Compositional vs . Paradigmatic Approaches to Accent and Ablaut ∗ (original) (raw)
Related papers
The o-grade of the Indo-European ablaut in the light of naturalness
Linguistica, 2001
THE o-GRADE OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN ABLAUT IN THE LIGHT OF NATURALNESS Jf the (probably obsolescent) point of view is accepted that the o-grade of the Proto-Jndo-European ab/aut arosefrom the more basic e-grade under lack ofword accent, Naturalness Theory can stale the assumptions which make it possible to predic! the distribution of the two grades in dependence upon the accent. One assumption is, >nat (+accented,-accented) / vowel, the other assumption is, >nat (e-vowel, o-vowel). Using "markedness agreement", the consequence is asfollows. lf there is any difference between the e-vowel and the o-vowel, such that one kind of vowel is accented, and the other kind of vowel is unaccented, it is the e-vowel that tends to be accented, and it is the o-vowel that tends to be unaccented. This method can be used to check if some presupposed language s tate is really possible in natura! languages.
This paper analyses a non-exhaustive list of pairs of Proto-Indo- European roots of equal or close meaning that differ by alternations between voiceless stop and voiced aspirated stop at the same place of articulation, as well as between *l and *n – or, in some cases, both. The compared roots may occasionally also differ with respect to grades of apophony (e, o or zero) and the presence or absence of extensions. It presents the hypothesis that such alternations can be due to diatopic and/or diachronic variations that were included in the same reconstructed model of Proto-Indo-European, or else had some grammatical role, possibly of aspect. Possible explanations of the phenomenon are that laryngeal consonants adjacent to voiceless stops may turn them into voiceless aspirates and subsequently voiced aspirates, or that the very phonetic nature of these consonants may be different from what is currently accepted. The aim of this work is not exactly theorising on the subject, as more data need to be collected for this, but raising the interest of Indo-Europeanists in looking into the issue in order to seek more empirical evidence (and, possibly, exclude the possibility that such a phenomenon is the product of mere coincidence or has a trivial explanation) and perhaps outline some theory about it.
Proto-Indo-European Linguistics, 2019
Indo-European (IE) linguistics is in the severest paradigm crisis of its history, as the only two theories of the field have been brought to a reconstructive halt. Szemerényi's monolaryngealist model, denying the correlation between Hitt. ḫ and the IE 'a-colouring', is unable to reconstruct PIE *h, the newest and currently most important postulate of the phoneme inventory, based on Neogr. *ā *a *ǝ. Eichner’s revisionist model assumes the laryngeals *h1 *h2 *h3 and the Neogrammarian vowel system *e *a *o *ē *ā *ō *ǝ(1-3), which results in ambiguity preventing it from reconstructing PIE *h(2) due to the two contradicting explanations of the IE vocalisms (Pyysalo & Janhunen 2018a, 2019). The necessary condition for ending the paradigm crisis is to complete the defect formulation of de Saussure’s and Møller’s ablaut pattern *Ae : A : *eA for Neogr. *ā *a *ǝ with the addition of the missing vowel, PIE *ē (§3.3.1 & 4.4.4). After this correction the path is opened for formulating the sufficient condition for decisively ending the paradigm crisis.
On Indo-European Ablaut [& Peter Dunphy-Hetherington]
Should the apophony or vowel alternation detectable in the various Indo-European linguistic groups be projected onto the common matrix of the Indo-European linguistic ensemble as an inherited morphological base that was losing operability in historical languages or should it rather be analyzed as partially parallel but already individual phonetic developments within historical Indo-European groups and generated from common phonetic characteristics? Modern typology and a simulation compared to the Romance group strongly point to the second of the aforementioned options.
Lexical Accent in Languages with Complex Morphology
Doctoral Dissertation, UConn, 2020
This dissertation develops a theory of lexical accent where the central role is given to the notion of accent competition as the defining property of lexical accent systems. Languages with complex morphology (traditionally known as ‘polysynthetic’) are the empirical basis for this study as they provide a particularly fruitful ground for investigating the effects of both phonological and morphological factors in the assignment of lexical accent. Novel in-depth analyses are developed for Arapaho (Plains Algonquian), Nez Perce (Sahaptian), Ichishkiin Sɨnwit (Sahaptian), and Choguita Rarámuri (Uto-Aztecan). I argue that accent competition across languages is resolved in formally similar ways and that no idiosyncratic, language-specific analyses for individual lexical accent systems are warranted. It is thus proposed that the idiosyncrasy in lexical accent systems is found in the distribution of underlying accents, but not in the rules of the systems. I propose a typology of lexical accent systems and argue that they fall into one of two types based on the mechanism of accent competition resolution: I. Cyclic: In an accent competition, accent in the outermost derivational layer within the domain wins, or II. Directional: In an accent competition, either the right-most or the left-most accent within the domain wins. The second group of proposals made in this dissertation concerns the status of fundamental properties of stress and prosody – Culminativity and Obligatoriness of stress (Trubezkoy 1939/1960; Hyman 2006, 2009), and primary versus non-primary stress. It has previously been claimed that Culminativity of stress can be breached in highly synthetic languages (e.g. Blackfoot, Stacy 2004; Arapaho, Bogomolets 2014a,b; Mapudungun, Molineaux 2018; Yupik, Woodbury 1987). I argue that stress is in fact always culminative, but Culminativity should be regarded as a macroparameter allowing for a set of language-specific ways to implement it, including a mechanism of clash avoidance and an enforcement of ‘one and only one’ stress within domains smaller than a morphological word. Finally, this dissertation addresses the general structure of the word-level prosodic system. I propose that the word-level prosodic system is not bipartite: primary stress vs. rhythm, but tripartite: primary stress vs. secondary stress vs. rhythm.
10. Word accent systems in the languages of Asia
De Gruyter eBooks, 2010
Word accent systems in the languages of Asia 511 'spear-instr.' b. kejN-e 'brown bear-instr.' c. w«kw-a 'stone-instr.' d. mirg-e 'grandfather-instr.' e. puwt-e 'can-instr.' f. iw-«k 'say' g. ret-«k 'bring' h. tejk-«k 'make' The same pattern is attested for words in which the su‰x is a partial reduplicant of the stem in (4): (4) a. tanN-«-tan 'stranger' b. korg-«-kor 'joy' c. tirk-«-tir 'the sun' d. tilm-«-til 'sea eagle' e. tumg-«-tum 'comrade' f. tut?-«-tut 'haze' g. t«lg-«-t«l 'thaw' h. t«mg-«-t«m 'silence' (The linking vowel-«-creates an extra open syllable preceding the consonant initial reduplicative su‰x.) A polysyllabic stem that is combined with a su‰x always has accent on its last syllable, as shown in (5). (5) a. ekwet-«k 'leave' b. pelat-«k 'stay' c. wiriN-«k 'defend' d. reqoka-lg«n 'polar fox' e. inejpel?-«n 'docker' f. migčiret-«k 'to work' g. k«tg«ntat-«k 'to run' h. g«nr«ret-«k 'to guard' (V9 27/8/10 14:52) WDG (155mmÂ230mm) TimesNRMT 1201 Goedemans (AC1) pp. 509-599 1201 Goedemans_10_Ch10 (p. 514) 514 René Schiering and Harry van der Hulst The accent location does not change when the number of su‰xes is increased. The accent, remaining on the last syllable of the stem, thus appears further from the end of the word in (6b-c). (6) a. winret-«k 'to help' b. winret-«rk«n 'help-3SG' c. winret-«rk«nit«k 'help-2PL' Apparently exceptional are the cases where the stem ends in a vowel. Unlike the above observation, most of such stems are accented on the preceding syllable which is the first stem syllable in the examples in (7). (7) a. wane-wan 'no' b. weni-wen 'bell' c. čeri-čer 'dirt' d. keli-kel 'paper, book' Such a change in the location of the accent can be explained in two ways. The last vowel of the stem can be considered a linking vowel, similar to the linking vowel « in the earlier examples in (4) (tumg-«-tum 'comrade', etc.). Another account appeals to a ranking of vowels according to their height: /i/ P /e/ P /a/. We could then say that accent falls on the lowest, most sonorous vowel. This alternative is supported by the data in (8). (8) a. k«lka-k«l 'shell' b. nute-nut 'land, country' c. piNe-piN 'snowfall' d. jil?e-jil 'arctic ground squirrel' The following examples suggest that in case of equal height, accent falls on the second vowel. (9) a. jara-N« 'house' b. welo-lg«n 'ear' The accentual pattern is di¤erent when the word has no a‰x, or has a non-syllabic su‰x. If the stem is combined with a su‰x that is composed of a consonant only (10b, d, f), the accent is located on the penultimate or, as in (10d) even antepenultimate syllable of the stem. (10) a. titi-N« 'needle-SG' b. titi-t 'needle-PL' c. melota-lg«n 'hare-SG' d. milute-t 'hare-PL' e. qora-Ne 'deer-SG' f. qora-t 'deer-PL' If the word has no overt su‰x (i.e. a zero su‰x), accent also appears on the penultimate syllable of the stem in (11b, d, f, h).