The status of the 44 tone in Nosu

This paper examines the development of the 44 tone in the Shengza variety of Nosu, arguing that it is a secondary sandhi tone derived from two productive processes: 33 > 44 in adjacent tonal environments and 21 > 44 in reduplicated verbal elements and specific syntactic contexts. These processes have shaped paradigms in extentive verbs, pronouns, and numbers, resulting in complex tonal patterns uncommon in Loloish languages. The 44 tone is frequent in Shengza but less productive or absent in other Nosu varieties and related Nasu dialects. A small set of 44 tone words appears to result from reanalysis. The decision to represent 44 tone in orthography as a variant of 33 tone supports literacy and reflects its historical origin (AI generated abstract, Copilot)