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The Distribution of Pitch in Eastern Cham

Samantha Rarrick

1.0.Introduction

Eastern Cham is a language of Vietnam. This language is fairly phonologically complex,

especially with respect to pitch. Because of extensive contact with other languages, the structure

and phonology have undergone some dramatic changes, including the ongoing process of

tonogenesis. This paper focuses on the occurrence of pitch in this language, its distribution, and

it argues that pitch is not yet phonemic in this language.

1.1 Background Information on Eastern Cham

Eastern Cham is an Austronesian language spoken in southern Vietnam. It is closely

related to but distinct from Western Cham, which is not mutually intelligible. Currently, there are

approximately 73,000 speakers, but it is quickly being replaced by Vietnamese and is therefore

considered threatened (Lewis, Simons & Fennig 2013).

While Proto-Chamic was atonal and disyallbic, language contact has heavily influenced

the structure of Cham. There were three primary waves of contact in the region which have

permanently altered the language. The first of these contact waves was with speakers of Mon-

Khmer languages. This resulted in the acquisition of word-final stress and iambs in Eastern

Cham. The second contact wave of contact was specifically with registeral Mon-Khmer

languages in southeastern Vietnam. During this time, languages closely related to Eastern Cham,

including Western Cham, developed registral systems, while Eastern Cham did not. Most

recently, there has been heavy contact between Eastern Cham and Vietnamese. Because

Vietnamese is a tonal language, tonogenesis is occurring in Eastern Cham (Thurgood 1996). As

contact continues, it is likely that Eastern Cham will become fully tonal.

1.2 This Data The data and analysis presented in this paper are based on interactions in a classroom

setting with a native speaker of the Eastern Cham who is also fluent in English and Vietnamese.

This speaker was born in 1983 to parents who speak only Eastern Cham. He used Eastern Cham

in school until age ten, and then switched to primarily Vietnamese, although Eastern Cham is

still the primary language of his home village.

In the examples provided throughout this paper, the data is transcribed in a working

orthography based on IPA. Unless otherwise noted, all segments have their IPA values. Pitch

levels (described more fully in section 2.1 Basic Information) are represented by diacritics.

Segments with a high pitch are represented by the acute accent (ˊ). Segments with low pitch are

represented by the grave accent (ˋ). Segments with a neutral pitch do not occur with any diacritic.

There are also segments in this language which occur with breathy voice (described more fully in

section 2.2.2 Laryngeal Features). These segments are occur with the breathiness diacritic ( ).

1.3 Basic Phonological Information There are nine vowel and twenty-one consonant phonemes in Eastern Cham. This

language makes a distinction between aspirated and unaspirated plosives, but not between voiced

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and voiceless plosives. There are also voiced implosives in the language, but these do not

correlate with pitch. There is also phonemic vowel length in this language, which also correlates

with pitch. This is important for analyzing pitch in this language and is demonstrated in the

consonant charts provided below.

TABLE 1: CONSONANT PHONEMES OF EASTERN CHAM

Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Plain plosives

p t

k ʔ

Aspirated

plosives pʰ tʰ

kʰ

Implosives

ɓ ɗ

Nasals

m n

ɲ ŋ

Fricatives

s

h

Affricates

ʧ

Approximants

ɻ

j w

Lateral

Approximants l

TABLE 2: VOWEL PHONEMES OF EASTERN CHAM

i u

e o

ə

ɛ ɔ

æ a

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The primary syllable structure allowed in Eastern Cham is CV, with CVC also occurring

word-finally. Although they occur much less frequently, V and VC syllables are also possible.

Consonant clusters can occur in onsets, but never in codas. Most words in this language are

either mono- or disyllabic, with front vowels typically occurring in the first syllable of disyllabic

words. Finally, it is important to note that syllabic nasals, particularly /m/, may occur word-

initially before a voiceless plosive, while plosives are unreleased when they occur word-finally.

Other fricatives and nasals can also occur word-finally.

1.4 Pitch Complications in Eastern Cham

As mentioned in section 1.1 (Background Information on Cham), Eastern Cham has had

extensive contact with Vietnamese and other Mon-Khmer languages over a long period of time.

Currently, many speakers of Eastern Cham are also speakers of Vietnamese, including the

speaker from whom this data was gathered. Some pitches have arisen in Eastern Cham, possibly

due to the extensive contact with tonal languages. However, these are not yet consistently

phonemic. There are several near-minimal pairs for pitch, but it is in many cases still predictable

based on the segment’s environment. Because of this, the phonemic status of pitch in this

language is questionable. It seems most likely, however, that tonogenesis is still incomplete in

Eastern Cham.

1.4.1 Previous Research Summary

Over the past fifty years, several researchers have analyzed pitch and pitch contrast in

Eastern Cham as tonogenesis has continued to occur. The first of these was Blood (1967) which

concludes that low pitch contrasts with no-low pitch. He also claims that low pitch is predictable

based on the voicing quality of an initial plosive in Proto-Cham. Originally, Eastern Cham had

both voiced and voiceless plosives phonemically. This distinction has since been lost, but Blood

(1967) proposes that it is these environments which predict low or non-low pitch.

According to Van Han (1992). there are also laryngeal features which may condition

pitch contrasts. In Eastern Cham, both breathy and modal voice occur. These distinctions

probably arose when the voicing distinction was lost. Van Han (1992), like Blood (1967) and

Thurgood (1996) argues that there are two registers in Eastern Cham which are predictable based

on the initial proto-sound.

Building off of David Blood’s work on Eastern Cham, Thurgood (1993) suggests that the

language had significantly changed since Blood (1967) and that the language was on its way to

becoming fully tonal, with no conclusion regarding whether or not tonogenesis was complete.

This furthering of tonogenesis was likely due to the continued language contact during the

twenty-five years between the two publications. He also claims that pitch levels correlated with

syllable rhymes and not with initial segments, as was suggested by Blood (1967). In 1996,

Thurgood amends this statement and concludes that pitch levels are indeed predictable based on

the initial proto-sounds. He then also claims that the high pitch is the default and tends to occur

especially before final glottal consonants (Thurgood 1996).

More recently, Brunelle (2005a) looks specifically at what he believes to be the three

most likely possible analyses of register in this language. Brunelle (2005a) argues that register in

Eastern Cham may be either a property of onsets (much like the previous literature discussed), a

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feature of vowels, or suprasegmental. Based on a word game common in the region in which the

rimes of adjacent words are switched to form a new meaning, he concludes that register cannot

be dissociated from the onset and is therefore not phonemic.

All of the previous research on pitch in Eastern Cham discussed here concludes that pitch

is not phonemic in this language, and that tonogenesis is still occurring. However, of these

pieces, the most recent were published nearly ten years ago and most were published before the

birth of the current informant who is now of child-bearing age. The language has likely changed

fairly significantly in this amount of time. There is also some debate, as seen in Thurgood

(1996), about what triggers the predictability of pitch. While the general consensus is that pitch

is predictable based on a proto-sound, this is also problematic, as modern speakers do not have

access to these proto-sounds,w hich would suggest that tone is not, in fact, predictable and is

instead phonemic. This also only applies to words with initial plosives, despite the fact that there

are words which can occur with non-modal pitch and do not have such initial consonants. The

body of this paper addresses these issues and other factors which influence pitch.

1.5 Why this Matters

Thurgood (1993) argues that whether or not pitch is fully phonemic yet is not important,

because it will so be eventually. However, this is not true. Despite the extreme likelihood that

pitch will be fully phonemic very soon, it’s important to track these sorts of language change and

understand how they happen. It is also important to understand how tonogenesis occurs in a

language and how long this sort of process takes under various conditions, including the high

levels of language contact seen between Eastern Cham and Vietnamese.

2.0.The Predictability of Pitch

As discussed in previous research (see section 1.3 Previous Research Summary), pitch is

probably not yet phonemic in Eastern Cham. There are several factors which influence the

distribution of pitch levels in this language. One of these is the initial proto-sound, which may be

problematic, as this only applies to words which have initial plosives and it is not information

that is available to modern speakers of the language. Despite this, pitch is still predictable based

on the interaction of several factors, including vowel length (section 2.2.1), laryngeal features

(section 2.2.2), and the final consonant (section 2.2.3).

2.1 Ptich Levels

There are two pitch levels in Eastern Cham. The first of these is low which is

characterized by its lowered pitch and often accompanied by a decrease in volume. The second

level is high, which is characterized by raised pitch and can be accompanied by an increase in

volume or mild nasalization. Words are also capable of occurring with neutral pitch. An example

word for each of the attested pitches or no pitch at all is provided in Table 1 below.

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TABLE 3: PITCH LEVELS IN EASTERN CHAM

Pitch Gloss

pap ‘pig’

ɓɛŋ ‘hear’

h n ‘dirt’

h t ŋ ‘nose’

t ‘star’

2.2 Pitch Distribution Generally, pitch is low on the final syllable of a word and high on the first syllable.

owever, this is not always the case. Some words, such as h n ‘dirt’ (provided in Table 1

above) end in a high pitch. Others, such as papu , ‘pig’ have an initial mid pitch and a final low

pitch. While this may suggest that pitch is phonemic, this is probably not the case. Rather, these

examples demonstrate some of the issues with previous conclusions, including the occurrence of

pitch after segments which are not plosives. As mentioned in section 2.0 The Predictability of

Pitch, these examples demonstrate how pitch is likely influenced by vowel length, laryngeal

features, and the final consonant, as opposed to only the initial proto-plosive.

2.2.1 Vowel Length Vowel length is phonemic in Eastern Cham. It also tends to co-occur with pitch

differences. Typically, short vowels are accompanied by high pitch and long vowels are

accompanied by low pitch, while segments with a neutral pitch have a typical vowel length. This

is seen in the examples provided in Table 2 below.

TABLE 4: PITCH LEVELS AND VOWEL LENGTH

Pitch Gloss

t ‘two’

t ‘cry’

kæn ‘strong’

Even though there is a strong co-ocurrence of vowel length and pitch quality, it is important to

note that it is possible that vowel length is a quality of the register levels themselves.

2.2.2 Laryngeal Features Laryngeal features seem to have the strongest effect on pitch quality and are therefore

especially important in understanding this phenomenon. It appears that as Proto-Cham lost its

initial voicing distinction, breathy voice and other laryngeal features became phonemic in

Eastern Cham (Van Han 1992). However, as Vietnamese has influenced language use, the

language has tended to switch from employing phonemic laryngeal features to an increase in the

occurrence of pitch differences. This is also supported by the fact that currently no minimal pairs

for breathy and modal voice have been attested

Laryngeal features in Eastern Cham occur phonetically. Breathy voice is the most

commonly attested of these features, and tends to co-occur with low vowels, like /a/, especially

when two of these vowels occur in the same word, and after an initial [h]. Breathy voice also

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tends to co-occur with low pitch. A word which exemplifies these trends is provided in Example

1 below.

EXAMPLE 1: BREATHY VOICE ON LOW VOWELS

h la ‘leaf’

When it comes to laryngeal features, non-breathy (modal) voice can occur with either high pitch

or neutral pitch. This is demonstrated in Examples 2 and 3 below.

EXAMPLE 2: HIGH PITCH WITH MODAL VOICE

ɗí ‘sleep’

EXAMPLE 3: MODAL VOICE WITH NEUTRAL PITCH

asaʊ ‘dog’

While previous researchers have argued that pitch is predictable based on the initial

proto-sound, it is more likely that breathy voice developed as the voicing distinction was lost,

since historically, splits follow mergers and speakers may have been inadvertently looking for

ways to maintain distinctions. Breathy voice appears to currently be a feature of words

themselves. Now, the primary condition for low pitch is breathy voice, while lack of pitch or

high pitch tends to occur with modal (non-breathy) voice. This is typical for tonogenesis in many

languages, making laryngeal features the most influential factor for the occurrence of low pitch

in Eastern Cham.

2.2.3 Final Consonants The third conditioning factor for pitch is the place of articulation for the final consonant.

Word-final syllables which end in a glottal stop or fricative occur with high pitch. Open syllables

and word-final syllables which do not end in a glottal consonant may occur with either low pitch

or with neutral pitch. This is demonstrated by the following near-minimal pair provided below.

EXAMPLE 4: NEAR-MINIMAL PAIR FOR PITCH

wak˺ ‘minute’

w ʔ ‘write’

In this example, wak˺ ‘minute’ does not occur with any pitch, as it occurs with a final

velar stop, does not occur with breathy voice, and the vowel length is not altered in any way. In

w ʔ ‘write’, the onset is identical, while the final consonant is glottal. Because of this, the pitch

is high. Thurgood (1996) also suggests that final glottal consonants predict high pitch, and this

co-occurrence is confirmed throughout the data.

2.3 Summary Pitch in Eastern Cham is quite predictable based on vowel length, breathy voice, and

word-final glottal consonants found in the surface forms. This is clearly seen in the examples

provided throughout this section. These environmental factors are also factors which are

accessible to speakers, unlike proto-sound information. A breakdown of these environmental

factors is provided in Table 5 below.

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TABLE 5: CONDITIONS FOR PITCH

Vowel Length:

Short- High

Normal- None

Long- Low

Laryngeal Features: Breathy- Low

Modal- High/None

Final Consonant

Glottal- High

Non-glottal- Low/None

None- Low/None

So far, no lexical items have been found for conditions that may possibly conflict. If such items

do exist, they will provide interesting insights into the relative rankings of these conditions. It is

important to understand which of these conditioning factors is most salient to speakers, but there

is still insufficient data to make any conclusions.

3.0.Other Evidence

Similar to the findings of Burnelle (2005a), pitch is certainly predictable based on

environmental cues including vowel length, breathy voice, and the final consonant, and is neither

phonemic nor a feature of vowels in Eastern Cham currently. It is, however, likely to become

phonemic in the future for several reasons. Firstly, it occurs in several near minimal pairs in

which the other alternation is quite subtle. This is seen in the pair provided in Example 4

reproduced below.

EXAMPLE 4: NEAR-MINIMAL PAIR FOR PITCH

wak˺ ‘minute’

w ʔ ‘write’

In this example, apart from the difference in pitch, the only other difference between this

pair is the final voiceless stop. While the difference between [ʔ] and [k˺] is quite difficult for

native English speakers to discern since the /k/ is unreleased word-finally and is phonetically

similar to / /, it is even potentially problematic for speakers of Eastern Cham. When asked what

the difference between these two words was, the speaker claimed that it was purely a difference

in pitch. The fact that the speaker was only aware of the differences in pitch and not the final

consonant suggests that pitch is certainly on its way to becoming phonemic as it is so salient for

speakers.

Occasionally, the speaker was asked to provide words which rhymed with a given lexical

item or whether two lexical items rhymed. In these sorts of tasks, the speaker consistently

responded based on the vowel, coda, and pitch. Occasionally, the speaker was willing to

overlook minor differences in vowel quality or slight differences in the coda consonants, but

lexical items with different pitches were never said to rhyme.

The speaker was also asked to take simple words and repeat them backwards to form

possible, but meaningless words. If pitch was a feature of the vowel in these cases, then it would

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remain consistent in the new word. This, however, was not the case. For example, when asked to

provide the word ‘East’ backwards, the speaker provided [ˈnup˺]. This utterance did not

occur with any pitch or breathiness. This suggests that pitch is neither a quality of the vowel or

suprasegmental, as it was completely left out in the new hypothetical word. The final consonant

also change from an alveolar nasal to a bilabial plosive. Since this is not glottal, it does not occur

with low tone. Consistent with the evidence from language games presented in Brunelle (2005a),

the formation of hypothetical words based on backwards attested forms suggests that pitch is

predictable based on environment and is not yet fully phonemic in Eastern Cham.

These speaker insights provide further evidence into the patterning of pitch in this

language. All of these things suggest that while pitch is not currently contrastive in the language,

it will likely be this way in the future. As speakers begin to perceive pitch as phonemic, or

attribute differences in meaning to pitch, rather than other phonemic differences, the closer

tonogenesis is to completion. Clearly, speakers have based changes in their own language on

their knowledge of tones in Vietnamese through language contact or reanalyzed features of their

language in terms of their knowledge of Vietnamese phonology.

4.0.One More Complication

Despite the fact that pitch is clearly not a feature of vowels and is predictable, this issue is

still not entirely straightforward. There are also pairs in the data which suggest that pitch may

actually be phonemic, as opposed to phonetic, or nearly-phonemic, as Example 4 above suggests.

In these pairs, including those provided in Example 5 below, pitch is the only phonetic difference

between the words which also have different meanings.

EXAMPLE 5: MINIMAL PAIR FOR PITCH

‘dove’

æ ‘armpit’

In these words, although no others have been found like them, pitch appears to be

phonemic. This could be problematic, although it does not appear to be consistently phonemic

across the language as tonogenesis progresses, we might expect that pairs like these will occur

increasingly. As extensive contact with Vietnamese continues, it is likely that speakers will

reanalyze phonemic breathy voice or phonemic vowel length as phonemic tone. When this

happen, it is likely that these other register features, breathy voice and vowel length, will lose

their phonemic status. As these steps take place, breathy voice and vowel length will stop

occurring in many of these forms, leaving the only difference between forms which previously

had these phonemic distinctions will be pitch.

5.0.Conclusions

The phonology of Eastern Cham is complex. Despite its fairly symmetric phoneme

inventory, other features like pitch and its predictability are much more complicated. When

considering the importance and impact of pitch in Eastern Cham, it is very important to consider

the fact that Vietnamese is a tonal language. Many speakers of Eastern Cham are also fully fluent

Vietnamese speakers and contact with Vietnamese has already led to language change. When

considering the present patterns of pitch in Eastern Cham, it is very likely that the language is

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becoming tonal under influence from Vietnamese and that soon pitch will be clearly phonemic

throughout the language.

For most disyllabic words, high pitch occurs on the first syllable, and low pitch occurs on

the second syllable. However, this is not always the case. There are other pairs of words which

suggest that the language is becoming tonal, including a single minimal pair for pitch. However,

in all other instances, pitch is predictable based on the environment in which it occurs. Low pitch

occurs with long vowels, breathy voice, and without a final glottal consonant. High pitch occurs

with short vowels, modal voice, and before a final glottal consonant. There are also several

environments in which pitch does not occur at all, including in some open-syllables and with

regular length vowels. Due to its contact with Vietnamese and the evidence provided in this

paper, it is quite likely that Eastern Cham will be tonal in the future, significantly changing its

phonology. It is important that researchers further investigate and record this change as

tonogenesis continues to progress.

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6.0.References

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Brunelle, Marc. 2005a. "Register and pitch in Eastern Cham: evidence from a word game."

Monkhmer Studies 35: 121.

Brunelle, Marc. 2005b. Register in Eastern Cham: Phonological, Phonetic and Sociolinguistic

approaches. Diss. Cornell University.

Haudricourt, André G. 1972. "Two-way and three-way splitting of tonal systems in some far-

eastern languages." Tai phonetics and phonology: 58-86.

Huffman, Franklin E. 1976. "The register problem in fifteen Mon-Khmer languages." Oceanic

Linguistics Special Publications 13: 575-589.

Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2013. Ethnologue: Languages of

the World, Seventeenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version:

http://www.ethnologue.com. Thurgood, Graham. 1993. "Phan Rang Cham and Utsat: tonogenetic themes and variants."

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Thurgood, Graham. 1996. “Language Contact and the Directionality of Internal Drift The

Development of Pitches and Registers in Chamic”. Language , Vol. 72, No. 1, pp. 1-31

Thurgood, Graham. 1999. “From Ancient Cham to Modern Dialects Two Thousand Years of

Language Contact and Change: With an Appendix of Chamic Reconstructions

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Van Han, Phu. 1992. "Eastern Cham as a Pitch Language". Mon-Khmer Studies 20: 31-43.