There is a rich descriptive history on Bambara tonology in the published literature (e.g. Bird 1966; Courtenay 1974; Creissels 1978, 1988, 1992; Diarra 1976; Dumestre 1987; Dwyer 1976). Despite the existence of several seminal works on the subject, certain details of the language’s tonal system remain unclear. Scholars have developed deep knowledge about the lexical and grammatical functions of Bambara tone, yet the dependency of tones and tonal processes on prosodic structure has only more recently been explored in detail (Green 2013, 2015; Leben 2002, 2003; Weidman and Rose 2006; Vydrine 2002, 2010). In this paper, we aim to contribute to this ongoing trend by considering a role played by prosodic structure in one particular set of Arabic borrowings for which the assignment of tonal melodies differs from that found in words of non-Arabic origin. We explore possible explanations for this divergence that relate to contemporary scholarship on the properties of Bambara’s prosodic structure. Our point of view on this subject differs from earlier analyses (e.g., Dumestre 1987) in that we propose that prosodic structure plays an important role in the assignment of Bambara tonal melodies. Finally, we relate our findings to a taxonomic model of loanword prosody in Davis et al. (2012) and consider the bearing that our findings may have on the typology of Bambara prosodic structure alongside other Mande languages.

摘要:汉语普通话中借词的声调模式往往具有极高的复杂性和变异性。然而，通过对北京话字母词读音的研究，我们发现了非常明显的重音-声调匹 配模式。除此主要模式外，缺省规则和语音对立最大化也对字母词声调的指派产生作用。这些次要模式的出现与这些借词在意义或用法上的特殊性有关。在字母词数据的基础上，我们试图说明前人基于普通汉语借词所提出的种种复杂的声调指派模式实际上是与汉字有关的外部因素带来的杂音。ABSTRACT:Research on tonal assignment in Standard Chinese loanwords usually confronts extreme complexity and variety. However, we show that Chinese lettered words display a very clear stress-to-tone match pattern in Beijing Mandarin. Beyond this usual pattern, a default rule and a rule of phonetic contrast maximization also function in tonal assignment. The emergence of these secondary patterns is found to be associated with the specialization degree of words in their meaning and usage. Based on the findings on tonal adaptation patterns of Chinese lettered words, we argue that the complex patterns previously reported from the observations of ordinary Chinese loanwords are in fact results of noise from external factors related to Chinese writing system.

introduction of tone markers in the Thai script was an adaptation to record tonal features absent in the source languages such as Dravidian languages, Indo-Aryan The Thai script (Thai: อักษรไทย, RTGS: akson thai, pronounced [ʔàksɔ̌ːn tʰāj]) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (Thai: พยัญชนะ, phayanchana), 16 vowel symbols (Thai: สระ, sara) that combine into at least 32 vowel forms, four tone diacritics (Thai: วรรณยุกต์ or วรรณยุ The…

This study refutes the common idea that tone gets simplified or eliminated in creoles and contact languages. Speakers of African tone languages imposed tone systems on all Afro-European creoles spoken in the tone-dominant linguistic ecologies of Africa and the colonial Americas. African speakers of tone languages also imposed tone systems on the colonial varieties of English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese spoken in tonal Africa. A crucial mechanism involved in the emergence of the tone systems of creoles and colonial varieties is stress-to-tone mapping. A typological comparison with African non-creole languages shows that creole tone systems are no simpler than African non-creole tone systems. Demographic, linguistic, and social changes in an ecology can lead to switches from tone to stress systems and vice versa. As a result, there is an areal continuum of tone systems roughly coterminous with the presence of tone in the east (Africa) and stress in the west (Americas). Transitional systems combining features of tone and stress converge on the areal buffer zone of the Caribbean. The prosodic systems of creoles and European colonial varieties undergo regular processes of contact, typological change and areal convergence. None of these are specific to creoles. So far, creoles and colonial varieties have not featured in work on the world-wide areal clustering of prosodic systems. This study therefore aims to contribute to a broader perspective on prosodic contact beyond the narrow confines of the creole simplicity debate.