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The paper is an overview of the functions of tone in San Maka (Eastern Mande < Mande < Niger-Congo). In this language, tone has different grammatical functions in addition to distinguishing lexical meanings of words. The analysis of tone shows that its grammatical functions embrace different morpho-syntactic domains. Tonal oppositions are analyzed in the wide contexts of segmental morphology of the language. It is shown that tonal oppositions may distinguish paradigmatic word forms, which is primarily characteristic of a verb; tone is often the only distinctive feature that opposes neutral and perfective verbal forms. San Maka also displays verbal derivation by means of the tonal change. Tone oppositions are used in genitive constructions of the type N+N, where the tone of the second component rises. A special section is devoted to so-called floating tones. In San Maka, floating tones are allomorphs of segmental units: the 3sg pronoun à and the perfective predicative marker nə́, in certain contexts, are realized as tones.

This paper investigates the question of how much work phonology can do in accounting for apparently suppletive but phonologically predictable allomorphy. Two case studies of surface alternations in the domain of morphological tone are discussed and monorepresentational optimality theoretic analyses are proposed that predict the apparent suppletive allomorphies from a single underlying representation for the morphemes in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contour tones are typically predominant in tone languages operating a contour system in contrast with tone languages operating the register system. This paper examines the underlying and surface characterization of contour tones (rising and falling tones) at the lexical level in Igbo. Adopting the Autosegmental approach originally proposed by Goldsmith (1976), it reinforces the composite nature of both contours in Igbo. From the data, evidence is given that contour tones in Igbo are mere surface features which are motivated by some underlying rules that arise from the merging of tone at morpheme boundaries, historical loss of segments and the association of a floating tone. The two rules are identified are the deletion and docking rule. The manifestation of the latter is premised on the application of the former. The application of both rules is equally dependent on the fulfilment of some tone contour conditions such as presence of morpheme boundary, occurrence of contrasting tones at the morpheme boundary, similarity of vowels. The data used for this study are mostly individual words (place names and general nouns). These nouns are however morphologically derived complex words. The analysis shows that contour tones are usually induced at morpheme boundaries. Again, there is always a collapse of the contrasting tones realised on the tone bearing units (vowels) at the morpheme boundary. The morpheme boundary as used in this context and as applicable to Igbo is restricted to free morphemes. The first morpheme whose vowel is always affected by the deletion rule could start losing its original meaning overtime [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cantonese linguists have said that Cantonese sentence-final particles (SFPs) express the same kinds of meanings that are expressed by intonation in languages such as English, yet apparently no study has ever systematically attempted to discover whether any SFPs have English intonational equivalents. This study identifies the English intonational counterpart to the SFP lo1 by looking at the pitch contours of Cantonese-to-English audio translations, which were provided by four Cantonese/English native bilingual participants. Based on the data, it is concluded that the English equivalent of lo1 is a high-falling pitch contour. A definition using the natural semantic metalanguage is formulated to define lo1, and native English-speaker judgments indicate that this same definition also defines the meaning of lo1''s English equivalent. Examples are given to demonstrate that this definition succeeds at defining either lo1 or its English equivalent in any context within which they are used. It is proposed that this lo1-equivalent pitch contour is a floating tone morpheme in the English lexicon. Linguists have long debated whether or not any forms of intonation have context-independent meanings. This study offers empirical evidence in support of the argument that they do. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]