Five phonemic pitch levels in trique

Abstract There are five phonemic pitch levels in Trique 1 Trique is spoken by approximately 10,000 Indians in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico within a rough triangle formed by the towns of Tlaxiaco, Putla, and Juxtlahuaca — all non-Trique speaking. The dialect represented in this paper is that of San Andres Chicahuaxtla. A variety of informants have been used over a period of five years (1947–1951). The data were gathered under the auspices of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. . A system positing only three or four levels cannot account for the tonal contrasts encountered. Evidence for the existence of a five-level system in Trique is here presented along with a description of the system. In addition, certain sub-phonemic phonetic characteristics of the pitch levels are described and discussed. Introductory to the above considerations is a sketch of the history of the Trique tone problem and the writer's progress towards its solution. This case study sort of presentation is adopted in the hope that a contribution to the methodology of tone analysis can be made by studying in detail a problem of peculiar intricacy.