The Tones of the Ebrié Associative Construction

Journalof African Languages iand Linguistics 7: 1-22

The Tones of the EbneAssociative Construction

CONSTANCE KUTSCH LOJENGA

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. The problem

The surface tone patterns; of Ebrie utterances can be represented äs se-quences of the following ifour discrete level tones, just äs if Ebrie were astraightforward discrete lewel tone language:

H: high M: miid L: low X: extra low

The only contours whichi occur are: HM, HX and LX (a contour is asequence of different tonces within a single syllable). Note (i) that thesecontour tones are all falls,, and (ii) that all possible falls in which the firsttone is H or L and the secomd is M or X actually occur.

As the following chart shows, there are severe restrictions on the dis-tribution of the tones withiin the utterance:

Syllable position: Nv

Prepausal

Non-prepausalPostp*ausal

Non-p>ostpausal

H

+

+

+

M

+

L -

+

+

+

HM

+

HX

+

/•xLX

+

Note the following: (i) Thie contours occur only prepausally; (ii) X neveroccurs otherwise than äs ithe second tone in a prepausal contour; (iii) Mnever occurs postpausally.

Stewart 1973 treats prepausal X not äs a separate tone but äs a mani-

* I am much indebted to PProf. J.M. Stewart, under whose supervision I wrotethis paper in partial fulfilmemt for the "doctorandus" degree at the University ofLeiden, Department of Africam Linguistics, for his comments and criticism.

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**"* r~*festation of prepausal key lowering (·); he analyses HX, LX äs H·, L·.He does not report HM, but the fact that M never occurs postpausallysuggests the possibility of analysing it äs in all contexts; the sequencesHM, HM, LM would then he analysed ' , , L'H. This would allowthe surface tone patterns of Ebrie to be represented äs sequences of H,L and ', just like those of the classic terraced level tone languages, e.g.Akan, Igbo, Efik and Adioukrou.

The present paper explores the possibility of treating the tones ofEbrie in this way. The scope of the study is restricted to nouns in theircitation form and in the associative (possessive, completive, genitive)construction (Nj's N2). A number of previous studies have demonstratedthe value of beginning in this area: Voorhoeve, Meeussen and De Blois1969, Voorhoeve 1971, and Hyman and Tadadjeu 1976. The value of thisstrategy lies firstly in the fact that nouns, unlike verbs, have readilyelicitable citation forms, and secondly in the fact that the associativeconstruction allows one to study the nouns in two further contextswithout becoming involved in the study of any new category of wordor morpheme apart from a possible associative marker.

1.2. The language

Ebrie is spoken in southern Ivory Coast by approximately 75.000 peoplewho live in the lagoon area. A number of their 54 villages are now situatedwithin the ever-extending city of Abidjan. The others Stretch out over anarrow east-west Strip approximately 70 km long, cutting through Abid-jan, along the north of the Ebrie lagoon.

The name Ebrie, now officially used by the administration, was origi-nally given them by the neighbouring Aboure. The Ebrie call themselves'cama [ ]. This name, in a variety of spellings including Kyama, Kiama,Tyama, Tsamä, Cama, has frequently been used to refer to both thepeople and the language. However, in Ebrie the word 'cama refers to theethnic group only. They call their language cama n 'cä 'language of theCama'. According to the explanation of the people themselves 'camcmeans 'the elect': it is derived from a verb root 'ca 'to choose, elect, sift';-mä is a suffix used to indicate the plural in some animate nouns.

The language has been classified by Greenberg äs belonging to theEastern Ivory Coast Lagoon group within the Kwa sub-group of NigerCongo. Stewart 1973 and Herault 1981 consider Ebrie and Mbatto to bethe most closely related among the lagoon languages, and group then:together under the name Potou Lagoon languages.

There are no significant dialect differences in Ebrie. There is, however,quite substantial Variation in the tones between older and younger Speak-ers of the language.



1.1.3. Previous work on the language

OOver the past years several articles have been written containing shortreremarks or more extensive analyses of the Ebrie tone System. I will men-tition them here in chronological order.

Vogler (1968) was the first one to present the Ebrie sound System ina a brief article. Unfortunately he did not recognize the System of fortisaiand lenis voiceless stops (cf. 1.4). As for tones, he analysed the System äshhaving two level tones, high and low, and two contour tones, falling andrirising.

Dumestre (1970) wrote a slightly more elaborate sketch of the phono-Iclogy and suggested that Ebrie had three level tones: high, mid and low.HHe then gives the seven possible sequences of these tones which occur onddisyllables (of the nine theoretically possible sequences only MM and MHaiare lacking).

Stewart (1973) came with an entirely different approach: he recognizedt\two level tones and introduced the feature of key lowering, occurring infifinal position only. Key lowering is distinctive after both high and low,SGO that the following four realizations are accounted for in his article:

" [-] [̂ 1 Kl· Stewart was not only the first one to discover theccontrast between a level low and a falling low tone, he also was the firstoone to mention the importance of the so-called depressor consonants(C cf. l .4) on the realizations of Ebrie tone.

Bole-Richard (1982) recognizes two level tones, high and low, and affalling tone on the phonological level. The three tones can have the follow-inng realizations: high, mid, low, extra-low (conditioned by depressor con-soonants) and falling. He mentions the fact that there are numerous tonalpoerturbations, conditioned by the surrounding syllables, but he gives littleddetail äs to how the System works. He states for example that the tönerneloow can be realized äs low, but also sometimes äs mid or high, and excep-tidonally äs extra-low.

Pike (1982), who worked with me on data similar to those I have usedfcor this present study, would prefer to see an initial set of six "reconstruc-teed" tones: three level tones: high, mid and low; and three glides: high-loow (the present HX), high-mid, and mid-low (the present LX).

My personal interest in the analysis of the tonal structure of Ebrieddates from the early months of 1976 when I was first confronted withthhis language and its complex System of tonal perturbations. The contrastboetween falling low tone and level low tone prepausally had until thenoonly been reported by Stewart (1973). This was confirmed when l en-ccountered minimal pairs like: agba 4kind of fruit' [~ ] and agba 'the cold'[ _], and later when oscillogrammes were made of my data at the Institutdde Linguistique Appliquee at the University of Abidjan. A new discovery



was a high-mid fall prepausally, contrastive with a high-low fall, broughtto light when I found the following minimal pair: a'bwe 'pot' ["'N] anda'bwe 'word' ["^]. This has since been substantiated by instrumentalanalysis and by the fact that each of these behave differently in the systernof tonal perturbations.

1.4. The Ebne sound System

A brief overview of the Ebrie vowels and consonants is presented here,with some more detailed remarks on two special features of the System:the depressor consonants and the nasal consonants.

The Ebrie vowel system consists of seven oral vowels: i, e, , a, o, o, u,and three nasalized vowels: £, ä,.?.

As for the consonants, the special feature of Ebrie, already treated inconsiderable detail by Stewart (1973) is the fortis-lenis distinction forboth voiced and voiceless oral stops. The feature [-lenis] is realized äs slightaspiration with the voiceless stops. The [+lenis] voiced stops, 'b and 'dare distinguished from their [-lenis] counterparts in that they are slightlyimploded. ('d is only realized äs such before the close vowels / and u\elsewhere we find /.) Voiced and voiceless [+lenis] stops are transcribedwith a preceding raised comma, e.g. 'p, 'b. The voiced-voiceless distinc-tion and the fortis-lenis distinction together give a four-way contrast inthe Ebrie stops:

-voice

+voice

-lenis

+lenis

-lenis

+lenis

p t c

'p 't 'c

b d J

k

'k 'kp

g gb

'b 'd

In what follows the importance of the fortis-lenis distinction for the ana-lysis of tone will become clear, äs the [+voiced, -lenis] stops (b, d, j, g, gb)constitute a class of depressor consonants and affect the tones in certaininstances: they block the application of P-4, H-lag.

In addition to the stops mentioned above, Ebrie has voiceless andvoiced fricatives: /, s, h and v, z, although the latter two are extremelyrare. An r occurs, äs second member in a consonant cluster only, and istranscribed äs such in this paper. There are two glides,^ and w, and thereis a series of nasals: m, n, ji and yw. Non-syllabic nasal consonants occur



exclusively in a nasal environment (i.e. preceded by a syllabic nasal and/orfollowed by a nasalized vowel); they have a set of oral counterparts:*b, 'd/l, y and w, which are only found in oral environments.

7.5. The presen t study

Since the present treatment of tone in Ebne shows similarities with thatof Adioukrou, relevant parts of Stewart's (1983) treatment of the tonesof Adioukrou are presented in 2.1, followed by an outline of the Ebrietone System, showing specific ways in which it resembles and differs fromthat of Adioukrou (2.2).

Sections 3 and 4 deal with the derivations from the underlying formthrough the application of a number of P-rules (and A-rules) to the surfacerepresentation. In section 3 this is done for nouns in the citation form,in section 4 for the associative construction. The data used for this studyare found in section 3. In sections 3 and 4 the structure of the noun andof the associative construction respectively are discussed. The P-rules andthe structure conditions with their A-rules are introduced and exemplified.In addition several tables are given which present the derivations of alltypes of nouns in the citation form and a representative sample of the256 possible combinations of the associative construction.

The two structure conditions with their A-rules and the nine P-rulesare for convenience grouped together in the appendix.

For this present study I have limited myself to a study of the tones ofcne Speaker: the late Danho Tchake Josue from the village of Adjame.

1. THE MODEL

2. L Stewart 's treatment of the tones of Adioukrou

"he present treatment of the tones in Ebrie essentially follows Stewart's(1983) revision of Herault's (1978) treatment of the tones of Adioukrou.\dioukrou is a classic terraced level tone language spoken immediately10 the west of Ebrie.

In Stewart's analysis, the underlying representation of the tones ofm Adioukrou utterance is a sequence of high and low tones, each ofiiem either non-floating (H,L) or floating (H,L). Stewart poses, among)thers, a -lag rule which says that "wherever there is a HL sequence,he high tone spreads to the right and displaces the low tone, which,iowever, survives äs a floating low tone" (p.64). The same -lag rule ap->lies in Ebrie, äs we shall see below (rule P-4). In Adioukrou (äs in Ebrie),my high tone can condition the -lag rule, whether non-floating or float-



ing; cf. Stewart's examples (13) and (9). Stewart then deletes all floatinghigh tones; floating low tones may be part of surface representations*.Now consider Stewart's Adioukrou example (14b):

H H L L L H L H HRegister change values 0 0 ° l l 0 ° 0 0K e y change values 0 0 1 1 1 2 2

Aggregate change values 0 0 2 2 1 2 2

(The following is a paraphrase of Stewart 1983:61, taking into accountthe discussion on pp. 65-66:) The key lowerings, or downsteps, are ana-lysed äs floating low tones, which divide the utterance into key spans.Each non-floating tone in a key span is allocated the same key changevalue, and that value is one higher than that of the tones in the precedingkey span, the tones of the first key span having the key change value0 by convention. Each non-floating low tone is allocated a register changevalue one higher than each high tone, the non-floating high and low toneshaving the register change values 0 and l, respectively, by convention.When the register and key change values are aggregated, the aggregatechange value of any non-initial tone shows the number of Steps up ordown in pitch from the preceding tone.

2.2. The tones of Ebne

Ebrie is here analysed äs having the same four underlying tones äs Adiou-krou: H, H, L, L. The four-way distinction is the product of the twobinary distinctions [±low] and [±zero], äs follows:

H H L t— o — olow — — + +zero — + — +

For the feature category [zero] see Stewart 1982:338-39; it is the same a>Voorhoeve, Meeussen and De Blois's(1969:81) [segmental], where [azero]=[-asegmental].

In Ebrie the register change interval is not the same size äs the keychange interval, äs is the case in the classic terraced level tone languages,but twice that size, and the non-floating low tones are therefore allocatedthe register change value 2 instead of l. This is not an unknown phenome·non; Stewart (1981:69-70) notes it in Dschang, a non-classic terraced leveltone language. The pitch interpretations of Ebrie surface tone sequencaare illustrated below. Note that where there is a prepausal floating tone



chhange values are assigned to the position following that tone s if therew,vere a non-floating tone with the same specification for the feature [low]inn that position, and that the final syllable carries a contour displaying thechhange which the resulting aggregate change value represents; cf. Stewart19983:67.

LL HL LLH HLH HLH

Register change values 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0KXey change values 0 l 0 l 0 l 0 l 0 \_AVggregate change values 2 3 0 3 2 1 0 1 0 l

ίΤχ ίΓχ L M H M H M

It t will be seen that the aggregate change values of H, M, L, X are 0, l , 2, 3reespectively, and that if it were not for the doubling of the register changeinnterval they would be 0, l, l, 2 respectively, M and L being merged.

In the above sequences the L is followed by only one tone, and this hasalillowed us to proceed s if the key change component of the pitch inter-poretation was exactly s in Adioukrou. In Adioukrou the key change valuesirimply increased by l after every L. In Ebrie it increases by l for the im-mnediately following tone only, and then reverts t o 0 for the next toneprrovided, of course, that that tone is nonfloating, e.g.

Adioukrou Ebrie

H^HH HLHH

Register change values 0 0 0Kcey change values 0 l lAggregate change values 0 1 1 0 1 0

It will be seen that the two differences in the pitch Interpretation togetheracocount for the fact that Ebrie, unlike the classic terraced level tone lan-giuages, appears on the surface to have four discrete level tones. The factthiat the lowest of the four is restricted to prepausal contours is accountedfor by the non-occurrence of the sequence LL at the systematic-phoneticlewel.

3. TONE IN THE CITATION FORM OF THE NOUN

Tlhe typical noun consists of a tone-bearing prefix plus an optional non-tome-bearing prefix plus a monosyllabic stem, but occurs without the



8

tone-bearing prefix at N2 in the N! 's N2 associative construction. The fol-lowing examples contain no instance of a non-tone-bearing prefix:

awo%

awo po'

'cat''body''the cat's body'

The base form of the tone-bearing prefix isa-. The low tone on the prefixin awo 'cat' is accounted for by a P-rule of ^-grounding (P-l), which con-verts a + * wo to awo. As will be seen below, this analysis is supported bythe fact that nouns such äs owJ have to be analysed äs having a stem-initialL tone when they occur at N 2 , whereas nouns such äs * do not haveto be analysed äs having a stem-initial H tone when they occur at N 2 .The analysis is further supported by the fact that the nouns with high toneon the prefix are very much in the majority.

For the dropping of a high-tone nominal affix at N2 in the NI 'S N2associative construction compare the Akan nominal suffix in inalienablenouns; Stewart (1976:141) quotes the following examples from the Asan-te dialect; both Ebrie and Akan are classified äs Western Kwa by Green-berg.

'chin'kököo 'ehest'

köfi abofi 'Kofi's chin'köfi kokö 'Kofi's ehest'

The base form of the non-tone-bearing prefix is N-, where N is a nasalconsonant unspecified for articulatory features such äs [coronal] and[labial]. Where the tone-bearing prefix a· precedes, the N grounds on to it,replacing the vowel, in essentially the same way äs a stem-initial L groundsonto it, replacing the high tone. The prefix a- thus has four variants(if the segmental variations of N are disregarded); the N-prefix sometirces- but not always - marks the plural.

N-gr.

t-gr-

otherrules

a +p.i*

apo HHX

'body'

a + %w3

a 0

awo LH

'cat'

a + N + 'bya

N 0

mrnyo H H

'children'

a -H N + *te

N 0

N 0

nte LLX

'father'



TFhe present study is restricted to nouns of the type just described; thereanre about 300 of these in my data. Nouns with monosyllabic stems butnao tone-bearing prefix are very rare. Nouns with disyllabic stems do oc-cuur, both with and without the tone-bearing prefix, but many of them areccompounds.

The monosyllabic noun stems has the following segmental structure:

σ (σ: syllable)/N

C X V

A\ny consonant except r can function in syllable-initial position. X re-poresents optional presence of any of the three following consonant s:T, y, w, or of a combination of r and w (njrw 'twins'). Any of the sevenoDral or three nasalised vowels can occur in the vowel position. The syllableaas a whole carries one of the two non-floating tones (L or H) underlying-l>y. A floating tone (L) occurs optionally at the beginning of the nounsfctem, s has been seen already, and another floating tone (L or H) occurso^ptionally at the end. The latter must have the opposite value for [low]ffrom the preceding non-floating tone. The monosyllabic noun stem thenhias the following tonal structure:

Γ +1OW ηL -ι-zero J / L -zero J \ L -i-zero

TThe eight possible underlying tone patterns are thus s follows:

vwithout initial L: H LH HL L\with initial L °: LH LLH LHL LL

Im Table l I present two sets of two words for each of the eight underlyingt(one-patterns: the first set without a depressor consonant and the seconds<et with a depressor consonant (odd and even numbers respectively).TThis brings the total to sixteen sets of two words. The first noun in eachof the sixteen sets is used for the examples of the nouns in the citationTorrn and in the N ̂ position of the associative construction; the secondmoun in each set is used to fill the N2-position in the associative construc-tion (see section 4). Numbers 2 and 11 each have the same word for theN!- and the N2- position because of lack of other suitable examples of



10

these tone patterns. The nine possible realizations of the eight underlyinggtonal patterns are given with the surface realizations of the nouns. In theesurface realizations the homorganic syllabic nasal has been transcribeddm before labials and n elsewhere.

Table l: Underlying and surface representations of nouns

underlying

1. H+H

2. H+H

3. H+LHO

4. H+LH

5. H+LHO

6. H+LHO

7. H+LLH

8. H+LLH

9. H+HL

10. H+HL

11. H+LH^.

12. H+LHL

13. H+L

14. H+L

15. H+LL

16. H+LLO

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

-h N -f 'byo+ y(+ dö+ dö4- wo+ N + "pa+ da4· gba+ N + 'bye'+ 'bwe '-f- N -f- jrwä'+ dre'+ N + *'dw8 '4- *kö '4- *do'•f N -i- *dwa'4- '*5%

4- p.y4- N 4- gro*4- gwe*4~ iira4*4- N 4- *gwl·4- *ja*+ V3+ 'W+ £TO-h 64- N 4- *te4- N 4- % f f t n ?4- N 4- V/

-H >6

surface

HHHHHHHHLHLHLHLHHHMHHMHLHLLLLLLLLL^HHXHHXHHXHHXLHXLHXLHXLI»HHXHHXHLXHLXLLXLLXLLXLLX

mmyjayiadjad5awom 'paadaagbammyea 'bwenjrwäadrennwcakoadondwaa 'käapongroagweahräahrängwca/aa 'c5a 'biagroabcntemmran/iagbu

childrenthingmonkey sp.monkey sp.catfoutoubat sp.plategirlswordtwinsbeadsnailparrotcomrademonkeymonkey sp.bodycheekfish hookcanoecanoeshea butterinheritancefishdrumin-lawpaddlefatherspongegrandmothergun



11

TFhe derivations of the nouns in the citation form are presented in Tables2, , 3 and 4. Six P-rules are needed to derive the correct surface represen-taation from the underlying form. The P-rules are introduced in the orderneecessary for the presentation of the nouns; they are listed in the appendixin i the order of numbering. Table 2 deals with eight nouns (numbers 3,4,7,, 8, 11, 12, 15, 16) and introduces three P-rules: P-l, P-8, P-9. In Table 3p.„4 will be introduced for the derivations of four nouns (l, 5, 9, 13).P-:-3 and P-5 are needed for the derivations of the remaining four nouns(22, 6, 10, 14) in Table 4. Following the application of the P-rules the pitchinnterpretation rules operate on the surface form; this gives rise to ninediiifferent phonetic realizations of the sixteen nouns in the citation form.

In Table 2 the nouns under study are numbers 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 16,whhere the surface low tone on the nominal prefix comes from an under-lyi'ing stem-initial floating low tone, which is grounded onto the prefix,whhile the underlying high tone of the prefix is deleted.

Ρ-Ί L-grounding: HL -» L

P--l applies to each of the eight nouns mentioned above. After the applica-ticon of P-l numbers 15 and 16 are subject to P-8 which inserts a L tonebestween a L tone and pause.

P48 Prepausal L-insertion: 0 -> L / L II

P-C9 is needed in the derivation of numbers 7 and 8 and says that a pre-paiusal H tone is deleted when preceded by a L tone.

P-C9 Prepausal H-deletion: H -> 0 / L II

Taible 2 shows the derivations of the eight nouns mentioned above. Afterapiplying the pitch Interpretation rules on the systematic phonetic outputof the derivations the correct realizations for the eight nouns appear.Thie derivations of numbers 1 , 5 , 9 , 13 are shown in Table 3. The surfacefoirms of numbers l and 9 are identical to the underlying forms; P-4 isneteded for the derivations of numbers 5 and 13.

P-4 Η-lag: L -> HL / H

Thiis rule says that a H tone (floating or non-floating) followed by a non-flo)ating L tone is carried over to the next syllable, creating a H tone onthait syllable; the non-floating L tone is dislodged and becomes a floating



12

Table 2: Derivations of nouns 3,4, 7,8,11,12,15,16 in the citation forrm

underlyingP-lP-8P-9

surfaceregister ch.v.key ch.v.

aggregate ch.v.

realization

3. a ' wo4. a 'da

HL H

L0 H

L H2 00 0

2 0

LH [_-]

7. N'nwc 'S. a 'da'

HL LHL0 LH

L L0

L L2 20 0

2 2

LL [__]

11.<T hr '12N'gwc '

HL HLL0 H£

L HL2 0 20 0 1

2 0 3

LHX [.Λ]

15.N'f<?16.N7/

HL LL 0 LL ή.

L LL2 2 20 0 1

2 2~3

LLX[_J

Table 3: Derivations of nouns l, 5, 9,13 in the citation form

underlyingP-4


aggregate ch.v.

realization

1. U'byo

H H

H H0 00 0

0 0

ΗΗΓΊ

5. U'bye '

H LHH H\§

H HLH0 0 00 0 1

0 Q~~\

HHM [~η

9.ά 'k '

H HL

H HL0 0 20 0 1

0 0~3

ΗΗΧΓΜ

13.ά Ό5

H LH H\

H HL0 0 20 0 1

0 0~3

HHX[-·Λ]

L tone. This rule is the same s the Η-lag rule proposed by Stewart forAdioukrou (cf. 2.1, above). As in Adioukrou, in Ebrie the H tone beforethe L tone may be either non-floating or floating.

The derivations of the remaining four nouns (numbers 2, 6, 10, 14) areshown in Table 4. Two additional P-rules are needed to account for thederivations of these nouns: P-3 and P-5. They serve to block the appli-cation of P-4, H-lag.



13

p-:3 Depression: 0 / H

α/N

C X Vr-+voiced-iL-lenis J

By this rule a L tone is inserted in the environment stated: before a non-floating low tone carried by a syllable which contains a depressor conso-nant ([+voiced, -lenis]). This L tone now blocks the application of P4,H-lag.

P-5 L-deletion: L -* 0 /

By this rule a L tone before a L tone is deleted. It is closely linked withP-4 in that the ^ tone which is deleted here has served to block the ap-plication of P-4, H-lag.

Table 4: Derivations of nouns 2, 6, 10, 14 in the citation form

underlyingP-3P-5P-8P-9


aggregate ch.v.

realization

2. adb

H H

H H0 00 0

0 0

HH [— ]

6. N/mi -

H >HH LLHH 0LH

H L0

H L0 20 0

0 2

HL[-J

10. Ngro '

H HL

H HL0 0 20 0 1

o <Tss~^

14. agr

H LH LLH 0LH LL

H LL0 2 20 0 1

0 Γ3

4. TONE IN THE ASSOC1ATIVE CONSTRUCTION

The study of tone in the citation form of the noun is now followed bythat of the tonal behaviour in a specific type of noun phrase, namely the



14

associative construction: N! 's N2 , in which N2 functions s head. The tw<onouns are juxtaposed and the prefix of N2 is absent. The structure of thieassociative construction can be represented s follows:

[NP [Nl (ΝΡχ) Ν*] [Nj NSt ]]

In addition to the P-rules introduced for the nouns in the citation fonm(P- 1, P-3, P-4, P-5, P-8, P-9) the following three P-rules are needed for thederivations of the associative construction: P-2, P-6, P-7.

P-2 has been set up to deal with the stem-initial L tones of numbers3, 4, 11 and 12 in N2-position. The stem-initial L tone which is foundin these instances cannot be grounded onto the nominal prefix ( s is doneby the application of P- 1 in the noun in citation form), since the nominalprefix is absent in the N2-position.

Table 5 shows the surface realizations of 16 χ 16 = 256 N! 's N2 combi-nations in the Ebrie associative construction. Each of the sixteen nounsrepresenting N! (numbers down the left side) is combined with each ofthe sixteen nouns representing N2 (numbers across the top), e.g.

Γ s 12 6's 11mmyo ja njrw hrathe children's inheritance the twin's canoe

The words and the underlying tone-patterns of the noun stems are num-bered in accordance with Table 1. All even numbers have a depressorconsonant stem-initially. Where P-6 and P-7 apply to the derivations, theyare marked in the appropriate cells. Samples of the derivations which makeuse of these rules are found in Tables 8 and 9.

Before discussing the three new P-rules, a sample of derivations of theassociative construction which can be dealt with by the application of theP-rules introduced in section 3 is presented in Table 6. It represents allderivations except those which involve numbers 3, 4, 11 and 12 in N 2 -position and those which are marked P-6 or P-7 in Table 5.

The derivation of 7,8's 1,2 in Table 6 seems an appropriate opportuni-ty to introduce the two structure conditions (SC-1 and SC-2) with theirautomatic rules (A- 1 and A-2 respectively) which are valid for the tonesequences in Ebrie throughout the derivation after the application of P-3.

SC-1: NOT: H H A-l: H -» 0[ozero] [-ozero]

o



15

Tmble 5: Realizations of 16 χ 16 combinations in the associative construction

\ N 2

N, ^V

1..2 H

3,4 L H

5 LH

6 LH

7,8 LLH

9,10 HL

11,12 LHL

13 L

14 L

15,16 LL

1 2 3 4H LH

HHH

LHH

HMH6

HLH

LLH

HMH6

LMH6

HMH6

HLH

LLH

5LH

HHHM

LHHM

HMHM6

HLHM

LLHM

6 7 8LH LLH

HHL

LHL

HML6

HML7

LML7

HHL

LHL

HHL

HLL

LLL

9 1011 12HL LHL

HHHX

LHHX

HMHX6

HLHX

LLHX

HMHX6

LMHX6

HMHX6

HLHX

LLHX

13L

HHHX

LHHX

HMHX*

HLHX

LLHX

14 15 16L LL

HHLX

LHLX

HMLX6

HMl3(7

LMl3(7

HHLX

LHLX

HHLX

HLLX

LLLX

(The superscript numbers 6 and 7 indicate that rules P-6 and P-7 applyduring the respective derivations.)

This structure condition says that the sequences HH and H H are not al-lowed. If they appear the automatic rule is applied and the H tone is de-leted.

SC-2: NOT: LL A-2: L -* 0

This structure condition says that a sequence of two L tones is not permis-sible. By application of the A-rule one L tone is deleted.

The derivation of 7,8's 1,2 shows the application of A-l . A-2 isfoundin Table 8, in the derivation of 10's 11,12.

The last three P-rules required will now be treated; for each one a tablewill be given showing a sample of derivations which make use of the P-ruleconcerned.

P-2 Initial ^-deletion: 0 l# H



16

Table 6: First sample of derivations of the associative construction

underlyingP-l

A-lP-4

P-5P-8


aggregate ch.v.

realization

7,8's 1,2

*0 * d ' (

H L L HL0 LHL L0

L L2 20 0

2 2

LLH[__-]

£!HHH

H00

0

l,2vs

fldf

H H

H H

H H0 00 0

13

V -M

L

HL

HL0 20 1

0 0 O0?^-x

15,16'

Svii

HL LL0L

L LL L

L L2 20 0

2 2

LLLX

s 15,16

#ίΛ™ ί< £2>W >

t L

0 L4LL2 20 1

2~3

I-J

By this rule a stem-initial ^ tone in N2 is deleted when a high tone follows.This rule is sensitive to the word boundary, so that a L tone before highis not deleted in other positions in the associative construction. It must beemphasized here that a stem-initial L tone in N2 is not deleted when fol-lowed by a L tone: the ^ tone is needed there to block the application ofP-4, Η-lag (and is subsequently deleted by P-5, ̂ -deletion). An exampleof this is (l's 15) N 'byo#*te\ if the ^ tone were deleted in this example,P-4, Η-lag, would apply and the Output would be incorrect.

Table 7 exemplifies the application of P-2 in several derivations.

P-6 H-anticipation: HL -*· LH /lσ

Acxv

This rule says that the sequence H^, becomes ^H when followed b> ahigh tone, provided that high tone is not both floating and prepausal.

There is an example available where P-6 does not apply because the H



17

Table 7: Sample of derivations showing the application of P-2

underlyingP-lP-2P-3

A-lP-5


aggregate ch.v.

realization

1,2's

LNl"iH H

H H

H H0 00 0

0 0

HHHX

11,12#\:hr '\< ja >

L HL

0 HL

HL0 20 1

6~3

[" V

15,16's

iS'?!*

HLLL0LL L

L L2 20 0

2 2

LLH[_

3,4

\ >Ρά \

L Hk H

0 H

H00

0

-Ί

6's 11,12

Nyhv ' #

H LH

H LHH T T U

e*H LL0H 0L

H L0 20 0

0 2

HLHX[-

i— 1< j a >

τ υτL Π L,

0 HLHL

"L"t

HL0 20 1

6~3

-M

tone of the HL input sequence occurs on a syllable which is not of thestructure CXV; however, in the same example P-6 does apply to a secondH L sequence:

(10's \)Ngro*#yi:HH^ H (P-3) -> HLHL H (P-6) -* H^H H (A-2) ̂ H0|.H H

Further examples of derivations making use of P-6 are found in Table 8.

P-7 Leftward shift: LH LH /

Th:s rule says that a H tone between two low tones is grounded to theleft and the preceding low tone is set afloat. Examples of complete deri-vatons which include P-7 are found in Table 9.



18

Table 8: Sample of derivations showing the application of P-6

underlyingP-2P-3

A-l

P-4

P-5P-6

A-lA-2

P-9


aggregate ch.v.

realization

5's 1 ,2

U'bye · #\ya

H LH

H L0\

H HL

H LH

H LH0 00 1

0 1

HMH [---

'3)

H

H

H

H

H00

0

]

10's 11,12KI - - M^hr ΊKgro #\Ίά . {

H HL lH HL 0H LHL

H LLH

H 0LH

H LH0 00 1

0 1

ΗΜΗΧΓ-Μ

HLHLHL

f JTrlL

HLO

HL0 20 1

0~3

5's

ΡΠ

H

H

H

HHH

H

H00

0

6

bye ' Mrr·. '

LH LH/

LH LLH

«VJ LL

HLH 0LHLHH LHLH0 LH

ψ L0

LH L0 21 0

1 2

HML[--_]

5. CONCLUSION

My purpose in this paper was to explore the possibility of analysing thesurface tone patterns of Ebrie s sequences of H, L and ^ (or · ), just likethose of the classic terraced level tone languages. My conclusion is that inprinciple this treatment yields satisfactory results. I have had to positH at the systematic-phonetic level, but the fact that many of the classicterraced level tone languages have H at the systematic-phonemic level,together with the fact that in Ebrie H only had to be posited in prepausalPosition, makes this a very minor difference.

Over the years I have been in touch with various Ebrie-speakers and ithas become clear that there is considerable Variation in tones betweenthem. These differences depend on age, the native village of the Speaker,and the amount of contact with other languages, mainly French andDioula. I have made several observations. It seems that some of the tone-



19

Tafole 9: Sample of derivations showing the application of P-7

underlyingP-3P-5P-7P-8P-9


aggregate ch.v.

realization

6's6

N/rvvfl ' #dre

H LH LHH LLH LLHH 0LH 0LHH LH LH

H LH L0

H LH L0 0 20 1 0

0 1 2

HML[~-_]

6's

HHHHH

H00

0

15,16

*·#

Ι,ΗLLH0LH

LHLH

LH01

1

HMLX ['

1 >br \L LL L0 L

LLL

LL2 20 1

2~3

--,}

patterns on nouns are merging with others because of the fact that the Htone is disappearing from the underlying representation. Consequently,the underlying pattern H+LH changes and becomes^H+L, with the resultfor the surface realisation that HM merges with HX. Since the phoneticdistinction between HM and HX is not one which immediately strikes theear, and since it would only occur prepausally, the loss of the HM-fallseems a plausible change.

The distinction between prepausal L and LX is not very easyjto per-ceive either, and the prepausal L is disappearing in favour of a LX-fall,which, looking at the underlying structures, means that H+LLH is losingits final H tone and merging with H+LL. The two processes mentionedhere especially take place with words that do not occur very frequently.

In words that do occur frequently the distinction between a HM anda HX realization may be maintained, but I have found that a number_ofpeople use a level M tone utterance-finally where others still use HM.

I hope that this initial study on the tonal behaviour of the noun inthe citation form and in the associative construction will be followed bythat of the tonal perturbations on other parts of speech. My expectationis that the P-rules set up in this study will account for most of the tonalperturbations found elsewhere in the language.



20

APPENDIX: Structure conditiom, A-rules, P-rules

SC-1: NOT: H H A-l: H -» 0[ozero] [-ozero]

o

This structure condition states that the sequences HH and H H are nnotpermissible. If the well-formedness condition is violated, the automaaticrule, A-l, is applied and the H tone is deleted.

SC-2: NOT: LL A-2: L -> 0

This structure condition says that a sequence of two Floating low toness isnot permissible. If the well-formedness condition is violated, the automaaticrule, A-2, is applied and one L tone is deleted. Note that the structiureconditions have no force until after the application of P-3.

P-1 k-grounding: H^ -» L

This says that a L tone is grounded onto a H tone nominal prefix whe;n itfollows that H tone prefix immediately, and that nothing remains of theH tone. This rule only operates after pause (i.e. on nouns in the citattionform or on N! of the associative construction) since the nominal prcefixis absent in N2 .

P-2 Initial L-deletion: L -> 0 / # H

By this rule a word-initial L tone in N2 is deleted when a H tone follows.A word-initial L tone before L is not deleted since it is needed to block theapplication of P-4, Η-lag in those cases in which N! has a final H oir H;those L tones are deleted by P-5. P-2 is sensitive to the word boundaryin that in a configuration like 9's 1: HHL # H the L tone is not deleted.

P-3 Depression: 0 -» L / H

σtC X V

vr

/N•—lenisBrought to you by | University of Virginia

Authenticated | 128.143.23.241Download Date | 9/22/12 7:35 PM

21

BBy this rule a ^ tone is inserted before a L tone carried by a noun stemwwhich contains a depressor consonant ([+voiced, -lenis]): b, d, j, g, gb.

P?-4 -lag: L -» HL / H

TThis says that a H tone (floating or non-floating) followed by a non-float-inng L tone creates a H tone on the next syllable; the non-floating I. tone isdüislodged and becomes L

PP-5 L-deletion: L -» 0 / L

Tlhis says that any L tone occurring before a L tone at this point in the deri-v^ation is deleted. This rule mainly deletes the ^ tones which previouslybblocked the application of P-4, -lag. It also deletes some which wereinntroduced by P-4 (e.g. when number 13 is found in the N! -position of theaassociative construction).

H-anticipation: HL -* LH / _ ||J_ll ° 19TI

cxv

TFhis says that the sequence HL becomes LH when followed by a H tone,porovided that H tone is not both floating and prepausal. It only operateswvhen the first H tone is found on a CXV-syllable, and thus does not affectpoostpausal syllables.

P>-7 Leftward shift: LH -> LH / L

TFhis rule gets rid of a H tone between two L tones in that it groundstfhe H tone, dislodging the preceding L tone so that it becomes a L tone.TFhis rule operates only on a very limited number of N!'s N2-combina-tiions of the associative construction.

P>-8 Prepausal k-insertion: 0 -> L / L H

Biy this rule a L tone is inserted after a non-floating L tone and beforepjause. This rule accounts for the prepausal realization of low äs LX.

P>-9 Prepausal H-deletion: H -> 0 / L 1 1



22

By the application of this rule a prepausal H tone is deleted, but only aftera non-floating L tone. Note that P-9 is crucially ordered after P-8 becaustethe final L tone which results from P-9 does not undergo P-8.

REFERENCES

Bole-Richard, Remy. 1982. L'ebrie. In Atlas des langues kwa de Cöte d'Ivoire, tomel, ed. G. Herault, pp. 307-57. Abidjan: Institut de Linguistique Appliquee,Universite d'Abidjan.

Dumestre, G. 1970. Contribution a l'etude phonologique de l'ebrie (Basse Coted'Ivoire). Annales de l'Universite d'Abidjan, Serie H: Linguistique 3,1:19-29.

Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966. The Languages of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana Uni-versity.

Herault, Georges. 1978. Les langues kwa. In Inventaire des etudes linguistiques surles pays d'Afrique noire d'expression franfaise et sur Madagascar, ed. D. Barre-teau, pp. 101-112. Paris: Conseil international de la langue frangaise.

Hyman, Larry M., and Maurice Tadadjeu. 1976. Floating tones in Mbam-Nkam.In Studies in Bantu Tonology, ed. L.M. Hyman, pp. 57-111. (Southern CaliforniaOccasional Papers in Linguistics, 3.) Los Angeles: Univ. of Southern California.

Pike, Kenneth L. 1982. Tune and tone: Generalized syntagmatic pitch patternsconstrained by particular lexical patterns. The Journal of West African Languages12,2:22-41.

Stewart, John M. 1973. The lenis stops of the Potou Lagoon languages and theirsignificance for pre-Bantu reconstruction. In Papers in Ghanaian Linguistics,ed. M.E. Kropp Dakubu, pp. 1-49. (Research Review, Suppl. 4.) Legon: Univ.of Ghana, Inst, of African Studies.

. 1976. The final light syllables of Akan (Twi-Fante) and their significancefor Volta-Comoe reconstruction. In Communications from the Basel AfricaBibliography 14: Languages of the Akan Area (= Transactions of the LinguisticCircle of Accra, 3), ed. H.M.J. Trutenau, pp. 93-156. Basel: Basler Afrika Biblio-graphien.

. 1981. Key lowering (downstep/downglide) in Dschang. JALL 3:113-38.

. 1982. Vokaalharmonie in het Akan: de woordstructuurcondities. Glot 5:32M1.

-. 1983. Downstep and floating low tones in Adioukrou. JALL 5:57-78.Vogler, P. 1968. Esquisse d'une phonologie de l'ebrie. Annales de rUniversite

d'Abidjan, Serie H: Linguistique l, 1:60-65.Voorhoeve, Jan. 1971. Tonology of the Bamileke noun. Journal of African Lcn-

guages 10,2:44-53.Voorhoeve, Jan, A.E. Meeussen, and K.F. de Blois. 1969. New proposals for the

description of tone sequences in the Igbo completive phrase. The Journal of WtstAfrican Languages 6:79-84.

Department of African LinguisticsUniversity of Leiden, andSummer Institute of Linguistics, Nairobi



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The Tones of the Ebrié Associative Construction