Tone (The Bantu Languages, 2nd edn.) (original) (raw)
Related papers
JOLAN: Journal of the Linguistics Association of Nigeria, 2021
Abstract This study comparatively examines the tonal structures of Akuapem Twi and Asante Twi. It precisely focuses on examining syntactic structures with similar tonal structures as well as those with different tonal structures in both dialects from an acoustic perspective. Subsidiary to the acoustic evidence, a further autosegmental formalization of the syntactic structures with different tonal structures are analyzed to demonstrate the phonological and tonal rules triggering the differences. The mean of the pitch values of three (3) Akuapem Male Speakers and three (3) Akuapem Female speakers are compared with the Asante mean values identified in pronouncing the same syntactic structures tokens. The age range of speakers recorded is 20-60 years. Graphs showing the PRAAT pitch values show the syntactic structures with similar as well as different tonal structures in both dialects. The paper concludes with the proposal that as a result of some tonal and phonological rules, syntactic structures such as pronominals and HḶH nouns, HL nouns, imperative verbs and a CV pronominal objects as well as pronominals and negative verbs with a CV post-position all have different tonal structures in both dialects.
A comparative analysis of tone structures in Akuapem Twi and Asante Twi: An acoustic account
JOLAN: Journal of the Linguistics Association of Nigeria, 2021
Abstract This study comparatively examines the tonal structures of Akuapem Twi and Asante Twi. It precisely focuses on examining syntactic structures with similar tonal structures as well as those with different tonal structures in both dialects from an acoustic perspective. Subsidiary to the acoustic evidence, a further autosegmental formalization of the syntactic structures with different tonal structures are analyzed to demonstrate the phonological and tonal rules triggering the differences. The mean of the pitch values of three (3) Akuapem Male Speakers and three (3) Akuapem Female speakers are compared with the Asante mean values identified in pronouncing the same syntactic structures tokens. The age range of speakers recorded is 20-60 years. Graphs showing the PRAAT pitch values show the syntactic structures with similar as well as different tonal structures in both dialects. The paper concludes with the proposal that as a result of some tonal and phonological rules, syntactic structures such as pronominals and HḶH nouns, HL nouns, imperative verbs and a CV pronominal objects as well as pronominals and negative verbs with a CV post-position all have different tonal structures in both dialects.
Verb tone in Bantu languages: micro-typological patterns and research methods
Africana Linguistica, 2013
This paper describes the process of studying the notoriously complex verbal tone systems of Bantu languages through the elicitation of systematic, paradigmatic data. The main thrust of this paper is the delineation of the factors known to influence tonal outputs in Bantu languages, providing background on the micro-typology of Bantu verbal tone systems, with discussion of how these considerations impact the data-gathering process.
Paradigms and questionnaires: studying the verbal tone system of a Bantu language
sites.google.com
* I would like to thank the audience members at the 42nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics for their comments and Larry Hyman for follow-up discussion. In addition, I would like to thank David Odden, who provided helpful comments on an earlier draft. Any errors are my own. 'we are about to reassure' to-ra{[taaŋgaás-a]} 'we are about to announce' to-ra{[turuuŋán-a]} 'we are about to welcome' to-ra{[koondokór-a]} 'we are about to uncover' to-ra{[kirigiít-a]} 'we are about to scrub' to-ra{[teremek-á]} 'we are about to be calm' to-ra{[heetok-á]} 'we are about to remember' to-ra{[karaaŋg-á]} 'we are about to fry' b. to-ra{[sukur-ǎ]} 'we are about to rub' to-ra{[saamb-ǎ]} 'we are about to burn' c. to-ra{[rom-a]} H 'we are about to bite' to-ra{[ry-a]} H 'we are about to eat'
Tone in Eastern Bantu Orthographies
Dodoma, Tanzania: SIL, 2005
In this paper, those tonal issues in Bantu languages are investigated which could have implications for their orthographic representation. A survey of Eastern Bantu tone orthographies reveals that the majority of them practices either zero or surface tone marking, exactly those two systems which the literature has identified as the least effective. A summary of Bird's (1999a, b) research recommends a morphophonemic approach, utilizing fixed word images to enhance reading fluency. However, it remains important to distinguish between languages with shallow and those with deep tone systems, as these have different implications for the representation of tone in writing. In the final two sections, tonal phenomena in Eastern Bantu languages are reviewed, separated into lexical versus grammatical tone issues, and the recommendations from the literature applied to the phenomena in discussion. In designing a tone orthography, decisions of tonal representation should not be based on tone analysis and theoretical considerations alone as these do not automatically result in an effective tone marking system, but need to be backed up with experimental testing.
Lee Bickmore, ,Chilungu Phonology (2007) CSLI Publications, University of Chicago Press,Stanford
2009
Cilungu Phonology provides a comprehensive description of the intricate and diverse tone system of Cilungu, a Bantu language of Zambia classified as M14 in Guthrie's (1967Guthrie's ( -1971 Bantu classification. An asset of this work for which the author must be commended is that it provides a thorough and fully worked out tone system of a particular language in contrast to fragments of tonal systems abounding in the Bantu literature.