Summary of Contour Tones

226 examples with both coronal 56b and dorsal stops 56g which eliminates the suspicion that the fall results from the effects of a sonorant onset. More research is needed on this contour tone. 113

4.3.8 Summary of Contour Tones

Soyaltepec Mazatec has been shown to make use of seven of the twelve possible contour tones that emerge from the concatenation of four level tones, and since there is still ongoing research concerning grammatical tones and sandhi in verb phrases, it is very possible that more contours will emerge; however, the above examples include all of the common and some rare tones and contours that occur on lexical items. The seven tonal contours discussed above include five rising tones M 1 -H, M 2 -H, M 2 -M 1 , L-M 2 and L-M 1 and two falling tones M 1 -L and M 2 -L. The unattested contours include the rise from Low to High L-H as well as the three falls that start on High H-M 1 , H-M 2 and H-L. Contours spanning the entire pitch range Low to High or High to Low are avoided. 114 Rising contours are more common lexically than falling contours, a characteristic that is unusual cross-linguistically. It may be hypothesized that falling contours play a more significant role in another part of the phonology such as relating grammatical information rather than lexical information. Chapter 5 will give some examples which support this possibility. For each of the contour tones, the co-occurrence with the different onsets used in Soyaltepec Mazatec was examined. The majority of the contours occur over most of the onsets with only accidental gaps; however, two of the contours, the L-M 2 and the L-M 1 have a more limited distribution. It remains to be proven that they are not in complementary distribution either with each other or any other tones. Table 4-3 summarizes the distribution of the contour tones with the different onset types that occur. The different contours are listed across the rows and the potential onsets are listed down the columns. If an example exists, a ‘Y’ is placed in the appropriate box, if not, a ‘–’ shows that no examples are available at this time. 113 The contour tends to separate when preceding a Low toned syllable leaving a level Mid on the sponsor syllable which makes the contour more difficult to recognize since it essentially disappears in one of the primary contexts I used for comparisons. 114 The absence of contours spanning the entire pitch range could also be attributed to a phonetic effect which causes the H-L to be expressed as M 1 -L and the L-H as L-M 1 . This possibility will not be pursued at this time – the H-L contour does occasionally occur as a result of sandhi, so is not completely excluded phonetically. 227 Table 4-3 Distribution of Contour Tones with Onset Type Onset Type Manner Contour Tone M 1 -H M 2 -M 1 M 2 -H L-M 2 L-M 1 M 1 -L M 2 -L 1 Labial - Y Y - - - Y 2 Coronal stop Y Y - Y - Y Y 3 fricative Y Y Y - - Y Y 4 affricate Y Y - - - Y Y 5 glide Y Y - - - - - 6 lateral - - - - - Y - 7 flap - - - - - Y Y 8 nasal Y Y Y Y - - Y 9 Dorsal stop Y Y Y - - Y Y 10 Glottal fricative Y Y Y Y - Y Y 11 stop Y Y - - - - - Complex 12 S-stopStop-Stop Y Y - Y - Y - 13 Obstruent - ʔ Y Y Y - Y Y - 14 ʔ-Sonorant Y Y - - - Y Y 15 Obstruent -h Y Y Y - Y Y Y 16 h-Sonorant Y Y Y - - Y - 17 Begins with N Y Y Y - Y Y Y Through examining Table 4-3, it is evident that there are only two contour tones with limited distribution among onset types. The L-M 2 only occurs with four types of onsets and the L-M 1 only with three; and the two sets of onsets do not overlap at all. It appears that these two Low rising tones could be in complementary distribution; however, the groups into which they fall are not easily defined. L-M 1 only 228 appears with complex onsets, but one Begins with N is voiced and more sonorant and the other two are not sonorant Obstruent- ʔ and Obstruent-h. The L-M 2 also appears with one complex obstruent onset and its simple onset co-occurrence includes the nasal which is sonorant. It is true that the L-M 1 is more likely to occur with a glottal element, but the L-M 2 can occur with the glottal fricative. It is not clear what could motivate or condition a tonal difference between the two sets of onsets which occur with these two contour tones. The fact remains that the two are among the rarest lexical tonal distinctions and the disparity in their distribution is most likely due to this rarity and not phonologically motivated based on their onsets. An examination of the vowel and diphthong distribution yields little evidence of complementary distribution. Table 4-4 summarizes the distribution of the contour tones with the different nucleus types that occur. The different contours are listed across the rows and the potential nuclei are listed down the columns. If an example exists, a ‘Y’ is placed in the appropriate box, if not, a ‘–’ shows that no examples are available at this time. 229 Table 4-4 Distribution of contour tones with syllable nucleus Nucleus Contour Tone M 1 -H M 2 -M 1 M 2 -H L-M 2 L-M 1 M 1 -L M 2 -L a. [i] Y Y Y Y - Y Y b. [ĩ] Y Y Y - - Y Y c. [ ɛ] Y Y Y - Y Y Y d. [ ɛ̃] Y Y - - - Y Y e. [a] Y Y Y Y Y Y Y f. [ã] Y Y Y - - Y - g. [o] - Y - Y Y - Y h. [õ] - Y - Y - Y Y i. [u] Y Y Y - Y Y Y j. [ũ] Y Y Y - Y Y Y k. [iu] Y - - - - Y Y l. [i ɛ] - - - - Y Y - m. [ia] - - - - - - Y n. [ ɛi] - - - - - - Y o. [ai] - Y - - - - Y p. [ãĩ] - - - - - Y - q. [ao] - - - Y - - - r. [ui] - - - - - Y - s. [u ɛ] - Y - - - - - t. [ũɛ̃] Y - - - - - - u. [ua] - Y - - - - - v. [ũã] Y - - - - Y - Unlike the distribution of the onsets with the contour tones, examining the nuclei reveals there are no contour tones in complementary distribution based nucleus type. There is overlap between the nuclei sets which occur with each of the uncommon contours in question: L-M 1 and L-M 2 , both with each other and the other contours. Each of these contours contains high vowels and low vowels as well as front and back vowels. It is not possible to formulate an environment which would predicate one or the other contour based on nucleus type. 230 There is not enough evidence from the syllable’s segmental characteristics to predict the occurrence of any of the tonal contours. Table 4-5 compares the grammatical categories. The contour tones are listed across the rows and the categories down the columns. Table 4-5 Distribution of Contour Tones over Grammatical Categories Gram. Category Contour Tone M 1 -H M 2 -M 1 M 2 -H L-M 2 L-M 1 M 1 -L M 2 -L a. Noun Y Y Y Y Y Y Y b. Pronoun - Y - - - - Y c. Verb Y Y Y - Y Y Y d. Adjective Y Y Y - - - Y e. Adverb Y - Y - - Y - f. Quantifier Y Y - - - - - g. Connective Particle - - - - - - Y All of the contour tones occur on nouns and most occur with verbs. There is no one-to-one relationship between any grammatical category and any tonal category. In other words, the tone on a word or syllable cannot be determined from the grammatical category, nor can the grammatical category be determined from the tone. The only contour which only occurs with one grammatical category is the L-M 2 , and since this is a rare contour, it is not surprising that all of its members to date fall into the grammatical category nouns which contains the most examples in my data base. The final area addressed above is the position within the word that the contour appears. Table 4-6 summarizes the findings. The contour tones are listed across the top row and the word typeposition is listed down the fist column. 231 Table 4-6 Distribution of Contour tones within words Word typeposition Contour Tone M 1 -H M 2 -M 1 M 2 -H L-M 2 L-M 1 M 1 -L M 2 -L a. monosyllabic Y Y Y Y Y Y Y b. disyllabic first σ Y Y - Y - Y Y c. disyllabic final σ Y Y Y - Y Y Y d. trisyllabic first σ Y Y - Y - - Y e. trisyllabic second σ Y - - - - Y Y f. trisyllabic final σ Y Y Y Y - Y Y All of the contour tones appear on monosyllabic words and most appear on the final syllable of multi- syllabic words. The least common position for a contour tone is the middle syllable of a trisyllabic word. While the contours can occur at various positions within a word, it is good to remember that the most common place for them to occur is on the final syllable of a word. Also, that the least common place for a contour to occur is the middle of a word reinforces the idea that concatenations of tones tend to occur at word edges because they are often the result of the loss of a syllable. Seven contour tones occur lexically in Soyaltepec Mazatec. These contours are not dependent on the segmental characteristics of the syllables on which they appear or on grammatical categories or word position. They each play an important role in the semantic interpretation of Soyaltepec Mazatec.

4.4 Summary