Jeremy Coburn, Bonny Sands, Andrew Harvey, and Richard Griscom: Tonal Patterns of Hadza Nouns
Channel: Andrew Harvey - Linguist
Date: 2021-06-16

Note: This talk has not gone through a process of peer review, and findings should therefore be treated as preliminary and subject to change.

How to cite: Coburn, J., Sands, B., Harvey, A., & Griscom, R. Tonal Patterns of Hadza Nouns. Talk given at the 10th World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL 10), Leiden University (Online). 07.06.2021.

DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/8PY5U

Abstract: In this paper, we present a new analysis of Hadza tonology. In previous work, tone has been considered a property of the syllable (Sands 2013, Tucker et al. 1977), whereas we will argue that the mora is the tone-bearing unit. Based on data collected in 2019 and 2020 from four different Hadza-speaking areas, we argue that morae may be specified for H tone or unspecified (which are realized with low tone). In addition to presenting a typology of tone patterns in Hadza roots, we will also present a typology of the prominence patterns seen. Interactions of prosodic structure and tone will be discussed. For instance, a final 3sg.f PNG marker /-ko/ generally appears with high tone on nouns in a frame sentence (‘I saw X there’), or in list-intonation (when indicating continuation); in edge-final position, however,/-ko/ may appear with devoicing/elision and low pitch. Interestingly, despite having a very rich consonant inventory with contrasts in airflow mechanisms, aspiration, voicing and glottalization, Hadza does not appear to have any consonant/tone co-occurrence restrictions.

00:00 Introduction and Outline
00:37 Language Context and Background
03:29 Previous Accounts of Tone
06:04 Methodology
06:47 Our Analysis of Nominal Tone
12:32 Stress?
17:01 Tone-Consonant Coocurrence
17:55 Conclusion

For more, visit Jeremy Coburn's site at: https://africanstudies.indiana.edu/about/graduate-students/coburn-jeremy.html
                   visit Richard Griscom's site at: https://rgris.com
                   visit my site at: https://www.andrewdtharvey.com