235
5.2.1 Mobility
Mobility is defined by Yip 2002:65 as tonal movement away from its point of origin. Yip goes on to say that autosegmental phonology characterizes mobility “as a change in association” 2002:74 of a
feature. This behavior is demonstrated in Soyaltepec Mazatec through an examination of tonal clusters as they appear in context. In chapter 4, five rising contour tones were demonstrated to appear in isolation, i.e.,
M
1
-H, M
2
-M
1
, M
2
-H, L-M
1
and L-M
2
. Three of these rising contours, M
1
-H, M
2
-M
1
and L-M
2
, appear to split when placed in context. These will be addressed in further depth in
§5.3. Below, I give an example of how each of these clusters demonstrates tonal mobility.
The original host TBU surfaces with a level tone equivalent to the first tone of the contour while the second tone of the contour shifts its association to the following syllable. The diagram in 1 offers a
mechanism for this ‘contour simplification’ using the Mid-high to High contour as an example. 1a shows the data that needs to be explained. 1b demonstrates an underlying representation for each morpheme that
assumes all tones are unlinked in the lexicon and subsequently linked by the UAC, i.e., in a one to one fashion from right to left until all tones are assigned. In isolation, the first morpheme surfaces with a rising
contour while the second as a disyllabic low-toned word. When the two morphemes are placed into the context of adjacency within the same phonological domain, a noun phrase, the tones link to the available
TBUs as expected based on the UAC
115
1c. The newly formed linkages are represented by dashed association lines. The High tone which is lexically sponsored as part of the first morpheme surfaces on the
second morpheme. 1
Tonal Mobility of the H from M
1
-H a. Data to be explained
ʃka˦˥ + su˩sɛ˩ → ʃka˦ su˥sɛ˩ ‘pants’ ‘green’ ‘green pants’
115
Notice that these words must form a phonological unit to allow the UAC to apply across the morpheme boundaries. This application of the UAC is slightly expanded from its traditional lexical application.
236
b. Underlying Representations l h
l H H
L ʃka
sus ɛ
c. Surface linkages in context l h l
H H L
ʃka su sɛ
In the underlying representation of these two morphemes there are a total of three tones and a total of three TBUs. The tones are able to distribute themselves evenly with one tone linked to each syllable and a level
tone is articulated on each syllable. The first morpheme has one TBU and two tones in its underlying representation 1b. In isolation the two tones associate to the only available TBU producing a rising
contour;
116
however, as was demonstrated in 1c, the two tones are not tied to their lexical sponsor as a unit but can surface separately as two level tones on separate syllables. Each syllable, and therefore each
TBU of the utterance, is associated with one TRN and each is expressed with a level tone. This redistribution of tone from its lexical sponsor demonstrates the mobility of the High tone which is
sponsored by the initial morpheme, but surfaces on the second. This same mobility is seen in the Mid to Mid-high tonal cluster which was introduced in §4.3.2.
For the sake of comparison, a disyllabic low-toned word is used for the target of the new association. The process 2 is identical except that different tones are lexically sponsored by the first morpheme. When
placed in context 2c the same one-to-one association occurs demonstrated by the dashed association
116
Refer to §4.3.1 to see how the Mid-high to High contour associates in isolation.
237
lines; however, in this case when the M
1
links to the following TBU, two low registers become linked to the same morpheme and OCP merger is motivated 2d.
2 Tonal mobility of the M
1
from M
2
-M
1
a. Data to be explained ngu˧˦ + na˩tʃ︢u˩ → ngu˧ na˦tʃ︢u˩
‘one’ ‘squash’ ‘one squash’ b. Underlying Representations
h l l
L H L
ngu nat
ʃ︢u
c. Surface linkages in context h l l
L H L
ngu na t
ʃ︢u
d. OCP motivated l-register merger h l
L H L
ngu na t
ʃ︢u
When the word with the M
2
-M
1
contour is placed in context 2c, the M
1
preferentially links to the TBU to the right, leaving its sponsor syllable with a level M
2
tone. If the specified OCP merger did not
238
occur in 2c, the final syllable would be articulated at an even lower pitch than the L specified in response to a second overt l-register.
The final cluster that was introduced in Chapter 4 which participates in this type of mobility is the Low to Mid-high §4.3.4. Again, two tones are sponsored by a monosyllabic morpheme 3b and the tones
associate in a one-to-one, left-to-right manner across the phonological domain 3c. Once again, the linkages place two l-registers into adjacency on the same morpheme and OCP motivated merger occurs.
3 Tonal mobility of the M
1
from L-M
1
a. Data to be explained nd
ʒ︢ɛ˩˦ + su˩sɛ˩ → ndʒ︢ɛ˩ su˦sɛ˩ ‘hominy’ ‘green’ ‘green hominy’
b. Underlying Representations l l
l L H
L nd
ʒ︢ɛ suse
c. Surface linkages in context l l l
L H L
nd ʒ︢ɛ su sɛ
d. OCP motivated l-register merger l l
L H L
nd ʒ︢ɛ su sɛ
239
The only difference in the tones between 2 and 3 is that the first tone is a Low. The process demonstrated above in 1 – 3 shows the tonal behavior of monosyllabic morphemes which sponsor two
tones but have only one TBU. In isolation, these morphemes surface with contour tones: M
1
-H, M
2
-M
1
and L-M
1
respectively. When the morpheme which has more tones than TBUs is placed into a context in which there is an extra TBU, as is the case when a disyllabic word is articulated with both syllables at the same
pitch and therefore has two TBUs but only one tone, the extra tone from the first morpheme is able to associate to the extra TBU of the second morpheme and all three morphemes surface with level tones. This
redistribution of tones is not limited to the environment of a tonal cluster preceding a disyllabic Low toned word; the environment was kept constant for demonstrative purposes. The resolution of the conflicts that
arise when these morphemes are placed into various contexts is addressed in §5.3. While the M
1
-H, M
2
-M
1
and L-M
1
contours of Soyaltepec Mazatec demonstrate tonal mobility, there are two rising contours that behave differently. Consider the data in 4. The utterance in 4a begins
with a morpheme which sponsors a Low tone followed by a Mid tone. When placed into the identical environment that was demonstrated above, preceding a disyllabic low-toned word, nothing happens. There
is no redistribution of tones. Similarly, 4b demonstrates a Mid to High contour which maintains its contour in the same environment.
4 Cluster tones that do not demonstrate tonal mobility
Isolation forms Surface Forms
Expected Forms a.
na˩˧ + su˩sɛ˩ → na˩˧ su˩sɛ˩ na˩ su˧sɛ˩
‘mother’ ‘green’ ‘green mother’
b. nda˧˥ + na˩tʃ︢u˩ → nda˧˥ na˩tʃ︢u˩
nda˧ na˥tʃ︢u˩ ‘good’ ‘squash’
‘good squash’ If all tones were underlyingly unlinked in the lexicon, we would expect these cluster tones to behave as was
demonstrated in 1 – 3 above. However, these clusters always surface as contour tones and therefore must have a different underlying representation than the other contour tones which demonstrate tonal
mobility. Hypothesizing that these two contours contain at least one tone that is linked in the underlying representation rectifies this problem 5.
240
5 Underlying Representation for clusters with one lexically linked tone
a. L-M
2
na˩˧ ‘mother’ b. M
2
-H nda˧˥ ‘good’
l h h h
L L L H
na nda
Using the underlying representation from 5, when the UAC applies, the left most tone sponsored by the morpheme will attach to the morpheme which sponsors it even though it already contains a tone, thus
creating the contour tone. This will motivate OCP merger of the L-melody feature in 5a and the h-register feature of 5b. Alternatively, both tones could be lexically linked as in 6 which shows the forms in which
the merger has already occurred.
117
6 Underlying Representation for clusters with two lexically linked tones
a. L-M
2
na˩˧ ‘mother’ b. M
2
-H nda˧˥ ‘good’
l h h
L L H
na nda
The structures in 6 show two TRNs multiply linked to the TBU, recall that a structure with one TBU which has multiply linked registers in 6a or multiply linked tonal melodies in 6b is equally valid. There
is no data at this point which clearly indicates whether one or two tones are lexically linked in these clusters. It is a matter for future research. One association line between the right most tone and the TBU is
enough to block the mobility as can be seen in 7. When the UAC applies in 7b, a contour is formed on
117
The two contours which never split and re-associate may in fact be unitary contours the M
2
-H having a rise in tonal melody on the high register and the L-M
2
having a change in tonal register while maintaining a Low melody, which would argue for the representation with one TBU. The remaining three contours may
be seen as composite contours, necessitating the full specification of each associated tone and therefore more easily disassociated than the unitary contours.
241
the first morpheme. The tone which was linked in the underlying representation is not changed by the UAC which only applies to unassociated tones.
7 Tonal immobility of the H from M
2
-H a. Data to be explained
nd a˧˥ + na˩tʃ︢u˩ → nda˧˥ na˩tʃ︢u˩
‘good’ ‘squash’ ‘good squash’ b. Underlying Representations
h h l
L H L
nda nat
ʃ︢u
c. Surface linkages in context h h
l L H
L
nda nat
ʃ︢u
d. OCP motivated h-register merger h
l L H
L
nda nat
ʃ︢u
No tonal mobility occurs in 7, both morphemes surface with only their own lexically specified tones. The reason for the difference in behavior between the various contour tones originates in their lexically
242
designated structure, i.e., whether or not tones are specifically linked in the underlying representation, and not just in the fact that they are contour tones.
The processes described above demonstrate both tonal mobility which is a characteristic of African tone systems and the greater affinity of some tones to specific TBUs which is more similar to
Asian tone systems. The tonal behavior was demonstrated using RTT structures; however, no specific advantages to using these structures emerged. Tonal mobility could just as easily be demonstrated without
the expanded geometry of RTT. The only distinction that occurres using the RTT geometry is that OCP motivated merger is demonstrated on the tonal melody tier in 6a and on the tonal register tier in 2d, 3d,
6b and 7d.
5.2.2 Stability
Kategori