From Tone to Accent

Abstract

Tone and accent share a key phonetic property, namely pitch prominence. It is therefore not surprising that the tonal and accentual systems overlap, and that languages may develop in either direction along this tone-ac cent continuum. In this paper I argue that at least one dialect of Chinese, notably the New Chongming dialect of the northern Wu group, has evolved from a prototypically tonallanguage to an unmistakably accentual system according to such diagnostics as: culminativity, syntagmatic vs. paradigmatic contrast, weight-sensitive prominence, and avoidance of tonic dash (analogue of stress dash).