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each vowel in the sequence. She considers labialization and palatalization to be vocalic,
filling the first V slot in a CVV syllable. This is supported by the fact that in certain
cases, the secondary articulations bear tone in Linda.
In Mono, there are three arguments for this analysis. First, there are a handful of
words which could be considered to contain CVV syllable patterns: >= >= >= >= ‘priest’, D= D= D= D=
‘brightly (ideophone)’, > > > > (K (K (K ‘very white (ideophone)’, =( =( =( =( ‘cat’ (a loan word from
Lingala), D=(= D=(= D=(= D=(= ‘empty-handed (ideophone)’, D=( D=( D=( D=( ‘quickly (ideophone)’, and JA(=5( JA(=5( JA(=5( JA(=5(
‘small’. Second, vowels having contour tones are phonetically long and could be
considered to be a sequence of two vowels. Third, there is a case where a labial
consonant off-glide is formed in a heteromorphemic environment. A u becomes w
preceding a vowel with the same tone:
(7) a. CK( CK( A( A( A( A(
[ CM ]
1SG return:NF EMPH
‘I returned.’
b. I(C>= I(C>= I(C>= I(C>= =C= =C= =C= =C=
BK( BK( A( A( A( A( I(C>= =C= BM
flesh animal DET rot:NF EMPH
‘The meat rotted.’
However, the evidence for a CVV pattern is weakened by certain factors. First,
the words which contain this syllable pattern are small in number and are mostly
ideophones and loan words. Second, such words could be interpreted as containing a CV
syllable followed by a V syllable (CV.V), and as such would fit into the present inventory
of unambiguous syllable patterns, although this interpretation would require positing
additional word patterns. In fact, each word has an alternate pronunciation in which the
two-vowel sequence may be split up by a semi-vowel. For example, >= >= >= >= may also be
pronounced [>M=]. Third, the case of labialization in (7) results in a glide which is high
in the vowel space rather than mid, i.e. [K'] rather than [']. Fourth, the case in (7) creates a
glide-vowel sequence which does not adhere to the normal co-occurrence restriction
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