Chichewa tones

Voicetrack of the sentence Mwamúna, ámalamúlá amáyi ('A man, he rules women') (Myers (1996), p. 34), illustrating a boundary tone after mwamúna, and also the typical downdrift of tones through the sentence.

The accompanying illustration[5] shows a typical declarative statement in Chichewa:

mwamúna, á-ma-lamúla amáyi 'a man rules women'

The four high tones, marked H on the voice-track, come down in a series of steps, a process common in many languages and known as downdrift or 'catathesis'. This tends to occur (with some exceptions) when there is a series of syllables with tones H L H or H L L H; it does not occur when two high tones come in adjacent syllables.

The toneless syllables tend to be lower than the high-toned syllables. However, the first syllable of amáyi anticipates the following high tone and is almost on the same level. The last syllable of á-ma-lamúla is also raised. This tonal spread from a penultimate high tone tends to occur when a verb is immediately followed by its grammatical object. The first three syllables of á-ma-lamúla also show a glide downwards, with ma higher than la.

The penultimate tones of mwamúna 'a man' and amáyi 'women' are lexical tones; they always occur in these words. The tones of ámalamúla 'he rules' are grammatical tones, which go with the Present Habitual tense. The verb stem itself lamula 'rule' is toneless.

Also illustrated in the pitch track above is an intonational tone, known as a boundary tone, marked L%H%. This rise in pitch is typically heard at any pause in the middle of a sentence, such as here, where it marks the topic: 'a man, he rules women'. The boundary tone is not obligatory, and Myers prints another pitch track of the same sentence where it is absent.

Pitch-track of the sentence anádyétsa nyaní nsómba 'they fed the baboon (with) fish' recorded by Al Mtenje (from Downing et al. (2004))

The second illustration[6] shows the pitch-track of the following sentence:

anádyetsa nyaní nsómba 'they fed the baboon (some) fish'

The sentence has a grammatical tone on the Remote Perfect tense anádyetsa 'they fed' and lexical tones on nyaní 'baboon' and nsómba 'fish'.

In this example, in the word anádyetsa the peak (high point) of the accent does not coincide with the syllable but is delayed, giving the impression that it has spread to two syllables. This process is known as 'tone doubling' or 'peak delay', and is typical of speakers in some regions of Malawi.

The second word, nyaní 'baboon', has an accent on the final syllable, but as usually happens with final accents, it has spread backwards to the penultimate syllable, showing a nearly level or gently rising contour, with only the initial n being low-pitched. Another feature of a final accent is that it tends not to be very high.[7] In this case it is actually slightly lower than the high tone of nsómba which follows it.

When a final-tone word such as nyaní comes at the end of a sentence, it can optionally be pronounced as nyăni with a rising tone on the penultimate and the final syllable low. But if a suffix is added, the stress moves to the new penultimate, and the word is pronounced with a full-height tone: nyaní-yo 'that baboon'.[8]

The third word, nsómba 'fish', has penultimate accent. Since the word ends the sentence, the tone falls from high to low.

As with the previous illustration, there is downdrift from the first tone to the second. But when two tones come in adjacent syllables, as in nyaní nsómba, there is no downdrift.

The intensity reading at the top of the voice track shows that the intensity (loudness) is greatest on the penultimate syllable of each word.

Certain syllables in Chichewa words are associated with high pitch. Usually there is one high pitch per word or morpheme, but some words have no high tone. In nouns the high pitch is usually in one of the last three syllables:[9]

chímanga 'maize'

chikóndi 'love'

chinangwá 'cassava'

In a few nouns (often compound words) there are two high tones. If these tones are separated by only one unaccented syllable, they usually join in a plateau of three high-toned syllables; that is, HLH becomes HHH:

chizólowezí 'habit'

bírímánkhwe 'chameleon'

gálímoto 'car'

tsábólá 'pepper'

In addition there are a large number of nouns which have no high tone, but which, even when focussed or emphasised, are pronounced with all the syllables low:

chipatala 'hospital'

mkaka 'milk'

nyama 'animal'

A tonal accent differs from a stress-accent in languages such as in English in that it always retains the same pitch contour (e.g. high-low, never low-high). It is also possible for an accent to contrast with a lack of accent:

mténgo 'tree'

mtengo 'price'

Most verbal roots in Chichewa are toneless, as the following:

thandiza 'help'

pita 'go'

Monosyllabic verbs are always toneless:

-dya 'eat'

-fa 'die'

A few verbal roots, however, have a lexical tone, which is heard on the final vowel -a of the verb:

thamangá 'run'

thokozá 'thank'

The tones are not inherited from proto-Bantu, and do not correspond to the high-low distinction of verbal roots in other Bantu languages, but appear to be an independent development in Chichewa.[10]

Often a verb has a tone not because the root itself has one but because a stative or intensive extension is added to it:

dziwa 'know'

dziwiká 'be known'

funa 'want'

funitsitsá 'want very much'

If a high-toned extension is added to a verb which already has a high tone, only one tone is heard, on the final.

Tones have a grammatical function in Chichewa verbs in two ways. First, each tense, positive and negative, has a particular tonal melody, which applies to every verb. For example, the present habitual tense has one high tone on the subject-marker and a second on the penultimate (or final when the verb is monosyllabic):

ndí-ma-fotokóza 'I (usually) explain'

ndí-ma-thandíza 'I (usually) help'

ndí-ma-píta 'I (usually) go'

ndí-ma-dyá 'I (usually) eat'

The present continuous tense, on the other hand, has a single high tone, on the syllable following the tense-marker -ku-:

ndi-ku-fótokoza 'I am explaining'

ndi-ku-thándiza 'I am helping'

ndi-ku-píta 'I am going'

ndi-ku-dyá 'I am eating'

Other tenses have other tonal patterns.[11] When the tonal pattern of the tense has a high tone on the penultimate or final syllable of a verb, it neutralises the high tone of a high tone verb; otherwise this tone can be heard in addition to the tonal pattern, for example:

ndi-ku-thámángá 'I am running'

The second way in which tones are used grammatically in the Chichewa verb is to indicate that the verb is being used in a dependent clause. Like other Bantu languages, Chichewa has a different form or intonation of the verb when it is used in some types of dependent clause, such as temporal or conditional clauses or relative clauses.

In relative clauses or cleft sentences in tenses where there is no tone on the initial syllable, a tone is added on the initial, and sometimes also on the penultimate:

munthu a-ná-mwalira 'a person died'

á-na-mwalíra ndaní? 'who is it who died?'

a-nga-dziw-e 'he can know'

palíbe á-nga-dzíw-e 'there is no one who can know'

chaká chatha 'the year has ended'

chaká chátha 'the year which has ended (i.e. last year)'

If a verb tense (such as the present habitual) already has a high tone on the first syllable, or if it is negative, there is no change when it is used in a dependent clause.[12]

Like relative clauses, verbs in temporal or conditional clauses also usually have a tone added on the first syllable, except for the tense -ka-, which is toneless. Examples are the following:

a-li ku Lilongwe 'he's in Lilongwe'

á-li ku Lilongwe 'when he was in Lilongwe'

ndi-kadá-thandiza 'I would have helped'

ndí-kada-thandíza 'if I had helped'

ndi-ná-thandiza 'I helped'

ndí-tá-thándiza 'after I helped' / 'if I were to help'

si-ndi-na-pít-e 'I haven't gone yet'

ndí-sa-na-pít-e 'before I go' / 'before I went'

Temporal clause verbs are also used in other types of clause such as after ngakhále 'although'.

Lexical and grammatical tones are not the only tones heard in a Chichewa sentence, but there are intonational tones as well. One common tone is a boundary tone rising from low to high which is heard whenever there is a pause in the sentence, for example after a topic or subordinate clause.

Tones are also added to questions. For example, the toneless word kuti 'where?' becomes kúti in the following question:

kwánu ndi kúti? 'where is your home?'

Further details of intonational tones are given below.

Normally in a Chichewa sentence, whenever tones come in the sequence HLH or HLLH, it is usual for the second high tone to be a little lower than the first one. So for example in the word ndímapíta 'I usually go', the tone of the syllable ndí is pronounced a little higher than the tone of pí. Thus generally speaking the highest tone in a sentence is the first one. This phenomenon, which is common in many Bantu languages, is known as 'downdrift'[23] or 'automatic downstep'.[24]

However, there are several exceptions to this rule. Downdrift does not occur, for example, when a speaker is asking a question,[25] or reciting a list of items with a pause after each one, or sometimes if a word is pronounced on a high pitch for emphasis. There is also no downdrift in words like wápolísi 'policeman', where two high tones in the sequence HLH are bridged to make a plateau HHH (see below).

In some dialects a high tone may sometimes spread to the following syllable; this is known as 'High Tone Spreading' or 'Tone Doubling'.[26] So where some speakers say ndináthandiza 'I helped', others will say ndináthándiza.[27] Some phoneticians argue that what happens here, in some cases at least, is that the highest part or 'peak' of the tone moves forward, giving the impression that the tone covers two syllables, a process called 'peak delay'.[28] An illustration of peak delay can be seen clearly in the pitch-track of the word anádyetsa 'they fed', here pronounced anádyétsa, in Downing et al. (2004).

In order for HTS to occur, there must be at least 3 syllables following the tone, although not necessarily in the same word. Thus the first tone may spread in the second of each pair below, but not in the first:[29]

zíkomo 'thank you'

zíkómo kwámbíri 'thank you very much'

tambala 'cock, rooster'

mtengo wá támbala 'the price of a rooster'

One very frequent use of spreading, at least in some dialects, is to link together two words (such as verb + object, or verb of motion + destination, or noun + possessive) into a single phrase. In transcriptions one frequently finds phrases such as kuphíká nyama 'to cook meat'[30] or kusámála mkázi 'to care for a wife',[31] chímánga chánga 'my maize'[32] etc. in which the second tone in each phrase is not original but due to spreading. The contexts where spreading occurs vary from one dialect to another. Quite a common place for HTS is before a demonstrative pronominal adjective:[33]

mikángó iyo 'those lions'[34]

ndalámá izo 'that money'

There are some verbal forms in which spreading does not occur; for example, the first tone in the present habitual does not spread: ndí-ma-thandíza 'I usually help'. The tone on -ngá- and -má- in negative tenses such as sí-ndí-má-thandiza 'I never help' and si-ndi-ngá-thandíze 'I can't help' also does not spread, although it may form a plateau with a 'bumped' tone: si-ndi-ngá-wá-phé 'I can't kill them'.[35]

High tone spreading also does not appear to occur in foreign borrowings, where the vowel following the tone is an epenthetic one, added to make the word easier to pronounce:[36]

dókotala 'doctor'

pulógalamu 'programme'

It sometimes happens that the sequence HLH in Chichewa becomes HHH, making a tonal 'plateau'. A tonal plateau is common after the words á 'of' and ndí 'and':

wápólísi 'policeman' (from wá 'of' and polísi 'police')

chákúdyá 'food' (from chá 'of' and kudyá 'to eat')

ndí Máláwi 'and Malawi'

Before a pause the final tone may drop: chákúdya. Sometimes a succession of tones is bridged in this way, e.g. gúlewámkúlu 'masked dancer', with one long continuous high tone from gú to kú.[37]

Another place where a plateau is found is after the initial high tone of subordinate clause verbs such as the following:

ákúthándiza 'when he is helping'; 'who is helping'

ndítáthándiza 'after I helped'

At the end of words, if the tones are HLH, a plateau is common:

mkámwíní 'son-in-law'

atsámúndá 'colonialists' (lit. 'owners of farmland')

kusíyáná 'difference'

kulémérá 'weight, being heavy'

However, there are exceptions; for example, in the word nyényezí 'star' the two tones are kept separate, so that the word is pronounced nyényēzī (where ī represents a slightly lower tone than í).[38]

Sequences with two or more toneless syllables between the high tones (e.g. HLLH) do not normally make a plateau in Chichewa. This also applies to words in which one of the syllables has been lost by contraction, such as:

sánafé (contracted from sí-á-na-fé) 'he didn't die'

When a word or closely connected phrase ends in HHL or HLHL, there is a tendency in Chichewa for the second H to move to the final syllable of the word. This process is known as 'tone shifting'[39] or 'bumping'.[40]

In one type of bumping (called 'local bumping' or 'local tone shift'), LHHL at the end of a word or phrase becomes LHHH (where the two tones are joined into a plateau). This can happen when a final tone word is followed by a possessive adjective:[41]

nyumbá yánga > nyumbá yángá 'my house'

It can also happen when a penultimate tone noun is followed by an enclitic suffix:

kupítá-nso > kupítá-nsó 'to go again'

And it can happen in verbs when the verb pattern would cause an ending LHHL:

ndinkápíta > ndinkápítá 'I used to go'

anámúpha > anámúphá 'they killed him'

At the end of a sentence the final high tone may drop again, reverting the word to anámúpha.

In three-syllable words where HHL is due to the addition of a suffix, the tones similarly change to HHH:[42]

nsómbá-nso > nsómbá-nsó 'fish also'

However, there is no bumping in HHL words where the first syllable is derived from á 'of':

kwá-mbíri 'very much'

wá-ntchíto 'worker'

In another kind (called 'non-local bumping'), HLHL at the end of a word or phrase changes to HLLH or, with spreading of the first high tone, HHLH:

mbúzi yánga > mbúzi yangá (or mbúzí yangá) 'my goat'

bánja lónse > bánja lonsé 'the whole family'

chimódzimódzi > chimódzimodzí 'in the same way'

The Present Habitual tense is an exception, and when the tones are HLHL, bumping does not occur:

ndímapíta 'I go'

A related phenomenon, but in reverse, is found when the addition of the suffix -tú 'really' causes a normally word-final tone to move back one syllable, so that LHH at the end of a word becomes HLH:

ndipité 'I should go' > ndipíte-tú 'really I should go'

chifukwá 'because' > chifúkwa-tú 'because in fact'

Certain suffixes, known as enclitics, add a high tone to the last syllable of the word to which they are joined. When added to a toneless word or a word ending in LL, this high tone can easily be heard. Bumping does not occur when the tones are HLHL:

Lilongwe > Lilongwé-nso 'Lilongwe also'

akuthándiza > akuthándizá-be 'he's still helping'

But when an enclitic is combined with word which has penultimate high tone, there is local bumping, and the result is a triple tone:

nsómba > nsómbá-nsó 'the fish also'

When added to a word with final high tone, it raises the tone higher (in Central Region dialects, the rising tone on the first syllable of a word like nyŭmbá also disappears):[43]

nyumbá > nyumbá-nso 'the house also'

Not all suffixes are tonally enclitic in this way. For example, when added to nouns, locative suffixes (-ko, -po, -mo) do not add a tone, e.g.:

ku Lilongwe-ko 'there in Lilongwe'

However, when added to verbs, the same suffixes add an enclitic tone:

wachoká-po 'he's not at home' (lit. 'he has gone away from there')

Conversely, certain prefixes transfer their high tone to the syllable which follows them. Prefixes of this kind are called 'proclitic'[44] or 'post-accenting'. The following tenses have a proclitic prefix:

The infinitive:

ku-thándiza 'to help'

The Present Continuous, Recent Past, Recent Past Imperfective, and Immediate Imperative:

ndi-ku-thándiza 'I am helping'

ndi-na-thándiza 'I helped just now'

ndi-ma-thándiza 'I was helping'

ta-thándiza! 'help (now)!'[45]

The Present and Perfect participial tenses:

ndí-kú-thándiza 'while (I was/am) helping'

ndí-tá-thándiza 'after I helped'

Verbal Adjective with -ó- (derived from á 'of' + the Infinitive):

wó-thándiza 'who helps'

Any tense with the infix -ngo- 'just'. But other prefixes used with -ngo- are no longer proclitic; instead, the accent goes on the prefix itself:

nda-ngo-thándiza 'I have just helped'

ndi-kú-ngo-thándiza 'I'm just helping'

ndi-má-ngo-thándiza 'I was just helping'

Object-markers such as ndí- 'me', mú- 'him/her' etc. also become proclitic when added to an imperative or subjunctive:

ndi-thándízé-ni! 'help me!'

mu-ndi-thándízé 'could you help me?'

However, the aspect-marker -ka- 'go and' is not proclitic. With an imperative it is toneless, and with a subjunctive it puts tones on itself and the penultimate:

ka-thandizé 'go and help!'

ndi-ká-thandíze 'let me go and help'

When, as often happens, an aspect-marker or object-marker is added to a proclitic tense, extra tones appear on the verb stem, either on the penultimate or on the final:

ku-má-thandíza 'to be always helping'

ku-ká-thandizá 'to go and help'

ku-mú-thandizá 'to help him'

Further details are given below.

Meeussen's Rule is a process in several Bantu languages whereby a sequence HH becomes HL. This is frequent in verbs when a penultimate tone causes the deletion of a final tone:

kú- + goná > ku-góná > ku-góna

In the Southern Region, a-ná-mú-thandiza 'he helped him' is pronounced a-ná-mu-thandiza, presumably also by Meeussen's Rule.[46]

Meeussen's Rule does not apply in every circumstance. For example, a tone derived from spreading is unaffected by it, e.g. ku-góná bwino 'to sleep well', where the tone of the verb-stem goná, having been deleted by Meeussen's Rule to make ku-góna 'to sleep', is replaced by spreading when the word is used in a phrase.[47]

Another instance where Meeussen's Rule does not apply in Chichewa is when the aspect-marker -ká- 'go and' is added to a verb, for example: a-ná-ká-thandiza 'he went and helped'. So far from being deleted, this tone in some circumstances can itself spread to the next syllable, e.g. a-ná-ká-thándiza.[48] The tone of an object-marker such as -mu- 'him' in the same position, however, is deleted by Meeussen's Rule and then replaced by spreading; it does not itself spread: a-ná-mú-thandiza 'he helped him'.

The tone of prefixes of the verb is deleted in certain tenses with penultimate tone, such as the Perfect Habitual and the Negative Future:

ndí-ma-mu-thandíza 'I usually help him' (tones of má- and mú- are lost)

si-ndi-dza-mu-thandíza 'I will not help him' (tones of sí-, dzá- and mú- are lost)

In certain compound nouns, the tones are lost in the second half:

gálímoto 'car' (cf. njingá yá móto 'motor bike' and móto 'fire')

chi-masó-maso 'adultery' (cf. masó 'eyes')

Nábanda 'daughter of Banda' (cf. mwaná wá Bánda 'daughter of Banda')

Just as in English, where in a word like zoo or wood or now the initial voiced consonant has a low pitch compared with the following vowel, the same is true of Chichewa. Thus Trithart marks the tones of initial consonants such as [m], [n], [z], and [dz] in some words as Low.[49]

However, an initial nasal consonant is not always pronounced with a low pitch. After a high tone it can acquire a high tone itself, e.g. wá ḿsodzi 'of the fisherman'[50] The consonants n and m can also have a high tone when contracted from ndí 'and' or high-toned -mú-, e.g. ḿmakhálá kuti? (short for múmakhálá kuti?) 'where do you live?'.[51]

In some Southern African Bantu languages such as Zulu a voiced consonant at the beginning of a syllable not only has a low pitch itself, but can also lower the pitch of all or part of the following vowel. Such consonants are known as 'depressor consonants'. The question of whether Chichewa has depressor consonants was first considered by Trithart (1976) and further by Cibelli (2012). According to data collected by Cibelli, a voiced or nasalised consonant does indeed have a small effect on the tone of a following vowel, making it a semitone or more lower; so that for example the second vowel of ku-gúla 'to buy' would have a slightly lower pitch than that of ku-kúla 'to grow' or ku-khála 'to sit'. When the vowel is toneless, the effect is less, but it seems that there is still a slight difference. The effect of depressor consonants in Chichewa, however, is much less noticeable than in Zulu.

In the CBOLD Chichewa dictionary,[22] about 36% of Chichewa nouns are toneless, 57% have one tone, and only 7% have more than one tone. When there is one tone, it is generally on one of the last three syllables. Nouns with a tone more than three syllables from the end are virtually all foreign borrowings, such as sékondale 'secondary school'.

Comparison with other Bantu languages shows that for the most part the tones of nouns in Chichewa correspond to the tones of their cognates in other Bantu languages, and are therefore likely to be inherited from an earlier stage of Bantu.[52] An exception is that nouns which at an earlier period had HH (such as nsómba 'fish', from proto-Bantu *cómbá) have changed in Chichewa to HL by Meeussen's rule. Two-syllable nouns in Chichewa can therefore have the tones HL, LH, or LL, these three being about equally common, but (discounting the fact that LH words are usually in practice pronounced HH) there are no nouns with the underlying tones HH.[53]

The class-prefix of nouns, such as (class 7) chi- in chikóndi 'love', or (class 3) m- in mténgo 'tree', is usually toneless. However, there are some exceptions such as chímanga 'maize', chíwindi 'liver'. The three nouns díso 'eye', dzíno 'tooth', and líwu 'sound or word' are irregular in that the high tone moves from the prefix to the stem in the plural, making masó, manó, and mawú respectively.[54]

In isolation these words are usually pronounced bwālō, Chichēwā, etc., ending with two tones of mid height. Alternatively, in some dialects, they may be pronounced bwălò, Chichĕwà, with a rising tone on the penultimate and a low tone on the final. When the suffix -o 'that' (varying according to the noun class) is added, the tone becomes a normal penultimate tone, e.g. nyumbá-yo 'that house', mundá-wo 'that garden', making the tone easy to hear.

This group is less common than the first three. Many of the words with this tone are loanwords from Portuguese or English such as:

A small number of words (mostly compounds) have more than one tone. Some are compounded with á 'of', which has a high tone, so that wá + ntchíto 'man of work' becomes wántchíto 'worker' with two tones joined in a plateau. In words with the sequence HLH like wá-pólísi 'policeman' the high tones usually bridge to make HHH. Verbal forms such as Lólémba 'Monday' (short for Lá kúlémba 'the (day) of writing') are also originally plateaux. Plateaux are marked with underlining:

The prefix chi- in some words adds two high tones, one following chi- and one on the final. The first may spread forwards and the second backwards, but the two tones are kept separate with the second lower than the first:

If there are only three syllables following the prefix chi-, the two tones link into an HHH plateau:

The (L)HHH pattern is also found in a few other words (all of them compounds):

A triple tone is also found in:

bírímánkhwe 'chameleon'

In the following compound nouns, however, the high tone of the second element (móto 'fire' and bédi 'bed') is lost:

The following foreign borrowings also have two initial tones:

The following nouns have two separate tones and no plateau. The second tone is lower than the first:

Adjectives in Chichewa are usually formed with the word á (wá, yá, chá, zá etc. according to noun class) 'of', known as the 'associative prefix',[56] which has a high tone:

wá-bwino 'good'[57]

wá-tsópánó 'new'

When there is a sequence of HLH, the tones will bridge to make HHH:

wá-kálé 'old'

wá-ḿkázi 'female'

wá-mwámúna 'male'

The seven double-prefix adjectives (-múna 'male', -kázi 'female', -táli 'long', -fúpi 'short', -wísi 'fresh', -kúlu 'big', -ngóno 'small' all have penultimate tone.[58]

Combined with an infinitive, á and ku- usually merge (except usually in monosyllabic verbs) into a high-toned ó-:[59]

wó-ípa 'bad'

wó-pénga 'mad'

wó-dwála 'sick'[60]

wá-kú-yá 'deep'

Some people make a slight dip between the two tones:

wô-dúla 'expensive'[61]

Combined with a negative infinitive, the adjective has a tone on the penultimate:

mwaná wó-sa-mvéra 'a disobedient child'

Possessive adjectives are also made with á-. As explained in the section on bumping, their tone may change when they follow a noun ending in HL, LH or HH. The concords shown below are for noun classes 1 and 2:

wánga 'my'

wáko 'your'

wáke 'his, her, its (also 'their' of non-personal possessors)

wáthu 'our'

wánu 'your' (of you plural, or polite)

wáo 'their' (or 'his, her' in polite speech)

The adjective wína 'another, a certain' has similar tones to wánga 'my':

wína (plural éna) 'another, a certain'

The adjective wamba 'ordinary', however, is not made with á and has a low tone on both syllables. The first syllable wa in this word does not change with the class of noun:

munthu wamba 'an ordinary person'

anthu wamba 'ordinary people'

The following three adjectives have their own concords and are not formed using á. Here they are shown with the concords of classes 1 and 2:

yénse (plural ónse) 'all of'

yémwe (plural ómwe) 'himself'

yékha (plural ókha) 'only'

As with possessives, the high tone of these may shift by bumping after a noun or adjective ending in HL or LH or HH.[62][63]

madengu ááng'ónó onsé 'all the small baskets'

ndalámá zangá zónsé 'all my money'

With these three the high tone also shifts before a demonstrative suffix: yemwé-yo 'that same one', zonsé-zi 'all these'.[64] (In this they differ from wánga and wína, which do not shift the tone with a demonstrative suffix, e.g. anthu éna-wa 'these other people'.) The tone also shifts in the word álí-yensé 'each, each and every', in which áli has the tones of a relative-clause verb.[65]

The following demonstrative adjectives (shown here with the concords for noun classes 1 and 2) usually have a low tone:[66]

uyo (plural awo) 'that one'

uyu (plural awa) 'this one'

uno (plural ano) 'this one we're in'

uja (plural aja) 'that one you mentioned'

uti? (plural ati?) 'which one?'

The first of these (uyo), however, can be pronounced úyo! with a high tone if referring to someone a long way away.[67] The word uti/ati? can also acquire an intonational tone in certain types of questions (see below).

Chichewa has the numbers 1 to 5 and 10. These all have penultimate high tone except for -sanu 'five', which is toneless. The adjectives meaning 'how many?' and 'several' also take the number concords and can be considered part of this group. They are here illustrated with the concords for noun classes 1 and 2 (note that khúmi has no concord):

munthu mmódzi 'one person'

anthu awíri 'two people'

anthu atátu 'three people'

anthu anáyi 'four people'

anthu asanu 'five people' (toneless)

anthu khúmi 'ten people'

anthu angáti? 'how many people?'

anthu angápo 'several people'

The numbers zaná '100' (plural mazaná) and chikwí '1000' (plural zikwí) exist but are rarely used. It is possible to make other numbers using circumlocutions (e.g. 'five tens and units five and two' = 57) but these are not often heard, the usual practice being to use English numbers instead.

The first and second person pronouns are toneless, but the third person pronouns have a high tone:[68]

ine 'I'

iwe 'you sg.'

iyé 'he, she'

ife 'we'

inu 'you pl., you (polite)'

iwó 'they, he/she (polite)'

These combine with ndi as follows:

ndine 'I am'

ndiyé 'he is' (etc.)

síndine 'I am not'

síndíyé 'he is not' (also 'surely')

The following monosyllabic words are commonly used. The following are toneless:

ndi 'it is, they are'

ku 'in, to, from'

pa 'on, at'

mu (m') 'in'

The following have a high tone:

á (also wá, yá, zá, kwá etc. according to noun class) 'of'

ndí 'with, and'

sí 'it isn't'

These words are joined rhythmically to the following word. The high tone can spread to the first syllable of the following word, provided it has at least three syllables:[69] They can also make a plateau with the following word, if the tones are HLH:

Lilongwe 'Lilongwe' > á Lílongwe 'of Lilongwe'

pemphero 'prayer' > ndí pémphero 'with a prayer'

Maláwi > á Máláwi 'of Malawi'

When pa is a preposition meaning 'on' or 'at', it is usually toneless:

pa bédi 'on the bed, in bed'

But pá has a tone when it means 'of' following a noun of class 16:

pansí pá bédi 'underneath (of) the bed'

It also has a tone in certain idiomatic expressions such as pá-yekha or pá-yékha 'on his own'.

The tones of ideophones (expressive words) have also been investigated by linguists.[70] Examples are: bálálábálálá 'scattering in all directions' (all syllables very high), lólolo 'lots and lots' (with gradually descending tones). The tonal patterns of ideophones do not necessarily conform to the patterns of other words in the language.

Chichewa verbs are mostly toneless in their basic form, although a few have a high tone (usually on the final vowel). However, unlike the situation with the lexical tones of nouns, there is no correlation at all between the high-toned verbs in Chichewa and the high-toned verbs in other Bantu languages. The obvious conclusion is that the high tones of verbs are not inherited from an earlier stage of Bantu but have developed independently in Chichewa.[71]

When a verbal extension is added to a high-toned root, the resulting verb is also usually high-toned, e.g.

goná 'sleep' > gonaná 'sleep together'

Certain extensions, especially those which change a verb from transitive to intransitive, or which make it intensive, also add a tone. According to Kanerva (1990) and Mchombo (2004), the passive ending -idwa/-edwa also adds a high tone, but this appears to be true only of the Nkhotakota dialect which they describe.[72]

High-toned verb roots are comparatively rare (only about 13% of roots),[73] though the proportion rises when verbs with stative and intensive extensions are added. In addition there are a number of verbs, such as peza/pezá 'find' which can be pronounced either way. In the monolingual dictionary Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja 2683 verbs are given, with 10% marked as high-toned, and 4% as having either tone. In the Southern Region of Malawi, some speakers do not pronounce the tones of high-toned verbs at all or only sporadically.

The difference between high and low-toned verbs is neutralised when they are used in a verb tense which has a high tone on the penultimate or on the final syllable.

Three irregular verbs have a tone on the penultimate syllable:

-téro 'do so'

-tére 'do like this'

-táni? 'do what?

The view held in Mtenje (1986) that Chichewa also has 'rising-tone' verbs has been dropped in his more recent work.[74]

Monosyllabic verbs such as the following are all low-toned, although the derived nouns imfá 'death' and chigwá 'valley' have a tone:

There are also two irregular monosyllabic verbs ending in -i:

-li 'be'

-ti 'say'

Most intransitive verbs with the endings -iká, -eká, -uká, -oká derived from simpler verb-stems are high-toned. This is especially true when a transitive verb has been turned by a suffix into an intransitive one:

However, there are some common exceptions such as the following which are low-toned:

oneka 'seem' (cf. ona 'see')

tuluka 'come out, emerge' (cf. tula 'remove a burden')

Intensive verbs with the endings -its(its)á and -ets(ets)á always have a high tone on the final syllable, even when derived from low-toned verbs. A few intensive verbs with the endings -irirá or -ererá are also high-toned:[75]

Chichewa has various different tonal patterns associated with the various tenses. Each tense has its own pattern, although sometimes two or three tenses share the same pattern. The main patterns are listed below. In the examples, hyphens have been added for clarity; they are not used in the standard orthography.

When a verb has a high tone, for example goná 'sleep', the tone can be heard on the final vowel of the verb. However, if the tense pattern places a tone on the penultimate or final syllable, the difference between high and low-toned verbs is neutralised, and the tense-pattern takes precedence.

In most cases, when a high tone is followed by three or more syllables in a word, in some dialects it may spread, e.g. ndí-thándiza 'I will help (today)'. But there are some tenses, such as the Present Habitual ndí-ma-thandíza , where it does not spread. These are noted below.

• Toneless:

Perfect: nda-thandiza 'I have helped'[76]

Potential: ndi-nga-thandize 'I can help'[77]

Imperative: thandiza! 'help!'[78]

• Initial tone:

Present Simple (Near Future): ndí-thandiza 'I'll help'[79]

• Tone on tense-marker:

Remote Perfect (Past Simple): ndi-ná-thandiza, ndi-dá-thandiza 'I helped'[80]

Perfect Conditional: ndi-kadá-thandiza 'I would have helped' (also kaná, daká)[81]

• Tone following tense-marker:

Present Continuous: ndi-ku-thándiza 'I am helping'[82]

Recent Imperfect: ndi-ma-thándiza 'I was helping'[83]

Recent Past: ndi-na-thándiza 'I helped (today)'[84]

Immediate Imperative: ta-thándiza 'help (at once)!'[85]

• Penultimate tone:

Persistive: ndi-kada-thandíza 'I am still helping'[86]

• Final tone:

Subjunctive: ndi-thandizé 'I should help'[87]

• Initial and tense-marker or tense-marker only:

Remote Future: ndí-dzá-thandiza / ndi-dzá-thandiza 'I will help' (tomorrow)[88]

Contingent Future: ndí-ká-thandiza / ndi-ká-thandiza 'I'm going to help' (today)[89]

• Initial and penultimate (first tone does not spread):

Present Habitual: ndí-ma-thandíza 'I (usually) help'[90]

Future Imperfective: ndí-zi-thandíza 'I will be helping (soon)'[91]

Remote Future Imperfective: ndí-zi-dza-thandíza 'I will be helping (soon)'[92]

• Initial and penultimate (first tone spreads):

Remote Past: ndí-ná-a-thandíza, ndí-dá-a-thandíza 'I helped (but...)'[93]

• Tense-marker and penultimate:

Necessitive: ndi-zí-thandíza 'I should be helping' (also ndi-dzí...)[94]

Itive Subjunctive: ndi-ká-thandíze 'I should go and help'[95]

Ventive Subjunctive: ndi-dzá-thandíze 'I should come and help'[96]

Remote Imperfect: ndi-nká-thandíza 'I used to help'[97]

Frequentative: ndi-ku-má-thandíza 'I'm always helping'[98]

• Tense-marker (first half) and penultimate:

Continuative Subjunctive: ndi-bá-a-thandíza 'let me meanwhile help'[99] (also ndi-baa-)

Some tenses, such as the Perfect, are toneless. In toneless tenses all the syllables are pronounced low, unless the verb-stem itself has a high tone:

nd-a-fotokoza 'I have explained'

nd-a-thandiza 'I have helped'

nd-a-ona 'I have seen'

nd-a-dya 'I have eaten'

When an object-marker is added, the tone of the object-marker is heard clearly:

nd-a-mú-fotokozera 'I have explained to him' (or: nd-a-mú-fótokozera)

nd-a-mú-thandiza 'I have helped him' (or: nd-a-mú-thándiza)

nd-a-mú-ona 'I have seen him'

nd-a-zí-dya 'I have eaten them'

In a high-toned verb there is a tone on the final syllable of the verb. In a two-syllable verb it makes a plateau with the tone of the object-marker:[100]

nd-a-mú-khululukirá 'I have forgiven him'

nd-a-mú-pézá 'I have found him'

One tense, the Subjunctive, in its simple form, has a high tone on the final vowel:[101]

ndi-fotokozé 'I should explain'

ndi-thandizé 'I should help'

ndi-oné 'I should see'

ndi-dyé 'I should eat'

If an object-marker such as -mú- 'him' is added, the tone of the object-marker is shifted to the right, except in monosyllabic verbs. In one- and two-syllable verbs, the final tone is deleted by Meeussen's Rule:[102]

ndi-mu-fótokozeré 'I should explain to him'

ndi-mu-thándízé 'I should help him'

ndi-mu-óne 'I should see him'

ndi-zí-dye 'I should eat them'

However, when the aspect-marker -ká- 'go and' or -dzá- 'come and' is added, the tones change. There is one tone on -ká- and another on the penultimate; but this second tone is bumped to the final in a two-syllable verb and dropped in a monosyllable:

ndi-ká-fotokóze 'I should go and explain'

ndi-ká-thandíze 'I should go and help'

ndi-ká-óné 'I should go and see'

ndi-ká-dye 'I should go and eat'

When negative, the subjunctive has the infix -sa-, and the tone is on the penultimate, except in monosyllabic verbs. All other tones, such as the object-marker tone, are deleted:

ndi-sa-fotokóze 'I should not explain'

ndi-sa-thandíze 'I should not help'

ndi-sa-óne 'I should not see'

ndi-sa-dyé 'I should not eat'

When an object-marker is added, it adds no extra tone but the tone goes on the object-marker itself when the verb is monosyllabic:[103]

ndi-sa-mu-fotokozére 'I should not explain to him'

ndi-sa-mu-thandíze 'I should not help him'

ndi-sa-mu-óne 'I should not see him'

ndi-sa-zí-dye 'I should not eat them'

The negative can also add the aspect-marker -má-, which adds a tone. In a two-syllable verb, the penultimate tone is bumped to the final:

mu-sa-má-fotokóze 'you should never explain'

mu-sa-má-thandíze 'you should never help'

mu-sa-má-chíté 'you should never do'

mu-sa-má-dye 'you should never eat'

The Infinitive has a proclitic tone, that is, a high tone is heard on the syllable immediately following the prefix -ku-:[104]

ku-fótokoza 'to explain'

ku-thándiza 'to help'

ku-óna 'to see'

ku-dyá 'to eat'

With a high-toned verb, the extra tone can be heard on the final only in verbs of three or more syllables. In a three-syllable verb, the tones form a plateau; in a two-syllable verb the second tone disappears by Meeussen's Rule. There are no high-toned monosyllabic verbs:[105]

ku-khúlulukirá 'to forgive'

ku-dándaulá 'to complain'

ku-námízá 'to deceive'

ku-góna 'to sleep'

When an object-marker or one of the aspect-markers -ká- or -dzá- are added, a tone is added on the penultimate in 5 or 4-syllable verbs, but on the final in verbs of three or two syllables. In monosyllabic verbs the second tone is deleted:[106]

ku-mú-fotokozéra 'to explain to him'

ku-mú-thandizá 'to help him'

ku-mú-óná 'to see him'

ku-zí-dya 'to eat them'

ku-ká-fotokóza 'to go and explain'

ku-ká-thandizá 'to go and help'

ku-ká-óná 'to go and see'

ku-ká-dya 'to go and eat'

However, when the aspect-marker -má- is added, in three-syllable verbs the second tone is heard on the penultimate:

ku-má-fotokóza 'to be always explaining'

ku-má-thandíza 'to be always helping'

ku-má-óná 'to be always seeing'

ku-má-dya 'to be always eating'

When the aspectual infix -ngo- is added to an infinitive, there is a tone before and after the infix:[107]

kú-ngo-fótokoza 'just to explain'

Since -ngo- is derived from the Infinitive, the tones following it are the same as for the infinitive itself, for example, if an object-marker is added:

kú-ngo-mú-thandizá 'just to help him'

The negative Infinitive is formed with the infix -sa-. There is a single tone on the penultimate (or final in monosyllabic verbs):

ku-sa-fotokóza 'not to explain'

ku-sa-thandíza 'to fail to help'

ku-sa-óna 'not to see'

ku-sa-dyá 'not to eat'

The tone of an object-marker such as -mú- or of the aspect-markers -ká- and -dzá- is deleted, except in a monosyllabic verb, where it carries the tone:[108]

ku-sa-mu-fotokozéra 'not to explain to him'

ku-sa-mu-thandíza 'to fail to help him'

ku-sa-mu-óna 'not to see him'

ku-sa-zí-dya 'not to eat them'

The same tones as the infinitive are found in the Present Continuous, Recent Past, and Past Imperfective:

ndi-ku-thándiza 'I am helping'

ndi-na-thándiza 'I helped' (today)

ndi-ma-thándiza 'I was helping'

If the verb is monosyllabic, the tone often spreads backwards or regresses to the penultimate:

ndi-ku-dyá (pronounced ndi-kú-dyá or ndi-kú-dya)[109] 'I am eating'

The imperative is toneless, except in verbs that have their own lexical high tone on the final syllable. A monosyllabic verb requires a supporting vowel i-:[110]

fotokoza! 'explain'

thandiza! 'help'

ona! 'see'

i-dya! 'eat'

The suffix -ni makes the imperative plural or polite:

i-dya-ni! 'eat'

The tone on the final syllable in intensive verbs can be heard:[111]

yesetsá-ni! 'try!'

If an object-marker is added, its tone is transferred to the following syllable, except in a monosyllabic verb, and the final vowel changes to -é, as in the subjunctive.[112] An object-marker and monosyllabic verb together have the same intonation as a two-syllable verb:

ndi-fótokozeré! 'explain to me!'

ndi-thándízé! 'help me!'

ndi-óne 'see me!' (the final tone disappears by Meeussen's Rule)

mú-phe 'kill him!'

However, the bare imperative in this form is said to be 'extremely rude'; it is more polite to add the prefix mu-: mu-ti-péze! 'find us!'.[113]

The addition of the aspect-marker -ká- 'go and' or -dzá- 'come and', unlike in the subjunctive, does not change the tone. The aspect-marker itself loses its tone:[114]

ka-thandizé 'go and help'

ka-oné 'go and see'

dza-oné-ni 'come and see!'

ka-dyé-ni 'go and eat!'

Another prefix added to the imperative is tá-, used when begging someone to do something at once. The tone of this is placed on the syllable which follows. The final vowel is -a:[115]

ta-fúlumira-ni 'hurry up!'

ta-thándiza 'help!'

ta-óna 'see!'

ta-dyá 'eat!'

When an object-marker is added as well, the tones are the same as in the infinitive when an object-marker is added. The final vowel is usually -a:

ta-ndí-fotokozéra 'explain to me!'

ta-ndí-thandizá 'help me!'

ta-ndí-úzá 'tell me!'

ta-ndí-dya 'eat me!'

The aspect-marker -ngo- 'just' may be added to an imperative as well, either with the supporting vowel i- or with the prefix tá-. The final vowel is always -a:

i-ngo-ndí-úzá 'just tell me!'

tá-ngo-ndí-úzá 'just tell me!'

The negative of the imperative is identical to the class 2 negative verbal adjective, starting with a prefix ó- (the high tone does not spread) and with a second tone on the penultimate:[116]

ó-sa-fulumíra 'don't hurry!'

If an object-marker is added the negative subjunctive form is usually used,[117] although the form with ó is also possible.[118] In the subjunctive, the only tone is on the penultimate syllable:

mu-sa-ndi-fúnse 'don't ask me!'

(ó-sa-ndi-fúnsa 'don't ask me!')

mu-sa-ka-i-mánge 'don't go and tie them (the mats) up!'[119]

In the Past Simple/Remote Perfect, whether made with -na- or -da-, the tone comes on the tense-marker itself. This tone can also spread to the next syllable in longer verbs in some dialects:[120]

ndi-ná-fotokoza (or ndi-ná-fótokoza) 'I explained'[121]

ndi-ná-thandiza (or ndi-ná-thándiza) 'I helped'

ndi-ná-ona 'I saw'

ndi-ná-dya 'I ate'

The negative form of the tense is made with the prefix sí-, the tone of which spreads; there is also a tone on the penultimate. The final vowel changes to -e:

sí-ndí-na-fotokóze 'I didn't explain'

sí-ndí-na-thandíze 'I didn't help'

sí-ndí-na-óne 'I didn't see'

sí-ndí-na-dyé 'I didn't eat'

Another tense with tense-marker tone is the perfect conditional:

ndi-kadá-fotokoza (or ndi-kadá-fótokoza) 'I would have explained'

The Present Simple, which often refers to events in the near future, has a high tone on the initial syllable, that is, on the subject-marker ndi- 'I'.[122] In some dialects this high tone will spread (or shift forward) to the second syllable in longer verbs (that is, verbs where the high tone is followed by at least three toneless syllables):[123]

ndí-fotokoza (or ndí-fótokoza) 'I will explain'

ndí-werenga (or ndí-wérenga) 'I will read'

ndí-ona 'I will see'

ndí-dya 'I will eat'

There are two intonations of the negative. If the meaning is present habitual, the tones are as follows:[124]

sí-ndí-fotokoza 'I don't explain'

sí-ndí-thandiza 'I don't help'

sí-ndí-ona 'I don't see'

sí-ndi-dya 'I don't eat'

When an object-infix is added, a second tone is heard on the penultimate, or final if the verb is monosyllabic:

sí-ndí-mu-fotokozéra 'I don't explain to him'

sí-ndí-mu-thandíza 'I don't help him'[125]

sí-ndí-mu-óna 'I don't see him'

sí-ndí-zi-dyá 'I don't eat them'

If the meaning is future, the tones are the same as for the negative Remote Future, the negative Infinitive, and negative Subjunctive, that is, there is a single tone on the penultimate, and other tones are suppressed:[126]

si-ndi-fotokóza 'I won't explain'

si-ndi-thandíza 'I won't help'

si-ndi-óna 'I won't see'

si-ndi-dyá 'I won't eat'

In some dialects the Remote Future tense with -dzá- has a tone on both the subject prefix and the tense-marker:[127]

ndí-dzá-fótokoza 'I will explain (at a future time)'

However, in other dialects the first tone is dropped, and only the tense-marker has a tone:

ndi-dzá-fotokoza

In the negative there is a single tone on the penultimate, all other tones being deleted. This tone is heard on the tense-marker when the verb is monosyllabic:[128]

si-ndi-dza-fotokóza 'I will not explain' (tomorrow or later)

si-ndi-dza-thandíza 'I will not help'

si-ndi-dza-óna 'I will not see'

si-ndi-dzá-dya 'I will not eat'

If an object-marker is added, the penultimate tone goes on it in a monosyllabic verb:[129]

si-ndi-dza-zí-dya 'I will not eat them'

The future with -ká- has the same tones.

The Present Habitual has a high tone on the initial syllable and another on the penultimate. But if the verb-stem is monosyllabic, the second tone is heard on the final syllable instead of the penultimate.[120] Because of downdrift, the second high tone is slightly lower in pitch than the first.[130]

ndí-ma-fotokóza 'I usually explain'

ndí-ma-werénga 'I usually read'

ndí-ma-óna 'I usually see'

When the verb is monosyllabic, the second tone is on the final, unless there is an object-marker:

ndí-ma-dyá 'I usually eat'[131]

ndí-ma-zí-dya 'I usually eat them'

In this tense the first tone never spreads to -ma-.[132]

The Future Continuous also has this tonal pattern:

ndí-zi-(dza)-werénga 'I shall be reading'

The Remote Past (with -naa- or -daa-) is similar, but the first tone usually spreads to the second syllable:

ndí-ná-a-fotokóza 'I explained (but...)'

ndí-náa-dyá 'I had eaten'[133]

The Remote Past Imperfective also has two tones, but on the tense-marker and the penultimate. The second tone disappears if the verb is monosyllabic. The tone on -ká- never spreads:[134]

ndi-nká-fotokóza 'I was explaining'

ndi-nká-werénga 'I was reading'

ndi-nká-óná or ndi-nká-oná 'I was seeing'

ndi-nká-dya 'I was eating'

The same pattern is found in the Necessitive (= Imperfective Subjunctive). In some dialects this tense is formed with -dzi- instead of -zi-:[135]

mu-zí-werénga 'you must (always) read'

Certain modifications of the tones of a tense take place when the verb-stem is a short one, i.e. of only one syllable, such as -dya 'eat', or two syllables, such as ona 'see'.

In most tenses, a penultimate tone moves to the final if the verb is monosyllabic. But if there is an aspect-marker or object-marker, the penultimate tone goes on that:

ndí-ma-píta 'I usually go'

ndí-ma-dyá 'I usually eat'[136]

ndí-ma-ká-dya 'I usually go and eat'

In the 'not yet' tense with -na-, however, the penultimate tone remains penultimate:

si-ndi-ná-dye 'I have not yet eaten'

It also remains penultimate in the negative future with -dza- or -ka-:

si-ndi-dzá-dya 'I will not eat'

When the shortening of a verb would mean that the verb ends LHH, the second tone disappears:

ndi-nká-dya 'I used to eat'

When a verb has two syllables, in most cases, if the ending would normally be HHL, the second tone shifts to the final, usually making a tonal plateau:

ku-ká-ményá 'to go and hit'[137]

ti-ná-mú-phá 'we killed him'[138]

ndi-nká-pítá or ndi-nká-pitá 'I used to go'

However, when a monosyllabic verb is preceded by -ná-ká- 'went and', this bumping does not occur:[139]

ti-ná-ká-pha 'we went and killed'

Negative tenses in Chichewa tend to have a different tonal pattern from the corresponding positive ones.[140]

In general, negative intonations can be divided into two groups:

(a) One group has a tone on the negative-marker sí- (which spreads to the subject-marker). This intonation is used for negative present tenses and negative past tenses, for example:

• Tone on initial syllable (spreading to second):

Present Simple: sí-ndí-thandiza 'I don't help'[141]

• Initial syllable and tense-marker:

Present Habitual: sí-ndí-má-thandiza 'I don't usually help'[142]

Perfect Conditional: sí-ndí-kadá-thandiza 'I would not have helped'

• Initial and following the tense-marker:

Present Continuous: sí-ndí-ku-thándiza 'I'm not helping'[143]

Recent Imperfect: sí-ndí-ma-thándiza 'I wasn't helping'[144]

• Initial syllable and penultimate:

Remote Perfect: sí-ndí-na-thandíze 'I didn't help'[145]

• Initial, tense-marker, and penultimate:

Remote Imperfect: sí-ndí-n-ká-thandíza 'I didn't use to help'[146]

Present Habitual with Object-Marker: sí-ndí-má-mu-thandíza 'I don't usually help him'[147]

Remote Imperfect with Object-Marker: sí-ndí-kadá-mu-thandíza 'I would not have helped him'

(b) The other group has no tone on the initial syllable of the verb, but a tone on the penultimate and sometimes also on the tense-marker. This intonation is used for all negative tenses which have a potential, future, or prospective meaning, for example:

• Penultimate only (all other tones are deleted):

Near Future: si-ndi-thandíza 'I'm not going to help (today)'[148]

Remote Future: si-ndi-dza-thandíza 'I won't help'[149]

Contingent Future: si-ndi-ka-thandíza 'I'm not going to help'

Perfect: si-ndi-na-thandíze 'I haven't helped (yet)'[150]

Subjunctive: ndi-sa-thandíze 'I shouldn't help'[151]

Infinitive: ku-sa-thandíza 'not to help'[152]

• Tense-marker and penultimate (first tone does not spread; all other tones are deleted):

Habitual Subjunctive: ndi-sa-má-thandíze 'I should never help'

Future Continuous: si-ndi-zí-thandíza 'I won't be helping'

Remote Future Continuous: si-ndi-má-dza-thandíza 'I won't be helping' (Remote Future)

Potential: si-ndi-ngá-thandíze 'I can't help'[153]

In some tenses, there are two negative intonations with different meanings. For example, the Remote Perfect (Simple Past) has a tone on sí- and the penultimate when it means 'didn't', but a single tone on the penultimate when it means 'have not yet'.[154] The negative Present Simple also has two intonations, depending on whether the meaning is present habitual or future.

The Potential and Perfect Conditional tenses also sometimes have initial and penultimate tone, apparently without any difference in meaning.

Mtenje mentions a negative Recent Past (sí-ndí-na-thándiza) and a Remote Past tense (sí-ndí-ná-a-thandíza);[155] however, neither of these appears to used in standard Chichewa, the negative of the Remote Perfect usually being substituted.[156]

The Present Simple, in its habitual, non-future sense, has a tone on the initial syllables only. This second tone does not spread even in longer verbs and is presumably itself due to spreading:[157][158]

sí-ndí-thandiza 'I don't help'[159]

However, if an object-marker is added, there is an extra tone on the penultimate syllable:

sí-ndí-mu-thandíza 'I don't help him'[160]

In monosyllabic verbs, in the Central Region, the tone on the subject-marker disappears in the Present Simple and the tones are:

sí-ndi-dya 'I don't eat'

The negative Remote Perfect tense with -na- or -da- has tones on the negative prefix sí- and the penultimate. The first tone may spread. The ending changes to -e:

sí-ndí-na-thandíze 'I did not help' / 'I have not helped'

sí-ndí-na-fotokóze 'I did not explain'

In a monosyllabic verb, the second tone goes on the final, unless there is an object-marker:

sí-ndí-na-dyé 'I didn't eat'

sí-ndí-na-zí-dye 'I didn't eat them'

The negative perfect participial tense has tones very similar to the above, with the first tone on the initial syllable and the second on the penultimate. The first tone may spread:[161]

ndí-sa-na-thandíze 'without my having helped', 'before I help(ed)'

ndí-sa-na-dyé 'before I eat/ate'[161]

ndí-sa-na-zí-dye 'before I eat/ate them'

The Remote Past Imperfective has three tones when negative. The first may spread. The n of nká is syllabic and low-toned, so there is no plateau between the first and second tone:[162]

sí-ndí-nká-thandíza 'I didn't use to help'

In a monosyllabic verb, the third tone is lost: sí-ndí-nká-dya 'I didn't use to eat'

Tenses with proclitic tense-markers, such as the Present Continuous, have a tone on sí and a second tone immediately following the tense-marker:[163]

sí-ndí-ku-thándiza 'I'm not helping'

sí-ndí-ma-thándiza 'I wasn't helping'

sí-ndí-na-thándiza 'I didn't help just now' (rarely used)

If the aspect-marker -ma- is added to any negative tense, it carries a high tone; otherwise the tones are similar to the same tenses without -ma-:

sí-ndí-má-thandiza 'I never help'[164]

sí-ndí-má-dya 'I never eat'

When an object-marker is added there is an additional tone on the penultimate:

sí-ndí-má-mu-thandíza 'I never help him'

The negative Perfect Conditional often has this intonation:

sí-ndí-kadá-thandiza 'I would not have helped' (but also sí-ndí-kada-thandíza)

Any negative tense with future meaning, or with the meaning 'not yet', has only one tone, on the penultimate syllable. Other tones, such as those of the negative prefix sí- and the object-marker, are suppressed:

si-ndi-thandíza 'I won't help'[165]

si-ndi-dza-thandíza 'I won't help' (in future)[166]

si-ndi-dza-mu-thandíza 'I won't help him'

si-ndi-na-thandíze 'I haven't helped yet'

The same intonation, with a tone on the penultimate, is found in non-finite tenses such as the negative Infinitive and negative Subjunctive, which have the negative-marker -sa- following the subject-marker:

ku-sa-thandíza 'not to help'[167]

ndi-sa-thandíze 'so that I shouldn't help'[168]

When these patterns are used with a monosyllabic verb such as -dya 'eat', the tone usually goes on the final syllable:

si-ndi-dyá 'I won't eat'[169]

ku-sa-dyá 'not to eat'[167]

ndi-sa-dyé 'I should not eat'

However, in the forms with -dza- and -na- the tone goes on the penultimate:

si-ndi-dzá-dya 'I will not eat' (at a future time)

si-ndi-ná-dye 'I have not yet eaten'

It also goes on the penultimate if a monosyllabic verb is preceded by an object-marker:

si-ndi-zí-dya 'I won't eat them'

ku-sa-zí-dya 'not to eat them'[167]

In negative tenses the infixes zí, ngá, má usually carry a tone on themselves and also usually add one to the penultimate syllable.

The negative Future Continuous and negative Potential have tones on tense-marker and penultimate. The tone on the tense-marker does not spread:[170]

si-ndi-zí-thandíza 'I won't be helping'

si-ndi-ngá-thandíze 'I won't be able to help'

In a monosyllabic verb, the two tones coincide:

si-ndi-ngá-phe 'I cannot kill'

The negative infinitive with the aspect-marker -ma- has the same tones:

ku-sa-má-thandíza 'to be never helping'

In a monosyllabic verb, the second tone is lost by Meeussen's Rule:

ku-sa-má-dya 'to be never eating'

si-ndi-ngá-dye 'I can't eat'

Certain tenses have a different tonal pattern when used in certain kinds of dependent clauses. Stevick calls this intonation the 'relative mood' of the verb,[171] since it is frequently used in relative clauses; however, it is also used in a range of other dependent clauses, such as conditional clauses ('if...'), cleft sentences ('it is he who...'), and adverbial clauses of time, place, manner, and concession. Often the use of relative clause intonation alone can show that a verb is being used in the meaning of a relative or conditional clause.[172]

Not all tenses have a separate intonation in relative clauses. Some, such as the Present Simple, Present Habitual, Remote Future, Remote Past, and all negative tenses are unchanged in a relative clause.[173]

The first tone can spread. The penultimate tone sometimes undergoes bumping or deletion.

• Initial and penultimate:

Perfect: w-á-thándíza 'who has helped'[174]

Remote Perfect: á-na-thandíza 'who helped'[175]

Potential: á-nga-thandíze 'who can help'[176]

Necessitive: á-zi-thandíza 'who should be helping'[177]

Remote Imperfect: á-nka-thandíza 'who used to help', 'who was helping'[178]

Perfect Conditional: á-kada-thandíza 'who would have helped'

• Initial and following the tense-marker (with plateau):

Present Continuous: á-kú-thándiza 'who is helping'[179]

Recent Past: á-ná-thándiza 'who helped (today)'[180]

Recent Imperfect: á-má-thándiza 'who was helping'[181]

• Initial and final:

Subjunctive: á-thandizé 'who may help'

Future Subjunctive: á-dza-thandizé 'who may help in future'

The dependent-clause intonation generally has two high tones, one on the initial syllable and another on the penultimate. High tones between these two are suppressed. The first high tone may spread. When the tones are HLHL, some dialects have bumping; for example, ndí-na-gúla '(which) I bought' can become ndí-ná-gulá.[182]

a-ná-thandiza 'he helped' becomes á-na-thandíza (or á-ná-thandíza)

wa-thandiza 'he has helped' becomes wá-thandíza (or when used as a noun or adjective wá-thándíza)

ndi-nga-thandize 'I can help' becomes ndí-nga-thandíze[183]

The Perfect tense in a relative clause is as follows:[184]

á-fotokóza 'who has explained'

á-thándíza or á-thándizá 'who has helped'

á-óná 'who has seen'

á-dya 'who has eaten' (second tone deleted)

But when the tense has a proclitic prefix the second high tone comes on the syllable after the tense-marker. There is usually[185] bridging of the two tones, as well as a bridging with the tone of the relative pronoun améne:[186]

améné á-kú-thándiza 'who is helping'

améné á-má-thándiza 'who was helping'

If the verb tense already has a high tone on the initial syllable, such as the Present Simple, Present Habitual, and Remote Future, there is no change when the verb is used in a relative clause.[187] Negative tenses, such as s-a-na-thandíze 'he hasn't helped yet', are also unaltered when used in dependent clauses.

The relative clause intonation is used most often in relative clauses, for example after améne or yemwé 'who'. The tone of améne spreads to make a plateau with the high tone of the relative clause verb:

malálánjé améné múnágulá alí kuti?
'where are the oranges which you bought?'[188]

ápézá galú améné ánámusowétsa
'he will find the dog which he lost'[189]

The relative clause intonation is also used in temporal clauses after paméne 'when' and in clauses of manner after momwé 'in the way in which', which are derived from the same roots:

amavála paméné ndímálówa
'he was getting dressed when I entered'

momwé ánkachitíra
'as he used to do'

It is also used if the word améne or paméne is omitted, the relative clause intonation alone showing that the verb is being used in a relative way:

amadwála kwámbíri álí mwaná
'he was very sick when he was a child'[190]

mvúlá ílí kugwá
'when rain is falling'[191]

mwezí wá-tha
'the month which has finished, i.e. last month'[192]

Questions with ndaní? 'who?' and nchiyáni? 'what?' are expressed as cleft sentences, using relative clause intonation:

wákhálá pa-mpando ndaní?
'who is sitting on the chair?' (lit. 'the one who has sat down on the chair is who?')

cháchítiká n'chiyáni?
'what's happened?' (lit. 'the thing that has happened is what?')

The dependent clause intonation is also used in conditional clauses, except those with the toneless -ka- tense. It is similarly used after ngati 'if' and in clauses after ngakhále 'although':

sízíkudzíwíká ngati wámwalíra (or wámwálirá)
'it isn't known if she has died'

ngakhálé mvúla íkubvúmba
'even when rain is falling'[193]

However, when ngati means 'as if', the ordinary intonation is used.

In Chichewa, a special set of tenses is used for clauses meaning 'if' or 'when'.

• Toneless:

ndi-ka-thandiza 'if I help' / 'when I help'[194]

• Aspect-marker only (may spread):

ndi-ka-dzá-thandiza 'if / when I help in future'[195]

• Aspect-marker and penultimate (first tone does not spread):

ndi-ka-má-thandíza 'whenever I help' / 'whenever I helped'[196]

• Initial and after the tense-marker (with a plateau):

ndí-kú-thándiza 'while I am helping' / 'while I was helping'[197]

ndí-tá-thándiza 'after I helped' / 'if I were to help'[198]

• Initial and penultimate (first tone may spread):

ndí-sa-na-thandíze 'before I help' / 'before I helped'[199]

ndí-ka-da-thandíza 'if I had helped'[200]

ndí-ba-a-thandíza 'while meanwhile I help'[201]

Conditional sentences and indirect questions can also be made using ngati 'if' with the relative clause intonations.[202]

As well as the word ndi 'is/are' used for identity (e.g. 'he is a teacher') Chichewa has another verb -li 'am, are, is' used for position or temporary state (e.g. 'he is well', 'he is in Lilongwe'). The tones of this are irregular in that in the Present Simple, there is no tone on the subject-marker.[203] For the Remote Past, both á-naa-lí and a-ná-li[204] can be heard, apparently without difference of meaning. In the dependent Applied Present (-lili), used in clauses of manner, the two tones make a plateau.

• In main clauses:

Present: a-li 'he is, they are'

Recent Past: a-na-lí 'he was (today)'

Remote Past: á-náa-lí (ánaalí) 'he was' (but is no longer)

Remote Perfect / Simple Past: a-ná-li 'he was'

Persistive: a-kada-lí (or a-ka-lí) 'he is still'

• In dependent clauses:

Present: á-li 'when he is/was'

Persistive: á-kada-lí or á-ka-lí 'when he is/was still'[205]

Applied Present: momwé á-lílí 'the way that he is'

The dependent-clause form of the Persistive tense is frequently heard in the phrase pá-kada-lí pano 'at the present time' (literally, 'it still being now').

After the tense-marker, there can be one or more aspect-markers, which add precision to the meaning of the tense.[206] Altogether there are four aspect-markers, -má- 'ever, usually, always', -ká- 'go and', -dzá- 'in future', and -ngo- 'just', which are always added in that order, though not usually all at once. These infixes add extra high tones to the verb.

The aspect-marker -má- 'always, ever, generally' usually adds two high tones, one on -má- itself and one on the penultimate syllable. For example, when added to the 'when' tense, which has the toneless tense-marker -ka-, it adds two tones:

ndi-ka-má-thandíza 'whenever I help'

However, in the Present Habitual, the tone on -má- is lost:[207]

ndí-ma-mu-thandíza 'I usually help him'

On the other hand, in the negative Present Habitual, the tone on -má- is retained while the penultimate tone is lost, unless there is an object-marker:

sí-ndí-má-thandiza 'I never help'[208]

sí-ndí-má-mu-thandíza 'I never help him'

-má- can also be used as a tense-marker itself to make the Imperfect tense, in which case its high tone is proclitic:

ndi-ma-thándiza 'I was helping'

sí-ndí-ma-thándiza 'I wasn't helping'[209]

The aspect-markers -ká- 'go to' and -dzá- 'in future' or 'come to' have the same tones as each other. In the Remote Perfect, the tone is high, and in longer verbs sometimes spreads:[47]

ndi-ná-ká-thandiza (or ndi-ná-ká-thándiza) 'I went to help'

In a monosyllabic verb in this tense, unlike with the object-marker, the tone of -ká- does not bump to the final:[210]

ti-ná-ká-pha 'we went and killed'

Contrast:

ti-ná-mú-phá 'we killed him'

In tenses which have a tone on the penultimate, -ká- and -dzá- usually lose their tone:

ndí-ma-ka-thandíza 'I (always) go to help'

sí-ndí-na-ka-thandíze 'I didn't go to help'

si-ndi-dza-píta 'I won't go'[211]

ku-sa-ka-thandíza 'not to go and help'[212]

But in monosyllabic verbs, where -ká- comes in penultimate position, it receives the tone:

ndí-ma-ká-dya 'I usually go and eat'

The high tone is also lost in the Imperative, where there is a tone on the final syllable only:

ka-thandizé 'go and help!'

ka-dyé 'go and eat!'[213]

But in the positive Subjunctive -ká- and -dzá- retain their tone, and there is a second tone on the penultimate. In two-syllable verbs this second tone is bumped to the final. In monosyllabic verbs it is dropped:

ndi-ká-thandíze 'I should go and help'

ndi-ká-óné 'I should go and see'

ndi-ká-dye 'I should go and eat'

The aspect-marker -ngo- 'just' is derived from the infinitive, and like the infinitive it is proclitic, that is to say, there is a high tone on the syllable after -ngo-. (The syllable -ngo- itself is always toneless.)

In toneless tenses, the syllables before it are toneless:

i-ngo-bwéra! 'just come!'

nda-ngo-bwéra 'I have just come'

In all other tenses, there is a high tone on the syllable preceding -ngo-:

ndí-má-ngo-thándiza 'I usually just help'

If -ngo- is added after a proclitic tense-marker such as the Present Continuous -ku-, the tense-marker has a high tone and is not proclitic:[214]

ndi-ku-thándiza 'I'm helping'

ndi-kú-ngo-thándiza 'I'm just helping'

Between the aspect-markers and the verb stem, it is possible to add an object-marker such as -mú- 'him/her/it' or -zí- 'those things' etc. In some tenses, the object-marker retains its tone, but in some the tone is lost. In others, the object-marker adds a tone, but not on itself.

When an object-marker is added to a toneless tense, such as the Perfect, it has a high tone. (In verbs of three syllables or longer, the tone may spread in some dialects.)[215][216]

nda-mú-thandiza 'I have helped him'

ndi-ka-mú-thandiza 'if I help him'

ndi-nga-mú-thandize 'I can help him'[217]

In tenses which have penultimate tone the object-marker is usually toneless:

mu-sa-mu-thandíze 'do not help him'[218]

ndí-ma-mu-thandíza 'I usually help him'[219]

But when the verb is monosyllabic, the penultimate tone goes on the object-marker itself:

ndí-ma-zí-dya 'I usually eat them' (e.g. fruits)

ku-sa-dzí-pha 'not to kill oneself'[220]

si-ndi-mú-pha 'I will not kill him'[221]

In the Remote Perfect (Past Simple) tense, which has the tense-marker -ná- or -dá-, the tone of the object-marker is lost in southern dialects.[222] In dialects with high tone spreading, the object-marker has a high tone, but it is thought that this tone is due to spreading from the previous syllable, as it does not spread further to the following syllable, unlike the tone of -ká-:[47]

ndi-ná-mu-thandiza (or ndi-ná-mú-thandiza) 'I helped him'

Contrast:

ndi-ná-ká-thandiza (or ndi-ná-ká-thándiza) 'I went and helped'

With monosyllabic verb-stems, however, the high tone of the object-marker is retained and (unlike the tone of -ká-) undergoes bumping, making a plateau:[223]

ti-ná-mú-phá 'we killed him'

Contrast:

ti-ná-ká-pha 'we went and killed'

Where the tense-marker or aspect-marker has proclitic tone, for example in the infinitive, Present Continuous, or Recent Past, there is an additional tone on the penultimate in longer verbs, or on the final in verbs of 2 or 3 syllables. This second tone disappears if the verb has only one syllable:[224]

ku-mú-fotokozéra 'to explain to him'

ku-mú-thamangítsa 'to chase him'

ku-mú-thandizá 'to help him'

ku-mú-ményá 'to hit him'

ku-mú-pha 'to kill him'

This is similar to the effect of adding the aspect-marker -má-, except that in three-syllable verbs with -má- the second tone is heard on the penultimate:

ku-má-thandíza 'to be always helping'

In the Subjunctive and Imperative the high tone of the object-marker becomes proclitic and is heard on the syllable which follows it. The final vowel changes to -e and has a tone. There is a plateau if the verb stem has three syllables:[225]

ndi-mu-thándízé 'I should help him'

mu-chi-gúle 'you should buy it'[226]

mu-fótokozeré 'explain to him!'

mu-thándízé 'come and help him!'

If the verb has two syllables, the tone on the final is dropped by Meeussen's rule:

(ndi-)pátse-ni 'give me!'

mu-ndi-pátse 'you should give me'

If the verb is monosyllabic, the tone remains on -mú-, and the high tone of the final vowel is dropped:

zí-dye 'eat them!'[227]

mu-zí-dye 'you should eat them'

When the Imperative is preceded by the aspect-markers ta- ('do it now!') or i-ngo- ('just do it!'), which are proclitic, the rules for proclitic verbs given above apply:

i-ngo-mú-thandizá! 'just help him!'

ta-ndí-fotokozéra! 'explain to me now please'

When -ka- or -dza- are added to an Imperative, they are toneless, and the tone of the object-marker remains proclitic:

dza-mu-thándízé 'come and help him!'

But when -ká- or -dzá- is added to the Subjunctive, there are tones on -ká- and the penultimate, and the object-marker loses its tone:

mu-dzá-mu-thandíze 'you should come and help him'

The reflexive-marker -dzí- in most dialects has exactly the same tones as object-markers such as -mú-, but for some speakers in parts of the Central Region there is also an extra tone on the penultimate or final syllable.[228]

a-ná-dzí-thandiza 'he helped himself' (Lilongwe dialect)

a-ná-dzí-thandíza 'he helped himself' (Nkhotakota dialect)

Voicetrack of the sentence Mwamúna, ámulamúlá amáyi ('A man, he rules women') (Myers (1996), p. 34), illustrating a boundary tone after mwamúna, and also the typical downdrift of tones through the sentence.

Quite often, if there is a pause in the middle of sentence, such as might be indicated by a comma in writing, the speaker's voice will rise on the syllable just before the pause. This rising tone is called a boundary tone.[229] A boundary tone is typically used after the topic of a sentence, at the end of a dependent clause, after items on a list, and so on. The illustration included here of the sentence Mwamúna, ámulamúlá amáyi ('A man, he rules women')[230] clearly shows the rise in the voice on the last syllable of the word mwamúna, which is here taken to be the topic of the sentence.

A typical sentence where the dependent clause precedes the main clause is the following:

mu-ka-chí-kónda↗, mu-chi-gúle[231] 'if you like it, please buy it'

As Kanerva points out, the rising boundary tone is not used when the order is reversed and the dependent clause follows the main clause.[232]

Another kind of tone considered to be a boundary tone, but this time a low one, is the optional fall in the speaker's voice at the end of sentences which causes the final high tone on words like chákúdyá 'food' to drop to become chákúdya. The end-of-sentence boundary tone is marked L% in Myers' illustration.

Both Kanerva and Stevick also mention a 'level' boundary tone, which occurs mid-sentence, but without any rise in pitch.[233]

Questions in Chichewa often add high tones where an ordinary statement has no tone. For example, with the word kuti? 'where?', liti 'when?', yani 'who?' or chiyáni 'what?' some people add a tone on the last syllable of the preceding word. This tone does not spread backwards, although it may form a plateau with an antepenultimate tone, as in the 3rd and 4th examples below:

alí kuti? 'where is he?'[234]

ndiwé yani? 'who are you?'

mu-ná-fíká liti? 'when did you arrive?'[235]

mu-ká-chítá chiyáni? 'what are you going to do there?'[236]

But as Stevick points out, not all speakers do this, and others may say mu-ná-fika liti?[237]

When kuti? 'which place?' or liti? 'which day?' are preceded by ndi 'is', they take a high tone on the first syllable:

kwánú ndi kúti? 'where is your home?'[238]

It appears that with some speakers the high tone after ndi is heard on the final syllable in forms of this adjective which begin with a vowel; but with other speakers it is heard on the first syllable:[239]

mipando yáikúlu ndi ití? 'which are the large chairs?'

msewu wópíta ku Blántyre ndi úti? 'which is the road going to Blantyre?'

A high tone also goes on the final syllable in ndaní? '(it is) who?' (which is derived from ndi yani?)[240] Before this word and nchiyáni? '(is) what?', since such questions are phrased as a cleft sentence or relative clause, the verb has its relative-clause intonation:

wákhálá pampando ndaní? '(the one who is) sitting on the chair is who?', i.e. 'who is it who's sitting on the chair?'

The relative-clause intonation of the verb is also used when a question begins with bwánji? 'how come?', but not when it ends with bwánji?, when it has the meaning 'how?'

With yes-no questions, intonations vary. The simplest tone is a rising boundary tone on the final syllable:

mwa-landirá? 'did you receive it?'[241]

A more insistent question often has a HL falling boundary tone on the last syllable. Pitch transcriptions show that the voice rises up on the penultimate and falls on the final:[242]

mwa-landirâ? 'did you receive it?'

But in other dialects, it seems that this fall may begin on the penultimate syllable:

ku Zómba? 'in Zombá?'[243]

If there is already a penultimate high tone it may simply be raised higher:

ku Baláka? 'in Baláka?'[244]

Alternatively, there can be two successive falling tones, one on the penultimate, and another on the final.[245]

Sometimes, however, there is no particular intonational tone and the question has the same intonation as a statement, especially if the question starts with the question-asking word kodí.[246]

When there is a choice between two things in a disjunctive question, the first half of the question ends in a high boundary tone, but the voice drops in the second half:[247]

mukufúná khófí (H%), kapéná thíyi (L%)? 'do you want coffee or (would you prefer) tea?'

Some speakers add intonational tones also with the toneless word kale 'already', making not only the final syllable of kale itself high but also the last syllable of the verb which precedes it:

ndabviná kálé 'I have danced already'[248]

ndináfíká kalé 'I arrived a short time ago'[235]

Other speakers do not add these intonational tones, but pronounce ndavina kale with Low tones.

Occasionally a verb which is otherwise low-toned will acquire a high tone in certain idiomatic usages, e.g. ndapitá 'I'm off' (said on parting), from the normally toneless pita 'go'. This can perhaps also be considered a kind of intonational tone.

In European languages it is common for a word which is picked out for contrast to be pronounced on a higher pitch than the other words in a sentence, e.g. in the sentence they fed the baboon fish, not the elephant, it is likely that the speaker will draw attention to the word baboon by pronouncing it on a high pitch, while the word fish, which has been mentioned already, will be on a low pitch. This kind of emphasis is known as 'focus'. In tonal languages it appears that this raising or lowering of the pitch to indicate focus is either absent or much less noticeable.[249]

A number of studies have examined how focus is expressed in Chichewa and whether it causes a rise in pitch.[250] One finding was that for most speakers, focus has no effect on pitch. For some speakers, however, it appears that there is a slight rise in pitch if a word with a tone is focussed.[251] A toneless word, when in focus, does not appear to rise in pitch.

A different kind of emphasis is emphasis of degree. To show that something is very small, or very large, or very distant, a Chichewa-speaker will often raise the pitch of his or her voice considerably, breaking the sequence of downdrift. For example, a word such as kwámbíri 'very much' or pang'óno 'a little' is sometimes pronounced with a high pitch. The toneless demonstrative uyo 'that man' can also acquire a tone and become úyo! with a high pitch to mean 'that man over there in the distance'.[67]

In nouns, the two elements join as follows (note that hyphens have been added here for clarity, but are not used in the standard orthography of Chichewa).

LL + LL becomes LLLL (i.e. there is no additional tone):

chi-ng'ani-ng'ani 'lightning'

chi-were-were 'sex outside marriage'

LH + LH becomes LHLL (i.e. the second tone is dropped):

chi-masó-maso 'adultery'

m-lengá-lenga 'sky, atmosphere'

chi-bolí-boli 'wooden carving'

HL + HL becomes HLLH (or HHLH), by 'bumping':

chi-láko-lakó (or chi-lákó-lakó) 'desire'

chi-thúnzi-thunzí (or chi-thúnzí-thunzí) 'picture'

a-múna-muná (or a-múná-muná) 'real men'

When adverbs are reduplicated, however, and there is an element of emphasis, the first two types have an additional tone. Thus:

LL + LL becomes LLHL (i.e. there is an additional high tone on the second element):

bwino-bwíno 'very carefully'

kale-kále 'long ago' (or 'far off in the future')

LH + LH is also different when emphatic, becoming LHHH (or in the Southern Region HHHH):

kwení-kwéní (or kwéní-kwéní) 'really'[253]

okhá-ókhá (or ókhá-ókhá) 'only, exclusively'

When a three-syllable element is repeated, there is no special change:

pang’óno-pang’óno 'gradually'

kawíri-kawíri 'often'

A high tone following a proclitic tense-marker does not repeat when the verb is reduplicated:[254]

ku-thándiza-thandiza 'to help here and there'

However, a final or penultimate tone will usually repeat (unless the verb has only two syllables, in which case the middle tone may be suppressed):[255]

ti-thandizé-thandizé 'let's help here and there'

ndí-ma-thandíza-thandíza 'I usually help here and there'

á-ma-yenda-yénda 'they move about here and there'

Ideophones (expressive words) have slightly different types of reduplication. Moto (1999) mentions the following types:

All high:

góbédé-góbédé (noise of dishes clattering)

bálálá-bálálá (scattering of people or animals in all directions)

All low:

dzandi-dzandi (walking unsteadily)

High on the first syllable only:

chéte-chete (in dead silence)