Tonal transfer in Chichewa

Abstract

What happens to tone when a form is reduplicated in a tone language? In Marantz's (1982) model of reduplication, it is only segmental melody that is copied from the base. This approach predicts that no tones of the base will appear on the reduplicant. In other models, the whole base is copied, including prosody (Steriade 1988; McCarthy & Prince 1988, forthcoming). This approach predicts that the tone of the base will always appear on the reduplicant, i.e. there will be ‘transfer’ of the tone (Clements 1985).