An Instrumental Analysis of Mizo Tones and Tone Alterations in

Mizo Compound Words

 

Mizo is a Tibeto-Burman tone language spoken in the northeast Indian state of Mizoram. Studies have attested the existence of at least four tones, namely, high, low, rising and falling in Mizo (Lalrindiki 1989, 1992; Weidert 1975). These studies have studied the tonal phenomenon in Mizo at length. However, there is no instrumental study done on the features of Mizo tones.

 

This study is divided into two parts. In the first part, we investigate and ascertain how the Mizo tones differ from each other in terms of pitch and intensity. In the second part we investigate the tone alteration processes in Mizo two and three word compounds.

 

For the first part of the study, we gathered tokens of all four tones in Mizo. With the help of speech analyzing software PRAAT we extracted the pitch values at the point of initiation (P1) and termination (P2) of the tone bearing unit (TBU). The difference between P1 and P2 for each tone was calculated and a mean difference value (P d) was assigned to them. We also extracted the pitch values of the adjoining carrier phrases and compared them with P1 and P2 to avoid the possibility of any segmental interference arising due to the carrier phrase. The mean pitch value of the whole pitch track (P m) of the TBU was extracted, calculated on 15 intervals. In a pilot study conducted recently, it was noticed that Mizo tones interact significantly with intensity. Hence, average intensity (P i) corresponding to each tone was also calculated. While P d was used as the principle cue for identifying the tone in Mizo, P m and P i were used as additional cues.

In the second part of this study, we collected data for two word and three word compounds in Mizo from a native speaker of the language. Using the tone identification cues of Mizo devised in the first part of this study we tried to identify the tonal changes in Mizo compounds. Though studies had been conducted on two-word compounding in Mizo in terms of tone change, no previous work is to be found on three word compounding.

In our initial observation we noticed some interesting tone changes in two-word compounds, e.g. look at (1) and (2):

 

(1) ngaiH + damH à ngai LdamH

‘to think’ + ‘be well’ ‘to forgive’

(2) thinF + tshiaF à thin FtshiaL

‘liver’ ‘be bad’ ‘be angry’

 

This study will throw some light on the tonal alteration process in Mizo compounds and will also identify some definite cues for instrumentally identifying tones in Mizo.