Abstract: UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report (2012) Coda Constraints on Tone Larry M. Hyman University of California, Berkeley Introduction One of the major concerns within both syllabic and CV frameworks concerns onset-coda asymmetries: While some languages don’t have phonetic codas at all, others restrict codas to a small subset of the contrasts found in onset position. Still others allow only one or two coda consonants, for example, the velar nasal and/or glottal stop, which in turn may be disallowed in onset position. In addition to these restrictions, codas are known to participate in “rime constraints”, i.e. cases where only specific vowel + consonant combinations are allowed. An example of this is the Fe’fe’ dialect of Bamileke in which only front [a] can occur before coda [t] and only [E] can occur before coda [n] (Hyman 1972). In this paper I am interested in coda constraints on tone: In numerous Southeast Asian languages the presence of a stop coda places important constraints on which tones can appear on the rime. Thus, as will be seen below, in Kuki-Thaadow, only /L/ tone can occur in monosyllabic words that end in /p/ or /t/ (and historical *k, which has become glottal stop). In the following sections I first present the issues, with illustration of reported cases of coda-tone restrictions from the literature and my own work. Since such coda-tone constraints are most prevalent in East and Southeast Asian languages, it is likely that the historical account of tonogenesis from final lost consonants plays a major role in explaining the limited or absence of contrasts on “stopped” or “checked” syllables. As such diachronic sources have been widely discussed (Haudricourt 1954, Matisoff 1973, Mazaudon 1979, Svantesson 1989, Kingston 2004), my emphasis will be on the synchronic consequences, specifically on how to interpret the tonal restrictions that are found with such codas. Although my emphasis will not be on a formal analysis, it will be evident that the coda-tone restrictions lend themselves quite naturally to a structural licensing account which is familiar from other aspects of syllable or CV structure (Ito 1986, Goldsmith 1990, Kaye 1990, Charette 1990, Harris 1994 etc.). 1 The issues We can begin by asking the general question of what phonetic effects codas can have on tone. As a short answer, we can consider that laryngeal consonants such as -h, - / , -N / , -L / , -G / can generate tone diachronically (“tonogenesis”) and/or restrict the number and nature of tonal contrasts in synchronic systems. 2 Thus consider the different tonal contrasts found in CV vs. CV/ syllables in Lahu (Lolo-Burmese), where 5 = the highest pitch and 1 = the lowest: In this paper I will continue to refer to codas as such, well-aware that the facts presented here replicate many of the concerns of strictly CV or ON frameworks (Lowenstamm 1996, Scheer 2004). An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Workshop on Segments and Tone held in Amsterdam, June 7-8, 2007. 2 Here and in what follows I shall rely on the following abbreviations: C = any consonant, V = any vowel, VV = long vowel or diphthong, T = stop (typically voiceless), R = sonorant, N = nasal, L = liquid, G = glide. As is customary, H, M, and L stand for high, mid and low tone, respectively.
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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