Downstep is a phenomenon in
tone languages in which if two syllables have the same
tone (for example, both with a high tone or both with a low tone), the second syllable is lower in pitch than the first.
Two main kinds of downstep can be distinguished. The first, more usually called automatic downstep,
downdrift or catathesis, occurs when high and low tones come in the sequence H L (L) H; the second high tone tends to be lower than the first because of the intervening low toned syllable. That phenomenon is common in African languages, such as
Chichewa. It has also been argued that the same phenomenon is heard in English sentences, if these sentences are pronounced with a falling intonation, for example ''I
really be
lieve Ebe
nezer was a
dealer in mag
nesium'', or ''I bought
blueberries,
bayberries,
raspberries,
mulberries, and
brambleberries''.
Downstep proper, or non-automatic downstep, is another phenomenon found in many African languages such as
Igbo
Igbo may refer to:
* Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria
* Igbo language, their language
* anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria
See also
* Ibo (disambiguation)
* Igbo mythology
* Igbo music
* Igbo art
*
* Igbo-Ukwu, a ...
. for an overview of downstep in African languages.) If two high tones are in succeeding syllables (thus in the sequence H H), and the second is lower than the first, there is said to be a downstep.
The symbol for the second kind of downstep in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
is a
superscript down arrow, (
↓). It is common to see instead a superscript
exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...
(
!) because of typographic constraints, though technically that would mean an incompletely or lightly articulated
alveolar click
The alveolar or postalveolar clicks are a family of click consonants found only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jargon of Australia. The tongue is more or less concave (depending on the language), and is pulled down rather than back as in ...
release.
It has been shown that in most, if not all, cases of downstep proper, the lowering of the second high tone occurs when an intervening low-toned syllable has dropped out. What was H (L) H has become HH. The missing low-toned syllable creates what is known as a '
floating tone'. An example occurs in
Bambara, a language spoken in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
. In Bambara, the
definite article
An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...
is a floating low tone. With a noun in isolation, it docks to the preceding vowel and turns a high tone into a falling tone:
However, when it occurs between two high tones, it downsteps the following tone:
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Downstep (Phonetics)
Phonetics
Phonology
Tone (linguistics)