Tone on Njyem Nouns: A Register Tier Theory Perspective

International audience This paper describes and explains the make-up and realization of tone on the nouns of Njyem, a narrow Bantu language of the Makaa-Njyem sub group. It is classified as A.84 (Guthrie 1971: 33; Maho 2003: 642) and spoken from the forest region of South Eastern Cameroon over to the north of the Republic of the Congo. The article uses the nuts and bolts of Register Tier Theory (RTT) (Inkelas 1987; Inkelas et al. 1987; Snider 1988, 1990, 1999) to insightfully explain tonal phenomena found on Njyem nouns. The analysis reveals that the nouns have four underlying tonal melodies, namely, H, L, HL, and LH and that tonal and/or phonological processes trigger the other surface realizations. In order to account for these surface forms, the contrastive underlying tonal melodies of noun roots are given and the realization on the surface of each melody discussed within the framework of RTT.