Pitch Accent

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> Actually Deloria says Dakotan speakers listen primarily for pitch.  I
> ran across her statement in B&D 1941.

Aha!

> As far as I can tell in my field recordings, falling pitch on a final
> syllable is automatic unless some other syllable is accented. Falling
> pitch on an initial syllable entails the presence of a long vowel in Kaw
> -- actually, an over-long vowel, as the contour pitch seems to cause
> extra lengthening of the syllable (This is for non-monosyllables).  More
> to come as I encounter it.

This is precisely what I noticed in Omaha-Ponca.  Falling pitch on CV## in
CV' and CVCV' words, e.g., kke' 'turtle' or ttabe' 'ball', and in
CV'-V-C...  words (typically inflected) across morpheme sequences, e.g.,
a'-a-gdhiN 'I sat on it' or mu'-a-se 'I cut it off by shooting' (more like
[mwaase] with falling on aa).  You don't get falls in bisyllables with
initial accent (CV'CV) in longer words with second syllable accent,
typically inflected (CV-CV'CV), or in words with initial accent like
a'gdhiN 'he sat on it' (CV'C...) or mu'se 'he cut it by shooting'.  If we
write long vowels as two moras, each V, and assume that initial accent
requires an initial long vowel, then these work out as CV(V)^, CVCV^,
(C)VV'-V(^)-C..., CVV'CV, CV-CV'CV, (C)VV'-V(^)-C...