THE TONE SYSTEM OF UHAMI

Abstract

Uhami is an understudied endangered Edoid language spoken in Ondo State, Nigeria.Although Edoid languages have been typologised as having two-tone systems except with few exceptions, Uhami tone system, in particular has not been systematically typologised. This study therefore presents a description of its tone system. Pitch tracks are extensively presented as empirical evidence of identified patterns. The results show that Uhami has a terraced level tone system with three underlying level tones namely the high (H), mid (M) and low (L) tones. All the three underlying tones were shown to be phonemically contrastive becausethey appear in phonetically unpredictable environments. Uhami also has widespreaddownstepped M while only traces of downstepped H were found. However, there is downdrift H which can occur iteratively, giving the classical terracing effect. It was also found that the high-falling (HF) and mid-falling (MF) contour tones which fall from the level of the preceding H and M respectively, occur in environments that appear to be contrastive but the two contours are restricted to the final position and lack distributional fluidity expected of tonemes. They are posited to be evidence of change in progress that needs to be tracked.