How Natural Is Tonal Phonology? What Happens to Stress-Tone Interactions When Tones Reverse?

Abstract

In the area of stress-tone interactions, it has been claimed to be a universal that High tone, rather than Middle or Low tone, attracts stress (DeLacy 2002, 2007). Data from two northern Dene languages, Tetsǫ́t’ıné (ISO: CHP) and Wıìlıìdeh (ISO: DGR) complicate this simple generalization. These two languages have nearly identical tonal phonologies, but with opposite tones. Early in the derivation, iambic stress attracts High tone in Tetsǫ́t’ıné, but Low tone in Wıìlıìdeh. However later in the derivation, High tone attracts stress in both languages. I propose a unified analysis of both languages using underspecification and an extended tone hierarchy.