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Article published In: Diachrony of Tone
Edited by Sandra Auderset, Rikker Dockum and Ryan Gehrmann
[Diachronica 42:3/4] 2025
► pp. 278–304

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Tonogenesis in the Gulf of Guinea Creoles

ORCiD logo with link | Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
Published online: 5 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.24041.ago
Abstract
This paper is concerned with tonogenesis in creole languages, focusing on the Gulf of Guinea Creoles (GGCs), where the interaction between the European (stress) and African (tone) origins has led to the emergence of a tone system. Two key factors were identified as crucial for this tonogenesis process: (i) the historical influence of Portuguese’s liquid coda via the Proto-Creole of the Gulf of Guinea (PGG) and (ii) the adaptation of part of the lexicon as not having a H tone, mainly in African-origin nouns and ideophones, and in verbs. Furthermore, I propose that PGG was already a tone language with a culminative and non-obligatory *H tone. The data demonstrate a unique interaction between tone, stress, and syllabic and moraic structures, in which both strata were crucial for the emerging system. Thus, this paper contributes to a broader understanding of tonogenesis in contact situations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
  • 3.Tonogenesis
    • 3.1The systems
    • 3.2From liquids to tonal contrasts
    • 3.3Words without a H tone
  • 4.The tone system of PGG
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (92)
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