CarolineFéry([email protected])
Abidjan3
1. Tone assignment in prosodic domains
Assuming that all languages form higher-level prosodic constituents, prosodic words (ωwords, Φ-phrase and ι-phrases), it can also be assumed that tones are assigned to these
constituents, according to the indirect reference hypothesis (Inkelas & Zec 1990). Tones
associate with syllables, but may be assigned to higher prosodic levels.
1.1 Tones assigned to ω-words, as for instance in Japanese:
H*L
H*L
(1) a. hana ‘a name’
b. hana ‘flower’
c. hana ‘nose’
Or in Swedish (Bruce 1977, Riad 2014)
HL*
H*L
|
|
1
2
a. anden
b. an den
(2)
‘the duck’
‘the ghost’
Or in Mandarin
Table 3. Lexical tones in Mandarin
T1. High Level (H)
55
mā ‘mother’
T2. Rising (LH)
35
má ‘hemp’
T3. Low or Falling-Rising (L)
21(4)
mǎ ‘horse’
T4. Falling (HL)
51
mà ‘to scold, to blame’
Many Germanic languages, all Romance languages, Greek, and most Slavic languages do not
assign tones at this level: Words have no invariant tonal pattern. Tone languages (African,
Asian, American) and so-called pitch accent languages (Norwegian, Japanese) do assign tones
at this level. Some languages assign tones to nearly all syllables of all words (some African
languages, Cantonese, Mandarin), and some pitch accent languages, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian,
only assign tones to the lexically stressed syllable of some words (Japanese).
1.2 Tones assigned to Φ-phrases
Japanese (Gussenhoven 2004:188, Vance 2008:142-54): words in isolation have not only
lexical tones but also phrasal tones. The word in (3)a is ‘unaccented’ and has only phrasal
tone, the word in (3)b has both kinds of tones. (4)a has only lexical tones as there is not space
for the phrasal tones, and (4)b has only one phrasal tone.
LΦHΦ LΦHΦH*L | | | ||/ (3) a. (garasudama)Φ ‘glass beads’ b. (kake - ro)Φ ‘break-off’
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H*L LΦH*L | |
|| |
(4) a. (hasi-ga)Φ ‘chopstick-NOM’ b. (hasi-ga)Φ ‘bridge-NOM’
English, German, Dutch, etc., the so-called ‘intonation languages’ only assign tones at the
higher levels of the prosodic hierarchy: pitch accents and phrasal tones (assigned to Φphrases) and boundary tones (assigned to ι-phrases, see below). Because of culminativity
(Hyman 2006, the principle which forces a head on each constituent at each level), every Φphrase usually has a head, realized as a pitch accent, see (5). This pitch accent has to go to the
metrically most prominent syllable of the Φ-phrase, see (6). Which tones are chosen is
dependent on the pragmatic contingencies, modalities etc, and also on the nature of the
adjacent tones.
(5)
(6)
×
×
×
((Goodω
×
×
×
× ×
novelsω)Φ
((Goodω
H*L/L*H
NOvelsω)Φ
×
×
×
(readω
(readω
ι-phrase
Φ-phrase
ω-word
foot
syllable
×
×
×
×
× ××
easierω )Φ)ι
H*L/L*H Lι/Hι
EAsierω )Φ)ι
If for instance novels is narrowly focused and easier is ‘given’ (contextually known) in the
discourse, as in (13a), the second Φ-phrase is deaccented as a consequence of post-focal
compression. Culminativity is then violated for the sake of Givenness (‘Postnuclear given
material is deaccented’). In (7)b, part of a Φ-phrase is deaccented.
(7) {What reads easier?}
H*L LΦ
a. (Goodω NOvelsω)Φ
(readω
Lι
easierω)Φ)ι
{Did you meet the tall boys?}
H*L
LΦ Lι
b. (No I only met the SHORTω boysω)Φ)ι
It is thus not obligatory for a word to carry tonal correlates of lexical stress. As a result,
lexical stress in English is an abstract property of words which may be realized or not,
depending on their role in the discourse. In English, tones are not directly assigned to words.
Swedish (according to Bruce 1977, Riad 2014 and Myrberg & Riad in prep): distinction
between a word accent (= tonal property of the word, see above), assigned to the word, and a
‘focal accent’ where at least part of the tonal contour is assigned at the phrasal level, written
HΦ in (8). There is no need for a focus to be present in order for a focal accent to be realized
and I thus prefer to use the term ‘phrasal tone’. Phrasal tones in Swedish are not obligatory,
and are more likely to be realized when a phrase contains a focus.
(8)
Accent 1
Accent 2
Word accent
HL*
H*L
Focal accent
HL* HΦ
H*L HΦ
2
H*LHΦ(Lι) || | |
2
(9)
blommorna ‘the flowers’
Examples of phrase tones (from Gussenhoven, my notation)
(10)
HL*
HL*
HL* HΦ Lι
|
|
|
1
1
1
a. [(man vill a namma nåra längre NUMMER)Φ ]ι
‘want to accept some long numbers’
accent 1
H*L
H*L H*L HΦ Lι
|
|
|
b. [ (man vill 2lämna nåra 2långa 2NUNNOR)Φ ]ι
accent 2
‘want to leave some long nuns’
Tone languages may have no tones at all at the level of Φ-phrases, see for instance Rialland &
Embanga Aborobongui (2015), for Embosi, a Gur language without Φ-phrases.
1.3 Tones assigned to ι-phrases
Most languages have tones at the level of ι-phrases, even tone languages, see for instance
Vietnamese and Cantonese, often in the form of final boundary tones. These tones depend on
the modality or speech act of a sentence: it characteristically/often is a low tone in a
declarative sentence, a high tone in a question, and a middle tone in a vocative.
Combination of phrasal tones and boundary tones can express complicated pragmatic
meanings.
Tonal contours arise compositionally through the concatenation of word tones, pitch accents,
phrasal tones and boundary tones that are assigned to prosodic domains. Phrasal and
boundary tones do not necessarily associate with prominent syllables, but rather with edges of
prosodic domains defined in relation with syntax and information structure. In this way,
information structure acts not only on syntactic structure, but also on tonal contours. The
result is that changes due to information structure also arise in the phrasal intonation, and not
only in the pitch accents assigned to lexically stressed syllables.
2. Autosegmental representations (Kenstowicz 1994)
• Autosegmental tiers
u ʔ u
segmental tier
|
|
H
L
tonal tier
• Tone Bearing Unit (TBU): certain units in the segmental tier to which association lines are
attached. Mostly syllabic nucleus.
• Association lines
• Strict linearity: no crossing association lines
3
(1) Possible autosegmental representations
Anchor
X X
X X
X
| |
\/
/ \
feature
F F
F
αF -αF
one-to-one
multiply
many-tolinked
one
X
bare
anchor
F
floating
feature
Margi
(2) Three contrasting tones on a syllable:
a. high
kjí ‘compound’
b. low
tì ‘mourning’
c. rising
fĭ ‘to swell’
• The rising tone can be best described as a combination of a low + high tone.
(3) Rising tone is the tonal by-product of devocalization or truncation.
a. sál
sál-árì
‘man’
kùm
kùm-árì
‘meat’
j
b. ʔímí
ʔím -árì
‘water’
kú
kw-árì
‘goat’
w
tágú
tág -árì
‘horse’
c. tì
tj-ǎrì
‘morning’
hù
hw-ǎrì
‘grave’
w
úʔù
úʔ -ǎrì
‘fire’
(4) Verbal suffixes show tonal melody: The number of tonal patterns (3 in Margi: high, low,
rising) remains constant, regardless of the number of syllables.
a. tsá
‘beat’
ndábjá
‘touch’
sá
‘go astray’
tə́dú
‘fall down’’
b. dlà
‘fall’
gə̀rhù
‘fear’
ghà
‘reach’
dzàʔù
‘pound’
c. hǔ
‘grow up’
pə̀zú
‘lay eggs’
və̌l
‘fly’
ŋgùrsú
‘bend’
(5) Certain morphemes show tonal polarity: certain affixes have a tonal specification that is
the opposite of that of the base.
à sá gù
‘you go astray’
à tsú gù
‘you beat’
á wì gú
‘you run’
á dlà gú
‘you fall’
̌
á vəl gù
‘you fly’
• Linear models face a problem to capture rising tones in Margi.
– Linear models never allow feature overlap.
– [-high] and [+high] cannot co-occur.
– thus such a model would require a feature [±rising]
(6) Universal Association Convention (UAC)
Match the tones and tone-bearing units (TBUs) one to one, left to right.
(7) Rising tone: UAC (b) plus linking of a ‘floating’ tone (c)
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a. tsa dla
H
b.
L
hu
c. hu
L H
L H
(8) Tone melody (with unlinked elements in b)
n
a. mbìdú ‘blow’
b.
dábjá ‘to touch’
L H
(9)
H
c. ùlù ‘to see’
L
a. Floating tone
V
|
t t
b. Tone spreading
V
V
t
c. Default tone: often L in the two-tone systems and M in the three-tone systems
V → V
|
L
(10) Verbal suffixes: either with a fixed high tone (-bá), or tonal alternation (-na)
a. cú
‘speak’
cú-bá
‘tell’
ghà
‘reach’
ghà-bá
‘reach’
fĭ
‘swell’
fĭ-bá
‘make swell’
b. sá
dlà
bdlə̌
‘go astray’
‘fall’
‘forge’
c. sa + na
bdlə +na
H
sá-ná
dlà-nà
bdlə̀-ná
‘lead astray’
‘overthrow’
‘forge’
UR
LH
sa + na
|
H
bdlə +na
| |
L H
UAC
sa + na
|
H
inappl.
Tone spread
(11) “Changing” verbs: L when unaffixed; H when combined with a H-toned suffix
high
cú
cí-bá
cí-ŋgə́ri
‘speak’
low
ghà
ghà-bá
ghà-ŋgə́ri
‘reach’
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changing
hù
fà
(12) a. tonal displacement
a. [fa] ŋgəri
H
b. default tone
hu ‘take’
|
L
hə́-bá
fá-ŋgə́ri
‘take’
‘take many’
b. [fa] ŋgəri
|
H
hə + na ‘take away’
|
|
L L default tone insertion
(13) Vowel reduction: V + árì and tonal stability
b.
(14) Stranded Tone Principle: a derived unassociated tone typically associates to the TBU
that provokes the loss of the original TBU.
In the autosegmental model, nouns such as ʔímí ‘water’ or làgù ‘road’ could be represented
in two ways. Which one is correct?
(15)
(16) Definite NPs:
a. làgù
làgwárì
‘road’
b. màlà
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màlárì
‘woman’
(17) Deletion of a floating low after a low tone
(18) Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) (Leben 1973)
Adjacent identical tones are banned from the lexical representation of a morpheme.
• What are the possible tonal structures for disyllabic words that are allowed under the OCP?
SHONA (Bantu, Zimbabwe) and the OCP
Shona has two phonemic tones, high and low, which are not predictable. (Only the high tones
are noted, the low tones are default).
(18)
mbwá ‘dog’
hóvé ‘fish’
shámwarí ‘friend’
bwe ‘stone’
sadza ‘porridge’
dandadzi ‘cobweb’
Contrasts like (19i) are a problem, because it is not possible to transcribe both structures with
HL.
(19)
i. hákáta ‘diviner's bones’
ii. dikitá 'perspiration'
séndere 'place forbidden for farming'
dhuvhání 'tin cup'
Two possibilities:
Either the OCP does not hold or sequences like HHL vs. HLL are possible (20ii), and the
association varies (20i).
(20) i. hakata
\/ |
H L
or
ii. hakata
| | |
HHL
Because of OCP, (20i) is preferable. (21) arise through the application of Meeussens’ rule
(22i) that applies in Shona between a clitic (né ‘with’, sé ‘like’) and its host (22ii).
(21)
né + bwá
→ né # bwa
‘dog, with a dog’
né + hóvé
→ né # hove
‘fish, with a fish
né + hákáta → né # hakata
‘diviner's bones’
né + badzá
→ né # badzá
‘hoe, with a hoe
né + bénzíbvunzá → né # benzibvunzá ‘with an inquisitive fool’
(22) Meeussens’ rule
i. HH → HL (Dissimilation rule)
ii. H → L / H # __
iii. a ne#hove vs b. ne#hove → c. ne#hove vs d. *ne#hove
H H
H HH
H
L
H LH
iv. Iteration from left to right: se#ne#hove → sé ne hóvé *sé ne hove
badza is not affected by (22ii), because the sequence HH does not arise.
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Ordering paradox because of the following cliticization: wó ‘also’, sá ‘too’ vs. po or pó
‘there’. Does po have an underlying H or no tone?
(23)
i. bwe ‘stone’ + wó ‘also’
ii. shamwarí ‘friend’ + wó
(23ii) Meeussens’ rule. (HH →
(24)
→
→
bwe # wó
shamwarí # wo
HL). Compare with (24).
i. ákáénda ‘he went’ + po ‘there’ → ákáénda # po
ii. ákaóná ‘he saw’ + po → ákaóná # pó
In (24ii) H spreads from left to right. Compare (25):
(25)
Meeussens’ rule: shamwarí # wó→
H
H
ndefú # sá
H H
Spreading:
→
shamwarí # wo
H L
ndefú # sa)
H L
akaona # po (There is only one tone, no application of MR)
|
H
po has no underlying tone.
Meeussens’ rule dissimilates, spreading causes assimilation.
(26) Stevicks’ rule (needs a doubly associated H on the first word)
i. … H H ## H … →
ii. V V ] V →
\/ |
H
H
(27)
… H L ## H …
VV]V
|
|
H
H
i. hóvé ‘fish’ ## húrú ‘big’ →
H
H
→
Default-rule: V →
V
|
L
hóve húrú
HL H
murúmé ‘man’ ## ákafá ‘died’ →
murúme ákafá
ii shamwarí ‘friend’ ## ákafá → shamwarí ákafá ‘the friend died’
H
H H →
HH H
Stevicks’ rule is ordered before Meeussens’ rule: In (28), both rules are applicable, but
Stevicks’ rule takes precedence.
(28) mukúrú ‘big’ # sá ‘too’ →
mukúru sá ‘too big’
Spreading takes precedence over Stevicks’s rule:
(29) i. ákatórá # pó ‘he took there’
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ii. ndakatora # po hari →
\/
\/
H
H
Spreading
Stevicks’ rule
ndakatora po hari → ndakatora po hari
\\|/
\/
\\/
\/
H
H
H
H
References
Bruce, Gösta. 1977. Swedish word accent in sentence perspective. Travaux de l’Institut de Linguistique de Lund
12. Gleerup, Lund: Lund University Press.
Féry, Caroline. To appear 2016. Intonation and prosodic structure. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
Gussenhoven, Carlos. 2004. The Phonology of Tone and Intonation. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University
Press.
Hamlaoui, F. Féry & S. Coridun (2012) Expression prosodique du focus et du donné au sein des groupes
nominaux [N A] du français.
Hyman, Larry M. 2006. Word-prosodic typology. Phonology 23. 225-257.
Inkelas, Sharon & Zec, Draga. (eds.). 1990. Phonology-Syntax-Interface. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ito, Junko & Armin Mester. 2013. Prosodic subcategories in Japanese. Lingua 124. 20–40.
Kenstowicz, Michael (1994) Phonology in Generative Grammar. Oxford, UK: Blackwell
Ladd, D.R. 2008. Intonational phonology. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.
Nespor, Marina & Irene Vogel. 1986. Prosodic phonology. Dordrecht: Foris. Reprinted 2007 by Mouton de
Gruyter.
Riad, Thomas 2014. The Phonology of Swedish. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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