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Three-level vowel length and phantom quantity in Shilluk Bert - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Three-level vowel length and phantom quantity in Shilluk Bert Remijsen University of Edinburgh 1 Introduction Proto West Nilotic had a rich system of morphology, marked by vocalic suffixes (Andersen 1990). *CVC *CVC-V *CVVC *CVVC-V


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Three-level vowel length and phantom quantity in Shilluk

1

Bert Remijsen University of Edinburgh

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2

  • Proto West Nilotic had a rich system of morphology,

marked by vocalic suffixes (Andersen 1990). *CVC *CVC-V *CVVC *CVVC-V

  • Several West Nilotic languages went on to lose final

vowels.

  • If nothing else happens, this would result in

neutralisation… Introduction

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3

  • But many things did.
  • Neutralisation is avoided in morphological

paradigms (Blevins & Wedel 2009).

  • Typologically unusual / phonetically challenging

patterns develop more easily if they have the effect of retaining morphological contrast (Blevins 2004). Introduction

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  • In this presentation, I present a descriptive analysis
  • f quantity phenomena which ensued in Shilluk, one
  • f the daughter languages of Proto West Nilotic.
  • They include:
  • Three-level vowel length
  • Overlength in roots
  • Floating quantity
  • Morphological shortening

Introduction

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SLIDE 5

Three-level vowel length

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  • Compensatory lengthening in a language with a

vowel length contrast yields three-level vowel length (cf. Hayes 1989): *CVC > CVC *CVC-V > CVVC *CVVC > CVVC *CVVC-V > CVVVC Three-level vowel length

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  • Compensatory lengthening in a language with a

vowel length contrast yields three-level vowel length (cf. Hayes 1989): *CVC > CVC *CVC-V > CVVC *CVVC > CVVC *CVVC-V > CVVVC

  • This is the development described for Dinka

(Andersen 1987, 1990). Three-level vowel length

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8

Morphological length (grade) Short Long

ràaan ǎ-lèl

person D E C L.S-isolate:2S

‘You isolate someone.’

ràaan ǎ-lèel el

person D E C L.S-isolate:3S

‘He isolates someone.’

  • Table. Morphological vowel length (grade) in Dinka, illustrated by

a minimal set example.

Three-level vowel length

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9

Morphological length (grade) Lexical length Short Long Short ràaan

ǎ-lèl

person D E C L.S-isolate:2S

‘You isolate someone.’

ràaan ǎ-lèel el

person D E C L.S-isolate:3S

‘He isolates someone.’ Long

ràaan ǎ-léel el

person D E C L.S-provoke:2S

‘You provoke someone.’

ràaan ǎ-lèeel eel

person D E C L.S-provoke:3S

‘He provokes someone.’

  • Table. Lexical vowel length and morphological vowel length

(grade) in Dinka, illustrated by a minimal set example.

Three-level vowel length

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10

Morphological length (grade) Lexical length Short Long Short ràaan

ǎ-lèl

person D E C L.S-isolate:2S

‘You isolate someone.’

ràaan ǎ-lèel el

person D E C L.S-isolate:3S

‘He isolates someone.’ Long

ràaan ǎ-léel el

person D E C L.S-provoke:2S

‘You provoke someone.’

ràaan ǎ-lèeel eel

person D E C L.S-provoke:3S

‘He provokes someone.’

  • Table. Lexical vowel length and morphological vowel length

(grade) in Dinka, illustrated by a minimal set example.

Three-level vowel length

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  • Analysed in Trommer (2014) using moraic affixes,

which mirror the diachronic development. Three-level vowel length

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12

  • Shifting the focus to Shilluk, the outcome of

compensatory lengthening is slightly different: *CVC > CVC *CVC-V > CVVVC *CVVC > CVVC *CVVC-V > CVVVC

  • That is, lengthening of short roots is

‘overlengthening’ in Shilluk. Three-level vowel length

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  • There are three patterns of quantity alternation in the

inflectional morphology of verbs:

PAST PAST 2SG

Fixed Short

á-ŋɔ̂́l l á-ŋɔ̀ ɔ̀l

‘cut’ Short with Grade

á-cấm á-càaam aam

‘eat’ Long with Grade

á-kɛ̂́ɛl á-kɛ̀ ɛ̀ɛɛ ɛɛl

‘stab’

Three-level vowel length

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  • The same patterns of quantity alternation appear in

noun morphology. Here with suffixless base forms:

BASE DEMONSTR.

Fixed Short

d̪ɔ́ ɔ́k d̪ɔ́ ɔ́ŋ̀ ŋ̀

‘mouth’ Short with Grade

káŋ káaa aaŋ̀ ŋ̀

‘trumpet’ Long with Grade

gʌ̀ ʌ̀ʌt gʌ̀ ʌ̀ʌʌ ʌʌn

‘river bank’

Three-level vowel length

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  • … and again with suffixed base forms, albeit in the
  • pposite direction:

BASE DEMONSTR.

Fixed Short

pɪ̂ ɪ̂c-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ pɪ̂ ɪ̂ɲ-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

‘tethering pole’ Short with Grade

pâaal aal-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ pâl-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

‘knife’ Long with Grade

bɔ̀ ɔ̀ɔɔ ɔɔt̪-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ bɔ̀ ɔ̀ɔn̪-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

‘craftsman’

Three-level vowel length in Shilluk

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Putting the three-level vowel length analysis to the test (Remijsen, Ayoker & Jørgensen, in press)

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17

Short Long Overlong

/ɛ/ lɛ́

ɛ́ŋ ‘beat:N O M ’ lɛ́ ɛ́ɛŋ ɛŋ ‘throw:N O M ’ lɛ́ ɛ́ɛɛŋ ɛɛŋ ‘throw:N O M :P E R T.P’ kɛ́ ɛ́l

‘peel.w.teeth:N O M ’

kɛ́ ɛ́ɛl

‘separate:N O M ’

kɛ́ ɛ́ɛɛ ɛɛl

‘separate:N O M :P E R T.P’

/a/ pál ‘dodge:N O M ’

páal al ‘surgery.knife’ páaal aal

‘surgery.knife:P E R T.P’

lám ‘pray:N O M ’ láam am ‘prayer’ láaam aam ‘pray:N O M :P E R T.P’

/ɔ/ kɔ́

ɔ́l ‘take.out:N O M ’ kɔ́ ɔ́ɔl ‘herd:N O M ’ kɔ́ ɔ́ɔɔ ɔɔl ‘herd:N O M :P E R T.P’ t̪ɔ́ ɔ́l l ‘eat:N O M ’ t̪ɔ́ ɔ́ɔl ‘rope’ t̪ɔ́ ɔ́ɔɔ ɔɔl l ‘rope:P E R T.P’

/u/ dúp ‘mess.up:N O M ’

dúup up ‘rodent’ dúuup uup ‘rodent:P E R T.P’ gút ‘stab:N O M ’ gúut ut ‘navel’ gúuut uut ‘navel:P E R T.P’

  • We selected 8 minimal sets (2 for each of 4 vowels).

Three-level vowel length

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18

Short

dâa dúp kɪ̀ ɪ̀ kɛ̂ ɛ̂ɲ

EXIST m

ess.up:NOM

PREP place:DEM

‘There is messing up here.’ Long

dâa dúup up kɪ̀ ɪ̀ kɛ̂ ɛ̂ɲ

EXIST rodent PREP place:DEM

‘There is a rodent here.’ Overlong

dâa dúuup uup ɟɪ ɟɪ̀ɪ ̀ɪ

EXIST rodent:PERT.P people

‘There is a rodent of people.’

  • Frames: utterance-medial between low tone targets

Three-level vowel length

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  • Data recorded with eight native speakers.

Three-level vowel length

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  • Figure. Means and standard deviation for vowel duration

by Vowel length (V, VV, VVV), based on 8 minimal sets recorded with 8 speakers.

20

Vowel duration (ms)

Three-level vowel length

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SLIDE 21
  • Figure. Percentage of

items correctly classified for Vowel length in LDA

  • n the basis of different

measurements.

21

Correct classification % (LDA)

  • The level of vowel length is largely predictable based
  • n vowel duration: correct classification result of 96%

in Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Three-level vowel length

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Overlength at the level of lexical roots

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  • The great majority of Shilluk content words have

a root with a short or a long vowel somewhere in their paradigm. Overlength in lexical representations

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  • But there are some intransitive verbs that have an
  • verlong stem vowel throughout.
  • There is no evidence to support anything other

than an overlong vowel at the lexical level for these roots.

PAST IMPERF INVERSION

á-jûuu uut̪ ʊ́ ʊ́-jûuu uut̪-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ jû́uu uut̪̄

‘finish’

á-dʌ̂ ʌ̂ʌʌ ʌʌr ʊ́ ʊ́-dʌ̂ ʌ̂ʌʌ ʌʌr-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ dʌ̂́ʌʌ ʌʌr̄

‘become tired’

á-tûuul uul ʊ́ ʊ́-tûuul uul-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ tû́uu uul̄

‘come up’

Overlength in lexical representations

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  • Presumably these are historically derived from

verbs with a short or a long root vowel.

  • Synchronically, however, there is no evidence for

which.

  • Interesting departure from Dinka, where all

content roots appear either with a short or a long stem vowel, which led Dimmendaal (1995) to postulate binary vowel length in the lexicon.

  • Crucially, in Shilluk overlength cannot be limited

in this way. Overlength in lexical representations

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Floating quantity

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Floating quantity / floating tone in Mixtec (McKendry 2013)

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M H

nāʔā

hand ‘Hand.’

28

Floating quantity / floating tone in Mixtec (McKendry 2013)

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M H L H

nāʔā jájàn

hand coyote ‘Hand of the coyote.’

29

Floating quantity / floating tone in Mixtec (McKendry 2013)

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M H L H

nāʔā jájàn

hand coyote ‘Hand of the coyote.’

30

Floating quantity / floating tone in Mixtec (McKendry 2013)

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Inflection Suffixless (‘warthog’) Suffixed (‘neck’) Base

kùl mûn-ɔ̀ ɔ̀

Pert., sg.

kùl mûn-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

Pert., pl.

kǔl mûn-ɪ́ ɪ́

Construct state

kùl mûn-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

Demonstrative

kùl mûn-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

Floating quantity / Rise-toned singulars

  • There are suffixless and suffixed singular paradigms:
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Inflection Suffixless (‘warthog’) Suffixed (‘neck’) Rise-in-base (fishing spear) Base

kùl mûn-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ bɛ̌ ɛ̌t̪

Pert., sg.

kùl mûn-ɪ̀ ɪ̀ bɛ̀ ɛ̀t̪-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

Pert., pl.

kǔl mûn-ɪ́ ɪ́ bɛ̀ ɛ̀t̪-ɪ́ ɪ́

Construct state

kùl mûn-ɪ̀ ɪ̀ bɛ̀ ɛ̀n̪-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

Demonstrative

kùl mûn-ɪ̀ ɪ̀ bɛ̀ ɛ̀n̪-ɪ̀ ɪ̀

  • Rise-toned suffixless singulars are in between:

Floating quantity / Rise-toned singulars

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dâa kùl á-kj kjɛ̀ ɛ̀l

EXIST warthog CARD-first

‘There is one warthog.’

dâa mûn-ɔ̀ á-kj kjɛ̀ ɛ̀l

EXIST neck CARD-first

‘There is one neck.’

dâa bɛ̌ ɛ̌t̪ á-kj kjɛ̀ ɛ̀l

EXIST fishing.spear CARD-first

‘There is one fishing spear.’ Floating quantity / Rise-toned singulars

dâa kùl

EXIST warthog

‘There is a warthog.’

dâa mûn-ɔ̀ ɔ̀

EXIST neck

‘There is a neck.’

dâa bɛ̌ ɛ̌t̪

EXIST fishing.spear

‘There is a fishing spear.’

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SLIDE 34

σ σ σ μ μ μ μ

bɛ̌ ɛ̌t̪ á-kj kjɛ̀ ɛ̀l

fishing.spear C A R D -first ‘One fishing spear.’

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Floating quantity / Rise-toned singulars M H L H

nāʔā jájàn

hand coyote ‘Paw of the coyote.’

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SLIDE 35
  • Singular nouns that have floating quantity in the base

form are rare: only the Rise-toned singulars do (18 nouns, >5% of suffixless singulars)

  • The great majority of plural base forms do have

floating quantity (>80% of suffixless plurals).

35

Floating quantity / plural marking

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SLIDE 36

gìk bǎa tùl

DEM.P EXIST forehead:P

‘These are foreheads.’

36

Floating quantity / plural marking

tùl á-lɪɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪt̪-à

forehead:P

PA S T-look-1S

‘I looked at the foreheads.’

gìn bǎa kùl

DEM.S EXIST warthog

‘This is a warthog.’

kùl á-lɪɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪt̪-à

warthog PA S T-look-1S

‘I looked at the warthog.’

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Putting the floating quantity analysis the test

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  • Floating quantity is not predictable on number or

tone.

  • In a controlled study, we manipulated both of

these factors: Floating quantity / putting it to the test

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Number Tone Sg Pl Low

kùl ‘warthog’ t̪ìm ‘forest’ kàl ‘compound’ lɔ̀ɲ ‘cat’ twɛ̀l ‘section’ tùl ‘foreheads’ pɛ̀l ‘grinding stones’ ɲìm ‘sesame’ lùl ‘steep river banks’ t̪ɔ̀m ‘lyres’

High

tɔ́ŋ ‘spear’ tjél ‘elbow’ wɔ́ŋ ‘grandmother’ lɪ́ɲ ‘war’ gúl ‘joint’ bjɛ́l ‘grain’ cɪ́ŋ ‘hands’ rɛ́m ‘blood’ ɲɪ́ŋ ‘eyes’ jɛ́n̪ ‘trees’

39

Floating quantity / putting it to the test

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Number Tone Sg Pl Low

kùl ‘warthog’ t̪ìm ‘forest’ kàl ‘compound’ lɔ̀ɲ ‘cat’ twɛ̀l ‘section’ tùlμ ‘foreheads’ pɛ̀lμ ‘grinding stones’ ɲìmμ ‘sesame’ lùlμ ‘steep river banks’ t̪ɔ̀mμ ‘lyres’

High

tɔ́ŋ ‘spear’ tjél ‘elbow’ wɔ́ŋ ‘grandmother’ lɪ́ɲ ‘war’ gúl ‘joint’ bjɛ́l ‘grain’ cɪ́ŋ ‘hands’ rɛ́m ‘blood’ ɲɪ́ŋ ‘eyes’ jɛ́n̪ ‘trees’

40

Floating quantity / putting it to the test

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  • Other factors are kept constant:
  • Monosyllabic nouns
  • The coda is a liquid or a nasal (easy to

segment accurately)

  • 8 speakers
  • Two repetitions
  • Context: utterance-initial in [target] á-lɪɪ̂

ɪ̂ɪt̪-à

  • Measurement: duration of following /á-/.

Floating quantity / putting it to the test

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  • Mean durations of /á-/: 120ms if preceding noun has

floating quantity; 85ms if preceding noun does not. Floating quantity / putting it to the test

Prefix /a-/ duration (ms)

  • Figure. Means and standard deviations for the duration of the

prefix /a-/ as function of Tone and Number.

140 120 100 80

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Discussion of floating quantity

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44

ràaan ǎ-lèl

person

D E C L.S-isolate:2S

‘You isolate a person.’

rò̤oor ǎa-lèl

men D E C L.S-isolate:2S

‘You isolates men.’

  • The closely-related Dinka language displays

number-marking on the verb prefix (Andersen 1993:271-272).

  • Example from Rek dialect cluster (Twic variety) of

Dinka: Discussion and conclusion / 1. Comparative-historical insight

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  • In Shilluk, singular nouns with floating quantity in the

base form are rare (>5% of suffixless singulars), whereas the great majority of plural base forms do have it (>80% of suffixless plurals).

  • From there, analogy beckons. I postulate that Dinka

had floating quantity, and that this developed into the marking of number on the verb prefix.

  • This bucks the trend for affixal contrasts to develop

leftward (Himmelmann 2013).

45

Discussion and conclusion / 1. Comparative-historical insight

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  • Phantom quantity reveals number marking in nouns

which would otherwise be ambiguous as to which form is the morphologically the base.

46

Floating quantity / 2. Resolves apparent anomaly

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  • Three patterns of number marking of number marking on

nouns have been distinguished for Shilluk (Gilley 1992), and for the Nilo-Saharan language family as a whole (Dimmendaal 2000):

  • 1. Sg marked

tj tjɛ̀ ɛ̀ɛɛ ɛɛl-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ – tj tjɛ̄ ɛ̄ɛl

‘leg(s)’

  • 2. Pl marked

pʌ̀ ʌ̀ʌm – pʌ̂́m̄-ɪ̄ ɪ̄ ‘wooden board(s)’

  • 3. Sg+Pl marked

bɔ̀ ɔ̀ɔɔ ɔɔt̪-ɔ̀ ɔ̀ – bòot̪-ɪ̀ ɪ̀ ‘craftsman/men’

47

Floating quantity / 2. Resolves apparent anomaly

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SLIDE 48
  • Problem – singular and plural are both ostensibly

unmarked in pairs like these:

48

SINGULAR PLURAL SIN G U L

AR

PLURAL

mɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪŋ ɪŋ mìŋ

‘deaf person’

tûuŋ tùŋ

‘horn’

pɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪl pɛ̀ ɛ̀l

‘grindstone’

kîic ic kìc

‘orphan’

lûum um lùm

‘grass’

lʊ̂ ʊ̂ʊl lùl

‘steep bank’

Floating quantity / 2. Resolves apparent anomaly

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SLIDE 49
  • Problem – sg and pl both ostensibly unmarked in

pairs like these:

49

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL

mɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪŋ ɪŋ mìŋμ

‘deaf person’

tûuŋ tùŋμ

‘horn’

pɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪl pɛ̀ ɛ̀lμ

‘grindstone’

kîic ic kìcμ

‘orphan’

lûum um lùmμ

‘grass’

lʊ̂ ʊ̂ʊl lùlμ

‘steep bank’

  • Crucially, all of these have floating quantity in the plural.

è We can maintain that all nouns are unmarked either in singular or in plural. Floating quantity / 2. Resolves apparent anomaly

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50

Floating quantity / 3. Insight into compensatory lengthening

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SLIDE 51

σ σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌt̪-V

friend-P L

51

Floating quantity / 3. Insight into compensatory lengthening Diachronic

  • rigin
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SLIDE 52

σ σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌt̪-V

friend-P L

52

σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌʌt̪

friend:P L Diachronic

  • rigin

Compensatory lengthening

  • nly

Floating quantity / 3. Insight into compensatory lengthening

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SLIDE 53

σ σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌt̪-V

friend-P L

53

σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌʌt̪

friend:P L

σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌt̪

friend:P L Diachronic

  • rigin

Compensatory lengthening

  • nly

Floating quantity only Floating quantity / 3. Insight into compensatory lengthening

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SLIDE 54

σ σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌt̪-V

friend-P L

54

σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌʌt̪

friend:P L

σ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌt̪

friend:P L

σ μ μ μ μ

mʌ̂́ʌʌt̪

friend:P L Diachronic

  • rigin

Compensatory lengthening

  • nly

Floating quantity only The way things are Floating quantity / 3. Insight into compensatory lengthening

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SLIDE 55
  • Floating quantity and overlength are not mutually

exclusive.

  • Compensatory lengthening cannot be conceived of

here as a quantity transfer from suffix to stem – contrary to Hayes (1989).

  • Relevant to Trommer’s (2014) derivation of 3VL using

moraic suffixes: compensatory lengthening is not the

  • nly way a stray mora can get spelled out.

55

mʌ̂ ʌ̂ʌt̪ á-lɪɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪt̪-à

friend

PA S T-look.at-1S

‘I looked at the friend.’

mʌ̂́ʌʌt̪

μ á-lɪɪ̂

ɪ̂ɪt̪-à

friend:P

PA S T-look.at-1S

‘I looked at the friends.’ Floating quantity / 3. Insight into compensatory lengthening

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SLIDE 56

Morphological shortening

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57

  • CVVC roots with a Low Fall and a high vowel have

a short vowel in three derivations, incl. antipassive.

  • These verbs still appear with overlengthening

inflectionally, yielding complete sets for 3VL.

SU B J VO IC E PA S T ANTIPASS PAST

á-bûuk uk á-bûk

‘cover w. powder’

á-mɪɪ̂ ɪ̂n á-mîn

‘pierce’

á-gûur ur á-gûr

‘grind’

Morphological shortening

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58

  • CVVC roots with a Low Fall and a high vowel have

a short vowel in derivations such as antipassive.

  • These verbs still appear with overlengthening

inflectionally, yielding complete sets for 3VL.

SUBJ VOICE PAST ANTIPASS PAST PAST 2SG

á-bûuk uk á-bûk á-bûuuk uuk

‘cover w. powder’

á-mɪɪ̂ ɪ̂n á-mîn á-mɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪɪ ɪɪn

‘pierce’

á-gûur ur á-gûr á-gûuu uur

‘grind’

Morphological shortening

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59

  • CVVC noun roots with a Low Fall and a high vowel

may have a short vowel in the plural derivation. Morphological shortening

SINGULAR PLURAL SIN G U L

AR

PLURAL

mɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪŋ ɪŋ mìŋμ

‘deaf person’

tûuŋ tùŋμ

‘horn’

pɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪl pɛ̀ ɛ̀lμ

‘grindstone’

kîic ic kìcμ

‘orphan’

lûum um lùmμ

‘grass’

lʊ̂ ʊ̂ʊl lùlμ

‘steep bank’

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60

  • Some CVVC noun roots with a Low Fall and a high

vowel shorten the vowel in the plural derivation. Morphological shortening

  • Number marking goes both directions. However,

from floating quantity, it is clear that the plurals are marked, i.e., it is CVVC~CVC, and not CVC~CVVC.

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL

mɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪŋ ɪŋ mìŋμ

‘deaf person’

tûuŋ tùŋμ

‘horn’

pɪ̂ ɪ̂ɪl pɛ̀ ɛ̀lμ

‘grindstone’

kîic ic kìcμ

‘orphan’

lûum um lùmμ

‘grass’

lʊ̂ ʊ̂ʊl lùlμ

‘steep bank’

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61

CVC~CVVC:

  • has a much lower functional load than

CVC~CVVVC and CVVC~CVVVC.

  • is quantity-decreasing process, whereas

CVC~CVVVC and CVVC~CVVVC are increasing. Alternation Derivation Inflection CVVC~CVC

ü

CVC~CVVVC

ü ü

CVVC~CVVVC ü

ü

Morphological shortening

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SLIDE 62

Andersen, T. (1987). The Phonemic System of Agar Dinka. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 9, 1-27 Andersen, T. (1990). Vowel length in Western Nilotic languages. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 22, 5-26. Andersen, T. (1991). Subject and topic in Dinka. Studies in Language 15(2), 265-294. Blevins, J. (2004). Evolutionary Phonology: The Emergence of Sound Patterns. Cambridge University Press. Blevins, J., & Wedel, A. (2009). Inhibited Sound Change: An Evolutionary Approach to Lexical Competition. Diachronica 26, 143-183. Dimmendaal, G.J. (2000) Number Marking and Noun Categorization in Nilo-Saharan

  • Languages. Anthropological Linguistics 42(2), 214-261.

Gilley (1992) Hayes, B. (1989). Compensatory Lengthening in Moraic Phonology. Linguistic Inquiry 20(2): 253-306. Remijsen, B., O.G. Ayoker & S. Jørgensen (in press). Three-level vowel length in Shilluk. Accepted for publication in Phonology. Trommer, J. (2014). Moraic prefixes and suffixes in Anywa. Lingua 140, 1-34.

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References

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SLIDE 63

I gratefully acknowledge the Leverhulme Trust, for funding this research through the project “A descriptive analysis of the Shilluk language” (RPG-2015-055). Thank you to the people who recorded the sound examples: Inga McKendry for Mixtec, and Otto Gwado Ayoker for Shilluk. I am very grateful to the organizers for giving me the opportunity to present this research at AMP 2018. Thank you all for your attention! J

63

Thank you to

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SLIDE 64

Three-level vowel length in Dinka

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SLIDE 65

Minimal set evidence:

65

Short (CVC) Long (CVVC) Overlong (CVVVC)

ràaan ǎ-lèl

person

D E C L.S-

isolate:2S

‘You isolate a person.’

ràaan ǎ-lèel el

person

D E C L.S-

isolate:3S

‘He isolates a person.’

ràaan ǎ-lèeel eel

person

D E C L.S-

provoke:3S

‘He provokes a person.’

Three-level vowel length in Dinka

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SLIDE 66
  • Figure. Mean and one standard deviation around it for vowel duration (ms) by vowel

length (V, VV, VVV), in utterance-final context, in three dialects of Dinka (>8 speakers per dialect). Based on Remijsen & Gilley 2008, Remijsen, 2013, 2014)

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Vowel duration (ms)

Three-level vowel length in Dinka