Cheyenne Pitch Rules

I Cheyenne, a member of the Algonquian language family, is spoken in central Oklahoma and on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana. The phonemes of Cheyenne are: p, t, k, ?, s, s, h, m, n, v, a, e, and o. /e/ varies phonetically from [i] to [e], centering on [t]. / o/ varies from [u] to [o]. /t/ assibilates to [ts] preceding /e/. /h/ has the allophone [s] between /e/ and /t/, and [s] between /e/ and /k/. [x] is an allophone of /g/ and /h/; see Leman (1980a). In this article, Cheyenne transcriptions are "orthographic" (a practical transcription very close to a classical phonemic level), unless otherwise noted. A dot over a vowel indicates that it is voiceless. For descriptions of Cheyenne phonological rules see Frantz (1972a) and Leman (1979). This study, particularly in the basic analysis of the pitch sandhi, has benefited from discussions with Richard Rhodes. I am indebted to him and to several Cheyenne speakers who somehow survived hours of my efforts to hear pitches on words they patiently pronounced.