query: checked/entering tone

Sun Sep 23 08:36:44 UTC 2012

Dear Kristine and other contributors,

following Zev's latest contribution, I believe he is right to say 
"entering" tone is a proper name; and I will let this term rest.

About "checked" , the term  is applied to 'tones' and to 'syllables' . 
Matisoff's 1972 "The Loloish tonal split revisited" is a good example.
Jim speaks of "checked tones" in synchronic Lahu, meaning tones with a 
phonetic glottal catch , NOT with a final consonant, NOT with 
laryngealization or glottalization of the vowel. In the LTSR, which is a 
comparative work, he uses the term "checked tone classes" etymologically 
and comparatively for languages where he would not call the modern tones 
properly "checked", e.g. Akha as described by Lewis, where he explains 
"The 'checkedness' is realized more as laryngealization of the vowel 
than as an actual final glottal stop", thus distinguishing an 
etymological uses of the term "checked", between scare quotes, from a 
straightforward use, indicating a glottal catch or a full glottal stop. 
Etymologically "checked tones" are also referred to as "stopped tones" 
(referring to the fact that the syllables had final stops in the 
reconstructed form).

Now, checked is used also as a qualification of syllables: checked 
syllables in Asian languages are ended in a stop or fricative (-s), as 
opposed to "smooth" syllables ending in nothing, or nasals, or liquids, 
or semi-vowels. The distinction of the two categories of course is due 
to the different tonal effects of the two classes of ending.

BUT, in other language families, the usage is different! The main split 
in syllable structure for phonological development in Romance for 
instance is between "closed" and "open"  syllables. The nature of the 
consonant which closes the syllable is not an important factor. 
Syllables which end in ANY consonant in Romance are called "checked 
syllables", and the vowels they contain "checked vowels".

This terminological headache has come to my attention in the process of 
translating Haudricourt's articles into English? The French "voyelle 
entravée" translates as "checked vowel" (sometimes as "blocked vowel" in 
some minority authors).

So, whetever term we use, we should define precisely what we mean in a 
footnote!

Cheers

Martine

Le 22/09/2012 21:12, Zev Handel a écrit :
> Hi Kristine,
>
>    I think Graham has this right. I'll give you my impressions of usage, though they may not be completely accurate.
>
>    "Entering tone" is a proper name for one of the four tones of Middle Chinese; the term is a calque from the native Chinese designation for this tone. Because this tone was associated with stop endings in Middle Chinese, the term is used analogously by Chinese linguists to talk about tones that co-occur with stop endings, not only in Chinese dialects but also in Chinese minority languages.  Moreover, for East Asian tone systems that are notably similar to the Middle Chinese four-tone system (Thai, Vietnamese, Hmong-Mien, etc.), in which there are three tones found on open or nasal-ending syllables and one tone found on stop-ending syllables, linguists coming out of a Chinese or East-Asian-comparative tradition will sometimes apply the term "entering tone" by analogy with Chinese.  (This is the tone that is also seen designated as tone "D" or tone "4"/"IV".)
>
>    Since "checked" is a term used by linguists to describe a syllable type (contrasted e.g. with "open" or "live" syllables), it is available metonymically to designate a tone that is found co-occurring with such syllables in any language. What I don't know is to what degree the term "checked tone" in fact occurs in descriptions of other languages.  Many of the responses you have received have noted the existence of tone categories associated with glottal stop endings in various languages, but they haven't been very explicit about whether those are commonly referred to as "checked tones" in the relevant literature.
>
> Zev
>
>
> On Sep 22, 2012, at 7:34 AM, Thurgood, Graham wrote:
>
>> Kristine,
>>
>> Additional note: entering tone is only used to name a particular tone in Chinese; checked is a more general designation that can be applied to other languages.
>>
>> Graham
>>
>>
>> On 9/20/12 4:47 PM, "Kristine Hildebrandt" <khildeb at SIUE.EDU> wrote:
>>
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>> In the process of compiling some tone and tone-related entries for a forthcoming dictionary, I was asked whether the 'checked/entering tone' which is frequently discussed with respect to Chinese dialects is a concept invoked for other languages (possibly other Sino-Tibetan, but even more, for other languages outside of the family altogether). My basic journal/literature/even Google searches have not been very fruitful. Can anyone help me with this?
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>>
>> Graham Thurgood
>> English Department
>> CSU Chico
>> Chico, CA 95929
>>
>> http://www.csuchico.edu/%7Egt18/GWT_Homepage.html
> _____________________
> Zev Handel        http://faculty.washington.edu/zhandel/
>
> Associate Professor of Chinese Language and Linguistics
> Department of Asian Languages and Literature, Box 353521
> University of Washington
> Seattle, WA  98195-3521 (206) 543-4863
> http://depts.washington.edu/asianll/
> Guidelines for requesting letters of recommendation: http://faculty.washington.edu/zhandel/recommendation.html
>
>

-- 
Martine Mazaudon
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