High Tone in Oklahoma Cherokee1
Abstract
High Tone (excluding atonic superhigh accent) in Oklahoma Cherokee can be divided into three types: (i ) Lexical High Tone, (ii ) High Tone imposed on the final vowel of the verb stem, and (iii ) High Tone caused by prepronominal prefixes. This claim is supported by their different behaviors with regard to the direction of tone spreading, tone‐bearing unit, atonic forms, and blocking of the Laryngeal Alternation rule. I also claim that among these three High Tones, Lexical High Tone, which has been considered to be lexically determined and not predictable, is in fact derived from an underlying glottal stop, which has been considered to trigger only Lowfall (or falling) Tone.