Voice Asymmetry in Ewe Nouns

Abstract

It is argued that consonantal influence on tone is highly limited, restricting itself to the tone of the vowel immediately following the onset. In illustration, a tone rule in Ewe (Kwa, Niger-Congo) is examined; Ewe high tone insertion is blocked by a voiced obstruent if insertion targets the initial vowel following the onset, but not if insertion targets the second vowel of a bimoraic syllable. This result confirms earlier studies that show that the phonetic impact of onsets on F0 is limited to the first 100 msec of the following vowel. L. R. Bailey.