Abstract
This paper explores characteristics of languages with restricted tone systems, with a focus on dialects of the Cushitic language Maay. Languages with restricted tone systems, referred to by a variety of terms such as reduced tone, pitch accent, and nonstress accent, among others, display several stress-like properties despite remaining definitionally tonal. We discuss two Maay dialects (Kenyan Maay and Baydhabo Maay) that have been on similar pathways toward stresshood, though each has retained different properties of tone systems. We present the Maay facts and compare these dialects' tonal behavior to that of other closely related languages with similarly restricted systems. Through consideration of relevant phonological and morphological processes in these languages, we examine the dividing line between tone and stress, in service of better understanding observed variation between restricted tone systems and pathways to stresshood. We propose an analysis that accounts for the "near pivot" status of these Maay tonal systems.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | The Ghanaian Linguistics Nexus |
Publisher | Language Science Press |
Pages | 269-287 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783961104697 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783985540983 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 25 2023 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Arts and Humanities
- General Social Sciences