Chatino: tono y contraste en la penúltima sílaba en Tataltepec

Abstract

The tonal system of Tataltepec Chatino has seven tones: two level, two falling, and three rising. All of these tones contrast in the last (that is, the stressed) syllable, In the penultimate syllable there are four contrastive tones: two of these are glides -something which has not been described for Chatino previously. The gliding tones appear to cause a lengthening of the vowel of the penullim¡te syllable. Tones in other syllables are predictable.