In the first part of this study, autosegmental phonology is applied to Copala Trique, an Otomanguean language spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico. This language has five contrastive tone levels, for which three features are proposed: {HIGH}, {CENTRAL}, and {EXTREME}. Tone occurs distinctively, however, only on the word-final syllable and, in some words, also on a nonfinal syllable that has a lexically linked tone pattern. The predictable tone on the remaining syllables is supplied by an epenthesis rule. The postvocalic laryngeals and h interact closely with tone, and they are analyzed as part of the tonal tier, rather than as part of the segmental tier. A third postvocalic laryngeal, , is also posited; this is an abstract segment that imposes ballistic features on the vowel with which it is associated. In the second part of the study, the above phonological analysis is applied to the description of three morphological phenomena that involve tone and laryngeals. The first is a set of three tone-laryngeal replacements. These replacements constitute an intermediate level of abstraction between the morphosyntactic category that they realize, such as potential aspect or denominal adjective, and individual morphological rules. The second phenomenon is tone sandhi, in which the tone of a word is raised in a complex, but completely predictable, way immediately preceding certain pronouns. The third phenomenon is clitic pronouns, which pattern syntactically as heads of noun phrases, but are invariably realized as a change in the tone-laryngeal representation of the preceding word. Because both sandhi rules and clitic pronoun attachment apply postlexically, yet require access to morphological information, these two phenomena constitute significant counterexamples to the current theoretical claim that all rules that require morphological information apply in the lexicon. A brief concluding chapter evaluates the analysis, summarizes the theoretical implications of the findings, and suggests areas for future research.

This report analyzes the phonology of Betaza Zapotec, a language within the linguistic family of the Otomanguean languages of Mesoamerica that is spoken in northern Oaxaca, Mexico. The first part of this report describes the consonants of the language; the second part focuses on the vowel system; and the third section describes the suprasegmentals; tone and stress. I support my claims about the phonological system in Betaza Zapotec using data collected during the Summer of 2008 in San Melchor, Betaza Villa Alta, Oaxaca. I analyze the phonetic properties of the consonants, vowels and tones using spectrograms obtained through Praat, software for phonetic analysis. I consider the fortis/lenis opposition inherent in the consonants rather than using the traditional classification of voiced/voiceless consonants. The tone system in Betaza Zapotec involves four contrastive tones: high, low, falling, and rising. In addition there is a phonetic mid-tone which is a toneme of the high tone. / text

Cette grammaire de l’amuzgo (ISO 639-3) ou n͂omndaa (littéralement ‘le mot de l’eau’) tend à combler un manque de travaux théoriques sur cette langue otomangue de la branche orientale (branche qu’elle partage avec le mixtec). La source référentielle Ethnologue lui attribue le statut ‘en développement’. Pourtant, l’amuzgo reste vulnérable sur le plan socio-politique de par son statut de langue indigène du Mexique : le village Xochistlahuaca (Etat de Guerrero) est la 16è municipalité la plus pauvre du pays. En employant des approches non-concaténatives de phonologie et de morphologie, telles la phonologie gabaritique, la morphologie templatique, et des formalismes non-lexicalistes comme le Paradigm Function Morphology, cette grammaire cherche à modéliser des systèmes complexes représentés dans cette langue. Des approches non-linéaires sont plus aptes à rendre compte des inventaires élaborés comme les tons, et (dans une échelle scalaire) la phonation non-modale, la nasalisation, et la balisticité (un contraste phonétique et articulatoire au niveau de la syllabe). Ces systèmes complexes comprennent des fonctions lexico-grammaticales par grades à travers des structures diverses dans la grammaire, de la lexicalité à la phonologie interne, de la dérivation à la flexion. / This grammar of Amuzgo (ISO 639-3), endonymically n͂omndaa, literally ‘the word of water’) seeks to fill a lack in theoretical work on this Otomanguean language from the Eastern branch (shared with Mixtec). Rated as developing by the reference Ethnologue, this language is nevertheless in a constant position of socio-political vulnerability as an indigenous language of Mexico, spoken in the village of Xochistlahuaca (Guerrero State), also the 16th poorest municipality in the country. Using non-concatenative approaches in phonology and morphology such as autosegmental phonology, templatic morphology and non-lexical morphological formalisms such as Paradigm Function Morphology, this grammar seeks to model complex systems represented in this language. Non-linear approaches account for elaborate inventories of tone, and, in a gradient scale, non-modal phonation and autosegments like nasalization and ballisticity, a syllable level contrast of phonetic and articulatory saliency. These complex systems display gradient lexical-grammatical functions across structures in the grammar, from lexicality to internal phonology, to derivation and inflection.