Sentence-Level Effects on Alaskan Athabaskan Tone

Siri G. Tuttle, University of AlaskaSymposium in Honor of Gösta Bruce

University of Lund, SwedenJanuary 2007

Athabaskan Languages

The Athabaskan family is the largest indigenous language family in North America. It includes languages spoken in Alaska, western Canada, on the Oregon and California coasts, and in Arizona and New Mexico.

Another View

Athabaskan tonogenesis

While many of the languages have lexical tonal systems from the same proto-Athabaskan source (loss of syllable-final glottalic consonants; Leer 1979, Krauss 1978, 2005), these vary in reflex: some languages have high tone, some low, and some no tone at all. This is true within Alaska as within the whole language family.

Tone map in color

Athabaskan languages in Alaska

Tonal distribution in Alaska

Typology of Athabaskan prosodies

Tone – languages may or may not have lexical tone from proto-Athabaskan laryngealization

• Tonal reflex – some languages have high tone, some low, from the same historical source

Saturation – languages may or may not exhibit tonal saturation; many systems monovalent

Non-tonal (Ahtna)

Low-toned (Lower Tanana)

High tone from historical source

Low tone from historical source

+Saturated

• Navajo and Apache, with low tone from historic glottalization, have developed lexical high and mid tones on nearly all other prominent syllables (those with light vowels fall in with the low-toned), leaving few unmarked; these languages can be considered well-saturated.

• Tanacross (high tone from historical source) is also well-saturated, with both high and low tones specified (Holton 2005).

Saturated: San Carlos Apache

-Saturated

• In some of the eleven Alaskan Athabaskan languages, the majority of syllables are non-tonal, with only those reflecting proto-Athabaskan glottalization being “marked,” and the rest “unmarked,” to use terminology employed by Krauss and Leer. These languages can best be described as having sparse tonal systems.

Unsaturated: Minto, Lower Tanana

High tone spread in Tanacross

Minto spreading, with antitone

More Minto Spreading

No rightward spreading - Minto

Sentence type: question marker

Sentence type: Minto negative

Edge effects: final lowering

Summary

• Athabaskan languages in Alaska may have high, low or no tone from historic laryngealization.

• Tone may be sparse or saturated. • Tone sandhi is found in both high and low toned

languages• Intonation interacts with tone in all languages

surveyed.• Saturation may affect the relationship with intonation.

Masi ChwxThank you for listening

Selected references

• Krauss, Michael E. (2005). Athabaskan Tone. in Hargus, etc. pp. 55-136. • Krauss, Michael E. (1978, 2005) “Athabaskan Tone.” In Hargus, Sharon and Keren Rice,

Editors, Athabaskan Prosody. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pp. 51-136.• Krauss, Michael E. (1982) Notes on Salcha Athabaskan. Ms., Fairbanks: Alaska Native

Language Center. • Krauss, Michael E. (1982) Report on field session with Ellen Frank, March 17, 1996, and

tentative conclusions about Minto tone. Ms., Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.• Jeff (1979) Proto-Athabaskan verb stem variation. Part 1: phonology. Alaska Native

Language Center Research Papers No. 3. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. • Tuttle, Siri G. (1998a) Metrical and tonal structures in Tanana Athabaskan. Doctoral

dissertation, University of Washington.• Tuttle, Siri G. (1998b) Acoustic realizations of laryngeal contrasts in Minto Athabaskan

obstruents. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 103:3086 (Abstract).• Tuttle, Siri G. (2003) Archival Phonetics: Stress and Tone in Tanana Athabaskan.

Anthropological Linguistics 45:3, pp. 316-336.• Tuttle, Siri G. (2005) Coronal ejectives in Ahtna Athabaskan. Journal of the Acoustical

Society of America 117, 2489 (2005)• Tuttle, Siri G. and Ellen Kaisse (1996) Tone loss in Minto (Lower Tanana) Athabaskan. CLS

32.