Nigeria's free digital learning hub. Videos, lecture notes, practice questions and leaderboards aligned with CCMAS, NBTE, NCCE, WAEC, NECO, IJMB and JAMB curricula.
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Nigeria's free digital learning hub. Videos, lecture notes, practice questions and leaderboards aligned with CCMAS, NBTE, NCCE, WAEC, NECO, IJMB and JAMB curricula.
This series introduces learners to the phonological phenomena of downdrift and downstep, two important tonal processes that affect pitch realization in many tone languages. The course examines how tone sequences interact in connected speech, leading to gradual or sudden lowering of pitch levels without altering the underlying tonal structure of words.
Learners will explore the definitions, characteristics, and distinctions between downdrift and downstep, as well as the phonological environments in which they occur. The series also investigates the role of floating tones, tonal spreading, and tonal stability in triggering these phenomena. Through examples drawn from African and other tone languages, students will learn how downdrift and downstep contribute to meaning, speech rhythm, and tonal organization.
By the end of the series, learners will be able to identify, analyze, and explain downdrift and downstep in tonal data, distinguish between the two processes, and appreciate their significance in phonological theory and language description.
This lecture is part of LIN 306 Tone Systems in the Linguistics department. The course has 45 recorded lectures across 10 series, all free to watch. Read or download the LIN 306 lecture note to study alongside the video.
