2. Morphological tonal assignments in conflict: Who wins? (original) (raw)
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This paper uses an autosegmental approach to explain tonal processes in the simple verb phrase of Kabiye (Gur, Eastern Gurunsi). It begins by cataloguing verbs into three tone classes, based on the tone of the imperative, the inflected form closest to the underlying form of the root. Then it explains the tonal derivations of the three main inflected forms (i.e. imperfective-present, imperfective past, perfective). Firstly, it shows that adding a L tone prefix triggers a spreading rule. Secondly, it shows that TAM suffixes are underlyingly toneless and receive their tone by means of a dissimilation rule. Thirdly, it demonstrates the existence of floating TAM prefixes, and explore their effect on L tone spreading.
On the Relationship Between Morphology and Phonology: Interactionism vs. Noninteractionism
ENGLISH LINGUISTICS, 1995
Since its introduction in 1982, Lexical Phonology has contributed to an increased understanding of language. The segmental phonology of several languages have been analyzed in this framework including Korean by Ahn (1985), Malayalam by Mohanan (1986), English by Borowsky (1986), Basque by Hualde (1988), and Japanese by Ishihara (1991). Pulleyblank (1986) applied Lexical Phonology to analyses of tone in African languages. Since 1982, the tenets of the theory such as level-ordered morphology and phonology have been challenged and the model itself has been modified to accommodate new findings. Volume 4 of Phonetics and Phonology edited by S. Hargus and E. M. Kaisse is an outcome of a workshop on Lexical Phonology held at the University of Washington in 1990. The book, consisting of three parts, contains sixteen articles. The articles in Part I deal with the relation between morphology and phonology. The papers contained in Part II discuss some basic tenets of the theory such as structure preservation, the derived environment condition, and the strict cycle condition. Finally, the articles in Part III discuss application of the theory to historical change. * I would like to thank Peter R. Petrucci for checking English and suggesting stylistic improvements. I am also grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions to an earlier draft of this article. All remaining errors are of course my own.
VERB PHRASE TONAL COPYING AND POLARISATION IN WEST BENUE-CONGO
The Nigerian Journal of Humanities , 2014
This study explores the twin hypotheses that in the West Benue-Congo languages (WBC), tonal copying occurs when verbs inflect for tense; and polarisation arises when verbs coincide with pronouns across morpheme boundary. It seeks to identify the direction of tonal association during these two processes and the conditions which stimulate tonal underspecification. Yoruba (Defoid), Igbo (Igboid), Isoko (Deltoid) and Ibibio (Lower-Cross) were considered. Data were parsed in the autosegmental frame, tonal processes assessed acoustically and output candidates evaluated by the Optimality Theory (OT). It was found that though copying and polarisation are opposite tonal features, they nonetheless operate right-to-Ieft spreading across morpheme boundary. The high tone is the defining feature of pronouns. Polarisation is frequently preceded by tonal absorption, after which it evokes tonal underspecification to comply with the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP). Accordingly, the mid tone and low tone are underspecified for three-tone and two-tone WBC languages.
Linguistic typology: morphology
Linguistic Typology 11 (1), pp. 115-117, 2007
Typology in its modern form is connected with the search for universals. This works to the advantage of certain types of questions, those which allow a more or less coherent answer for any language. Phonology, syntax, and semantics are usually the starting point, and such topics as phonological inventories, word order, and the range of expressible semantic distinctions constitute the bulk of research. These also form the core questions of general linguistics, so this research emphasis is only to be expected. Conversely, one area that receives relatively little attention from typologists is morphology. This too is hardly surprising: of all the aspects of language, morphology is the most language-specific and hence least generalizable. Indeed, even the very presence of a meaningful morphological component is language-specific.
Exponence and the functional load of grammatical tone in Gyeli
Phonology
Grammatical tone (GT) can be the sole exponent or a co-exponent of grammatical meaning (Hyman 2012; Rolle 2018), but there has been little discussion of how they distribute within a single language. In this article, I explore the relationship between tonal and segmental materials in Gyeli (Bantu A801, Cameroon), adopting a property-driven approach to phonological typology (Plank 2001; Hyman 2009). Gyeli has eight GTs in simple predicates, which serve as sole exponents of tense, aspect, mood and polarity distinctions and object-marking. When GT is a co-exponent accompanied by segmental material, for example, in auxiliary constructions, the information that the tonal component contributes to the meaning is insufficient to distinguish between grammatical categories: its functional load is weak. The decrease in functional load is correlated with an increase in length of a segmental co-exponent. This can be explained by the tonal cophonologies of segmental morphemes and their different G...
Morphological Coding of Verb-Object Agreement in African Languages
2012
The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the structures of some African languages that mark agreement between the verb and the object. The means of coding agreement are rich and differentiated and include pronominal affixes on verbs for objects but not for subjects, verb endings and tonal contrast as well as some other modifications of verb when used with object. Morphological devices tend to code for the grammatical properties of the object, such as gender and number, or – in languages with class systems – the noun class attributed to the object. Some other languages mark the agreement with either nominal or pronominal form of the object. The languages may also denote a semantic distinction between ‘single’ and ‘many’. With reference to marking properties of semantic Patient rather than syntactic object, it is postulated to relate the presented system of marking verb-object agreement as traces of an ergative concord system in African languages.
Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source studies of Asia and Africa. Russia and the East. Commemorating centennial of political and cultural ties in modern times. Vol 2. Part 2. St. Petersburg, Russia. 2022. St. State University. 12-25., 2022
The paper discusses inflectional paradigms in Mwan (South Mande < Mande < Niger Congo); the notion of the tonal paradigm is introduced. Tonal and mixed segmental-tonal paradigms characteristic of different word classes are demonstrated. The existence of different paradigmatic classes, both for verbs and in the non-verbal words in Mwan and some related languages is proved. In Mwan, the combination of two independent linguistic phenomena led to the formation of a canonical morphological paradigm, primarily in the verb system, and to a lesser extent in the nominal system. These are 1) the change of tone of the second element of genitive construction and 2) the existence of words which behave differently according to the left tonal context. For Mwan, it is possible to postulate tonal-segmental verb paradigm. Particular verb forms use the following mechanizms: 1) change of tone; 2) change at the segmental level; 3) both techniques. Verbs in Mwan fall into two tonal paradigmatic classes. The presence of paradigmatic classes and a rather extensive set of morphological forms make it possible to postulate a canonical morphological paradigm for Mwan verb system. The data on Mwan were obtained by the author of the paper during numerous field trips to Côte d'Ivoire in 2003-2020. References contain 25 works.
Chapter 2. On the strength of morphological paradigms
Studies in Language Companion Series, 2014
Basing himself largely on areal and typological arguments, Güldemann (2010) claims that neither Proto-Niger-Congo nor Proto-Bantu had more than a "moderate" system of derivational verb suffixes ("extensions"), and that both proto languages lacked inflectional verb prefixes. Although drawing largely on the same materials as Hyman (2004, 2007a,b), he arrives at the opposite conclusion that Niger-Congo languages which have such morphology, in particular Bantu and Atlantic, would have had to innovate multiple suffixation and prefixation. However, such hypotheses are weakened by two serious problems: (i) These proto languages, which possibly reach back as far as 10,000-12,000 B.P., have clearly had enough time for their morphosyntax to have cycled more than once. (ii) The areal properties of Güldemann's Macro-Sudan Belt most likely represent more recent innovations which have diffused after the Niger-Congo break-up. In this paper, I present further evidence that multiple suffixation and prefixation must have existed even in languages which have lost them. The general conclusion is that current areal distributions are largely irrelevant for long-range linguistic reconstruction.