LING201 HOMEWORK 1

Jinxiao Song

1. Yokuts language consonants and vowels inventory Bilabial

Labio-

Dental

Alveolar

dental

Plosive

p b

Nasal

Palato-

Palatal

t

m

d

c

k

s

ɡ x

ʔ h

j

mant Glide

w

l

   

  Front unrounded

High

 

Labiovelar

Approxi--

Low

Glottal

n

Fricative

Mid

Velar

alveolar

Central rounded

unrounded

rounded

 

Back unrounded

rounded

i e

u e:

o a

a:

o:

(Red ones are results of neutralization)

           

2. Morpheme analysis 2.1 Suffix By scanning the entire data, I identified the suffixes for aorist passive, aorist and future passive forms. They are /-it/, /-hin/ and /-nit/ respectively. Most of the variations ivolve an alternation between /i/ and /u/ (/hin/ -/hun/; /it/-/ut/ ). This should be a vowel harmony neutralization process, which has to do with vowel roundness and height. For the aorist passive form, the suffix /it/ seems to have four different forms in terms of the vowels quality -- /it/, /ut/, /at/, /ot/, /et/. This is not a precise conclusion so far, since it’s complicated when the surface shape of roots and affixes changes due to phonological rules. 2.2 Stem The stems for the first three data undergo no changes. 1.‘eat’ xat+it xat+hin xat+nit 2.‘take care of an infant’ gop+it gop+hin gop+nit 3.‘touch’ gij+it gij+hin gij+nit There is also a vowel length difference on the verb stems in most of the data:

 

1  

5.‘burn’ 6.‘take in’ 7.‘swallow’ 8.‘steal’ 9.‘arrive’ 10.‘name’

sap ~ sa:p gob ~ go:b me:k ~ mek ʔo:t ~ ʔot pana: ~ pana hojo: ~ hojo

11.‘fan’ 12.‘urinate 13. ‘mourn’ 14. ‘arise from bed’ 15. ‘bring water’ 16. ‘remove’

ʔile: ~ ʔile cujo: ~cujo paxa:t ~ paxat ʔopo:t ~ ʔopot hibe:j ~ hibej sudo:k ~ sudok

For data 9~12, I think it is easier to explain that the suffix /-it/ undergoes [i] deletion. I would like to talk about this later in section 5. Also, from the surface forms we can see that long [u:] and long [i:] are lacking, but short [i] and [u] are surfaced. [a] [e] [o] all occur as both short and long.   3. Vowel harmony There is a phonological regularity for the suffix hin~hun, and nit~nut. u appears when the one of the preceding vowel is u, as is shown in data 4 ‘swear’: [mut-ut], [mut-hun], [mut-nut]. i appears in the suffix after other vowels. Therefore, there is a vowel harmony between [i] and [u]. [i]à [u] when there is a [u] in the stem. This explains some of the data: 12. ‘urinate’ cujo:hun, cujo:nut 16. ‘remove’ sudo:kut, sudokhun, sudoknut With a [u] in the stem, the suffixes all undergo vowel harmony. But comparing the surface forms of 6 vs. 8: Adding suffix /nit/: 6. gob-nit vs. 8. ʔot-nut Adding suffix /hin/: 6. gob-hin vs. 8. ʔot-hun Adding suffix /it/: 6. gob-it vs. 8. ʔo:t-ut Data 8 is behaving differently. It undergoes vowel harmony even though there is not a [u] in its stem ( [ʔot] or [ʔo:t] ) It’s better to look back at this question after figuring out verb stems—I will first decide the underlying vowel quality. 4. Vowel length alternation—long vowel shortening Since the alternation between long and short vowels is affected by the syllable structure. I organized the data into the following: Syllable structure Example CVC+VC 1. xat + it ~ xat + hin CV:C+VC ~ CVC+CVC 5. sa:p+ it ~ sap + hin 8. ʔo:t + ut ~ ʔot + hun CVCV+C ~ CVCV: + CVC 10. hojo+t ~ hojo: + hin CVCV:C+VC ~ CVCVC+CVC 14. ʔopo:t+it ~ ʔopot+hin 16. sudo:k+ut ~ sudok+hun

 

2  

Clearly the stems vary in shape between CVC and CV:C. It is highly unlikely that these stems have the underlying shape of CVC, since that would make it hard to account for stems such as /xat/ which do not show alternation between /xat/ and */xa:t/. Therefore we can conclude that stems like 5. sa:p ~ sap have an underlying sa:p, which is CV:C form. The root has a long vowel in the underlying form, and then the long vowel is neutralized to a short vowel under certain circumstances. I marked the syllables with long vowel in red color, and syllables with normal length in blue. It is not hard to find out that the environment is provided by difference kind of suffixes. Suffix that begins with a vowel would not change the root. Suffixes that begin with a consonant will cause neutralization and shorten the long vowel into a normal vowel. Take 5. ‘burn’ as an example: Underlying: sa:p – it sa:p – hin sa:p – nit Surface: sa:pit saphin sapnit In conclusion, a long vowel is always followed by a CV or CVC syllable, which means, long vowel only occurs in an open syllable. In the example above, [a:] is long when followed by pit; /a/ is normal when followed by consonant-suffix combination: p-hin, which put the long vowel in nucleus position where it is to be closed by a coda. In other words, vowels are shortened in closed syllables in Yokuts. The shortening rule can be generalized as following: V à [-long] / ___CC or C# Blevin has also given an explanation for Yokut language. “Rules of closed syllable shortening typically take [CVVC] to surface [CVC] by deletion or shortening of a nuclear vowel. ” (Blevins, pp.224). Therefore, for now, the verb stems for each word in given data are: 1./xat/ 2./gop/ 3./gij/ 4./mut/ 5./sa:p/ 6./go:b/ 7./me:k/ 8.??? /ʔo:t/ 9./pana:/ 10./hojo:/ 11./ʔile:/ 12./cujo:/ 13/paxa:t/ 14/ʔopo:t/ 15./hibe:j/ 16./sudo:k/ ð Thoughts: Since this assignment has to do with syllables. I thought more about the reason for long vowel shortening. This seems similar to English open syllable – close syllable difference. For example, bridle vs. riddle. The result of the syllable-combining process leaves a double d in riddle (a closed syllable plus consonant-le) but not in bridle (open syllable plus consonant-le). The syllable ‘bri’ is open, which means it ends with a vowel. However, ‘rid’ is closed, because it end with a consonant, an obstruent. Obviously there will be more energy when we say something that end with a vowel comparing to saying same vowel that is preparing to close with a consonant. Nevertheless, Yokuts performs the same way. In ‘burn’, ‘sa:’ is open, ‘sap’ is closed; in ‘mourn’, ‘xa:’ is open, ‘xat’ is closed. 5. Vowel Deletion or Vowel Insertion When looking at data 9, 10, 11, adding a VC suffix does not end in a short vowel, take 9. as a representative here: Underlying: pana: – it pana: – hin pana: – nit

 

3  

Surface: panat pana:hin pana:nit In order to account for the surface form of aorist passive, a vowel deletion rule has to be added: [i] à Ø / V____ The [i] in suffix –it for the aorist passive is deleted if there the root ends in a vowel. This rule has to be applied before vowel shortening rule. It creates a V: C# environment for the vowel shortening to happen. Underlying /pana:/ + /it/ Underlying /pana:/ + /it/ V shorteing pana:it V deletion pana:t V deletion pana:t V shortening panat ( satisfy V:C# ) Surface pana:t Wrong Surface panat Correct This rule can be generalized from [i] to all vowels, since we don’t see other circumstanced where two vowels stand together in given data. Và Ø / V_____ At this point, there is another solution which also works fine. Maybe it is vowel insertion rather than deletion considering this [i]-deletion rule. In the aorist passive form, there is a possibility that the suffix is /-t/ rather than /-it/. If so, we need to account for when to insert. This looks simple, a vowel is inserted when two consonants stand together. But there are similar environments in the aorist form and future passive forms, where we frequently see CC clusters with no vowels inserted. Therefore this rule would be: Ø à i / C_C# With this rule, we don’t need to explain how data 9, 10, 11, 12 has a different suffix than the other aorist passive forms --- it’s suffix is indeed –t. For those whose suffix surface as –ut, we just apply the vowel harmony rule. For example, take 13. as an example here. Rule ordering is still the same. No matter it is vowel insertion or vowel deletion rule; it has to apply before vowel shortening. Underlying /paxa:t/ + /t/ Underlying /paxa:t/+ /t/ 13. ‘mourn’ V shortening paxatt (satisfy V:CC ) V insertion paxa:tit V insertion paxatit V shortening --- (not satisfy V:CC ) Surface paxatit Wrong Surface paxa:tit Correct With Vowel insertion rule, we can also explain the suffix for aorist form as /-hn/, /-nt/. Underlying /paxa:t/+ /hn/ /paxa:t/ +/nt/ 13. ‘mourn’ V insertion paxa:thin paxa:tnit V shortening paxathin (satisfy V:CC ) paxatnit Surface paxathin paxatnit 6. From data 8 ‘steal’ – Long vowel [u:] is lowered to [o:] Up to now, I still feel hard to solve the puzzle in data 8. It is still unclear about what the four underlying vowels are. If the underlying form for 8. is /ʔo:t/, then vowel harmony can not apply. Still comparing 6 vs. 8:

 

4  

Underlying form /gobit/ +/hin/ /ʔo:t / +/hin/ Surface form gobhin ʔothun Seems [o:] is behaving like an [u:], which would cause vowel harmony. One explanation is, the underlying form for [o:] is actually [u:]. Long high vowel [u:] is neutralized, lowered into [o:] under all circumstances. [u:] à [o:] / _____ The environment is not specified because every surface forms of /u:/ will undergo this rule. We do not see [u:] in the data, because they are neutralized to [o:]. In other words, all long [o:] in the data are underlying [u:]. We need to have the following order of rules applied in order to get the correct surface forms for data 8.‘steal’: Underlying /ʔu:t/ + /it/ /ʔu:t/ + /hin/ /ʔu:t/ + /nit/ 8. ‘steal’ V harmony ʔu:tut ʔu:thun ʔu:tnut V lowering ʔo:tut ʔo:thun ʔo:tnut V shortening ʔo:tut ʔothun ʔotnut Surface ʔo:tut ʔothun ʔotnut The rules must be applied in the above order. Vowel harmony must precede lowering because the suffix vowel emerges as u. Shortening must follow lowering because the stem vowel would otherwise remain high and generating *ʔuthun rather than ʔothun as the final output. It can also be concluded that this lowering process do not happen on [-long] vowel. Since otherwise data 2 ‘take care of an infant’ would have *gophun and *gopnut if the underlying vowel is *gup. ð Revise the vowel harmony rule. Before, I concluded that [i]à [u] when there is a [u] in the stem. Now the environment can be specified as: [i]à [u] / when the vowel immediately preceding it is [u] or [u:]. ð Vowel deletion/ vowel insertion should also apply before vowel harmony. Ordering for 12 and 16 would be: Underlying /cuju:/ + /it/ /cuju:/ + /hin/ /cuju:/ + /nit/ 12. ‘urinate’ V deletion cuju:t ------V harmony ---cuju:hun cuju:nut V lowering cujo:t cujo:hun cujo:nut V shortening cujot -------Surface cujot cujo:hun cujo:nut Underlying V deletion V harmony V lowering

 

/sudu:k/ + /it/ ---sudu:kut sudo:kut

/sodu:k/ + /hin/ ---sodu:khun sudo:khun

/sodu:k/ + /nit/ ---sodu:knut sudo:knut

16. ‘remove’

5  

V shortening ----Surface sudo:kut

sudokhun sudokhun

sudoknut sudoknut

7. The underlying vowel system – revising long vowel lowering rule Since there are only four underlying vowels, I believe the long vowel lowering rule not only applies to [o:] ~ [u:], but also [i:] ~ [e:]. Long high vowel [i:] is also neutralized, or lowered into [e:] under all circumstances. Simply put, long vowels are non-high. [+long] à [-high] / ---Based on this assumption, it can be further concluded that the four underlying vowels in Yokuts are: /i/, /u/, /o/, /a/. We observe /e/ and /e:/ in the data, but they are results of [i:] lowering. There are together three datas where [e] occurs. 7, 11, 16. They have the stem /mi:k/, /ʔili:/, and /hibi:j/ respectively. Underlying /mi:k/ + /it/ /mi:k/ + /hin/ /mi:k/ + /nit/ 7. ‘swallow’ V deletion ---------V harmony ---------V lowering me:kit me:khin me:knit V shortening ---mekhin meknit Surface me:kit mekhin meknit Underlying V deletion V harmony V lowering V shortening Surface

/ʔili:/ + /it/ ʔili:t ---ʔile:t ʔilet ʔilet

/ʔili:/ + /hin/ ------ʔile:hin ---ʔile:hin

/ʔili:/ + /nit/ ------ʔile:nit ---ʔile:nit

11. ‘fan’

Underlying /hibi:j/ + /it/ / hibi:j / + /hin/ / hibi:j / + /nit/ 15. ‘bring water’ V deletion ---------V harmony ---------V lowering hibe:jit hibe:jhin hibe:jnit V shortening ----hibejhin hibejnit Surface hibe:jit hibejhin hibejnit Underlying short u and underlying short i are never lowered in the vowel lowering rule. Such rule only applies to long high vowels. Long vowels have alternation between (1)[u:]~[o:] (2)[i:]~[e:]. ð Revised verb stems. Finally, the verb stems for each word in given data can be determined:

 

6  

1./xat/ 2./gop/ 3./gij/ 4./mut/ 5./sa:p/ 6./go:b/ 7./mi:k/ 8./ʔu:t/ 9./pana:/ 10./hojo:/ 11./ʔili:/ 12./cuju:/ 13/paxa:t/ 14/ʔopo:t/ 15./hibi:j/ 16./sudu:k/ ð Revised verb suffixes. I’m still not sure what the suffix for aorist passive is. Using classical methods, the suffixes can be –t, -hn, -nt, with a rule of vowel insertion to account for the syllabification. However, with a rule of vowel deletion, the suffixes can also be /-it/, /hin/, /-nit/. Personally, I prefer a voweldeletion point of view. All explanations finally come into explaining the aorist passive forms of data 9~12. Why there is a vowel missing after adding a VC suffix to a stem that the ends in V. Actually this phenomenon seems very alike to the long vowel shortening process. Combine with Belvin’s explanation for Yokuts syllabification. “No more than two segments can appear in the rhyme, with derived CVVC syllables surfacing CVC. ” (Belvins, pp.215). Yokuts do not take a CV1V2C syllable. No mater V1 and V2 share the same vowel quality or not. Speakers has a way to take away one of the vowel to make the acoustic sound fit the regularity of their language.

 

7