Non-tonal prosody and non-standard phonetics in the Himalayas

Many languages of the Himalayan region can be characterised as tonal, but these contrasts frequently involve contrasts in phonation as well. Other languages are described as lacking tone, but having contrasts in breathiness on the vowel or sonorants. This elaboration of locations for non-modal phonation is a trait of the greater Himalayan region. This paper examines the distribution of breathiness, and the implications that an areal-typological perspective bring to our understanding of prosody and linguistic history more widely in the Himalayan and South Asian region