Efik nominal tonal alternations as phrasal morphology

Certain Efik nominal constructions exhibit fixed tonal melodies that overwrite
nouns’ underlying tones. Previous analyses of these alternations (Welmers 1973;
Kim 1974; Cook 1985) are purely phonological. Working in a constraint-based
framework, I propose that the tonal alternations are actually phrasal morphology
(McPherson 2014). The tonal melodies are overlays encoded in lexicalized construc-
tional schemas that relate idiosyncratic phrasal phonology with specific syntactic
constructions. The constructional schemas are enforced by constraints. The Efik
case extends the observed range of phrasal morphology by demonstrating that
constructional schema constraints and phonological constraints can interact to de-
termine a construction’s surface tones.