The phonetics of tone in Saramaccan
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Jeff Good
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation of the phonetics of tone in Saramaccan, an Atlantic creole spoken in Suriname. Two particular aspects of Saramaccan tonology are focused on (i) the ways in which a phonological split between words marked for pitch accent and words marked for lexical tone are manifested phonetically and (ii) the phonetic properties of a phonological process of high-tone plateauing found in the language. The results of the study indicate that, on a phonetic level, surface tones deriving from phonological pitch accent are not distinguished from true lexical tones, and they also establish the presence of a super-high tone found only ideophones. In addition, the study mostly verifies existing descriptions of the plateauing process.
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation of the phonetics of tone in Saramaccan, an Atlantic creole spoken in Suriname. Two particular aspects of Saramaccan tonology are focused on (i) the ways in which a phonological split between words marked for pitch accent and words marked for lexical tone are manifested phonetically and (ii) the phonetic properties of a phonological process of high-tone plateauing found in the language. The results of the study indicate that, on a phonetic level, surface tones deriving from phonological pitch accent are not distinguished from true lexical tones, and they also establish the presence of a super-high tone found only ideophones. In addition, the study mostly verifies existing descriptions of the plateauing process.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Structure
- The phonetics of tone in Saramaccan 9
- Tracing the origin of modality in the creoles of Suriname 29
- Modelling Creole Genesis 61
- The restructuring of tense/aspect systems in creole formation 85
- Syntactic properties of negation in Chinook Jargon, with a comparison of two source languages 111
- Sri Lankan Malay morphosyntax 135
- Sri Lanka Malay 159
- The advantages of a blockage-based etymological dictionary for proven or putative relexified languages 183
-
Part II: Variation
- A fresh look at habitual be in AAVE 203
- Oral narrative and tense in urban Bahamian Creole English 225
- Aspects of variation in educated Nigerian Pidgin 243
- A linguistic time-capsule 263
- The progressive in the spoken Papiamentu of Aruba 291
- Was Haitian ever more like French? 315
- The late transfer of serial verb constructions as stylistic variants in Saramaccan creole 337
- Index 373
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Structure
- The phonetics of tone in Saramaccan 9
- Tracing the origin of modality in the creoles of Suriname 29
- Modelling Creole Genesis 61
- The restructuring of tense/aspect systems in creole formation 85
- Syntactic properties of negation in Chinook Jargon, with a comparison of two source languages 111
- Sri Lankan Malay morphosyntax 135
- Sri Lanka Malay 159
- The advantages of a blockage-based etymological dictionary for proven or putative relexified languages 183
-
Part II: Variation
- A fresh look at habitual be in AAVE 203
- Oral narrative and tense in urban Bahamian Creole English 225
- Aspects of variation in educated Nigerian Pidgin 243
- A linguistic time-capsule 263
- The progressive in the spoken Papiamentu of Aruba 291
- Was Haitian ever more like French? 315
- The late transfer of serial verb constructions as stylistic variants in Saramaccan creole 337
- Index 373
