De la quantité vocalique et la modulation tonale dans les langues sara du Tchad et leur incidence sur l’orthographe

Abstract

The spelling of a language with oral tradition should be economic, simple but effective. As far as possible, the rules of this spelling must be based on a scientific basis. Sara languages are tonal languages. They use three tone levels (High, Middle and Low). Which of the three tones should the spelling retain as part of a minimal two-tone representation? On what scientific basis will the decision be made to note only the High and the Low? The absence of a vowel tone will indicate the presence of the Middle tone. The Sara languages also attest modulated tones. How to interpret these modulated tones as successions of punctual tones? Sara languages make use of the vowel quantity but in most cases this trait is not oppositional. The vocalic quantity in the Sara languages, phonetic trait, will however serve as an argument for interpreting the modulated tones as successions of tones. In this context, the notion of consonant syllabic, carrier of tone, will be invalidated. Only vowels carry a tone and all vowels have a punctuated tone