Vol. 14:2 (2024) ► pp.179–241
The tonal morphology of the potential in Coatec Zapotec (Di′zhke′)
Implications for early Zapotecan tone, *ʔ, and verb classes through internal and comparative reconstruction
While the phenomenon of tonogenesis is well represented in the literature, diachronic tone change in already-tonal languages has received less attention. This paper considers two types of tonal morphology used to mark the “potential” inflectional category on verbs in Coatec Zapotec (aka Di′zhke′). Some verbs are marked with upstep. Coatec upstepped tones are emergent tonal contrasts that are developing out of high register allotones which assimilated to a historical high tone on a now-deleted preceding syllable. Other verbs display patterns of tone ablaut such that a verb with underlying low or falling tone surfaces with high or rising in the potential. Both upstep and tone ablaut in Coatec can be traced to an earlier floating high tone that could dock onto different syllables according to a set of ranked constraints. Using a combination of internal and comparative reconstruction, details of the earlier tonal system are revealed. This is the first published treatment of Proto-Zapotec tone since Swadesh (1947) and the first paper to address tone in Proto-Zapotecan and Proto Core Zapotec. *ʔ is revealed to have been a consonant through the Core Zapotec period, suggesting that the complex systems of phonation contrasts found in some Central Zapotec languages are a recent development. Cases of tonal contrasts developing out of phonation contrasts are known from Southeast Asia, but Zapotec phonation contrasts arose out of interaction between the glottal consonant and pre-existing tonal contrasts. An exploration of the morphological environments conducive to upstep leads to new discoveries about Zapotecan derivational voice prefixes and reveals the origins of perfective allomorphy.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Zapotec verbs
- 2.1Prosody of Proto Trochaic Zapotec roots and stems
- 2.2Verb classes
- 2.2.1The height of *u
- 2.2.2Irrealis and potential
- 2.3Voice distinctions
- 3.Tonal contrasts and potential-marking tonal morphology in Coatec
- 3.1Tone ablaut
- 3.1.1Falling to high
- 3.1.2Low to rising
- 3.1.3Low to high
- 3.2Upstep
- 3.1Tone ablaut
- 4.The historical origins of Coatec potential-marking tonal morphology
- 4.1General hypotheses
- 4.1.1Upstep: The vestiges of pre-tonic tone
- 4.1.2Tone ablaut in historical perspective
- 4.2Upstep from pre-tonic, causative *u
- 4.3Tone ablaut on low-toned roots
- 4.4Glottalized verbs
- 4.4.1Synchronically glottalized verbs
- 4.4.2Historically glottalized verbs
- 4.5Voice prefixes as hosts for floating high tone
- 4.5.1A partial typology of pre-tonic vowels in Zapotec
- 4.5.2The origin of j-stems
- 4.5.3The special status of causative *u-
- 4.6Ranked constraints that motivated the behavior of potential *[H]
- 4.1General hypotheses
- 5.Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References