Syllables - The Typology of Heavy Syllables and Sonority

(1) Sets of syllabic segments a. vowels b. vowels, sonorants c. vowels, sonorants, obstruents Lithuanian, Bulgarian English, Gonja Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber The typology of heavy syllables and sonority σ RgU µ 1 a σ RgU µ 1 l σ RgU µ 1 d Jespersen: In every group of sounds there are just as many syllables as there are clear relative peaks of sonority. Berber English Bulgarian Berber English Berber (2) Sonority: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. voiceless stops voiceless fricatives voiced stops voiced fricatives voiced nasals voiced laterals voiced r-sounds voiced high vowels voiced mid vowels voiced low vowels obstruents sonorants (m, n, r, l) • A similar thing can be said about the segments which contribute to syllable weight (those which add a second mora). Languages make a cut on the sonority hierarchy, allowing everything higher (more sonorous) as the second mora. (3) vowels Sets of moraic segments a. vowels b. vowels, sonorants c. vowels, sonorants, obstruents Sonority Sequencing Principle: Between any member of a syllable and the syllable peak, only sounds of higher sonority rank are permitted. σ Rgu µ µ 1 1 a i σ Rgu µ µ 1 1 a l Syllable Contact Law: In any sequence Ca.Cb, there is a preference for Ca to exceed Cb in sonority. English Lithuanian Khalkha Mongolian English Lithuanian Syllables and weight: σ 1 µ σ 3 µ µ Light σ Heavy σ • More sonorous segments are more likely to serve as syllable nuclei. (4) Khalkha Mongolian, Yindiµ Lithuanian, Tiv English, Latin, Cairene Arabic σ Rgu µ µ 1 1 a d English So, it looks like there is a set of language parameters: • Moraicity constraint (what sonority is required to be a mora) • Syllabicity constraint (what sonority is required to be a syllable nucleus) It turns out: • In any given language, the set of segments that act as syllable nuclei may or may not belong to the same class as those that contribute to weight. • If the two sets are not coextensive, the sonority class of the moraic set includes that of the syllabic set. That is: • mar.in ‘hand (NON-FUT)’ mar.ur. ‘hand (FUT)’ mar.t.a ‘hand (uninfl.)’ • pee‰in ‘ti-tree (non-fut)’ pee‰ur. ‘ti-tree (fut)’ pee‰ ‘ti-tree (uninfl.)’ The sonority requirement on being a mora is never more stringent than the sonority requirement on being a syllable nucleus. Point: CVV (pee‰) satisfies minimal word requirement, has two moras. CVC (wik) does not satisfy the minimal word requirement, has one mora. CVS (mar.) does not satisfy the minimal word requirement, has one mora. This follows from our account, though— • A syllable nucleus has to also be a mora… • … we can’t have something which can be a syllable nucleus but can’t be a mora. Some examples… Cairene Arabic Lithuanian: CVC is heavy (like CVV) CVS is heavy (like CVV), CVO is light (like CV) (9) Osthoff’s Law V
Ø / V — [l r m n] C “Long vowels become short when followed by a tautosyllabic sonorant.” (relevant for Homeric Greek, but true of Lithuanian too). (10) Syllable types in Lithuanian: a. b. c. (5) a. b. c. kátabu mára÷a wálad-i ĹLL ĹLL ĹLL ‘they wrote’ ‘broth’ ‘my boy’ (6) a. b. c. qaahíra ¿aalámu t.aalíba HĹL (CVV) HĹL HĹL ‘Cairo’ ‘his world’ ‘student (fem.)’ (7) a. b. c. falsáfa maktába bus.t.ági HĹL (CVC) ‘philosophy’ ‘library’ ‘mailman’ Bimoraicity Constraint A syllable may have at most two moras (8) a. b. fas.s.áru s.al.láh.it HĹL (CVG) ‘they explained’ ‘she repaired’ • l r m n (sonorants) have moras, obstruents don’t (long vowels have two moras). Lardil CVC is light (like CV) To tell:• Accusative/non-future form of nouns add –n. • Future forms add –r.. Hence: yalulun ‘flame (ACC)’ kelan ‘beach (NON-FUT)’ wit.en ‘inside (NON-FUT)’ yalulur. ‘flame (FUT)’: root: yalulu. kelar. ‘beach (FUT)’: root: kela witer. ‘inside (FUT)’: root: wit.e • But the uninflected forms are: yalul ‘flame’ kela ‘beach’ wit.e ‘inside’ Lithuanian accent: CV, CVV CVO, CVVO CVS, *CVVS Two relevant kinds acute and circumflex. (11) a. cvv káimas ‘village’ (12) a. CVV b. CVL c. CVN d. CVO e. CV viĩnas ‘wine’, peĩlis ‘knife’, zuĩkis ‘rabbit’ gar̃sas ‘sound’, baL̃sas ‘voice’ šim̃tas ‘hundred’, lañkas ‘rainbow’ [no cases of circumflex accent or accute on CVO]. [no cases of cirucmflex accent or accute on CV] So CVS seem to act like CVV and CVO seems to act like CV. • There is a minimal word constraint:Words must have two moras. The uninflected form loses its final vowel only if it doesn’t result in a subminimal word. • wikin ‘shade (non-fut)’ wikur. ‘shade (fut)’ wika ‘shade (uninfl.)’ [a inserted] acute circumflex Typology and examples (assuming the compressed sonority hierarchy) [–cons] vowels [+son] vowels and sonorants — all segments (including consonants) a. Syllabicity constraint σ 1 [–cons] b. c. Moraicity constraint µ 1 [+son] Mohawk, a Northern Iroquoian language, spoken mainly in New York, Ontario, and Québec. Passamaquoddy is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken in parts of Maine (15) A METRICALLY INVISIBLE vowel is a vowel ignored by metrical processes. (16) Penultimate stress (normally) Lithuanian, Kwakwala, Tiv (MOHAWK) σ 1 [–cons] Cairene Arabic a. r á k . w a s 2 1 σ 1 [+son] English a. rákwas /hra-kw-as/ ‘He picks it’ b. wakashé:tu /wak-ashet-u/ ‘I have counted it’ c. wakharatatuhátye /wak-haratat-u-hatye/ ‘I go along lifting up’ (17) d. µ 1 [–cons] Khalkha Mongolian, Yindiµ, Lardil e. µ 1 [+son] Gonja f. Some of my own work on the accentual systems of Mohawk and Passamaquoddy — — Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber Stress skips epenthetic vowels (e below) a. t é k e r i k s 2 1 a. b. c. d. (18) tékeriks wákeras t4́kerike÷ wa÷tkatátenake÷ /te-k-rik-s/ /w-akra-s/ /t-4-k-rik-÷/ /wa÷-t-k-atat-nak-÷/ a. w a k é n y a k s 1 2 (13) ts§.ti ‘she selected’ s§ u.tx§k ‘I struck you’ tf§.tk§t ‘you suffered a sprain.’ a. wakényaks b. tekahsutérha÷ c. sasáhket (14) a. b. tr§glas ts§kras tx§znas tz§dmas tl§bžas tr§ksas tn§Sfas tm§sxas ‘lock’ ‘do’ ‘store’ ‘gather wood’ ‘step onto’ ‘hide’ ‘graze (skin)’ ‘transform’ (19) ‘I put them together’ ‘it smells’ ‘I’ll put together side by side’ ‘I scratched myself’ Unskipped epenthetic vowels (e below) Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber tr§gl§t ts§kr§t tx§zn§t tz§dm§t tl§bž§t tr§ks§t tn§Sf§t tm§sx§t (MOHAWK) /wak-nyak-s/ /te-k-ahsutr-ha÷/ /sa-s-ahkt/ (MOHAWK) ‘I get married’ ‘I splice it’ ‘go back!’ WHAT YOU WILL COME TO BELIEVE: i. A metrically invisible vowel does not head a syllable. ii. Metrical invisibility is dissociated from epenthesis. iii. Syllables headed by “weak” vowels are avoided. iv. “Weak” vowels have deficient underlying prosodification (Sec. 1-2) (Sec. 3) (Sec. 4) (Sec. 5) (26) 1. Syllable-sensitive phenomena in Mohawk (20) Mohawk generalizations (diagnosing syllable structure) a. Stress falls on the penultimate syllable. (16) b. A stressed syllable must be heavy (CV:, CVC). (21-22) c. A word must consist of two syllables. (24) (21) Vowel is long in open stressed syllable a. w a . k a s . h é: . t u a. wakashé:tu b. khyá:tus c. khará:tats (22) /wak-ashet-u/ /k-hyatu-s/ /k-haratat-s/ (27) ‘I have counted it’ ‘I write’ ‘I am lifting it up a little (with a lever)’ a. w a k . h a . r a . t a . t u . h á t . y e wakharatatuhátye rákwas kó÷kwats tékya÷ks /wak-haratat-u-hatye/ /hra-kw-as/ /k-o÷kwat-s/ /te-k-ya÷k-s/ ‘I go along lifting up’ ‘He picks it’ ‘I dig’ ‘I break it in two’ (23) Conclusion: (24) Prothetic i inserted to ensure a bisyllabic minimal word. a. íky4s b. í:keks c. íkya÷ks (28) CVC and CV: are both heavy with respect to (20b). b. í : . k e k s /k-y4-s/ /k-ek-s/ /k-ya÷k-s/ *kéks ‘I put it’ ‘I eat’ ‘I cut it’ 2. Metrical invisibility: Epenthetic e in Mohawk (25) Contexts in which epenthetic e is inserted: a. Between a consonant and a single sonorant (Cen, Cer, Cew) b. Between a consonant and a word-final glottal stop. c. After a consonant when followed by a consonant cluster (except hC and sC). a. 4́ k e r 4÷ /4- k-r -4-÷/ ‘I will put it into a container’ a. b. c. d. e. /4-k-r-4-÷/ /te-k-rik-s/ /t-4-k-ahsutr-4÷/ /w-akra-s/ /wa÷-t-k-atat-nak-÷/ ‘I will put it into a container’ ‘I put them together’ ‘I will splice it’ ‘it smells’ ‘I scratched myself’ 4́ker4÷ tékeriks t4kahsúter4÷ wákeras wa÷tkatátenake÷ And it is also invisible for minimal word requirement. a. í s e r i ht /hs-ri-ht-ø/ ‘cook!’ a. íseriht /hs-ri-ht-ø/ ‘cook!’ • e is invisible for stress (20a) (antepenultimate (26a-d) preantepenultimate(26e) stress) • e is invisible for syllabification (20b) (e can’t take onset ⇒ stressed σ is closed ⇒ no tonic lengthening) • e is invisible for minimal word requirement (20c) (e doesn’t count as a σ ⇒ i-prothesis) Vowel is not long in closed stressed syllable a. b. c. d. Epenthetic e breaking up consonant-sonorant sequence (25a) (29) (MOHAWK) (26) (28) (30) Epenthetic e breaking up word final C÷ sequence (25b) a. 4ká:ra t e ÷ /4-k-ara t-÷ / ‘I lay myself down’ a. b. c. d. e. f. /4-k-arat-÷/ /ro-kut-ot-÷/ /wa÷-t-k-atat-nak-÷/ /t-4-k-rik-÷/ /o-nraht-÷/ /t-4-k-hkw-÷/ ‘I lay myself down’ ‘he has a bump on his nose’ ‘I scratched myself’ ‘I’ll put together side by side’ ‘leaf’ ‘I’ll lift it’ 4ká:rate÷ rokú:tote÷ wa÷tkatátenake÷ t4́kerike÷ ónerahte÷ t4́:kehkwe÷ And it is also invisible for minimal word requirement a. í t e n e h r e ÷ /t-n-ehr-÷/ ‘you and I want’ a. ítenehre÷ b. ítewehre÷ /t-n-ehr-÷/ /t-wa-ehr-÷/ ‘you and I want’ ‘you and I want to’ • e is invisible for stress (20a) (antepenultimate (28a-b) preantepenultimate (28c-f) stress) • e is invisible for syllabification (20b) (e can’t take onset ⇒ stressed σ is closed ⇒ no tonic lengthening) • e is invisible for minimal word requirement (20c) (e doesn’t count as a σ ⇒ i-prothesis) (30) Epenthetic e breaking up triconsonantal clusters (25c) a. wa k é ny aks /wa k-ny ak-s/ ‘I get married’ a. s ó k - % l a n 2 1 a. b. c. d. e. f. /wak-nyak-s/ /s-rho-s/ /te-k-ahsutr-ha÷/ /s-k-ahkt-s/ /sa-s-ahkt/ /te-k-hsa÷kt-s/ ‘I get married’ ‘you coat it with something’ ‘I splice it’ ‘I got back’ ‘go back!’ ‘I bend it’ a. b. c. d. e. sók-%lan w%́l-%po nís-ek-%pí-si-t tót-%po %pì-n wakényaks sérhos tekahsutérha÷ skáhkets sasáhket tekhsà:kets • e is visible for stress (always penultimate, stress on e (30a-c) or before e (30d-e)) • e is visible for syllabification (e can take onset ⇒ tonic lengthening (30f), prior cluster (30d-e)) • e is visible for minimal word requirement (20c) (e counts as a σ ⇒ no i-prothesis in (30bd) *íserhos, *ískahkets) Conclusion: e inserted for syllabification e inserted for other reasons DEDUCTION: 3. (32) Invisible %, disrupting stress ⇒ ⇒ visible to all syllable-sensitive processes. invisible to all syllable-sensitive processes. There’s a syllable in the first case and not in the second. Severing invisibility from epenthesis: Passamaquoddy % (31) Passamaquoddy stress generalization: First syllable, and even syllables counting from right to left, are stressed. d. a. b. c. d. s é h t á y - e w é s t o F 2 1 2 1 wás-is l-éwésto wík-ewésto séhtáy-ewésto ‘child’ ‘he speaks’ ‘he likes to talk’ ‘he speaks while walking backwards’ *sók-%́lan ‘it pours (rain)’ ‘he sits nicely, comfortably; he is well off’ ‘ghost’ ‘he sits a long way off, he is far along’ ‘sit (sg.)!’ (33) Visible %, after a cluster, same morphemes! a. p í s k - %́ l a n F 2 1 a. b. c. d. písk-%́lan ‘it rains so hard that it is dark or hard to see’ étót-apsk-%́la-k‘it is raining very big drops’ (245) tékk-%́pi-t ‘as far away as he sits’ (82) sp-%́po ‘he sits up high’ (81) (34) Alternating visibility of % (not after a cluster): a. á s % w - % c % k - %́ p o F 1 2 1 a. b. c. ás%w-%c%k-%́po ‘it (an.) is flopped over to one side’ ht-%́l-%t%m-%́n-%l ‘he is eating them (inan.)’ (92) h-pásk-%c%k-%́n-a ‘you (sg.) break him/it (an., squishy) with your hand’ Conclusion 1: Passamaquoddy % shows contextual metrical invisibility. Like Mohawk epenthetic e, % is invisible when not associated to a σ. (Evidence from (32) vs. (33) and from (34)). Argument 1 against epenthesis: Clusters interrupted by % occur elsewhere. (35) a. b. c. d. e. f. g. kt%́k%m%́lp%n t%́lpáyo kt%makp%ket kp%́cále wìkp piskitpohk%t tp%lokemo ‘we (exc.) hit you (sg. or pl.)’ ‘he is scared’ ‘it is a weak liquid’ ‘he is hoarse’ ‘black ash’ ‘it is a dark night’ ‘he gossips’ cf. (32b) w%́l%po cf. (32c) nísek%písit cf. (32d) tót%po Argument 2 against epenthesis: % in initial position (36) a. b. %pì-n épi-t ‘sit (sg.)!’ ‘when he sits’ (433) (“Initial change” [Conjunct]) Argument 3 against epenthesis: %-initials pattern with underlying V-initials Step one: (putative) %-initial -%po patterns with vowel-initial ewesto (37) Connective i is inserted between /kis-/ ‘finished, past’ and C-initial finals a. kís-ewésto ‘he talked’ b. kísí-ko ‘he is full grown’ (38) /-%pi-/ ‘sit’ patterns with vowel-initial final (37a) kís-%po ‘it (an.) is finished’ Step two: Connective insertion is sensitive to underlying distinctions (39) Motivating initial a of final /-ahte-/ ‘be located’ a. sákh-áhte ‘it protrudes into view’ b. íht%l-áhte ‘it is always there’ (40) Syncope of a in /-ahte-/ (when not after a cluster (39a) or invisible % (39b)) a. émék-te ‘it is down below’ < / emehk-ahte-w / b. nís-ék-te ‘it has two layers’ < / nis-ek-ahte-w / (41) i insertion is sensitive to underlying form: kís-te ‘it is finished’ < / kis-ahte-w / Conclusion 2: Passamaquoddy % is not epenthetic (at least sometimes) DEDUCTION: A vowel need not be epenthetic to show metrical invisibility. 4. Avoidance of “weak vowels”: Syncope in Passamaquoddy (42) Most %’s in Passamaquoddy only surface when they are... a. not word-initial and ( b. metrically visible or c. preceding a sonorant ) (43) (44) c. ht-%́t%lí-na-n d. t%́lí-ne cf. (32a) sók-%lan ‘his throat’ (169) ‘his voice is changing’ (169) ‘it pours (rain)’ (42c) ‘he is dying (subordinative)’ ‘he is dying’ Syllable contact constraint: ...Cσ][σR... (45) (suggested by LeSourd (p.c.)) The pattern: A “weak vowel” will delete unless • It is needed for syllabification (i.e. it is metrically visible) • It is needed to satisfy the syllable contact constraint Suppose STRAY ERASURE / PROSODIC LICENSING holds. ∴ Unprosodified material does not surface. Suppose this is responsible for syncope; ∴ Weak vowels are preferentially unprosodified. Section 2: Metrically invisible weak vowels are not dominated by a syllable. ∴ If prosodified, they’re dominated by a mora (weak layering) Why the preference? • Weak vowels are not underlyingly moraic • For a weak vowel to surface, a mora must be added to the representation. (*FILL-µ discourages such additions, prefers syncope) (46) Certain (lexically marked) instances of % resist syncope before an obstruent. a. pét-ék-%po ‘it (an.) comes to be located here.’ b. w%́l-%po ‘he sits nicely, comfortably; he is well off’ c. nís-ek-%pí-si-t ‘ghost’ d. tót-%po ‘he sits a long way off, he is far along’ e. %pì-n ‘sit (sg.)!’ (47) “Syncope-resistant” % projects a mora. 5. The nature of “weak” vowels (48) Three behaviors of the Passamaquoddy % a. Full vowel b. Weak vowel which resists syncope c. Weak vowel which can delete before obstruents (49) Underlying representations of Passamaquoddy % a. V—µ—σ Full vowel b. V—µ Weak vowel which resists syncope c. V Weak vowel which can delete before obstruents % before an obstruent, surfacing if metrically visible (a/c) else not (42b) a. áps-%kíhq%n ‘it is small’ b. kín-kíhq%n ‘it is big’ c. h-q%́ták%n d. píl%wi-qták%n-e Word-initial % deletes before a sonorant (a/b) or an obstruent (c/d) (42a) a. ht-%́lamí-ptin ‘the palm of his hand’ b. lámí-ptin ‘palm of the hand’ Consonant preceding % acts like a syllable coda rather than an onset: (50) *STRUC There can be no prosodic structure in the output which is not contained in the input. (Prince & Smolensky 1993: 25, Zoll 1993) (54) a. b. A lot of underlying prosodification? Consider the learner in the context of OT and Lexicon Optimization (Inkelas 1994). c. d. e. 6. Summary WHAT YOU HAVE COME TO BELIEVE: (19) i. A metrically invisible vowel does not head a syllable. ii. Metrical invisibility is dissociated from epenthesis. iii. Syllables headed by “weak” vowels are avoided. iv. “Weak” vowels have deficient underlying prosodification (Sec. 1-2) (Sec. 3) (Sec. 4) (Sec. 5) Dutch? Dutch distinguishes short vowels (å, ´, ø, œ, ˆ) from long vowels (a, e, o, ø, i, y, u) and diphthongs (åu, ´i, œy) in open syllables. Short vowels cannot occur in open syllables. (51) a. * tåksi b. * sl´ c. taksi d. sle e. b4y f. χal´i ‘taxi’ ‘sledge’ ‘rain shower’ ‘galley’ (52) BIMORAIC CONSTRAINT Syllables dominate at least two moras. % is different: phonetically a short vowel, but exempt from bimoriacity constraint. (53) a. * mikå b. * hˆndˆ c. mika d. hˆndi e. mik% f. hˆnd% ‘mica’ ‘Hindi’ (name) ‘hind’ /h/, /˜χ/, and diphthong + /r/ do not occur either before % or syllable-finally. They may occur before full vowels. /˜/ may occur before % and may occur syllable-finally. It does not occur before full vowels. Obstruent + liquid consonant clusters do not occur before %. Syllable final consonant clusters and consonant clusters before % undergo optional epenthesis of a very short %-like vowel. In Dutch dialects where /sp/ is metathesized at the end of a syllable, it is also metathesized before %, but not before full vowels.