Jardine (2017): tone-association patterns as forbidden subgraphs #
[Jar17b] argues that tone-association patterns over
autosegmental representations are computationally local in a
well-defined sense: each pattern's well-formedness can be specified
by a finite set of forbidden connected subgraphs. An AR is
well-formed under a grammar {¬ F₁, ..., ¬ Fₙ} iff none of the
Fᵢ embeds into it.
This gives a restrictive theory of tonal well-formedness that:
- makes clear typological predictions (the paper covers Mende, Hausa, Northern Karanga Shona, Kukuya, Hirosaki Japanese);
- contrasts with derivational/global accounts (
*VαCVβconstraints, directionality parameters) which can overgenerate; - admits a learning algorithm based on "scanning window" inspection.
Coverage #
This file formalises §3.1 + §5.1 of [Jar17b]: the Mende
right-edge multiple-association pattern and the contrasting Hausa
left-edge pattern. Hirosaki Japanese (§5.3), Northern Karanga Shona
(§5.1's second half), and Kukuya (§5.2) are sketched in the
docstring as future extensions — each follows the same Graph-
based forbidden-subgraph schema.
Second consumer of Autosegmental.Graph after
Studies/LaoideKemp2026.lean. Exercises the SubgraphEmbeds
predicate (precedence-preserving translation embedding), which
Laoide-Kemp doesn't touch.
Main definitions #
Tone,TBU— label types for the tonal and timing tiers.AR—Graph Tone TBU, an autosegmental representation in Jardine's sense.Mende.attested— three worked Mende ARs from [Jar17b] eq. (5):mbû('owl', HL contour on 1σ),ngìlà('dog', H L on 2σ),félàmà('junction', HLL with L-spread on 3σ).Mende.forbidden_*— three forbidden subgraphs from eq. (21): non-final H spreading, non-final L spreading, non-final contour.Hausa.attested— Hausa ARs with left-edge multiple association (eq. 7).Hausa.forbidden_*— non-initial spreading + non-initial contour (eq. 22).- Per-attested-form theorems: each attested AR does NOT contain any forbidden subgraph.
Convention #
Jardine 2017 draws forbidden subgraphs with explicit H→L
precedence arrows on the tone tier and σ→σ arrows on the TBU tier.
In Graph Tone TBU, precedence is implicit in list order: the upper
tier is List Tone, the lower is List TBU. The SubgraphEmbeds
predicate captures the paper's connected-subgraph embedding by
requiring a translation mapping (consecutive positions in F map
to consecutive positions in G).
§1 Label types #
Jardine 2017 uses H and L for tones and σ (syllable) or μ
(mora) for tone-bearing units, plus # for tier boundaries.
Boundaries (#) appear in some grammars (e.g., Northern Karanga
Shona eq. (24)) but not in the Mende/Hausa grammars formalised here;
we include the constructor for future extensions.
Equations
- Jardine2017.instDecidableEqTone x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
- Jardine2017.instReprTone = { reprPrec := Jardine2017.instReprTone.repr }
Equations
- Jardine2017.instReprTone.repr Jardine2017.Tone.H prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Jardine2017.Tone.H")).group prec✝
- Jardine2017.instReprTone.repr Jardine2017.Tone.L prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Jardine2017.Tone.L")).group prec✝
- Jardine2017.instReprTone.repr Jardine2017.Tone.bdry prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Jardine2017.Tone.bdry")).group prec✝
Instances For
Equations
- Jardine2017.instDecidableEqTBU x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
- Jardine2017.instReprTBU.repr Jardine2017.TBU.σ prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Jardine2017.TBU.σ")).group prec✝
- Jardine2017.instReprTBU.repr Jardine2017.TBU.μ prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Jardine2017.TBU.μ")).group prec✝
- Jardine2017.instReprTBU.repr Jardine2017.TBU.bdry prec✝ = Repr.addAppParen (Std.Format.nest (if prec✝ ≥ 1024 then 1 else 2) (Std.Format.text "Jardine2017.TBU.bdry")).group prec✝
Instances For
Equations
- Jardine2017.instReprTBU = { reprPrec := Jardine2017.instReprTBU.repr }
An autosegmental representation in Jardine 2017's sense, on the graph foundation: tones over TBUs (with implicit precedence by position), links as association lines.
Equations
- Jardine2017.ARep = Autosegmental.AR Sigma.fst
Instances For
Link presentations from finite pair lists (melody position, TBU position).
Equations
- Jardine2017.mkL links i j p q = (i = true ∧ j = false ∧ (p, q) ∈ links)
Instances For
Equations
- Jardine2017.instDecidableMkL links i j p q = Jardine2017.instDecidableMkL._aux_1 links i j p q
Build a representation from a tone melody, a TBU string, and links.
Equations
- Jardine2017.mk tones tbus links = Autosegmental.AR.ofData (fun (b : Bool) => match b with | true => tones | false => tbus) (Jardine2017.mkL links)
Instances For
Non-embedding verdicts compute: the spec plus kernel evaluation.
§2 Mende: right-edge multiple association #
[Jar17b] §3.1, eq. (5)
In Mende, tonal plateaus (a single tone associated to multiple syllables) and contour tones (multiple tones on one syllable) are restricted to the right word edge.
mbû 'owl' (1σ, HL contour).
Equations
- Jardine2017.Mende.mbû = Jardine2017.mk [Jardine2017.Tone.H, Jardine2017.Tone.L] [Jardine2017.TBU.σ] [(0, 0), (1, 0)]
Instances For
ngìlà 'dog' (2σ, HL melody, one tone per syllable).
Equations
- Jardine2017.Mende.ngìlà = Jardine2017.mk [Jardine2017.Tone.H, Jardine2017.Tone.L] [Jardine2017.TBU.σ, Jardine2017.TBU.σ] [(0, 0), (1, 1)]
Instances For
félàmà 'junction' (3σ, HL melody with L-spread to the right two
syllables: HLL surface). The diagnostic case for Mende.
Equations
- Jardine2017.Mende.félàmà = Jardine2017.mk [Jardine2017.Tone.H, Jardine2017.Tone.L] [Jardine2017.TBU.σ, Jardine2017.TBU.σ, Jardine2017.TBU.σ] [(0, 0), (1, 1), (1, 2)]
Instances For
(21a) non-final H spreading: an H linked to two consecutive σs with an L following on the tonal tier.
Equations
Instances For
(21b) non-final L spreading (mirror).
Equations
Instances For
(21c) non-final contour: an HL contour on a σ with another σ following.
Equations
Instances For
fáadi 'fall' (2σ, HL melody one-to-one).
Equations
- Jardine2017.Hausa.fáadi = Jardine2017.mk [Jardine2017.Tone.H, Jardine2017.Tone.L] [Jardine2017.TBU.σ, Jardine2017.TBU.σ] [(0, 0), (1, 1)]
Instances For
háantúnàa 'noses' (3σ, HHL — H spreads at the left edge).
Equations
- Jardine2017.Hausa.háantúnàa = Jardine2017.mk [Jardine2017.Tone.H, Jardine2017.Tone.L] [Jardine2017.TBU.σ, Jardine2017.TBU.σ, Jardine2017.TBU.σ] [(0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 2)]
Instances For
(22a) non-initial H spreading: an L preceding an H linked to two σs.
Equations
Instances For
(22b) non-initial L spreading (mirror).
Equations
Instances For
(22c) non-initial contour: a σ preceded by another σ, bearing an HL contour.
Equations
Instances For
§3.2 Attested Hausa forms satisfy the Hausa grammar #
§4 The Mende/Hausa contrast: same shape, opposite edges #
[Jar17b] §3.1 and §5.1
Mende's félàmà (HLL on 3σ, L-spread at right edge) is exactly
the kind of pattern Hausa's grammar would forbid (its mirror is a
non-initial L spread). Conversely, Hausa's háantúnàa (HHL on 3σ,
H-spread at left edge) is exactly what Mende's grammar forbids.
This pair makes Jardine's locality thesis concrete: each language's grammar is a finite set of forbidden subgraphs, and the difference between Mende and Hausa is the side of the word edge to which the prohibition applies.
The Hausa attested form háantúnàa (HHL = H-spread to first 2σ)
contains exactly the structural pattern that Mende's grammar
forbids: non-final H spreading. This makes Mende and Hausa
mutually exclusive on their diagnostic forms.
Symmetrically, Mende's félàmà (HLL = L-spread to last 2σ)
contains Hausa's forbidden non-initial-L pattern.
§5 Future extensions #
The paper covers three further patterns not formalised here. Each
extends the same Graph-based forbidden-subgraph schema and would
be a natural addition to this file.
Northern Karanga Shona (§5.1 second half, eq. 23-28): a positional pattern where the leftmost H of a verb stem spreads maximally as far as the third syllable; medial L blocks multiple-H association. Grammar (24) uses boundary symbols (
#) on both tiers; theTone.bdryandTBU.bdryconstructors are in place for this extension.Kukuya (§5.2, eq. 30-33): a quality-sensitive pattern where H tones cannot multiply associate in the presence of L, while L can spread freely. Encoded as the conjunction of Mende-grammar forbidden subgraphs (for non-final H association) and Hausa-grammar forbidden subgraphs (for non-initial H association), plus a non-final-contour ban.
Hirosaki Japanese (§5.3, eq. 35-38): a culminativity constraint: at most one H per word, F (falling) only word-finally, H never spreads to multiple TBUs (here moras
μ, not syllables). Demonstrates that theGraphsubstrate handles arbitrary TBU types (theTBU.μconstructor is already in place).
The deferred items are all ≤ 100 LOC each in the same shape as
the Mende/Hausa above: enumerate attested forms, enumerate forbidden
subgraphs, prove non-embedding by decide. They can be added
incrementally as needed.