Phrasal tone domains in San Mateo Huave

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Phrasal tone domains in San Mateo Huave Marjorie
Pak mpak_at_ling.upenn.edu Speech Lunch
Presentation University of Pennsylvania November
9, 2006
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Words with final H Words with final HLa. kàwák
chicozapote (fruit tree) a. kàwâksouthb. mów
grasshopper b. yôw waterc. nàdám
big c. nàngân sweetd. nàéy man d. kôy
rabbit
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tím íkè tàhàwás námbéór kòy (lt
kôy) yesterday I see.1sg.pst black
rabbit Yesterday I saw a black rabbit. tím
íkè tàhàwás námbéór kóy tílám
yesterday I see.1s.pst black
rabbit in.riverYesterday I saw a black rabbit
in the river.
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• Noyer 1991
• Syllable heads are stress-bearing units and
  are projected onto line 0.
• The final segment of a word is extrametrical.
• Line 0 feet are unbounded and right-headed
  heads are promoted to line 1.
• 1 1 0 ( ) 0 ()
  nambeoltrgt black ikltegt I

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Noyer 1991 d. Inner cycle (NP) Line 1 feet are
unbounded, right-headed. Promote heads to line
2. 2 1 ( ) 0 ( )
() nambeoltrgt koltygt black rabbit
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• Noyer 1991
• Outer cycle Equalize stress (add a line 2
  asterisk above newly-introduced words). Line
  2 feet are unbounded, left-headed. Promote
  heads to line 3.
• 3 2 ( ) 1
  ( ) 0 ( ) ( ) ()
  tahawaltsgt nambeoltrgt koltygt I saw a black
  rabbit

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• Noyer 1991
• The line 2 foot is the domain for three tonal
  rules
• Lexical L Licensing Underlying lexical L tone is
  licensed (linked) at the right edge of the line 2
  foot.
• Phrasal H Insertion Assign H to the head
  (leftmost asterisk) of a line 2 foot. (If this
  syllable already has lexical L, a HL contour tone
  is produced.)
• H Plateau (HTP) H spreads rightward within the
  line 2 foot.
• At the end of the derivation, Default L is
  assigned to all remaining toneless syllables.

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Noyer 1991 line 3 line 2 (
)line 1 ( )line 0 (
) ( ) () tahawaltsgt nambeoltrgt
koltygt I saw a black rabbitLexical
L tahawas nambeor kòyPhrasal H tahawás nambeor
kòyHTP tahawás námbéór kòyDefault L tàhàwás
námbéór kòy
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Noyer 1991 Subjects (when overt) undergo their
own outer cycle and remain phonologically
separate from the vP line 3 x xline
2 (x) (x x)line 1 (x)
x (x x) line 0 (x x)
(x x x) (x x) (x x) nehiltwgt tahawultwgt
nakantltsgt olaltmgt they saw red
sugarcane Lexical L nehìw -- (cf. isolation
òlám)Phrasal H nehîw tahawúw nakants
olamHTP -- tahawúw nákánts ólámDefault
L nèhîw tàhàwúw nákánts ólám nèhîw tàhàwúw
nákánts ólám They saw red sugarcane.
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• Generalizations
• Each phrase (tonal domain) has exactly one H
  pitch peak.
• This pitch peak may be realized on a single
  syllable or spread over several syllables.
• There may be a series of L tones at the left
  edge of a phrase.
• There may be at most one L tone at the right edge
  of a phrase.

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• Question
• How are utterances parsed into tonal domains?
• Does the subject always remain separate from the
  vP? If so, why?
• What happens when the vP contains more structure
  (modifiers, double objects, etc.)?

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Data 325 phrases of various types (SVO, VO, VOS,
SV, VS, ditransitives, NPs in isolation, etc) 5
native San Mateo speakers (4f, 1m, ages 14-45,
all bilingual Spanish-Huave) Interviews conducted
in July 2004 and July 2006. Most data elicited by
providing Spanish phrase and asking for Huave
equivalent usually one repetition was
requested. 24 sentences were read.
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Observation 1 The verb groups together with all
following objects and modifiers. nèhîw tàhcúw
nérráár yów námbéór íchwèàìk they
give.3p.pst hot water black monkey They
gave hot water to a black monkey.
(vvv33) mìkwàl èkòmbúl àpmúúc ákókíáw cípín
óép áágá náéy kìàhson.pos friend.1pos
give.3s.fut five tomato tomorrow the man
there My friends son will give 5 tomatoes to
that man tomorrow. (avv 31)
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Observation 2 Preverbal subjects and preverbal
time/place adverbs form their own phrases. íkè
tàèhpíùs I bathe.1s.pst I
bathed. (zss11-12) nìngúy òlám ngò màtâng
here cane not grow Sugarcane does not
grow here. (avv43)
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Observation 3 But postverbal subjects (and
adverbs) group together with the
verb. tàèhpíúsá íkè bathe.1s.pst I I
bathed. nìngíy ngò màtáng ólám here
not grow cane Sugarcane does not grow here.
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Exceptions Occasionally, vPs are broken down
into two domains íkèsàngànéów cháw pópó
ówúy lángàn íkèsàngànéów cháw
pópóòwùy làngânpro.1s drink.1s atole foam
very sweet I drink very sweet foam atole.
(zss44b) In one case, a subject and a verb
grouped together nèhíw ákíándùw pro.3p
stick.3p ellos se pegan (they fight? they
stick to each other?) (cg29-29) But mismatched
parses like (SV)(AdjO) are so far unattested.
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Possibilities Postverbal subjects/adverbs are
structurally closer to the verb than preverbal
subjects/adverbs. Preverbal subjects/adverbs have
moved to a clause-peripheral position
(SpecCP). CP subject TP verb object subject
Anything below a predetermined cut-off point
(e.g. TP) gets spelled out as a single domain
constituents that have moved above this point are
spelled out separately.
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• Questions
• What is the syntax of VOS sentences? (subject
  right-adjoined, VO raised to Spec,TP, etc)
• When are VOS sentences pragmatically felicitous?
• Are there differences between preverbal and
  postverbal subjects wrt. scope, specificity,
  islandhood?

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