In the paper we argue against the traditional assumption about the relationship between morphology and harmony in Hungarian according to which monomorphemic and polymorphemic (suffixed) forms behave in the same way harmonically within the domain of harmony. We show that the harmonic properties of the root are inherited by morphologically complex forms based on the root and this can override the phonological restrictions on harmony. We propose an Optimality Theory analysis of the interaction between the phonological constraints on harmony and the paradigm uniformity constraint Harmonic Uniformity.
{"title":"Harmonic Uniformity and Hungarian front/back harmony","authors":"Péter Rebrus, Miklós Törkenczy","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00475","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00475","url":null,"abstract":"In the paper we argue against the traditional assumption about the relationship between morphology and harmony in Hungarian according to which monomorphemic and polymorphemic (suffixed) forms behave in the same way harmonically within the domain of harmony. We show that the harmonic properties of the root are inherited by morphologically complex forms based on the root and this can override the phonological restrictions on harmony. We propose an Optimality Theory analysis of the interaction between the phonological constraints on harmony and the paradigm uniformity constraint Harmonic Uniformity.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47013294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article accounts for the traditionally-labelled Level 1/Level 2 affix distinction in English by combining the predictions of floating segmental structure (e.g. Rubach 1996) and cyclic spell-out by phase (Chomsky 1999; Marantz 2007). It offers insight not only into the different phonological patterns these affixes trigger, but importantly, explains when the same affix will trigger distinct phonological patterns (when an affix behaves sometimes as Level 1 and sometimes as Level 2). It is argued that Level 1 affixes are distinguished by an initial floating vowel in their underlying representations, and that if we combine this with the proposal that affixes that merge directly to roots are interpreted in the same phonological cycle as these roots then we can remove the reference to diacritic notions such as Level 1 and Level 2 from the grammar. This then allows for a fully modular account of English affix classes, where the phonological derivation refers solely to phonological representations.
{"title":"Deriving Level 1/Level 2 affix classes in English: Floating vowels, cyclic syntax","authors":"Heather Newell","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00501","url":null,"abstract":"This article accounts for the traditionally-labelled Level 1/Level 2 affix distinction in English by combining the predictions of floating segmental structure (e.g. Rubach 1996) and cyclic spell-out by phase (Chomsky 1999; Marantz 2007). It offers insight not only into the different phonological patterns these affixes trigger, but importantly, explains when the same affix will trigger distinct phonological patterns (when an affix behaves sometimes as Level 1 and sometimes as Level 2). It is argued that Level 1 affixes are distinguished by an initial floating vowel in their underlying representations, and that if we combine this with the proposal that affixes that merge directly to roots are interpreted in the same phonological cycle as these roots then we can remove the reference to diacritic notions such as Level 1 and Level 2 from the grammar. This then allows for a fully modular account of English affix classes, where the phonological derivation refers solely to phonological representations.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49142008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates place of articulation shifts involving heterosyllabic C[non-coronal]C[coronal] clusters. Such phenomena are found, among other languages, in the diachrony of Italiot Greek, where three typologically different historical stages are observed: (a) no shifts; (b) dorsal > labial shift; (c) dorsal, labial > coronal shift. Drawing on Rice's (1994) model of the Place node and the markedness hierarchy dorsal ≺ labial ≺ coronal (with “≺” denoting ‘more marked than’) (de Lacy 2002), I maintain that these shifts reduce the markedness of codas. The gradual typological changes are accounted for in terms of Property Theory (Alber & Prince 2015).
{"title":"Place of articulation shifts in sound change: A gradual road to the unmarked","authors":"Eirini Apostolopoulou","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00442","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates place of articulation shifts involving heterosyllabic C[non-coronal]C[coronal] clusters. Such phenomena are found, among other languages, in the diachrony of Italiot Greek, where three typologically different historical stages are observed: (a) no shifts; (b) dorsal > labial shift; (c) dorsal, labial > coronal shift. Drawing on Rice's (1994) model of the Place node and the markedness hierarchy dorsal ≺ labial ≺ coronal (with “≺” denoting ‘more marked than’) (de Lacy 2002), I maintain that these shifts reduce the markedness of codas. The gradual typological changes are accounted for in terms of Property Theory (Alber & Prince 2015).","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43206425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We survey templatic diminutive formation in Hungarian. We conclude that there is an intricate system of endings that are added to bases which are truncated if they contain more than one vowel. Bases are also subject to vowel length changes in both directions, as well as the palatalization of the last consonant. The templatic diminutive forms are not subject to vowel harmony occurring in suffixes which prevails in the regular additive morphology of the language. Nevertheless, these forms conform to the vowel patterns found in disyllabic monomorphemic or disyllabic suffixed word forms.
{"title":"Diminutive formation in Hungarian","authors":"Péter Rebrus, Peter D Szigetvari","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00481","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00481","url":null,"abstract":"We survey templatic diminutive formation in Hungarian. We conclude that there is an intricate system of endings that are added to bases which are truncated if they contain more than one vowel. Bases are also subject to vowel length changes in both directions, as well as the palatalization of the last consonant. The templatic diminutive forms are not subject to vowel harmony occurring in suffixes which prevails in the regular additive morphology of the language. Nevertheless, these forms conform to the vowel patterns found in disyllabic monomorphemic or disyllabic suffixed word forms.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44216617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The paper deals with the internal syntactic structure of deverbal -nje nominals in Serbian. The tests from the licensing of event-related modifiers (by-phrases and instrumental DPs) support the hypothesis that -nje nominals are derived from passive participles by adding the suffix -je (Marvin 2002; Simonović & Arsenijević 2014). Building on Simonović & Arsenijević (2014), I further observe that the licensing of referential and non-referential event modifiers exhibits a complex set of correlations with the aspectual properties of the base, phonological faithfulness to the base, and semantic compositionality. Semantic opacity and phonological unfaithfulness do not always go hand in hand, and I treat them as two separate components of a process of lexicalization, which is syntactically constrained (Marantz 1997). I argue that the presence of full VoiceP structure including a v0 referring to an event diagnosed by the licensing of referential event modifiers (Alexiadou et al. 2014) constitutes a phase, which blocks lexicalization. This structure is present in -nje nominals derived from secondary imperfectives, which always license referential event modifiers and exhibit semantic compositionality and phonological unfaithfulness. Smaller structures derived from perfectives or primary imperfectives do not license referential event modifiers (hence, they do not constitute a full phase), which is what makes them susceptible to lexicalization.
{"title":"On the internal structure of Serbian -(n)je nominalizations","authors":"P. Kovačević","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00434","url":null,"abstract":"The paper deals with the internal syntactic structure of deverbal -nje nominals in Serbian. The tests from the licensing of event-related modifiers (by-phrases and instrumental DPs) support the hypothesis that -nje nominals are derived from passive participles by adding the suffix -je (Marvin 2002; Simonović & Arsenijević 2014). Building on Simonović & Arsenijević (2014), I further observe that the licensing of referential and non-referential event modifiers exhibits a complex set of correlations with the aspectual properties of the base, phonological faithfulness to the base, and semantic compositionality. Semantic opacity and phonological unfaithfulness do not always go hand in hand, and I treat them as two separate components of a process of lexicalization, which is syntactically constrained (Marantz 1997). I argue that the presence of full VoiceP structure including a v0 referring to an event diagnosed by the licensing of referential event modifiers (Alexiadou et al. 2014) constitutes a phase, which blocks lexicalization. This structure is present in -nje nominals derived from secondary imperfectives, which always license referential event modifiers and exhibit semantic compositionality and phonological unfaithfulness. Smaller structures derived from perfectives or primary imperfectives do not license referential event modifiers (hence, they do not constitute a full phase), which is what makes them susceptible to lexicalization.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45533282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article addresses some shortcomings in the standard theory of the phonology-morphology interface within Government Phonology, which is built on the dichotomy of analytic/non-analytic morphology. I argue that many cases which had previously been thought to be analytic and therefore to require a cyclic application of phonology should be reinterpreted without: Many constructions that seemed to consist of domains inside domains are better understood without that internal structure. This alternative avoids some contradictory results of the standard model, which incorrectly precludes certain kinds of interactions between the nested domains. The reinterpretation also makes better sense of the phonological shape of (allegedly analytic) affixes by taking into account phonotactic possibilities of clusters with more than three consonants, which had so no far not received a satisfactory analysis in the Government Phonology literature.
{"title":"Morphology made (too) simple? Phonological problems with and a solution to the analytic/non-analytic distinction","authors":"M. Pöchtrager","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00480","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses some shortcomings in the standard theory of the phonology-morphology interface within Government Phonology, which is built on the dichotomy of analytic/non-analytic morphology. I argue that many cases which had previously been thought to be analytic and therefore to require a cyclic application of phonology should be reinterpreted without: Many constructions that seemed to consist of domains inside domains are better understood without that internal structure. This alternative avoids some contradictory results of the standard model, which incorrectly precludes certain kinds of interactions between the nested domains. The reinterpretation also makes better sense of the phonological shape of (allegedly analytic) affixes by taking into account phonotactic possibilities of clusters with more than three consonants, which had so no far not received a satisfactory analysis in the Government Phonology literature.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43909332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper presents a novel analysis of the stress system of Ichishkiin Sɨnwit (Sahaptian). Ichishkiin Sɨnwit has been previously analyzed as a unique example of a stress system requiring a ranking of the Affix Faithfulness constraints over the Root Faithfulness constraints. I argue, however, that such idiosyncratic stress mechanisms are not necessary. Instead, I propose that accent assignment is cyclic: Underlying accent in the outermost derivational layer within the relevant domain wins. A central role in this analysis belongs to (i) the underlying specification of morphemes for accent, and to (ii) morpho-prosodic domains. The current proposal additionally offers an insight into the role of morpho-prosodic domains in the hiatus resolution strategies.
{"title":"Morphology-phonology interplay in lexical stress assignment: Ichishkiin Sɨnwit","authors":"Ksenia Bogomolets","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00487","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00487","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a novel analysis of the stress system of Ichishkiin Sɨnwit (Sahaptian). Ichishkiin Sɨnwit has been previously analyzed as a unique example of a stress system requiring a ranking of the Affix Faithfulness constraints over the Root Faithfulness constraints. I argue, however, that such idiosyncratic stress mechanisms are not necessary. Instead, I propose that accent assignment is cyclic: Underlying accent in the outermost derivational layer within the relevant domain wins. A central role in this analysis belongs to (i) the underlying specification of morphemes for accent, and to (ii) morpho-prosodic domains. The current proposal additionally offers an insight into the role of morpho-prosodic domains in the hiatus resolution strategies.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":"22 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41293319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper presents an analysis of the Russian declension in Nanosyntax (Starke 2009, 2018). The analysis has two theoretically important aspects. First, it makes no reference to language-particular declension features. This allows one to maintain the idea that morphosyntactic features are drawn from a set provided by the UG, i.e., language invariant. The analysis also does not use contextual rules. In order to correctly pair the right ending with a particular root, the analysis only relies on specifying each marker for the features it spells out. The correct pairing of roots and affixes falls out from such a specification and the Nanosyntax model of spellout.
{"title":"Modeling declensions without declension features. The case of Russian","authors":"Pavel Caha","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00433","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents an analysis of the Russian declension in Nanosyntax (Starke 2009, 2018). The analysis has two theoretically important aspects. First, it makes no reference to language-particular declension features. This allows one to maintain the idea that morphosyntactic features are drawn from a set provided by the UG, i.e., language invariant. The analysis also does not use contextual rules. In order to correctly pair the right ending with a particular root, the analysis only relies on specifying each marker for the features it spells out. The correct pairing of roots and affixes falls out from such a specification and the Nanosyntax model of spellout.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":"10 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41287640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
It has been long acknowledged that the perception and production of speech is affected by the presence or absence of higher levels of linguistic information, too. The recoverability of meaning heavily relies on semantic context, similarly, the precision of articulation is inversely proportional to the presence of semantic information. The present study explores the recoverability of the voice feature of word-final alveolar fricatives in minimal pairs in Hungarian in phonetic contexts that trigger regressive voicing assimilation. Specifically, it aims to clarify whether the acoustic differences found in earlier studies are perceptually salient enough to distinguish underlying voicing in minimal pairs in semantically ambiguous contexts. For this reason, a perception study with the synthesised minimal pair mész–méz ‘whitewash–honey’ was carried out where the amount of voicing in the fricative, and the duration of the fricative and vowel were manipulated. The target words appeared in the following three phonetic contexts: before /p/, before /b/ and before the vowel /a/. Our results suggest that the observed acoustic differences in most of the cases remain below the perceptual threshold which means that phonological contrast is indeed neutralised before obstruents in Hungarian, and this may cause semantic ambiguity.
{"title":"The perception of voicing contrast in assimilation contexts in minimal pairs: evidence from Hungarian","authors":"Zsuzsanna Bárkányi, Zoltán G. Kiss","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00473","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00473","url":null,"abstract":"It has been long acknowledged that the perception and production of speech is affected by the presence or absence of higher levels of linguistic information, too. The recoverability of meaning heavily relies on semantic context, similarly, the precision of articulation is inversely proportional to the presence of semantic information. The present study explores the recoverability of the voice feature of word-final alveolar fricatives in minimal pairs in Hungarian in phonetic contexts that trigger regressive voicing assimilation. Specifically, it aims to clarify whether the acoustic differences found in earlier studies are perceptually salient enough to distinguish underlying voicing in minimal pairs in semantically ambiguous contexts. For this reason, a perception study with the synthesised minimal pair mész–méz ‘whitewash–honey’ was carried out where the amount of voicing in the fricative, and the duration of the fricative and vowel were manipulated. The target words appeared in the following three phonetic contexts: before /p/, before /b/ and before the vowel /a/. Our results suggest that the observed acoustic differences in most of the cases remain below the perceptual threshold which means that phonological contrast is indeed neutralised before obstruents in Hungarian, and this may cause semantic ambiguity.","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43478161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The syntax of numeral-noun constructions: A view from Polish","authors":"Nathaniel Torres","doi":"10.1556/2062.2021.00453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2021.00453","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37594,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Academica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44761065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}