An experimental study of focus in Luganda

Studies in African Linguistics · 2026-02-01

Previous work has established that focus in Luganda is clearly signaled through the choice of syntactic configuration and morphological marking. There has been no indication in the literature to date that there is any use in the language of acoustic prominence cues for focus such as those found in English or Mandarin.The present article provides experimental evidence that vowels in focused expressions in Luganda have greater duration, higher peak f0, greater peak intensity, and more compressed postfocal f0 range than corresponding vowels in nonfocused expressions. Such acoustic marking of focus is largely redundant in Luganda, due to the clear syntactic and morphological marking, but such redundancy is an effective adaptation to a noisy environment.On the basis of the combined cues from the syntax, morphology and phonetics, Luganda speakers were able to accurately match a statement to the Wh-question that it answers. Allowed a free choice of answering strategies, Luganda speakers displayed a strong preference for the preverbal focus construction (a cleft-like structure) and for placement of the focused phrase at the beginning of the answer statement.

Phonetics of Tone (African Languages)

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics · 2024-10-22 · 1 citations

Most of the languages of Africa are tone languages, and the distribution of tones in these languages is often integrated into the morphology and syntax. Descriptions of tone in African languages have been influential in the development of linguistic approaches to tone and in particular autosegmental representations. But almost all of those descriptions are based on phonetic transcriptions, which are subjective and imprecise. Experimental phonetic investigations, based on objective measurements and quantitative analysis, have given new insight into old issues in this area. Phonetic research on tone is concerned with how tones relate to fundamental frequency (f0), what factors affect that relation, how tones are produced, and how listeners recognize tone categories. Such research on African tone languages has provided significant information about how tone categories can differ in f0 contour. It has yielded evidence about downdrift and downstep, two notions derived from the study of these languages. It has shown how intonation can work in a language in which tone is used to distinguish words. It has shed light on how tones can be realized in the face of interruptions of modal voicing. The small but growing body of experimental work on tone in African tone languages is significant because these languages make up a good proportion of the tone languages in the world, and because tone patterns in these languages have shaped how linguists look at tone.

Erratum to “F0 timing in Luganda: Effects of phrase position and tone category” [Journal of Phonetics 85 (2021) 101027]

Journal of Phonetics · 2021-07-01

The intonation of yes–no questions in Luganda

Journal of the International Phonetic Association · 2021 · 87 citations

• Linguistics
• Psychology
• Philosophy

The intonation of yes–no questions in Luganda (Bantu, Uganda) has only been sketched in passing. Hyman states that Luganda yes–no questions are marked by a ‘super-high tone’ immediately following the last lexical high tone in the sentence, but there is little agreement in the literature about the intonation of yes–no questions if there is no lexical high tone in the sentence. To clarify the differences between statements and yes–no questions in Luganda, an acoustic production study was conducted. Nineteen speakers read aloud sentences differing in the location of the last lexical high tone relative to the end of the sentence. Each sentence was produced as a statement and as a question. Analysis of f0 measurements supported Hyman’s description of sentences with a lexical high tone, since the questions had an f0 peak that was higher and later than in the corresponding statements. For sentences without a lexical high tone, yes–no questions were found to begin with an interval in which f0 is higher than in corresponding statements, and end with a final f0 value lower than in statements. It is proposed that the yes–no question marker is a phrase accent (H – ). Like the high phrase accent posited by Pierrehumbert for English, this intonational tone is associated after the last tone in the phrase, but in Luganda that last tone is lexical, rather than being an intonational focus marker as in English. This H – accent is subject to upstep in the position after a high tone.

Effects of consonant type on tone realization in Luganda

2021

• Computer Science
• Computer Science
• Mathematics

Erratum to: “F0 timing in Luganda: Effects of phrase position and tone category” [J. Phonet. 85 (2021) 101027]

Journal of Phonetics · 2021-07-01

F0 timing in Luganda: Effects of phrase position and gone category

Journal of Phonetics · 2021

• Natural Language Processing
• Computer Science
• Natural Language Processing

An Acoustic Study of Sandhi Vowel Hiatus in Luganda

Language and Speech · 2019-07-23 · 6 citations

In Luganda (Bantu, Uganda), a sequence of vowels in successive syllables (V.V) is not allowed. If the first vowel is high, the two vowels are joined together in a diphthong (e.g., i + a → i͜a). If the first vowel is non-high, it is deleted with compensatory lengthening of the second vowel in the sequence (e.g., e + a → aː). This paper presents an acoustic investigation of inter-word V#V sequences in Luganda. It was found that the vowel interval in V#V sequences is longer than that in V#C sequences. When the first vowel in V#V is non-high, the formant frequency of the outcome is determined by the second vowel in the sequence. When the first vowel is high, on the other hand, the sequence is realized as a diphthong, with the transition between the two formant patterns taking up most of the duration. The durational patterns within these diphthongs provide evidence against the transcription-based claim that these sequences are reorganized so that the length lies in the second vowel (/i#V/ → [jVː]). The findings bring into question a canonical case of compensatory lengthening conditioned by glide formation.

Phonetic implementation of high-tone spans in Luganda

Laboratory Phonology Journal of the Association for Laboratory Phonology · 2018-12-17 · 129 citations

In Luganda, a Bantu language of Uganda, there are long high-tone spans, which include multiple syllables, as well as short high-tone spans, limited to a single syllable. Long high-tone spans result from unbounded leftward spread of either lexical high tones or an intonational high boundary tone. This study investigates whether long tone spans in Luganda differ phonetically in f₀ timing or scaling from short tone spans, and whether lexical high tones are implemented differently than intonational ones. In a production study involving 10 Luganda speakers, it was found that the initial f₀ rise ends significantly later in long high-tone spans than in short high-tone spans, reflecting the reduced time pressures involved when the f₀ rise is in a separate syllable than the f₀ fall. The final f₀ fall at the end of the span begins earlier in the syllable in long high-tone spans than in short high-tone spans, reflecting the same time pressures. There was no difference in f₀ level between long and short high-tone spans, indicating that the time pressure does not lead to undershoot. The intonational high tone has significantly smaller f₀ excursions in the initial rise and the final fall, compared to the lexical high tones.

F₀Timing and Tone Contrasts in Luganda

Phonetica · 2018-07-18 · 5 citations

Scholars of Luganda (Bantu, Uganda) have described a contrast between falling and high tone, which is limited to syllables with a long vowel or a coda. The contrast has been represented with H on the first mora of a falling-tone syllable and on both moras in a high-tone syllable. This article explores this contrast through an instrumental study of the timing of f0 events in Luganda. It was found that the 2-tone classes differed in the timing of both the f0 rise and the subsequent f0 fall, supporting a reanalysis of the contrast as one between an early high tone and a late high tone. It was also found that for the speakers in this study, the contrast was limited to syllables with long vowels. The timing of f0 events was sensitive to the duration of segments in the CVC interval centered on the high-toned syllable, including non-moraic elements and consonants outside the syllable. The association of a tone to a syllable identifies the segments relevant for the timing of the f0 contour, but that timing is not directly sensitive to the interval of the syllable.