Speaker: Mirella L. Blum (University of Edinburgh)
Title: Correspondence and variation in Dinka tone
Time: Monday, April 3rd, 5pm – 6:30pm
Abstract: This talk examines tonal phonology across dialects of the Dinka language (West Nilotic, South Sudan). Dinka has a highly complex sound system, with a three-level vowel length contrast, a voice quality contrast, and tone; all elements are both lexical and grammatical, and most of the language’s morphology is expressed through its suprasegmentals. Along with the high functional load of tone and extensive tone sandhi, the varying number of tones— dialects of Dinka have either three or four tones—has led to the impression that the tone systems of different varieties of Dinka cannot be compared, and that systematic correspondences do not exist. In contrast, I show how tones correspond across dialects of Dinka, depending in part on the vowel grade system—alternations of vowel quality and length pervasive throughout numerous areas of Dinka morphology. I show that dialects likely shift from four to three tones, not the other way around, and I discuss the range of tonal processes across dialects of Dinka, how the processes relate to one another, and how they hint at the evolution of the tone systems of individual dialects.