@article{Lionnet_2022, title={Tone and downstep in Paicî (Oceanic, New Caledonia)}, volume={4}, url={https://phondata.org/index.php/pda/article/view/45}, DOI={10.3765/pda.v4art1.45}, abstractNote={<p>In this paper, I propose an updated analysis of the tone system of Paicî, one of the rare tonal Oceanic languages. Building on Jean-Claude Rivierre’s (1974) work, I show that the tonal system of Paicî is best described with three underlying primitives: a High tone, a Low tone, and a downstep /↓/ analyzed as a register feature independent of tone. Paicî is particularly interesting for the empirical documentation as well as the typological and theoretical understanding of downstep, because it combines many rare properties: (i) only downstepped ↓L is attested; (ii) downstep is its own phonological object; (iii) downstep is realized utterance-initially; and (iv) downstep is not caused by a floating tone, but has its roots in a former accentual system. The paper also provides an acoustic description of tone and downstep in Paicî, an important step toward filling a serious gap in the documentation of downstepped ↓L tones and their properties.</p>}, number={1}, journal={Phonological Data and Analysis}, author={Lionnet, Florian}, year={2022}, month={Apr.}, pages={1–47} }