Tone and intonation in Akan
Frank Kügler
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Overview
• Intonation patterns in Akan (Niger-Congo)
• Tonal processes (downstep, tonal spreading, tonal replacement)
influence the surface tone pattern of a sentence.
• Any Akan utterance independent of sentence type shows a
characteristic downtrend in pitch.
• An intonation contour is shaped by local tonal interactions
(downstep), and sentence-final tonal neutralization.
• ι-phrase-final low boundary tone (L%) in polar questions.
• Complex declaratives and left-dislocations show a partial pitch
reset at the left edge of an embedded ι-phrase.
• Underlying lexical tones are not affected by intonation with the
exception of sentence-final H-tones.
• Tone-intonation interaction: avoidance – intonational events are
clearly separated from lexical tones.
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Akan
Kwa language,
Niger-Congo family,
8.3 m speakers in Ghana and
parts of the Ivory Coast
(Lewis, 2009).
Data from Assante Twi – one of
three major dialects of Akan
with its centre in Kumasi
(Schachter & Fromkin 1968;
Nkansa-Kyerenateng 2010).
Four speakers (2f) –
in Accra, Ghana, 2014
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Akan and tone
• Two-tone language: H (´), L (`)
• Lexical (1) and grammatical function of tone (2) (Dolphyne 1988)
(1) a. pápá ‘good’
b. pàpà ‘fan’
c. pàpá ‘father’
(2) a. ésí tɔ́
pɛ̀n
Esi buy pen
‘Esi buys pens.’
b. ésí tɔ̀-ɔ̀
pɛ̀n
Esi buy.PST pen
‘Esi bought a pen.’
• Well-studied tone system (Stewart 1965; Schachter & Fromkin 1968;
Clements 1983; Dolphyne 1988; Abakah 2005a, 2005b, 2010a; Paster 2010)
– Interaction of tone and morpho-syntactic structure (Abakah 2010b;
Abakah & Koranteng 2007; Paster 2010; Genzel 2013)
– Interaction of tone and segmental aspects (Marfo 2004; Manyah 2006,
2014)
– Interaction of tone and information structure (Genzel & Kügler 2010;
Kügler & Genzel 2012; Genzel 2013)
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Tonal processes – downstep
• Downstep – lowering of H tone after an overt or a covert L tone
(Welmers 1959, Dolphyne 1988).
 [ kòfí pà!pá ]
– / H L H /  [ H L !H ]
/ kòfí pàpá /
– / H L H /  [ H !H ]
/ kòfí ɔ̀-dáń /  [ kòfí !dáń ]
• No phonetic difference between an overt or covert downstep
(Genzel & Kügler 2011):
(3) àfúà hùnù kòfí pàpá ánɔ̀pá
jí
Afua see Kofi father morning this
‘Afua sees Kofi`s father this morning.’
(4) àfúà hùnù kòfí dáń
ánɔ̀pá jí
Afua see Kofi house morning this
‘Afua sees Kofi`s house this morning.’
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Tonal processes – tonal spreading
• H-tone spread (L-stepping, Stewart 1993)
• L-tone spread (association of a floating L tone) (Abakah 2005b)
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Tonal processes – tonal replacement
• Tonal replacement (Abakah 2005b) / grammatical tone insertion
(Paster 2010).
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Sentence intonation – simple declarative
• Characteristic downtrend of intonation over an utterance.
300
Pitch (Hz)
270
240
210
180
150
L
120
0
H
H
L
H
H
H
L
H
ɔ̀.b́.kɔ́
Kùmásé
ánɔ̀pá-yí
3SG.FUT.go
Kumase (city)
morning-this
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Time (s)
1
1.2
H
1.4
1.6
• This downward trend in pitch also applies to sentences which
contain like tone sequences.
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Sentence intonation – simple declarative
(9)
a. pàpá kòfí má mè-dɔ́
sìká
nó.
father Kofi give 1SG-love money DEF
‘Father Kofi gives my lover the money.’
b. pàpá kòfí má mè-dɔ́
àbɛ́
tɔ̀.
father Kofi give 1SG-love palm nutbuy
‘Father Kofi sells a palm nut to my lover.’
(10)
a. kúkúó-bá pápá nó bɔ́
dáá.
pot-DIM good DEF break everyday
‘The good small pot breaks everyday.’
b.wɔ̀fà
àdò fìrì
àtɕèm̀fò
uncle
Ado come.from Akyemfo
‘Uncle Ado comes from Akyemfo.’
Declarative sentences with 10 syllables
all
allHH(16a)
(10a)
240
all
allLL(16b)
(10b)
Phonological
representation:
pitch (Hz)
220
final
finalHH(15a)
(9a)
final
finallL L(15b)
(9b)
200
180
160
140
120
1
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2
3
4
Frank Kügler - Tone and intonation in Akan
5
6
Syllable
7
8
9
10
9
Sentence intonation – Complementizer clause
• Complementizer sɛ
• Comp clause contains minimally a subject and verb with
accompanying tense and aspect marking (Boadi 2005)
(11) a.nàná kà-à
ɛ̀nórà
sɛ̀ kúkúó-bá bɔ́.
Nana say-COMPL yesterday that pot-DIM
break
‘Nana said yesterday that the small pot breaks.’
(cf. Genzel 2013: 59)
b. [nana ka-a ɛnora sɛ %reset[ kukuo-ba bɔ ]ι ]ι
• Pause after
complementizer
• Pitch reset after
complementizer
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Sentence intonation – Complementizer clause
• Comparison of complementizer clause (5) with simple
declarative (6) (identical number of syllables, all H-tones)
(12) a.kúkúó-bá pápá nó bɔ́
dáá.
pot-DIM
good DEF break everyday
‘The good small pot breaks everyday.’
(cf. Genzel 2013: 57)
•
•
•
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Syllable 10 – end
of matrix clause &
end of declarative
Identical final low
pitch (syllable 10)
Pitch reset on
phrase-initial Htone (lower than
ι-phrase initial Htone)
11
Sentence intonation – Complex clauses
•
•
Pause before conjunction.
No pitch reset at the second conjunct.
(13)
kòfí yɛ̀ɛ̀
æ̀ dɥúmá nà
òɲǽǽ
sìká
COORD 3SG.get.PST money
Kofi do.PST work
‘Kofi worked and he got money.’
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Sentence intonation – Polar question
• Interrogativity in Akan is expressed by means of syntax,
morphology or prosody.
• Polar questions and constituent questions differ in their
linguistic means.
• Polar questions are marked either prosodically (Dolphyne
1988; Rialland 2009; Genzel 2013; Genzel & Kügler, submitted)
or morphologically (Boadi 1990, 2005).
• Polar questions without a question particle are syntactically
identical to declaratives.
• Polar questions are prosodically characterized by
– a raised pitch register
– a sentence-final downward glide of F0
– a lengthening of the sentence-final vowel
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Sentence intonation – Polar question
(13) a. àtó
wɔ̀
hítà
ànáá?
Ato possess heater QP
‘Is it the case that Ato possesses a heater, or not?’
b. àtó
wɔ̀
hítà
bèbréé?
Ato possess heater many
‘Does Ato possess many heaters?’
c. àtó
wɔ̀
hítà
bèbréé.
‘Ato possess many heaters.’
(14) a. ésí jí
dɛ́ǹ?
Esi take_away what
‘What does Esi takeaway?’
b. ésí jí
lɛ́tà?
Esi take_away letter
‘Esi takes away the letter?’
c. ésí jí
lɛ́tà.
‘Esi takes away the letter’
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Sentence intonation – Polar question
Comparison between
polar questions with
and without QP
– identical tonal context
identical no syllables
– Higher register
– Final low F0
– Longer duration
(13c)
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(13b)
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(14c)
(14c)
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Sentence intonation – Constituent question
Comparison between
constituent question
and declarative
– identical tonal context
identical no syllables
–
–
–
–
Higher register
Final low F0
No longer duration
Final wh-word is
not particularly
salient.
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Polar questions – global register or final cues?
Forced-choice identification task (Genzel & Kügler submitted)
• Natural stimuli and cross-spliced stimuli
 global question cue of a raised pitch register combined with
the final local cues of a statement
 normal statement pitch register combined with the final local
cues of a Yes-No question
• 16 Stimuli =
2 speakers (1m, 1f) x 2 sent. types x 2 items x 2 stimulus types.
(15) a. pàpá kòfí kàsá kyèrɛ́ nè
bà. / ?
father Kofi talk point.to PRO child
‘Father Kofi talks to his child. / ?’
b. ánàné bìsá sìká. / ?
Anane ask money
‘Anane asks for money. / ?’
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Polar questions – global register or final cues?
Cross-splicing:
Statement:
Question:
ánàné bìsá sìká.
ánàné bìsá sìká?
SQ
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QS
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Polar questions – global register or final cues?
Task:
Decide whether you hear a question or a statement.
Press either the question mark (question) or the full stop (statement).
Initial silence = 4.0 s, 16 trials x 3 repetitions x 19 listeners = 912 responses
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Polar questions – global register or final cues?
Forced-choice identification task – results (19 listeners)
• Natural stimuli are identified
according to their intended
sentence mode.
– natural statement: 89%
– natural questions: 98%
• Cross-spliced stimuli show
slightly lower identification
rates.
– QS: 80% statement
– SQ: 6% statement
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Polar questions – global register or final cues?
Gating task (Genzel & Kügler submitted)
• Detailed investigation of the online performance during
identification
• Xhosa: F0 & duration of the penultima are perceptually relevant
for question identification (Jones et al. 2001).
However, raised register can trigger question identification from
the beginning.
• 36 question stimuli = 2 speakers x 2 items x 3 / 6 gates
• Gates – example:
(16)a. ánàné
b. ánàné bìsá
c. ánàné bìsá sìká
• 18 listeners, identical task as forced choice
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Polar questions – global register or final cues?
Gating task – results:
• Majority of gates identified as statements
• Final gate:
decrease of
statement
response
(14% / 18%)
• Correct
identification
of the stimuli
as questions took
place at the final gate.
• Confidence at final gate
was high.
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Polar questions – global register or final cues?
• Forced choice experiment revealed that questions are identified
based on local final cues (cf. Cantonese, Ma et al. 2011;
Sesotho, Mixdorff et al. 2011; Xhosa, Jones et al. 2001)
• Categorisation of sentence type was done after listening to the
complete sentence.
• Gating experiment investigated influence of higher global
register.
• Overall, gates were systematically perceived as statements
except the final gates – different from Xhosa (Jones et al. 2001).
Conclusion:
In Akan, the local sentence-final cues determine polar questions.
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Sentence intonation – phonological modelling
• Low ι-phrase-final boundary tone (L%) in polar questions.
• Global downward trend in F0 is due to ι-phrase register tones.
• Sentence-final H-tones undergo tonal neutralisation.
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Sentence intonation – imperatives
• Imperative sentence type is characterized by lexical tonal
changes on the verb (Dolphyne 1988; Paster 2010).
• Global downward trend in F0.
• Apparently no sentence-final tonal neutralisation.
(15) a. kɔ̀-bísà
nò
sìká!
go-ask.IMP 3SG.OBJ money
‘Go ask him for the money!’
b. kɔ̀-bísà
nò
pájà!
go-ask.IMP 3SG.OBJ papaya
‘Go ask him for the papaya!’
c. kúkúó-bá nó.
pot-DIM
DEF
‘The small pot.’
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Akan intonation patterns
Prosodic event
Distribution
L%
right edge of the ι-phrase in polar questions
h, l
high and low pitch register tone associated with the left
and right edge
of an ι-phrase, respectively
%reset
left edge of an embedded ι-phrase
tone
neutralization
declaratives, interrogatives
sentence-final H-tone drops to a low pitch level
downstep
downtrend in all sentence types, local tonal interactions
Tone-intonation interaction: Avoidance (Hyman & Monaka 2008)
Intonational events are clearly separated from lexical tones.
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Medaase !
Thank you !
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the DFG grant, SFB 632
“Information structure”, project D5 at Potsdam University.
Special thanks to Susanne Genzel, Reginald Duah, Kofi
Dorvlo, Rike Schlüter, Lisa Baudisch.
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