Editing Luganda (section)

===Tone===
{{Main|Luganda tones}}

Luganda is a [[tonal language]], with three tones: high ({{IPA|á}}), low ({{IPA|à}}) and falling ({{IPA|â}}). There are, however, no syllables in Luganda with rising tone {{IPA|[àá]}}, since these automatically become {{IPA|[áá]}}.<ref>''Luganda Basic Course'', p.xiii.</ref><ref>Hyman & Katamba (1993), p.56.</ref>

There are various types of tones: (a) lexical tones, which are always present in a word, e.g. {{lang|lg|ekib'''ú'''ga}} 'city'; (b) phrasal tones, which are automatically added to a word in certain contexts, but which are absent in other contexts (e.g. {{lang|lg|ekítábó}} or {{lang|lg|ekitabo}} 'book'); (c) plateaux tones, where the pitch remains high between two lexical tones, e.g. {{lang|lg|<u>k'''í'''rí mú Úg'''áń'''</u>da}} 'it is in Uganda'; (d) grammatical tones, which are associated with certain tenses or uses of the verb; (e) boundary tones, which affect the last syllable of a word or phrase and can indicate such things as interrogation.

According to one analysis, tones are carried on [[mora (linguistics)|morae]]. In Luganda, a short vowel has one mora and a long vowel has two morae. A geminate or prenasalised consonant has one mora. A consonant + semivowel (e.g. {{lang|lg|gw}} or {{lang|lg|ly}}) also has one mora. A vowel followed by a prenasalised consonant has two morae ''including'' the one belonging to the prenasalised consonant. The initial vowel of words like {{lang|lg|ekitabo}} 'book' is considered to have one mora, even though such vowels are often pronounced long. No syllable can have more than two morae.

Falling tones can be heard in syllables which have two morae, e.g. those with a long vowel ({{lang|lg|okukóoká}} 'to cry'),<ref name=DP125>Dutcher & Paster (2008), p.125.</ref> those with a short vowel followed by a geminate consonant ({{lang|lg|okubôbbá}} 'to throb'),<ref name=DP125 /> those with a vowel followed by a prenasalised consonant ({{lang|lg|Abagândá}} 'Baganda people'), and those following a consonant plus semivowel ({{lang|lg|okulwâlá}} {{IPA|[okulwáalá]}} 'to fall sick').<ref name=DP125 /> They can also be heard on final vowels, e.g. {{lang|lg|ensî}} 'country'.

Words in Luganda commonly belong to one of three patterns (other patterns are less common): (a) without lexical tone, e.g. {{lang|lg|ekitabo}} 'book'; (b) with one high lexical tone, e.g. {{lang|lg|ekib'''ú'''ga}} 'city'; (c) with two high lexical tones, e.g. {{lang|lg|K'''á'''mpal'''á'''}} which link together to make HHH, i.e. {{IPA|[Kámpálá]}} or {{lang|lg|[Kámpálâ]}}. At the end of a sentence, a final lexical tone becomes a falling tone, i.e. [Kámpálâ], but in other contexts, e.g. when the word is used as the subject of a sentence, it remains high: {{lang|lg|Kámpálá kibúga}} 'Kampala is a city'.<ref>Luganda Basic Course, p.105</ref>

Although words like {{lang|lg|ekitabo}} are theoretically toneless, they are generally subject to a tone-raising rule whereby all but the first mora automatically acquire a high tone. Thus {{lang|lg|ekitabo}} 'book' is usually pronounced {{IPA|[e:kítábó]}} and {{lang|lg|ssomero}} 'school' is pronounced {{IPA|[ssóméró]}} (where the long consonant {{IPA|/ss/}} counts as the first mora).<ref>Luganda Pretraining Program, p.82.</ref> These tones automatically added to toneless words are called 'phrasal tones'. The tone-raising rule also applies to the toneless syllables at the end of words like {{lang|lg|eddw'''â'''liro}} {{IPA|[eddwáalíró]}} 'hospital' and {{lang|lg|t'''ú'''genda}} {{IPA|[túgeendá]}} 'we are going', provided that there is at least one low-toned mora after the lexical tone. When this happens, the high tones which follow the low tone are slightly lower than the one which precedes it.

However, there are certain contexts, such as when a toneless word is used as the subject of a sentence or before a numeral, when this tone-raising rule does not apply: {{lang|lg|Masindi kib'''ú'''ga}} 'Masindi is a city'; {{lang|lg|ebitabo kk'''ú'''mi}} 'ten books'.<ref>Luganda Basic Course, pp.xviii, xix.</ref>

In a sentence, the lexical tones (that is, the high tones of individual words) tend to fall gradually in a series of steps from high to low. For example, in the sentence {{lang|lg|kye kib'''ú'''ga ekik'''ú'''lu mu Ug'''áń'''da}} 'it is the chief city in Uganda', the lexical high tones of the syllables {{lang|lg|bú}}, {{lang|lg|kú}} and {{lang|lg|gá}} stand out and gradually descend in pitch, the toneless syllables in between being lower.<ref>Luganda Basic Course, p.105.</ref> This phenomenon is called '[[downdrift]]'.

However, there are certain types of phrase, notably those in the form 'noun + of + noun', or 'verb + location', where downdrift does not occur, and instead all the syllables in between the two lexical high tones link together into a 'tonal plateau', in which all the vowels have tones of equal height, for example {{lang|lg|mu mas<u>'''é'''réngétá g'''á''' Úg'''áń'''</u>da}} 'in the south of Uganda' or {{lang|lg|<u>k'''í'''rí mú Úg'''áń'''</u>da}} 'it is in Uganda'.<ref>Luganda Basic Course, pp.26, 31.</ref> Plateauing also occurs within a word, as in {{lang|lg|<u>K'''á'''mpál'''â'''</u>}} (see above).

A plateau cannot be formed between a lexical tone and a following phrasal tone; so in the sentence {{lang|lg|k'''í'''ri mu Bunyóró}} 'it is in Bunyoro' there is downdrift, since the tones of {{lang|lg|Bunyóró}} are phrasal. But a phrasal tone can and frequently does form a plateau with a following lexical tone or phrasal tone. So in {{lang|lg|a<u>bántú mú Úg'''áń'''</u>da}} 'people in Uganda', there is a plateau from the phrasal tone of {{lang|lg|abántú}} to the lexical tone of {{lang|lg|Ug'''áń'''da}}, and in {{lang|lg|t'''ú'''gen<u>dá mú lúgúú</u>dó}} 'we are going into the street', there is a plateau from the phrasal tone of {{lang|lg|t'''ú'''gendá}} to the phrasal tone of {{lang|lg|lugúúdó}}.<ref>Luganda Basic Course, p.xiii.</ref> Again there are certain exceptions; for example, there is no plateau before the words {{lang|lg|ono}} 'this' or {{lang|lg|bonn'''â'''}} 'all': {{lang|lg|muntú onó}} 'this person', {{lang|lg|abántú bonn'''â'''}} 'all the people'.<ref>Luganda Basic Course, p.xx.</ref>

Prefixes sometimes change the tones in a word. For example, {{lang|lg|Bag'''áń'''da}} {{IPA|[baɡá:nda]}} 'they are Baganda' has LHHL, but adding the initial vowel {{lang|lg|a-}} {{IPA|[a]}} gives {{lang|lg|Abag'''â'''ndá}} {{IPA|[abaɡâ:ndá]}} 'Baganda people' with a falling tone on ''ga'' and phrasal tone on the final syllable.

Different verb tenses have different tonal patterns. The tones of verbs are made more complicated by the fact that some verbs have a high lexical tone on the first syllable of the root, while others do not, and also by the fact that the sequence HH generally becomes HL by a rule called [[Meeussen's rule]]. Thus {{lang|lg|asóma}} means 'he reads', but when the toneless prefix {{lang|lg|a-}} 'he/she' is replaced by the high-toned prefix {{lang|lg|bá-}} 'they', instead of {{lang|lg|básóma}} it becomes {{lang|lg|básomá}} 'they read'.<ref>Luganda Pretraining Program, p.94.</ref> The tones of verbs in relative clauses and in negative sentences differ from those in ordinary positive sentences and the addition of an object-marker such as {{lang|lg|mu}} 'him' adds further complications.

In addition to lexical tones, phrasal tones, and the tonal patterns of tenses, there are also intonational tones in Luganda, for example, tones of questions. One rather unexpected phenomenon for English speakers is that if a yes–no question ends in a toneless word, instead of a rise, there is a sharp drop in pitch, e.g. {{lang|lg|lúnó lúgúúdò?}} 'is this a road?'.<ref>Luganda Pretraining Program, p.99.</ref>