rarum 125: when tone is privative, low tone as marked (hence phonologically active) relative to (phonologically inactive) high tone, rather than the other way round
Where found
a small group of Bantu lgs, including Ruwund, Luba, Tembo, Tonga (?) (Niger-Congo); Engenni (Edo, Kwa, Niger-Congo); Tsuut’ina (aka Sarcee, originally Northern Athabaskan, but long isolated) and (formerly) all Southern (aka Apachean) Athabaskan lgs; Tlingit (Sanya-Henya dialect) (Na-Dene); Dubea, Yabem (Oceanic, Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian)
Domain
phonology
Subdomain
tone
Keywords
high/low, markedness
Type
rarum
Universals violated
none?
Source
Maddieson, Ian (1978). Universals of tone. In Joseph H. Greenberg et al. (eds.), Universals of Human Language, vol. 2: Phonology, 335-365. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Leer, Jeff (1999). Tonogenesis in Athabaskan. In Shigeki Kaji (ed.), Cross-Linguistic Studies of Tonal Phenomena: Tonogenesis,Typology, and Related Topics, 37-66. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. Leer, Jeff (2001). Shift of tonal markedness in Northern Tlingit and Southern Athabaskan. In Shigeki Kaji (ed.), Cross-Linguistic Studies of Tonal Phenomena: Tonogenesis, Japanese Accentology, and Other Topics, 61-86. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. Hyman, Larry M. (2001). Privative tone in Bantu. In Shigeki Kaji (ed.), Cross-Linguistic Studies of Tonal Phenomena: Tonogenesis, Japanese Accentology, and Other Topics, 237-257. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
