205
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
˧˥
The Mid to High rising tone contour is relatively rare. Examples are limited on all word types. Phonetically, the rise begins at the midpoint of the speaker’s pitch range and rises to the highest level of the
normal pitch range. Phonologically, the Mid to High tonal contour results from a Mid tone L h and a High tone H h being expressed on the same syllable. Unlike the contours described above in
§4.3.1 and 4.3.2, this contour tone is not limited to an isolated environment, the rising shape of the contour is maintained
even when in various contexts. It does, however, experience an OCP register merger due to the fact that two identical h registers are associated to the same TBU. The phonological shape of the contour is
demonstrated in 40 with the OCP merger demonstrated by the alternative forms in 40b and c. 40
Phonological representation of nda ˧˥ ‘good’
a. Preliminary Phonological Representation h
h L
H nda
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The representation in 40b includes two TRNs stemming from the two separate tones which unite on this TBU while the representation in 40c includes only one TRN. Recall that the melody and register features
exist in separate planes, so there is linear ordering between the two tonal melodies represented, but no ordering between the melody features and the register feature. Both representations are possible for this
contour and each indicates the same phonetic expression. For the purposes of this dissertation, they will be considered equivalent. While the two contours already discussed can be considered to have lexical
representations in which the tones are unlinked in their underlying representations except when they occur word medially, the High tone of this contour must always be linked in its underlying representation. The
motivation for this linkage will be demonstrated in §5.2.1 below. To summarize, in this contour even though there are more tones than TBUs, both tones always associate to the specified syllable; the second
tone never shifts to a following syllable as would be expected if the UAC were used to form its linkages. It is possible that the Mid tone is associated by the UAC or that it is linked as a unit with the High.
Examples of the Mid to High rise appear in 41 and 42 arranged according to onset type. The example syllables that begin with a simple onset appear in 41. The place of articulation and manner are
indicated. Multiple gaps reinforce the relative rarity of this rising tone. All significant onset types are indicated even when they do not occur in order to demonstrate the gaps. Multisyllabic words are included
to fill the gaps where available. All the multisyllabic words used have the contour on the final syllable which is underlined for clarity. The onset type is of the syllable which contains the contour tone.
b. OCP Register Merger with two TRNs
c. OCP Register Merger with one TRN
h h
L H
L H nda
nda
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41 Examples of the M
2
-H contour tone ˧˥ with simple onsets
POA Manner
Transcription Gloss
a. Labial
fricative tu˧wa˧˥
‘short’ b.
Coronal stop
none c.
Coronal fricative
ʔa˧su˧˥ ‘tepid’
d. Coronal
affricate none
e. Coronal
glide none
f. Coronal
nasal nũ˧˥
‘year’ g.
Coronal nasal
ts︢u˧mĩ˧˥ ‘sand’
h. Dorsal
stop ki˧˥
‘he went’ i.
Glottal fricative
hã˧˥ ‘there’
j. Glottal
stop none
Examples of Mid to High words with complex onsets are given in 42. 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 42 so the syllable with the tone and onset in focus is underlined for clarity.
208
42 Examples of the M
2
-H contour with complex onsets Type
Sub-type Transcription
Gloss a.
S-stopstop-stop none
b. Contains
ʔ Obstruent
t ʃ︢ʔa˧˥
‘in-law’ c.
Contains ʔ
Sonorant nĩ˩ɲũ˧ʔɲã˧˥
‘paca’ d.
Contains h
Obstruent th
ɛ˧˥ ‘bug bite’
e. Contains
h Sonorant
ngui˧hɲã˧˥ ‘grass’
f. Begins with N
nda˧˥ ‘good’
In 41 and 42 the absence of the Mid to High contour on c oronal stops 41b and affricates 41d as well
as glottal stops 41i can be seen. The contour is somewhat more pervasive with complex onsets, but still does not occur on syllables with an S-stop or stop-stop onset 42a. Coronal stops and affricates and glottal
stops are all found as parts of the complex onsets which co-occur with the contour, e.g., 42b, d. The contour occurs on syllables with onsets that are sonorant and voiced 41a, f, g as well as those that are not
sonorant or voiced 41c, h, i. Examples can be found of the contour occurring with seven of the ten vowels:
• [i] - 41h
• [ĩ] - 41g
• [ɛ] - 42d
• [ɛ̃] - none
• [a] - 41a
, 42b, d •
[ã] - 41i , 42c, e
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• [o] - none
• [õ] - none
• [u] - 41c
• [ũ] - 41e
There are no examples of the Mid to High contour occurring with [
ɛ̃], [o] or [õ]. The most common vowels occurring with the Mid to High contour are [a] and
[ã]. There are no examples of diphthongs occurring with this contour.
Various grammatical categories are represented including: •
Nouns - 41e, f, g, 42b, c, d, e •
Verbs - 41h •
Adjectives - 41a, c •
Adverbs - 41i Despite its relative rarity, there are examples of the Mid to High contour occurring in disyllabic
words after all four tonemes 43. 43
M
2
-H occurring on second syllable of disyllabic word Soyaltepec Mazatec
Gloss Tonal Pattern
a. tku˥ɲa˧˥
‘our head’ H M
2
-H b. ta˦ha˧˥
‘hard’ M
1
M
2
-H c. ts︢u˧mĩ˧˥
‘sand’ M
2
M
2
-H d. ʃa˩nga˧˥
‘river’ L M
2
-H There are no examples of the Mid to High contour occurring on the first syllable of multi-syllabic words. It
does occasionally occur on the final syllable of trisyllabic words 44.
210
44 M
2
-H on the final syllable of trisyllabic words Soyaltepec Mazatec
Gloss Tonal Pattern
a. ni˩ɲu˧ʔɲa˧˥
‘paca’ L M
2
M
2
-H b. s
ʔɛ˧hɲa˧ʔɲu˧˥ ‘tighten’
M
2
M
2
M
2
-H The Mid to High contour is not common and there are no examples in my database of it occurring
with all of the onset and vowel types; however, the absences do not fall into a regular pattern. The most startling absence is the absence of the co-occurrence with simple coronal and glottal stops which are
otherwise very pervasive in the language. In §4.3.8 I provide a comparison of the contour tones to rule out
any suspicion of complementary distribution.
4.3.4 Low to Mid Rising Tone Contour
