Downstep in Supyire

Downstep in Supyire

Blog Article

Downstep in the vast majority of cases can be traced to the influence of a skittles ornament low tone [Hyman 1979].This paper discusses the case of Supyire, a three tone language with downstep unrelated to low tone.Sequences of high tones are automatically downstepped.Confusion with mid tone is in most cases avoided by a rule which raises mid to high tone; the two rules together creating a "flip-flop" effect.

Supyire also has automatic downdrift of mid and high tones following a low tone.It thus presents an unusual combination of downstep and downdrift in the same language, but generic baby picture unrelated to each other.