scholarly journals Arguments for a Privative L Tone in Northern Tepehuan

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Ivanhoe Gil Burgoin
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
System L ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Low Constraint ◽  
Heavy Syllable ◽  
Tonal System

This paper proposes that Northern Tepehuan is a tonal language with just one lexical tone 'low tone' and is therefore a privative tonal system. L tone is sufficient to explain the pitch contrasts in the language and also necessary to explain the "inconsistencies" of stress assignment. Stress is normally predictable from the size of the word, from syllable-weight, and is cued by a H* intonational tone. Nonetheless, in words that do not obey the Stress-to-Weight constraint, it could be argued that stress is displaced from the heavy syllable by virtue of a high-ranked *Align(Head/Low) constraint that prohibits the placement of stress on a syllable with a lexical L. The L tone also explains why the H* intonational tone can be displaced from stressed syllables.

scholarly journals The stability of word stress across Mixean languages

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Jany
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Stress System ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Edge Orientation ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Phonological Structure ◽  
Heavy Syllable ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Stress Patterns

<p>Word stress patterns have been widely discussed for individual languages and in typological work (Van der Hulst 2010), but there are very few comparative studies within language families and across dialects. This paper examines stress patterns in Mixean varieties and how they relate to the phonological distinctions among these varieties. The term ‘variety’ is applied here as in a number of cases it has yet to be determined whether a variety constitutes its own language or a dialect.</p><p>Word stress does not vary in Mixean languages, always falling on the rightmost heavy root syllable, but roots often represent the only heavy syllable(s) in a word. As a result, syllable weight plays only a minimal role in stress assignment. Rather, the stress system rests upon edge-orientation and morphological conditioning. If it relied to a greater extent on the phonological structure of words, some deviation would be expected, given that variation among Mixean languages is primarily phonologically based. This paper demonstrates how weight-sensitive stress patterns can remain stable across related languages even in light of major phonological differences.</p>

Syllable weight in monolingual and heritage Spanish

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-427
Author(s):  
Michael Shelton ◽  
Hannah Grant
Keyword(s):  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
General Effect ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Quantity Sensitivity ◽  
Analysis Of Error

AbstractThis study presents two experiments employing a naming task that test the modulation of stress assignment by syllable structure in Spanish. The first replicates the findings of a previous study in which words containing arguably heavy penultimate diphthongs provoke higher error rates than putatively light monophthong controls when marked for antepenultimate stress. This result is interpreted as support for quantity sensitivity in the language. This experiment also replicates a subtler finding of differential patterning between rising and falling diphthong in their interaction with Spanish stress, suggesting gradient sensitivity to patterns in the lexicon. The second experiment presents the results of an identical task with Spanish-English heritage speakers in which the general effect of syllable weight is replicated, while the effect of diphthong type does not emerge. An analysis of error types suggests that varying levels of reading proficiency among heritage speakers may have led to the lack of the latter result, while still revealing sensitivity to frequencies in the lexicon. The combined results are offered as further evidence of quantity sensitivity among both monolingual and bilingual speakers of Spanish and provide further data in the understudied subfield of heritage phonotactics.

scholarly journals Lexical tone contrast in Izon as ubiquitous floating tone

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Rolle
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tonal Patterns ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Low Tone

This paper establishes the lexical tone contrasts in the Nigerian language Izon, focusing on evidence for floating tone. Many tonal languages show effects of floating tone, though typically in a restricted way, such as occurring with only a minority of morphemes, or restricted to certain grammatical environments. For Izon, the claim here is that all lexical items sponsor floating tone, making it ubiquitous across the lexicon and as common as pre-associated tone. The motivation for floating tone comes from the tonal patterns of morphemes in isolation and within tone groups. Based on these patterns, all lexical morphemes are placed into one of four tone classes defined according to which floating tones they end in. This paper provides extensive empirical support for this analysis and discusses several issues which emerge under ubiquitous floating tone. Issues include the principled allowance of OCP(T) violations, and the propensity for word-initial vowels and low tone to coincide.

Serialism and locality in constraint-based metrical parsing

Phonology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Pruitt
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Standard Theory ◽  
Metrical Structure ◽  
Local Interactions ◽  
Local Systems ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Harmonic Serialism ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Constraint Ranking

This paper proposes a model of stress assignment in which metrical structure is built serially, one foot at a time, in a series of Optimality Theory (OT)-style evaluations. Iterative foot optimisation is made possible in the framework of Harmonic Serialism, which defines the path from an input to an output with a series of gradual changes in which each form improves harmony relative to a constraint ranking. Iterative foot optimisation makes the strong prediction that decisions about metrical structure are made locally, matching attested typology, while the standard theory of stress in parallel OT predicts in addition to local systems unattested stress systems with non-local interactions. The predictions of iterative foot optimisation and parallel OT are compared, focusing on the interactions of metrical parsing with syllable weight, vowel shortening and constraints on the edges of prosodic domains.

scholarly journals NP internal syntax: High tone and quantifier conditions

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Ronald P. Schaefer ◽  
Francis O. Egbokhare
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Internal Syntax

This paper applies a model of tonosyntax designed for the Dogon languages to Emai, another language of West Africa that belongs to the Edoid group. The Dogon model aligns with and diverges from the tonosyntax of Emai. In Dogon noun phrases, an adnominal controller prompts a {L} (low) tone overlay onto the lexical tone of a left-adjacent target. Numerals, quantifiers and discourse markers fail as controllers. In Emai, most adnominals except cardinal numerals and discourse markers trigger a {H} overlay on a left-adjacent head or other adnominal. Emai varies from Dogon on two additional counts. Emai quantifiers prompt tonal overlay. In addition, right edge lexical /H/ constrains {H} overlay. We conclude by positing a potential relation between low {L} vs high {H} overlay and Clements and Railland’s (2008) lax vs tense prosody types.

Old and Middle English Phonology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donka Minkova
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Voicing Contrast ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Separate Branch ◽  
English System

Old English (OE) is a cover term for a variety of dialects spoken in Britain ca. 5th–11th century. Most of the manuscripts on which the descriptive handbook tradition relies date from the latter part of the period. These late OE manuscripts were produced in Wessex and show a degree of uniformity interrupted by the Norman Conquest of 1066. Middle English (ME) covers roughly 1050–1500. The early part of the period, ca. pre-1350, is marked by great diversity of scribal practices; it is only in late ME that some degree of orthographic regularity can be observed. The consonantal system of OE differs from the Modern English system. Consonantal length was contrastive, there were no affricates, no voicing contrast for the fricatives [f, θ, s], no phonemic velar nasal [ŋ], and [h-] loss was under way. In the vocalic system, OE shows changes that identify it as a separate branch of Germanic: Proto-Germanic (PrG) ē 1 > OE ǣ/ē, PrG ai > OE ā, PrG au > OE ēa. The non-low short vowels of OE are reconstructed as non-peripheral, differing from the corresponding long vowels both in quality and quantity. The so called “short” diphthongs usually posited for OE suggest a case for which a strict binary taxonomy is inapplicable to the data. The OE long vowels and diphthongs were unstable, producing a number of important mergers including /iː - yː/, /eː - eø/, /ɛː - ɛə/. In addition to shifts in height and frontness, the stressed vowels were subject to a series of quantity adjustments that resulted in increased predictability of vowel length. The changes that jointly contribute to this are homorganic cluster lengthening, ME open syllable lengthening, pre-consonantal and trisyllabic shortening. The final unstressed vowels of ME were gradually lost, resulting in the adoption of <-e># as a diacritic marker for vowel length. Stress-assignment was based on a combination of morphological and prosodic criteria: root-initial stress was obligatory irrespective of syllable weight, while affixal stress was also sensitive to weight. Verse evidence allows the reconstruction of left-prominent compound stress; there is also some early evidence for the formation of clitic groups. Reconstruction of patterns on higher prosodic levels—phrasal and intonational contours—is hampered by lack of testable evidence.

scholarly journals Lexical function of pitch in the first language shapes cross-linguistic perception of Thai tones

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vance Schaefer ◽  
Isabelle Darcy
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Learner Perception ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Pitch Patterns ◽  
Lexical Function ◽  
Pitch System ◽  
Contour Tones

AbstractDetermining the factors involved in the non-native perception of the pitch patterns of tones is complicated by the fact that all languages use pitch to various extents, whether linguistic (e.g., intonation) or non-linguistic (e.g., singing). Moreover, many languages use pitch to distinguish lexical items with varying degrees of functional load and differences in inventory of such pitch patterns. The current study attempts to understand what factors determine accurate naïve (= non-learner) perception of non-native tones, in order to establish the baseline for acquisition of a tonal L2. We examine the perception of Thai tones (i.e., three level tones, two contour tones) by speakers of languages on a spectrum of lexically contrastive pitch usage: Mandarin (lexical tone), Japanese (lexical pitch accent), English (lexical stress), and Korean (no lexically contrastive pitch). Results suggest that the importance of lexically contrastive pitch in the L1 influences non-native tone perception so that not all non-tonal language speakers possess the same level of tonal sensitivity, resulting in a hierarchy of perceptual accuracy. Referencing the Feature Hypothesis (McAllister et al. 2002), we propose the Functional Pitch Hypothesis to model our findings: the degree to which linguistic pitch differentiates lexical items in the L1 shapes the naïve perception of a non-native lexically contrastive pitch system, e.g., tones.

Constraint ranking in Middle English stress-shifting

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donka Minkova
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Constraint Ranking

Developing an idea first articulated by Luick in 1896, Halle & Keyser (1971) posit the introduction of a new accentuation rule in Middle English (ME), the weight-sensitive Romance Stress Rule (RSR). All post-1971 accounts of English stress take the syllable weight principle of the RSR as their starting point. For twenty-five years there has been no scrutiny of the assumption that syllable weight became relevant for stress assignment in ME. It has been claimed, and the claims have not been addressed, that the RSR is part of the phonology of late OE (O'Neil, 1973), that by late ME the RSR had completely replaced the Germanic accentuation patterns (Nakao, 1977), and that the existence of the RSR in ME justifies the reconstruction of analogical pronunciations such as hardi, holi, riding(e), a real shift from the Germanic to the Romance category (Halle & Keyser, 1971; Luick, 1896). The paper refutes these claims on the basis of new evidence and analysis in terms of generalized prosodic constraints.

scholarly journals Tura verbal tonology

2008 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-243
Author(s):  
Michael R. Marlo
Keyword(s):  
Stem Number ◽  
Comprehensive Description ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Tonal Patterns ◽  
Tonal System

This article provides a comprehensive description and analysis of the verbal tone system of Tura, a previously undocumented dialect of Luyia (Bantu, Kenya, J.30). Tura has many tonal Patterns marking tense-aspect-mood-polarity distinctions that are characterized by a grammatical ("melodic") H tone on different positions of the verb stem. The realization of melodic Hs depends on the prosody of the verb stem (number of syllables, syllable weight, C-initial vs. V initial) and complex interactions with H-toned prefixes. Some melodic Hs surface whether or not there is a H-toned prefix; others do not surface after a H toned prefix; and one surfaces only in combination with a H-toned prefix. Some melodic Hs block the H of the reflexive from surfacing; others are blocked from surfacing by the reflexive H; and another surfaces along with the reflexive H. The article describes and analyzes these and other cross-melody differences in the Tura tonal system as well as variation between two speakers of the dialect.

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