#1Tone in Wam (Kugama), an Adamawa language of Nigeria Lora LITVINOVA [email protected] Adamawa Conference 2019, Mainz cnrs ተቋም национален по شرقية x1 شرقية inal co Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales AdaGram EFL ORBONNE PARIS SCITE Langage, Langues et Llacan Cultures d'Afrique Noire 1#2Sokoto State General information on Wam Katsina State Kebbi Zamfara State Jigawa State Yobe State Kano State State Borno State Kaduna State Bauchi State Gombe State Niger State Federal Capital Plateau State Adamawa State Kwara Territory State - ná: wàm 'the Wam language' State Oyo State Nasarawa State Osun State Ekiti State Taraba State (KUGAMA) Kogi State Benue State Ogun State Ondo State Edo State Enugu State Lagos State Anambra Ebonyi State Cross State River Delta State Imo Abia State State State Bayelsa State Rivers State Akwa Ibom State Yendang group of the Adamawa language family Spoken in a number of villages in Mayo-Belwa LGA and Fufore LGA of Adamawa State 5000 speakers (Ethnologue) 2#3Previous research on Wam ■ First field trip conducted in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, in January 2014 as part of research for my BA and later for my MA theses at St. Petersburg State University, Russia; ■ Three field trips to Wam communities (Mayo-Belwa, Adamawa State, Nigeria) as part of my PhD project from Labex EFL (project LC2 "Areal phenomena in northern sub- Saharan Africa") in March -June 2017, April - May 2018, and November 2018. 3#4Overview ▪ TBU and tone inventory ■ Surface tone patterns of nouns ■ Inalienable Possessive constructions as the tonal frame of nouns Downstep ■ Phonetic tonal processes#5TBU and tone inventory ■ TBU in Wam is a mora Wam has three surface tone levels: High), M(id) and L(ow) Monosyllabic functional morphemes, pronominals commonly carry one level tone, for example: (1) a. nó (2PL.PFV) tì (PROG) b. C. ɲā (NEG) But monosyllabic nouns commonly have a complex tone (with very few exceptions) 5#6Surface tone patterns of nouns Monosyllabic and disyllabic noun stems such as CV(V), CVC, CV(V).CV have the following tone patterns: CV(V).CV bínā 'granary', HM CV(V) váā 'child' CVC hбy 'calabash', súm 'hair (of head)' nááki 'cow' MM kaa 'machete' pūy 'hole', tūki 'spitting cobra' zom 'poison' LM bàā 'herd' poy 'face', gbène 'horse' tèe 'chicken' sàm ‘slave’ MH dāá 'sheep' dũm ‘hyena’ gbiré 'dwarf' L si 'thing' kòy 'date palm' HH dyéké 'house' 16#7HM: hбy 'calabash' MM: hoo 'food' LM: bom 'roundhut, room' KUG_20170424_AC_037 KUG_20170422_AC_035 KUG_20170424_AC_037#8Inalienable Possessive constructions as the tonal frame of nouns 1. Inalienable Possessive construction with Common nouns (+ nominal compounds) [Possessee + floating L tone + Possessor] the floating L docks to the left 2. Inalienable Possessive construction with Proper nouns [Possessee + Possessor] 80#9Inalienable Possessive constructions as the tonal frame of nouns ■ In both constructions the Possessee takes the Construct form ■ The Construct form differs from the free (citation) form 6#10The free (citation) form ■ The free form of a noun includes an element, which can be deleted with the presence of a modifier. I call this element extension. Since it is not a morpheme I use the symbol <+> to mark it. (2) a. CVV+M b. CVN+M M C. CV+M+y d. CVCV+M e. CCV/CVV+M+kV yíi ‘goat’ toŋ 'father' bεy 'stomach' gére 'pig' dyé.ké 'house' 10 10#11The free form and the construct form ■ Inalienable Possessive construction with Common nouns: segmental and tonal extensions are deleted ■ Inalienable Possessive construction with Proper names: segmental extensions are deleted (2) a. CVV+M b. CVN+M C. CV+M+y d. CVCV+M e. yíi ‘goat’ tбŋ 'father' bεy 'stomach' CCV/CVV+M+kV gére 'pig' dyé.ké 'house' 11#12The free form and the construct form CV+M+y CCV+M+kV 'stomach' 'house' CVN+M 'father' Allomorph 1 Free form bεy dyéké Allomorph 2 Construct form 1 ɓáá dyé gg Allomorph 3 Construct form 2 ɓáā dye (3) a. bey 'stomach', nááki 'cow' , b. by 'stomach', Àli (male name) бáá nááki 'stomach of the cow' → báa Àli 'stomach of Ali' 12#13(4) a. dyéké 'house', wēm 'person' dyéké 'house', Àlí (male name) → dyé wēm 'house of the person' dye Àli 'house of Ali' 13#14Free form The free form and the construct form 1 Construct form 1 H+ bey 'stomach' H бáá 'nááki 'stomach of the cow' gérε'pig' géré 'dyéké domestic pig' L+M ley 'cheek' L làà dii 'gill' dòòri 'star' doori gaáte Orion' M+M hōō 'food' hòò sám 'dish made of guinea corn' HM dóō 'rope' HL dóò bèki 'hunting net' LM tèe 'chicken' MH tēé bàā 'chicken of the flock' gbène 'horse' gběné 'bàā 'horse of the herd' MH dāá 'sheep' dãá 'bàā 'sheep of the herd' 14#15■ Variations between speakers: váá 'ɓá 'yēy ~váà bá¹yey 'bastard' (5) a. b. tóŋ 'wēm ~ tôŋ wēm C. dūmlè tárī ~ dūmlé 'tárī (child stomach/inside - wind) - 'father of the person' 'son-in-law' (son/child - father-in-law?) 15#16Downstep ■ The floating L tone causes downstep between the Possessee and the Possessor KUG 20181130_BB_066 nòò yéŋ *yéŋ *yéŋj *yéŋ daughter mother mother mother mother ...mother's mother's sister 16#17Downstep (continued) ■ The floating L tone causes downstep between the Possessee and the Possessor KUG 20181130_BB_066 vísí finger *náá *géré *dyéké hand pig house finger of the domestic pig 17#18- H-raising/upstep H-raising regularly occurs as a phonetic realization of phonological downstep by anticipatory dissimilation of the H to the left of the floating L H-raising takes place when H precedes the floating L of the possessive linker - - HL on one syllable (6) a. báá 'nááki b. C. yíìki fáà yéní 'nááki 'stomach of the cow' 'steer' 'kill' (c.f. yiki ‘beat') 18#19H-raising/upstep (continued) á 1SG.PFV kā-ti see-PFV бáá stomach KUG_20180417_AC_001 nááki COW I saw [stomach of the cow] here hée 22 here 19#20H-raising/upstep (continued) ■ When there is a succession of syllables with H, the H pitch is raising towards the right edge of the domain KUG_20170501_AC_049 vélí husband groom *55ki daughter 20 20#21The case of anticipatory assimilation L is raised when it is followed by extra-H (7) a. gbēné bàā 'horse of the herd' gbène 'horse', bàa 'herd' b. gāā sí'tààpō 'pipe stick' gààsì 'stick', sí'tààpō ‘pipe' 21 27