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Tone Sandhi in Comaltepec Chinantec

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2026

Daniel Silverman
Daniel Silverman*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
*
Department of Linguistics, 4088 Foreign Languages Bldg., University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 [daniel@cogsci.uiuc.edu]
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Abstract

Comaltepec Chinantec tone sandhi normally consists of rightward high tone spreading from syllables with a low-high tone pattern, and almost all sandhi outputs are non-neutralizing. This sound pattern may be understood by considering articulatory, aerodynamic, acoustic, and auditory principles, in necessary combination with phonetically rooted historical forces, and the principles of contrast maintenance, economy of effort, and what is termed pattern coherence.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , September 1997, pp. 473 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 Linguistic Society of America

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