The phonetic evolution of reduplicated expressions: reduplication, lexical tones and prosody in Na (Naxi)

Alexis Michaud*, ** and Jacqueline Vaissière***Laboratoire de Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale, CNRS/Sorbonne/Sorbonne Nouvelle

**Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, CNRS/Sorbonne Nouvelle alexis.michaud@vjf.cnrs.fr, jacqueline.vaissiere@univ-paris3.fr

Background:Background: Lexical tones in Na, a.k.a. Naxi (Sino- Lexical tones in Na, a.k.a. Naxi (Sino-Tibetan): Tibetan):

A simple tonal system.A simple tonal system.

Three lexical tones. One tone per syllable.Example: /lɑ1 / « strike », /lɑ5 / « tiger », /lɑ6 / « hand ».

Starting-point of research: Starting-point of research: A phonological asymmetry in reduplication A phonological asymmetry in reduplication

patterns.patterns.

Tonal changes in some « AA » and « AABB » reduplication patterns...

H > HM (˥ ˧) M > MM (˧ ˧) L > ML (˧ ˩)LH > MLHM (˧ ˩ ˥ ˧)(e.g. /lɑ1 / « strike » reduplicates to /lɑ1 .lɑ5 / « to quarrel »)

...but not in « ABAB » reduplication: no tonal change. Example:

Simplex: /lv86 fv81/ “lukewarm” (tones: L + H)AABB reduplication: /lv85 lv86 fv81 fv85/ (tones: M+L + H+M)ABAB reduplication: /lv86 fv81 lv86 fv81/ (tones: L+H + L+H)

Phonetic observation: Phonetic observation: A phonetic similarity across reduplication A phonetic similarity across reduplication patterns, whether they involve categorical patterns, whether they involve categorical

change or not.change or not.

Impressionistic listening: LH

LH sequences sound like MH

LM.Recorded by 8 speakers. Figures 1, 3, 4: F0 and glottal open quotient (calculated by electroglottography). Figure 2: RMS amplitude.

ABSTRACTIn Na, a Sino-Tibetan language with lexical tones, some reduplication schemes involve tone change, whereas others consist in full reduplication without tone change. The synchronic coexistence of these two sets allows for an experimental comparison, which leads to a simple explanation. Both sets appear to originate in total reduplication, without tone change, the schemes which now involve tone change resulting from a later evolution: the phonologisation of the effect of intonational boundaries on pitch. A High tone in final position within the reduplicated compound is lowered to Mid; an initial Low tone is raised, also to Mid. A reflection is set out concerning the historical conditions under which the allophonic variation of lexical tones could be reinterpreted as a difference of tonal categories.Keywords: prosody; intonation; intonational junctures (boundaries); lexical tone; accent.

Acoustic results:Acoustic results: Confirm the phonetic difference between Confirm the phonetic difference between phonologically identical tones. phonologically identical tones. Calls for Calls for

perceptual verification.perceptual verification.

Figure 2. Global RMS amplitude curves (normalised by average duration) corresponding with the syllablesin figure 1. Speaker M1.

ms

ms

Perception experiment:Perception experiment: Shows that the phonologically identical Shows that the phonologically identical

tones can be perceived as different when tones can be perceived as different when presented in succession.presented in succession.

Based on production data of speaker M1 (fig. 1-2). Electroglottographic signal used as stimulus.Fourteen listeners. Identification with reference words or sentences, e.g. /bɑ5 .lɑ6 / « clothes » for scheme /ML/, /my.ty/ « outside » for /LM/.

DISYLLABLES: QUADRISYLLABLES:A1+B1+A2+B2 as a quadrisyllabic expression: mostly perceived as M+H+L+M, i.e. first L perceived as M, second L as L; first H as H, second H as M.

The phonetic difference between the two H tones is perceived as a categorical difference—one that coincides with the AA and AABB reduplication schemes.

Interpretation of the data: The diachronic Interpretation of the data: The diachronic hypothesis hypothesis

of an evolution towards a word-tone systemof an evolution towards a word-tone systemOrigin: total reduplication in all cases.

Why some reduplication schemes involve tonal change: HM comes from HH, and ML from LL, through the phonologisation of the intonational marking of boundaries between words and between phrases.

Diachronic context within which intonational variation could lead to categorical tone change: For ‘allotonic’ variation to become phonologised, there must have been a tendency towards the establishment of a word-tone pattern: not one tone per syllable, but one pattern for the word. There are analogues to this situation in languages of the Tibeto-Burman area: e.g. Tamang (Mazaudon 1973, and work in progress by M. Mazaudon and A. Michaud), which has a word-tone system.

Further synchronic evidence: The marking of boundaries (junctures) by a downtrend is still attested in synchrony, at several levels: lexical word, phrase, sentence, and broader discourse units.

We take this as evidence supporting models of prosody as a superposition of several phenomena.

[For references, see full text of paper.]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Many thanks to the Na language consultants and friends, in particular He Xixian and his family; to our colleagues Guo Dalie, He Jiezhen, He Jiren, He Limin, He Xueguang, Huang Xing, and Kong Jiangping; and to Willy Serniclaes for computing the statistics set out in section 4.3

Speaker M5: /LHLH/ in isolation...

... and followed by a final particle, for confirmation.

Measurement of acoustic intensity, for the same data, same speaker. Difference: small.