Tone-bearing Unit Research Articles

On the nature of apical vowel in Jixi-Hui Chinese: Acoustic and articulatory data

Chinese languages have a set of segments known as apical vowels, which have been analysed in previous studies as either genuine vowels, fricative vowels, fricative consonants, or approximants. This study is concerned with the apical vowel attested in Jixi-Hui Chinese. We examine this segment from acoustic and articulatory perspectives and argue that it is best defined as a fricative /z/. Phonologically, Jixi-Hui Chinese /z/ is a distinct phoneme that is exclusively attested in syllable nucleus position where it constitutes a tone-bearing unit and which can undergo tonal sandhi processes. It can appear not only after coronal sibilants /s ts tsʰ/, but also after bilabials /p pʰ/ and nasals /m n/. Acoustically, we show that this segment contains frication noise in its initial phase in the majority of cases, with a formant structure towards its end. The analysis of the zero-crossing rate confirms this significant presence of noise, clearly distinguishing this segment from genuine vowels. Furthermore, articulatory analyses of ultrasound data show that /z/ has a near-identical tongue shape to fricative /s/ on both mid-sagittal and coronal planes, in both sibilant and non-sibilant contexts. These findings are viewed in light of the variability in the way /z/ is phonetically implemented in Jixi-Hui Chinese.

Tone and prosodic recursion in Degema nouns and noun phrases

Abstract This paper presents the first systematic study of tone in nouns and noun phrases in Degema. From a database of approximately 1,000 nouns, we find that nouns fall into three main tone patterns: /L-L/ (48% of nouns), /H-H/ (18%), and /L-HH/ (13%). This last case is theoretically important in that it includes cases where two separate H tones associate to the same tone-bearing unit, in violation of the Obligatory Contour Principle. In isolation, nouns are subject to two basic tone rules which alter their underlying forms: downstep is inserted between two final H’s (e.g. /H-H/ → [H↓H]), and H is inserted at the end of an all-low sequence (e.g. /L-L/ → [LH]). The combined effect of these rules is that virtually all nouns and noun phrases have a pitch change. Further, we catalog tonal effects found on nouns in 33 distinct modificational contexts within the noun phrase. We attribute these tonal effects to whether modifiers plus the noun form phonological phrases (φ) or phonological words (ɷ), and whether they form recursive prosodic structures, e.g. of the type ( ( A )φ B )φ. By positing recursive structure, we can localize tonal effects to an outermost prosodic layer (e.g. φ[+max]), innermost layer (e.g. φ[+min]), non-inner or outermost layers (e.g. φ[-max]), or to the prosodic category as a whole (i.e. all layers of a φ).

Grammatical tone mapping in Ekegusii

AbstractA major issue in Bantu morphophonology is how to get the right tones in the right ‘cells’ in the verb paradigm. In many Bantu languages, grammatical tones are assigned to different positions in the verb stem depending on inflectional features of tense, aspect, mood (TAM), polarity and clause type: The same TAM may assign different tones (and different segmental allomorphs) in the affirmative vs. negative and in main vs. relative clauses. Although such ‘melodic tones’ (Odden & Bickmore 2014) are typically restricted to the verb stem (root + suffixes), often also the domain of vowel harmony and other segmental phonology, both the presence and mapping of grammatical tones within the stem cannot be determined without reference to the prefixal inflectional marking of subject, negation, TAM and object which precede the stem. In this article, we discuss three cases in Ekegusii, a Bantu language of Kenya, that require the stem-assigned grammatical tones to look ‘outward’ to morphological and phonological properties of such prefixes: (1) differential mapping according to whether the pre-stem tone-bearing unit is toneless, a derived H(igh) (from H-tone spreading), or underlyingly /H/ (Bickmore 1997, 1999); (2) presence of an object prefix in imperative and subjunctive forms and (3) initial/final tone agreement between the subject prefix and the final vowel of the verb (cf. Rolle & Bickmore (2022). We will show that Ekegusii provides extensive evidence that both the presence of grammatical Hs and their specific mapping, while targeting the stem (root + suffixes), must be ‘globally’ calculated on the basis of the entire morphosyntactic structure of the verb (including features exponed by prefixes).

The evolution of tonally conditioned allomorphy in Triqui: evidence from spontaneous speech corpora

Abstract One of the defining characteristics of tonal systems in phonological theory is the notion of tonal stability (Goldsmith, John. 1990. Autosegmental and metrical phonology. Oxford: Blackwell; Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Tones remain stable even if their tone-bearing unit changes or is deleted. In the context of historical sound change, tones may either persist as floating tones (from an autosegmental-metrical perspective) or fuse with adjacent syllables and give rise to more complex tonal inventories. However, the process of segmental loss which ultimately conditions historical tonal change is gradual in nature. Tone-bearing units may lenite or they may be optionally realized, leading listeners to rely on coarticulatory cues or phonetic information on adjacent syllables. In the current paper, I examine how variation in the realization of clitic pronouns is conditioned by adjacent tonal cues in Itunyoso Triqui (Otomanguean) within a corpus of spontaneous speech recordings. This research examines and provides evidence for the hypothesis that tonally conditioned allomorphy arises specifically when two conditions are met: (a) there is a morphological context where prosodic units are likely to lenite (highly redundant contexts); and (b) adjacent tonal cues are most informative at this morphophonological boundary. The findings shed light not only on how phonologically conditioned allomorphy arises but also on how variable deletion is sensitive to patterns of multiple exponence during language use.

Moraic tone-bearing units in Kabiye

This article provides evidence that the mora, rather than the syllable, is the tone-bearing unit in Kabiye, an Eastern Gurunsi Gur language of Togo. After presenting the phoneme inventory and a brief overview of the tone system, the concept of phonological weight is introduced in order to precisely characterise the mora and the syllable in this language, as well as the relationship between them. Two observations provide evidence in favour of the mora as the tone-bearing unit: first, contour tones are licenced on heavy syllables but not on light ones; second, tonal processes are sensitive to a unit smaller than the syllable, such that the second constituent of a heavy syllable operates with a degree of independence relative to the first. These observations are explored in four phonological domains: association of the LHL tone pattern, association of two-tone patterns, L tone spreading, and vocalic elision. Two post-lexical processes — contour realignment and HLH plateauing — provide putative evidence of the syllable as tone-bearing unit, but even in these cases, a moraic account is ultimately judged to be preferable.

Expanding the gestural model of lexical tone: Evidence from two dialects of Serbian

There is mounting evidence suggesting that temporal information is necessary in representations of lexical tone. Gestural models of tone provide a natural entry point to linking abstract association with physical realization, but remain underdeveloped. We present the results of two acoustic production studies on two dialects of Serbian, a lexical pitch accent language. In the Belgrade dialect, pitch accents are aligned relatively late in the tone-bearing unit, while in the Valjevo dialect, pitch accents are phonetically retracted, sometimes into the preceding syllable. We varied the phonetic duration of syllable onsets of candidate tone-bearing units in falling (experiment 1) and rising (experiment 2) pitch accents, and measured the effects on the timing of F0 excursions. Consistent interactions between F0 excursions and the segmental content indicate that the phonological system of abstract tone association is the same in both dialects, despite differences in temporal alignment. We argue that this apparent mismatch between association and alignment can be expressed straightforwardly in the Articulatory Phonology framework by allowing tone gestures to coordinate with other gestures in all the ways that segmental gestures can, rather than restricting tone to c-center coordination.

Ikhin Tone and Nasality: Autosegmental Effects

In generative phonology, tone and nasality are described as suprasegmental phonological units. This implies that their survival depends on the segments on which they are grounded. Thus, when a tone bearing unit or nasality bearing unit disappears, any of these segments also disappears. In autosegmental theory, however, tone or nasality survives after the deletion of segment to which it is attached. This phenomenon is termed ‘stability’ which is the foundation for autosegmental phonological theory. Stability is the survival of tone and nasality after the deletion of segments on which they are grounded. Tone and nasality exhibit stability in Ikhin, a North-Central Edoid language spoken in Edo State, South-South, Nigeria. Previous study on Ikhin dwells mainly on the phonetics of the language. This study, therefore, investigates phonological processes such as vowel elision, glide formation and nasalization with a view to determining the stability or otherwise of tone and nasality. This paper confirms that in Ikhin, any process that involves the removal of a tone bearing unit must relate to stability and relate to the creation of contour tones. The study further confirms that nasality remains stable even in the absence of segment to which it is linked. Based on available data, it is argued that the deletion of a Tone Bearing Unit (TBU) or a Nasality Bearing Unit (NBU) does not necessarily involve the deletion of tone or nasality. Infact, it usual does not. The study concludes that tone and nasality are independent segments. They are as independent as consonant and vowel.

The sounds of Tawrã (Digaru-Mishmi), a Tibeto-Burman language

AbstractThe present study is a phonological analysis of the segments and tones of the Tawrã language (ISO 69-3: mhu; Glottolog: Diga1241), a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and in Tibet, China. This paper, the first collaboration between a Tawrã-speaking non-linguist and a non-Tawrã-speaking linguist, attempts to clear up some confusion in the existing literature. For example, previous studies did not note that stop codas /-p, -k/ are in free variation with glides [-w, -j, ɰ], and that the morpheme, rather than the syllable, is the tone-bearing unit. Acoustic analyses provide justification for the phonemic representation of the vowels and the tones. Finally, the paper is designed to introduce Tawrã speakers to the recently standardized (2020) orthography, and to show how the letters and letter combinations function together as a system.

A Formal Investigation of Q-Theory in Comparison to Autosegmental Representations

We use model theory to rigorously evaluate Q-Theory as proposed in Shih and Inkelas 2019 as an alternative to Autosegmental Phonology. We find that Q-Theory is remarkably similar to Autosegmental Phonology, contra some of Shih and Inkelas’s claims. In particular, Q-Theory does not eschew the association relation, in Q-Theory the tone-bearing unit is the vowel, and Q-Theory and Autosegmental Phonology are equivalent in terms of the constraints they can express. However, this formal analysis clarifies the truly novel contribution of Q-Theory, which is the empirical claim that all segments are tripartite.

Phantom structure: A representational account of floating tone association

This paper focuses on the association of floating tones. One type we call "phonological association", where the tone-bearing unit (TBU) the floating tone associates to is determined by the phonological grammar, e.g. to a default position like a stressed syllable or domain edge. We contrast this with another type we call "targeted association", whereby the floating tone targets a numerical position , e.g. a floating H associates to the fourth TBU of the stem. Targeted association is idiosyncratic to the sponsoring morpheme, and does not necessarily target a default position. Such data have been taken as evidence for counting in grammar. Instead, we propose a novel representation we call "phantom structure", without counting. Phantom structure formalizes the observation that certain morphemes require structure to be present in order for their floating tone to be realized, but cannot provide this structure themselves. Under the targeted association type, the floating tone is pre-associated to a specific position in the phantom structure. We show that a simple grammar with two partially overlapping correspondence relations - substantive input and output structure (SubO-CORR) and phantom and output structure (PhO-CORR) - derives the association of the floating tone to the equivalent numerical position in the output as in the phantom plane input.

Pitch accent and tonal alignment in Kagoshima Japanese

Abstract While recent work has made it abundantly clear that the metrical foot is fundamental for any understanding of the accent pattern of Japanese and its dialects, other features of these pitch accent systems are directly linked to the constraints aligning tonal melodies with prosodic structure. This paper presents some results on the microvariation in the pitch accent systems of the dialects of Kagoshima Prefecture: the main Kagoshima City dialect, and the separate dialects of Koshikijima island and the southernmost Kikaijima island (Ryukyu archipelago). All these dialects, except for the Kagoshima City dialect, are in serious decline in terms of numbers of speakers. We show that the accentual microvariation in Kagoshima Japanese is due to a simple reranking of the basic constraints aligning the accentual melodies HL and H. The difference in tone-bearing unit between dialects (syllable- vs. mora-counting behavior), difficult to analyze as a parameter setting, follows from the ranking of constraints against tonal contours on moras and syllables.

F0 of the verbal nasal prefix in Medumba

Both tone-bearing unit (TBU) and non-TBU syllables can exist in a tonal language [Roberts 2003, Cahiers voltaiques/Gur Papers 6, 95]. The verbal nasal prefix bears a high tone in many Bamileke languages [Voorhoeve 1974, Stud. Afr. Ling. 5: 205]; in Medumba, however, anecdotal evidence suggests that the nasal prefix may be a non-TBU [Keupdjio 2018, PC] in which case it cannot bear a high tone. The present study investigates the F0 contour of the verbal N-prefix and its surrounding TBUs (e.g., vowels in the preceding auxiliary verb and the following main verb) in various contexts in Medumba. Acoustic results show that the F0 contour of the nasal prefix itself is largely determined by the F0 trend of the preceding vowel, and no F0 change is observed at the onset of the nasal prefix, confirming that the verbal N-prefix is a non-TBU in Medumba. However, the nasal prefix appears to induce a raised F0 at the onset of the following TBU, indicating that, although the N-prefix itself does not express tone, it nevertheless “bears” a high tone. Implications for theories of TBUs will be discussed.

Lexical tone in Deori: loss, contrast and word based alignment

In this paper we investigate the existence of tones in Deori, a language which is historically known to have had tonal distinctions. In a study, 5 speakers were recorded for their production of potential lexical tones in a list of 34 words, and a list of 54 monosyllabic roots were recorded for a vowel experiment. We conducted an f0 analysis in order to examine the extent of ‘tonoexodus’ and loss of tonal properties in Deori. To the extent that experimental methods can be used to determine lexical tone, phonetic measurements of f0 and further statistical analysis reliably indicate the distribution of lexically distinct tones. The results show clear presence of tonally distinctive words but without any definitive tonal alignment. We consider the diachrony and synchronic analysis of this and conclude that the syllable is not the Tone Bearing Unit in the conventional sense in current Deori, and that there is no clinching evidence to suggest alignment and spreading of the lexically distinctive tone to the right edge. Given these results, we conclude that tone is spread in the entire word in Deori. We also note that Deori no longer exhibits the prototypical Tibeto-Burman sesquisyllabic pattern and has instead developed an iambic stress pattern.

The articulatory tone-bearing unit: Gestural coordination of lexical tone in Thai

Recently, tones have been analyzed as articulatory gestures that can coordinate with segmental gestures. In this paper, we show that the tone gestures that make up a HL contour tone are differentially coordinated with articulatory gestures in Thai syllables, and that the coordinative patterns are influenced by the segments and moraic structure of the syllables. The autosegmental approach to lexical tone describes tone as a suprasegment that must be associated to some tone-bearing unit (TBU); in Thai, the language of study, the proposed TBU is the mora. Although the autosegmental account largely describes the phonological patterning of tones, it remains unclear how the abstract representation of tone is implemented. An electromagnetic articulograph (EMA) study of four speakers of Thai was conducted to examine the effects of segment type and moraic structure on the coordination of tone gestures. In a HL contour tone, tone gestures behave similarly to consonant gestures, and show patterns of coordination with gestures that correspond to moraic segments. However, there is also a level of coordination between the H and L tone gestures. Based on these results, a model of TBUs is proposed within the Articulatory Phonology framework that incorporates tone-segment coordination as well as tone-tone coordination.

Downstep exceptions in Ibibio

Downdrift and downstep are processes which may cause lowering of high tone syllables. Downdrift is intonational, occurring at phrasal or utterance level, while downstep is a phonological process which acts from one tone-bearing unit to the next such that H tones lower successively. The relationship between these larger tonal lowering processes and individual tone units is complicated, however, by processes which may raise or preserve original high tone pitches. Ibibio, a Niger-Congo language spoken in southeastern Nigeria, is a terraced tone language with contrastive H and L tones. H tones in Ibibio experience automatic and non-automatic downstep, lowering both in sequences of high tones and around intervening lows. This study aims to determine those factors which counteract or overrule the downstep process. Average pitch readings were taken of entire syllables and compared with readings of other syllables within the same word. The main finding of this study is that while single words show acoustically measurable downtrends, they also show non-lowering and even raising of high tones, specifically in HHL contexts. This complicates how downtrends act across tone-bearing syllables, and may indicate that a high tone is raised in order to increase contrast with a following low.

The Tone Bearing Unit in North Kyungsang Korean

The Tone Bearing Unit in North Kyungsang Korean

The interaction between metrical structure and tone in Kera

This paper examines the cues for and interaction between the metrical and tonal systems of Kera. Kera has no word-level stress, but the heads of its quantity-sensitive iambic feet are cued by duration, intensity and vowel allophony; in addition, foot boundaries are identified by vowel-harmony and tone-spreading domains. The tonal system has three underlying tones, which are enhanced by differences in voice onset time (VOT). Kera demonstrates an interaction between the iambic foot and tone. Words have one or two tones. For words of three or more syllables the tone-bearing unit is the foot, but for shorter words it is the syllable. This dichotomy is accounted for by a faithfulness constraint requiring all tones to surface, which overrides a constraint limiting each foot to one tone. Kera shows that a tonal system can be sensitive to metrical structure, while maintaining a certain independence between the two systems.

Tone in venda revisited: An optimality perspective’

By viewing phonological processes as constraints on well-formedness, Optimality Theory has been shown to offer a more incisive account for many such processes than a rule-based approach. Most OT analyses to date have dealt with prosodic phenomena, although more and more attention is being paid to segmental processes and suprasegmental aspects such as stress and tone. Here, a shift in the tonal pattern of Venda nominate is considered from an OT perspective. Previous accounts of this phenomenon under a rule-based, autosegmental approach have been problematic: The Obligatory Contour Principle appears to motivate different effects at different levels. Many of the rules required to explain the process are language specific and stipulative. Problems arise from the disparate treatment of low and high tones and from assumptions such as extratonality. Certain asymmetries in the inventory of tonal melodies remain unexplained. And questions remain as to whether the tone-bearing unit in Venda is the syllable or the m...

Syllable structure and partial reduplication in classical Chinese

Bisyllabic, partially reduplicated words in classical Chinese fall under two major categories: i-words and r-words. An i-word consists of syllables which share the same initial (bi-ba), whereas an r-word consists of syllables which share the same rhyme (b uk-suk). Unlike partial reduplication of the more familiar type, partially reduplicated words in classical Chinese show no fixed segmental shape. An important property of such words is the tone pattern: if the two component syllables differ by only one segment, then they bear the same tone. The proper analysis of such data supports 1. The hierarchical structure of the syllable; 2. total copying in partial reduplication; and 3. the rime as the tone-bearing unit. In addition, the data show that the syllabic position of the medial glide in classical Chinese is indeterminate.

Lexical extraprosodicity in Chilungu

Nouns in Chilungu, a Bantu language spoken in Zambia, exhibit more tonal distinctions synchronically than exist in many modern Bantu languages. There exists a five-way distinction in nouns with CVCV sterns and a four-way distinction in nouns with monosyllabic stems. We show that any synchronic analysis which assumes a two-way tonal distinction for each Tone Bearing Unit (e.g., H vs. L, or H vs. ¢) cannot predict the attested number of surface tonal patterns. We avoid this dilemma by proposing that the final mora of certain noun roots is extraprosodic. This assumption not only correctly predicts the attested surface patterns, but results in rules which are well-motivated both theoretically and typologically (in Bantu). We argue that lexical conditioning of extraprosodicity is a natural outgrowth of prosodic theory, parallel to the use of lexical stress and lexical accent.