Akinbo & Fwangwar (2026): Grammatical tones targeting ideophones #
@cite{akinbo-fwangwar-2026}
Akinbo, S. K. & Fwangwar, T. R. (2026). Iconicity and expressiveness of grammatical tones targeting ideophones in Mwaghavul. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 44:21.
Empirical claims #
Grammatical tone targets ideophones. Mwaghavul derives verbs from ideophones via two segmentally null verbalisers with M and M-H tonal melodies as their sole exponents.
Anchor + INTEGRITY OT analysis (paper §4.3, eq. 22). The tonal alternations are accounted for by morpheme-specific correspondence constraints (@cite{finley-2009}): LEFT-ANCHOR-Tᵥ, RIGHT-ANCHOR-Tᵥ, INTEGRITY-Tᵥ, and MAX-Tone.
Iconic Phonological Disharmony. In pluractional verbs, the M-H verbaliser realises M on every TBU of the reduplicant and H on every TBU of the base. This disharmony iconically marks "distinguishable identity" (@cite{dingemanse-thompson-2020}).
Expressiveness survives integration. Derived ideophonic verbs retain expressive properties (affective meaning, nondisplaceability, ineffability) despite full morphosyntactic integration (@cite{potts-2005}-style secondary meanings), challenging the inverse correlation predicted by @cite{dingemanse-akita-2017}.
Substrate #
The OT analysis is built on Phonology.Autosegmental.FloatingForm Syl
(Goldsmith-style autosegmental representation; built originally for
@cite{mcpherson-lamont-2026}). Each ulTones entry is one
autosegment; surfaceLinks records associations between tier and
TBUs. This represents spreading (one autosegment, multi-linked) and
copying (multiple autosegments) as distinct objects — load-bearing
for the INTEGRITY-Mᵥ constraint that rules out the copying variant of
Tableau 24's optimum (paper p. 26 eq. 22c).
Constraint primitives come from
Theories/Phonology/Tone/Constraints.lean, with Mwaghavul-specific
anchor combinators defined in §2 below.
Section structure #
- §1 Substrate setup (morpheme IDs, tone/segment helpers)
- §2 Constraints over
MwaghavulForm— anchor + INTEGRITY + MAX-Tone, with per-root variants for the pluractional tableau - §3 Tableau 24 — M verbaliser + wùlàʃ (INTEGRITY rules out copying)
- §4 Tableau 25 — M-H verbaliser + háŋláyáp
- §5 Tableau 26 — pluractional jàlpàt with per-root anchoring
- §6 Classification under @cite{rolle-2018} — replacive-dominant GT
- §7 Empirical generalisations
- §8 Connection to Distributed Morphology categorisers
- §9 Expressiveness preservation
The Mwaghavul-instantiated autosegmental form.
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Morpheme ID for the ideophone root (wùlàʃ in Tableau 24, háŋláyáp in Tableau 25). Both single-root tableaux share this ID.
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Morpheme ID for the verbaliser. The M-tone verbaliser (Tableau 24) and the M-H verbaliser (Tableaux 25/26) share this ID — they're suppletive allomorphs of the same verbaliser morpheme per paper p. 20 eq. (17).
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Morpheme ID for the reduplicant root in pluractional Tableau 26.
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Morpheme ID for the base root in pluractional Tableau 26.
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Wrap a Mwaghavul syllable as a TBU of the (single) ideophone root.
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.rootSeg s = { seg := s, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.rootMorph }
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Wrap a syllable as a TBU of the reduplicant (Tableau 26).
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.redSeg s = { seg := s, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.rootRedMorph }
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Wrap a syllable as a TBU of the base (Tableau 26).
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.baseSeg s = { seg := s, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.rootBaseMorph }
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L tone of the (single) ideophone root.
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.rootL = { tone := Phonology.Autosegmental.RegisterTier.TRN.L, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.rootMorph }
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M tone of the verbaliser.
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.vbzM = { tone := Phonology.Autosegmental.RegisterTier.TRN.M, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.vbzMorph }
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H tone of the verbaliser.
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.vbzH = { tone := Phonology.Autosegmental.RegisterTier.TRN.H, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.vbzMorph }
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L tone of the reduplicant root (Tableau 26).
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.lRed = { tone := Phonology.Autosegmental.RegisterTier.TRN.L, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.rootRedMorph }
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L tone of the base root (Tableau 26).
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.lBase = { tone := Phonology.Autosegmental.RegisterTier.TRN.L, morpheme := AkinboFwangwar2026.rootBaseMorph }
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Anchor + INTEGRITY + MAX-Tone constraints. Anchor constraints come
in two flavours:
- Single-root (lAnchToneC/rAnchToneC): scope over all TBUs.
Correct for Tableaux 24/25 with one root morpheme.
- Per-root, summed across roots (lAnchToneCAcross /
rAnchToneCAcross): scope to each root morpheme separately, sum
violations; if no root hosts the gram tone, every TBU of every
targeted root counts (paper p. 28). Required for Tableau 26's
two-root pluractional.
Does TBU i bear a tone of value t from morpheme m?
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L-ANCHOR-t-from-m: number of TBUs (in tier order) before the
leftmost gram-t-from-m TBU. If no such TBU exists, every TBU
counts (full TBU count).
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.lAnchTone t m f = match List.findIdx? (AkinboFwangwar2026.isGramTbu t m f) (List.range f.segs.length) with | some i => i | none => f.segs.length
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R-ANCHOR-t-from-m: counted from the right edge.
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.rAnchTone t m f = match List.findIdx? (AkinboFwangwar2026.isGramTbu t m f) (List.range f.segs.length).reverse with | some i => i | none => f.segs.length
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MAX-Tone (per autosegment): count of deleted ulTones entries. Matches paper p. 26 per-autosegment counting.
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.maxToneAuto f = List.countP (fun (k : Phonology.Autosegmental.ToneIdx) => decide (Phonology.Autosegmental.FloatingForm.IsDeleted f k)) (List.range f.ulTones.length)
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L-ANCHOR-Mᵥ as a DirectionalConstraint.
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R-ANCHOR-Mᵥ as a DirectionalConstraint.
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MAX-Tone as a DirectionalConstraint.
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INTEGRITY-Mᵥ for the verbaliser (canonical case).
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L-ANCHOR-Mᵥ for the verbaliser.
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R-ANCHOR-Mᵥ for the verbaliser.
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L-ANCHOR-Hᵥ for the verbaliser (paper p. 25 fn: H-tone version of eq. 22 has the same conditions).
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R-ANCHOR-Hᵥ for the verbaliser.
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A gram-t-from-m tone is realised on root rm iff some TBU of
rm bears one.
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- AkinboFwangwar2026.isRealisedOnRoot t m rm f = (Phonology.Autosegmental.FloatingForm.segsOfMorpheme f rm).any (AkinboFwangwar2026.isGramTbu t m f)
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L-ANCHOR scoped to root rm. 0 if t-from-m not realised on
rm (per paper p. 28: "no violation to the other root morpheme");
else count TBUs of rm before the leftmost gram-t TBU of rm.
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R-ANCHOR scoped to root rm.
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L-ANCHOR summed across a list of root morphemes. If the gram tone is not realised on ANY of the roots, paper p. 28 assigns one violation per TBU of every targeted root (not 0).
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R-ANCHOR summed across a list of root morphemes.
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L-ANCHOR-t-from-m-across-roots as a DirectionalConstraint.
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R-ANCHOR across roots as a DirectionalConstraint.
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Paper Tableau 24 (p. 26): (wùlàʃ)₁ + Mᵥ. Six candidates including
the copying variant (24f) that the paper rules out via INTEGRITY-Mᵥ.
Encoding: ONE lex L autosegment multi-linked to both TBUs of the
bisyllabic root (Goldsmith 1976 convention; paper notation
`(wùlàʃ)₁` confirms a single morpheme-internal melody).
Faithful input: ulTones = [L_root (multi-linked), M_vbz (floating)].
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(24a) (wùlàʃ)₁ M₂: M still floating; L unchanged.
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(24b) (wùlàʃ)₁: M deleted; L unchanged.
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(24c) (wù)₁(làʃ)₂: L on σ0 only; M docked on σ1 only.
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(24d) (wū)₂(làʃ)₁: M on σ0 only; L on σ1 only.
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(24e) ☞ (wūlāʃ)₂ SPREADING: M multi-linked to both TBUs; L
deleted. ONE M autosegment, two surface links.
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(24f) (wū)₂(lāʃ)₂ COPYING: TWO separate M autosegments, each
linked to one TBU. L deleted. Differs from (24a-e) in ulTones
— the autosegmental representation has an extra M autosegment.
INTEGRITY-Mᵥ fatally penalises this copying.
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Ranking from paper §4.3 + p. 26: INTEG-Mᵥ ≫ L-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ R-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ MAX-Tone.
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(24a) profile [INTEG-Mᵥ, L-ANCH-Mᵥ, R-ANCH-Mᵥ, MAX-T] = [0, 2, 2, 0]:
M floating, both anchors fail (no gram-M TBU), no deletions.
(24b) profile [0, 2, 2, 1]: M deleted, anchors fail, MAX-T fires.
(24c) profile [0, 1, 0, 0]: M on σ1; L-ANCH = 1 (M not at left).
(24d) profile [0, 0, 1, 0]: M on σ0; R-ANCH = 1 (M not at right).
(24e) ☞ profile [0, 0, 0, 1]: M multi-linked, anchors satisfied;
INTEG = 0 (1 alive vbz M); MAX-T = 1 (L deleted). The unique optimum.
(24f) profile [1, 0, 0, 1]: TWO M autosegments → INTEG = 1 (fatal
under the ranking, even though anchors and MAX-T tie with (24e)).
Headline: (24e) is the unique optimum under
INTEG-Mᵥ ≫ L-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ R-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ MAX-Tone. The copying variant
(24f) is ruled out by INTEGRITY; (24a-d) lose on anchors.
Paper Tableau 25 (p. 27): (háŋláyáp)₁ + M₂H₃ᵥ. Seven candidates;
no INTEGRITY column (no copying variant arises). Encoding: ONE
lex H autosegment multi-linked to all 3 TBUs (Goldsmith convention).
Faithful input: ulTones = [H_root (multi-linked), M_vbz, H_vbz].
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(25a) (háŋláyáp)₁: lex H linked; both vbz tones deleted.
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(25b) (hāŋlā)₂(yáp)₁: M on σ0-σ1; lex H on σ2; vbz H deleted.
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(25c) (háŋláyáp)₃: vbz H multi-linked to all TBUs; vbz M and lex H
deleted.
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(25d) (hāŋlāyāp)₂: vbz M multi-linked to all TBUs; vbz H and lex H
deleted.
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(25e) ☞ (hāŋlā)₂(yáp)₃: vbz M on σ0-σ1; vbz H on σ2; lex H
deleted. The winner.
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(25f) (hāŋ)₂(láyáp)₃: vbz M on σ0; vbz H on σ1-σ2; lex H deleted.
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(25g) (hāŋ)₂(lá)₁(yáp)₃: vbz M on σ0; lex H on σ1; vbz H on σ2.
Lex H NOT deleted.
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Ranking from paper Tableau 25 (p. 27):
L-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ R-ANCH-Hᵥ ≫ R-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ L-ANCH-Hᵥ ≫ MAX-Tone.
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(25a) profile [3, 3, 3, 3, 2]: no verbaliser realised.
(25b) profile [0, 3, 1, 3, 1]: vbz M docked left; vbz H deleted.
(25c) profile [3, 0, 3, 0, 2]: vbz H spreading; vbz M deleted.
(25d) profile [0, 3, 0, 3, 2]: vbz M spreading; vbz H deleted.
(25e) ☞ profile [0, 0, 1, 2, 1]: M on σ0-σ1; H on σ2; lex H
deleted. Winner.
(25f) profile [0, 0, 2, 1, 1].
(25g) profile [0, 0, 2, 2, 0]: lex H NOT deleted (still on σ1).
Headline: (25e) is the unique optimum. (25a-d) lose on the top-tier anchors; (25f-g) tie with (25e) on top constraints but lose on R-ANCH-Mᵥ.
Paper Tableau 26 (p. 28): (jàlpàt)₁ + (jàlpàt)₂ + M₃H₄ᵥ. Two
root morphemes (reduplicant + base), each with /LL/ lexical
melody (one L autosegment multi-linked to its 2 TBUs). The M-H
verbaliser realises M on RED's TBUs and H on BASE's TBUs.
Per-root anchoring (paper p. 28): if vbz M is realised on one root,
the other root contributes no violation. If unrealised on both,
every TBU of every targeted root counts. The
`lAnchToneCAcross`/`rAnchToneCAcross` constraints in §2 implement
this.
Faithful input: ulTones = [L_RED (multi-linked), L_BASE (multi-linked), M_vbz, H_vbz]. Each lex L is multi-linked to its
own root's 2 TBUs.
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Per-root anchor instantiations for the two-root pluractional.
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(26a): both vbz tones deleted; both lex Ls survive.
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(26b): vbz M on σ1 (rightmost of RED); vbz H on σ3 (rightmost of BASE); lex Ls survive on σ0 and σ2 respectively.
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(26c): vbz M on σ0 (leftmost of RED); vbz H on σ2 (leftmost of BASE); lex Ls survive on σ1 and σ3.
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(26d) ☞: M spreading on RED (both σ0, σ1); H spreading on BASE (both σ2, σ3); both lex Ls deleted. The winner — iconic M-on-RED
- H-on-BASE pattern.
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(26e): vbz M on σ0; vbz H on σ1 (both within RED); lex L of BASE survives multi-linked. Lex L of RED deleted.
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(26f): vbz M spreading on RED + σ2 (first BASE TBU); vbz H on σ3.
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(26g): vbz M on σ0 (RED) + σ2 (BASE); lex L of RED on σ1; vbz H on σ3.
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Ranking, same shape as Tableau 25 but with per-root anchors:
L-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ R-ANCH-Hᵥ ≫ R-ANCH-Mᵥ ≫ L-ANCH-Hᵥ ≫ MAX-Tone.
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(26d) profile [0, 0, 0, 0, 2]: perfect realisation — vbz M on
every TBU of RED, vbz H on every TBU of BASE. Both lex Ls deleted
(MAX-T = 2).
Headline: (26d) is the unique optimum — the iconic M-on-RED + H-on-BASE disharmony pattern.
The Mwaghavul verbalisers are classified under @cite{rolle-2018}'s grammatical-tone framework as replacive-dominant GT (Def 1): automatic replacement of the underlying tone within the valuation window of the target-host. Verbalisers are word-level + independent prosodic exponence (segmentally null — tone is the sole exponent).
M-tone verbaliser (VBZ₁) classified under Rolle 2018: replacive-dominant, word-level, independent.
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M-H verbaliser (VBZ₂).
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Both verbalisers are dominant: they neutralise the target's lexical tonal contrast.
Mwaghavul verbalisers classify as dominant at the abstract
prosodic level.
The verbaliser-to-root relationship satisfies the dominant GT asymmetry, derived from CoP-scope: verbaliser is in Spec (dependent), root is in Head. Spec scopes over Head, so the asymmetry holds.
VBZ₁'s GTSpec.toSpec recovers the Spec used by deriveVerb.
VBZ₂'s GTSpec.toSpec recovers the Spec used by deriveVerb.
Cross-verb generalisations about the Mwaghavul ideophone-to-verb
derivation (paper §3, summarised in eq. (13)). These are
properties of the data, decidable from the Ideophone records in
Fragments/Mwaghavul/Basic.lean.
The M-H tonal melody is attested only in derived verbs (paper eq. 13e). No underived Mwaghavul verb has M-H. We test against the concrete ideophone data.
All M-tone ideophones produce uniform M output.
Pluractional verbs always use M-H (paper eq. 13f).
Mwaghavul satisfies @cite{hyman-2006}'s tonal-language definition (3): "an indication of pitch enters into the lexical realisation of at least some morphemes."
The segmentally null verbalisers that trigger the tonal alternations are instances of the verbal categoriser v in Distributed Morphology (@cite{marantz-1997}, @cite{harley-2014}). The ideophonic base (noun, adjective, or adverb) is recategorised as a verb through merger with v, whose sole phonological exponent is a tonal melody.
The verbaliser produces verbal category.
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Denominal verb derivation (n → v): Recategorization.denominal.
Deadjectival verb derivation (a → v).
@cite{akinbo-fwangwar-2026} §4.2 argues that derived ideophonic verbs retain @cite{potts-2005}-style expressive properties despite morphosyntactic integration: affective meaning, nondisplaceability, descriptive ineffability, context-dependence. This challenges @cite{dingemanse-akita-2017}'s prediction of inverse correlation between integration and expressiveness.
Derived ideophonic verbs exhibit all canonical expressive properties: independent, nondisplaceable, perspective-dependent, descriptively ineffable, immediate, repeatable, no perspective shift, no discourse antecedent required.
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