Floating quantity in Shilluk

It is well known that floating tones can associate both within a word and across a word boundary. In relation to floating quantity, however, there is extensive evidence for association within a word, but not across a word boundary. The present paper presents evidence for the latter configuration in Shilluk, a West Nilotic language. Shilluk noun forms may end in floating quantity, and this quantity is realized only on following vocalic prefixes, that is, across a word boundary. The investigation includes a descriptive analysis of the phenomenon and a production study based on data from ten Shilluk speakers.