Tone Analysis for Field Linguists

Tone, the use of pitch to provide phonological contrast between morphemes, plays an integral role in the structures of many languages. This book teaches linguists a tried-and-proven methodology for analyzing tone in any part of the world. Significant features:

• Delivers the most comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to tone analysis for field linguists

• Emphasizes the discovery of contrastive tone patterns of morphemes, as opposed to contrastive tones of tone-bearing units

• Focuses on keeping constant all factors that can potentially affect tone, so that utterances being compared are truly comparable

• Includes a chapter on the phonetic properties of pitch

• Presents principles for developing orthographies for tone languages

• Includes comprehensive accompanying online exercises* that guide students from beginning to end through a complete analysis of nominal tone in a single language, Chumburung.

Assuming little prior knowledge of tone or tone languages, Tone Analysis for Field Linguists is readily accessible to students and field workers alike who have previously taken introductory courses in articulatory phonetics, phonology, and morphology and syntax.

*Instructors may access the accompanying online exercises. Register here:  https://www.sil.org/resources/publications/toneanalysis_teachermaterials