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Interaction of phonation and tone in Nuer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Irina Monich
Irina Monich*
Affiliation:
Linguistics Program, Wayne State University, 5057 Woodward, Suite 10303 Detroit, Michigan, 48202
*
imonich@gmail.com
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Abstract

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This article presents a case of allotony based on the phonation of the vowel in Nuer, a Western Nilotic language; the falling tone is found only on modal vowels in this language, while the high level tone is found only on breathy vowels. We describe the phenomenon and present evidence suggesting that it may be due to the neutralization of two separate tonal contours, H and HL, conditioned by the phonation of the vowel. We place this phenomenon within the known typology of phonation-tone interaction and advance a proposal as to the phonetic factors behind its development.

Keywords

phonationtoneNilo-SaharanNuer

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Phonological Data and Analysis , Volume 5 , Issue 6 , 2023 , pp. 1 - 40
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Published by the Linguistic Society of America with permission of the author under a CC BY 3.0 license.
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 Irina Monich.

Footnotes

*

First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to John Chuol Kuek for his remarkable intuitions and insights into Nuer language and for his patience. I also thank Mathew Juany Riek, Chuol Tut, Lam Muang, Jacob Gatkuoth, John Makuac, John Nguany Gai Yok, Andrew Kuong, Yak Wichok, Phillip Muk, John Pelpel, and Buk Chuol Obek for sharing their knowledge with me, and the Nuer community of San Diego as a whole for their welcome and support. I am also grateful to the following researchers who have been instrumental in providing me with resources, assistance and valuable feedback: Matthew Bacrman. Bert Remijsen. Oliver Bond, Tatiana Reid, Florian Lionnet, Laura Kalin, Sharon Rose and Noam Faust. Finally, I thank Preston Lust for his assistance in organizing and processing the data.

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