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- General Discussion
Lama and KOnniI have mentioned in §5.1 that in Lama (Kenstowicz, Nikiema and Ourso 1988, Ourso 1989, Kenstowicz 1994) and KOnni (Cahill 1999), contour tones are limited to the final syllable of a word; they cannot occur on non-final syllables even when they have a long vowel. Without phonetic data, we cannot conclude whether a short vowel in final position in these languages is in fact longer than a long vowel in non-final position. But if this is not the case, are these languages problematic for the direct approach to contour tone distribution? Let us look at the data pattern in Lama first. The presence of a falling contour H°L on a short vowel in final position is shown by the examples in (0a). The avoidance of H°L on a long vowel in non-final position is shown by the examples in (0b): when a long vowel with H°L is followed by a suffix, H°L simplifies to a H. The avoidance of H°L on a short vowel in non-final position is shown by the examples in (0c): when a short vowel with H°L is followed by a suffix, H°L simplifies to a H. Moreover, H°L never surfaces lexically on non-final syllables of any roots. In (0), the underdot indicates that the vowel is [-ATR].
a. H°L on final CV: ce!nt¸¢$ ‘friend’ na¢~fa¢$ ‘mouse’ b. No H°L on non-final CVV: na!a~ ‘cow’ te¢~ ‘under’ te¢! ‘chez’ na!a! te¢~ ‘under cow’ na!a! <te¢! ‘chez cow’ c. No H°L on non-final CV: ce!nt¸¢$ ‘friend’ na$ Noun Class 2 suffix ce!nt¸¢! <na$ ‘friends’ A situation like this in fact does not constitute a counterexample to the durational approach even if the final short vowel does not turn out to be longer than the non-final long vowel. The intuition is that a non-final H°L can be manifested by other means, such as downstepping the following H, or realizing the L tone on the following syllable, but a final H°L does not have such alternatives. If in the grammar, the constraint that requires the realization of tones (in one way or another) is undominated, then the H°L on final syllables will have to be realized on the surface even when the syllable has a short vowel, while the H°L on non-final syllables does not have to surface on the syllable from which it was originated, even when the syllable has a long vowel. This intuition can be captured as follows. Let us posit the constraints in (0). Realize-H°L in (0a) is satisfied in the following three situations: (a) the H°L contour is preserved on the original syllable; (b) the H°L contour is simplified to a H, and it is immediately followed by an underlying H tone which surfaces as a downstepped H; (c) the H°L contour is simplified to a H, and it is immediately followed by an underlying L tone which surfaces as a L tone. The legitimacy of (c) lies in the assumption that the actual realizations of an underlying H°L-L sequence and H-L sequence are different, despite the fact that they are both transcribed as H-L. The justification for the assumption comes from phonetic studies that show that the peak of a High tone is usually realized on the syllable following its carrier (Xu 1997, 1998, 1999, Meyers 1998, Kim 1999). Therefore, it is plausible that the actual realizations of underlying H°L-L and H-L sequences differ in timing: the f0 peak is realized later in the latter than in the former. Thus the underlying H°L-L and H-L sequences are kept distinct. The markedness constraints in (0b) and (0c) ban the H°L contour on a final short vowel and a non-final long vowel respectively. (0) a. Realize-H°L: realize the H°L contour in some fashion. b. *H°L-CDC(V-final): no H°L contour on a final short vowel. c. *H°L-CDC(VV-nonfinal): no H°L contour on a non-final long vowel.
b. na!a~ te¢~ —> na!a! te¢~
c. na!a~ te¢! —> na!a! <te¢!
The situation in KOnni is similar to that of Lama. Possible syllable types in Lama are CV, CVN, CVV, and CVVN. H°L can occur on any final syllable, but not on any non-final syllables; L°H can occur on a final CVN, CVV, and CVVN, but not on any non-final syllables. These are shown by the examples in (0). All noun suffixes in KOnni are H-toned. When a noun root with an underlying contour is followed by a suffix, the contour is simplified to a level tone that carries the initial pitch of the underlying contour. The ending pitch of the contour is realized on the suffix, either by assuming that the suffixal H also serves as the H part of L°H, or by downstepping the suffixal H to manifest the L part of H°L. (0) KOnni examples: a. Contour tones on final CV(N): kU!bU!ba$ ‘bowl’ ta#N ‘stone’ b. No contour tones on non-final CVV(N): ta!a~ ‘sister, sg.’ na~a!N ‘chief, sg.’ wa! Noun Class 5 article ta!a! <wa! ‘sister, sg.+art.’ na~a~Nwa! ‘chief, sg.+art.’ c. No contour tones on non-final CV(N): ta#N ‘stone’ r¸! Noun Class 1 article ta~nn¸! ‘stone, sg. +art.’ kU!bU!ba$ ‘bowl’ ka! Noun Class 3 article kU!bU!ba!<ka! ‘bowl, sg. +art.’
Therefore, I conclude that Lama and KOnni will not constitute problems for the durational approach even if a final V turns out to be shorter than a non-final VV. This is because in these languages, non-final contour tones find ways to manifest themselves. Cases that will pose a problem for the durational approach are those in which underlying contours on non-final VV simplify to level tones without affecting the tone on the following syllable, while underlying contours on final V are realized faithfully. Under this circumstance, a ranking paradox will emerge, since the former pattern requires *Contour-CDC(VV-nonfinal) » RealizeContour, while the latter pattern requires RealizeContour » *Contour-CDC(V-final), but the phonetics projects *Contour-CDC(V-final) » *Contour-CDC(VV-nonfinal). General DiscussionThe fact that all the phonetic case studies here reveal data patterns consistent with the direct approach constitutes significant evidence for this approach, as this implies that there is no empirical reason for us to adopt the traditional positional faithfulness approach, which makes less restrictive predictions. The comparison between Navajo/Somali and Thai/Cantonese is especially telling, since their differences in contour tone restrictions correspond precisely to their differences in durational comparison among certain syllable types. The direct approach does not predict situations in which contours are restricted to phonemic long vowels in Thai and Cantonese, or to sonorant-closed syllables in Navajo and Somali. However, the traditional positional faithfulness approach, which does not encode specific phonetic properties (duration and sonority) of the language in question, makes such incorrect predictions. I have also shown that in Standard Thai and Cantonese, the vowels in open syllables are phonetically long. In a direct approach, their ability to carry a wide array of contour tones follows naturally. A traditional positional faithfulness approach cannot make this prediction. This also poses a problem for the moraic approach, given that it only refers to phonological length or weight units without acknowledging the relevance of phonetics. This point is further explained in the next chapter. Xhosa and Beijing Chinese illustrate a similar point from the interaction of two different durational parameters—stress and final position in a prosodic domain. It turns out that in both languages, stress plays the decisive role in determining the sonorous duration of the rime and correspondingly the distribution of contour tones. Without a contrasting language in which final position plays the decisive role in the interaction of the same two parameters, the data do not seem as telling as the comparison between Navajo and Thai. But it is possible that stress in general has a greater influence on duration than final position. Then the absence of such languages is indeed predicted by the direct approach, but not by the traditional positional faithfulness approach. As for Lama and KOnni, without phonetic data, we do not know whether the final short vowels, which can carry a wider range of contour tones than non-final long vowels, are in fact longer than the non-final long vowels. But even if it is not the case, I have shown that the data patterns are still consistent with the direct approach. Therefore, the phonetic studies documented in this chapter also support the direct approach to contour tone distribution. This means that the speaker not only has to identify positions that specifically benefit CCONTOUR, but also has to keep track of the language-specific magnitude of the CCONTOUR advantage induced by these positions. In broader terms, the phonetic results support the direct hypothesis of positional prominence. Going back to the diagram in (0) at the end of last chapter, these results eliminate one of the two remaining phonetic interpretations of positional prominence, as shown in (0). We can now conclude that positional prominence is not only contrast-specific, but also tuned to language-specific phonetics. (0) Possible interpretations of positional prominence 
The next chapter serves two purposes. First, it summarizes the arguments against the structural approaches (the moraic approach and the traditional faithfulness approach) to contour tone distribution, and in general, to positional prominence. Second, as I have mentioned in §4.4 and §4.5 above, I need to show that the durational advantage of prosodic-final syllables and syllables in shorter words must be referred to in the formal analysis of contour tone distribution, and that their effect cannot be fully captured by the Generalized Alignment schema proposed by McCarthy and Prince (1993). Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 3.01 Mb. Share with your friends:
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