalized diphthongs are rarer still. There are many examples of nasalized vowels, so, nasalization in itself is not contraindicated. More research will probably
reveal examples of the Mid to Mid-high contour with nasal diphthongs. The contour occurs without regard to the segmental characteristics of the onset or nucleus of the syllable in question. Various grammatical
categories are also found including: •
Nouns - 35b, c, d, e, g, 36a, c, f, g •
Verbs - 35a, 36b, d, e •
Quantifiers - 35i, j, k, m, 36h •
Adjectives - 35l, 36f •
Pronouns - 35f, h The words that contain the Mid to Mid-high rising tone occur in several different grammatical categories.
Even though the final syllable of a word is the most common place for a contour to occur, the Mid to Mid-
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high contour can also occur at different positions within a word. For instance, it can occur in disyllabic words after any of the tonemes 37a-d or the Mid-high to High contour 37e.
37 M
2
-M
1
on the second syllable of disyllabic words Soyaltepec Mazatec
Gloss Tone Pattern
a. tu˦hma˧˦
‘amaranth seed’ H M
2
-M
1
b. w
ɛ˦tkũ˧˦ ‘respect’
M
1
M
2
-M
1
c. tʃ︢ha˧ngi˧˦ ‘plum’
M
2
M
2
-M
1
d. ndi˩ja˧˦
‘trail’ L M
2
-M
1
e. ja˦˥tʃ︢hĩ˧˦
‘women’ M
1
-H M
2
-M
1
While contours are more common on the final syllable, they do occasionally occur on the first syllable of disyllabic words 38.
38 M
2
-M
1
on first syllable of disyllabic words Soyaltepec Mazatec
Gloss Tone Pattern
a. ts︢hua˧˦hi˥
‘doesn’t give’ M
2
-M
1
H b. w
ɛ˧˦ndu˧ ‘they are going to stay’ M
2
-M
1
M
2
c. ni˧˦hɲa˦˥ ‘bedroll’
M
2
-M
1
M
1
-H The M
2
-H occurs on the first syllable before a H 38a, a M
2
38b and a rising M
1
-H 38c. Similar to the Mid-high to High contour, there are no examples of the Mid to Mid-high contour preceding
either Mid or Low tones. Again, this could be an indication of tone sandhi or it could just be an absence of data. This is an area for future research.
111
The Mid to Mid-high contour also occurs on trisyllabic words, either on the first syllable 39a or more commonly the last 39b.
111
Perhaps a study which investigates the tones on compound words would give insight into the behavior of contour tones occurring before M
2
and L tones within a word.
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39 M
2
-M
1
on trisyllabic words. Soyaltepec Mazatec
Gloss Tone Pattern
a. ngui˧˦hɛ˧ɲa˧˦
‘all of us’ M
2
-M
1
M
2
M
2
-M
1
b. ni˩sĩ˩ja˧˦
‘large covered basket’ L L M
2
-M
1
There are no examples that have the Mid to Mid-high contour on the middle syllable of trisyllabic words. The example in 39a is the only example in which the Mid to Mid-high contour occurs before a Mid tone,
it is possibly allowed because the final syllable also hosts a contour, or it could just be an exception. There is not enough data to make predictions.
The Mid to Mid-high contour occurs on monosyllabic, disyllabic and trisyllabic words, regardless of the segmental characteristics. It does not usually precede a Mid or Low tone, but otherwise can occur on
the first or last syllable of a word.
4.3.3 Mid to High Rising Tone Contour
