Charles W. Kisseberth
(reviewers: Cédric Patin, Michael Becker)
Abstract: Some Emakhuwa (Bantu, P30) dialects exhibit a phenomenon of High Tone Doubling, where underlying (or “primary”) H tones double onto the immediately following mora. Some of these dialects
attenuate or weaken the primary H tone, once it has doubled, under certain conditions. This attenuation may be partial or complete. The present paper describes in detail the conditions under which attenuation occurs in these dialects. Since the attenuation phenomenon shows characteristics that are often associated with rules of phonetic implementation (e.g. it is exceptionless, in the case of
partial attenuation it is a matter of degree of pitch height, it is not restricted to the lexicon), the paper examines the issue of whether attenuation could be located in the phonetic component of these dialects rather than the phonology. The conclusion is that attenuation is phonological in nature and not phonetic.
Kisseberth, Charles W. 2022. “Attenuated High Tones in Emakhuwa Dialectology”. Radical: A Journal of Phonology, 4, 595-645.