The microprosodic effects of adjacent consonants on the fundamental frequency (F0) of vowels are well-studied. The microprosodic effects of postvocalic glottal consonants have been implicated in tonogenesis in Vietnamese by Haudricourt (as cited in Hombert et al. 1979), in Burmese by Maran (as cited in Hombert et al. 1970), and in Middle Chinese (Mei 1970).

This study examines the relationship between tone and prevocalic consonants in Navajo, a language with two level tones. Specifically, the question of whether the magnitude of microprosodic effects is affected by the presence of phonemic tone on vowels is addressed. The data used were selected words in the recording of Speaking Navajo: An Intermediate Text. Fundamental frequencies were automatically calculated using Praat, and statistical analysis was conducted in R.