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(1) H vs. M: [CS>=( =( =(@=] =( ‘net’ [=M( ( (] ( ‘lung’
[CS>=@=] ‘hunting shelter’ [=M] ‘wife’
H vs. L: [K( K( K(K] K( ‘semen’ [=(=( =( =(] =( ‘paddle’
[KK] ‘death’
M vs. L: [=H=] ‘barren’
[=H=] ‘clan, fetish’
[=(=] ‘weaver bird’
Mono also contains phonetic contour tones: Falling (F, marked with a circumflex
above the vowel) and Rising (R, marked with a wedge above the vowel). I do not
consider these to be contrastive, however, for the following reasons. First, the vowels
which bear contour tones are always phonetically long, so minimal pairs with the level
tones cannot be established. In tautomorphemic environments, phonetically long vowels
always bear contour tones, and vowels with level tones are phonetically short. In
heteromorphemic environments, if a morphological or syntactic process creates a
situation where two identical vowels with identical tones are adjacent, an optional
process applies to resolve the hiatus. For example, when the plural prefix = = = = is applied to
a word beginning with =, an optional is inserted, as in (2a). Also, if vowel hiatus (see
Section 7.2.2) creates an = + = sequence, the sequence is reduced to a short = in normal
speech, as in (2b).
(2) a. ==>=( ==>=( ==>=( ==>=(
→ ==>=( ==>=( ==>=( ==>=(
‘fathers’
b. >=(= >=(= >=(= >=(= =J= =J= → >=(= >=(= >=(= >=(= ==J= ==J= ==J= ==J= → >=(= >=(= >=(= >=(= =J= ‘I greet you.’
Second, tautomorphemic contour tones are rare in the lexicon, and many of the
occurrences are in plant and animal names, ideophones, and loan words. All of the
examples of tautomorphemic contour tones on phonetically long vowels in my corpus are
shown in (3).
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