Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine and eventually analyse the interplay between morphology and tonology in Etulo (a language which I strongly suspect to be a Jukunoid language and which Armstrong, 1955; 1980; 1983 considers to be "closely related to Idoma").

This is motivated especially by the fact that in Etulo contour tones characteristically occur at the edge of words. Two types of contour tones are common in this language: HƒL and HƒM.

I propose that the realisation of these tones mainly on edges reflects their historical development: the contours are the result of historical loss, by which a tone-bearing unit (TBU) at the edge of a word or morpheme is deleted.

Such an account is only possible if these contour tones are analysed as composite rather than unitary contours (cf. Yip 1989, Chan 1991). My analysis is that the tone of the deleted TBU is usually preserved and is associated to the neighbouring TBU (which has now become the new edge TBU). This docking, together with the existing tone of the new edge TBU forms a contour in many cases (i.e. when the two tones are different).

Etulo [E˜tu˜lo] is the name of both the language and the group of people who speak it. They occupy a small settlement near a town known as Adi, along the road from Makurdi to Katsina-Ala, northwest of Gboko in the Middle-Belt of Nigeria. Their neighbours are the Tiv, Idoma and Hausa. As indicated above, it is still unclear whether Etulo belongs to Idomoid or to Jukunoid, but my data strongly indicate that it might be the latter.