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{{Hatnote|This page has been updated for [[Toaq Delta]]. See [[Gamma:Tone]] for the Toaq Gamma version.}}
{{Hatnote|This page has been updated for [[Toaq Delta]]. See [[Archive:Tone]] for the Toaq Gamma version.}}


Toaq is a tonal language. It has '''tones'''! That is: saying a word with a rising or falling vocal intonation, for example, makes for a difference in meaning.
Toaq is a tonal language. It has '''tones'''! That is: saying a word with a rising or falling vocal intonation, for example, makes for a difference in meaning.


== Function of tones ==
== Function of tones ==
Toaq has mostly '''grammatical tone''': when you change the tone of a word, its grammatical function changes (for example {{Derani||de}} “is beautiful” → {{Derani||dê}} “beautifully”).
Toaq has mostly '''grammatical tone''': when you change the tone of a word, its grammatical function changes (for example {{Derani|󱚶󱚴|de}} “is beautiful” → {{Derani|󱚶󱛌󱚴|dê}} “beautifully”).


This is in contrast to '''lexical tone''', like in Chinese: there, when you change the tone of a syllable, it becomes a different word (lexeme) entirely. For example 西 xı̄ “west” → 媳 xí “daughter-in-law”.
This is in contrast to '''lexical tone''', like in Chinese: there, when you change the tone of a syllable, it becomes a different word (lexeme) entirely. For example 西 xı̄ “west” → 媳 xí “daughter-in-law”.


Toaq has a ''little'' bit of lexical tone, too, limited to speech act particles: {{Derani||da}} and {{Derani||dâ}} are two different lexemes.
Toaq has a ''little'' bit of lexical tone, too, limited to particles: {{Derani|󱚶󱚺|da}} and {{Derani|󱚶󱛌󱚺|dâ}} are two different lexemes.


== The four tones ==
== The four tones ==
#The '''falling tone''' {{done|1}} is used for verbs, predicatizers, and adjectives. ({{Derani||fa}} “goes”, {{Derani| |kúe gı}} “the good book”, {{Derani|—  |… po káto}} “… of the cat”)
#The '''[[falling tone]]''' {{done|1}} is used for verbs, predicatizers, and adjectives. ({{d|fa}} “goes”, {{d|kúe gı}} “the good book”, {{Derani|— 󱚳󱛃 󱛘󱛄󱛊󱚺󱚷󱛃󱛙|… po káto}} “… of the cat”)
#The '''rising tone''' {{done|2}} is used for nouns, [[determiners]], and pronouns. ({{Derani||káto}} “the cat”, {{Derani| |sá kato}} “some cat(s)”, {{Derani||jí}} “I/me”)
#The '''[[rising tone]]''' {{done|2}} is used for nouns, [[determiners]], and pronouns. ({{d|káto}} “the cat”, {{d|sá kato}} “some cat(s)”, {{d|jí}} “I/me”)
#The '''low glottal tone''' {{done|3}} is used for complementizers and clause-initiating words. ({{Derani| |ꝡä gı}} “that it’s good”)
#The '''[[low glottal tone]]''' {{done|3}} is used for complementizers and clause-initiating words. ({{d|ꝡä gı}} “that it’s good”)
#The '''rising-falling tone''' {{done|4}} is for adverbial adjuncts. ({{Derani||fêı}} “angrily”, {{Derani| |nîe tíaı}} “inside the box”)
#The '''[[rising-falling tone]]''' {{done|4}} is for adverbial adjuncts. ({{d|fêı}} “angrily”, {{d|nîe tíaı}} “inside the box”)


=== Interaction with parts of speech ===
=== Interaction with parts of speech ===
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This table shows how the four tones interact with Toaq's parts of speech:
This table shows how the four tones interact with Toaq's parts of speech:


{{Tone table}}
=== Interaction with focus particles ===
Tone on focus particles is a little nuanced. If you focus something carrying a tonal inflection, like the {{done|2}} in {{d|máoja}}, then the focus particle "steals" the tone. But if the word is uninflected (in the "default tone" for its part of speech), the focus particle stays in its default rising tone form.
Here are some examples of how this works for each of the focusable parts of speech:
{| class="wikitable"  
{| class="wikitable"  
|-
|-
!  
!
! Falling tone {{done|1}}
! Falling tone {{done|1}}
! Rising tone {{done|2}}
! Rising tone {{done|2}}
Line 29: Line 35:
|-
|-
! [[Verb]]
! [[Verb]]
| <ul><li>[[Verbal complex]]<li>[[Serial]] tail<li>[[Adjective]]<li>[[Determiner]] complement</ul>
|Uninflected, must use prefix form to avoid conflict with rising tone
| [[Bound variable]]
 
| style=background:#ccc |
{{d|kụrıatua}}<ul></ul>
| [[Adjunct]]
| {{d|kú maoja}}
| style="background:#ccc" |
| {{d|kû shoı}}
|-
|-
! [[Pronoun]]
! [[Pronoun]]
| style=background:#ccc |
| style="background:#ccc" |
| Argument
| Uninflected
| [[Incorporated object]]
{{d|kú jí}}
| style=background:#ccc |
| style="background:#ccc" |
| {{d|kû jí}}
|-
|-
! [[Determiner]]
! [[Determiner]]
| style=background:#ccc |
| style="background:#ccc" |
| Argument
| Uninflected
| [[Incorporated object]]
{{d|kú báq nam}}
| style=background:#ccc |
| style="background:#ccc" |
| {{d|kû báq nam}}
|-
|-
! [[Complementizer]]
! [[Complementizer]]
| [[Speech act]] complement
| Unattested
| style=background:#ccc |
| style="background:#ccc" |
| [[Subclause]] head</ul>
| Uninflected
| [[Incorporated object]]
{{d|kú ꝡä}}
| {{d|kû ꝡä}}
|}
One exception is the event accessor verb {{d|ë}}, which carries an inherent glottal tone due to being both a verb and a subordinator.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! [[Interjection]]
!
| Interjection
! Falling tone {{done|1}}
| Inquiry
! Rising tone {{done|2}}
| style=background:#ccc |
! Glottal tone {{done|3}}
| Expression of empathy
! Rising-falling tone {{done|4}}
|-
|-
! [[Speech act particle]]
! Event accessor verb
| colspan=4 | Lexical tone (i.e. {{Derani||da}} and {{Derani||dâ}} are simply different lexemes)
| style="background:#ccc" |
|-
| {{d|kú ë marao}}
! [[Focus particle]]
| Uninflected, must use prefix form to avoid conflict with rising tone
| colspan=4 | Steals tone from head if possible, otherwise echoes it
 
|-
{{d|kụ̈'e marao}}
! [[Conjunction]]
| {{d|kû ë marao}}
| Highest precedence
| Default precedence
| style=background:#ccc |
| Second highest precedence
|}
|}
[[Simple Focus]] is a proposal intended to simplify the behavior of tones with focus particles.


==External links==  
==External links==  
*[https://toaq.net/refgram/phonology/#tones Refgram: Tones]
*[https://toaq.net/refgram/phonology/#tones Refgram: Tones]

Latest revision as of 23:28, 21 September 2024

This page has been updated for Toaq Delta. See Archive:Tone for the Toaq Gamma version.

Toaq is a tonal language. It has tones! That is: saying a word with a rising or falling vocal intonation, for example, makes for a difference in meaning.

Function of tones

Toaq has mostly grammatical tone: when you change the tone of a word, its grammatical function changes (for example 󱚶󱚴 (de) “is beautiful” → 󱚶󱛌󱚴 (dê) “beautifully”).

This is in contrast to lexical tone, like in Chinese: there, when you change the tone of a syllable, it becomes a different word (lexeme) entirely. For example 西 xı̄ “west” → 媳 xí “daughter-in-law”.

Toaq has a little bit of lexical tone, too, limited to particles: 󱚶󱚺 (da) and 󱚶󱛌󱚺 (dâ) are two different lexemes.

The four tones

  1. The falling tone falling tone is used for verbs, predicatizers, and adjectives. (󱚴󱚺 (fa) “goes”, 󱛄󱛊󱚲󱛍󱚴 󱛃󱚹 (kúe gı) “the good book”, — 󱚳󱛃 󱛘󱛄󱛊󱚺󱚷󱛃󱛙 (… po káto) “… of the cat”)
  2. The rising tone rising tone is used for nouns, determiners, and pronouns. (󱛄󱛊󱚺󱚷󱛃 (káto) “the cat”, 󱚺󱛊󱚺 󱛄󱚺󱚷󱛃 (sá kato) “some cat(s)”, 󱚾󱛊󱚹 (jí) “I/me”)
  3. The low glottal tone glottal tone is used for complementizers and clause-initiating words. (󱛁󱚺󱛋 󱛃󱚹 (ꝡä gı) “that it’s good”)
  4. The rising-falling tone hiatus tone is for adverbial adjuncts. (󱚴󱛌󱚴󱛎󱚹 (fêı) “angrily”, 󱚵󱛌󱚹󱛍󱚴 󱚷󱛊󱚹󱛍󱚺󱛎󱚹 (nîe tíaı) “inside the box”)

Interaction with parts of speech

This table shows how the four tones interact with Toaq's parts of speech:

Falling tone falling tone Rising tone rising tone Glottal tone glottal tone Rising-falling tone hiatus tone
Verb Bound variable Adjunct
Pronoun Argument Incorporated object
Determiner Argument Incorporated object
Complementizer Speech act complement Subclause head Incorporated object
Interjection Interjection Inquiry Expression of empathy
Speech act particle Lexical tone (i.e. 󱚶󱚺 (da) and 󱚶󱛌󱚺 (dâ) are simply different lexemes)
Focus particle Steals tone from head if possible, otherwise rising tone
Conjunction Highest precedence Default precedence Second highest precedence

Interaction with focus particles

Tone on focus particles is a little nuanced. If you focus something carrying a tonal inflection, like the rising tone in 󱚰󱛊󱚺󱛎󱛃󱚾󱚺 (máoja), then the focus particle "steals" the tone. But if the word is uninflected (in the "default tone" for its part of speech), the focus particle stays in its default rising tone form.

Here are some examples of how this works for each of the focusable parts of speech:

Falling tone falling tone Rising tone rising tone Glottal tone glottal tone Rising-falling tone hiatus tone
Verb Uninflected, must use prefix form to avoid conflict with rising tone 󱛄󱚲󱛒󱚻󱚹󱛍󱚺󱚷󱚲󱛍󱚺 (kụrıatua)
    		 󱛄󱛊󱚲 󱚰󱚺󱛎󱛃󱚾󱚺 (kú maoja) 󱛄󱛌󱚲 󱛀󱛃󱛎󱚹 (kû shoı)
    Pronoun Uninflected

    󱛄󱛊󱚲 󱚾󱛊󱚹 (kú jí)

    		󱛄󱛌󱚲 󱚾󱛊󱚹 (kû jí)
    Determiner Uninflected

    󱛄󱛊󱚲 󱚲󱛊󱚺󱛂 󱚵󱚺󱚱 (kú báq nam)

    		󱛄󱛌󱚲 󱚲󱛊󱚺󱛂 󱚵󱚺󱚱 (kû báq nam)
    Complementizer Unattested Uninflected

    󱛄󱛊󱚲 󱛁󱚺󱛋 (kú ꝡä)

    		󱛄󱛌󱚲 󱛁󱚺󱛋 (kû ꝡä)

    One exception is the event accessor verb 󱚴󱛋 (ë), which carries an inherent glottal tone due to being both a verb and a subordinator.

    Falling tone falling tone Rising tone rising tone Glottal tone glottal tone Rising-falling tone hiatus tone
    Event accessor verb 󱛄󱛊󱚲 󱚴󱛋 󱚰󱚺󱚻󱚺󱛎󱛃 (kú ë marao) Uninflected, must use prefix form to avoid conflict with rising tone

    󱛄󱛋󱚲󱛒󱛅󱚴 󱚰󱚺󱚻󱚺󱛎󱛃 (kụ̈'e marao)

    		󱛄󱛌󱚲 󱚴󱛋 󱚰󱚺󱚻󱚺󱛎󱛃 (kû ë marao)

    Simple Focus is a proposal intended to simplify the behavior of tones with focus particles.

    External links

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