The tone system of West African Coastal English

Bibliographic Data

ID2268546
AuthorsLindsay Griper‐friedman (corresponding author)
Year1990
Volume9
Issue1
Pages63-77
Publication date1990-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Englishes (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0883-2919 • E-ISSN: 1467-971X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-971x.1990.tb00687.x
OpenAlexW2135783889
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited1

An outline is given of the tone system common to all varieties of anglophone West African Coastal English. These varieties are identified on two axes: a regional axis corresponding to geographical location and mother tongue, and a socio-linguistic axis relating to social acceptability, international intelligibility and closeness to native English. On this second axis a typology of three is set up. The features of the tone system are: syllable tone, word accent, word classes, downdrift, and two tone groups. These are described in detail and exemplified from type II Ghanaian English. An indication of how there may be slightly different regional realisations of the system is exemplified from Yoruba English. This highly predictable tone system as a characteristic of all varieties of West African Coastal English, with only minor regional differences, gives rise to some interesting linguistic, pedagogical and socio-linguistic questions

Archaeology · Closeness · Dialectology · Geography · Intelligibility (philosophy · Linguistics · Stress (linguistics · Tone (literature · Typology · Varieties of English · Yoruba · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research

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