LL-L "Phonology" 2002.04.19 (04) [D/E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 19.APR.2002 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Scots

Dear Lowlanders,

There is an interesting little introduction in Dutch to the tonality
phenomenon in Limburgish (Limburgs als toontaal) offered by Jos Buysen
at <http://buysen.com/limburgs.html>.  As Roger Thijs explained to us a
long time ago, Limburgish seems to have phonemic tones.  This means that
differences in pitch ("tone") can denote differences in meaning.  This
phenomenon is of course well known in Sino-Tibetan languages, especially
in Chinese,* and also in Vietnamese, Thai and Khmer (Cambodian), to name
but a few generally known ones, not to mention a large number of African
languages.  Some have claimed (convincingly in my opinion) that Japanese
is tonal also, because it distinguishes between high and non-high
("low") syllables.

(* Buysen writes that Chinese has four tones.  This would be correct if
by "Chinese" he means Mandarin.  The number of tones in other "Chinese"
varieties ranges from 13 or 14 in the south to zero in the northwest
where Chinese is spoken on Altaic substrates.)

In Europe, Lithuanian, Serbo-Croat, Slovenian, Swedish and Norwegian
have tones.  What makes tonality develop or disappear in certain
language varieties and not in other variety of the same group is
difficult to answer, and there may be different types of scenarios.  For
instance, why does not Danish have tones when Norwegian and Swedish do?
Some have suggested that the Danish _stød_ (a glottal interruption) is
the remnant of the dipping tone we still find in Swedish and Norwegian.
It is not totally absurd to suspect that certain Swiss Allemannic
(German) varieties are tonal.  That tonality can be lost seems to be
apparent also among the Bantu languages, where Suahili and some South
African varieties have no tones but all other Bantu languages do.
Likewise, Tibetan generally is tonal, but its Amdo varieties (used in
China's Qinghai and Gansu) are not, most likely because they have Altaic
(Turkic and Mongolic) substrates.  Why do some South Slavic languages
have tones and other Slavic languages don't?  Well, this could be an old
substrate of Greek or extinct and unknown Greek-related varieties, since
it is known that Ancient Greek (like its modern relative Lithuanian) had
tones.  Bengali, an Indo-Aryan and thus an Indo-European language, has
no semantic tonality, except some of its varieties in the northeastern
mountain ranges where unrelated tonal languages are spoken -- thus,
obviously another case of substrates.

So what makes Limburgish have tones and related varieties not?  Is it a
case of loss or gain?  What is its origin?  For some time I suspected
elision and resulting lengthening to be involved, where originally two
syllables existed, the first one stressed with a higher tone than the
second, unstressed one, and that contraction to a single syllable
(caused by deletion of -e, as in the Low Saxon "drawl tone"
[Schleifton]) causes a tone long falling contour tone (known in the
Netherlands as _sleeptoon_, as opposed to a short falling _stoottoon_).
(This type of syllable-and-tone contraction causing contour tones can be
observed very well among related West African varieties.)  However, some
data Roger supplied seem to contradict my hypothesis:

> bal    (sleeptoon):    voetbal
> bal    (stoottoon):    t-dansant (dansavond)
> erm (sleeptoon):    arm (enkelvoud)
> erm (stoottoon):    arm (meervoud)

> boom (sleeptoom):    boom
> buim (stoottoon):     bomen
> ho-es (sleeptoon):     huis
> hais (stoottoon):     huizen

If my hypothesis held any water, we ought to have the opposite: a
_sleeptoon_ where -e has been deleted

*bal    (stoottoon):    t-dansant (dansavond) < *balle
*erm (stoottoon):    arm (meervoud) < *erme
*buim (stoottoon):     bomen < *buime
*hais (stoottoon):     huizen < *haize

Cf. Low Saxon (Low German) _Sleeptoon_ (_Schleifton_) in (_Hüze_ /hüüz@/
>) _Hüüs'_ [hy:.z] 'houses' as opposed to _Stoottoon_ (_Stoßton_) in _Huus_ [hu:s] 'house'.

But perhaps in Limburgish it works the other way around: loss of -e
*causes* the _stoottoon_ ("pushing tone"), and the _sleeptoon_ is the
default ...

Any input would be most appreciated.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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