The Masa tonal system

Amedeo De Dominicis (Univ. of Tuscia-Italy)

Following a field research in Chad, we recorded a spoken corpus. The analysis will show that from a phonetic standpoint Masa has only two (not three) tonal levels.

From a phonological point of view, we will keep the following system:

 

a marked tone: realized as high (H, v ¥), that doesn't undergo the influence of the nature of the initial consonant

 

a no-marked tone: realized, on the first syllable, according to the nature of the initial consonant, either as medium (M, vƒ), or as low (L, v), and on the second syllable according to the admitted combinations.

 

The two levels Masa tonological system recalls neighbouring systems, as – for example – Mbara  (Tourneux, Seignobos & Lafarge 1986).

 

 

Verifications

 

We will give a phonetic verification (a Masa corpus doesn't offer evidences for 3 tones). Besides, from a phonological standpoint, we will analyse Masa tonal system by means of 3 rules.

 

Masa tonal rules

  1. 2 superficial tones exist (Melis, 1999): the marked one (H register) independent from the nature of the consonant in syllabic onset; the non marked one, whose register depends on the consonant-tone interference: M register after non depressor consonant (1 set, part of the 3 set); L register after depressor consonant (2 set, part of the 3 set).
  2. rule of non adjacency of two marked tones (H) ® tonal dissimilation to the right (with variation of only one degree of tonal register).
  3. rule of the propagation to the right of a tone.

 

Tonal Data:

Concerning the tonal expression of verbal aspect, we could distinguish two classes of Masa verbs. In summary we have the following diagrams, the register in brackets indicating the tonal register of the final vowel before pause:

 

 

class 1

class 2

neutral

M (M)

L (L)

accomplished

M (H)

H (M)

unaccomplished

H (M)

L (M)

 

 

 

Analysis

class 1

MM: [M ] ® [ M ] (non marked tone + rule 3)

 

 

 

 


MH: [M] ® [M] ® [MHM] ® [MH] (non marked tone + rule 3 + floating H + upstep)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


HM: [H] ® [H] ® [HM] (marked tone + rule 3 + rule 2 & dissimilation to the right of one degree)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


class 2

LL: [L ] ® [ L ] (non marked tone + rule 3)

 


                              

 

HM: [H] ® [H] ® [HM] (marked tone + rule 3 + rule 2 & dissimilation to the right of one degree)

 


                                                      

 

 

LM: [L] ® [L] ® [LHL] ® [LM] (non marked tone + rule 3 + floating H + upstep)

 


                                                                               

 

 

As you see, we postulate the existence

of a marked tone (H)

of a non marked tone (L or M)

of a non marked tone + floating H (upstep)

 

in formal terms

tone +

tone -

tone + / - (complex)

The only phonological tone is + (tonal accent)

 

 

References

 

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CAPRILE, J.P. and JUNGRAITHMAYR, H. (1973) Inventaire provisoire des langues ‘tchadiques’ parlées sur le territoire de la République du Tchad, «Africana Marburgensia» 6, 2.

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Jungraithmayr, H. (1978) The Zime dialect cluster (“Kado”, “Dari”) in Southern Chad: its verbal aspect system. “Africa und Übersee“ , 61: pp. 1-27.

JUNGRAITHMAYR, H. (1981) Inventaire des langues thcadiques. in MANESSY, G. (ed.) Les langues dans le monde ancien et moderne. 1. Les langues de l’Afrique Subsaharienne, pp. 407-413. Paris, CNRS.

LUKAS, J. (1936) The linguistic sitation in the Lake Chad area en Central Africa, “Africa” 9, 3.

LUKAS, J. (1952) Languages of West Africa, in Handbook of African langages, London.

MELIS, A. (1999) Description du Masa (Tchad): Phonologie, Syntaxe et Dictionnaire Encyclopédique, PhD Thesis, Université de Tours.

NEWMAN, P. (1977) Chadic classification and reconstructions, “Afroasiatic Linguistics” 5, 1.

NEWMAN, P. and MA, R. (1966) Comparative Chadic : phonology and lexicon, JAL 5, pp. 218-251.

Shryock, A. (1995) Investigating Laryngeal Contrasts: An Acoustic Study of the Consonants of Musey. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics n° 89, July, pp. 1-117.

SHRYOCK, A. (1997) The classification of the masa group of languages. in “Studies in African Linguistics”, 26, 1, Springs. pp. 29-62.

TOURNEUX, H. (1990) Place du Masa dans la famille Tchadique. In MUKAROVSKY H. (ed.) Proceedings of the Fifth International Hamito-Semitic Congress (Vienna, 1987), Vol. 1, pp. 249-260. Wein: Afro-Pub..

Tourneux, H., Seignobos, Ch. & Lafarge, F. (1986) Les Mbara et leur langue (Tchad). Paris, SELAF.

Wolff, E. (1987) Consonant-Tone interference in Chadic and its implications for a Theory of Tonogenesis in Afroasiatic. In AA.VV. Langues et cultures dans le bassin du lac Tchad. Paris, ORSTOM, pp. 193-216.