Li6 Phonology and Morphology

1
Li6 Phonology and Morphology

• Harmony and (under)specification

m m m m m o r i n low
s round
Uimahousut olivat omiaan korostamaan voimakasta
tunnettani etten enää ollut lapsi.
2
Vowel Harmony

• A system of phonological organization according
  to which all vowels are drawn from one or the
  other of two (possibly overlapping) sets within
  harmonic spans in the word.

3
VH and Tone

• Vowel harmony shares the basic autosegmental
  properties identified with tones
• association of harmonic features on one tier to
  segmental positions on another
• association of this sort subject to the Line
  Crossing Constraint
• sequences of morpheme-internal harmonic features
  constrained by the OCP
• features can be underlyingly floating (harmonic)
  or attached (neutral)
• association of harmonic features to segments is
  directional (L?R or R?L) or asymmetric (harmonic
  features of dominant morphemes spread to
  recessive morphemes, regardless of direction)

4
Harmonic Notation

• Vowels
• I vowel specified only for high
• A vowel specified only for -high (it also is
  specified as -round in Turkish, but not in
  Kirghiz)
• U vowel specified only for high, round
• O vowel specified only for -high, -round
• Consonants
• L l unspecified for back
• D coronal stop unspecified for voice
• G dorsal stop unspecified for back and voice

5
A classic case Turkish
-back back
-round round -round round
high i ü i u
-high e ö a o
those we do not know know-neg-ppl-pl-1st-pl tani
-ma-dik-lar-im-iz
back root
ROOT-mA-DIK-LAr-Im-Iz
sev-me-dikj-ler-im-iz like-neg-ppl-pl-1st-pl thos
e we do not like
-back root
6
Examples
nom. sg. gen. sg. nom. pl. gen. pl. gloss
ip ipin ipler iplerin rope
kiz kizin kizlar kizlarin girl
yüz yüzün yüzler yüzlerin 100
pul pulun pullar pullarin stamp
el elin eller ellerin hand
sap sapin saplar saplarin stem
köy köyün köyler köylerin village
son sonun sonlar sonlarin end
7
VH as autosegmental spreading

• t a n i m a d i k l a r i m i z
• X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
• back

8
Formal expression of VH

• X X (iterative L?R)
• aback

9
Turkish Rounding Harmony

• X X (iterative L?R)
• around hi

(one can leave out the high restriction if the
harmonic vowel A is specified as -round)
10
Kirghiz Rounding Harmony

• The ordinal suffix /-IncI/
• numeral ordinal gloss
• bir birinci one
• beš bešinci five
• alti altinci six
• žiyirmi žiyirminci twenty
• üc ücüncü three
• tört törtüncü four
• toguz toguzuncu nine
• on onuncu ten
• The ablative suffix /-DAn/
• base ablative gloss
• iš išten work
• et etten meat
• žil žildan year
• alma almadan apple
• üy üydön house
• köl köldön lake
• tuz tuzdon salt

11
Kirghiz Rounding Harmony

• X X (iterative L?R)
• round hi

Identical to Turkish RH, but sans high
condition
12
Kirghiz Rounding Harmony

• X X (iterative L?R)
• round

Identical to Turkish RH, but sans high
condition
13
A Kirghiz derivation
rd -rd UR köz-In-DAn at-In-DAn
-bk bk
Rules
RH rd -rd köz-In-DAn at-In-DAn
BH -bk bk

• X X (iterative L?R)
• around

RH
rd -rd SR közündön atindan
-bk bk
X X (iterative L?R) aback
BH
Morphemes round tier rd
-rd köz eye at horse -In-
possessive -DAn- ablative back tier
-bk bk height
tier hi -hi
14
Disharmonic and neutral vowels

• Disharmonic vowels have a harmonic counterpart
  but dont alternate.
• Neutral vowels have no harmonic counterpart and
  therefore never alternate.
• active Turkish
• opaque
• inert Hungarian, Karchevan, Mongolian
• neutral vowels
• transparent Finnish

15
Akan

• Vowel inventory of Akan, a Kwa language of Ghana
• i u
• e o
• Ø
• a
• Given this vowel system, what vowels do you
  expect to be neutral if the language has
• ATR harmony?
• high harmony?
• round harmony?
• In a given word, all vowels must share the same
  ATR specification (modulo a) (figure a)
• a freely cooccurs with both ATR and -ATR
  vowels (b)
• ATR and -ATR vowels freely cooccur if an a
  intervenes (c)
• form gloss
• a. e-bu-o nest
• -b-Ø stone
• o-fiti-i he pierced it
• Ø-çr- he showed it
• b. bisa ask

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More Kirghiz

• past definite past participle verbal noun gloss
• bildi bilgen bilü know
• berdi bergen berü give
• küldü külgön külü laugh
• kördü körgön körü see
• kildi kilgan kilu do
• aldi algan alu take
• tuttu tutkan tutu hold
• boldu bolgon bolu be

17
Conclusions
18
Active opaque vowels

• Turkish
• form gloss
• a. geliyorum I am coming
• košuyorum I am running
• gülüyorum I am laughing
• b. arabistani Arabia-acc.
• ermenistani Armenia-acc.
• mogolistani Mongolia-acc.
• türkistani Turkestan-acc.
• c. idraki perception-acc.
• imsaki fasting-acc.
• emlaki real estate-acc.
• helaki exhaustion-acc.

19
Inert opaque vowels

• suffix underlying form surface form gloss
• a. -ar- tsarr-ar tsárrar trees
• muts-ar mútsar big ones
• onkh-ar ónkhar eyebrows
• dezn deznar wild mints
• ton-ar t?nár houses
• äts-ar ätsär goats
• gjül-ar gjülär wolves
• gjørrn-ar gjørrnär sheep-pl.
• mathkhj-ar máthkhjär minds1
• -u- anguz-u angúzu walnut-dat.
• bün-u bünü nest-dat.
• anguc-u ?ng?cú ear-dat.
• sar-u sáru mountain-dat.
• tset-u ts?tú sparrow-dat.
• khätshin khätshnü axe-dat.
• -(n)or- anguz-nor-u anguznóru walnut-pl.-dat.
• arrj-or-u arrjóru bear-pl.-dat.
• bün-or-u bünørü nest-pl.-dat.

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Transparent vowels

• Finnish vowels
• u o a ü ø ä i e
• back - - - - -
• round - - - -
• high - - - - -
• low - - - - - -
• nonneutral front and back vowels do not cooccur
  in words.
• form gloss
• a. makkara sausage
• väkkärä pinwheel
• värttinä spinning wheel
• kaura oats
• käürä curve
• luo creates
• lüø hits
• b. palttina linen cloth
• c. palttina-lla-ni-han with my linen cloth, as
  you know
• värttinä-llä-ni-hän with my spinning wheel, as
  you know
• luo-da-kse-ni-ko for me to create?