Tone splitting and vowel quality evidence from Lugbara

Abstract

In recent surveys of tonal phenomena it is suggested that vowel quality rarely affects tone. In the present paper it is argued that one such case can be found in Lugbara. Internal and comparative evidence is presented that the vowel feature Advanced Tongue Root (ATR) has had an initiating role in tone splitting in Western Lugbara. It is demonstrated tha.t the pitch of a vowel with a high tone was raised if the vowel was [+ATR], and it is suggested that the resulting tonal allophony was later phonemicized due to vowel merger and reduction or loss of segments.