High and low tone in Taa (!Xóõ) (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.
The phoneme inventory of Taa (West ǃXoon dialect) [preliminary version]
The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the phoneme inventory of West )Xoon, the westernmost dialect of Taa, with reference to previous phonological analyses of the language, in particular to the fundamental study by Anthony Traill (1985). It will also suggest a practical orthography based on the proposal by Güldemann (1998) for Southern African Khoisan as a whole, which is itself greatly inspired by the Ju6'hoan orthography (Dickens 1994).
IMPLICATIONS FOR POST-LEXICAL TONAL TYPOLOGY: AN ANALYSIS OF THADOU AND MIZO TONES
This paper focuses on the post-lexical tonal properties in Thadou and Mizo, the two Kuki Chin languages spoken in NorthEast India, and tries to typologize them based on the interaction of phonetic and phonological modules in the grammar of these languages. The paper investigates the different downtrending phenomenon like the declination, downdrift and downstep and accounts how the pitch is realized differently in each of these languages. The study reveals that the gradient implementation of certain phenomena in the phonetic component may be severely constrained by the nature of the lexical and post-lexical phonological component in a language. The results of this investigation thus reveal two varied types of post-lexical tones among the Kuki-Chin group of languages.
Tonal System of Looma Language : The Woi-Balagha Dialect
2009
Looma is one of the Southwestern Mande languages. It is spoken in Liberia and Guinea. There are some works on the Looma tonal system based on the data of Liberian dialects: Gizima, Ziema, Bulima (Sadler 1949/2006, Vydrine 1989); Gbunde (Dwyer 1973). The present work is based on the data of the Guinean Woi-Balagha dialect which is the source for the literary variant of Looma in Guinea. This dialect is spoken in the Woi-Balagha area with its center in Macenta in the Guinea Forestière Region. The data were collected during the expedition in Guinea in January and February of 2009.
Tones in Tani languages: A fieldworker's guide
This paper will have two purposes. The first will be to describe the tone systems of the three Tani (Tibeto-Burman) languages for which tones have been attested: Apatani, Galo (Western Tani) and Upper Minyong (Eastern Tani). The second will be to provide a sort of guide for fieldworkers investigating tones in Tani languages. Here’s the basic overview: Tani languages have two underlying (or basic) tonemes, which can be called H and L, Level and Falling, Toneless and Toneful or Unmarked and Marked, depending on how one feels about the balance between theoretical implications and descriptive clarity. The point is that there are two categories, one of which is associated to a relatively mid-to-high and level pitch contour, and the other of which is associated to a low, falling, rising, or rising-falling pitch contour, depending on a number of contextual factors. The second category is more “marked” than the first, on phonological, perceptual, and phonetic grounds. All lexical morphemes are underlyingly specified for one of these two tones. If a word is monosyllabic and monomorphemic, the specified tone will be projected directly onto the surface pitch contour. However, the overwhelming majority of words in Tani are in fact disyllabic or larger, and generally dimorphemic, or larger. In these more complex words, certain derivations apply. These derivations are slightly different from language to language, but all obey a similar set of principles requiring reference to the structure of a word’s constituent syllables: light or heavy, i.e. monomoraic (V rhyme) or bimoraic (VV, Ṽ or VC rhyme) - as well as, to some extent, the rhythmic template of a language (generally trochaic) and some morphophonological processes (such as syncope) which are associated with it. Due to the interaction of all of these factors, it can be a real challenge to unify one’s account of the relationship between the underlying tones of morphemes and the phonetic pitch contour of words in which they are expressed. By the same token, it can be a real challenge, from a fieldworker’s perspective, to work one’s way from the quite complex surface pitch contour of a string of morphemes all the way down to the underlying (and quite simple!) set of tonal categories that ultimately motivate it. My main hope in writing this paper is that I’ll be able to outline a set of procedures to render the discovery and representation of tones in Tani languages less painful, less time-consuming and less error-prone, and - ideally - maximize the chances that other fieldworkers will be able to expand our Tani language tonal database, so that we can get ourselves on a more solid comparative-historical footing!
Consonant Types and Pitch of Tone in the Igbo Language: An Acoustic Analysis
This work sets out to analyze the pitch of tone in lexemes in the Igbo language to find out the effect of consonant types occurring before vowels on the pitch of the tone of the vowels. The data are collected from two males and two females from each dialect using structured personal interview and the data recorded electronically. In the findings the pitch of the vowels following plosives are higher than those following other classes of consonants. Also the tone of the vowel does not affect the F0 of the tone. Finally the downstepped high tone does not have influence on the pitch of the vowel. We therefore conclude that the downstepped high tone in the Igbo language in line with what is found in the literature, consonant types do have effect on the pitch of tone of following vowels.