Meaning of catathesis | Babel Free

Definitions

Downstep or downdrift, particularly in non-tonal languages such as Japanese and English.

dated, rare

Examples

“The term ‘downstep’ was first used to refer⟳ to certain well-known phenomena in African tone languages that vaguely resemble⟳ the tonal implementation phenomenon we describe⟳ here. Since we are not in a position now to evaluate⟳ the precise extent of the formal similarity between the two classes of phenomena, we will use⟳ the term ‘catathesis’ only, withdrawing the term ‘downstep’ as it was used in Pierrehumbert (1980) and Beckman & Pierrehumbert (1985) out of deference to the Africanist usage.”

“The term “catathesis” rather than downstep was adopted for a time (Poser 1984; Beckman and Pierrehumbert 1986), in order⟳ to avoid⟳ the terminological conflicts inherent in the use⟳ of downdrift vs. downstep and automatic vs. non-automatic downstep [...]; usage has since reverted to, and settled on, downstep.”

“The pitch trajectories of these melodic patterns are not simply falling pitch sequences that may appear⟳ in any musical melody, but they exhibit the jagged character typical of linguistic downtrends triggered by catathesis.”

CEFR level