Re: Grammatical tones

On Fri, Aug 23, 2002 at 03:36:04PM -0400, Christopher Wright wrote:
> Bama.
>
> How plausible is it for tones to have a grammatical rather than lexical
> meaning? For instance, where many languages have articles, this one would
> have different tones instead. Or perhaps verb number or tense would be
> indicated thus.
[snip]

I don't know how plausible it is, but Ebisedian inflects gender by
shifting the stressed (high-pitched) syllable. Of course, in many cases
the consonant changes as well, but that is only because of emphasis.

For example:
        biji' [bi"dZi]  "arm" (epicene)
        bi'ji ["bidZi]  "arm" (masculine) i.e., "man's arm"

Sometimes, the difference in stress position distinguishes two cognate
words:
        miza'i [mi"za?i]        "to marry" (introvertive verb)
        mizai' [miza"?i]        "marriage" (neuter noun)

Less obvious examples are those that changes consonants as well, the most
common example being the word that gave rise to the English name for the
language:
        bis33'di [bi"s@\:di]    "person", "human" (epicene)
        pii'z3di ["pi:z@\di]    "man" (masculine)
        biz3tai' [biz@\ta"?i]   "woman" (feminine)

In the case of _biz3tai'_ the final syllable is long, but is split into
two short syllables in the locative case (the form given above) because
the locative case always has a short _i_.

Other examples:
        bidi'  [bi"di]          "parent"
        pii'di ["pi:di]         "father"
        bidei' [bid&"?i]        "mother"

Often, such shifts also occur between cognate verbs and nouns, and
between verbs/nouns and cognate particles. These shifts usually happen
together with other vocalic/consonantal shifts. For example:
        ta'ma ["tama]   "to speak"
        t3mi' [t@\"mi]  "word", "speech"

        lee'r3 ["l&r`@\]        "to flow"
        l3rii' [l@\r`i:]        "stream", "river"

        z0'e ["zA?&]    "to join", "to connect"
        z3i' [z@\"?i]   "joint", "link", "connection"

        uro [?ur`o]     preposition, "this one"
        uu'ri ["u:r`i]  noun, "here", "this place"
        (This pair isn't so much a shift as the appearance of an accent on
        the word -- _uro_ is completely unaccented.)

        my'e ["my?&]    negative particle, "not", "it is not so that"
        myy'i ["my:?i]  noun, "negativity", "absence".
        (This is more a vocalic change than anything, as well as vowel
        lengthening.)


T

--
Many open minds should be closed for repairs. -- K5 user

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