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