Intonation in African Tone Languages

448 Pages·2016·10.495 MB·

by  Laura J. Downing (editor), Annie Rialland (editor)

LauraJ.DowningandAnnieRialland(Eds.)
IntonationinAfricanToneLanguages
Phonology and Phonetics
Editor
Aditi Lahiri
Volume 24
Intonation in
African Tone
Languages
Edited by
Laura J. Downing and Annie Rialland
ISBN978-3-11-048479-3
e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-050352-4
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-049907-0
ISSN1861-4191
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Table of contents
LauraJ.DowningandAnnieRialland
Introduction 1
I Northern Africa
SharonRoseandPagePiccinini
IntonationintheThetogoveladialectofMoro 19
II Western Africa
MichaelCahill
Kɔnniintonation 53
FrankKügler
ToneandintonationinAkan 89
BruceConnell
ToneandintonationinMambila 131
Emmanuel-MosellyMakasso,FatimaHamlaouiandSeunghunJ.Lee
AspectsoftheintonationalphonologyofBàsàá 167
AnnieRiallandandMartialEmbangaAborobongui
HowintonationsinteractwithtonesinEmbosi(BantuC25),atwo-tone
languagewithoutdowndrift 195
III Eastern Africa
CharlesW.Kisseberth
Chimiiniintonation 225
CédricPatin
ToneandintonationinShingazidja 285
vi Tableofcontents
IV Eastern Central and Southern Africa
NancyC.KulaandSilkeHamann
IntonationinBemba 323
LauraJ.Downing
ToneandintonationinChichewaandTumbuka 365
SabineZerbian
SentenceintonationinTswana(Sotho-Tswanagroup) 393
Notesoncontributors 435
Index 439
Laura J. Downing and Annie Rialland
Introduction
1 Organization of the book
Thetwelvelanguagesinvestigatedinthestudiesinthisvolumerepresentdifferent
language families and are spoken in disparate regions of the African continent.
The chapters are organized geographically, moving from north to south and
west to east. The first chapter is thus on Moro (Kordofanian), spoken in the
Nuba Mountains region of Sudan. The next five chapters discuss languages
spoken in western Africa: both non-Bantu – Kɔnni (Gur, Ghana), Akan (Kwa,
Ghana)andMambila(Bantoid,Cameroon)–andBantu–Basaa(A43,Cameroon)
andEmbosi(C25,Congo-Brazzaville).Wemovethenroughlydueeastinthenext
twochapters,whichdiscusscloselyrelatedeasternBantulanguages(withquite
different prosodic systems): Chimiini (G42, formerly spoken in Somalia); and
Shingazidja (G44a, Comoros Islands), both considered varieties of Swahili.The
final three chapters discuss east central and southern Bantu languages: Bemba
(M42,Zambia),Chichewa(N31)andTumbuka(N21),bothspokeninMalawi,and
Tswana (S31, South Africa). Two of the languages – Chimiini and Moro – are
endangered, and documenting their prosody is especially urgent.The selection
of languages also represents a variety of prosodic systems, from highly tonal
Mambila (with four level tone contrasts) to the restricted tone or tonal accent
systemsofChimiini,ShingazidjaandTumbuka.
Each chapter contains a discussion of the complete prosodic system of
the language(s) under investigation: tone and intonation and the interaction
betweenthetwo.Theauthorswereaskedtoinvestigatetheprosodyofparticular
constructions (declaratives, polar and content questions and focus construc-
tions), and, if possible, dislocations and complex sentences. In analysing their
data,the authors were asked to be attentive to register effects like downstep or
pitch raising,to boundary tones and to evidence for different levels of prosodic
phrasing.Within these guidelines, the authors were left free to take a more or
less quantitative approach, though all were asked to provide pitch tracks of
representative constructions. Sound files for the pitch tracks in each chapter
canbefoundatthefollowinglink:http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110503524.suppl.
The authors were also left free to concentrate on the topics related to intonation
thatturnedouttobemostinterestingfortheirparticularlanguage.
LauraDowning,UniversityofGothenburg
AnnieRialland,LaboratoryofPhoneticsandPhonology,(CNRS)Paris
DOI10.1515/9783110503524-001
2 LauraJ.DowningandAnnieRialland
2 Realization of intonation in tone languages
The contributions aim not only to broaden the descriptive base for intonation
typology but also to test proposals about the way intonation can be realized in
tone languages.Current textbooks on tone and/or intonation – like Cruttenden
(1997), Yip (2002) and Ladd (2008) – survey the expected range of phonetic
means for expressing intonation in tonelanguages, based on the scant existing
literature. The consensus is that tonal languages can make use of: 1- pitch
registerraisingorlowering(Cruttenden1997,Yip2002);2-downdrift(downstep)
and the suspension of downdrift (Cruttenden 1997, Yip 2002); 3- expansion
or narrowing of the pitch range (Cruttenden 1997, Ladd 2008 and Yip 2002);
4- some kind of modification of the final tone of the utterance (Cruttenden
1997); or 5- boundary tones at domain edges or on the closest head (Yip 2002,
Ladd 2008). The studies in this volume make particular contributions to our
knowledge of the role of “downtrends” (i.e., downdrift, downstep, declination
and final lowering), changes in register, and boundary tones, especially final
boundarytones,intheintonationoftonelanguages.
2.1 Downtrends
Within the field of prosody, the study of downtrends is almost a field in itself.
Manyarticleshavebeendevotedtodowntrends,aswellaslengthybookchapters
(Ladd 1996, Gussenhoven 2004). While pioneering approaches analyzed down-
trends as overall slopes (Cohen & t’Hart 1967, Delattre 1966, Gårding 1982, for
example), the field has made progress by decomposing the downtrends, differ-
entiatingtheprocessesatworkandprovidingabettercharacterizationofthem.
Currently, the following processes are generally recognized as participating in
themakeupofdowntrends:
1) Declination isa gradualdownsloping ofthe fundamental frequency.Declina-
tionismoreeasilydetectableinsequencesofliketones(sequencesofHighas
well as sequences of Low). Declination is generally considered as not being
underphonologicalcontrol.
2) Downdrift(or“automaticdownstep”)isaprogressiveloweringoftonerealisa-
tion inalternatingHigh and Low tonesequences.It differs from declination,
as it is not gradual. Since the seminal work of Liberman & Pierrehumbert
(1984), it has been shown that its general shape is that of a decaying expo-
nentialtoanon-zeroasymptote.Phoneticstudieshaveconfirmedthisshape
Introduction 3
fordowndriftinmanylanguages,includingAfricanlanguagessuchas:Igbo
(Liberman et al. 1993), Dschang Bamileke (Bird 1994), Yoruba (Laniran &
Clements2003),Chichewa(Myers1996),andDagara(Rialland&Some2011).
Downdrift is often modeled with hierarchical structures, encoding the pro-
gressionofthestep-by-steplowering(Clements1979,1981;Ladd1990).
3) Downstep (or “non-automatic downstep”) is a downward register shift of a
tone,which extends also to the realisation of the following tones. Realisa-
tions of “automatic downsteps” (downdrift) and downstep can be similar
ornotwithinagivenlanguage;seeRialland&Some(2011)foracasestudy
and an overview. Downstep can be triggered by a floating Low tone, or
not. In some systems, downstep separates two adjacent High tones and is
triggered by the OCP (Obligatory Contour Principle; see, e.g., Odden 1986;
Yip1988fordiscussion).
4) Final lowering is an additional lowering at the end of an utterance (or a
prosodic constituent). This final lowering can be partial or total (lowering
of a High tone to the level of a Low). Its domain varies depending upon
languages,fromasinglesyllabletoaphonologicalphrase.
5) Registercompression/expansionorregisterlowering/raisingareregistermodifi-
cations of the tonal realisations.They can have linguistic or paralinguistic
functions. If they apply locally, as in register compression of the post-focus
parts of anutterance, for example,they can modify the shape ofthe down-
trend.
Understanding downtrends in a given language involves trying to find answers
to questions such as the following: do the observed downtrends involve down-
drift or declination? To what extent does the downtrend depend upon the
sequences of tones involved? Is there final lowering? What is its nature and its
extent? If there are downsteps, are they due to floating Low tones, or are they
introduced to separate two consecutive High tones (as a consequence of an
OCPeffect)?Isdowndriftrealisedsimilarlytodownstep?
Inthechaptersofthepresentbook,downtrendsareexaminedindetail,and
theprocessesinvolvedareanalysedanddiscussed.Thetablein(1)liststhepro-
cesses involved in the downtrends of assertive utterances found in the various
languages investigated in this volume. (F0 trends in questions are discussed in
aseparatesectionoftheIntroduction,below.)
4 LauraJ.DowningandAnnieRialland
(1) Downtrends
Tones Downdrift Downstep Finallowering
Akan H/L – + +(Neutralisationof
(but“phonologized finalLandH)
declination”)
Basaa H/L + + –
Bemba H/ø + +duetoOCP +(2typesofFL)
Chichewa H/ø + – +
Chimiini H/ø + – +
Embosi H/L – – +
Kɔnni H/L + + –
Mambila T1,T2, +(optionaldowndrift – +(onlywiththe
T3,T4 inT2,T3alternating lowesttone,T4)
sequences)
Moro H/ø + +duetoOCP +
Shingazidja H/ø + – +
Tumbuka H/ø – – +
Tswana H/ø + +duetoOCP +(onlywithfinalL)
The table in (1) reveals a great deal of diversity. Note that there are languages
both with and without downdrift.Two languages (Embosi and Tumbuka) have
no downdrift, but they still exhibit a form of downtrend as they have final
lowering.To our knowledge, these descriptions are the first ones of a language
with this type of prosodic organisation, that is,with final lowering but without
downdrift. Note also that in the chapter on Akan, downdrift is reanalysed as
“phonologised declination,” based on the fact that the downdrift slope shares
similarities with the declination found in non-alternating High and Low tone
sequences.Various types of downstep are illustrated, including three cases of
downstepseparatingadjacentHtones(inBemba,MoroandTswana),motivated
bytheOCP.
The data and discussion concerning final lowering are particularly rich in
this book. Final lowering can be identified in most of the languages: Akan,
Bemba, Chichewa, Chimwiini, Embosi, Mambila, Moro, Shingazidja, Tumbuka,
Tumbuka, and Tswana. Note that in two languages (Mambila and Tswana),
onlytheLowtoneorthelowesttonesareaffected.InBembatwoformsofFinal
lowering are found depending upon their domain: a final lowering on one
syllable, triggering a sharp drop, and a final lowering stretching over several
tonebearingunits,formingasmootherfall.Manyofthechaptersbringinterest-
ing new information about the process of final lowering, showing its variety in
terms of domains and phonetic implementation. Final lowering can be total,