Tone anticipation in Gbanu (Gbaya)

Authors

  • Kenneth S. Olson SIL

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v11i1.6072

Keywords:

typology, tone, floating tones, anticipatory spreading, Gbaya, Gbanu

Abstract

In Gbanu, anticipatory (“leftward”) tone spreading is more general than perseverative (“rightward”) spreading. This is one counterexample to the observation that perseverative spreading is more natural (Hyman & Schuh 1974). Leftward H-Spread (/HLH/ → [HⓁHH]) occurs regularly, including in monomorphemic words. Downstep results from the anticipatory spread of the second High, delinking the Low. Rightward H-Spread (/HL-T/ → [HHⓁT]) is rarer, and it is restricted to nouns with a /HL/ melody. Gbanu provides one additional case showing that the geographic and genetic extent of Leftward H-Spread is wider than previously thought. Besides Gbaya, it is also attested in Kwa, Gur, Bantu A, West Central Sudanic, and Nilotic.

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Published

2026-05-22

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026): Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Kenneth S. Olson

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Published by the LSA with permission of the author(s) under a CC BY 4.0 license.

How to Cite

Olson, Kenneth. 2026. “Tone Anticipation in Gbanu (Gbaya)”. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 11 (1): 6072. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v11i1.6072.