Underspecification in Yawelmani Phonology and Morphology

D. B. Archangeli, 1984

for $19.95 x

This study of Yawelmani phonology and morphology provides insight into the types of phonological representations and rules permitted by Universal Grammar.

Generalizations about the sound pattern of a language which can be expressed by rule are omitted from underlying representation in all brands of phonological theory. Proposed here is a theory of underspecification which exploits this concept and so allows for simplification of both representations and rules. Underlying representations contain only the information that is absolutely necessary to distinguish between representations. Any information that is predictable, i.e. derivable by rule, is unspecified. “Information” here refers to all types of phonological characteristics, stress, syllable structure, templates, phonemes, and features. It is argued that the redundancy rules, i.e. the rules that fill in the unspecified values, are a combination of universal rules (which are cost-free) and learned rules (which are costly). In other words, what is unspecified in any given language is determined by both the details of that language and the principles of Universal Grammar. These redundancy rules are universally ordered late, with two exceptions. Earlier ordering of some rule can be provided by principles of Universal Grammar, i.e. intrinsic ordering (which is cost-free) or can be learned, i.e. extrinsic ordering (which must have clear motivation and is costly).

Non-linear representations figure centrally in this analysis of Yawelmani. It is shown that Yawelmani has a template-supplying morphology in both the verbal and noun systems (similar to certain Semitic languages). Interestingly, in most cases, the templates are supplied by affixes, and are meaningless without the affix. Besides the morphologically supplied syllabic templates, there is motivation for seven planes in the representation: The syllabification process consists of a syllable plane and a syncope tree plane; stress trees and a stress grid provide two more planes; vowels and consonant melodies constitute the fifth and sixth planes. The glottal stop in certain morphemes is on a plane of its own: A seventh plane. Evidence reveals that the harmonizing feature and the conditioning feature are on a single plane, but in separate matrices. The matrix of the harmonizing feature spreads on the single plane to the conditioning matrices.

Thesis supervisor:      Morris Halle, Institute Professor

1 Introduction 11
1.1 Surface and underlying representations 13
1.2 Rule interaction 25
1.3 A historical perspective 27
1.4 A comparison 29
Appendix: Rule writing notation 34
         
2 Underspecification 35
2.1 Full, partial, and underspecification 38
  2.1.1 Full specification 39
  2.1.2 Partial specification 40
  2.1.3 Underspecification 41
2.2 The alphabet 43
  2.2.1 The rules 46
  2.2.2 The matrix 48
  2.2.3 Latvian raising 51
2.3 Underspecification theory 55
  2.3.1 Default rules and complement rules 57
  2.3.2 Redundancy rules 60
  2.3.3 Complement rule formation 64
2.4 Yawelmani vowels 72
  2.4.1 Underlying representation 73
  2.4.2 Vowel harmony in brief 78
  2.4.3 The redundancy-rule ordering constraint 83
  2.4.4 Two other rules—epenthesis and dissimilation 94
2.5 Yawelmani consonants 96
  2.5.1 Sonorants 99
  2.5.2 Obstruents, nasals and laterals 104
  2.5.3 Underlying representations and redundancy rules for consonants 107
2.6 A comparison with markedness theory 111
Appendix: Default rules and the Yawelmani vowel alphabet 115
         
3 Phonology 117
3.1 Vowel quality 120
  3.1.1 Spread vs. copy 121
    3.1.1.1 Yawelmani lowering 125
    3.1.1.2 Gashowu lowering 130
    3.1.1.3 Discussion 132
  3.1.2 Uniplanar, biplanar and coplanar representations 136
    3.1.2.1 Yawelmani harmony 145
    3.1.2.2 Gashowu harmony 148
  3.1.3 Implications 152
    3.1.3.1 The shared feature convention 153
    3.1.3.2 The branching features constraint 155
    3.1.3.3 The structure of the melody 157
3.2 Syllable structure 162
  3.2.1 Underlying representations 163
    3.2.1.1 Underlying syllable structure 166
    3.2.1.2 Association to the template 170
  3.2.2 Syllable structure 172
  3.2.3 Core syllabification 175
  3.2.4 Syllabification rules 178
    3.2.4.1 Shortening 178
    3.2.4.2 Epenthesis 182
    3.2.4.3 Syncope 184
    3.2.4.4 Elision 195
  3.2.5 Exceptions to rime formation/shortening 198
    3.2.5.1 (i)(l)saa ‘causative-repetitive’ 198
    3.2.5.2 Retardative activity 201
    3.2.5.3 xoo ‘durative auxiliary’ 203
  3.2.6 Exceptions to syncope 206
    3.2.6.1 Three affixes not undergoing syncope 207
    3.2.6.2 Case affixes 208
    3.2.6.3 Optional deletion with (ʔ)ińay ‘contemporaneous gerundial’ 209
3.3 Stress 211
  3.3.1 The representation of stress 215
    3.3.1.1 Trees 215
    3.3.1.2 Extrametricality 218
  3.3.2 Yawelmani stress 224
    3.3.2.1 Antepenultimate stress 228
    3.3.2.2 Antepenultimate stress in nouns 232
  3.3.3 Implications for stress theory 237
Appendix: Phonological rules of Yawelmani 241
         
4 Morphology 245
4.1 Template-supplying affixes 250
  4.1.1 How to supply a template 255
4.2 The template 261
  4.2.1 Neutral templates 261
  4.2.2 Consonant and vowel melodies 267
4.3 Templates supplied to verbs by affixes 271
  4.3.1 The six templates 271
  4.3.2 The template pool 276
  4.3.3 Additional support 278
    4.3.3.1 Floating consonants 279
    4.3.3.2 Floating glottal stop 282
4.4 Classification of verbal suffixes 288
  4.4.1 Regular affixes 289
  4.4.2 Template-supplying affixes 292
  4.4.3 Template-supplying affixes with limited application 294
  4.4.4 Template-supplying affixes with interesting associations 296
    4.4.4.1 (i)(l)saa ‘causative-repetitive’ 297
    4.4.4.2 d(aa) ‘repetitive’ 299
    4.4.4.3 (ʔ)ii ‘causative’ 301
    4.4.4.4 ʔaa ‘durative’ 303
    4.4.4.5 (ʔ)ińay ‘contemporaneous gerundial’ 308
4.5 Classification of noun morphology 309
  4.5.1 Case 311
    4.5.1.1 CC]-final nouns 311
    4.5.1.2 Cxx]-final nouns 312
    4.5.1.3 CxC]-final nouns 314
    4.5.1.4 xxC]-final nouns 315
    4.5.1.5 Generalizations about case affixes 315
  4.5.2 Template activity 318
    4.5.2.1 Collapsing templates 319
    4.5.2.2 Items undergoing template affixation 326
  4.5.3 Floating segments 329
    4.5.3.1 Floating [+G]—(ʔ)in ‘attributive’ 329
    4.5.3.2 Floating [+G}—(ʔ)inin ‘resident of’ 330
    4.5.3.3 Floating [+G]—(ʔ)aa ‘inchoative’ 331
    4.5.3.4 CxCCC + (im)aam ‘decedent’ 332
    4.5.3.5 (n)iit ‘decedent’ 333
  4.5.4 Floating vowels 334
    4.5.4.1 taa, yaa ‘causative inchoative’ 336
    4.5.4.2 CxCCC ‘plural’ 341
  4.5.5 Catalog of affixes on nouns 343
    4.5.5.1 A catalog of N → V morphology 343
    4.5.5.2 naa affixation 345
    4.5.5.3 “∅” affix ‘characteristic activity’ 345
    4.5.5.4 A catalog of N → N morphology 346
4.6 The template pool 349
4.7 Conclusion 350