The phonological impact of tonal change-gctid256947

[Heru Djet]

This is a query for Dr. @Obadele Kambon.

What are some of the resulting phonological patterns that emerge when tonal languages undergo a loss of tonality either when its speakers come under the influence of a non-tonal language (as in the case of Yoruba speakers in Cuba and Brazil) or when a tonal language is assimilated by speakers of primarily non-tonal languages? What happens when orthographically identical words, which were previously differentiated by tone, lose these differences in pronunciation? How is meaning then communicated? Is context then the basis for determining meaning?

Asante sana.
HD

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

@Heru Djet, A good example of this is Wolof where vowel elongation and consonant gemination have largely taken the place of minimal pairs that, in the past, may have been differentiated by a toneme. Thus, differentiation occurs in instances like baax 'good' / bax 'boil' and xol 'heart' / xool 'look at'. This may be due to the influence of aAmwic, which is not a tonal language and which has had an impact on Wolof over the course of centuries. Generally speaking, areal diffusion effects due to proximity to non-tonal languages seem to be a driving force behind this loss of tone as you have surmised. In Cuba and Brasil, people pronounce Yorùbá words like they are Spanish (Ogún, Olorún, Olokún, Osún, etc., rather than Ògún, Ọlọ́run, Olókun, Ọ̀sun, etc.) as in the U.S. Kmtyw=Black people pronounce them like they are English, replacing indigenous tones with familiar tone patterns from whatever language(s) with which they are familiar (Obátə̀la rather than Ọbàtálá and Obádə̀lè rather than Ọbádélé). Basically, people replace what is unfamiliar with what is familiar. Orthography isn't really relevant here in the discussion of phonology as, in the case of convergence of minimal pairs into homophones, we're dealing with essentially phonological phenomena regardless of how those words may happen to be represented in a potentially arbitrary orthographic system. But at any rate, if you end up with the homophones, speakers may adapt other means of semantic differentiation based on phoneme, chroneme, stress/intonation, etc., or the context will be necessary for this purpose.

[Heru Djet]

Bora. Asante sana. This is edifying.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Heru Djet;256950 wrote: Bora. Asante sana. This is edifying.

Karibu sana. :soldiert:

[Kwadwo Tòkunbọ̀]

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