Phonetic implementation of high-tone spans in Luganda

Scott Myers,Elisabeth Selkirk,Yelena Fainleib

doi:10.5334/labphon.101

Scott Myers, Elisabeth Selkirk + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.5334/labphon.101

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Abstract

In Luganda, a Bantu language of Uganda, there are long high-tone spans, which include multiple syllables, as well as short high-tone spans, limited to a single syllable. Long high-tone spans result from unbounded leftward spread of either lexical high tones or an intonational high boundary tone. This study investigates whether long tone spans in Luganda differ phonetically in f0 timing or scaling from short tone spans, and whether lexical high tones are implemented differently than intonational ones.In a production study involving 10 Luganda speakers, it was found that the initial f0 rise ends significantly later in long high-tone spans than in short high-tone spans, reflecting the reduced time pressures involved when the f0 rise is in a separate syllable than the f0 fall. The final f0 fall at the end of the span begins earlier in the syllable in long high-tone spans than in short high-tone spans, reflecting the same time pressures. There was no difference in f0 level between long and short high-tone spans, indicating that the time pressure does not lead to undershoot. The intonational high tone has significantly smaller f0 excursions in the initial rise and the final fall, compared to the lexical high tones.

Highlights

IntroductionThe high-tone span is boldfaced in the transcription, and the underlined syllables are the ones with underlying high tone
This study investigates whether long tone spans in Luganda differ phonetically in f0 timing or scaling from short tone spans, and whether lexical high tones are implemented differently than intonational ones
Taking into account the coefficient (β), the results indicate that the f0 rise ends earlier in the spaninitial syllable in the short-span HL class than in the default long-span HH class, and the f0 fall begins later in the span-final syllable in HL than in HH

Summary

Introduction

The high-tone span is boldfaced in the transcription, and the underlined syllables are the ones with underlying high tone. In (1), high tone is associated with a single syllable, which is a short high-tone span. Such a span in Luganda has an f0 rise that begins before the onset of the high-toned syllable and ends in an f0 maximum around the end of the vowel, followed immediately by an f0 fall over the course of the syllable (Myers, Namyalo, & Kiriggwajjo, 2018).

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