Tonoexodus in Rma

Bibliographic Data

ID20344889
AuthorsNathaniel A Sims (0000-0003-2456-5025, Yale University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume42
Issue2
Pages198-249
Publication date2025-06-16
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiachronica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0176-4225 • E-ISSN: 1569-9714
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/dia.22017.sim
OpenAlexW4410782207
LanguageEN
References cited42

There is an extensive literature on tonogenesis, yet the literature on tonoexodus is much less developed. This paper contributes to the knowledge of how tone systems can be lost through a diachronic study of tone in disyllables in Rma (also known as Qiāng), a Trans-Himalayan language spoken along the upper reaches of the Min River in Sichuan, China. There are both tonal and atonal Rma dialects. It has been argued that tonal patterns emerged from reanalysis of stress patterns as tones due to influence from Chinese. This paper argues that the tonoexodus scenario explains word-prosodic correspondences better than the alternative tonogenetic account

History · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Speech Recognition and Synthesis

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