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Abstract:
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This research into the tonal system of Fur and its grammatical functions began with several basic assumptions . These assumptions were based on the excellent prior research by Jakobi (1989 ) , and Kutsch Lojenga and Waag (2000 ) . These assumptions were :
1 . Fur is a register tone language with two tones L and H . Contours on LH and HL are possible .
2 . Tone makes lexical distinctions in Fur as exemplified by examples such as :
'desert' úrì
'sheep' úri
3 . Tone also functions in the grammar of Fur . Tone is used to differentiate the nominative and locative forms of nouns and the attributive and predicate forms of adjectives .
The purpose of the research was to take this knowledge and study two aspects of the Fur language in greater detail . These two objectives were as follows :
1 . A reexamination of the tone system to determine if Jernudd's claim (1983 ) of a three tone system was possible .
2 . An investigation of two previously known functions of tone in Fur , that of tone change in the formation of locatives , and tonal difference between attributive and predicate forms of nouns , in light of the results of the new evaluation of the tone system produced by the first objective .
3 . A study of a new function of tone in Fur grammar discovered during this research , namely a tonal difference in [±human] objects of verbs based on their semantic roles .
Through elicitation of data from Subject A , a native speaker of Fur residing in Arlington , Texas , and analysis of the data using Fo Pitch Trajectory Plots , the aforementioned topics are investigated . |