Tono léxico y gramatical en las construcciones posesivas del mazateco de Mazatlán

Abstract

This paper presents a phonetic description and a phonological analysis of possessive constructions in Mazatlán Mazatec. These constructions are formed with a pronominal enclitic that indicates the possessor and a noun phrase that represents the possessed element. It is observed that the tonal interaction at the boundary between the noun phrase and the enclitic differs from that found between independent words. It is proposed that this distinct tonal interaction results from underlying differences in the possessive construction compared to other aspects of phonology. This distinction allows for the differentiation between tone in general phonology (GP) and grammatical tone (GT), which is restricted to certain grammatical constructions. To formalize this description, the Register Tier Theory (Snider 1999) is employed, using two tonal features: high or low tone (H vs. L) and high or low register (h vs. l). In the description of GP, a phonological contrast is proposed between High tone (Hh), Low tone (Ll), and Mid tone (Ø). In the possessive construction, a low boundary register (l) is posited at the interface between the noun phrase and the enclitic.