vowel-zero alternations in albanian and morphophonological contact andrew dombrowski
TRANSCRIPT
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Vowel-Zero Alternations in Albanian and
Morphophonological ContactAndrew Dombrowski
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Introduction
• Slavic + Geg Albanian both have vowel-zero alternations in inflection, due to independent processes of syncope.
• Some Geg dialects in contact with Slavic extend vowel-zero alternations to include nouns ending in –ull, -ur, -urr.
• In some instances, the alternating vowel in Geg is shifted to match corresponding Slavic jer reflex.
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Introduction
• Goals of this paper:– argue that the extension of vowel-zero
alternations in Geg is due to Slavic influence– demonstrate that this cannot be accounted for
in terms of direct Slavic > Albanian grammatical transfer
– explore ramifications of this for modeling phonological contact
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Introduction
• Outline:– Vowel-zero alternations in Geg– Vowel-zero alternations in Slavic– Extension of alternations in Geg– Analysis– Repercussions
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Vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• /ə/ > Ø except when conflicts with phonotactics– note: schwa is always unstressed
• Can be accounted for phonologically
• Sample and sketch account taken from Luznia e Dibrës, a central Geg dialect near Debar along Albania-Macedonia border
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Vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• Schwa deleted in Luznia e Dibrës• See handout; key examples below
Luznia e Dibrës
Original Gloss
prrallz përrallës fairy tale-gen.sg.def.
kpuc këpucë shoe-nom.sg.indef.
shnre *shëndre December-nom.sg.indef.
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Vowel-zero alternations in Geg• Schwa preservation in Luznia e Dibrës• See handout; key examples below
Luznia e Dibrës Original Gloss
e kërmashme e kërmashme red and white (of sheep)-fem.sg.indef.
përjashta përjashta outdoors
i vokël i vogël small-masc.indef.
pullën pullën button-acc.def.
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Vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• Descriptive generalizations– Complex onsets are tolerated except for
CRCV syllables; CNCV is permitted.– Rising sonority codas are not permitted.– Codas of two sonorants are not permitted.
• Sketch OT account– Constraints: Sonority, OCP-son, *CrC, *ə– See handout for details
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Vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• Sketch OT account is not complete– Luznia e Dibrës dialect description does not
have a complete lexicon; above account is consistent with the lexicon given.
• Vowel-zero alternations in Luznia e Dibrës can be captured straightforwardly in an OT model.– With the exception of morphemes like për, the
OT model is agnostic as to whether schwa is present in the UR.
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Vowel-zero alternations in Slavic
• Slavic vowel-zero alternations are older and much more complicated than Geg.
• See handout for outline of standard Macedonian vowel-zero alternations.
• Fairly representative of Slavic dialects with which Geg is in contact.
• Much lexical variation.
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Vowel-zero alternations in Slavic
• Key examples from standard Macedonian:• Adjectives in –en:
– gladen ‘hungry’ ~ gladniot ~ gladna– zelen ‘green’ ~ zeleniot ~ zelena
• Nouns in -ok:– dobitok ‘livestock’ ~ dobici– početok ‘start’ ~ početoci
• Nouns in –ol:– jazol ‘knot’ ~ jazli– sokol ‘falcon’ ~ sokoli / sokli
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Vowel-zero alternations in Slavic• Analysis of Geg does not extend.• Several possible approaches (cf. study of vowel-
zero alternations in Russian):– Abstract jer vowels with rules for deletion (Lightner
1965, Rubach 1986); requires lexical specifcation– Government Phonology ‘translation’ of this (Scheer
2005)– Treat as synchronic vowel insertion with
morphological conditioning of resulting alternations (Darden 1989)
– Treat jer vowels as morphological constituents (Chew 2000)
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Vowel-zero alternations in Slavic
• Cannot be treated in terms of ‘pure’ phonology
• Reference must be made to the lexicon– Classical generative approach involves lexical
specification (/dobit+ъk-ъ/ vs. /počet+ok-ъ/; /jazъl-ъ/ vs. /sokol-ъ/)
– Alternative approaches involve morphological specification
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Extension of vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• Extension to nouns ending in (idiosyncratically) unstressed –ull, -ur, -urr
• Patterns of behavior:(1) Preservation without alternation
(2) /u/ > /ə/; introduction of alternation in paradigms
(3) Preservation of /u/, introduction of alternation in paradigms
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Extension of vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• (1) - /u/ preserved, no alternations– Plava and Gucia in Montenegro, Kastrati, Hoti,
Kelmendi, Peshteri in the Sandžak region of southern Serbia, and Reç-e-Dardhës e Dibrës near Debar.
– Data from Kastrati dialect
Nom.sg.indef. Nom.sg.def.
vetull ‘eyebrow’ vetulla
kumull ‘plum’ kumulla
hekur ‘iron’ hekuri
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Extension of vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• (2) - /u/ > /ə/; introduction of alternation in paradigms– Hasi, Qyteza e Kaçanikut, Shala e Bajgorës,
Gjakova, Tuhini i Kërçovës, Morava e Epërme, Vila-e-Kalisit të Lumës.
– Data from Hasi dialect
Nom.sg.indef. Nom.pl.def.
vetëll ‘eyebrow’ vetlla
kumëll ‘plum’ kumlla
hekër ‘iron’ Hekra
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Extension of vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• (3) - /u/ preserved, introduction of alternation in paradigms– Mirdita, in Gryka e Madhe e Dibrës, Ana e Malit,
the Debar city dialect, Luznia e Dibrës, Karadak, and Puka
– Data from Puka dialect
Nom.sg.indef. Nom.sg.def.
vetull ‘eyebrow’ vetlla
kumull ‘plum’ kumlla
hekur ‘iron’ hekri
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Extension of vowel-zero alternations in Geg
• Fourth pattern: in Opoja, /u/ > /o/ in these nouns, mirroring jer reflexes in neighboring Gora.
Nom.sg.indef. Nom.pl.def.
vetoll ‘eyebrow’ vetlla
kumoll ‘plum’ kumlla
grumoll ‘pile’ grumlla
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Opoja• Actually, in Opoja, [ə] > [o]…• Nominal declension:
Opoja Standard Albanian
Indef Def. Indef. Def.
Nom (ni) motor motra (një) motër motra
Acc (ni) motor motron (një) motër motrën
Gen (i, e ni) motros
(i, e) motros (i, e një) motre
(i, e) motrës
Dat (ni) motros motros (një) motre motrës
Alb (pi(j) ni) motros
(pi(j)) motros
(prej një) motre
(prej) motrës
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Opoja
• Adjectival declension compared to general Geg:
Opoja General Geg
Masc.Sg. Fem.Sg. Masc.Sg. Fem.Sg.
‘clothed’ i veshom e veshme i veshun e veshun
‘dried’ i terom e terme i terun e terun
‘slow’ i kadalshom e kadalshme i ngadalshëm e ngadalshme
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Opoja
• Changes in adjectival declension compared to other Geg dialects:– (1) /o/ corresponding to /u/
• Possible intermediate stage: /u/ > /ə/ > /o/, but this implies intermediate forms like *i terën, which are not attested
– (2) generalization of feminine ending –e
• Result: similar to template in Macedonian
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Opoja
• Adjectival declension in Opoja compared to Macedonian
Masc.(Indef).
Sg.
Fem.(Indef).
Sg.
Opoja Macedonian Opoja Macedonian
Class A i vesh-om
‘clothed’
slad-ok
‘sweet’
e vesh-me
‘clothed’
slat-ka
‘sweet’
i kadal-sh-om
‘slow’
mrt-ov
‘dead’
e kadal-sh-me
‘slow’
mrt-va
‘dead’
Class B i ble-m
‘bought’
rod-en
‘born’
e ble-m-e
‘bought’
rod-en-a
‘born’
i shti-m
‘added’
zelen
‘green’
e shti-m-e
‘added’
zelen-a
‘green’
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Analysis
• Degree of isomorphism between Opoja and neighboring Slavic strongly suggests contact-driven explanation
• On u > ə dialects:• All in Kosovo or vicinity (Hasi is between Kukës
and Kosovo; Vila-e-Kalisit të Lumës is in vicinity of Kukës, but economic ties have historically been with Kosovo)
• This correlates strongly with Slavic dialects where ъ, ь > ə, suggesting that this pattern is structurally very similar to Opoja
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Analysis
• On dialects with preserved /u/ and innovated alternations:– Geographical position: on periphery of /u/ >
/ə/ zones, ranging from Montenegro in the NW (Ana e Malit) to Debar in the south to Karadaku in the E.
– Suggests that this is not under Slavic influence, but instead is diffusion within Albanian
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Analysis
• Stages:– (1) Albanian dialects in and around southern
Kosovo shift /u/ in endings –ull, -ur, -urr to ə under influence from neighboring Prizren-Timok dialects of Serbian where jers > ə.
– (2) Opoja developments (can be seen as subset of stage (1) with subsequent shift due to neighboring Gora, except for participles).
– (3) Spread of vowel-zero alternations to neighboring dialects without /u/ > /ə/ shift
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Analysis
• Things to account for…– (1) equation of (one) Slavic alternating vowel
with Albanian alternating vowel.• Opoja is clearest example of this as an overt
change, but is arguably implicit in u > ə dialects.
– (2) extension of alternations to nouns ending in –ull, -ur, -urr.
– (3) subsequent spread of alternations in neighboring Albanian dialects without u > ə shift
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Analysis
• Can (1) and (2) be analyzed as direct borrowing of Slavic grammar by Albanian?– (1): probably not. If Slavic alternating vowels
are underlying, specification of quality is nowhere in the grammar.
– (2): also probably not. Slavic vowel-zero alternations involve lexical specification, and the relevant lexemes + morphemes are not borrowed.
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Analysis
• Suggestion:– Some reorganization seems to be happening at an
intermediate interface stage between the two languages
• An interlanguage? Similar on first glance, but an interlanguage analysis might make overly strong claims re: sociolinguistic particulars. Also, this would only account for reanalysis of Slavic, not its impact in Albanian.
– Interface-based approach might be an interesting prism to look at questions structural compatibility in borrowing.
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Analysis
• Sample implementation 1: the Opoja shift (ə > o)stage A: <o~Ø>[+Slavic], <ə~Ø>[+Albanian]change: <o~Ø>[+Slavic] [+Albanian]stage B: <o~Ø>[+Slavic, +Albanian]
• Elements in stage A reflect generalizations made by speakers of Albanian, and elements in [brackets] are metadata.
• Key point: a generalization <G>[+Slavic] does not have to actually be completely true of Slavic; it should be deducible from the Slavic evidence but can be a reanalysis.
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Analysis
• Sample implementation 2: spread of alternations without u > ə between dialects D1 and D2– possibility (a): reanalysis of D1
stage A: <[-ull, -ur, -urr][-alternations]>[+D1] <[-ull, -ur, -urr][+alternations]>[+D2]
change: <[-ull, -ur, -urr][+alternations]>[+D2] [+D1] stage B: <[-ull, -ur, -urr][+alternations]>[+D1, +D2]
– In this analysis, D1 speakers reanalyze D2 such that the only salient feature of D2 is the presence of alternations in the marked nouns.
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Analysis
• Sample implementation 2: spread of alternations without u > ə between dialects D1 and D2– possibility (b): partial implementation
stage A: <[-ull, -ur, -urr][-alternations]>[+D1] <[-ull, -ur, -urr][+alternations]>[+D2]
<[-ull, -ur, -urr][+ u > ə]>[+D2]change: <[-ull, -ur, -urr][+alternations]>[+D2] [+D1]stage B: <[-ull, -ur, -urr][+alternations]>[+D1, +D2]
<[-ull, -ur, -urr][+ u > ə]>[+D2]
– D1 only partially reassign tags from D2
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Analysis
• The distinction made in sample implementation 2 between reanalysis and partial implementation of shift might be useful in other instances.
• How to characterize the mechanism of tag reassignment, and what constraints might be involved?
• Can the concept of grammatical interface be productively applied to other situations?