View source for Downstep

{{Short description|Lowering in pitch of a second, same-tone syllable}}
{{Infobox IPA
| above = Downstep
| ipa symbol   = ꜜ◌
| ipa symbol2  = ꜝ◌ 
| ipa number   = 517
| decimal1     = 42780
}}
{{IPA notice}}
'''Downstep''' is a phenomenon in [[tone languages]] in which if two syllables have the same [[tone (linguistics)|tone]] (for example, both with a high tone or both with a low tone), the second syllable is lower in pitch than the first.

Two main kinds of downstep can be distinguished. The first, more usually called '''automatic downstep''', '''[[downdrift]]'''{{sfn|Yip|2002|p=148}} or '''catathesis''',{{sfn|Beckman|Pierrehumbert|1986|p=272}} occurs when high and low tones come in the sequence H L (L) H; the second high tone tends to be lower than the first because of the intervening low-toned syllable. It is common in African languages, such as [[Chewa language|Chichewa]].{{sfn|Myers|1996}} It has also been argued that the same phenomenon is heard in English sentences, if these sentences are pronounced with a falling intonation, for example ''I <u>rea</u>lly be<u>lieve</u> Ebe<u>ne</u>zer was a <u>dea</u>ler in mag<u>ne</u>sium'', or ''I bought <u>blue</u>berries, <u>bay</u>berries, <u>rasp</u>berries, <u>mul</u>berries, and <u>bram</u>bleberries''.{{sfn|Pierrehumbert|1980|pp=139ff, 329ff}}{{sfn|Beckman|Pierrehumbert|1986|p=273}}

'''Downstep proper''', or '''non-automatic downstep''',{{sfn|Connell|2001}} is another phenomenon found in many African languages, such as [[Igbo language|Igbo]] (see {{sfn|Downing|Rialland|2017}} for an overview of downstep in African languages). When two high tones are in succeeding syllables (thus in the sequence H H), and the second is lower than the first, there is said to be a downstep.{{sfn|Welmers|1974|pp=82ff}}

The symbol for the second kind of downstep in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] is a [[superscript]] down arrow, {{angbr IPA|ꜜ}} (<sup>↓</sup>). It is common to see instead a superscript [[exclamation mark]] {{angbr IPA|ꜝ}} (<sup>!</sup>) because of typographic constraints, though technically that would mean an incompletely or lightly articulated [[alveolar click]] release.

It has been shown that in most, if not all, cases of downstep proper, the lowering of the second high tone occurs when an intervening low-toned syllable has dropped out. What was H (L) H has become H{{IPA|ꜜ}}H.{{sfn|Welmers|1974|p=87}} The missing low-toned syllable creates what is known as a '[[floating tone]]'. An example occurs in [[Bambara language|Bambara]], a language spoken in [[Mali]]. In Bambara, the [[definite article]] is a floating low tone. With a noun in isolation, it docks to the preceding vowel and turns a high tone into a falling tone:
{|
|{{IPA|/bá/}}||''river''
|-
||{{IPA|/bâ/}}||''the river''
|}
However, when it occurs between two high tones, it downsteps the following tone:
{|
|{{IPA|/bá tɛ́/}}||''it's not a river''
|-
||{{IPA|/bá ꜜ tɛ́/}}||''it's not the river''
|}

==See also==
* [[Upstep]], which is less commonly phonemic.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Beckman |first1=Mary E. |first2=Janet B. |last2=Pierrehumbert |year=1986 |url=http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jbp/publications/intonation_japanese_english.pdf |title=Intonational Structure in English and Japanese |journal=Phonology Yearbook |volume=3 |pages=255–309 |doi=10.1017/S095267570000066X |s2cid=62734066 |name-list-style=amp |access-date=2015-10-17 |archive-date=2012-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313215834/http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jbp/publications/intonation_japanese_english.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{citation |last=Connell |first=Bruce |year=2001 |url=http://www.spectrum.uni-bielefeld.de/TAPS/Connell.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613030857/http://www.spectrum.uni-bielefeld.de/TAPS/Connell.pdf |archive-date=13 June 2007 |title=Downdrift, Downstep, and Declination |publisher=Typology of African Prosodic Systems Workshop |location=Bielefeld University, Germany}}
* {{cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |year=2003 |title=A dictionary of linguistics & phonetics |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |page=130}}
* {{cite book |title=Intonation in African tone languages |last1=Downing |first1=Laura J. |last2=Rialland |first2=Annie |author2-link=Annie Rialland |year=2017 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3110503524 |location=Berlin |oclc=963605080 |name-list-style=amp}}
* {{cite journal |last=Myers |first=Scott |year=1996 |title=Boundary tones and the phonetic implementation of tone in Chichewa |journal=Studies in African Linguistics |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=29–60 |doi=10.32473/sal.v25i1.107403 |s2cid=126264216 |url=https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/elanguage/sal/article/download/1308/1308-1946-1-PB.pdf}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Pierrehumbert |first=Janet B. |year=1980 |url=http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jbp/publications/Pierrehumbert_PhD.pdf |title=The Phonology and Phonetics of English Intonation |type=PhD |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=2015-10-17 |archive-date=2015-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151213155827/http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jbp/publications/Pierrehumbert_PhD.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last=Welmers |first=William E. |year=1974 |title=African Language Structures |publisher=University of California Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Yip |first=Moira |year=2002 |title=Tone |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
{{refend}}

{{Suprasegmentals}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downstep (Phonetics)}}
[[Category:Phonetics]]
[[Category:Phonology]]
[[Category:Tone (linguistics)]]