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Floating quantity in Shilluk
- Language
- Linguistic Society of America
- Volume 96, Number 3, September 2020
- pp. e135-e156
- 10.1353/lan.2020.0052
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
It is well known that floating tones can associate both within a word and across a word boundary. In relation to floating quantity, however, there is extensive evidence for association within a word, but not across a word boundary. This research report presents evidence for the latter configuration in Shilluk, a West Nilotic language. Shilluk noun forms may end in floating quantity, and this quantity is realized only on following vocalic prefixes, that is, across a word boundary. The investigation includes a descriptive analysis of the phenomenon and a production study based on data from ten Shilluk speakers.