The phonetic tone change *high > rising

Abstract

Previous research has proposed a direct path from consonantal effects on F0 to the development of a rising tone value. However, findings from tone change studies in Asian languages suggest an additional pathway to rising: a high tone (i.e., with a tonal target in the upper pitch range) may evolve into a rising tone. This study examines tone change pathways to rising in the Ngwi (Loloish) languages. Among the 11 Ngwi language clusters examined, a new rising tone value has unambiguously developed from an historically high tone in nine of them. In several clusters, prevocalic consonants conditioned a tone split, but in other clusters, *high > rising appears after both voiced and voiceless prevocalic consonants. The findings suggest that a high tonal target is a suprasegmental condition favorable to the development of a rising tone value, as reaching a high tonal target in connected speech frequently entails a rising contour.