6,788
edits
m (→Pitch accent) |
|||
Line 280: | Line 280: | ||
The pitch accent of a word (of more than one mora) consists of two components: the lexical tone, and the position of the downstep (the latter is confined to appear after the 3rd-to-last mora). A low-tone word starts low and has the highest pitch at the tonic mora, which is immediately before the downstep, whereafter the pitch drops sharply. A high-tone word is consistently high until the downstep in theory, but it was probably natural for the pitch to dip to some extent approaching the downstep in longer words. | The pitch accent of a word (of more than one mora) consists of two components: the lexical tone, and the position of the downstep (the latter is confined to appear after the 3rd-to-last mora). A low-tone word starts low and has the highest pitch at the tonic mora, which is immediately before the downstep, whereafter the pitch drops sharply. A high-tone word is consistently high until the downstep in theory, but it was probably natural for the pitch to dip to some extent approaching the downstep in longer words. | ||
The following rules govern the marking Themsaran pitch accent: | The following rules govern the marking of Themsaran pitch accent: | ||
#High lexical tone is marked in the initial syllable; low tone is not marked, unless necessitated by rule 2. | #High lexical tone is marked in the initial syllable; low tone is not marked, unless necessitated by rule 2. | ||
#The tonic syllable is always marked: | #The tonic syllable is always marked: | ||
Line 286: | Line 286: | ||
##If the downstep occurs between the two morae of a long syllable, the syllable has falling tone. | ##If the downstep occurs between the two morae of a long syllable, the syllable has falling tone. | ||
#If there is only one high-marked syllable, it is understood as tonic. | #If there is only one high-marked syllable, it is understood as tonic. | ||
#A final syllable with a rising tone is converted to a falling tone. | |||
If the downstep occurred word-finally, the first syllable of a following high tone word would have slightly lower pitch. In [[w:Pausa|pausa]], a word final high short syllable is realized as a falling, short vowel. | If the downstep occurred word-finally, the first syllable of a following high tone word would have slightly lower pitch. In [[w:Pausa|pausa]], a word final high short syllable is realized as a falling, short vowel. |
edits