The Interaction of Tone with Voicing and Foot Structure: Evidence from Kera Phonetics and Phonology

by Mary D. Pearce

Overview

This book investigates the topics of tone, vowel harmony, and metrical structure, with special reference to Kera, a Chadic language spoken in Chad and Cameroon. Kera is a tone language where a change in the pitch of the word can make a difference to its meaning. Drawing on a decade of experience living and working with the Kera, Mary D. Pearce looks at both the phonetics and phonology to examine how tone interacts with the vowel quality and rhythm of the language. The implications arising from this research are relevant for phonologists and Africanists far beyond the boundaries of Chad and should be useful to anyone working on languages with interesting tonal and rhythmic properties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781575866086
Publisher:	Center for the Study of Language and Inf
Publication date:	10/15/2011
Series:	Stanford Monographs in African Language
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Mary Pearce is currently a linguistic consultant for Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) in Chad. She also teaches at the Université de N’djaména in Chad and is affiliated with SIL International and with University College London.