Comitative and terminative in Votic and Lower Luga Ingrian (original) (raw)

Vowel reduction in Lower Luga Ingrian: scientific description and “folk” perception

Golovko E. V., Lurie M. L., Muslimov M. Z., Oskolskaya S. A. (eds.). ‘Folk linguistics’: Language from speakers’ perspective. Paper abstracts for the conference, St. Petersburg, November 19–21, 2012. СПб.: Нестор-История, 2012

A comparison of my phonological description of the vowel reduction in Southern Lower Luga Ingrian and the reflection of the reduction in the "naive" orthographic systems of the manusctipts written by the speakers of the variety.

Tonal morphology in Sama Nubri: Case marking and transitivity alternations

Studies in Language, 2021

This paper discusses two uses of grammatical tone in Nubri: the use of tone in the causative-inchoative alternations (well known in Sino-Tibetan) as well as the use of tone to mark genitive NPs. Official abstract: This paper reports on the Tibeto-Burman language, Nubri, of the high Himalayan region of northern central Nepal. Specifically, data is presented to illustrate the use of tone to mark two morphological features in the language: the use of a H tone suffix to mark the genitive case, and the use of a H tone prefix to mark an increase in transitivity. This is the first account of these phenomena in Nubri and an analysis is presented before contextualizing the phenomena in a typological perspective.

Western Conference On Linguistics Volume Nine WECOL96

1996

The ltelmen language shows many inslances of regular schwa/zero alternations. Even though the language permits quite extensive consonant clusters, I argue in this paper that the alternating schwas (and perhaps all inslances of schwa) are cpcnthetic; schwa is inserted to break up a disfavoured consonant cluster. The rule which insetts schwa must apply cyclically in the verbal system, but non-cyclically in the nominal system. Apparent elamples of cyclic rule application are problematic for non-derivational, conscraint-based approaches to phonology, such as many versions of Optimality Theory (01). Thus. much recent work has been devoted to reanlayzing purported examples of cyclicity from an O.T. perspective. While it may be possible to devise an account of the Itelmen data in terms of parallel conscraint evaluation, current O.T. approaches are insufficient; in particular, the best candidare for an explanation of the NounIVerb differences (Base Identity) makes exactly the wrong predictions for Itelmen.

The Morphology and Phonology of Infixation

2003

The process of writing a dissertation is never an individual enterprise; this dissertation is no exception. Thus it is with my deepest regret that I will not be able to thank every single individual who has contributed, directly, unintentionally or perhaps even unwillingly, to the ideas presented in this dissertation. I thank them collectively. That said, a few individuals truly warrant special mention. To this end, none deserves my gratitude more than Sharon Inkelas and Andrew Garrett. Sharon first introduced me to the joy of working on morpho-phonology during my undergraduate years at Berkeley. This interest has ultimately culminated in this dissertation. Her intelligence and her penetrating insights on phonological and morphological issues have consistently served as a source of inspiration in my own work and as a phonologist. Her influence on this study and much of my other work, while not visible to the naked eye, is considerable. Much of the ideas presented in this work originated in discussions with her. Naturally, she should not be blame for any shortcomings that finds their ways into this study. On a more practical note, one could not ask for a better advisor than Sharon. Her patient and nurturing personality has made graduate school and the arduous dissertation-writing process a much more enjoyable experience than it would have been otherwise. Andrew Garrett, without a doubt, has to be one of the most didactic and multitalented linguists alive. He exemplifies the type of scholar I aspire to become. His presentations, whether in writing or in lecture, are always thorough, meticulous, yet never seem to lose sight of the big picture. I hope that this dissertation approximates the standard he embodies. vii Most people would consider themselves lucky to have just one mentor whom they can go into a meeting and come out much energized and inspired. I considered myself luckiest to have two. Thank you, Sharon and Andrew! John Ohala showed me how linguistics, and phonology in particular, can be a laboratory science. While this dissertation ultimately focuses on the interaction of phonology and morphology, John's theory of sound change and his philosophy of science have guided me throughout the writing of this dissertation. Of course, no one who knows John can miss his love of humor and jokes. I have learnt much from him in this respect. English being my adopted tongue, the nuances of jokes often elude me. But after years of exposure, all thanks to John, I am happy to report that I have acquired a healthy appetite for good jokes. Larry Hyman has also been a constant inspiration. His energy and his encyclopedic Infixation to the right of a stressed foot is also possible. For example, the construct state (CNS) markers in Ulwa, a Misumalpan language spoken in Nicaragua and Honduras, is affixed to the right edge of an iambic foot. (5) Ulwa construct state (Green 1999: 64) sú lu sú-ma-lu 'dog-CNS2' áytak áy-mana-tak 'paper-CNS22' alá kum alá-ka-kum 'Muscovy duck-CNS3' waráw wa waráw-kana-wa 'parrot sp.-CNS33' ká sirá mah ká-ki-sirá mah 'lizard sp.-CNS1' The classification scheme proposed here groups both the English and the Ulwa cases under the same pivot, namely the stressed foot. This approach not only provides an efficient mechanism to reduce the complexity of the typology, but also illuminates potential generalizations that might be missed under previous approaches. For example, Ultan (1975), who based his survey on seventy-five languages, suggests that there are basically eight patterns of infixation. The same typology is adopted in Moravcsik 2000. (6) Ultan 1975 inventory of infixation After initial consonant After initial vowel After initial syllable-6-Before second consonant After second consonant After second syllable Before final consonant Before final syllable Under Ultan's classification, the English and Ulwa patterns would appear under distinct categories (i.e. English under before a stressed foot; Ulwa under after a stressed foot). The pivot approach also restricts the description of a pattern to purely pre-theoretical notions; the pivot is intended as a classification unit only. For example, in the case of Paiwanic bimoraic foot reduplication, the reduplicant can be analyzed as suffixing if the final consonant is treated as extrametrical. However, under the pivot approach, the reduplicant is treated as appearing after the final vowel. No special stipulation about the nature of the final consonant is needed. (7) Paiwan (Chen & Ma 1986) kupu 'tea cup' kupukupu 'a kind of small tea cup' kuva 'a type of bean' kuvakuva 'large bean' da as 'upper's side' da ada as 'bedside' kad aj 'a small basket' kad akad aj 'very small basket' kad u 'bamboo water basket' kad ukad u 'a kind of bee' u ul 'coffin' u u u ul 'a little box' 1.2.1 First consonant Much research on syllable structure has suggested that the internal complexity of the syllable onset matters little phonologically. However, in the case of infixation, the distinction between the initial consonant versus onset cluster is an indispensable one. For example, an infix may appear to the right of the first consonant. For instance, in Kamhmu and Mlabri, both Mon-Khmer languages, the nominalizing morpheme-rnappears after the first consonant of the stem (11)a. When the stem begins with a consonant cluster, the allomorph-r-is used (11)b. When the initial contains a rhotic, the allomorph-n-is used instead (11)c. (11) Mlabri nominalization (Rischel 1995: 85) a. g h 'to ablaze' grn h 'flames' kap 'to sing' krnap 'singing, song' peelh 'to sweep the ground/floor' prneelh 'a broom' t k 'to hit' trn k 'a hammer' b. kw l 'to be rolled up' krw l 'spiral' gla 'tospeak' grla 'speech, words' pluut 'to peel' prluut 'layer' klaap 'to hold krlaap 'forceps of split bamboo' gw c 'to poke' grw c 'finger' c. chr t 'tocomb' chnr t 'a comb'

Two phonological rarities in Ingrian dialects

In: Hilpert M., Duke J., Mertzlufft Ch., Östman J.-O., Rießler M. (eds.). New Trends in Nordic and General Linguistics (Linguae & Litterae 42). Berlin: De Gruyter, 91-117, 2015

The paper considers two typologically rare phonological phenomena related to the development of sound lengthening and reduction that appear in two dialects of the severely endangered Ingrian language in North-Western Russia. The first is attested in the Soikkola dialect, and involves a phonological ternary quantity contrast of consonants. The second exists in the Lower Luga dialect, and involves a phonological opposition of full modal and reduced voiceless vowels. First, brief phonetic, phonological and typological profiles of these contrasts are given. Furthermore, I analyze their probable further evolution against the typological background of the development of similar phenomena in genetically related and unrelated languages. In the end, I discuss the question of stability and maintenance forces of these contrasts, as well as their significance in light of general prosodic development of the Soikkola and Lower Luga dialects.