Crosslinguistic trends in tone change

Abstract

Ground-breaking studies on how Bangkok Thai tones have changed over the past 100 years (Pittayaporn 2007,2018;Zhu et al. 2015) reveal a pattern thatZhu et al. (2015)term the “clockwise tone shift cycle:” low > falling > high level or rising-falling > rising > falling-rising or low. The present study addresses three follow-up questions: (1) Are tone changes like those seen in Bangkok Thai also attested in other languages? (2) What other tone changes are repeated across multiple languages? (3) What phonetic biases are most likely to be the origins of the reported changes? A typological review of 52 tone change studies across 45 Sinitic, Tai-Kadai, Hmong-Mien, and Tibeto-Burman languages reveals that clockwise changes are by far the most common. The paper concludes by exploring how tonal truncation (Xu 2017) generates synchronic variation that matches the diachronic patterns; this suggests that truncation is a key mechanism in tone change.

Phonetic Tonal Manifestations and Trends in Tone Change: A Case Study of the Yong-Deng Dialect in Northwest China

“…The review conducted by Yang and Xu (2019) highlights prominent cross-linguistic trends in tone change. Specifically, clockwise changes are by far the most prevalent type.…”

“…The directionality of the clockwise cycle is as follows: low level 11|22> low falling 32 > mid falling 42 > high falling 52 > high level 55 or risingfalling 453 > mid rising 45|35 > low rising 24|13 > falling-rising323|214 or low level 11|22 > low falling 32 (Yang and Xu 2019) An alternative perspective on tone change is presented by Zhu (2018) in his "toneevolution clock" (Figure 2), which demonstrates a more complex directionality of tone change. For instance, the shift from a high falling tone to a high level tone aligns with the "clockwise" pattern proposed by Yang and Xu (2019). However, within Zhu's toneevolution clock, these changes are bidirectional, meaning that a high falling tone can transition into a high level tone and vice versa.…”

“…proposed a "tone-evolution clock" indicating the directionality of tone change in Chinese dialects based on a synthesis of existing studies. In an attempt to construct a diachronic typology of tone change, Yang and Xu (2019) undertook a comprehensive review of 52 pertinent studies across 45 language varieties in East and Southeast Asia, with their findings underscoring that the clockwise changes are by far the most common type of tone change. Yip's (1989) investigation into the application of the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) on the sandhi tone in Tianjin dialect suggested that "the first tone changes either by simplification or by insertion".…”

“…In the context of the sandhi tone, one feature of the initial syllable tends to be either left out or inserted into. Yang and Xu (2019) also proposed "carryover effects" and "truncation" as phonetic mechanisms that trigger tone change, which become observable predominantly across multiple syllables in connected speech. According to Ohala (1989), "sound change is drawn from a pool of synchronic variation".…”

Consonant-induced pitch perturbations, domain-initial strengthening, and word learning success in a tone language

“…In their extensive review of cross-linguistic tonal changes, Yang and Xu (2019) reported that the "clockwise" pattern of tonal change was the most reported pattern (56%) across languages including Bangkok Thai followed by "levelling" (19%) and four other patterns. To explain the tonal change pattern in Bangkok Thai, Pittayaporn (2007Pittayaporn ( , 2018 suggested consonant onset-tone interaction as one possibility among other possibilities.…”