Tone (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics)

377 Pages·2002·2.94 MB·English

by  Moira Yip

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The sounds of language can be divided into consonants,vowels and tones – the
use of pitch to convey word meaning. As many as seventy per cent of the world’s
languages may use pitch in this way.
Assuming little or no prior knowledge of the topic,this textbook provides a
clearly organized introduction to tone and tonal phonology. Comprehensive in
scope,it examines the main types of tonal systems found in Africa,the Americas
and Asia,using examples from the widest possible range of tone languages. It
provides students with a basic grasp of the simple phonetics of tone,and covers
key topics such as the distinctive feature systems suitable for tonal contrasts,
allophonic and morphophonological tonal alterations,and how to analyse them
within Optimality Theory.The book also examines the perception and acquisi-
tion of tone, as well as the interface between tonal phonology and the mor-
phosyntax.
moira yip is Professor in the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at
University College London. Prior to this she was Professor of Linguistics at the
University of California,Irvine. She has published extensively on tone and is the
author of The Tonal Phonology of Chinese (1991).

CAMBRIDGETEXTBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS
General editors:s. r. anderson, p. austin, j. bresnan,
b. comrie, w. dressler, c. j. ewen, r. huddleston,
r. lass, d. lightfoot, i. roberts, s. romaine,
n. v. smith, n. vincent
In this series
p. h. matthewsMorphologySecond edition
b. comrieAspect
r. m. kempsonSemantic Theory
t. bynonHistorical Linguistics
j. allwood, l.-g. anderson andö. dahlLogic in Linguistics
d. b. fryThe Physics of Speech
r. a. hudsonSociolinguistics Second edition
a. j. elliottChild Language
p. h. matthewsSyntax
a. radfordTransformational Syntax
l. bauerEnglish Word-Formation
s. c. levinsonPragmatics
g. brownand g.yuleDiscourse Analysis
r. huddlestonIntroduction to the Grammar of English
r. lassPhonology
b. comrieTense
w. kleinSecond LanguageAcquisition
a. j. woods, p. fletcherand a. hughesStatistics in Language Studies
d. a. cruseLexical Semantics
a. radfordTransformational Grammar
m. garmanPsycholinguistics
w. croftTypology and Universals
g. g. corbettGender
h. j. giegerichEnglish Phonology
r. cannFormal Semantics
p. j. hopperande. c. traugottGrammaticalization
j. laverPrinciples of Phonetics
f. r. palmerGrammatical Roles and Relations
m. a. jonesFoundations of French Syntax
a. radfordSyntactic Theory and the Structure of English:a Minimalist Approach
r. d. van valin, jr, and r. j. lapolla Syntax: Structure, Meaning and
Function
a. durantiLinguistic Anthropology
a. cruttenden Intonation Second edition
j. k. chambersandp. trudgillDialectology Second edition
c. lyonsDefiniteness
r. kagerOptimality Theory
j. a. holmAn Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles
c. g. corbettNumber
c. j. ewenand h. van der hulstThe Phonological Structure ofWords
f. r. palmerMood and Modality Second edition
b. j. blakeCase Second edition
e. gussmanPhonology:Analysis and Theory
m. yipTone
Tone
MOIRA YIP
University College London
  
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Cambridge University Press
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This book is dedicated to the memory of my father
BillWinsland,1920–2001,who taught me my first
wordofatone language,Kikuyu,many,many years ago.
Littledid he know where it would lead.