Tone correspondences among the Bodo languages

• Main Authors: Joseph, U. V., Burling, Robbins
• Other Authors: Don Bosco (Umswai, Assam, India)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/178050
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Several decades ago, Burling suggested that the contrast between a glottal stop and its absence that is so characteristic of Garo is cognate to the two-way tone contrast of the closely related language that he called "Kachari", a language that would probably be called "Boro" today (1959). More recently, Joseph has given fuller data that demonstrate the relation between the Garo glottal stop contrast and the tone contrast in Rabha, with additional confirming evidence for the correspondence with Boro. We can now offer data not only from these three languages, but from Kokborok and Tiwa (formerly known as "Lalung") as well. The data from Kokborok are limited but those from Tiwa are particularly valuable because we believe we now have a better understanding of the Tiwa tone system than we have ever had for any other language of this group.