Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

3.2.1. Tone in final position
One type of phonological strength effect that has been thoroughly documented in
final position is the tendency toward preferential licensing of contour tones on final
syllables. Zhang (2001), building on Gordon’s (1999) crosslinguistic study of the
phonetic properties associated with tone-bearing segments, provides evidence for the
strength of prosodic-final syllables with respect to contour tones. Zhang cites the
behavior of contour tones in Kikuyu, shown in (15), as an example of this pattern.
(15) Contour tones in Kikuyu: phrase-final vs. non-final
a. kariok moea -> kariok moea ‘good Kiriuki’
3g6 56 3g # 56
L H L L H L
b. kariok -> kariok ‘Kiriuki’
3g6 3g6 #
L H L H
In the non-prosodic-final context in (a), the floating high tone alone occupies the final
syllable of the noun, while the low tone is realized only on the first two syllables. In the
prosodic-final context in (b), by contrast, the high associates to the final syllable, forming
a contour with the preceding low. Zhang explains this pattern as a consequence of the
additional phonetic duration associated with domain-final syllables. Contour tones, for
obvious reasons requiring more duration for their realization than other tones, are shown
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