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there are not any examples in Pike’s article of falling contour tones that are basic tones on non-borrowed words.
According to Pike, most words exhibit their base tone in isolation as well as in environments that do not produce sandhi but can also be expressed with three or four derived tones, depending on their
environment. In the sections that follow I discuss the tone sandhi that Pike discusses in order to show the relative complexity of the system she describes. Pike divides the sandhi into four basic types: 1. change
caused by single tones, 2. change caused by contour tones, 3. change caused by grammatical position and 4. change caused by ‘zero syllables with positive tone.’ I follow Pike’s general organization and summarize
her main points.
2.2.1 Change Caused by Single Tones
Pike discusses two main effects of level tones: regressive perturbation changes caused on the first morpheme when two morphemes are combined to form a new grammatical word
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and progressive perturbation changes caused on the second word by a word final High tone of the first word. The
processes are similar only in that they both involve level tones. I discuss each in turn.
2.2.1.1 Regressive Perturbation
In this section I explain the effects that adding a morpheme can have on the previous syllable’s tone. These regressive changes occur as a consequence of suffixation
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or of compounding. According to Pike, the effects are noticed on the final syllable of the first morpheme the target, and the changes in
question are caused by a level tone that occurs on the first syllable of the second linear morpheme the trigger. The trigger syllable causes a change on the syllable to its left. This is what she refers to as
‘regressive perturbation.’ Three of the four level tones H, M
2
, and L trigger changes in the preceding syllable when morphemes are adjoined. For example, suffixes with Low tones the trigger cause the tone of the syllable
30
A grammatical word is defined by Pike as the stem of a word and its affixes, not including any enclitics. The unit which includes the enclitics is referred to by Pike as the phonological word.
31
Although Soyaltepec makes use of several prefixes, Pike does not indicate whether or not prefixes participate in this process – none of her examples involve the prefixed forms.
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to which they attach the target to change from a Mid to a Mid-high tone the result as in 1. The syllables that contain the specific target, trigger and resultant tones are underlined for clarity. The tone is
overtly listed for the syllable in question on the line above the data. 1
Raising of a M
2
tone Pike 1956:59 Target
Trigger Result
M
2
L M
1
ʃa˧ + -ʔɛ˩ → ʃa˦ʔɛ˩
‘wild cat’ ‘his’
‘his wild cat’ In this process, the trigger tone L remains unchanged.
The alterations that occur are summarized in Table 2-2. The tones on the syllable that are the targets for change are listed in the left column. The trigger tones are listed in the central column. The tone
that results from the transformation is listed in the final column.
Table 2-2 Regressive Perturbation
Targeted tone contour Trigger tone
Resultant tone contour a.
M
1
-H H
H b.
M
2
-M
1
H H
c. M
1
H H
d. L-M
1
H L-H
e. H
M
2
M
1
f. H
L M
1 32
g. M
2
L M
1
h. M
1
-L L
M
1
The changes that Pike describes are difficult to generalize. The High tone apparently spreads left and overwrites the M
1
and two of the contours, as seen in a-c above. It also overwrites the M
1
that is the final member of a L-M
1
contour as can be seen in d; however, in this case the initial member of the contour remains resulting in a L-H contour. In e we see that the Mid tone lowers a High tone to a Mid-
high, possibly this could be viewed as a partial assimilation instead of the complete overwriting that we saw performed by the High tone in a-d. A Low tone has an effect on three types of tones f-h, always
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In the case of a H H sequence, the second H is changed to a M
2
instead of a M
1
, i.e., H H]
µ
+ L → H M
2
L.
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changing the previous tone to a Mid-high tone. If the previous tone is: a High f it lowers it, a Mid g it raises it or a Mid-high to Low contour h it simplifies it. The contour that is affected in h, i.e., M
1
-L, could be seen as splitting with the second member of the contour, the Low, spreading to the following
syllable and merging with the low that is the trigger, leaving the first member of the contour unaffected. Recall that the Trigger tone is not changed in any of these processes.
While Pike claims that these changes are very regular in that they always occur given the correct environment; they are not easily described in terms of logical mechanisms or expected tone rules. The
raising and lowering that are provoked by the low tone are especially challenging.
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It is probable that these effects are actually phonetic realizations and not truly phonological changes.
Since I am focusing on phonological tone behavior, I will not revisit these types of alternations.
I have listed the effects produced within grammatical words caused by level tones that are described in Pike’s article. These are all regressive perturbations, i.e., the tone on a suffix changes the tone
on the stem. The effects produced by level tones in separate words are always progressive as will be seen in the next section.
2.2.1.2 Progressive Perturbation
