A before and after for tonogenesis.

Abstract

The development of tone in Panjabi from the loss of certain consonants has often been cited as an instance of the consonantal origins of a tonal system. Acoustic data demonstrating the correlation between Panjabi tones and Hindi consonants are presented. Panjabi high tone matches a higher fundamental frequency on a Hindi vowel preceding a breathy voiced consonant. Panjabi low tone matches a lower fundamental frequency on a Hindi vowel following a breathy voiced consonant. It is interesting that the data exhibit the spread of the consonantal effect throughout the entire word.