Syllables in verb stems

Verb stems show the same distribution in syllable length as compared to noun stems. Here also the most common stem length is disyllabic, which accounts for more than half of the verbs in the database. In contrast to noun stems, however, the frequency difference between mono- and trisyllabic is not as sharp, as shown in Table 2.25. Both kinds occur at above 20%.

Verb stems are much more restricted in the syllable types that they allow, in comparison to noun stems. While in monosyllabic noun stems complex onsets with three consonantal phonemes are found, these are completely absent in verb stems. Verb stems, however, also display heavy syllables with a nucleus consist-ing either of a long vowel or a diphthong, as shown in Table 2.26. Again, CV

Table 2.25: Frequency of syllable lengths in verb stems

Syllable length Frequency

𝜎 88 23.3%

𝜎𝜎 213 56.5%

𝜎𝜎𝜎 76 20.2%

Total 377 100%

Table 2.26: Distribution of syllable types in monosyllabic verb stems

Syllable type Frequency

CV 34 38.6%

CVː 14 15.9%

CVV 9 10.2%

CCV 20 22.7%

CCVː 5 5.7%

CCVV 8 9.1%

Total 88 100%

syllables are the most frequent ones, followed by different CCV types, just as is the case with noun stems.

disyllabic verb stems have even more restrictions with respect to which sylla-ble types they permit. In contrast to noun stems, they only allow three types in the second syllable—CV, CCV, CCCV—but not heavy syllables. Also, disyllabic verb stems do not allow diphthongs in any position, which is another difference from noun stems.

Table 2.27 shows that CV type syllables are most frequent with 62.9% in first and even 78.4% in second syllables. The most common syllable type combination is CV.CV, followed by CCV.CV. CCV syllables are also found in second position, while complex onsets with three phonemes in this position are very rare. All of the latter are of the type NPG, either /ndj/ or /nɡj/, as for instance inbwàndjà

‘despise’ orɡjáŋɡjà‘work’.

Finally, trisyllabic verb stems allow fewer syllable types than their nominal counterparts. With the exception of CVː.CV.CV, trisyllabic verb stems do not

Table 2.27: Distribution of syllable types in disyllabic verb stems

𝜎2

𝜎1 CV CCV CCCV Total𝜎1 %

CV 111 29 3 143 (67.1)

CVː 5 5 (2.3)

CCV 49 12 2 63 (29.5)

CCVː 1 1 (0.5)

CCCV 1 1 (0.5)

Total𝜎2 167 41 5 213 (100)

% (78.4) (19.2) (2.3) (100)

Table 2.28: Distribution of syllable types in trisyllabic verb stems

Syllable type Frequency

CV CV CV 4 56.7%

CV CCV CV 9 11.8%

CV CV CCV 1 1.3%

CVː CV CV 1 1.3%

CCV CV CV 20 26.3%

CCV CCV CV 1 1.3%

CCCV CV CV 1 1.3%

Total 76 100%

generally allow heavy syllables. More than half of trisyllabic verb stems have a CV.CV.CV combination while the other likely combination is CCV.CV.CV.

As the distribution and frequency of syllable lengths and types presented above are based on basic verb forms, the observations made in this section do not ac-count for any exceptions in syllable structure that occur in some derived verb forms.²⁹ These are discussed in detail in §3.2.1. The most notable exception to this pattern concerns a medial onset-less syllable in a few rare cases where the

29Both basic and derived verb forms are listed in Appendix A.

verb root lacks an underlying final consonant. For instance, the derived recip-rocal form ofdjâ‘lie down’ isdjá.a.la‘lie down together’, with the exceptional syllable pattern CCV.V.CV (§3.2.1.3).

To summarize, Gyeli has open syllables with both complex onsets and complex nuclei. Simple syllable structures are, however, preferred in all environments and stem positions. Also, in terms of complexity, minimally complex onsets, i.e. two consonantal phonemes in an onset, are generally preferred over nucleus com-plexity while heavy syllables more often contain a long vowel rather than a diph-thong.

2.4 Tonology

Gyeli is a tonal language. It uses pitch differences to make both lexical and gram-matical distinctions. Yip (2002: 4) gives the following definition of a tone lan-guage:

A language with tone is one in which an indication of pitch enters into the lexical realization of at least some morphemes.³⁰

Maddieson (2013) also includes distinctions of grammatical functions in his definition of tone languages, pointing out that tone languages use “pitch patterns to distinguish individual words or the grammatical forms of words”.

Tone attaches to segmental units which are called “tone bearing units” (TBUs).

Whether the TBU is the segment (e.g. vowel or nasal consonant), mora, or syllable is language specific and may vary across even closely related languages. In Gyeli, the TBU is the syllable. As discussed in §2.3.1, Gyeli has heavy and light syllables, differing in the number of weight units which are called “moras”. Heavy syllables have two moras, light syllables only one. The reason why in Gyeli the syllable must be the TBU is that heavy and light syllables bear the same number of tones (Yip 2002: 73).

Both heavy and light syllables can host level and contour tones, as further discussed in the following section and illustrated in (65).

(65) a. tʃì ‘prohibition’

tʃìì ‘live, be well’

30This definition also classifies accentual or “pitch-accent languages” as tone languages. Yip (2002: 258) describes these languages as “impoverished” tone languages with a lexical contrast between a phonological tone and no tone.

b. dʒǐ ‘bench’

dʒìí ‘forest’

c. fû ‘fish’

fùú ‘rainy season’

The occurrence of contour tones on both heavy and light syllables reveals that the syllable is the TBU in Gyeli. In contrast, the vowel and mora can be dis-missed as possible TBUs based on the occurrence of contour tones: If the TBU was the vowel or the mora, one would expect that contour tones are not allowed in monomoraic syllables. The light syllable examples in (65) show, however, that monomoraic syllables in Gyeli do allow contour tones. Moreover, one would ex-pect that bimoraic syllables allow for two contour tones, allowing a contour tone on each mora. Two contour tones in one syllable, however, are not permitted.

In the following, I will first describe the tonal inventory of the language as well as the tonal distribution in noun and verb stems. Then, I will present the tonal rules.