Wordhood in Chamacoco

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-120
Author(s):  
Luca Ciucci
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Phonological Word ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Concept Of Word ◽  
Phonological Rules

This chapter investigates ‘wordhood’ in Chamacoco, a Zamucoan language with about 2,000 speakers who traditionally inhabit the department of Alto Paraguay in Paraguay. After having examined the concept of ‘word’ in Chamacoco culture and the phonological inventory of the language, this chapter defines the phonological word according to its phonological rules, segmental features, and prosodic features (stress, nasal harmony and vowel harmony). Then, the morphological structure of the main word classes (verbs, nouns and adjectives) is outlined in order to identify the grammatical word and the mismatches between phonological and grammatical word. The latter can consist of one or more phonological words, as for compound subordinators, complex predicates, and instances of reduplication. By contrast, owing to cliticization, one phonological word can comprise two or more grammatical words. Finally, the chapter describes the properties of regular clitics and distinguishes them from morphemes which are independent phonological words frequently undergoing cliticization.

Phonological Word and Grammatical Word

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Phonological Word ◽  
Fiji Islands ◽  
Syntactic Function ◽  
Morphological Processes ◽  
Southern Amazonia ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Phonological Unit

‘Word’ is a cornerstone for the understanding of every language. It is a pronounceable phonological unit. It will also have a meaning, and a grammatical characterization-a morphological structure and a syntactic function. And it will be an entry in a dictionary and an orthographic item. ‘Word’ has ‘psychological reality’ for speakers, enabling them to talk about the meaning of a word, its appropriateness for use in a certain social context, and so on. This volume investigates ‘word’ in its phonological and grammatical guises, and how this concept can be applied to languages of distinct typological make-up-from highly synthetic to highly analytic. Criteria for phonological word often include stress, tone, and vowel harmony. Grammatical word is recognized based on its conventionalized coherence and meaning, and consists of a root to which morphological processes will apply. In most instances, ‘grammatical word’ and ‘phonological word’ coincide. In some instances, a phonological word may consist of more than one grammatical word. Or a grammatical word can consist of more than one phonological word, or there may be more complex relationships. The volume starts with a typological introduction summarizing the main issues. It is followed by eight chapters each dealing with ‘word’ in an individual language—Yidiñ from Australia, Fijian from the Fiji Islands, Jarawara from southern Amazonia, Japanese, Chamacoco from Paraguay, Murui from Colombia, Yalaku from New Guinea, Hmong from Laos and a number of diasporic communities, Lao, and Makary Kotoko from Cameroon. The final chapter contains a summary of our findings.

A mismatch between morphological and prosodic domains: evidence from two Igbo rules

Phonology ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Zsiga
Keyword(s):  
Domain Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Phonological Word ◽  
Domain Boundaries ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
Prosodic Categories ◽  
Phonological Phrase ◽  
Phonological Rules

In order to adequately describe the application of phonological rules across word boundaries, phonologists have appealed to the notion of prosodic domains (Selkirk 1980, 1986; Nespor & Vogel 1982, 1986; Kaisse 1985; Inkelas & Zee 1990). This research has suggested that the domains within and across which rules apply cannot be defined in purely syntactic terms, but rather that a domain structure consisting of prosodic entities such as the phonological word, phonological phrase and intonational phrase must be built up from the syntactic structure. It is to these prosodic categories that phonological rules refer. Prosodic domains are derived from but not necessarily coextensive with syntactic or morphological domains. In fact, some of the best evidence for the necessity of a prosodic structure in addition to a syntactic structure comes from cases where the two donotmatch, and where the correct phonological generalisations can only be captured in terms of the prosodic structure. Igbo presents just such a mismatch. This paper will examine two rules - ATR vowel harmony and vowel assimilation - that make the mismatch clear. These two rules apply in complementary situations: harmony applies only within the word, assimilation only between words. Both rules delineate the same domain, although one operates within the domain boundaries, one across them.

Relating application frequency to morphological structure: the case of Tommo So vowel harmony

Phonology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura McPherson ◽  
Bruce Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Linear Order ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Alternative Models ◽  
Harmonic Grammar ◽  
Application Frequency ◽  
Close Fit ◽  
Do So

We describe three vowel-harmony processes in Tommo So and their interaction with morphological structure. The verbal suffixes of Tommo So occur in a strict linear order, establishing a Kiparskian hierarchy of distance from the root. This distance is respected by all three harmony processes; they ‘peter out’, applying with lower frequency as distance from the root increases. The function relating application rate to distance is well fitted by families of sigmoid curves, declining in frequency from one to zero. We show that, assuming appropriate constraints, such functions are a direct consequence of Harmonic Grammar. The crucially conflicting constraints areIdent(violated just once by harmonised candidates) and a scalar version ofAgree(violated one to seven times, based on closeness of the target to the root). We show that our model achieves a close fit to the data, while a variety of alternative models fail to do so.

Die Wortklassen des Bambara: Bestand und Abgrenzung

1989 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siegmund Brauner
Keyword(s):  
Communication Process ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Syntactic Function ◽  
Concept Of Word

SummaryThe article is a revised version of the author’s concept of word classes in Bambara first published in Lehrbuch den Bambara (Leipzig 1974). The problem is also discussed in modern Mande linguistic studies of various authors (Dumestre, Ebermann etc.). Trying to further develop Fries’ concept (The Structure of English, London 1963) of analysing word classes from their grammatical-syntactical distribution, four form classes and seven classes of functional words are recognised in Bambara. In addition to these two groups a third one is postulated: communicative-pragmatic words, which do not have any syntactic function nor do they serve to realise them, they only modify the speech intention and the communication process.

Mid-vowel alternations in the Brazilian Portuguese verb

Phonology ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Leo Wetzels
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Linear Analysis ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Phonological Rules

The underlying system of consonants and vowels in Brazilian Portuguese (henceforth BP), together with the lexical and word-level phonological rules and the interactions between them, has been studied in great detail (see e.g. Harris 1974; Lopez 1979; Redenbarger 1981; Quicoli 1990). The detailed knowledge we possess in this area of BP phonology makes the language an excellent test case for evaluating theoretical innovations, especially since genuine descriptive and explanatory progress can only be achieved by virtue of improved theoretical models. The discussion in this paper will focus on the rules of Vowel Harmony (henceforth VH), Truncation, Neutralisation and Vowel Lowering in verbs (henceforth VL), for which a non-linear analysis will be proposed. One of the purposes of this paper is to show that a treatment of the BP vowel alternations in non-linear terms yields an elegant and explanatory description of a substantial part of the BP phonological component. Another goal is to present the theoretically relevant aspects of the BP facts. It will be argued that aperture distinctions in BP are advantageously represented by a single phonetic parameter, which will not only dispense with the features [high] and [low], but also with [ATR] or [tense], which have been frequently used to distinguish the two series of BP mid vowels. Also, further evidence will be provided in favour of the hypothesis advanced by a number of phonologists (see Clements 1991a; Odden 1991) that aperture features should be represented as constituents in the vocalic feature tree.

scholarly journals I verbi di servizio (modali, aspettuali e causativi) e i verbi supporto nelle grammatiche descrittive d’italiano dal 1953 al 2005

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Anna Godzich
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Form Complex ◽  
Light Verbs ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Causative Verbs

The paper deals with Italian helping verbs (modal, aspectual, causative verbs) and light verbs which form complex predicates and with the rules that guide its use in Italian descriptive grammars published in Italy between 1953 and 2005. The author shows that those forms in both – traditional and contemporary Italian descriptive grammars are treated at the level of word classes whereas it could be more appropriate to discuss them as clause elements as they form complex predicates. In our opinion this way of describing such verbs is due to the tradition in Italy to focus on a form and not on function of an element. What is more, Italian grammarians tend to omit in Italian descriptive grammars noun predicationand the role of semantic predicate (n pred.). The goal of the paper is to present the advantages of an integrated approach to helping verbs (modal, aspectual, causative verbs) and light verbs in modern Italian. The author emphasizes its importance for contemporary Italian FL syntax teaching.

South West and Central Asia

2020 ◽  
pp. 206-224
Author(s):  
Anastasia Karlsson ◽  
Güliz Güneş ◽  
Hamed Rahmani ◽  
Sun-Ah Jun
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Northern Asia ◽  
South West ◽  
Prosodic Structures ◽  
Main Language

This chapter covers prosodic features of languages across Southwestern, Central, and Northern Asia. One representative language from each of the four main language families is passed in review, Turkish (Turkic), Mongolian (Mongolic), Persian (Indo-European), and Georgian (Kartvelian). Owing to a lack of descriptive coverage of the prosody of languages in Central Asia, no comprehensive surveys are provided. The discussion focuses on the word and sentence prosodic structures of each of the four languages, with occasional brief excursions to related languages. The languages in this area are mainly non-tonal, while contrastive lexical stress is rare across the area, and may be controversial or marginal where it was reported earlier. Vowel harmony is pervasive in Mongolic and Turkic. In all four cases, the discussion includes the expression of focus, whether in the word order or the prosody. A final section is devoted to the intonational expression of interrogativity and related meanings.

The essence of  ‘word’

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald ◽  
R. M. W. Dixon ◽  
Nathan M. White
Keyword(s):  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Orthographic Representation ◽  
Phonological Word ◽  
Minimal Word ◽  
Suprasegmental Features ◽  
Serial Verbs ◽  
Phonological Unit ◽  
Phonological Units

This chapter offers general background for the analysis of ‘phonological word’ and ‘grammatical word’ in a cross-linguistic perspective. It outlines the defining characteristics of phonological word (including segmental and suprasegmental features and phonological processes), formulates restrictions on the length of a minimal word, and places ‘word’ within a hierarchy of phonological units. Defining features of grammatical word are outlined next. In most instances phonological words and grammatical words coincide. In some cases a grammatical word can consist of a number of phonological words, and vice versa. Typical instances of mismatches involve reduplication, compounding, and complex predicates, including serial verbs. Clitics—morphological units which form a phonological unit with a word preceding or following them—account for further mismatches. The reality of word and the nature of its orthographic representation are discussed next. The chapter concludes with an overview of the volume, and an appendix containing points to be addressed by fieldworkers.

scholarly journals Ausdrucksarten – ein neuer Zugang zur Wortschatzvermittlung im DaF-Unterricht

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathilde Hennig ◽  
Isabel Buchwald-Wargenau
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Multiword Expressions ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Concept Of Word

Word classes are one of the most successful and famous concepts of linguistics. They are an essential part of school grammar as well as of teaching German as a foreign language. Categorizing words in word classes is based on the assumptions that a) 'word' is a relevant and definable linguistic category and b) (single) words are worth classifying. The article concentrates on the second assumption by bringing into play lexicalized multiword expressions, such as hin und her, Wohl und Wehe, im Falle, and weder noch. Because the meanings of these expressions are not predictable (due to the principle of compositionality), it does not make sense to classify the single words which are part of the expression into word classes separately. Therefore, we suggest extending the concept of word classes by including the concept of classes of multiword expression.

scholarly journals How far west into Asia have Eskimo languages been spoken, and which ones?

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fortescue
Keyword(s):  
Word List ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Northeastern Asia ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Plausible Hypothesis ◽  
Language Boundaries ◽  
Lexical Data

Abstract It has long been suggested by archaeologists that Eskimo-speaking groups were present along the coasts of northeastern Asia much further west than their present confinement to the tip of the Chukotkan Peninsula suggests. However, little linguistic evidence confirming this has been adduced. The pitfalls of misinterpretation of early word-list materials is illustrated with an examination of the facts and non-facts concerning the so-called Anadyr Eskimos supposed to have been met in the early 19th century far to the west, speaking what looks like the Naukanski language of East Cape. With the availability of new data on recently extinct Kerek, it is possible to put together from the hitherto sparse phonological and lexical data a plausible hypothesis that explains, among other things, certain prosodic features of coastal Chukotian languages in terms of a relatively recent Yupik Eskimo substratum all the way to the Kamchatkan isthmus. These features largely coincide with the areas where the original Chukotian vowel harmony system has broken down, in an almost contiguous coastal strip cutting across major language boundaries. This is set within a broader scenario for the spread of successive waves of Eskimo languages on the Asian side, back from their focal area around Bering Strait during successive phases of Neo-Eskimo culture. An explanation of the origin of Yupik rhythmical stress—and its relationship to peculiarities of the highly aberrant Sirenikski language and to the nature of adjacent Chukotian prosodies—will fall out from this scenario.

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