Prefix toneme: Difference between revisions

From The Toaq Wiki
(Initial article)
 
(spell the how mandatory /dʑɪa/ as such)
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit
 
Line 1: Line 1:
In the [[Prefix Reform]], prefixes are pronounced in a mid-level tone [˧] preceding the stress and tone-contour of the word they're attached to.
In the [[Prefix Reform]], prefixes are pronounced in a mid-level tone [˧] preceding the stress and tone-contour of the word they're attached to.


We can reanalyze this as a fifth ''toneme'' {{Tone|1}} — a mid-flat tone that avoids stress and nullifies vowel length: {{t|jıa}} /ˈdʑiːa˥˩/ versus {{t|jīa}} /dʑia˧/.
We can reanalyze this as a fifth ''toneme'' {{Tone|1}} — a mid-flat tone that avoids stress and nullifies vowel length: {{t|jıa}} /ˈdʑiːa˥˩/ versus {{t|jīa}} /dʑɪa˧/.


This suggests a new way of writing prefixed words that makes prefixes more like [[clitic]]s: instead of {{t|puchumtào}}, we write {{t|pū chūm tao}}, still pronounced [pʊ˧ t͡ɕʊm˧ ˈtaːw˥˩].
This suggests a new way of writing prefixed words that makes prefixes more like [[clitic]]s: instead of {{t|puchumtào}}, we write {{t|pū chūm tao}}, still pronounced [pʊ˧ t͡ɕʊm˧ ˈtaːw˥˩].

Latest revision as of 10:15, 4 December 2023

In the Prefix Reform, prefixes are pronounced in a mid-level tone [˧] preceding the stress and tone-contour of the word they're attached to.

We can reanalyze this as a fifth toneme flat tone — a mid-flat tone that avoids stress and nullifies vowel length: jıa /ˈdʑiːa˥˩/ versus jīa /dʑɪa˧/.

This suggests a new way of writing prefixed words that makes prefixes more like clitics: instead of puchumtào, we write pū chūm tao, still pronounced [pʊ˧ t͡ɕʊm˧ ˈtaːw˥˩].

Some parts of speech "conjugate into" this toneme nicely, i.e. pu means the same as but has slightly different grammar. For other parts of speech, what was previously "prefixes existing in a different lexical space from roots" now corresponds to flat tone simply being a lexical tone: ge "stimulus" is unrelated to diminutive marker .

We may look at the neat symmetry in which focus markers behave when alternated between their inherent rising tone and this new flat tone:

luı do súq maoja
‘I have given you all the apples.’
luı do súq maoja
‘I have given you all the apples.’