Tone-Bearing Units in Quiaviní Zapotec: The split between Fortis and Lenis Sonorants * Mario E. Chávez-Peón University of British Columbia A large amount of evidence in the literature has established the mora as the prosodic tone-bearing unit (Hyman 1985, Pulleyblank 1994, Jiang-King 1999, among others). Moreover, there are languages in which the tone-bearing unit is not just any mora, but sonorant moras only (Yip 2002: 73; see Zec 1988 and Steriade 1991). Quiaviní Zapotec (Otomanguean) behaves in this way as vowels and coda sonorants bear tone. However, based on the fortis/lenis distinction, this study claims for a split between fortis and lenis sonorants, in that only the former are tone-bearing. Phonological and phonetic evidence support this proposal. 1 Introduction Under non-linear phonology (e.g. Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith 1976)), tone is represented on a separate tier from the segmental and prosodic material. A tone is only realized on the surface if it is associated with some segment or prosodic entity such as the syllable or the mora, on which it is eventually pronounced. A large amount of evidence in the literature has established the mora as the prosodic tone-bearing unit (TBU; Hyman 1985, Pulleyblank 1994, Jiang-King 1999, among others). Moreover, there are languages in which the TBU is not just any mora, but vocalic or sonorant moras only (Yip 2002: 73; see Zec 1988 and Steriade 1991 for discussion). In fact, according to Hyman (1992), the most common TBU is the sonorant mora. Taking into account this theoretical background, I assume that the mora is the TBU in Quiaviní Zapotec (Otomanguean), a tonal language spoken in southern Mexico. The question remains, however, on how tone is manifested at the segmental level. In other words, what the tone bearing segments are in this language. I predict vowels to express tone, as they are the optimal segments to do so, but Quiaviní Zapotec also has a wide variety of syllable rhymes, with different types of consonants in the coda. Of particular interest is the pervasive fortis/lenis distinction in the consonant inventory, a contrast that is found both in obstruents and sonorants. The goal of this study, then, is to determine the segmental TBU in Quiaviní Zapotec. By doing so, I hope to shed light on the possible interaction between tone and the fortis/lenis distinction. The study is organized as follows, section 2 presents the phonemic and tonal inventory of Quiaviní Zapotec, section 3 analyzes the moraic status of consonants, and section 4 examines the phonetic evidence with respect to the capability of coda consonants to bear tone. The study concludes with section 5. 2 Quiaviní Zapotec phonemic and tonal inventories Following Munro and Lopez (1999), Table 1 presents the consonant inventory of Quiaviní Zapotec. * Thanks to my consultants Tiu Rogel and Tiu Lyony from San Lucas Quiaviní, Oaxaca, Mexico. X:tyoozënn yùad. All Zapotec data comes from personal fieldwork. This paper has greatly benefited from comments and discussion with Francisco Arellanes, Bryan Gick, Calisto Mudzingwa, Pam Munro, Doug Pulleyblank, Thomas Smith-Stark (†), Joe Stemberger and Moira Yip. All the mistakes are mine. Research funded by SSHRC, granted to Joe Stemberger and by Ph.D. CONACYT fellowship granted to the author.