A Grammar of Mombo Songho Dialect

‘Fulani people’s house’ (púndɛ́-ŋgè ‘Fulani people’)Both káwé-gè ‘grasshoppers’ in (xx12) and púndɛ́-ŋgè ‘Fulani people’ in (xx13) havetheir usual tones. So, the {HL} contour of contrastive plurals is not “seen” by the rulethat applies to the {HL} stretching plurals in examples (xx10) and (xx11).A possible analysis here is that it is only the stem, but not the PL marker, that is thetarget of the rule and, since the stem is lexically {H}, the tones are retained and the PLmarker takes a low tone by contrast to the tone on the last syllable of the stem.This analysis proves its applicability in another case, where the plural form of anoun occurs in the possessed noun position. There is a rule that requires possessednouns that have more than two morae and/or a lexical {LH} tone contour to take a{HL} overlay. Nouns that do not meet this condition, viz., those that are bimoraic andlexically {H} or {HL}, take a {H} in the possessed noun position (see § 6.2.1.1 fordetails). Consider the following examples:(xx14) ámárù ápyàA. health.HL‘Amadou’s health’ (lex. àpyá ‘health’)(xx15) séydù bôyS. key.HL‘Seydou’s key’ (lex. bǒy ‘key’)(xx16) séydù débúS. house.H‘Seydou’s house’ (lex. débù house)In (xx14), àpyá ‘health’ has three morae (the first closed syllable is bimoraic). Thatis why in the possessor noun position it takes a {HL} overlay. bǒy ‘key’ is bimoraic.However, since it bears a lexical {LH} tone contour, it also takes a {HL} in thepossessed noun position in (xx15). débù ‘house’ is a bimoraic noun with a {HL} lexicaltone contour, so it takes a {H} overlay.All plurals contain at least three morae, since all monosyllables are bimoraic, andthe PL marker adds another mora to the segmental substratum. This predicts that allplural must be HL-overlaid in the possessed noun position.Stretching plurals with a {H} tone contour follow this pattern and occur as {HL}the possessed noun position:(xx17) sɔ́ŋgɔ́ dɛḿbɛ́-ŋgèSongho [blacksmith-PL].HL‘Songho Fulanis’ (dɛḿbɛ́-ŋgé )19