105 AUTOMATIC AND NONAUTOMATIC DOWNSTEP IN CHUMBURUNG: AN INSTRUMENTAL COMPARISON  Keith Snider Canada Institute of Linguistics and SIL International keith_snider@sil.org The present work reports on an instrumental study of tonal downstep in Chumburung, a Kwa language spoken in Ghana. Downstep is the lowering of the tonal register that sometimes occurs between otherwise identical tones. In particular, the study addresses the question of whether the degree of lowering that is attributable to automatic downstep (downstep triggered by an overt low tone) is the same as that which is attributable to nonautomatic downstep (downstep triggered by a floating low tone). The study concludes that the degree of lowering is the same in both cases. Cet article rapporte les résultats d’une étude instrumentale de la faille tonale en chumburung, langue kwa parlée au Ghana. La faille tonale est l’abaissement du registre tonal qui a parfois lieu entre deux tons par ailleurs identiques. Plus précisément, l’étude répond à la question de savoir si le degré d’abaissement attribuable à la faille tonale automatique (la faille provoquée par un ton bas présent) est le même que celui provoqué par la faille tonale non automatique (la faille provoquée par un ton bas flottant). Selon cette étude, le degré d’abaissement est le même dans les deux cas. 0. INTRODUCTION The present work reports on an instrumental study of tonal downstep in two slightly different dialects of Chumburung, a North Guang language spoken by some 69,000 people along the south end of the Dakar River in Ghana’s Northern and Volta Regions (Gordon (2005: 124). The Guang family, in turn, belongs to the Tano subgroup of Kwa languages. Chumburung is most closely related to Krachi, Nawuri, Gichode, Gonja, and Nkonya, and more distantly related to Akan, which is also a Tano language. Previous research on the phonology and tone system of this language includes Hansford (1988) and Snider (1986, 1989a, 1989b, 1990a, 1999). Downstep is a common tonal phenomenon in African languages that normally results in a high tone being lowered to an intermediate pitch level when it follows a low tone. 1 Following Stewart (1965, 1983), I use the terms “automatic downstep” and “nonautomatic downstep” in an attempt to avoid the confusion that exists in the literature regarding various pitch lowering phenomena. Automatic downstep, often also called “downdrift” in the literature, occurs when the low tones that trigger the downstep are realized phonetically. Nonautomatic downstep, often also just called “downstep” in the literature, occurs when the low tones that trigger the downstep are not realized phonetically (i.e., they are “floating”). Although downstep of high tones results in syllables being pronounced with intermediate pitch levels, the downstep process is nevertheless distinguishable from other processes that result in intermediate pitch levels because the downstep effect is cumulative. Successive occurrences of the phenomenon therefore result in ever lower  Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Workshop on the Phonology of African Languages, 9 th International Phonology Meeting, University of Vienna, Austria, November 1-3, 2002 and at the 2003 Colloquium Series of The Summer Institute of Linguistics at the University of North Dakota, July 24, 2003. I am grateful to Steve Parker and a JWAL referee for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The usual disclaimers apply. 1 Some of the earliest descriptions of downstep include: Pike 1966, Stewart 1965, 1971, Welmers 1959, Williamson 1970, and Winston 1960. More recent theoretical works include: Clark 1993, Clements 1979, Hyman 1979, 1986, 1993, Inkelas 1987, Ladd 1993, Snider 1988, 1999, and Stewart 1993.