Datapoint Sango/Tone

In what I consider the default lect, tone is not used in grammar, as it is in the source language Ngbandi. Marcel Diki-Kidiri, however, believes differently. For some speakers, replacing the low tone of the pronoun lo [3SG] to high results in a change in mood, from indicative to something like subjunctive. This is a remnant of what exists in the source language. I found only one instance in many hours of recordings of young people in the 1990s in Bangui. There are also a few fossilized predicates: e.g. ade lo ga ape [PM (with H instead of L tone)-remain 3SG come NEG] 'He/she hasn't come yet.'

Values

Complex tone system, for lexical and grammatical distinctions

Example 59-378:
samba (L L); samba (L M)
samba (L L); samba (L M)
beer co-wife
beer; co-wife
Example 59-379:
kwa (L tone); kwa (M tone); kwa (H tone)
kwa (L tone); kwa (M tone); kwa (H tone)
work hair/feather death/corpse
work; hair/feather; death/corpse
Example 59-380:
mene (L L)
mene (L L)
swallow
to swallow
Example 59-381:
mene (H M)
mene (H M)
blood
blood
Example 59-382:
ade lo ga ape
a-de
pm-remain
lo
3sg
ga
come
ape
neg
He/she hasn't come yet.
Example 59-383:
lo ga fadeso, i ke sara tene ni biani
lo
3sg
ga
come
fadeso,
now
i
1pl
ke
cop
sara
make
tene
speech
ni
det
biani
truly
If he should come right now, we'd talk about it for sure.
Confidence:
Very certain