浮動聲調

浮動聲調是語素^[1]中的元素，不包含輔音和元音，僅包含音調。它無法單獨發音，但會影響相鄰語素的音調。 ^{[2] [3]}

例如在班巴拉語中，有兩個音調：高音和低音。^[4]在這種語言中，定冠詞為一低浮動聲調（floating low tone）；定冠詞與一個孤立的名詞連用時，這個低浮動聲調與前面的元音相連，將高音變為降調（falling tone）：[bá]泛指所有的河； [bâ]則是指某條特定的河。當低浮動聲調出現在兩個高音之間時，它會將以下音調降低：

• [bá tɛ́]：它不是一條河
• [bá tɛ̄]或[bá ꜜ tɛ́]：它不是這（那）條河

與詞綴之類的音段語素相關聯的浮動聲調同樣常見。^[5]例如，在奈及利亞的埃多德語（英語：Edoid languages）^[6]中，主要的否定語素與現在時語素只通過聲調區分；現在時語素 (á-) 本身為高音，而過去時的否定語素 (´a-) 將該語素之前的音節上變為高音：

• oh á-nga 他在攀爬
• oh a-nga 他沒有在攀爬

歷史上，浮動聲調源自語音同化^[7]或輔音弱化 ^[8]到僅保留其音調的語素。 ^[9]

參考文獻

1. Clark, Mary M. 1993. "Representation of downstep in Dschang Bamileke". The Phonology of Tone: The Representation of Tonal Register, ed. by Harry van der Hulst and Keith Snider. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Pp. 29-73
2. Mary Paster, UC Berkeley, "FLOATING TONES IN GÃ *" http://elanguage.net/journals/index.php/sal/article/view/1366/925 （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）
3. Wentum, Comfort. 1997. A Lexical Tonology of Ga. Legon: University of Ghana, M. Phil thesis.
4. Clements, G. N. and Kevin C. Ford. 1979. "Kikuyu tone shift and its synchronic consequences." Linguistic Inquiry 10: 179-210.
5. Kropp-Dakubu, Mary E. 1986. "Downglide, floating tones and non-WH questions in Ga and Dangme." The Phonological Representation of Suprasegmentais, ed. by Koen Bogers, Harry van der Hulst, and Maarten Mous. Dordrecht: Foris Publications. Pp. 153-173.
6. Zimmerman, 1. 1858. A grammatical sketch and vocabulary of the Akra- or Galanguage with an appendix on the Adanme dialect. Stuttgart, 2 vols. Republished with an Introduction by 1. Berry, Gregg International, 1972.
7. Goldsmith, John. 1976. Autosegmental Phonology. Cambridge: MIT, PhD. dissertation. Distributed by IULe.
8. Okunor, Vincent. 1969. Tone in the Ga verb. Legon: Institute of African Studies. Paster, Mary. 2000. "Issues in the tonology of Ga." Columbus: Ohio State University, Undergraduate thesis.
9. Trutenau, H.M.J. 1972. "A sketch of tone rules required for a generative transformational grammar of Ga (a terraced level tone language)." Linguistics 79: 83-96.