Tone in Yongning Na: lexical tones and morphotonology

Alexis Michaud (1)

1 Speech Communication

This book aims to provide a description and analysis of the tone system of Yongning Na (also known as Mosuo), a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Southwest China. Tonal changes permeate numerous aspects of the morphosyntax of Yongning Na; they are not the product of a small set of phonological rules, but of a host of rules that are restricted to specific morphosyntactic contexts. Rich morphotonological systems have been reported in this area of Sino-Tibetan, but book-length descriptions remain few. This study of an endangered language contributes to a better understanding of the diversity of prosodic systems in East Asia. The analysis is based on original fieldwork data, collected over the course of ten years, commencing in 2006. It is primarily in the form of narrative texts and elicitation sessions (made available online).

Mots clés: tone systems; Yongning Na

Domaines: Linguistique

Alexis Michaud. Tone in Yongning Na: lexical tones and morphotonology. 2016. ⟨halshs-01094049v4⟩