Tonal Sandhi in the Yoruba Language

Abstract

This paper looks at a phonological phenomenon called tonal sandhi which is seen as an interaction among tones especially in register tone languages like Yoruba. The work examines various grammatical constructions where this linguistic feature usually occurs. It is observed that tones do not change or displace one another especially when words appear in isolation. Such interaction which often leads to displacement is noticeable in speech within some grammatical constructions. We equally discover that vowel elision leads to tone movement (since tone operates on a different tier, it does not get elided with vowel). This in turn leads to tone displacement.

Keywords: tones, perturbation of tone or tonal sandhi, tone placement and tone Assimilation, register tone language. tone elision, floating tone.