Some remarks on Contour Tone Units

Abstract

This paper reviews a previous assumption that contour tones are units (i.e., Contour Tone Unit, CTU) in Asian tone languages and can therefore spread, assimilate, or dissimilate as wholes. One problem for such an assumption is that not all Asian languages pattern uniformly, and some show a rather different, prototypically African tone language pattern. Furthermore, the assumption yields analytical gaps which need to be covered by more arbitrary rules. In this paper non-CTU approaches are proposed to re-analyze contour tone sandhi in various Chinese dialects with broader generalizations and stronger explanations. The paper also argues against the CTU since the contrast between it and the non-CTU has never been reported. Despite the fact that some phonetic differences have been discovered between two identical contour tones, the differences are not necessarily mapped with different contour tone representations (i.e., CTU vs. non-CTU). In sum, since the CTU is not beneficial analytically and theoretically, there is no reason to consider it as part of Universal Grammar.

Prominence from Complexity: Capturing Tianjin Ditonal Patterns

“…Barrie (2007), on the other hand, notes that compositionality of contour tones is well-evidenced in African tonal languages and suggests that tonal languages may differ depending on whether contours are unitary units or clusters of tonal features. Apart from the issue of compositionality of tones, some scholars argue that contour tones are really just the effect of a string sequenced of tonal features that are not docked to a tone-contour unit (Duanmu 1994 andChen 2010). This will require tone features to dock directly on the syllable (or whatever tone-bearing unit one assumes).…”

“…In (28) and (29), I follow Chen’s (2000) presentation format where the locus of sandhi is indicated with an underline and the target of the sandhi is connected with the source with a vertical shaft. I shall not attempt to provide an Optimality Theoretic description of how the effect in (28) may be derived in OT, but would refer the reader to Wee (2004, 2010) and Lin (2008) for some recent accounts.…”

“… 3 To be fair, an OCP account does not commit one to the existence of the contour–tone unit. As early as Duanmu (1994) and as recently as Chen (2010) arguments have been advanced against such a contour–tone unit. In models that do not have the contour–tone unit, tone features would hang off the syllable to give the syllable its contour tones.…”

“… 11 In the case of Tianjin, failure with appealing to NoJ ump would also preclude efforts such as Chen’s (2010) that appeal to constraints specifying the number of tonal curves allowed in a given stretch.…”

The Representation of Contour Tones in Cantonese

“…Typologically, Cantonese joins other Chinese varieties whose contour tones have been argued to not be represented as contour tone units; see Duanmu (1994) and Chen (2010). Beyond the Sinitic family but still within Asia, tone languages without unitary contour tone units are not unheard of, an example being KukiThaadow (Hyman 2007).…”