Established result : a system of interacting constraints is a useful analytical framework.

1. Three puzzles in the phonetics and phonology of Thai ToneElizabeth Zsiga, Georgetown Universityin collaboration with Bruce Morén, Cornell University

2. What role should abstract, formal representations play in describing and explaining sound patterns?

3. Established result: a system of interacting constraints is a useful analytical framework. • Constraints should be grounded. • *V-stop-V Expend as little energy as possible • Onset Cues to a C’s place of articulation are clearest when the C is released into a vowel.

4. If constraints need to be grounded in facts outside the formal grammatical system, why not reference those facts directly? Why bother with a formal representation at all? *V-stop-V Be Lazy? Onset Maximize Perceptibility?

5. In my view: • While phonological constraints may arise from physical dimensions, they do not reference those dimensions directly. • Phonological constraints refer to abstract categories, which are not always directly realized in the speech stream. In this talk: • Evidence that reference to abstract categories (H, L, µ) are necessary to solve some interesting puzzles in the phonetics and phonology of Thai tone.

7. H L HL LH s s s s s Mid High Low Falling Rising • Exactly five lexical contrasts • Simple, elegant, phonetically straightforward?

8. Our data show that the tonal system of Thai is much more complex and interesting than is usually assumed. • 3 Puzzles: • Unexpected tonal contours in citation form • Paradoxical tone distribution in obstruent-final forms • Surprising differences in tone realization between citation forms and connected speech.

10. H M L F R

11. H L HL LH s s s s s Mid High Low Falling Rising Straightforward phonetic implementation?

19. Interim finding: • Tones are linked to moras, not syllables, in Thai. • Provides an example of a match between phonological and phonetic representations. • Where’s the evidence for abstraction?

23. Claim: ObsCodaL is the phonologization of a phonetic tendency, not the phonetic tendency itself.

29. The phonologically simple H tone is phonetically a contour, which is fully realized, even on short CVO syllables. It is phonological complexity that’s ruled out on these syllables, not phonetic.

30. sentence token

40. Again, the complexity ruled out by higher ranking of *TTs is phonological, not phonetic.

42. Conclusions Puzzle 1: unexpected tonal contours can be explained if we assume that tones are associated to moras. Puzzle 2: restrictions on tone patterns in obstruent-final syllables can be explained if we assume a constraint that requires glottalized codas to be associated with low tones. Puzzle 3: in connected speech, the tones associated to the second mora may be deleted.

44. Why bother with a formal representation? • The tonal puzzles of Thai can only be solved by utilizing abstract, formal entities (tonal autosegments and moras). • Generalizations are based in phonetic principles. • They are discovered through careful phonetic analysis. • They’re just not always phonetically true.

45. For further research: • The larynx: articulatory and aerodynamic modeling • Perception studies • Relation of “casual speech” variation to non-variable lexical forms.