Universal 2027:
- Original
- Measure the (sonorant) rime duration, and you’ll get the right contour tones in the right places:
(a) by syllable type: CVV >> CVR >> (CVO) >> CV
(b) by # of syllables: monosyllabic >> bisyllabic >> polysyllabic
(c) by prominence: stressed >> unstressed, root >> affix syllable
(d) by tone: R >> F >> H, L
(e) by language-particular phonetics - Standardized
- IF there are contour tones in place X on any of the hierarchies in (a)-(d), THEN there are contour tones also lower on each hierarchy:(a) syllable type: CVV >> CVR >> (CVO) >> CV(b) number of syllables: monosyllabic >> bisyllabic >> polysyllabic(c) prominence: stressed >> unstressed, root >> affix syllable(d) tone: R >> F >> H, L
- Keywords
- tone, contour tone
- Domain
- phonology
- Type
- implicational hierarchy
- Status
- achronic, diachronic
- Quality
- absolute?
- Basis
- 105 lgs (Gordon 2001), 187 lgs (Zhang 2001)
- Source
- Hyman 2003, summarizing Gordon 2001 and Zhang 2001, with a critical intention
- Counterexamples
“[there is] an implicational hierarchy of tone bearing ability, whereby lng vowels are most likely to carry contour tones, followed by syllables containing a short vowel plus a sonorant coda, followed by syllables containing a short vowel plus an obstruent coda, followed by open syllables containing a short vowel […] syllable types which are phonetically better suited to carry tonal information are more likely to support contour tones”. (Gordon 2001: 405)”[…] the distribution of contour tones is found to correlate closely with the duration and sonority of the rime. Syllables with longer rime duration, e.g. those that are long-vowelled, sonorant-closed, stressed, prosodic-final, or in a shorter word, are more likely to carry contour tones.” (Zhang 2001: xiv-xv)See #2034.