Phonotactics Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Bribri (Viceitic; Chibchan) is a language from Lower Central America, spoken by approximately 3000 people in Southern Costa Rica (INEC, 2000). Bribri has been described as having four lexical tones, two level tones, high and low, one fall (Lehmann 1920; Wilson 1974; Constenla 1981; Constenla, Elizondo & Pereira 1998, henceforth CEP98), and a glottal stop that is undergoing tonogenesis (Wilson 1996, CEP98, Jara 2004). This paper seeks to (1) understand the phonetics of the Bribri tone, (2) understand the interactions between tone and segmental features, and (3) proposal a phonological structure for Bribri tone. As for the phonetics, the starting points of the high and falling tone are the same (p(1,118)=1.9, p=0.17), and they are both different from the starting point of the low tone (High: p(1,90)=28.7, p<0.00001, Falling: p(1,65)=24.6, p<0.00001). The end point of all three tones is different (p(2,136)=40.0, p<0.00001), with the high tone ending at around 5, the falling tone at around 2.5~3, and the low tone ending at 1. This implies that the high tone is [45], the falling tone is [43], and the low tone is [11]. The rising tone has the same starting point as the low tone (p(1,5)=0.9, p=0.8), but it finishes significantly higher, becoming [13] (p(1,5)=7.1, p<0.05). The tones are divided into two registers, [+high] for high and falling, and [-high] for low and rising. This classification has consequences for the syllables that have been supposed to be "neutral": Neutral syllables followed by a [+high] register tone are [3], but those followed by [-high] are phonetically one [1], suggesting a register spread from the final toned syllable to those preceding it. As for the relationships between segments and tones, syllables with codas attract contour tones (F(3,859)=17.6, p<0.0001), and in general [+high] register tones are associated with voiceless onsets and high vowels, a tendency in agreement with results observed in other languages. These facts, in addition to the phonetic facts, suggest that the [±high] register division is relevant to Bribri phonology. Future work will focus on studying the autosegmental interactions between tonal register and contours and morphophonological processes in the language.