Low tone - L

187 not dependent on segmental characteristics, grammatical category or the syllable’s position in the word in question.

4.2.6 Low tone - L

˩ Low tones are also common; their presence is pervasive on all word types of Soyaltepec Mazatec. The Low tone is produced with more force than the Mid tone and occurs near the bottom of the normal pitch space Figure 4-1. The tone occurs with either a level pitch or a falling pitch which can level out over the course of the syllable or remain slightly falling over the entire course of the syllable. Phonologically, the Low tone consists of a low tonal melody L and a low tonal register l. An example representation appears in 21. 21 Phonological representation of ʧ︢u˩ ‘animal’ l L ʧ︢u ‘animal’ Examples of words with Low tones can be found in 22 and 23. Examples of words with Low tones and simple syllables are shown in 22. Monosyllabic examples are not always available so multisyllabic words with a Low tone on the first syllable are occasionally used. The place and manner of articulation are listed for the example syllable with the Low tone which is always the first syllable of the example given. 188 22 Low-tone syllables with simple onsets POA Manner Transcription Gloss a. Labial glide w a˩sʔɛ˩ ‘enter’ b. Coronal stop ti˩ ‘fish’ c. Coronal fricative ʃa˩ ‘fog’ d. Coronal affricate t͡ᶘu˩ ‘animal’ e. Coronal glide j ɛ˩ ‘snake’ f. Coronal nasal ni˩hĩ˩ ‘dried corncob’ g. Dorsal stop ki˩tʃ︢a˩ ‘metal’ h. Glottal fricative h ɛ̃˩ ‘he smells’ i. Glottal stop ʔa˩sɛ̃˧˦ ‘light’ Examples of low-toned words with complex onsets are given in 23. 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 available for all of the categories in 23. 189 23 Low-toned syllables with complex onsets Type Sub-type Example Gloss a. S-stopstop-stop skũã˩ ‘grit’ b. S-stopstop-stop ʃkũ˩ ‘eyes’ c. Contains ʔ Obstruent s ʔɛ˩ ‘after a while’ d. Contains ʔ Obstruent k ʔia˩ ‘there’ e. Contains ʔ Sonorant ʔwa˩ ‘crooked’ f. Contains h Obstruent ts︢hĩũ˩ ‘tobacco’ g. Contains h Obstruent ts︢hu˩ ‘onion’ h. Contains h Obstruent ʧ︢ha˩ ‘chat’ i. Contains h Obstruent tho˩ ‘air’ j. Contains h Sonorant h ɲa˩ ‘chili’ k. Contains h Sonorant hn ɛ˩ ‘palm’ l. Begins with N nda˩ ‘voice’ m. Begins with N nd ʒ︢i˩ ‘wet’ In 22 and 23, examples of low-toned syllables which begin with examples of each consonantal category are found. A cursory inspection of the data seems to indicate that Low tones are more common on words which contain complex onsets. For several categories, i.e., labial, dorsal, glottal stop and simple nasal, monosyllabic words were not available in my database. For these categories, disyllabic words which carry the Low tone on their first syllable were supplied. For three of the four, the Low tone is on both 190 syllables. An examination of 22 and 23 shows that the Low tone also occurs on syllables with seven of the ten vowels of Soyaltepec Mazatec: • [i] - 22b, f, g , 23d, m • [ĩ] - second syllable of 22f • [ ɛ] - 22e, 23c, k • [ ɛ̃] - 22h • [a] - 22a , c, i, 23e, h, j, l • [ã] - none • [o] - 23i • [õ] - none • [u] - 22d , 23g • [ũ] - 23b The vowel, [õ], which fails to co-occur with the Low tone, is the least common vowel. The [ĩ] and [ã] are also infrequent pairings with the Low tone. They do, however, occur occasionally in the final syllable of longer words such as those in 24. 24 Low tone on final syllable to demonstrate [ĩ] and [ã] a. [ĩ] - ni˩sĩ˩ ‘basket’ b. [ ã] - kh ɛ̃˩ʔã˩ ‘I eat’ 191 The Low tone can also occur on both oral and nasal diphthongs. Examples from 23 include: • [ia] - 23d • [ũã] - 23a • [ĩũ] - 23f The examples given in 22-24 demonstrate that segmental characteristics do not license the Low tone. The same can be said for grammatical categories. Although there seems to be a preference for nouns, examples can be found in various grammatical categories including: • Nouns - 22b, c, d, e, g, i, f, 23a, b, f, g, i, j, k, l, 24a • Verbs - 22a, h, 23h, 24b • Adjectives - 23e, m • Adverbs - 23c, d Low tones can occur on any syllable in Soyaltepec Mazatec regardless of the segmental characteristics or the grammatical category of the morpheme in question. They can also occur on either syllable of a disyllabic word. Low tones can precede any other toneme 25. 25 Low tones on the first syllable of disyllabic words Soyaltepec Mazatec Gloss Tone Pattern a. tʃ︢a˩ʔa˥ ‘armadillo’ L H b. sa˩wa˦ ‘shame’ L M 1 c. ni˩sɛ˧ ‘bird’ L M 2 d. ti˩ʃa˩ ‘cave’ L L Similarly, the Low tone can occur on the final syllable of disyllabic words, paired with any toneme on the first syllable 26. 192 26 Low tone on second syllable of disyllabic words Soyaltepec Mazatec Gloss Tonal Pattern a. si˥hɛ̃˩ ‘scented’ H L b. wu˦ru˩ ‘donkey’ M 1 L c. ki˧ts︢a˩ ‘fast’ M 2 L d. ʃa˩nda˩ ‘chicken’ L L The Low tone can also occur on trisyllabic words 27. It can occur on all three syllables 27a, the first two syllables 27b, the last two syllables 27c, just the first syllable 27d, just the middle syllable 27e or just the final syllable 27f. 27 Low tone on trisyllabic words Soyaltepec Mazatec Gloss Tone Pattern a . ni˩ngu˩ʃi˩ church L L L b. ha˩ma˩ja˧ tree root L L M 2 c. khi˧ndɛ˩thua˩ door M 2 L L d. na˩mi˦tʃ︢a˥ father-in-law L M 1 H e. k ʔuɛ˥tʃ︢hi˩ri˧ thank you H L M 2 f. ʔa˧ni˦ma˩ heart M 2 M 1 L The Low tone can occur on any syllable of Soyaltepec Mazatec, regardless of the segmental characteristics, the grammatical category or the placement of the syllable within a word.

4.2.7 Summary of Tonal Primitives