Samoan is an ergative-marking, (reportedly) non-tonal Polynesian language in which ergative case is marked segmentally, but absolutive case has been said to be unmarked. This paper shows that in fact, a high edge tone co-occurs with absolutive arguments, based on converging evidence from the phonetic and phonological analysis of intonational patterns in the spoken utterances of a systematically varied set of syntactic structures. This empirical observation raises puzzles that probe the nature of the syntax-prosody interface and the relation between tone and intonation: what is the relation between this absolutive high edge tone and: (i) other case markers in Samoan, which are all segmental?, and (ii) other high edge tones in Samoan that co-occur with fronted expressions and coordination? I propose that: (i) the absolutive high edge tone is a tonal case marker that may be related to an apparently moribund stressed, segmental absolutive particle [ˈia], (ii) the high tones that co-occur with absolutives, fronting, and coordination are all syntactically determined and each inserted in the spellout of distinct syntactic configurations, and (iii) there is another class of edge tones which reliably co-occur with pauses—intonational phrase boundary tones—that are not inserted in spellout but by the phonological grammar. While my proposal may seem surprising at first, I show that it fits the current data better than any alternative.

中文翻译：

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萨摩亚语中绝对大小写的色调标记

萨摩亚语是一种作格标记，（据报道）非声调波利尼西亚语言，其中作格格是分段标记的，但据说绝对格是未标记的。本文表明，事实上，基于对系统变化的一组句法结构的口语中的语调模式进行语音和音位分析的会聚证据，高边缘语气与绝对论点同时出现。这种经验观察提出了探索句法-韵律界面的性质以及声调和语调之间关系的难题：这种绝对高边声调和：（i）萨摩亚语中的其他格标记，它们都是分段的？， (ii) 萨摩亚语中与正面表情和协调同时出现的其他高音调？我建议：(i) 绝对高音是一个音格标记，可能与明显垂死的重音、分段绝对助词 [ˈia] 相关，(ii) 与绝对音、前置和协调同时出现的高音在句法上都是确定并将每个插入到不同句法配置的拼写中，并且（iii）还有另一类边缘音可靠地与停顿同时出现 - 语调短语边界音 - 不是在拼写中插入而是由语音语法插入。虽然我的提议起初看起来令人惊讶，但我表明它比任何替代方案都更适合当前数据。和协调都是在句法上确定的，并且每个都插入到不同句法配置的拼写中，并且（iii）还有另一类边缘音可靠地与停顿同时出现——语调短语边界音——不是插入拼写中而是由语音语法。虽然我的提议乍一看似乎令人惊讶，但我表明它比任何替代方案都更适合当前数据。和协调都是在句法上确定的，并且每个都插入到不同句法配置的拼写中，并且（iii）还有另一类边缘音可靠地与停顿同时出现——语调短语边界音——不是插入拼写中而是由语音语法。虽然我的提议乍一看似乎令人惊讶，但我表明它比任何替代方案都更适合当前数据。