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SONORITY and SYLLABLE WEIGHT in FUR by ASHLEY LOBER

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SONORITY and SYLLABLE WEIGHT in FUR by ASHLEY LOBER SONORITY AND SYLLABLE WEIGHT IN FUR by ASHLEY LOBER MCKEEVER Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2014 Shape of the baseright © by Ashley Lober McKeever 2014 All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements First, I would like to acknowledge both M and El-Fadel Arbab for allowing me the privilege and honor to work on your language. I would like to acknowledge the members of the Fur Cultural Revival (FCR) in Maine; in particular, I appreciate the FCR board members, Mansour Ahmed, El-Fadel Arbab, Babiker Mohamed, and Salami Arbab for being so gracious to me during my time in Maine. I also would like to thank my committee members, Colleen Fitzgerald, Jerald Edmondson, Steven Parker, and Cindy Kilpatrick. To my chair, Colleen, for her support, suggestions, and time during this process. She has encouraged me to keep going even when I wanted to give up. To Jerald Edmondson for initially peaking my interest in the Fur language during our Field Methods course and for initially taking me on during the beginning stages of my dissertation. To Steven Parker, who has been with me throughout the different versions of my dissertation; I have appreciated his kind, detailed feedback and suggestions. To Cindy Kilpatrick for joining my committee toward the end of my journey. Her comments, help, and time have been much appreciated. I also would like to thank others that have played a role at some point in my process here at UTA. Michael Cahill and David Silva provided wonderful feedback at the beginning stages of my dissertation, which I have appreciated immensely. Finally, this dissertation would not have been possible without my family—their love and support are what kept me going. To my husband, Jacob, who has been very supporting and patient with me throughout this (seemingly) never-ending process, and Alec and Zoe, who have been with me in its final stages, giving me the motivation to finish through to the end. And to my Oma for always believing in me. This dissertation is for you. Like you said, no one can ever take your education away from you. July 18, 2014 iii Abstract SONORITY AND SYLLABLE WEIGHT IN FUR Ashley Lober McKeever, PhD The University of Texas at Arlington, 2014 Supervising Professor: Colleen Fitzgerald This dissertation is a study of sonority and syllable weight and their effects within Fur phonology. It is assumed that a wide range of phenomena are affected by syllable weight and that it is specific to the processes in which it is observed rather than a language universal (Gordon 2007, Fitzgerald 2012, and others). In this study, I show how sonority is used to organize both the syllable and the word in Fur. The Syllable Contact Law (Clements 1990) is particularly important to the organization of words, with non-sonorous codas generally avoided in coda position of heterosyllabic C.C sequences. Using Autosegmental Phonology, this study also presents the lexical tone patterns of Fur and shows how contour tones and complex contour tones are licensed, in part, by the weight of the syllable. In this context, long vowels and sonorous codas are considered heavy (CVV and CVR) and short vowels, whether open or closed with a non-sonorous consonant, are considered light (CV(C)). Moreover, I show how sonority is important in both alliteration and rhyme, with each of these phenomena being important organizing principles in reduplication and in songs. The iambic foot is also shown in this study to be an important organizing tool in reduplication, reflecting how syllable weight is important in this language. For example, bases with the structure of an iambic foot are only seen in examples of total reduplication. iv Beyond showing how sonority and syllable weight are important within Fur phonology, this study also seeks to further the knowledge about this lesser-studied language by describing several phenomena that have been neglected in the language: geminates, contour tone distribution, reduplication, and meter. It is hoped that this study will help broaden the knowledge of the Fur language and that of the Nilo-Saharan language family, while also contributing typologically to the areas of syllable weight and sonority. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Illustrations ..............................................................................................................xii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Some Theoretical Assumptions ................................................................................ 4 1.3 Language and Sociolinguistic Background .............................................................. 6 1.4 Previous Work on Fur ............................................................................................... 8 1.5 Source Data for This Study .................................................................................... 10 1.6 Overview of the Dissertation ................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2 Phonotactic Constraints in Fur ......................................................................... 13 2.1.1 Brief Introduction to Tone ................................................................................ 13 2.1.2 Organization of Chapter 2 ............................................................................... 15 2.2 The Segmental Inventory ....................................................................................... 15 2.2.1 Consonant Inventory ..................................................................................... 15 2.2.1.1 The glottal sounds .................................................................................... 17 2.2.1.2 Glides ....................................................................................................... 20 2.2.1.3 The k w/g w word initial segment ................................................................. 21 2.2.1.4 Summary of consonants .......................................................................... 21 2.2.2 Vowel Inventory ............................................................................................... 22 2.2.2.1 Long vowels ............................................................................................. 23 2.2.2.2 [ATR] vowel harmony ............................................................................... 24 2.2.2.4 Summary of vowels .................................................................................. 30 vi 2.2.3 Summary of Segments .................................................................................... 30 2.3 Sonority ................................................................................................................... 30 2.3.1 Syllable Types ................................................................................................. 31 2.3.2 Distribution of Segments in Coda Position ...................................................... 32 2.3.2.1 Obstruents in coda position ..................................................................... 33 2.3.1.2 Nasals in coda position ............................................................................ 34 2.3.1.3 Liquids in coda position ............................................................................ 35 2.3.1.4 Glides in coda position ............................................................................. 36 2.3.2 The Sonority of C 1.C 2 Sequences Across Syllable Boundaries ...................... 38 2.3.2.1 The syllable contact law ........................................................................... 39 2.3.3 C 1.C 2 Sequences that Adhere to the (Extended) Syllable Contact Law ........................................................................................................................... 40 2.3.4 C 1.C 2 Sequences in Reduplicants: Violations of the Syllable Contact Law ......................................................................................................... 47 2.3.6 C 1.C 2 sequences in Verbs: Metathesis and Deletion ...................................... 51 2.3.6.1 Forms with metathesis ............................................................................. 52 2.3.6.2 Forms with deletion .................................................................................. 56 2.3.6.3 Summary of sonority within verbs ............................................................ 59 2.4 Formalizing some of the Findings of this Chapter through Optimality Theory ........................................................................................................................... 62 2.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 63 Chapter 3 Syllable Weight in Fur .....................................................................................
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