View source for Tommo So

{{Short description|Dogon language of Mali}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Tommo So
| pronunciation = /tɔ̀mmɔ̀ sɔ̀ɔ́/
| altname = Tombo-So<ref>{{e22|dto|Tommo So Dogon}}</ref>
| speakers = 40,000-60,000
| date = 2013
| ref = {{sfn|McPherson|2013}}
| familycolor = Niger-Congo
| states = [[Mali]]
| region = [[Mopti Region|Région de Mopti]]
| fam1 = [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]]
| fam2 = [[Dogon languages|Dogon]]
| pushpin_map = Mali
| pushpin_image = Mali_relief_location_map.jpg
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Mali
| coordinates = {{coord|14|20|N|3|25|W|format=dms|display=inline, title}}
| iso3 = dto
| glotto = tomm1242
| glottorefname = Tommo So Dogon
}}
'''Tommo So''' is a language spoken in the eastern part of Mali's [[Mopti Region]]. It is placed under the [[Dogon languages|Dogon language family]], a subfamily of the [[Niger–Congo languages|Niger-Congo language family]].{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=2}}
There are approximately 60,000 speakers of Tommo So. Of the twelve Dogon languages, it is the second-most common.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=3}} It is classed as a 6a (vigorous) language under [[Ethnologue|Ethnologue's]] language status classifications—the language is "used for face-to-face communication by all generations and the situation is sustainable."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/about/language-status|title=Language Status|website=Ethnologue|language=en|access-date=2019-04-23}}</ref> Children are still acquiring Tommo So as their [[first language]]. [[Bambara language|Bambara]] and [[French language|French]] (Mali's [[lingua franca]] and [[national language]]) are common [[second language]]s for Tommo So speakers, with the former being common among those that have spent time in other areas of Mali, and the latter being used to communicate in the classroom or with foreigners.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=6}}
== Phonology ==
=== Vowels ===
Tommo So contains 17 vowel [[phoneme]]s. There are seven basic vowels spanning four [[Vowel#Height|vowel heights]] and three [[Vowel#Backness|vowel backnesses]].
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Basic Vowel Sounds{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=26}}
! !! {{Center|[[Front vowel|Front]]}}!!{{Center|[[Back vowel|Back]]}}
|-
! {{Center|[[Close vowel|High]]}}
| {{Center|i}} ||{{Center|u}}
|-
! {{Center|[[Close-mid vowel|High-mid]]}}
| {{Center|e}} ||{{Center|o}}
|-
! {{Center|[[Open-mid vowel|Low-mid]]}}
| {{Center|ɛ}} ||{{Center|ɔ}}
|-
! {{Center|[[Open vowel|Low]]}}
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | {{Center|a}}
|-
|}
Besides the 7 basic vowels, Tommo So's vowel inventory includes their long counterparts and 3 [[Nasal vowel|nasalized]] long vowels. The placement of vowels in words does not affect their length—long vowels tend to be about 138ms long, and short vowels tend to be about 67 ms long. The nasalized vowels /iː<sup>n</sup>/ and /uː<sup>n</sup>/ are present in the language but occur infrequently and irregularly, and are not considered phonemic.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=26}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Full Vowel Inventory{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=26}}
! {{Center|Short}} !! {{Center|Long}} !! {{Center|Nasalized}}
|-
| {{center|i}} || {{center|ii}}||
|-
| {{center|e}} || {{center|ee}}||
|-
| {{center|ɛ}} || {{center|ɛɛ}}||{{center|ɛɛ<sup>n</sup>}}
|-
| {{center|a}} || {{center|aa}}||{{center|aa<sup>n</sup>}}
|-
| {{center|ɔ}} || {{center|ɔɔ}}||{{center|ɔɔ<sup>n</sup>}}
|-
| {{center|o}} || {{center|oo}}||
|-
| {{center|u}} || {{center|uu}}||
|}
=== Consonants ===
Tommo So contains 17 consonants. There are 5 [[Place of articulation|places]] and 6 [[Manner of articulation|manners of articulation]]. [[Gemination|Consonant length]] is contrastive—for example, [dɛ̀nnɛ́] and [dɛ̀nɛ́] are considered to be different words—the first means 'look for', and the second means 'spend the day'.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=17}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Consonant Inventory{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=16}}
! !! colspan="2" | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]] !! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolo-Palatal]]!![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] !! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]] !! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
![[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
| {{center|p}} || {{center|b}} || {{center|t}} || {{center|d}}
| ||  || {{center|k}} || {{center|g}} ||
|-
![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| colspan="2" | {{center|m}} || colspan="2" | {{center|n}}
| ||{{center|ɲ}} || colspan="2" | {{center|ŋ}}||
|-
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| colspan="2" |  || colspan="2" | {{center|s}}
| ||  || colspan="2" |  || {{center|h}}
|-
![[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|{{center|dʑ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|-
![[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| colspan="2" |{{center|w}}|| colspan="2" |
| ||{{center|j}}|| colspan="2" |  ||
|-
![[Tap consonant|Tap]]
| colspan="2" |  || colspan="2" | {{center|ɾ}}
| ||  || colspan="2" |  ||
|-
!Lateral approximant
| colspan="2" |  || colspan="2" |{{center|l}}
| ||  || colspan="2" |  ||
|}
The consonant inventory includes the alveolo-palatal [[Affricate consonant|affricate]] [dʑ]—the consonant [ʑ] does not appear by itself. There are a few other consonants sounds that occur in consonant speech (such as [ʔ] and [tɕ]). However, these sounds occur only in [[ideophone]]s, and are not considered part of Tommo So's consonant inventory.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|pp=16-17}}
=== Syllabic structure ===
There are eight syllable types in Tommo So: (C)V, (C)Vː (C)VR, (C)VC, N, NCV, NCVː, and CVV. N represents a nasal consonant, and R represents a [[sonorant]]. A (C)VC syllable must be followed by an [[Syllable#Onset|onset]] identical to this [[Syllable#Coda|coda]]. Some examples of these syllable structures are provided below.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=34}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
!Template
!Example
!Translation
|-
| V ||'''''ɛ̀'''.nɛ́'' ||'goat'
|-
| Vː ||'''''íí''''' ||'house'
|-
| CV ||''gì.'''nɛ́''''' ||'child'
|-
| CVː ||'''''nàá''''' ||'cow'
|-
| VR ||'''''ém''''' ||'milk'
|-
| CVR ||'''''nǎm''''' ||'sun'
|-
| CVC ||'''''sɔ́b'''.bɔ̀'' ||'dry sowing'
|-
| N ||'''''ɲ́'''.yɛ́''||'eat'
|-
| NCV ||''à.'''ndá''''' ||'udder'
|-
| NCVː ||''gà.'''mbáá''''' ||'some'
|-
| CVV ||'''''dɔ̀ɛ̀''''' ||'he arrived'
|}
=== Tone ===
Tone is significant both lexically and grammatically. Tommo So contains two [[Tone (linguistics)|tones]], high (H) and low (L).{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=75}} Based on an analysis of recorded words, the distribution and placement of H and L tones seem to be governed by a set of patterns that are relatively unpredictable for nouns, numerals, and adjectives, and predictable for verbs.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=86}}
==== Lexical Tone ====
Almost all syllables have an associated H or L tone, and every stem must contain at least one H tone. Although tones are contrastive, there are very few minimal pairs that are only tonally distinctive. A few examples are listed below.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Tonal Minimal Pairs{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=77}}
! colspan="2"| /H/ tone !! colspan="2" | /LH/ tone
|-
|''náá''|| 'mother' ||''nàá''|| 'cow'
|-
|''ííyé''|| 'today' ||''ììyé''|| 'honey'
|-
|''ííyɛ́''|| 'grave' ||''ììyɛ́''|| 'moon'
|-
|''dámmá''|| 'village' ||''dàmmá''|| 'hoe'
|-
|''ísé''|| 'empty' ||''ìsé''|| 'dog'
|}
==== Grammatical Tone ====
Tommo So, like other Dogon languages, uses tonal overlays. A stem's tones are overwritten by a pre-determined tone overlay depending on the context in which the stem appears.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|pp=103-104}} Verb phrases' tones are replaced based on inflectional [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], and only affect the verb stem. As an example, main clauses' affirmative imperfect overlay is {HL}, and their negative imperfect overlay is {L}. Relative clauses' affirmative imperfect overlay does not change tones, and their negative imperfect overlay is {L}.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=104}} Given the noun stem [''jɔ̀bɔ́''] ('run') of the /LH/ tone class, conjugation would result in the following.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Conjugation of [''jɔ̀bɔ́''] ('run'){{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=105}}
! !! !! Main clause !! Relative clause
|-
! rowspan="2" | Imperfective !! Affirmative {HL}
| {{Center|jɔ́bɔ̀-dɛ̀}} || {{Center|jɔ̀bɔ́-dɛ}}
|-
! Negative {L}
| {{Center|jɔ̀b-éélè}} || {{Center|jɔ̀b-éélè}}
|-
|}
Noun phrases' tones are replaced based on the relationship between words in the noun phrase, and can affect multiple words. Although verb phrase tonal overlays are strictly defined for all verbs, noun phrase tonal overlays are dependent on the object in the noun phrase being possessed or not.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=106}}
== Morphology ==
Tommo So is an [[agglutinative language]]. In general, when these morphemes are attached to each other, they retain their original form and meaning within the new word. Tommo So's morphology contains [[affix]]ation, [[clitic]]s, [[reduplication]], and [[Compound (linguistics)|compounding]].
=== Affixation ===
As an agglutinative language, the affixation of morphemes plays a major role in Tommo So's morphology. Almost all of the language's bound morphemes are used as suffixes—prefixes are only seen in the form of reduplication, when used for deadjectival nominalization.
Tommo So contains five verbal derivational suffixes, listed below.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=251}}
<section begin="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/><div style="display:none;">
FACT:factitive
REV:reversive
MP:mediopassive
</div><section end="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
! Purpose
! Suffix
! Example
|-
| factitive || {{Center|''-ndɛ́''}}
| {{interlinear |c1={{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=255}} |yɛ̀ → yɛ̀-ndɛ́ |see {} see-FACT |'see' {} 'watch'|}}
|-
| reversive || {{Center|''-ílɛ́''}}
| {{interlinear |c1={{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=257}} |dɛ̀bɛ́ → dɛ̀b-ílɛ́ |{get stuck} {} {get stuck}-REV |{'get stuck'} {} {'get unstuck'}|}}
|-
| transitive || {{Center|''-írɛ́''}}
|
|-
| mediopassive || {{Center|''-íyɛ́''}}
| {{interlinear |c1={{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=263}} |pɛ́ndɛ́ → pɛ́nd-íyɛ́ |{make tight} {} {make tight}-MP |{'make tight'} {} {'get crowded'}|}}
|-
| causative || {{Center|''-mɔ́''}}
|
|}
There are some cases in which the 'reversive' suffix ''-ílɛ́'' does not seem to contain a reversive meaning. For example, the word ''yàmá'' means 'be ruined', but the word 'yàm-ílɛ́' means 'ruin.' Some derivational suffixes just happen to carry "no discernable meaning at all."{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=261}}
Tommo So does not contain much nominal morphology—the only two meaningful suffix types that attach to nouns are those that implement a human/non-human system and the diminutive suffix ''-ý''. In the case below, ''íí'' is an allomorph of ''-ý.''{{sfn|McPherson|2013}}
{{interlinear
|number= 1)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=115}}
| yàá'''-m'''{{=}}mbe
| female'''-HUM'''.PL{{=}}PL
| 'women'}}
{{interlinear
|number= 2)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=120}}
| ɛ́njɛ́ '''íí'''
| chicken '''DIM'''
| 'chick'}}
=== Clitics ===
There are a few [[clitic]]s in Tommo So, including a plural marker ''=mbe'' and a definite marker ''=gɛ'' (an example showing both is given below). Clitics are always attached to the end of an entire noun phrase rather than the noun itself.
<div class="center">
{| style="text-align: left;"
|'''Plural (noun)'''
|
|'''Plural (noun phrase)'''{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=115}}
|-
| {{interlinear|yàá-m{{=}}mbe|female-HUM.PL{{=}}PL|'women'}}
|→
| {{interlinear|yàà-m kómmó{{=}}gɛ{{=}}mbe|female-HUM.PL skinny{{=}}def{{=}}PL|'the skinny women'}}
|}
</div>
In general, clitics are always attached to the end of a stem, and never the beginning.
=== Reduplication ===
Reduplication is used for different purposes in Tommo So's morphology. The first is deadjectival nominalization, and the second is adjectival distribution.
==== Deadjectival nominalization ====
The process of nominalizing an adjective requires for the adjective stem to be reduplicated, either in part or in whole. At minimum, the first syllable is reduplicated. However, in the case of multisyllabic adjectives, up to the entire word can be reduplicated. A tone shift also occurs during this process. Regardless of how much of the original word is duplicated, the resultant noun has the same meaning.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=127}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+
!Adjective stem
!Noun
!Translation of noun
|-
|''kúnɔ́''
|''kù~kùnɔ́''
''kùnù~kùnɔ́''
|'thickness'
|-
|''wánnu''
|''wà~wànnú''
''wànnù~wànnú''
|'width'
|-
|''kábárá''
|''kà~kàbàrá''
''kàbà~kàbàrá''
''kàbàrà~kàbàrá''
|'flatness'
|}
==== Adjectival distribution ====
The reduplication of an adjective is used to distribute its meaning across a given number of objects.
{{interlinear
|number= 1)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=141}}
| Gìnè ɛ̀su~ɛ̀sù néé-go{{=}}sɛ-m.
| house pretty~pretty two-ADV{{=}}have-1SG
| 'I have two very pretty houses.'}}
{{interlinear
|number= 2)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=142}}
| Jàà ɛ́lɛ́lu~ɛ̀lɛ̀lù néé-go ɲ̀y-ɛ̀-m.
| meal sweet~sweet two-ADV eat-PFV.L-1SG
| 'I ate two good meals.'}}
=== Compounding ===
There are two types of compounding in Tommo So: nominal compounding and adjectival compounding.
==== Nominal compounding ====
About a third of the known lexicon of Tommo So consists of nominal compounds, of which most are right-headed.{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=151}} Some examples of nominal compounds are provided below.
{{interlinear
|number= 1)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=151}}
| nɛ̀m táá
| salt door
| 'slab of salt'}}
{{interlinear
|number= 2)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=152}}
| bòmbòm yòògú
| candy sap
| 'chewing gum'}}
{{interlinear
|number= 3)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=153}}
| hɔ̀ɔ̀làl bàŋáá
| trust owner
| 'trustworthiness'}}
==== Bahuvrihi compounding ====
[[Compound (linguistics)#Subclasses|Bahuvrihi compounding]] in Tommo So occurs when a complex noun is created by attaching an adjective to the end of a noun.
{{interlinear
|number= 1)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=167}}
| ǹdɛ̀ áŋá wɛ̂y
| person mouth light
| 'gossipy person'}}
{{interlinear
|number= 2)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=167}}
| àn-nà-y dɔ́lɔ́ póò
| male-HUM.SG-DIM testicle fat
| 'boy with large testicles'}}
== Syntax ==
=== Basic word order ===
Tommo So's basic word order is subject-object-verb ([[Subject–object–verb|SOV]]).{{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=10}} Examples of this are shown below.
{{interlinear
|number= 1)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=13}}
| Mòòmíyó mí{{=}}ɲ̀ támbá-gú{{=}}sɛ.
| scorpion 1SG.PRO{{=}}OBJ strike-ppl{{=}}have
| 'The scorpion is striking me.'}}
{{interlinear
|number= 2)
|c1= {{sfn|McPherson|2013|p=13}}
| Mí áí{{=}}ɲ́ màŋgóró ób-aa{{=}}be-m.
| 1SG.PRO friend{{=}}OBJ mango give-PFV{{=}}be.PST-1SG
| 'I gave my friend a mango.'}}
== References ==
{{Reflist|22em}}
== Bibliography ==
*{{Cite book|title=A grammar of Tommo So|last=McPherson| first = Laura | place = Berlin ; Boston| publisher = De Gruyter Mouton |year = 2013| isbn = 9783110301076|oclc=867630968}}
{{Dogon languages}}
{{Dogon topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Languages of Mali}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Dogon languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Mali]]