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Linglib.Studies.Jardine2017

Jardine (2017): tone-association patterns as forbidden subgraphs #

[Jar17b]

[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:

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 #

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.

Tonal-tier label.

  • H : Tone
  • L : Tone
  • bdry : Tone

    Word/tier boundary marker (#). Used by some grammars (e.g., Northern Karanga Shona in [Jar17b] eq. 24); not used in the Mende/Hausa formalisations below.

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    def Jardine2017.instReprTone.repr :
    ToneStd.Format
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      Tone-bearing unit label. Most patterns in [Jar17b] use the syllable σ; Hirosaki Japanese (§5.3) uses the mora μ.

      • σ : TBU
      • μ : TBU
      • bdry : TBU

        TBU-tier boundary marker.

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        @[instance_reducible]
        instance Jardine2017.instDecidableEqTBU :
        DecidableEq TBU
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        def Jardine2017.instReprTBU.repr :
        TBUStd.Format
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          @[instance_reducible]
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          @[reducible, inline]
          abbrev Jardine2017.ARep :
          Type (u_1 + 1)

          An autosegmental representation in Jardine 2017's sense, on the graph foundation: tones over TBUs (with implicit precedence by position), links as association lines.

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            def Jardine2017.mkL (links : List ( × )) (i j : Bool) (p q : ) :

            Link presentations from finite pair lists (melody position, TBU position).

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            • Jardine2017.mkL links i j p q = (i = true j = false (p, q) links)
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              @[instance_reducible]
              instance Jardine2017.instDecidableMkL (links : List ( × )) (i j : Bool) (p q : ) :
              Decidable (mkL links i j p q)
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              @[reducible, inline]
              abbrev Jardine2017.mk (tones : List Tone) (tbus : List TBU) (links : List ( × )) :

              Build a representation from a tone melody, a TBU string, and links.

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                theorem Jardine2017.mk_embeds_iff {tF tX : List Tone} {bF bX : List TBU} {lF lX : List ( × )} :
                Autosegmental.AR.FactorEmbeds (mk tF bF lF) (mk tX bX lX) Autosegmental.dataEmbeds (fun (b : Bool) => match b with | true => tF | false => bF) (fun (b : Bool) => match b with | true => tX | false => bX) (mkL lF) (mkL lX)

                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.

                @[reducible, inline]

                mbû 'owl' (1σ, HL contour).

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                  ngìlà 'dog' (2σ, HL melody, one tone per syllable).

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                    félàmà 'junction' (3σ, HL melody with L-spread to the right two syllables: HLL surface). The diagnostic case for Mende.

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                      (21a) non-final H spreading: an H linked to two consecutive σs with an L following on the tonal tier.

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                        (21b) non-final L spreading (mirror).

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                          (21c) non-final contour: an HL contour on a σ with another σ following.

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                            §2.2 Attested forms satisfy the Mende grammar ([Jar17b] §5.1) #

                            §3 Hausa: left-edge multiple association ([Jar17b] eq. (7), (22)) #

                            @[reducible, inline]

                            fáadi 'fall' (2σ, HL melody one-to-one).

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                              háantúnàa 'noses' (3σ, HHL — H spreads at the left edge).

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                                (22a) non-initial H spreading: an L preceding an H linked to two σs.

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                                  (22b) non-initial L spreading (mirror).

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                                    (22c) non-initial contour: a σ preceded by another σ, bearing an HL contour.

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                                      §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.

                                      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.