Tone in Abidji morphology

Abstract

This article is a description of the morphology of the regular verbs in Abidji. It shows how segmental and tonal rules interact to produce the realization of 14 tense-aspect combinations in 2 different classes of verbs. Each tense or aspect is represented by a specific tone pattern on the verb root and causes the occurrence of a certain tone on the prefix. I start with the description of the verbal structure and the presentation of the various tense-aspect combinations and of the 3 classes of verbs. Then I describe the tonal realization of each tense-aspect combination on the stems of Class 1 and Class 2 verbs Oeaving out the third class of irregular verbs). Finally, I describe the phonological rules that create the tone-pattern found on the prefix.

Keywords

• morphology
• verb
• Abidji
• tense
• aspect