Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:22:02.340Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Issues in the acquisition of the Sesotho tonal system*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Katherine Demuth
Katherine Demuth*
Affiliation:
Brown University
*
Address for correspondence: Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University, Box 1978, Providence, RI 02912USA. Katherine_Demuth@brown.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the acquisition of the grammatical tone system of Sesotho, a southern Bantu language where tone sandhi is rich, and where surface and underlying representations are often quite distinct. Results of the longitudinal case study show that rule-assigned tone on subject markers is generally marked appropriately by age two. In contrast, underlying tonal representations on verb roots are learned gradually over time, showing an early Default High tone pattern. The study also finds that, while some tone sandhi rules are in the process of being acquired between 2;6 and 3;0, problems in the mapping between tonal representations and segments persist. The paper raises methodological and theoretical issues not only for the acquisition of tonal systems, but for the acquisition of phonology in general.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , June 1993 , pp. 275 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

Data collection for this work was supported by Fulbright-Hayes and Social Science Research Council (SSRC) grants. Data transcription and analysis has been supported by NSF Grant No. BNS08709938 and by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). I thank Steven Bird, Tucker Childs, Nick Clements, Julie Croston, Grzegorz Dogil, Elan Dresher, Charles Ferguson, Larry Hyman, Ben Khoali, Thabo Khojane, Chuck Kisse-berth, Mark Johnson, Will Leben, ‘Malillo Machobane, Sheila Mmusi K. P. Mohanan, Jim Morgan, Mpiko Ntseki, Glyne Piggott, Frances W. Pritchett, Mpatletseng Ramaema, as well as Katharine Perera, anonymous reviewers, and several audiences for stimulating discussion, comments and assistance relating to this research. The final interpretations are, of course, my own.

References

REFERENCES

Chao, Y. R. (1973). The Cantian idiolect: an analysis of the Chinese spoken by a twenty-eight-month-old child. In Ferguson, C. A. & Slobin, D. I. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Chimombo, M. & Mtenje, A. (1989). Interaction of tone, syntax and semantics in the acquisition of Chichewa negation. Studies in African Linguistics 20, 2, 103–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. (1988). Sesotho tone. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Boston University.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. & Ford, K. C. (1981). On the phonological status of downstep in Kikuyu. In Goyvaerts, D. (ed.), Phonology in the 1980s. Ghent: Story-Scientia.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. & Goldsmith, J. (eds) (1984). Autosegmental studies in Bantu tone. Dordrecht: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clumeck, H. (1977). Studies in the acquisition of Mandarin phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Clumeck, H. (1980). The acquisition of tone. In Yeni-Komishian, G., Kavanagh, J. & Ferguson, C. A. (eds), Child phonology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (1986). Prosodic development. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition: studies in first language development. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Demuth, K. (1984). Aspects of Sesotho acquisition. Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Demuth, K. (1988). Noun classes and agreement in Sesotho acquisition. In Barlow, M. & Ferguson, C. A. (eds), Agreement in natural languages: approaches, theories and descriptions. CSLI: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Demuth, K. (1989). Problems in the acquisition of grammatical tone. Papers & Reports on Child Language Development 28, 81–88. Stanford University.Google Scholar
Demuth, K. (1991). Acquisition of the Sesotho tonal system. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 26. Universitát zu Köln.Google Scholar
Demuth, K. (1992 a). Accessing functional categories in Sesotho: interactions at the morpho-syntax interface. In Meisel, J. (ed.), The acquisition of verb placement: functional categories and V2 phenomena in language development, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Demuth, K. (1992 b). Acquisition of Sesotho. In Slobin, D. (ed.), The cross-linguistic study of language acquisition, Vol. 3. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Doke, C. M. & Mofokeng, S. M. (1957), Textbook of Southern Sotho grammar. Cape Town: Longman.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, J. (1976). Ph.D. dissertation, MIT. Autosegmental phonology. (Distributed by Indiana University Linguistics Club.)Google Scholar
Hayes, B. (1982). Extrametricality and English stress. Linguistic Inquiry 20, 227–76.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. (1941/1968). Child language, aphasia and phonological universals (trans. Keiler, A. R.). The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, P. (1982). Lexical morphology and phonology. In Yang, I. S. (ed.), Linguistics in the Morning Calm. Seoul: Hanshin.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, P. (1985). Some consequences of lexical phonology. Phonology Yearbook 2, 85–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiparsky, P. & Menn, L. (1977). On the acquisition of phonology. In Macnamara, J. (ed.), Language, learning and thought. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kisseberth, C. (1989). Morphological high tones in Sotho-Tswana. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, University of Illinois, Urbana.Google Scholar
Khoali, B. (1991). A grammar of Sesotho tone. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Illinois: Urbana.Google Scholar
Köhler, O. (1956). Das Tonsystem des Verbum im Südsotho. Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung, IV, 435–74.Google Scholar
Kunene, D. (1961). A study of Sesotho tone. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Kunene, D. (1972). A preliminary study of downstepping in Southern Sotho. African Studies 31, 11–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leben, W. (1973). Suprasegmental phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT. (Distributed by Indiana University Linguistics Club.)Google Scholar
Letele, G. L. (1955). The role of tone in the Southern Sotho language. Ph.D. dissertation. University College of Fort Hare.Google Scholar
Li, C. & Thompson, S. (1977). The acquisition of tone in Mandarin-speaking children. Journal of Child Language 4, 185–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liberman, M. & Prince, A. (1977). On stress and linguistic rhythm. Linguistic Inquiry 8, 249–336.Google Scholar
Macken, M. & Ferguson, C. (1983). Cognitive aspects of phonological development: model, evidence and issues. In Nelson, K. (ed.), Children's language. Vol. 5. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McCarthy, J. (1986). OCP effects: gemination and antigemination, Linguistic Inquiry 17, 207–63.Google Scholar
Mmusi, S. (1991). OCP effects and violations – The case of Setswana verbal tone. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Illinois: Urbana.Google Scholar
Mohanan, K. P. (1982). Lexical phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT. (Distributed by Indiana University Linguistics Club.)Google Scholar
Mohanan, K. P. (1986). The theory of lexical phonology. Boston: Reidel.Google Scholar
Moto, F. (1988). The acquisition of Chichewa tone. Paper presented at the 19th Conference on African Linguistics, Boston University.Google Scholar
Nespor, M. & Vogel, I. (1986). Prosodic phonology. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Odden, D. (1986). On the role of the Obligatory Contour Principle in phonological theory. Language 62, 353–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odden, D. (1988). Anti antigemination and the OCP. Linguistic Inquiry 19, 451–75.Google Scholar
Pulleyblank, D. (1986). Tone in lexical phonology. Boston: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selkirk, E. (1984). Phonology and syntax: the relation between sound and structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Smith, N. (1973). The acquisition of phonology: a case study. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Spencer, A. (1986). Toward a theory of phonological development. Lingua 68, 3–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzman, S. (1991). Language acquisition in Zulu. Ph.D. dissertation, Witwatersrand University.Google Scholar
Tse, J. K. P. (1978). Tone-acquisition in Cantonese: a longitudinal case study. Journal of Child Language 5, 191–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuaycharoen, P. (1977). The phonetic and phonological development of a Thai baby: from early communicative interaction to speech. Ph.D. dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Tucker, A. (1969). The comparative phonetics of the Suto-Chuana group of Bantu languages. (London: Longmans, Green & Co.) Gregg International Publishers Ltd.Google Scholar
Waterson, N. (1971). Child phonology: a prosodic view. Journal of Linguistics 7, 179–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterson, N. (1987). Prosodic phonology: the theory and its application to language acquisition and speech processing. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Williams, E. (1971). Underlying tone in Margi and Igbo. (Published in Linguistic Inquiry (1976), 7, 463–84.)Google Scholar