Sound change and alternation |
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Fortition |
Dissimilation |
A floating tone is a morpheme [1] or element of a morpheme that contains neither consonants nor vowels, but only tone. It cannot be pronounced by itself but affects the tones of neighboring morphemes. [2] [3]
An example occurs in Bambara, a Mande language of Mali that has two phonemic tones, [4] high and low. The definite article is a floating low tone, and with a noun in isolation, it is associated with the preceding vowel and turns a high tone into a falling tone: [bá] river; [bâ] the river. When it occurs between two high tones, it downsteps the following tone:
Also common are floating tones associated with a segmental morpheme such as an affix. [5] For example, in Okphela, an Edoid language of Nigeria, [6] the main negative morpheme is distinguished from the present tense morpheme by tone; the present tense morpheme (á-) carries high tone, whereas the negative past morpheme (´a-) imposes a high tone on the syllable which precedes it:
Floating tones derive historically from morphemes which assimilate [7] or lenite [8] to the point that only their tone remains. [9]
Sound change and alternation |
---|
Fortition |
Dissimilation |
A floating tone is a morpheme [1] or element of a morpheme that contains neither consonants nor vowels, but only tone. It cannot be pronounced by itself but affects the tones of neighboring morphemes. [2] [3]
An example occurs in Bambara, a Mande language of Mali that has two phonemic tones, [4] high and low. The definite article is a floating low tone, and with a noun in isolation, it is associated with the preceding vowel and turns a high tone into a falling tone: [bá] river; [bâ] the river. When it occurs between two high tones, it downsteps the following tone:
Also common are floating tones associated with a segmental morpheme such as an affix. [5] For example, in Okphela, an Edoid language of Nigeria, [6] the main negative morpheme is distinguished from the present tense morpheme by tone; the present tense morpheme (á-) carries high tone, whereas the negative past morpheme (´a-) imposes a high tone on the syllable which precedes it:
Floating tones derive historically from morphemes which assimilate [7] or lenite [8] to the point that only their tone remains. [9]