| Abstract: | This paper develops an OT analysis of tone spread in Chichewa and tone shift in Kikuyu that is grounded in the notion of peak delay. Myers (1999) argues that what has been called high tone spread in Chichewa actually reflects peak delay: The high pitch target associated with a high tone is not reached until the syllable after the high toned syllable, giving the impression that the tone has spread. The current paper explores the possibility that this is the case for all reported instances of bounded (specifically noniterative) tone spread/shift. Since tone shift in Kikuyu interacts with other aspects of the language's phonology, it is necessary to implement peak delay in the grammar rather than leaving it to phonetic implementation. |
