Over half of the world’s languages are tonal, making tone a crucial aspect of human language, and yet many researchers shy away from it or otherwise treat it as exotic. In addition to being found on almost every continent, from South America to Europe, tone also interfaces with nearly every component of grammar. As renowned tonologist Larry Hyman once wrote, “Tone can do everything that segmental and metrical phonology can do, but the reverse is not true.” Amazingly, all of this is achieved with just a single phonetic parameter: fundamental frequency, or pitch. In this seminar, we look at tone from all angles: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, typology, and even its interfaces with music. Readings range from foundational papers to cutting edge research. Students will choose a tone language to focus on throughout the quarter, culminating in an individual research project on a tone topic of their choice.
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