by
Nicole Rosen
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Department of Linguistics
University of Toronto
© Copyright by Nicole Rosen 2007 ii
Domains in Michif Phonology
Nicole Rosen Doctor of Philosophy 2007 Department of Linguistics University of Toronto
Michif is an under-described contact language spoken by a few hundred Métis people, mostly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It has two principal source languages: Plains Cree and
French and has generally been analyzed as having two co-phonologies: French phonology applying to the French-source lexical items and Cree phonology applying to the Cree-source lexical items (Rhodes 1986, Bakker 1997, Bakker & Papen 1997, Papen 2003.
This thesis serves a dual role in the study of Michif. First, it offers the first systematic description of phonological distribution and patterning including segmental inventories, stress assignment and syllabification, as well as a sketch of Michif morphology and morphological categories. Second, it argues that Michif need not be analyzed as stratifying its lexical components according to historical source. Lexicon stratification of this type, according to historical language source, has also been posited for languages such as Japanese (Itô & Mester
1997, 2001, 2005) and English (Kiparsky 1982) to account for synchronic differences in patterning of different lexical items. However distributional differences in Michif are argued not to be sufficient for positing a stratified lexicon, and it is argued in this thesis that previously claimed synchronic patterning either relies on diachronic data as input to synchronic rules, or else the patterning itself is no longer productive in Michif, or different phonemicization accounts for patterning differences. Two case studies in Michif patterning, stress assignment and -deletion, are shown to be predictable and systematic with no differences in patterning with regards to historical language source. Given these facts, I argue that lexicon stratification in
Michif is unwarranted. Although historical source domains do not play a role in synchronic iii
Michif, prosodic domains are shown to have different phonological inventories and to pattern differently with respect to phonological processes such as syllabification and stress assignment.
Michif affixes and minor categories are shown pattern differently, but this is based on regular synchronic patterning of linguistic, rather than historical, criteria. iv
Acknowledgements
Graduate school and this dissertation have been a huge part of my life in the last several years, and it’s hard to know where to start in thanking people who helped along the way for fear of leaving someone out. Here goes.
First I’d like to thank the people who led me to this path: Hitay Yükseker, my first instructor at Queen’s University, who opened me up to the world of linguistics and encouraged me to pursue graduate work at the University of Toronto. I’d also like to thank the French linguistics section at the U of T, for welcoming me and exposing me to the field of Romance linguistics that I draw on in my work, but also for encouraging me to transfer departments even though it meant they were losing a student. I found out about this mysterious Michif language while in the French department, through research on North American French with Yves Roberge and a French in Contact course with Anne-Marie Brousseau, and for that I am eternally grateful.
I don’t think I can get across how lucky I feel to have been part of the Linguistics department at the University of Toronto. It is a truly special place; one where students and faculty alike are dedicated, active, caring, and fun. I’d like to thank in particular Alana Johns,
Jack Chambers, Diane Massam, Arsalan, Wenckje, Susana, Carrie, Abdel, Carolyn, Chiara,
Milan, Manami, Christine, Suzanne and Alexei for being sources of inspiration and for making the department a brighter place at some point while I was there simply by being part of it.
While I’m thanking people for brightening up my life, I would remiss in not mentioning
Katreena & Jenn, my two good friends, grad school sounding boards and inspirations in how thesis-writing should be done: quickly. Also Jodi, for helping out with childcare in my final thesis writing and defending year. You and our G&T Fridays made things so much easier.
I spent two beneficial periods while thesis-writing away from Toronto. I would like to thank the Institute for the Humanities of the University of Manitoba for allowing me closer v access to my research, and Shana Poplack at the University of Ottawa for showing me a different approach to language variation contact. My time in Ottawa has influenced this thesis and my approach to linguistics, generally, and for that I am grateful.
A number of people have helped with the thesis in particular. I’d like to thank Manami
Hirayama particularly for her help with the phonetic and Japanese parts in the thesis, as well as
Ron Smyth for help with statistics (or lack thereof). Peter Bakker, despite our differing views of
Michif, has always been supportive of my work and inspirational in his. Both Emmanuel
Nikiema and Elan Dresher gave me extremely helpful comments on previous versions of my thesis, allowing me to improve the final product. Thank you for your time. Of course I cannot thank my consultants enough: Norman Fleury, the first Michif speaker I ever met, and who consulted with me regularly over the years; Rita Flamand, who met and emailed me so diligently when I needed help; and Grace Zoldy, a wonderful speaker and proponent of the
Michif language. I would be nowhere without these three people and I am so glad they agree to share their knowledge with me. Likewise, Heather Souter has pushed me to learn more about the Michif people and language and has been a source of inspiration, as she lives and learns the
Michif language. I feel so fortunate to have been welcomed into the Manitoba Métis Federation and greater Métis community, and I hope to be able to return their generosity.
I and my thesis have benefited from having the best advisor and external appraiser a PhD candidate could ask for. Though he was involved only after the thesis was submitted, Rich
Rhodes played a huge role in the final version found here. He spent an unknown number of hours going over the fine details of my data, teaching me a lot about Michif and attention to detail along the way. Words cannot express my gratitude for the attention he has given my work. Similarly, there are no mere words to describe my advisor and mentor Keren Rice, and I will not do her a disservice by trying to describe her. She is, simply put, the most impressive vi person I know, and my inspiration in all things academic. Everyone should be so lucky to have an advisor like Keren, but since not everyone can, I’m glad I was. Keren, I will never be able to thank you enough.
I’d like to thank my family for their support, in particular my mother for her intellectual curiosity, and my father for his sense of humour. Both have proven invaluable throughout the years.
And finally, I need to thank my new family for constant inspiration: Dave, the love of my life, whom I met while in grad school, for putting up with hearing ‘I’m almost finished’ more times than either of us can count, not to mention moving all over the country with me, and
Oscar, for being my other labour of love. You both make my life better just by being in it.
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Table of Contents Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Introduction to the Michif language ...... 1 1.1.1 The Métis people and the creation of Michif...... 1 1.1.2 Terminology ...... 2 1.1.3 Status of Michif today ...... 3 1.2 Contact languages...... 4 1.2.1 Types of contact languages...... 4 1.2.2 Contact languages as an object of study...... 6 1.2.3 Conflict sites...... 7 1.3 Previous work on Michif ...... 8 1.4 The data...... 9 1.4.1 Elicited data...... 9 1.4.2 Recordings ...... 10 1.4.3 Limits of the data...... 10 1.5 A preview of the thesis ...... 11 1.5.1 Potential inventorial evidence...... 11 1.5.2 Potential evidence from stress ...... 13 1.5.3 Morpho-phonological alternations as evidence...... 14 1.6 Thesis organization...... 15
2.0 Overview of Michif Morphology ...... 17 2.1 Morphological marking in the Determiner Phrase (DP) ...... 17 2.1.1 Nominals...... 18 2.1.1.1 Inflectional morphology...... 18 2.1.1.2 Derivational morphology...... 22 2.1.1.2.1 Apparent cases of derivational nominal morphology...... 22 2.1.1.2.2 Productive derivational nominal morphology ...... 26 2.1.2 Adjectives ...... 27 2.1.2.1 Inflectional morphology...... 27 2.1.2.2 Derivational morphology...... 29 2.1.3 Summary - DP morphology...... 33 2.2 Morphological marking on verb ...... 33 2.2.1 Verbal derivation...... 34 2.2.1.1 Verbal derivation in Cree...... 34 2.2.1.2 Verbal derivation in Michif ...... 35 2.2.2 Michif verbal inflection ...... 36 2.2.2.1 Prefixation ...... 37 2.2.2.2 Suffixation ...... 40 2.2.2.2.1 Transitivity marking ...... 40 2.2.2.2.2 Modal marking ...... 43 2.2.2.2.3 Direction ...... 45 2.2.2.2.4 Person, number and animacy marking...... 47 2.2.2.2.4.1 Person, number and animacy in the independent order...... 47 2.2.2.2.4.1.1 Intransitive verbs...... 48 2.2.2.2.4.1.2 Transitive verbs...... 51 2.2.2.2.4.1.3 Summary of independent order affixes...... 57 2.2.2.2.4.2 Person, number and animacy in the conjunct ...... 58 viii
2.2.2.2.4.2.1 Intransitive verbs...... 59 2.2.2.2.4.2.2 Transitive verbs...... 60 2.2.2.2.4.2.3 Summary of conjunct order morphemes...... 65 2.2.2.2.4.3 Person, number and animacy in the imperative...... 65 2.2.2.3 Summary of verbal inflection ...... 67 2.3 Minor categories...... 68 2.3.1 Demonstratives ...... 68 2.3.2 Adpositions...... 69 2.3.3 Preverbs ...... 70 2.3.4 Other syntactic markers ...... 71 2.3.4.1 Negation...... 71 2.3.4.2 Question markers...... 73 2.3.4.3 Subordinate markers ...... 74 2.3.4.4 Summary of Minor Categories ...... 75 2.4 Morphological domains - defining the phonological word in Michif ...... 76 2.4.1 The ‘word’ in other Algonquian languages...... 77 2.4.2 The ‘word’ in Michif ...... 80 2.5 Summary...... 83
3 The syllable...... 84 3.1 Overview ...... 84 3.1.1 Rhymes ...... 85 3.1.1.1 Codas ...... 86 3.1.1.2 Nuclei...... 88 3.1.1.2.1 Position of glides ...... 89 3.1.2 Onsets ...... 96 3.2 Syllabification of different morphological domains...... 101 3.3 Summary...... 106
4 Michif Consonants...... 108 4.1 Michif consonant inventory...... 108 4.1.1 Laryngeal qualities of consonants ...... 109 4.1.1.1 Voiced obstruents ...... 110 4.1.1.2 Preaspirated obstruents ...... 113 4.1.1.3 Plain obstruents...... 117 4.1.2 Stops ...... 119 4.1.3 Stops – places of articulation...... 119 4.1.3.1 Labial ...... 119 4.1.3.2 Alveolar ...... 119 4.1.3.3 Velar ...... 120 4.1.4 Obstruents - Fricatives...... 121 4.1.4.1 Labio-dentals ...... 121 4.1.4.2 Alveolars...... 121 4.1.4.3 Alveopalatals ...... 121 4.1.4.4 Glottal ...... 122 4.1.5 Obstruents - Affricates...... 122 4.1.6 Sonorants - Nasals...... 123 ix
4.1.7 Sonorants - Liquids...... 123 4.1.8 Sonorants - Glides...... 124 4.2 Consonant distribution...... 125 4.2.1 By position in word ...... 125 4.2.1.1 Word-initial position...... 125 4.2.1.2 Word-medial...... 125 4.2.1.3 Word-final position...... 125 4.2.2 Based on morphological category ...... 126 4.2.2.1 Affixes ...... 126 4.2.2.2 Affixal obstruents ...... 127 4.2.2.3 Affixal sonorants ...... 128 4.2.3 Minor Categories...... 130 4.3 Consonant Clusters...... 131 4.3.1 Word-initial clusters...... 132 4.3.2 Word-final consonant clusters...... 132 4.3.3 Word-medial consonant clusters...... 132 4.3.4 Other clusters...... 133 4.4 Consonantal Alternations...... 134 4.4.1 Place assimilation in preaspirates ...... 134 4.4.2 Obstruent voicing...... 141 4.4.3 Affrication/palatalization...... 142 4.5 Conclusions ...... 142
5 Michif Vowels...... 144 5.1 Michif vowel inventory ...... 144 5.1.1 Vowels – oral...... 144 5.1.1.1 High vowels...... 145 5.1.1.1.1 Front...... 145 5.1.1.1.2 Back ...... 146 5.1.1.2 Mid vowels ...... 147 5.1.1.2.1 Front...... 148 5.1.1.2.1.1 Unrounded ...... 148 5.1.1.2.1.2 Rounded...... 149 5.1.1.2.2 Back ...... 149 5.1.1.3 Low vowels...... 152 5.1.1.4 Oral vowels - summary...... 153 5.1.2 Nasalized vowels...... 154 5.2 Vowel distribution...... 155 5.2.1 Distribution by morphological category...... 155 5.2.1.1 Vowel inventory in affixes ...... 155 5.2.1.2 Vowel inventory in minor categories ...... 158 5.2.1.2.1 Lax vowels...... 158 5.2.1.2.2 Tense vowels ...... 158 5.2.1.2.3 Nasalized vowels ...... 159 5.2.1.2.4 Summary of vowel inventory in minor categories ...... 159 5.2.2 Distribution based on stressed/unstressed position ...... 161 5.2.2.1 High vowels...... 161 5.2.2.2 Mid vowels ...... 163 x
5.2.2.3 Low vowels...... 164 5.2.2.4 Nasalized vowels ...... 165 5.2.2.5 Summary of vowel inventory in stressed and unstressed syllables ...... 165 5.3 Michif vowel summary...... 166 5.4 Michif rounded vowel variation ...... 167 5.5 Conclusions ...... 167
6.0 Evidence for Stratification...... 168 6.1 Michif literature and stratification...... 169 6.1.1 What is stratification?...... 169 6.1.2 Stratification based on morphological levels...... 169 6.2 Distributional/inventorial arguments...... 172 6.2.3 Hypothesis A – all phonemes occur in new language ...... 175 6.2.4 Hypothesis B – like phonemes map onto each other...... 178 6.2.4.1 Measurements of like phonemes in both vocabulary sets ...... 179 6.3 Other inventory conflict sites...... 184 6.3.1 Front round vowels...... 185 6.3.2 Schwa...... 185 6.3.3 Glides...... 186 6.3.4 Nasalized vowels...... 187 6.3.5 Summary of conflict sites ...... 188 6.3.1 Phonological convergence?...... 189 6.3.2 (Non-)Necessity of claiming stratified distributions/inventories ...... 190 6.4 Patterning...... 193 6.4.3 Consonantal alternations...... 193 6.4.3.1 Optional aspiration of stops...... 193 6.4.3.2 Optional voicing of /t k/ ...... 194 6.4.3.3 Sibilant harmony...... 194 6.4.4 Vowel alternations...... 196 6.4.4.1 High back vowel alternations ...... 196 6.4.4.2 Phonetic realization of /a/ ...... 199 6.4.4.3 Vowel assimilation ...... 201 6.4.4.4 //-devoicing...... 203 6.4.4.5 Liaison ...... 206 6.4.4.6 Vowel coalescence...... 210 6.4.4.7 t-epenthesis ...... 212 6.4.4.8 d vs. d alternations...... 214 6.5 Conclusions ...... 216
7 Chapter 7 – Michif Stress ...... 218 7.1 Introduction to parametric metrical theory...... 218 7.2 Michif stress...... 219 7.2.1 Patterning of different morphological domains...... 221 7.2.1.1 Compound stress...... 223 7.2.2 Formalization of Michif stress...... 224 7.3 Comparison of systems with source languages of Michif...... 227 7.3.1 Description of French stress ...... 227 xi
7.3.1.1 Formalization of French stress...... 228 7.3.2 Description of Plains Cree stress ...... 230 7.3.2.1 Formalization of Cree stress ...... 231 7.4 A comparison of the three stress systems...... 232 7.5 Speculating on the split vocabulary patterning...... 234 7.6 Conclusions ...... 235
Chapter 8 - Vowel deletion ...... 237 8.1 Deletion in the source languages of Michif...... 237 8.1.1 Canadian French deletion ...... 238 8.1.1.1 Schwa-deletion ...... 238 8.1.1.2 High vowel devoicing...... 239 8.1.2 Summary of Canadian French vowel weakening ...... 240 8.1.3 Devoicing or deletion?...... 240 8.1.4 Plains Cree deletion...... 241 8.2 Comparison of two systems...... 243 8.3 Michif deletion...... 243 8.3.1 Following a liquid or glide ...... 244 8.3.2 Between identical consonants...... 245 8.3.3 Adjacent to a sibilant ...... 246 8.3.4 Summary of Michif vowel deletion...... 248 8.4 Comparison of the three systems...... 249 8.4.1 Are the processes comparable?...... 249 8.4.2 Comparing the three languages ...... 251 8.5 Michif vowel deletion across historical domains ...... 252 8.5.1 Michif vowel deletion in Cree vocabulary ...... 252 8.5.2 Michif vowel deletion in French vocabulary...... 253 8.6 Summary...... 256
9. Conclusions...... 257 9.1 Summary of the thesis ...... 257 9.2 Prosodic domains in Michif...... 259 9.3 Contributions ...... 260 9.4 Implications ...... 261 9.5 Issues for further research...... 262
References...... 264
Appendix A - List of verbal morphemes and minor categories ...... 270
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED
Abbreviation Marking 1 first person 2 second person 3 third person 1/2CJ 1st plural person inclusive in conjunct 1/3CJ First person subject, third person object in conjunct 1CJ First person conjunct in conjunct 1PL First plural person 1PLCJ First plural person exclusive in conjunct 2CJ Second person conjunct in conjunct 2O Second person object in conjunct 2PL Second plural person 2PLCJ Second plural person in conjunct 3CJ Third person conjunct in conjunct 3IN Third animate subject, inanimate object 3PL Third plural person 3PLCJ Third plural person in conjunct AN Animate CJNEG Conjunct negation COMP Complementizer DBL3 Third - third participants DBLPL Both subject & object are plural DET Determiner DF Definite DIR Third and non-third participants – direct DIST Distal F Feminine FUT Future GEN genitive rd IM Impersonal 3 subject IMMFUT Immediate future IN Inanimate INCEPT Inceptive IMP Imperative IMP1/2 First person inclusive transitive imperative IMP1/2IN First person inclusive intransitive imperative IMPOBV Obviative imperative object IMPPL Imperative plural INC Inceptive INDF Indefinite INT Intermediate INV Third and non-third participants – inverse M Masculine MRK Marker NEG Negation xiii
NOMPST Nominal past NON3 Non-third person NON3DIR Both non-third participants – direct NON3IN Non-third subject, inanimate object NON3INV Both non-third participants – inverse OB Object POSS Possessive PL Plural PROX Proximate PST Past tense PURP Purpose Q Question marker REC Reciprocal REFL Reflexive REL Relativizer SG Singular TR Transitiviser VOL Volitional
1 Introduction This thesis outlines major aspects of the phonological grammar of Michif, a language created out of French-Cree language contact in the nineteenth century in Manitoba. It is the first substantial work devoted to the phonology of Michif in a synchronic, generative framework.
Two related but separate themes become apparent in the elaboration of this grammar. First, given that previous literature has claimed that Michif is a language stratified along historical lines with two distinct co-phonologies based on historical source, I am naturally led to investigate that hypothesis. As such, the question of synchronic grammar stratification based on diachronic information is an underlying theme in this thesis. Second, I find that morpho- phonological domains play an important role in the phonology of Michif, the other theme underlying this thesis. These two themes are interesting in relation to each other because they both involve the splitting of grammar into domains. The overall finding of this thesis is that though there is evidence of split patterning in the phonology, this is principally due to synchronic linguistic factors such as morpheme boundary versus word boundary versus tautomorphemic word, rather than due to historical vocabulary source, as the Michif literature has traditionally claimed.
1.1 Introduction to the Michif language 1.1.1 The Métis people and the creation of Michif Michif was formed in the early 19th century, according to reports by Bakker (1997), the result of contact between Cree and Ojibwe speaking nations and French fur traders in the Red
River Valley of Manitoba. The Métis, the offspring of these mixed unions, were identified as a new ethnic group as early as the first decade of the 1800s, and it is likely around this time that the Michif language was created (see Bakker 1997 for details). The emigration and dispersion of the Métis began slowly after 1821, as a result of the union of the Hudson’s Bay Company and
1 2 the North West Company, a move made to prevent the ongoing skirmishes between the Métis and the settlers. There was no longer work within the new amalgamated company for Métis people. Drought and floods also caused the migration of the Métis, in their search for better lands. However, it was two particular events in the late 1800s that caused the largest waves of migration of the Métis. The first migration west from the Red River Valley occurred after 1870, after the defeat of the Métis by the Canadian army, called in to keep order after the execution of
Thomas Scott (a protestant Anglophone prisoner). The second migration occurred after the
Battle of Batoche in 1885, where the Métis were again defeated and their leader Louis Riel was hanged. This dispersion of the Métis has resulted in pockets of Michif speakers found primarily in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota, though some moved as far west as Alberta and
Montana. However, the homogeneity of the Michif language throughout these pockets of speakers has led to the conclusion that Michif must have been formed and been robust before this dispersion, and so this must date to the first half of the nineteenth century (Crawford 1983,
Bakker 1997). Bakker (1997) estimates it was never spoken by more than a few thousand speakers.
Today, the Métis people constitute a distinct Aboriginal nation largely based in western
Canada. The Métis Nation grounds its assertion of Aboriginal nationhood on principles such as a shared history, common culture (song, dance, dress, national symbols, etc.), unique language
(Michif, with various regional dialects), extensive kinship connections from Ontario westward, distinct way of life, traditional territory and collective consciousness.1
1 Taken from Métis National Council website at http://metisnation.ca/who/index.html.
3
1.1.2 Terminology There is some ambiguity in the term Michif; therefore I will clarify in what sense I use the term.
The term Michif2 is synonymous with Métis: Michif is actually the Métis pronunciation of
‘métif’ which existed alongside ‘métis’ in French, meaning ‘mixed ancestry’. The Métis people also call themselves the Michif people. Most Métis people tend to refer to their language as
Michif, whether it be the Métis dialect of French (as spoken in St Laurent, Manitoba, for example), of Cree (as spoken in Alberta and northern Saskatchewan) or Saulteaux (as spoken mostly in Manitoba), or the language linguists call Michif. This multiple usage of a single label can cause terminological problems. In this thesis, for purposes of clarity only, Métis refers to the people and Michif will always refer to the mixed language in the sense that will be described in the following section. Métis French will refer to the dialect spoken by the Métis in Manitoba
(called Michif or Michif French), which incorporates some Algonquian borrowings and exhibits lexical and phonological differences from other Canadian varieties. For discussion of Métis
French see Papen (1984, 1993, 1997). Métis Cree is the variety of Cree somewhat influenced by French spoken by the Métis in Alberta and in some parts of Saskatchewan. This is the variety described in Anderson (1997). It is my intention not to diminish the stature of Métis languages other than the one I label Michif, as speakers themselves are certainly entitled to call their language Michif, but to clarify for the purposes of this thesis the language to which I refer.
1.1.3 Status of Michif today Today, Michif is spoken by a diminishing number of Métis, as is French, Saulteaux
(Ojibwe), Cree and English. Michif is spoken mainly in pockets of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. An accurate number of speakers is difficult to ascertain. Bakker estimates
2 Michif is sometimes spelled either Mitchif or Métchif. I have chosen to use the Michif spelling because it is what is used by most Canadian Métis organizations.
4 the numbers are ‘under 1000’ (Bakker 1997:3). The 2000 U.S. Census lists 230 Michif speakers in the United States, down from 390 in 1990. The 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples, based on the 1991 Canada Census and 1991 Aboriginal Peoples Survey, reported that there were 840 Michif speakers in Canada (RCAP, 1996, pp. 604- 608). However this number is likely inflated, given the ambiguity of the term Michif as explained in section 1.1.2. It is very likely that speakers of Métis Cree or Métis French responded as Michif speakers. Michif was first listed as an option in the Canadian Census in 2001, and again the terminological problem remains an issue. Exact numbers are not immensely important, however, since like the majority of North American native languages, intergenerational transmission of Michif has ceased and no children or people of childbearing age speak the language.
1.2 Contact languages 1.2.1 Types of contact languages Michif is a contact language, or a language that arose out of the contact of two languages, in this case Plains Cree and Canadian French. There are many different types of contact languages, including pidgins, creoles and trade languages. The genesis and definition of pidgins and creoles is somewhat controversial, but pidgins are generally viewed as simplified versions of languages, with limited grammar and lexicon, which arise when one group tries to approximate another group’s language, without intricate knowledge of its grammar. Creoles are languages which originated primarily out of a geographical belt where slave plantations existed. Again, there are different theories as to how they are created, from the language bioprogramme hypothesis (see Bickerton 1984 for details) to relexification (see Lefevbre 1996), to believing they are no different than any other contact situation (see Mufwene 2001, 2005). In any case, while Michif is part of the larger category of contact languages, it bears no linguistic or socio- historical resemblance to a creole or pidgin language.
5
Much of the prevailing research describes Michif as a mixed language, defined as a language whose grammatical structure cannot be traced back to any single language family
(Thomason 2001). Bakker (1997) defines a mixed language as ‘a language that shows positive genetic similarities, in significant numbers, with two different languages.’ Mixed languages occupy a place in contact linguistics alongside pidgins and creoles, as another example of the linguistic results of language contact. In the case of mixed languages, the grammar of (at least) two historical source languages are present in the newly-formed language. In the case of
Michif, the bulk of the verbs are derived from Plains Cree, while the bulk of the nouns and elements of the Noun Phrase such as determiners, numerals, adjectives and possessive pronouns are derived from French. Examples of typical Michif sentences are given below.3
(1) sk li+ e vr daj-n five PL chair green 1.have-NON3 ‘I’ve got five green chairs.’
(2) n + tab e+pigpa-jk gi+ atw-n SG.F.INDF table CJ+break-3CJ 1.PST- buy-NON3 ‘I bought a broken table.’
(3) m+ fw l-vr-w-an 1.POSS.M grass MRK-green-BE-4 “My grass is green.”
While not all nominal elements are French and not all verbs are Cree (in fact, there is even intra- categorial mixing, as in (3)), this suffices to give an overview of the source of the Michif vocabulary.
Given that Michif may not be traced back to a single language family, categorization for the purpose of comparative study is potentially problematic. However, since Michif shows genetic similarities with both French and Plains Cree, I will treat it as belonging to both the
3 For illustrative purposes only, Cree source vocabulary is bolded while French source vocabulary is in regular font. Unless otherwise stated, all data comes from my field work. A list of abbreviations used is found at the beginning of the thesis.
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Romance and Algonquian families. I do believe however the overall structure of Michif is more
Cree-like than French-like, and therefore has more in common with Algonquian languages than with Romance. Despite this, given its genetic makeup I will sometimes compare it to ‘other
Algonquian’ or ‘other Romance’ languages, assuming that Michif falls in some way into both language families.
1.2.2 Contact languages as an object of study Contact languages, and Michif in particular, are of interest to linguists for a number of reasons. Both sociolinguistic and language-internal factors at work in the creation of a new language are of interest to learn in what ways languages can or cannot evolve in a contact situation. Michif is said to one of very few cases of languages which have combined two languages in such a fashion, and the synchronic results of this contact are potentially very important for the study of language contact generally. Historical linguists interested in language contact and its effects may study the genesis of Michif with the interest of determining what types of linguistic results are possible based on different social circumstances. Though this is an interesting line of research, this thesis will not address the genesis of Michif or the social and linguistic factors which allowed such a language to be created, but rather study the language in its current synchronic state.4
In addition to its interest to historical linguists, Michif is a prime test case for recent claims in the phonological literature whereby apparently conflicting phonological patterns are explained by means of positing a stratified grammar. Under this view, these differences in patterns may be attributed to different grammars at work within one language; the learner compartmentalizes different lexical items and different phonological rules or constraints based
4 Note that the research presented here is the result of ongoing fieldwork with a small number of speakers. There are certainly dialectal differences between speakers, and the data I have collected, while reflecting in great part that collected elsewhere, does nonetheless exhibit some differences from that collected a generation ago, especially as discussed by Rhodes (1977, 1986). I will discuss differences where they arise.
7 on which strata the lexical item is placed in, which normally follows from language source.
This has been claimed, for example, for Japanese, where Yamato, or Japanese, items are said to occupy one stratum, Chinese vocabulary items another, and other foreign items still another (Itô
& Mester 1995, 1999). This is posited to explain differences in patterning within these items.
However, others have disputed the basis for these claims of stratification for Japanese (Rice
1997, Kuroda 2000). Michif is an excellent test case for the stratificational hypothesis, as it should be the quintessentially stratified language, having been formed less than 200 years ago from two typologically different languages. If Michif phonological patterning can be convincingly shown to pattern as a single grammar, then it is reasonable to question the stratification hypothesis for other, more established languages such as Japanese, which borrowed Chinese vocabulary items starting in the 5th century.
1.2.3 Conflict sites In language contact studies, especially the study of code-mixing, it is common to identify conflict sites, or areas where two grammars do not coincide, to be used as diagnostics to determine the grammar of code-mixed discourse (as per Poplack 1993). This methodology may be borrowed from sociolinguistics to compare Michif to its source languages, Cree and French.
These conflict sites prove useful for determining whether Michif follows the grammar of Cree consistently or French consistently, whether a new system is in place, or whether it is split along vocabulary sources. For example, consider affricates: Cree has phonemic affricates (see inventory in Wolfart 1996) while French does not. The status of affricates in the new language,
Michif, will provide evidence of whether there is a difference in distribution and/or patterning which could only be explained by historical reasons. If French-source items pattern differently from Cree-source items, there is reason to believe Michif stratifies its grammar. However, if there is no distinction made with respect to distribution or patterning of nasalized vowels, this
8 would provide evidence against the stratified lexicon hypothesis. Given the typological differences between the two languages, we would expect to see many differences due to vocabulary source. If these differences are nonexistent, or even markedly fewer than between the source languages, it is good evidence that Michif does not operate with dual grammars.
Therefore in this thesis, in addition to laying out the basic phonological grammar of Michif, I use conflict sites between Cree and French as diagnostics for stratification in the new language.
1.3 Previous work on Michif Michif is at present an under-described language; it has no published grammar. The largest-scale published work on Michif to date has been Bakker’s (1997) thesis which focuses on the socio-historical context and the genesis of the language from French and Cree. Bakker also includes a grammatical sketch which claims that there are two phonological systems at work in Michif, based on language source. Although Bakker’s focus is primarily anthropological and historical, he does make synchronic claims for the language. Based on
Michif, Bakker proposes a language contact phenomenon he calls language intertwining, where two grammars exist within a single language. This is well described by the following quote.
(4) ...it is clear that two separate phonological systems must be posited for Michif...each lexical item must be marked [± French] or [± Cree] in the (mental) lexicon...in order to ensure the item undergoes the right set of phonological rules. Similarly, each rule is marked [± French] or [± Cree]. [Bakker & Papen 1997: 312]
This hypothesis has been generally accepted by other linguists who have worked or published on Michif. Phonological descriptions of Michif to this point have nearly all posited dual phonological inventories (Rhodes 1977, 1986; Bakker 1997; Papen 1984, 2001; Bakker &
Papen 1997), or dual patterning (Rhodes 1986, van Gijn 2000), and other linguists generally assume this is the case (see for example Thomason 1997 and subsequent work). One paper by
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Evans (1985) does take the contradictory view that Michif has a converging phonology, however. The questioning of the assumptions and arguments supporting this hypothesis forms one of the underlying themes of the present thesis, dealt with specifically in chapter 6.
1.4 The data The data found in this thesis is primarily from two sources: original fieldwork undertaken in
Manitoba, and available recordings. All the data is from the Manitoba dialect of Michif, and is in elicitation form, meaning short sentences or individual lexical items. I do not have recordings of stories or running speech.
1.4.1 Elicited data I elicited data from three speakers: Norman Fleury, Grace Zoldy and Rita Flamand. They represent slightly different dialects of the language, as Norman Fleury is from a different community from Grace Zoldy and Rita Flamand. While all my consultants primarily speak
English today, they all learnt Michif as their first language. Furthermore their speech may differ because Norman is also a Métis French speaker, while Grace and Rita are also Saulteaux speakers.
Norman Fleury was my principal consultant. He was born in Saint-Lazare in 1949 and lived there until 1973. Michif was his first language, his predominant home language and the only language spoken at his grandmother’s home, though he also speaks/spoke English and
Métis French fluently with neighbours and friends. Today he is the director of the Michif languages project at the Manitoba Métis Federation and has been involved in Michif recordings and English-Michif translation. He also produced an English-Michif lexicon (Fleury 2000).
Rita Flamand was born in 1931 in Camperville, Manitoba, a Métis community north of
Dauphin on the western shore of Lake Winnipegosis. She speaks Michif, Plains Cree, Saulteaux
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(Ojibwe) and English. She has good metalinguistic knowledge of Michif, having taken an
Aboriginal Interpreter Course at Red River Community College in Winnipeg, Manitoba and has been very active in establishing a writing system, in Michif translation and in Michif language teaching. She has also developed Michif learning materials.
Grace Zoldy is also from Camperville, Manitoba. She was raised by her grandmother until the age of 14 and is well-known among the Manitoba Métis community as being a very good Michif speaker, which probably means that she speaks an older form of Michif. In 2003
Grace Zoldy and Rita Flamand were trained and began participating in a Michif Master-
Apprentice program where they have worked with two apprentices so far, and Grace continues to work with one apprentice on an ongoing basis.
1.4.2 Recordings There are two widely-available sources for Michif recordings which have surfaced in the last few years. Both have proved useful for my thesis work. First is a CD called ‘Learn Michif by
Listening’, circulated by the Louis Riel Institute (Bakker & Fleury 2004). The speaker whose data I used from the CD is one of my consultants, Norman Fleury. The CD is comprised of lexical items and single sentences, much like elicited data in my own fieldwork. There are also a few short prayers, but no longer-running speech. The second recording is by Rita Flamand, another of my consultants. Again, this recording is made up of short sentences and individual lexical items, and no running speech.
1.4.3 Limits of the data Fieldwork on endangered languages often comes with certain complications. For example, all Michif speakers today are also speakers of English. Very few of them speak
Michif on a daily basis, as speakers are limited in number, geographically scattered, and often
11 harbour negative feelings towards the language. It is likely that the daily influence of English has affected their Michif grammar, including that of my consultants. However, this is unavoidable and the data presented here can be considered as representative of the Manitoba dialect of Michif, given that my three consultants are generally regarded in Manitoba as three strong speakers and proponents of the language. Given its endangered status, these conditions are inescapable when conducting fieldwork on Michif today.
In gathering this data I focused primarily on obtaining a phonological grammar of
Michif, and certain types of phenomena are left for future investigation. I elicited lexical items and short sentences with the goal of finding regular phonological patterning at the word level.
The realms of sociolinguistic variation and the optionality of certain phonological rules such as vowel deletion, discussed in chapter 8, are difficult to pinpoint without much more data from running speech, from many more hours and more speakers.
1.5 A preview of the thesis Given that a Michif description devoted to phonology and morpho-phonology does not yet exist, a first contribution of this thesis is purely descriptive. However, the prevailing hypothesis regarding the stratification of Michif phonology leads naturally to another goal of this thesis; to argue against Michif stratification. In this section, I will give a glimpse into what kind of evidence we might expect to find.
1.5.1 Potential inventorial evidence First, the two source languages have very different vowel inventories: French has a much larger vowel inventory than Plains Cree, including nasalized vowels. Furthermore, it distinguishes between tense and lax vowel pairs while Cree distinguishes between long and short vowel pairs. What is interesting is that it appears as though the French and Cree components of Michif seem to be converging, in that they each have started to take on
12 characteristics of the other inventory. This will be explored in depth in chapters three and four, but I will give two examples of this phenomenon here. First, Plains Cree makes a length distinction between vowels of similar heights/place, where French makes a quality distinction between tense and lax vowels. We might expect, then, if there were two phonologies in Michif, to find that a quality distinction was being made in the French portion of the grammar, while a quantity distinction was being made in the Cree portion of the grammar. However, this does not appear to be the case. Chapter 5 gives several types of evidence, including instrumental, to show that there is only one type of contrast being made in Michif, which I will phonemicize as a quality distinction. Therefore we find a phonemic distinction not between /i:/ and /i/ in the Cree component, and /i/ and // in the French component, but rather, a single distinction over the entire language: /i/ versus //. An illustrative example of this is found below:
(5) a l+ DF.M.SG [cf. French l] b. li+ PL [cf. French l] c. k- 2 [cf. Cree ki] d. ki+ PST [cf. Cree ki:]
I show that Michif does not make a phonemic distinction between long and short (tense) vowels.
Moreover, there are also phonemes which did not exist in one of the source languages, which do exist in their respective components in Michif. One example is the phonemic affricate in the French component. Plains Cree has one affricate in its inventory, /t/, while French has none. However, we find that due to diachronic changes in the vowel system which raised mid vowels in French to high vowels in Michif, allophonic affrication of alveolar stops before high vowels became a phonemic distinction, as there is no way to predict synchronically which phoneme we will find, as the examples below show.5
5 Examples in (6) given in Bakker & Papen (1997) but also found in my own fieldwork.
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(6) a. ptt ‘small’ b. samdi ‘Saturday’ c. dm ‘tomorrow’ d. dlo ‘water’
It is impossible to know whether Michif allowed this new phoneme into its inventory as a direct result of having it in the Cree component, thus facilitating the addition, or whether it was simply a language-internal change unrelated to the Cree component. However, what is important is that the result of this language change is a Michif grammar which neglects to distinguish in this regard between the two components. The two components are more alike in Michif than they are in their source language.
1.5.2 Potential evidence from stress In looking for evidence which would point to different patterning of vocabulary items based on source language, stress assignment is particularly fruitful due to the fact that all vocabulary items must receive stress. Given this, stress assignment should be a clear conflict site where a stratified grammar would assign stress differently based on language source, if the stress assignment rules in the different grammars are different. In fact, though both Plains Cree and French assign word-final stress in disyllabic words, they crucially assign different primary stress in words of more than two syllables. Plains Cree assigns primary stress on the antepenultimate syllable in these words, while French maintains primary stress assignment on the final syllable. So if Michif were stratified, we would expect to see French and Michif three- syllable words be assigned different primary stress. Interestingly, though, this is not the case.
The examples in (7) come from Plains Cree vocabulary, the examples in (8) from French vocabulary, and the examples in (9) are mixed vocabulary items. It is evident that all items are assigned stress in the same way.
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(7) a. n-ku 1-mother.in.law ‘my mother-in-law’ b. pahk--n- fall-AN-NON3-IMP ‘Fall!’ (8) a. kla ‘brown’ b. piano ‘piano’ (9) lr-w-an gold-be-3IN ‘It’s made of gold.’
A fuller analysis of the word stress system will be given in chapter 7 showing that the Michif system is in fact an amalgam of the French and Cree systems. These data are simply given here to show that another expected conflict site in the source languages reveals a singular system in
Michif.
1.5.3 Morpho-phonological alternations as evidence In order to claim convincingly that there are two grammars at work in Michif, alternations must be shown to occur in one component, but not in the other. However, this proves problematic in Michif due to the lack of productive morphology in the French component of Michif. In most of the cases cited as evidence in the literature, the environments in which such alternations could occur do so in only one component of the grammar, or else the rule is so specific to one environment that it would not be expected to apply elsewhere. As a result, these so-called examples of morpho-phonemic alternations neither support nor falsify the stratification hypothesis. These cases will be re-examined in some detail in chapter 6. In addition, however, vowel deletion does appear to occur in both components of Michif, which has been not discussed in the literature, but which will be explored in detail in chapter 8.
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Both French and Plains Cree phonological literature cite vowel deletion processes affecting certain vowels in certain phonological environments (see Wolfart 1996 for Plains Cree and Walker 1984, Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993 for Canadian French). Though the contexts and targets for deletion are somewhat different in the two source languages, we see that in Michif, these differences have been blurred, and in both vocabularies, // is the deleting vowel. I show in chapter 8 that //-deletion is available in similar contexts in both language components, a fact that does not hold for the source languages.
This section has offered a glimpse into some of the issues which will be discussed throughout this phonological grammar of Michif. Underlying the primary descriptive goal, the grammars of the source languages will be examined with comparison to their respective Michif components, often with the result of showing the converging similarities of each Michif component to the other, and their divergence from their source.
1.6 Thesis organization This thesis is organized as follows. Chapter 2 sketches the morphology of Michif, outlining the major word-formation processes and identifying three categories of morphemes in
Michif; affixes, stems and preverbs. Chapter 3 launches the phonological study of Michif, outlining Michif syllabification. Chapters 4 and 5 present the phonological inventory for the language; chapter 4 focusing on the consonantal inventory and phonological processes associated with consonants, and chapter 5 doing the same for the vowels. Chapter 6 then examines the previous theoretical and empirical arguments for phonological stratification in
Michif, focusing on conflict sites between French and Cree and their correspondences in Michif.
Chapters 7 and 8 serve as case studies for stratification: chapter 7 discusses stress assignment and chapter 8, vowel deletion.
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Chapter six takes Michif as a whole, examining the different types of evidence for stratification by language in the synchronic language, focusing especially on conflict sites between French and Cree, to see whether expected language differences result in differences in
Michif. This chapter focuses on evaluating this evidence with the goal of showing that the positing of a stratified grammar for Michif is not the preferred analysis. This thesis proposes an analysis of the phonological patterning based on purely synchronic principles. The final conclusion is that although historical remnants of both Cree and French are present in present- day Michif, the burden of proof for positing a stratified grammar has not been met. Further, the only type of stratification found is one based on synchronic linguistic principles, namely that different morphological domains pattern differently from each other, rather than the historical reasons for stratification posited by previous researchers of Michif (Bakker 1997, Bakker &
Papen 1997, Papen 2003). Therefore, any stratification of Michif is made based on synchronic linguistic and not historical, principles.
2.0 Overview of Michif Morphology
Before embarking on a study of phonological patterning in Michif, it is important to understand the morphological structure of the language. The goal of this chapter is to give an overview of Michif morphology in order to establish relevant domains of different phonological processes. In addition to outlining the morphological categories in Michif, I will show that there are three different types of morphemes – affixes, stems, and another type of minor category which includes what Algonquianists call ‘preverbs’. Affixes attach to a stem to form a phonological word, or what is normally known as a major category such as verb, noun or adjective, while the minor categories, which include preverbs, demonstratives and various other syntactic markers form their own phonological domain. The identification of these different domains will underlie the remainder of the thesis, where I will continue to contrast phonological distribution and patterning among them. The goal of this chapter is to familiarize the reader with basic Michif morphology through an overview of the most common morphological processes, as well as give evidence for the positing of different morphological levels.
Chapter 2 is structured as follows: section 2.1 discusses morphology in the Michif DP, specifically inflectional and derivational marking on nominals and adjectivals. The focus will be on productive morphology, though some fossilized processes will also be discussed. Section
2.2 mirrors section 2.1, but for the verbal complex, discussing details of the complex morphological marking of the Michif verb. Section 2.3 outlines some of the minor categories found in Michif, and section 2.4 argues for different morphological domains, or levels, in
Michif.
2.1 Morphological marking in the Determiner Phrase (DP) In this section I examine the morphology of the lexical elements in the DP, namely nouns and adjectives. There are other elements which may be considered part of the DP, for instance
17 18 quantifiers, demonstratives and prepositions. However, I will look at all minor categories together in section 2.3.
2.1.1 Nominals This section will examine productive inflection and derivation within Michif nominals, as well as examine some apparent cases of morphological productivity, which I argue should be considered to be unproductive fossilized remnants of the French pre-contact system.
2.1.1.1 Inflectional morphology Nominals are obligatorily marked by prefixes for definiteness, grammatical gender and number, though syncretism exists in the plural marking. A list of prenominal marking determiners1 is given in the table below.
(1) Michif determiners Singular Plural Definite l+ Masculine Indefinite + li+ Definite la+ Feminine Indefinite n+
Some examples of nominal inflection using these markers can be seen in the following examples.
(2) a. + gars2 ‘a boy’ M.IND.SG + boy b. l + gars ‘the boy’ M.DF.SG + boy c. li + gars ‘boys/the boys’ M.PL + boy
1 I will show in chapter 3 that determiners pattern with other minor categories, but include them here due to the inflectional number and gender marking made by the determiners. 2 Throughout this thesis I use a dash - to designate a morpheme boundary sensitive to phonological assimilation and stress, and a plus sign + to designate a word-type boundary insensitive to stress and many other phonological processes. Evidence for this split will be given in section 2.3.
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(3) a. n+ e ‘a chair’ F.IND.SG + chair b. sk li+ e ‘five chairs (lit. ‘five the chairs’) five PL+ chair b. la+ e ‘the chair’ F+ chair
Michif does not mark case. Although word ordering appears to be somewhat syntactically free, like other Algonquian languages, grammatical function is determined primarily by ordering or by verbal markers.
(4) a. l+m la+fam ki wpam-e-w DEF.MS.SG+man DEF.F.SG+woman PST see-DBL3-3 ‘The man saw the woman’ b. la+fam l+m ki wpam-e-w DEF.F.SG+woman DEF.M.SG+man PST see-DBL3-3 ‘The woman saw the man’
(5) a. n- n-ki+wpam-k n- n-ki+wpam-k-w 1-father.in.law 1-PST+see-INV-3 ‘My father-in-law saw me’ b. n- n-ki+wpam--w 1-father.in.law 1-PST+see-DIR-3 ‘I saw my father-in-law.’
The meaning difference between (4a) and (4b) derives from the word order and between (5a) and (5b) from the bolded verbal affixes.
A related phenomenon to case-marking is obviation. In sentences with more than one third person expressed, one may be identified as proximate while all others are marked for obviative, or ‘other’. This marking is common in Algonquian languages (Wolfart 1996 for
Plains Cree, Valentine 2001 for Nishnaabemwin, and others), though it is on the decline in
Michif (Weaver 1982). There are some remnants of obviative marking, but these appear to be restricted to certain nouns, and variable according to speaker. An example of this restriction is given below. Compare the object noun unmarked by obviation in (4) with the example in (6).
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(6) lm a ki wpamew l+m --a ki+wpam-e-w DEF.M.S+man 3-father.in.law-OBV PST+see-DBL3-3 ‘The man saw his father-in-law.’
(7) * l+m sa+tt-a ki+wpam-e-w DEF.M.S+man 3POSS-aunt-OBV PST+see- DBL3-3 ‘The man saw his aunt’
Though there are a few cases of obviative suffixes, Michif nominal marking is predominantly prenominal.
Possession is marked in one of two ways, depending on the animacy of the possessor. If the possessor is semantically animate, then there are two options for forming a possessive construction. First, possessive pronouns which are marked for person, gender and number may be used. The possessive pronouns are as follows.
(8) Singular Plural masculine feminine masculine feminine singular possessor 1st person m ma mi 2nd person t ta ti 3rd person s sa si plural possessor 1st person nt no 2nd person vt vo 3rd person lœ lœ
Consider the following examples. Note that the possessor precedes the possessed.
(9) John s+ prtr John PS.SG.M+picture ‘John’s picture’ (10) John si+ d John PS.PL+ teeth ‘John’s teeth’
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There is however another system for the plural possessor forms given in the above chart. Some speakers have the following possession system.
(11) Singular Plural masculine feminine masculine feminine singular possessor st 1 person m ma mi nd 2 person t ta ti rd 3 person s sa si plural possessor st 1 person incl. t -nn ma -nn ti -nnk st 1 person excl. m -nn ta -nn mi -nnk nd 2 person t -nww ta -nww ti -nwwk rd 3 person s -ww sa -ww si -wwa
I am unaware of sociolinguistic details such as who uses either of the two above systems laid out in (8) and (11), but have elicited data from different speakers who have different (or both) systems.
In addition to the above possession systems, the more general genitive marker /d/ may also mark possession, as in the following examples.
(12) l+ prtr d dn DET.SG.M+ picture GEN John ‘John’s picture/the picture of John’ (13) li+ d d dn DET.PL+ teeth GEN John ‘John’s teeth/the teeth of John’
When the possessor is inanimate, however, only the general genitive marker is permitted – possessive pronouns are excluded. Consider the following examples.
(14) a. la + b d tab ‘the table’s legs’ DET+leg GEN table b. * l tab sa b ‘the table’s legs’ DET+table POSS.SG.F+leg
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(15) a. l+d d+koto ‘the knife’s teeth’ DET+teeth GEN table
b. * l+ koto si+ d ‘the knife’s teeth’ DET+knife POSS.PL+teeth
In the examples in (14) and (15), the possessors are inanimate, and thus the only possible possessive construction is that of the genitive marker, instead of a possessive adjective.
2.1.1.2 Derivational morphology In this section, I present the derivational morphology in Michif nominals. First I will discuss NÆN conversion as well as other VÆN and AÆN nominalizing morphology. I show that despite claims to the contrary, these are not productive morphological processes, but are rather historical remnants of a previous system. Nevertheless, derivational morphology is productive in Michif, though these productive processes are nearly always verbalizing.
2.1.1.2.1 Apparent cases of derivational nominal morphology
Previous work has generally assumed that there is some productive nominal morphology in
Michif. For example, Papen (1984:112) gives a number of examples of derived Michif nouns.
A table of some of these is reproduced in Bakker (1997:114), which is in turn adapted in the table in (16) below.
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(16) Michif3 Morphemes Standard French
l vl- ‘theft’ (F. vol- ‘steal’ + F. –age) (F. le vol ‘theft’)
sykr- ‘a sweet’ (F. sucre ‘sugar’ + F. –age) (F. bonbon)
trst-ab ‘trustworthy’ (E. trust + F. –able) (F fiable)
bg-œr, bg-œz ‘beggar’ (E. beg + F. –eur/euse) [F. mendiant(e)]
avar-sœ ‘miser’ (F. avare + F. –isseux, -isseuse) (F. avare)
as-ri ‘office’ (F. agence + F. –erie) (F. agence)
ktt-ri ‘happiness’ (F. content ‘happy’ + F. – erie) (F. bonheur}
lt-, lt-n ‘slowpoke’ (F. lent ‘slow’ + F. –on, -onne) [F. lambin(e)]
kufid-asj ‘confidence’ [F. confid(ence) + F. –ation] (F. confidence)
pwsn-j ‘fisherman’ (F. poisson ‘fish’ + F. –ier) (F. pêcheur) pruv-as ‘proof’ [F. prouv(er) + F. –asse] (F. preuve)
The forms listed in the Michif column are derivationally complex in French. However, treating these forms as derivationally complex in Michif is problematic. I have been unable to confirm many of the forms given by Papen and Bakker. The following were rejected: pruvas (and pruva), pwsn-j, lt, asri and kufidasj. The form ‘avarsœ’ was identified as French, the definition given for ‘bgœr’ was a mute person rather than a beggar, and ‘kttri’ was said to be a word that only older people used, but that wasn’t used today. These differences from what is reported by Bakker and Papen is likely due to dialectal differences, but regardless, it suggests that the forms should not be considered to be a productive part of Michif today. Furthermore, though the forms /l/ ‘slow’ and /kt/ ‘happy’ are attested in my fieldwork, the given roots /lt/
3 Note that the transcription system (especially for vowels) used in this thesis differs from Bakker’s transcription. Due to his assumptions regarding Michif being a dual system, he writes Michif with two mostly distinct phonetic transcription systems, one for Cree source items and another for French source items. Where it is unimportant for the discussion, I have done my best to adapt his transcription system to the one used elsewhere in this thesis, for the sake of consistency.
24 and /ktt/ do not. Lastly, most of the affixes given do not appear to attach to any sort of class of stems.
Focussing on the verifiable forms, then, the root /trst/ from /trstab/ is found, more or less, in other forms. Consider the following examples.
(17) a. nm ga ltrstin nm n-ka+ l-trsti-n NEG 1-FUT+MKR-trust-NON3 ‘I wouldn’t trust him.’ b. nmja kkakhtn t ltrstijn nmja k-kakht-n t+l-trsti-n NEG 2-to.be.able-NON3 PURP+MKR-trust-2.CJ ‘You can’t trust him.’ c. * trst ‘trust’
Given the above data, /trsti-/ does indeed appear to behave as a root in Michif. However, even if this is the case, there is no evidence that the affix /-ab/ attaches productively to any set morphological category.
Note that in the above table, nearly every ‘complex’ form has a suffix which appears only once. There are two exceptions to this: the suffix /-/ and the suffix /-ri/. However, the forms with the suffix /-ri/ were not used by my primary consultant, and as a result, are not productive for him, therefore unverifiable. There is no evidence regarding either the morphological category to which the affix attaches, or that the other affixes may attach to any other root. In my fieldwork, I have found examples of only one of these suffixes acting in any semblance of productivity: /-/. The others do not show the productivity required of an affix, and therefore I treat them as remnants of an older system, rather than examples of derivational morphology in Michif. While they may be derived in French, they are monomorphemic in
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Michif. We would need to see multiple examples of stems taking the same affix to be able to assign the affix attachment properties, which we are unable to do.
I will now turn to the one example which shows some evidence of regularity and productivity: /-/. In my fieldwork, I have found a few additional examples of the apparent suffix [-], given below.
(18) a. l syk ‘sugar’ b. sykri ‘sweet’ c. l sykr ‘sweets’ (19) a. l sav ‘soap’ b. savn ‘soapy water’ (20) a. *kan ‘can’ b. l kan ‘canning’ (21) a. *lav ‘wash’ b. l lav ‘laundry’
In the examples in (18b) and (19b) there is something resembling a Michif base to which the affix attaches, given in (18a) and (19a). These bases are somewhat tenuous, as there is some question as to whether the suffix should be /-a/ or else have allomorphs /-r/ and /-n/.
Setting this question aside, for the moment, however, in the examples in (20) and (21), there are no Michif bases, as the words do not occur independently.
There are also a few other Michif lexical items ending in -, given below.
(22) li+ av DET Indians ‘Indians’ (23) s+ viz POSS.M face ‘his/her face’
These forms also have no corresponding bases in Michif. However, the example in (23) is particularly interesting in order to illustrate a point regarding productivity. This form clearly comes from the French item visage, which in turn comes from vis in Old French (Petit Robert
26
1990). Note that it is unlikely that we would consider vis to be the synchronic root of visage in
French, though it is obvious that the root of visage at one time was vis. This is analogous to what is being proposed in the chart reproduced in (16): just as vis does not exist in French, and so is not considered to be the base of visage, the bases as cited in (18a) and (19a) do not exist in
Michif, and therefore these forms should not be considered derived in Michif. Though I have attempted to elicit more forms with the suffix /-/, I have not been successful. Given the unproductivity of the apparent suffixes in (16), I will analyze these forms as remnants of a previous system, which are at most minimally productive. This is for two reasons: first, the dearth of examples make it difficult to consider this to be a productive affix. Second, the semantics of the suffix is questionable, as it does not add the same meaning to each root. For these reasons, I will not treat /-/ as a regular, productive affix in Michif, but rather the whole form as underived, like /av/ and /viz/.
2.1.1.2.2 Productive derivational nominal morphology
Although much of the reported nominal morphology in Michif is unproductive, as discussed in the previous section, there are cases of productive derivational morphology. Consider the examples below.
(24) a. n trty ‘a turtle’ b. la-trty-hk--w a.turtle-MAKE-REFL-3 ‘He’s acting like a turtle.’ (he’s slow) c. n-latrty-w-n-n 1-a.turtle-BE-NON3-1PL ‘We’re turtles.’ (25) a. l supi ‘dinner’ b. n-l-supi-hk-n 1-MRK-dinner-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m making dinner’
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(26) a. la galt ‘bannock’ b. n-l- galt -hk-n 1-MRK-bannock-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m making bannock.’
The above examples show that verbalizing suffixes may attach to a nominal stem to form a verb.
These suffixes also attach to adjectives, as we will see in section 2.1.2.
There is also another example of productive nominal morphology seen in the example below.
(27) a. m vjœ ‘my husband’ my + husband b. m vjœ-pan ‘my late husband’ my + husband-PAST
The suffix /-pan/, meaning deceased, is the only non-category-changing nominal that I have found in Michif.
2.1.2 Adjectives 2.1.2.1 Inflectional morphology The syntactic position for adjectives in Michif is post-nominal (Rosen 2003) and adjectives carry no productive agreement in number, gender or animacy.4 As a result, adjectives show no inflectional morphology. The examples in (28) and (29) show that there is no plural marking on adjectives, while the examples in (30) and (32) show that there is no adjectival gender agreement. Gender agreement is morphologically overt in the determiners only.
(28) + zo bl ‘a white bone’ INDF.M.SG+bone white (29) li+ zo bl ‘white bones’ PL+ bone white (30) n + asjt bl ‘ a white plate’ INDF.F.SG +plate white
4 There is a limited group of prenominal adjectives which show alternations between feminine and masculine gender. I consider these to be lexicalized, as they are limited to a closed class of adjectives and may not appear in the regular syntactic position for adjectives. See Rosen 2003 for discussion.
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(31) l + kfi o ‘the hot coffee’ DF.M.SG+ coffee hot (32) la + mez o ‘the hot house’ DF.F.SG+ house hot
Attempts to use the corresponding feminine adjective from French create ungrammaticallity in
Michif, as shown in the example below.
(33) * la + mez o-d ‘the hot house’ (cf. (32) DF.F.SG + house hot-F
There are a few exceptions to the non-gender marking, where we see alternation of the adjectives, as in the examples below.
(34) n+ fij bl- ‘a white girl’ INDF.F.SG+girl white-F (35) + gars bl ‘ a white boy’ INDF.M.SG +boy white
However, in most cases, French-type gender agreement alternation is ungrammatical in Michif.
The examples in (34-35) have a special figurative meaning for ‘white’ referring to ethnicity, and not the colour white. A form meaning the colour white rather than ethnicity has no marking for gender:
(36) a. n+ fij bl ‘a white girl’ (as in painted white) INDF.F.SG girl white-ø b. + gars bl ‘a white boy’ (as in painted white) INDF.M.SG boy white-ø
Given this pair, and the fact that gender marking in general isn’t productively generated, we may conclude that this case would appear to be a historical remnant from French. It is possible that adjectival gender agreement used to be productive in Michif, but gender agreement on adjectives is now lexically listed rather than a productive process.
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2.1.2.2 Derivational morphology French-type attributive adjectives do not take any French-type derivational morphology to form abstract nouns. Any attempts to elicit French derived nominal forms such as in (37b) and (38b) are met with non-paradigmatic forms, as shown below.
(37) a. bo ‘beautiful’ b.* bote ‘beauty’ c. katawan ‘it’s very beautiful’
(38) a. pov ‘poor’ b.* povrte, povte ‘poverty’ c. ktmkan ‘it’s pitiful’ d. ktmkwak ‘poor people’
When I asked whether the forms in (37b-38b) were possible in Michif, Norman Fleury responded that those were French words and not Michif words.5 Instead of the forms in (37b,
38b) showing an abstract noun, the forms provided for the translations in (37b, 38b) are given in
(37c) and (38c, d) respectively. The form in (37c) is related semantically, but not morphologically to (37a), while (38c, d) are related semantically but not morphologically to
(38a).
Although French-type affixation is not productive in Michif, there is still productive affixation attaching to adjectives. An adjective may take verbalizing suffixes such as -w- ‘to be
X’ or -hke- ‘make X’, converting the adjective into a predicative form. Consider the examples below.
(39) a. n fij vr INDF.F + girl green ‘a green girl’
5 Norman Fleury, my primary consultant, has a very good awareness of differences between (Métis) French and Michif, both which he speaks. He often gives two pronunciations of a cognate word, saying that one is French, and the other is Michif, for example //, the indefinite masculine determiner in Michif versus /œ/, the indefinite masculine determiner in French.
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b. m+ fw l- vr- w-an POSS.M.SG+grass MKR-green-BE-SUP3 ‘My grass is green.’ (40) a. + gro + gars INDF.M + big + boy ‘a big boy’ b. l-gro-w-w MKR-crazy-BE-3 ‘He’s big.’ (41) a. li fij smart okk PL + girl smart these ‘These are smart girls.’ b. la + fij ka+ la-smart-w-t SG.F+girl REL+ MKR-smart-BE-3CJ ‘The girl that is smart.’ (42) n-l-supi-hk-n 1-MKR-supper-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m making supper.’
The suffix -iw is available in Cree with the same function, as seen in the following examples from Wolfart (1996).
Plains Cree [Wolfart 1996:428] (43) a. mahi:hkan- wolf b. mahi:hkan-iwi-w wolf-BE-3 ‘He is a wolf.’ (44) a. ko:n- snow b. ko:n-iwi-w snow-BE-3 ‘It is snowy.’
In Michif, these suffixes are very productive, attaching to a number of adjectival and nominals from either Cree or French vocabulary. Note that the examples in (39b-41b, 42) take not only a suffix, but also include the prefixed marker l- or la-. The suffixes attach to nouns and verbs alike, but the prefixed marker appears to be a necessary requirement on most items. This
31 marker appears with French-derived, but not Cree-derived, items. Consider the following example.
(45) a. kohkoww kohko-w-w pig-BE-3 ‘S/he’s a pig.’ (fig.: S/he is eating too much.) b. nkohkown n-kohko-w-n 1-pig-BE-NON3 ‘I’m a pig.’ (fig.: I am eating too much.) c. k a pig
Note that form of the root ‘pig’ in (45a, b) is not the form for the bare noun ‘pig’, as in (45c).
The diachronic source for the form in (45a, b) can be traced to kohko ‘pig’ in Cree,
(Wolvengrey 2001 vol. 1:77) while the form in (45c) is traceable to cochon ‘pig’ in French. The
Cree-derived forms, as we see, do not take the prefix seen in the French-derived examples in
(39)-(42).
Speculating as to why the French-derived but not Cree-derived forms take a prefix, it has often been said that French nouns form a close phonological unit with their determiners. There is phonological evidence that they pattern differently from other prenominal markers, for example. In order to avoid a vowel hiatus between prenominal adjectives, numerals and demonstratives, a consonant surfaces where it does not before a consonant-initial noun.
Consider the following examples.
French (46) a. s j ‘this dog’ b. st animal ‘this animal’ (47) a. s gro j ‘this big dog’ b. s gros animal ‘this big animal’
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However, in order to avoid a vowel hiatus between a French determiner and a following noun, deletion occurs rather than epenthesis.
French (48) a. l j DET dog ‘the dog’ b. l animal DET animal ‘the animal’
Acquisition research also suggests that the determiner and noun are closely linked in French.
Van der Velde, Jakubowicz & Rigaut (2002) report that French children do not produce bare nouns or commit gender errors, as opposed to Dutch children of the same age. They report that by 4 years of age, French children produce definite determiners with the noun nearly 100% of the time. This supports the idea that French determiners are closely linked to their nouns and therefore may be analyzed as an intrinsic part of the nouns.
This closeness often has an effect on the surfacing of determiners with French nouns in many contact situations. Speakers of Slave, an Athapaskan language spoken primarily in the
Northwest Territories, came into contact with French settlers and have borrowed words into their language which appear with their determiners.
(49) Slave [Rice 1989] Slave French gloss a. líabú le chapeau ‘hat’ b. lidáw la table ‘table’ c. libó le pot ‘pot’
The above data shows that Slave borrowed the French determiner along with the noun, presumably because the two elements were perceived to be a unit. In Michif, I argue that that the same type of process has occurred. Since the Michif suffix -w attaches to nominals, and
33 since the French determiner + noun has been analyzed as the nominal, the suffix attaches to the determiner + noun group. This phenomenon will be discussed in more detail in section 6.4.4.6.
2.1.3 Summary - DP morphology
In this section, I have shown that much of the previously claimed French-type nominal and adjectival morphology is not productive in Michif. The only productive inflectional nominal morphology is number and gender. These are manifested on the determiners, and not on the nouns. Derivational morphology is similarly rare. Previous claims of productive morphology are problematic for a number of reasons. First, they are often based on single items which take an affix which does not appear elsewhere in Michif. Furthermore, the analyses often include a
French form as underlying, when that form does not surface in the Michif of my consultants. In a synchronic analysis, then, these analyses would need to resort to historical forms ostensibly unavailable to speakers as underlying. Despite this limited French-type nominal morphology, however, there are many cases of verbal suffixes productively attaching to nouns and adjectives to form verbs, as seen in sections 2.1.1.2.2 and 2.1.2.2.
I will now turn to the complexities involved in Michif verbal morphology.
2.2 Morphological marking on verb In this section I will primarily discuss the inflectional marking on Michif verbs. Michif verb derivation involves a complex concatenation of roots and derivational affixes, much like the Cree verb. Michif verbal derivation is a worthy topic unto itself, but is outside the scope of this thesis. I will give only a basic overview of the most important principles with respect to the
Cree and Michif verbal derivation, leaving the bulk of derivation aside for further research.
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2.2.1 Verbal derivation As I have not specifically investigated Michif verbal derivation I will outline Cree derivation as reported by Wolfart (1996) before suggesting that Michif has a similar structure.
2.2.1.1 Verbal derivation in Cree When inflectional morphemes (to be discussed in section 2.2.2) are removed from a verb, the remaining structure is still made up of more than one smaller units of meaning. This structure consists of at least a root and what is called a final. In some cases there are also medials which appear between the root and the final. Consider the following examples.
Cree [Wolfart 1996 :424] (50) a. nima·kwahte·n ni-ma·kwaht-e·n 1-chew-3IN.OB ‘I chew it.’ b. ma·kw-aht- press-by.mouth (51) a. ma·kw-ahw- press-by.tool ‘press him by tool’ b. ma·kw-a·skw-ahw- press-as wood-by.tool ‘press him by tool as/with wood’
The form in (50a) is a fully inflected form which may appear in speech, but the forms in (50b) and (51a, b) cannot stand alone: they are the stems to which inflection attaches. The root has a meaning of ‘to press,’ and the way in which the pressing is done is determined by the final, or medial and final. The examples (50b) and (51a) show forms with just a root and a final while
(51b) includes a root, medial and final. Note that the meanings of individual affixes are quite abstract but allow for many combinatory possibilities and much creativity by adept speakers.
Wolfart (1996) also reports that there are Cree compounds which function as words inflectionally but which have phonological word boundaries between their members, supported
35 by external sandhi phenomena (see Wolfart 1996: 426 for details). An example of a compound is given below.
Cree [Wolfart 1996: 426] (52) oski-mi·nisa fresh-berries ‘fresh berries’
Although this is simply a cursory glance at Cree derivation, it is important to understand that
Michif roots may also be formed in such a manner.
2.2.1.2 Verbal derivation in Michif Now that we have seen how verbal derivation takes place in Cree, I will show that this seems to also be the case for Michif, though the extent of the possible creativity is uncertain and is left for further research. Consider the forms in (53) below, where the root has been bolded6.
(53) a. biknen n-pikw-n-en 1-break-by.hand-NON3IN ‘I’m breaking it.’ (with my hand) b. pikwepkam7 pikw-wep-k-am-w break-swing-by.foot/body-3IN-3 ‘He broke it (with swinging foot).’ c. pigptkew pikw-pt-ke-w break-push/pull-INDF.OBJ-3 ‘He’s plowing.’ (lit. ‘He’s breaking by pulling.’) d. ki piktaham ki pikw-tah-am-w PST break-by.axe-3IN-3 ‘He broke it with an axe.’
6 Thank you to Richard Rhodes for help with the derivational morphology. 7 Because verbal derivation is not being studied in depth here, the glosses and exact forms of the medial and final suffixes are unclear. I am relying on glosses for Cree cognates wherever it has been possible to find them, though these may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. The important point however is that Michif verbs evidently share the same root-medial-final derivation pattern as Cree; the specifics are left to further research.
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The examples above all share the same root which cannot appear on its own, pikw-, but different derivational elements, called finals, are added. These finals can appear with other roots, as the following example shows. Compare the form in (53d) with the forms in (54-55), where the relevant segments are bolded.
(54) ki tik-ah-am ki+tik-ah-am PST mark-by.tool-3IN ‘He made a mark with an axe.’ (55) kwaham la vjd kw-ah-am la+vjd PST crush-by.tool-3IN F.DF-meat ‘He pounded the meat.’ (56) la mez ki akaham la+ mez ki+ ak-ah-am df.f house PST+ kindle-by.tool-3IN ‘He set the house on fire.’
In (53d) and (54) to (56) we see that the affix -ah- meaning ‘by tool’ is added, showing that it attaches to different verbs and therefore is a productive affix in Michif.
There appear to be compounds in Michif as well, which function as words inflectionally but which have a phonological word boundary within the larger word boundary. Evidence for these compounds based on vowel patterning will be examined in section 6.4.4.6 and evidence based on stress assignment will be discussed in 7.2.1.1. In this section I have shown that Michif verbal derivation is productive, but I have left the details aside for further research, choosing to focus on verbal inflection in the following section.
2.2.2 Michif verbal inflection The Michif verb stem appears obligatorily with a minimum of one suffix, but both prefixes and suffixes are possible and common. A simplified sketch of the Michif verb is given below.
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(57) (prefix) - stem - suffix(es)
With the exception of a small number of person prefixes, suffixation is the primary method of adding morphological structure in Michif. There is another category, normally called preverbs, which function as separate clitic-like units in that they do not pattern phonologically like affixes, but appear to form closer phonological units with adjacent lexical items than other lexical items do. These preverbs can convey information about tense, aspect, and modality (Valentine 2001,
Wolfart 1996, Cook 2003) and are the domain for valency and event-type, as throughout the
Algonquian language family (see, for instance, Déchaine 2003, Goddard 1990). They will be discussed along with other minor categories in section 2.3. The following section is organized into two parts: section 2.2.2.1 deals with verbal prefixation, and section 2.2.2.2 investigates verbal suffixation in Michif.
2.2.2.1 Prefixation
As mentioned above, verbal prefixes mark first and second person.
(58) n-np-n8 ‘I am sleeping.’ 1-sleep-NON3 (59) k-np-n 'You (sg) are sleeping.’ 2-sleep-NON3 (60) np-w ‘S/he is sleeping.’ sleep-3
The prefix ni- is often assimilated and appears simply as voicing on the initial consonant of the stem. This is relatively common in Plains Cree (Bakker 1997), though in Michif this assimilation appears to have become grammaticalized to the point where speakers normally do not allow a nasal consonant to appear, even in slow speech or when asked directly, unlike Plains
8 This item may surface as either [npan] or [nnipan] due to regular deletion rules discussed in chapter 8.
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Cree, as seen in the form in (61a). The examples in (61b) and (61c) show that the initial consonant of the root is indeed underlyingly voiceless.
(61) a. [giwn] ‘I’m going home’ /n-kiw-n/ 1-go.home-NON3 b. kkiwn ‘You (sg) are going home’ /k-kiw-n/ 2-go.home-NON3 c. kiwew9 ‘S/he is going home’ /kiwe-w/ go.home-3
It is clear that the first person prefix should be considered to be ni- underlyingly, with the allomorph [+voice] deriving from it, for (at least) two reasons. First, the prefix ni- appears before sonorants generally, as shown in (62) and (63).
10 (62) a. n-mit-n ‘I’m eating’ 1-eat-NON3 b. k-mit-n ‘You’re eating’ 2-eat-NON3 (63) a. n-lsupi-n ‘I’m having dinner’ 1-have.dinner-NON3 b. k-lsupi-n ‘You’re having dinner’ 2-have.dinner-NON3
Furthermore, the derivational rules producing the surface form in (61a) are observable elsewhere in Michif. The first rule is the deletion of unstressed [], and the second is post-nasal voicing of obstruents with deletion of the vowel, both of which will be discussed in detail in chapters eight and four respectively. Although the prefix n- for the first person has been rendered somewhat opaque in a number of cases, there is indeed evidence for a single prefix n-
9 Note that the suffixal vowel is different in (61c) from the vowel in (61a, b). This is a regular vowel change with verbs with a final e-. 10 This is a contracted form of nmitn.
39 which in certain phonological contexts undergoes regular phonological changes to appear as
[+voice] on the surface.
Lastly, there is an epenthetic -t- inserted between a person prefix and a vowel-initial stem. Consider the following examples.
(64) a. aj-w exist-3 ‘She exists.’ b. ktajn k-aj-n 2-exist-NON3 ‘You exist.’ c. daj-n n-t-aj-n Intermediate form n-aj-n 1-exist-NON3 ‘I exist.’ (65) a. atke-w work-3 ‘She works.’ b. k-t-atk-n k-atk-n 2-work-NON3 ‘You work.’ c. datkn n-t-atk-n Intermediate form n- atk-n 1-work-NON3 ‘I work.’
The (a) examples in (64-65) show that without a prefix, the verb is vowel-initial. In the (b) examples, we see that the epenthetic consonant is added to prevent vowel hiatus. Finally, the (c) examples show that this epenthetic consonant is treated like a regular word-initial voiceless consonant as in (65) in that it surfaces as voiced due to the adjacency of the sonorant.
In sum, verbal prefixation is limited to first and second person prefixes in the independent order of Michif verbs (the independent order will be discussed in section
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2.2.2.2.2.). These prefixes are the locus of two common phonological processes: the first person prefix /ni-/ often surfaces as voicing on the stem vowel, and an epenthetic -t- is inserted before a vowel-initial stem.
2.2.2.2 Suffixation The well-known complex Algonquian verbal morphology is found primarily in suffixation, and Michif is no exception. In this section, I show the different morphological categories exhibited by suffixes in Michif. Section 2.2.2.2.1 discusses transitivity marking, section 2.2.2.2.2 discusses modal marking, section 2.2.2.2.3 discusses person and number marking, and section 2.2.2.2.4 discusses direction.
2.2.2.2.1 Transitivity marking
Michif verbs are divided into classes of two intersecting categories: transitivity and animacy. 11 Transitive verbs obligatorily take an object, though this object need not be an overt
DP, as objects may be expressed on the verb. Roots are often different depending on whether the verb is transitive or not. Consider the following examples.
(66) a. /mit-w/ eat-3 ‘He’s eating.’ b. /n-mit-n/ 1-eat-NON3 ‘I’m eating.’ (67) a. /mw-e-w / eat-DBL3-3 ‘He’s eating it (anim).’ b. /n-mw--w/ 1-eat-DIR-3 ‘I’m eating it (anim).’
11 Note that most sources on Plains Cree (Wolfart 1973, 1996, Wolvengrey 2001, etc.) call animacy gender, but given that Michif also makes a feminine/masculine gender distinction within nouns, I have chosen to specify animacy rather than the more general gender to avoid confusion.
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The verb ‘eat’ has two different root verbs. The examples in (66) represent the intransitive form of the verb, with no object, while the examples in (67) represent the transitive form of the verb, with the object marked as a suffix (details of object marking are outlined in section 2.2.2.4.1.2 on transitive morphology). In addition to this distinction, transitive and intransitive verb stems are found in pairs which are differentiated by animacy. Intransitive verbs distinguish between an animate and inanimate subject, while transitive verbs distinguish between an animate and inanimate object. Consider the following examples which show that the animacy of the object determines which verb is used, as both subjects are identical, and only the objects change. The verbs also change. In the following examples, (68a) shows that the form with /ht/ denotes an animate object, while in (68b) we see that the form with /m/ denotes an inanimate object.
(68) a. nwpahten kegwaj n-wpaht-en kekwaj 1-see.IN- NON3.IN something ‘I see something.’ b. nwpamw n-wpam--w 1-see.AN-DIR-3 ‘I see him.’
Now compare the data in (69) with that in (70). The relevant morphemes are bolded.
(69) a. /mw-e-w / eat-DBL3-3 ‘He’s eating it (anim.).’ b. /n-mw--w/ 1-eat-DIR-NON3 ‘I’m eating it (anim.).’ (70) a. /mit-w / eat-3 ‘He’s eating it (inan.).’ b. /n-mit-n/ 1-eat-NON3 ‘I’m eating it (inan.).’
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Note that the root in the examples in (69) is different from the root in (70). Since the subject, verb and person and number of the object are all identical, it is clear that the crucial difference is in the object’s animacy; the roots denote an animate object in (69) and an inanimate object in
(70).
Consider now the following examples, where the verbs are intransitive, and so the relevant grammatical role determining animacy is the subject.
12 (71) kte-w hot-3 ‘It’s hot.’ (72) l kfi kte-w DF.M.SG coffee hot.IN-3 ‘The coffee is hot.’ (73) k-w hot.AN-3 ‘S/he’s hot.’ (74) li dn k-w-ak PL turkey hot.AN-3-3PL ‘The turkeys are hot/cooked.’
Note that the verbs in (71-72) where the subject is inanimate are different from the forms in (73-
74) where the subject is animate.
Both transitivity and animacy are marked on Michif verbs. For transitive verbs, the verb form depends on the animacy of the direct object, while for intransitive verbs the verb form depends on the animacy of the subject.
Finally, an intransitive verb may be transitivized with a causative marker. Consider the examples below.
(75) a. katawa-w be.beautiful-3 ‘She’s beautiful.’
12 Although I have glossed the examples according to animacy for expository purposes in this section, it will not be my practice to do so throughout the purpose. It is assumed that verbs have animate and inanimate pairs and they will be glossed by their meaning only.
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b. ki katawa-h-e-w be.beautiful-TR-DBL3-3 ‘He made her beautiful.’ (76) a. nakam-w sing-3 ‘She’s singing.’ b. nakam-h-e-w sleep-TR-DBL3-3 ‘She made him sing.’
The bolded suffix -h follows the stem to mark transitivity/causation.
2.2.2.2.2 Modal marking
Wolfart (1996) distinguishes three modes, or orders, in Plains Cree: the independent order, the conjunct order, and the imperative order. These distinctions are likewise made in the
Michif verb. Though similar morphological categories are marked in each of these orders, the set of morphemes marking these categories differs from order to order. For example, there is a different set of person markers in the independent and conjunct orders. In this section, I will outline the use of the orders, and in section 2.2.2.2.3 I will give the paradigms of the actual morphemes which mark the different categories in each order.
The so-called independent order is the verbal category used in main clauses. These forms can translate to complete sentences, as in the examples below.
(77) [kpahknww] k-pahkn-n-ww 2-fall-NON3-2PL ‘They are falling.’ (78) a. [bmhn] n-pmh-n 1-fly-NON3 ‘I’m flying.’ b. pmh-w-ak fly-3-3PL ‘They’re flying.’
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The independent order is unmarked morphologically, in that there is no particular morpheme which appears obligatorily with this order. Instead, certain person and number paradigms are specifically associated with the independent order. These verbs can be thought of as indicative forms.
In contrast to verbs in the independent order, which mark verbs in main clauses, verbs in the conjunct order mark different types of subordinate clauses. They have a set of person and number morphemes which differ from those in the independent order, but most often appear with a so-called conjunct marker which appears before the verb. These markers are discussed in section 2.3 on minor categories. Consider the following examples.
(79) a. pmhjn /+ pmh-n / COMP + fly-1CJ ‘that I am flying.’ b. + pmh-tk /+ pmh-t-k/ COMP + fly-3CJ-3PLCJ ‘that they’re flying.’ (80) ki twew tapaijn /ki+ twe-w + tapai-n/ PST say-3 COMP + run.away-1CJ ‘He said that I was running away’ (81) ki twew npt /ki+ twe-w + np-t/ PST+ say-3 COMP + sleep-3CJ ‘S/hei said that s/hej was sleeping.’ (82) [kwaj ka pmhtehk, marsi ti twejahk ka ktihtejmjahk /kwaj ka pmht-ehk marsi ti twe-jahkw ka khtihtejm-ahkw/ right REL walk-2PLCJ thank PURP be.1PL.CJ REL be.proud-1PL.CJ ‘make us righteous, thankful and proud.’
Comparing the suffixes in (75-78) with those in (79-82), we see that they are very different in the two orders.
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Finally, the imperative order is used for commands. It also displays different suffixes depending on the person. An additional suffix is used to distinguish delayed time. Consider the following examples.
(83) pmh-hk fly-IMPPL ‘Fly!’ (pl) (84) np-h sleep-IMP ‘Sleep!’ (sg) (85) np-hk-n sleep-IMPPL-DEL ‘Sleep (pl.) sometime/when you like!’
The imperative examples in (83-85) show that the affixes in the imperative order are completely different from those in the independent order (75-78) and the conjunct order (79-82).
2.2.2.2.3 Direction
Direction specifies the subject and the object of the verb. Recall that transitive animate verbs mark two participants directly on the verb (see section 2.2.2.2.4 for details), and therefore direction specifies which participant is the subject and which is the object. There are two settings in terms of direction: direct and inverse. The default Michif person hierarchy is
2Æ1Æ3, which means that second person marking gets privileged subject status over first person marking, and both second and first marking get privileged subject status over third person marking when the direct suffix is used. Third person subject marking surfaces only if there are two third persons involved. Consider the following examples.
(86) k- wpam-- n 2- see- NON3DIR-NON3 ‘You see me.’ (87) k- wpam-t- n 2- see- NON3INV-NON3 ‘I see you.’
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While the person prefixes and suffixes are the same, the direction suffixes are different, and therefore the meaning changes. In the example in (86), the direct suffix yields the interpretation following the person hierarchy; with the second person as subject and the first person as object.
However, the example in (87) yields an interpretation which is the inverse of the hierarchy; namely that the first person is the subject, with the second person as object. There are two forms of each of the direct and the inverse suffixes, and the choice of which to use is dependent on whether the paradigms include a third person or not. The pattern is summarized in the table below.
(88) direct -- third and non-third inverse -kw-
direct -- both non- third inverse -t- third - third -e-
More examples of these suffixes will be given in the discussion of the transitive animate verb forms in the following section.
In addition to the direct and inverse direction markers, verbs may be marked by reciprocal or reflexive markers. Consider the examples below.
13 (89) a. wit-t-w-ak help-REC-3-3PL ‘They’re helping each other.’ b. wit-t-n-ww help-REC-NON3-2PL ‘You’re helping each other.’ (90) wik-t-w-ak be.married-REC-3-3PL ‘They’re married to each other.’
13 The phonetic realization of /_w is closer to [o].
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The above examples all include the reciprocal marker /-t-/. Now consider the following examples with the reflexive marker /-/.
(91) a. tm-w tell.story-3 ‘He’s telling a story.’ b. tm--w tell.story-REFL-3 ‘He’s talking about himself.’ c. tm--w-ak tell.story-REFL-3-3PL ‘They’re talking about themselves.’
In sum, transitive verbs in Michif include a direction marker which can either indicate a direct or inverse relationship to the hierarchy given two participants, or can have a reciprocal or reflexive effect on verbs with only one participant.
2.2.2.2.4 Person, number and animacy marking
Michif verbal suffixes include markers for person and number, as well as third person animacy. Person suffixes distinguish between three persons, and number includes singular and plural marking. Intransitive verbs mark the subject on the verbs, while transitive verbs mark both the subject and object. This morphological richness renders independent pronouns or nouns optional; an entire sentence may be expressed with a verb, as mentioned in section 2.2.2.
Also remarked upon in section 2.2.1, the sets of morphemes differ based on the order; independent, conjunct or imperative.
2.2.2.2.4.1 Person, number and animacy in the independent order In this section, I describe the paradigm for the person and number suffixes, as seen in the table in (85). The section is then further divided into two subsections: suffixes on intransitive
48 verbs and suffixes on transitive verbs. In all cases, singular is phonologically unmarked. If only a person suffix is added, it indicates a singular subject. To form a plural, a plural suffix must be added to the person suffix, and this suffix must correspond to the appropriate person; first, second or third. The following is the paradigm for animate subjects.
(92) non-third (1st, 2nd) -n person third -w st 1 plural -n
nd number 2 plural -ww third plural -ak
When building the verb, the person suffix is added to the stem, and then the number suffix is added to the appropriate new stem. Most verbs follow the same paradigm, and differ only in the final stem vowel, but there is a group of verbs with the stem /-n-/ which displays a slightly different paradigm. The difference between the two paradigms, as we will see, is the lack of a third person singular suffix /-w/.
2.2.2.2.4.1.1 Intransitive verbs Given that Michif verbs mark both subjects and objects on transitive verbs, I will begin with intransitive paradigms, which are simpler in that they mark only one grammatical role.
Person and number suffixes are given in bold in the following examples.
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Intransitive verbs with animate subjects. (93) Example of regular verb form: /np-/ ‘to sleep (anim.)’ st 1 sg n-np-n nd 2 sg k-np-n rd 3 sg np-w st 1 pl. excl. n-np-n-n st 1 pl. incl. k-np-n-n nd 2 pl. k-np-n-ww rd 3 pl. np-w-ak
(94) Example of -n- stem: /pahkn-/ ‘to fall (anim.)’
st 1 sg n-pahkn-n nd 2 sg k-pahkn-n rd 3 sg pahkn14 st 1 pl. excl. n- pahk-n-n st 1 pl. incl. k-pahk-n-n nd 2 pl. k- pahk-n-ww rd 3 pl. pahk-w-ak
To distinguish between inclusive and exclusive forms in the first person plural, the same suffix is used, but the person prefix differs. It is interesting to note that Michif has innovated this form. Plains Cree has separate suffixes for the inclusive and exclusive forms, as shown in the examples below.
Plains Cree (from Wolfart 1996) (95) ni-tapi-na:n ‘we sit’ (excl) (96) ki-tapi-na:naw ‘we sit’ (incl) (97) ki-tapi-na:wa:w ‘you (pl) sit’
14 It is possible that there is an underlying -w suffix on this form which deletes on the surface, as is reported by Wolfart (1996) for Cree. This would explain the asymmetry between the 3rd person singular versus plural surface forms and the 1st and 2nd person singular versus plural forms. However, in the absence of evidence for such an affix, I leave the question open to further research.
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As is evident from the above examples, the intransitive suffixal paradigm marks both person and number, but no animacy distinction. Masculine or feminine is unmarked: a third person form may refer to either gender. The person prefixes are also required in the non-third person forms.
Up to this point, I have outlined only the intransitive verbs with animate subjects. A separate, albeit small, paradigm occurs with inanimate intransitive verbs. This is a smaller paradigm due to the fact that only third person subject forms are allowed.
Intransitive verbs with inanimate subject (98) a. wpk- ‘to be white (inan.)’ rd 3 sg wpk-w ‘it is white’ rd ‘3 pl wpk-w-a ‘they (in.) are white’
(99) pahktn- ‘to fall (inan.)’ (-n- paradigm)
rd 3 sg pahkhtn15 ‘it is falling’ rd 3 pl pahkhtn-w-a ‘they (in.) are falling’
Another set of intransitive inanimate verbs with stems ending in -an appears without suffixes, as shown below.
(100) wkwan ‘it is sunny’ kmwan ‘it is raining’ wistekan ‘it stinks’
Wolfart calls a similar set of Cree verbs with unexpected suffixes a suppletive paradigm as he says it generally serves to fill gaps in the basic paradigms (Wolfart 1996: 419). The status of this paradigm in Michif is unclear but I give it here for completeness.
15 Again, it is possible that the suffix /-w/ is added underlyingly to the singular form in the -n- forms, and is then deleted due to being in word-final position, a regular phonological process as reported for Cree by Wolfart (1996).
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2.2.2.2.4.1.2 Transitive verbs
Having outlined the intransitive forms, I will now turn to the transitive paradigm. Recall that the animacy of the object determines the form of the verb. In these forms, both the subject and object are marked directly on the verb stem. First, I will outline the inanimate transitive paradigm, which is considerably simpler than where both subject and object are animate, as the objects are necessarily third person, and object number is not marked. The forms are given below.
(101) Transitive paradigm with inanimate object Subject non-third -en third animate -am first plural -n second plural -ww third animate plural -wak
The inanimate object may be either singular or plural. The same principles apply to verb building as did for the intransitive verbs. Person is the first suffix required, and then if the subject is plural, the appropriate suffix in the paradigm is added. This is shown in the examples given below.
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(102) ‘to see it/something’ n-wpaht-en st 16 1 sg 1-see-NON3IN ‘I see it’ k-wpaht-en nd 2 sg 2-see-NON3IN ‘You see it’ wpaht-am rd 3 sg see-3IN ‘S/he sees it’ n-wpaht-en-n st 1 pl. excl. 1-see- NON3IN-1PL ‘We (excl) see it.’ k-wpaht-en-n st 1 pl. incl. 2-see-NON3IN-1PL ‘We (incl) see it.’ k-wpaht-en-ww nd 2 pl. 2-see-NON3IN-2PL ‘You (pl) see it.’ wpaht-am-w-ak rd 3 pl. see-3IN-3-3PL ‘They see it’
As the above forms show, the paradigms follow a similar pattern as the intransitive verbs in the way person and number are marked. Note that number of the object is not marked in this paradigm .
I will now move on to transitive animate forms, the most complex of the Michif verb paradigms. As outlined in section 2.2.2.3 on direction, two participants are marked on the verb, and the direct or inverse marker specifies which participant gets which grammatical role.
(103) k-nawawt--n-n 2-run.after-NON3DIR-NON3-1PL ‘You (pl) are chasing us.’
16 Note that the -en morpheme has been analysed in the Algonquian literature as fusion between -am-n (-3IN- NON3) which captures the fact that -en corresponds to a non-third subject with an inanimate object. However, since there is no synchronic phonological evidence to posit such a phonological rule in Michif, I have chosen not to analyze it as such.
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(104) k-nawawt-t-n-n 2-run.after-NON3INV-NON3-1PL ‘We (pl) are chasing you.’ In addition to person and number of the subject being expressed, the person and number of the object is also expressed in the transitive animate paradigms. Given that there are systematic differences between the third person and non-third person forms, I will divide the forms into those with third persons and those without, in an attempt to synthesize the morphology as simply as possible. Given that Michif clearly makes a distinction between third person on the one hand, and non-third person on the other, I will likewise separate these into distinct paradigms. First, I show the transitive forms with two non-third person participants, and then those forms with mixed third person and non-third person participants. Forms with two third person participants will be discussed last.
The first transitive paradigms to be given are the non-third person forms of transitive verbs. Given the person hierarchy, second person will always be the subject and first person will always be the object in these forms. First person inclusive forms are not included, given that this would logically entail the second person as both subject and object. Likewise, only non-reflexive forms are given here, so the same person may not be both a subject and an object.
Recall that the direct marker for the non-third person forms is --, and the inverse marker is -t-.
These appear before the person suffixes. The table in (105) gives the transitive paradigm for non-third persons with direct forms, while the table in (106) gives the corresponding paradigm with inverse forms.
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(105) Direct transitive verb paradigm st nawawt- 1 singular obj 1st plural obj ‘to chase’ 2 subj k-nawawt--n k-nawawt-n-n 2-chase-NON3DIR-NON3 2-chase- NON3DIR-NON3-1PL ‘You (sg) chase me.’ ‘You (sg) chase us.’ 2pl subj k-nawawt--n-ww k-nawawt--n-ww 2-chase- NON3DIR-NON3-2PL 2-chase- NON3DIR-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) chase me.’ ‘You (pl) chase us.’
(106) Inverse transitive verb paradigm 1st singular subj 1st plural subj
2 obj k-nawawt-t-n k- nawawt -t-n-n 2-chase-NON3INV-NON3 2-chase- NON3INV-NON3-1PL ‘I chase you (sg).’ ‘We chase you (sg).’ 2pl obj k- nawawt -t-n-ww k- nawawt -t-n-ww 2-chase- NON3INV-NON3-2PL 2-chase- NON3INV-NON3-2PL ‘I chase you (pl).’ ‘We chase you (pl).’
Note that the person/number suffixes are identical in each paradigm, and only the inverse or direct suffix changes, depending on the subject/participant. The suffix /-n/ appears in all forms, signalling non-third person. The second person plural forms are always marked with /-ww/, and first person plural adds /-n/. These are all in keeping with the suffixes elsewhere in the person paradigms, for example as in (93). The differences in the transitive paradigms are as follows: two participants are marked, plural is always marked, and second person is always marked over first person. Prefixation follows this same hierarchy, where the second person prefix always appears in situations where there are both first and second person participants.
Having examined the first and second person transitive paradigms, I will now move on to the transitive paradigms which mix non-third person and animate third person participants.
Recall that all these forms include the direct suffix, as seen in the table in (88), where the direct is marked by /--/ and the inverse is marked by /-kw-/ for the forms including both non-third
55 and third persons in the transitive paradigms. For illustrative purposes, I have separated these suffixes from the root, and they are seen between the verb root /nawawt-/ ‘chase’ and the person/number suffixes in the tables below. In (107), I give the paradigm of mixed third and non-third participants with direct forms, and in (108), I give the corresponding paradigm with inverse forms.
(107) Direct mixed third and non-third person transitive paradigms
wpam- 3 animate singular object 3 animate plural object ‘to see’
1 n- wpam--w n-wpam--w-ak 1-see-DIR-3 1-see-DIR-3-3PL singular ‘I see him/her.’ ‘I see them’ 2 k- wpam --w k- wpam --w-ak 2-see-DIR-3 2-see-DIR-3-3PL ‘You see him/her.’ ‘You see them.’ 1 n- wpam --n-an n- wpam --n-n-k 1-see-DIR-NON3-1PL 1-see-DIR-NON3-1PL-DBL.PL ‘We (excl) see him/her.’ ‘We (excl) see them.’ 1-2 k- wpam --n-n k- wpam --n-n-k plural 2-see-DIR-NON3-1PL 2-see-DIR-NON3-1PL-DBL.PL ‘We (incl) see him/her.’ ‘We (incl) see them.’ 2 k- wpam --ww k- wpam --ww-ak 2-see-DIR-2PL 2-see-DIR-2PL-3PL ‘You see him/her.’ ‘You see them.’
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(108) Inverse mixed third and non-third person transitive paradigms ‘to see’ 3 animate singular subject 3 animate plural subject
1 [nwpamk] [nwpamgk] n-wpam-kw17 n-wpam-kw-ak 1-chase-INV 1-chase-INV-3PL singular ‘S/he chases me.’ ‘They chase me.’ objects 2 [kwpamk] [nwpamgk] k-wpam-kw n-wpam-kw-ak 2-chase-INV 2-chase-INV-3PL ‘S/he chases you (sg).’ ‘They chase you (sg).’ 1 [nwpamgnn] [nwpamgnnk] n-wpam-kw-nn n-wpam-kw-nn-k 1-see-INV-1PL 1-see-INV-1PL-DBL.PL ‘S/he sees us.’ ‘They see us.’ 1-2 [kwpamgnn] kwpamgnnk] plural k-wapam-kw-nn k- wpam-kw-nn-k objects 2-see-INV-1PL 2-see-INV-1PL-DBL.PL ‘S/he sees us (incl). ‘They see us (incl) 2 [kwpamgww] [kwpamgwak] k- wpam-kw-ww k-wpam-kw-wak 2-see-INV-2PL 2-see-INV-3PL ‘S/he sees you (pl).’ ‘They see you (pl).’
Finally, forms with two third persons are given in the table below. (109) ‘to see’ 3rd anim. sing. object 3rd anim. plur. object
3 anim. sg subj wpam-e-w wpam-e-w see-DBL3-3 see-DBL3-3 ‘S/he sees him/her.’ ‘S/he sees them.’ 3 anim. pl subj wpam-e-w-ak wpam-e-w-ak see-DBL3-3-3PL see-DBL3-3-3PL ‘They see him/her.’ ‘They see them.’
Note that there is a good deal of potential ambiguity as to the subject or object in the third person forms. I have chosen to not to label the direction as direct or inverse, but as a double
17 The inverse marker is /-kw/, but this form rarely surfaces as such. Instead, a regular Michif rule deletes a word- final /w/, resulting in the surface forms [(n)nawawtk] and [knawawtk], another rule changes -kw- to -g- before a morpheme-initial consonant, as in all the examples with plural objects, for example [nnawatgnan]. Details of these rules are given in chapter 6.
57 third person, in part because of this ambiguity. Of course it could be labelled as either direct or inverse.
We can observe that the forms for most of the suffixes remain constant throughout the paradigms seen in the tables in (105)-(109). However, note that participants are often not marked. For example, consider the forms with both first and second person.
(110) k-nawawt--n 2-chase-DIR-NON3 ‘You (sg) chase me.’ (111) a. k-wpam-t-n-ww 2-chase-INV-NON3-2PL ‘I see you guys.’ b. k-wpam-t-n-ww 2-chase-INV-NON3-2PL ‘We see you guys.
In (110), there is only one person prefix denoting the second person, and nothing which shows the first person explicitly. In (111a, b), there is no way of expressing the plurality of both persons, and so the form is ambiguous. The surfacing of individual morphemes is determined by the language-particular hierarchy mentioned above, where plurals must be marked over singulars, second person over first, and both non-third persons over third person. This hierarchy along with the inverse/direct marking allows the correct interpretation of the verbal form.
2.2.2.2.4.1.3 Summary of independent order affixes The following table lists all the morphemes found in the Michif independent order.
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(112) Michif verbal morphemes - independent order -- third and non-third participants – direct (DIR) -kw- third and non-third participants – inverse (INV) -- both non-third participants – direct (NON3DIR) -t- both non-third participants – inverse (NON3INV) -e- third – third participants (DBL3) n- first person (1) k- second person (2) -n non-third person(NON3) -w third person (3) -n 1st plural person (1PL) -ww 2nd plural person (2PL) -ak third plural person (3PL) -en non-third subject, inanimate object (NON3.IN.TR) -am third animate subject, inanimate object (3ANIM.IN.TR) -k both subject & object are plural (DBL.PL) -a 4th person/obviative plural (4PL)
Now that we have seen the complete paradigms for both intransitive and transitive verbs with two participants marked on the verb in independent sentences, let us turn to the expression of these verbs in the other orders.
2.2.2.2.4.2 Person, number and animacy in the conjunct This section mirrors section 2.2.2.2.4.1. I outline the different verbal forms and morphemes available in the conjunct Michif forms. Its organization is therefore similar: first, I discuss intransitive verbs, then move onto the more complicated transitive forms.
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2.2.2.2.4.2.1 Intransitive verbs Conjunct verbs are normally, though not always, introduced overtly by a preverbal marker normally called a conjunct marker. In the following tables, the conjunct verb paradigm forms are given preceded by such a conjunct marker; the complementizer //.
Intransitive verbs with animate subjects. (113) Conjunct verb form: /np-/ ‘to sleep’
st 1 sg + np-jn nd 2 sg + np-jn rd 3 sg + np-t st 18 1 pl. excl. + np-jhk st 1 pl. incl. + np-jahk nd 2 pl. + np-jhk rd 3 pl. + np-t-k
Note that the suffixes in the conjunct form are completely different from those in the independent form seen in the table in (93). Furthermore, there are no prefixes in the conjunct forms. Again, the third person form is slightly different in the /-n-/ verb paradigm, as seen below.
(114) ‘fall’ /pahkn-/ st 1 sg + pahkn-jn nd 2 sg + pahkn-jn rd 3 sg + pahkn-t st 1 pl. excl. + pahkn-jhk st 1 pl. incl. + pahkn-jahk nd 2 pl. + pahkn-jhk rd 3 pl. + pahkn-t-k
18 Previous work has discussed the merger of the inclusive and exclusive distinctions in these paradigms, but at least the Camperville speakers Grace Zoldy and Rita Flamand make a clear distinction between the two forms.
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2.2.2.2.4.2.2 Transitive verbs One difference between independent and conjunct orders is that there are no person prefixes in the conjunct forms. This is true for both the intransitive and transitive forms. This section will be organized in the same way as for the independent forms: I will first examine the paradigms with inanimate objects, then those with two non-third person participants, and then turn to those paradigms with mixed third and non-third person participants. Finally, I will give the forms with two third-person participants.
The forms with inanimate objects are as follows. They are the same regardless of the number of the object:
(115) Transitive verbs with inanimate objects ‘to see it/them (inan)’ + wpaht-am-n st 1 sg see- NON3IN-1CJ ‘That I see it/them.’ +wpaht-am-n nd 2 sg see-NON3IN-2.CJ ‘That you see it/them.’ +wpaht-ak rd 3 sg see-3IN ‘That s/he sees it/them.’ +wpaht- am-hk st 1 pl. excl. see-NON3IN-1PL ‘That we (excl) see it/them.’ +wpaht-am-ahk st 1 pl. incl. see-NON3IN-1/2PL ‘That we (incl) see it/them.’ +wpaht-am-hk nd 2 pl. see- NON3IN -2PLCJ ‘That you (pl) see it/them.’ +wpaht-ak-k rd 3 pl. see-3IN-3PLCJ ‘That they see it/them.’
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The following tables give transitive conjunct forms when there are no third person participants; i.e. just first and second person. In (116) the subjects are second person with first person objects.
(116) Conjunct transitive forms – non-third person participants st /wpam-/ 1 singular obj 1st plural obj ‘to see’ 2 subj +wpamjn +wpamjhk +wpam--n +wpam--hk see- NON3DIR-2.CJ see- NON3DIR-1PL.CJ ‘that you (sg) see me.’ ‘that you (sg) see us.’ 2pl subj +wpamjhk +wpamjhk +wpam--hk +wpam--hk see-NON3DIR-2PL.CJ see- NON3DIR-1PL.CJ ‘that you (pl) see me.’ ‘that you (pl) see us.’
The table in (117) gives forms with first person subjects and second person objects.
(117) Conjunct transitive forms – non-third person participants st /wpam-/ 1 singular subject 1st plural subject ‘to see’ 2 obj wpamtn wpamthk +wpam-t-n +wpam-t-hk CJ+ see-NON3INV-1.CJ CJ+ see- NON3INV-1PL ‘that I see you (sg)’ ‘that we see you (sg).’ 2pl obj wpamthk19 wpamthk +wpam-t-hk +wpam-t-hk CJ+ see- NON3INV-2PL CJ+ see- NON3INV-1PL ‘that I see you (pl) ‘that we see you (pl)’
In the above tables only one participant is overtly marked on the verb. The form of the direction marker (both -t and -) shows that there are two non-third person participants, so the other participant is not overtly marked. Now compare the person markers in (117) and (115). Note that they are identical. This leads me to analyze the /j/ in (116) as epenthetic, to maintain consistency. This results in a coherent system between the tables in (116) and (117) with just
19 This form is markedly different from its Plains Cree counterpart ‘ wpamtakk’ (Wolfart 1996, Bakker 2004).
62 three person suffixes and the same direction markers seen in the intransitive conjunct paradigm in (118). Furthermore, with the same treatment of /j/ as epenthetic in (113) and (114), we get basically these same forms again. Given this, the paradigm in (113) must be amended to the following:
(118) Conjunct intransitive verb: /np-/ ‘to sleep’
[+ npjn] 1st sg /+ np-n/ [+ npjn] 2nd sg /+ np-n/ [+ npt] 3rd sg /+ np-t/ [+ npjhk] 1st pl. excl. /+ np-hk/ [+ npjahk] 1st pl. incl. /+ np-ahk/ [+ npjhk] 2nd pl. /+ np-hk/ [+ nptk] 3rd pl. /+ np-t-k/
The bolded suffixes above are the underlying forms according to my analysis, while the bolded forms in (113) are the surface forms. This ensures a smaller group of affixes and lets us see morphological patterning, rather than positing /-jn/ as first person singular conjunct in some paradigms and /-n/ as first person singular conjunct in others, losing a generalization. Note that though he chooses to cite ‘different alternants (rather than one highly abstract form…e.g.,
|ekw ~ yekw|)’ (Wolfart 1996: 410), Wolfart implies with his example that he would also analyze these as variants in Plains Cree. I will continue to treat this /j/ as epenthetic throughout the conjunct paradigms. I will now continue with the conjunct forms with mixed third and non- third participants.
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In the following tables I give the forms for the third and non-third person mixed participant paradigms.
(119) Conjunct direct mixed third and non-third person transitive
/wpam-/ 3 animate singular object 3 animate plural object ‘to see’ 1 [ wpamk] [ wpamkk] /+ wpam--k/ /+ wpam--k-k/ see-DIR-1/3CJ see-DIR-1/3CJ-3PLCJ singular ‘that I see him/her.’ ‘that I see them.’ 2 [ wpamt] [+ wpamtk] /+ wpam--t/ /+ wpam--t-k/ see-DIR-3CJ see-DIR-3CJ-3PLCJ ‘that you (sg) see him/her.’ ‘that you (sg) see them.’ 1 [ wpamjhk] [ wpamjhkk] /+ wpam--hk/ /+ wpam--hk-k/ see-DIR-1PLCJ see-DIR-1PLCJ-3PLCJ ‘that we (excl) see him/her.’ ‘that we (excl) see them.’ 1/2 [ wpamjahk] [ wpamjahkk] plural /+ wpam--ahkw/ /+ wpam--ahkw-k/ see-DIR-1/2CJ see-DIR-1/2CJ-3PLCJ ‘that we (incl) see him/her.’ ‘that we (incl) see them.’ 2 [ wpamjhk] [ wpamjhkk] /+ wpam--hkw/ /+ wpam--hkw-k/ see-DIR-2PLCJ see-DIR-2PLCJ-3PLCJ ‘that you (pl) see him/her’ ‘that you (pl) see them.’
Again, the same direction markers seen in the independent paradigms apply to the conjunct, as do nearly all the same person markers. Note in the non-third participant plural forms, however, that the underlying forms have been given with a final /w/, unlike the tables in (111)-(116). The addition of a suffix as in the forms with the third plural suffix in (119) yield a surface [] which implies an underlying /w/, given the regular Michif alternation to be discussed in chapter 4.
This in turn forces us to revise the forms in (111)-(116) to reflect the underlying reality. Thus, the plural non-third person forms are as follows:
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(120) Revised conjunct non-third person plural forms st 1 plural exclusive (1PLCJ) -hk st 1 plural inclusive (1/2PLCJ) -ahkw nd 2 plural (2PLCJ) -hkw
The affix-final /w/ is deleted in word-final position, and does not surface in the forms given above.
Having revised the forms, I now continue to the inverse mixed third and non-third person transitive forms, given in the table below.
(121) Conjunct inverse mixed third and non-third person transitive ‘to 3 animate singular 3 animate plural subject chase’ subject 1 [+ wpamt] [+ wpamtk] + wpam--t + wpam--t-k see-INV-3CJ see-INV-3S-3PL singular ‘that s/he sees me’ ‘that they see me’ objects 2 [+ wpamk] [ wpamkk] + wpam--k + wpam--k-k see-INV-2O see-INV-2O-3PLCJ ‘that s/he sees you (sg.) ‘that they see you (sg.)’ 1 [+ wpamgjhk] [ wpamgjhkk] + wpam-kw-hk + wpam-kw-hk-k see-INV-1PLCJ see-INV-1PLCJ-3PLCJ ‘that s/he sees us (excl)’ ‘that they see us’ (excl) 1-2 [+ wpamgjahk] [+ wpamgjahkk] plural + wpam-kw-ahkw + wpam-kw-ahkw-k objects see-INV-1/2PLCJ see-INV-1/2PLCJ-3PLCJ ‘that s/he sees us’ (incl) ‘that they see us’ (incl) 2 [+ wpamgjhk] [+ wpamgjhkk] + wpam-kw-hkw + wpam-kw-hkw-k see-INV-2PLCJ see-INV-2PLCJ-3PLCJ ‘that s/he sees you (pl)’ ‘that they see you (pl)’
Finally, the following table shows the transitive forms with only third person participants.
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(122) Conjunct direct transitives with third person participants ‘to see 3rd anim. sing. object 3rd anim. plur. object
3 anim. sg subj [+ wpam--t] [+ wpamtk] see-DIR-3CJ wpam--t-k ‘that s/he sees him/her’ CJ+ see-DIR-3CJ-3CJPL ‘that they see him/her’ 3 anim. pl subj [+ wpam--t] [+ wpamtk] see-DIR-3CJ +wpam--t-k ‘that s/he sees them’ see-DIR-3CJ-3CJPL ‘that they see them’
2.2.2.2.4.2.3 Summary of conjunct order morphemes The following table is an exhaustive list of the morphemes used specifically in the conjunct order. Morphemes that are the same regardless of order (i.e. direction) are not listed here as they are already listed under the independent order table in (119).
(123) Michif inflectional morphemes used in the conjunct order
-n first person singular conjunct (1CJ) -n second person singular conjunct (2CJ) -t third person singular conjunct (3CJ) -hk first person plural exclusive (1PLCJ) -ahkw first person plural inclusive (1/2PLCJ) -hkw second person plural (2PLCJ) -k third person plural (3PLCJ) -k second person singular object (2O) -k first subject, third object (1/3CJ)
2.2.2.2.4.3 Person, number and animacy in the imperative
Having outlined the person and number paradigms in the independent and conjunct orders, I now give the person and number morphemes of the imperative forms. These paradigms are significantly reduced compared to those seen in the independent and conjunct paradigms due to there being only three possible subjects: second person singular, second person plural and first person inclusive (1/2). This section will be subdivided in a similar way
66 as the previous two sections; by outlining first the intransitive paradigms, and then the transitive paradigms.
The intransitive imperative suffixes are given in bold in the paradigm in (124). Note that like the conjunct paradigms, there are no prefixes in the imperatives.
(124) Intransitive imperative with animate subject ‘to sleep’ nd 2 sg np-h 1-2 pl. np-tk nd 2 pl. np-hk
The transitive imperative suffixes are given in (125). Note that they are identical to the intransitive suffixes seen above.
(125) Transitive imperative with inanimate object ‘eat it’ nd 2 sg miht--h st 1 pl. incl. miht--tk nd 2 pl. miht--hk
The following table outlines all the imperative forms, with the subjects along the top and the objects along the side. Since we have seen that Michif distinguishes between third and non- third person in terms of different affixes, this table continues to reflect that distinction.
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(126) Imperative transitive forms ‘to look 2nd singular subj. 2nd plural subj. 1-2 plural subj.20 at’
kanawpam--n kanawpam--k look.at-DIR-NON3 look.at-DIR-IMPPL ‘Look at me!’ ‘Look at (PL) me!’ 1sg obj
kanawpam--n-n kanawpam--n-n
non-third look.at- DIR-NON3- look.at- DIR-NON3-1PL participants participants 1PL ‘Look at (PL) to us!’ 1pl obj ‘Look at us!’ kanawpam kanawpam kanawpam--tn kanawpam kanawpam look.at-DIR-1/2IMP look.at look.at ‘Let’s look at him/her!’ 3 sg obj ‘Look at him/her!’ ‘Look at (PL) him/her!’
kanawpam--k kanawpam--k kanawpam--tn-k look.at- DIR-IMPPL look.at- DIR-IMPPL look.at-DIR-1/2IMP-IMPPL ‘Look at them!’ ‘Look at (PL) them!’ ‘Let’s look at them!’ 3 pl obj
kanawpam-m kanawpam-m kanawpam-m--tn mixed participants look.at- IMPOBV look.at- IMPOBV look.at-IMPOBV-DIR-1/2IMP ‘Look at him (OBV)!’ ‘Look at him (OBV)!’ ‘Let’s look at him (OBV)!’ obv. sg
Imperative forms, like the conjunct, do not mark person prefixes. A summary of the morphemes found exclusively in the imperative is found in (127).
(127) Michif inflectional morphemes used in the imperative order -h intransitive imperative -k imperative plural (IMPPL) -tk first person inclusive intransitive imperative (IMP1/2IN) -tn first person inclusive transitive imperative (IMP1/2) -m obviative imperative object (IMPOBV)
2.2.2.3 Summary of verbal inflection This section has served to outline the complexities of Michif verbal inflection. Michif verbs, due to the rich morphological marking, often make up an entire sentence. This marking includes grammatical features such as transitivity, mode, direction and number and animacy.
20 I was unable to elicit ‘let’s look at me/us’ due to the unnaturalness of the form; ‘let’s look at ourselves’ is more natural but yields a reflexive form.
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Michif verbs also mark syntactic subjects and objects morphologically. While this section does not purport to be an exhaustive list of Michif verbal morphemes, it is meant to be a significant portion of verbal inflectional morphology in Michif, and the first attempt at organizing and labelling the morphemes in such a way. A summary of verbal affixes is given in appendix A.
2.3 Minor categories In this section I outline a number of minor categories including preverbs, determiners, demonstratives, possessive markers, prepositions and postpositions, negation and subordinating or conjunct markers. Although determiners belong in this section, given that they have already been discussed under the nominal markers in section 2.1, I will not discuss them further.
2.3.1 Demonstratives
Demonstratives in Michif mark animacy, proximity and number. The forms are given in the table below.
(128) Michif demonstratives
Singular Plural Proximate awa okk Animate Intermediate ana ankk Distal naha nkk Proximate oma hi Inanimate Intermediate anma anh Distal nema neh
It is worth noting that while the animacy distinction often follows semantics, it is a grammatical distinction. Consider the following examples, where the demonstratives are bolded.
(129) awa lar SG.PROX.AN money ‘this money’
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(130) oma la SG.PROX.IN F change ‘this change’
The above examples show that lar ‘money’ is animate while la ‘change’ is inanimate.
There is no semantic reason for these two nouns to distinguish between animacy, which demonstrates that all nouns have grammatical animacy which surfaces in the demonstrative paradigm as well as in the verbal paradigms, seen above in section 2.2.2.4.
Proximity relates to deixis, or the distal relationship of the modified noun to the speaker.
The following examples show the semantic difference between the different proximities in
Michif.
(131) a. awa la fij INT.AN.SG SG.F girl ‘this girl’ b. ana la fij PROX.AN.SG SG.F girl ‘that girl’ c. naha la fij DIST.AN.PL PL girl ‘that girl over there’
While the forms for different proximities change based on grammatical animacy, the proximity marking itself is semantic/pragmatic, based on proximity to the speaker.
2.3.2 Adpositions
Other minor categories include adpositions. A few examples are given below. The relevant items are bolded:
(132) d l kafe nœ mit-n-n LOC DET restaurant IMMFUT eat-NON3-1PL ‘We are going to eat at the restaurant.’
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(133) n+putn gi+ hw pur l+ur d+l n+putn n-ki h--w pur l+ur d+l DET+pudding 1-PST make-DIR-3 for DET+day of+year ‘I made bag pudding for New Year’s.’
In addition to the prepositions shown above, Bakker (1997) reports cases of postpositions.
Consider the example below:
(134) da l frd uhti [Bakker 1997:110] LOC the fridge from “out of the fridge”
2.3.3 Preverbs
When discussing the Michif verb, I have so far limited my discussion to affixation. However, there is another element of the Michif verb which precedes the stem, normally called the preverb in Algonquian studies. Preverbs mark tense, mode and aspect and may be recursive when semantically possible. Some examples are given below.
(135) a. ki+np-w ‘He was sleeping.’ PST+sleep-3 b. ka+np-w ‘He will sleep.’ FUT+sleep-3 c. k-nhte+npn ‘You want to sleep/are sleepy.’ 2-want+sleep d. ka+do+np-n-n ‘Let’s go to sleep.’ FUT+OPT+sleep-NON3-NON3PL
Preverbs differ from verb stems in that they never take suffixal morphology. However, the person markers always attach to the preverbs when they are present, rather than to the verb stem.
Consider the example below, where the person prefix /n-/ attaches to the past marker preverb
/ki/ rather than the verb stem /wiht-/.
(136) giwihtamk ti pojjn (*/ki + n-wiht-am-k/) /n-ki + wihtam-w-kw ti + poj-n/ 1-PST + tell-3-INV PURP + stop-1CJ ‘He told me to finish.’
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In Algonquianist studies, the preverbs have traditionally been thought of as part of the verb, and analyses have been made for a templatic analysis of verbs in different Algonquian languages whereby each preverb is assigned a slot in a verbal template (for example Wolfart 1973 and
Dahlstrom 1991 for Plains Cree, Rhodes 1976 for Central Ojibwa, Valentine 2001 for
Nishnaabemwin). Terminologically, for Valentine, preverbs include all pre-verbal material excluding person prefixes. For Bakker, preverbs include adverbial elements with meanings such as ‘strongly’, ‘loudly’ (Bakker 1997: 98). However, despite the terminological and language differences, the ordering of the preverbal morphemes remains largely consistent in the two analyses. Valentine (2001) gives six slots of preverb classes for Nishnaabemwin, shown below.
The template reflects the relative ordering of these preverbs.
(137) Nishnaabemwin preverb template [Valentine, 2001: 168] Preverb Order Subordinator Tense Directional Relational Aspectual Manner Mode Quality Number
Bakker (1997), using slightly different terminology, gives an overview of the Michif ordering of preverbs as follows (adapted from Bakker 1997: 98).
(138) conjunct marker21 – tense – mood – modality – preverb – aspect
2.3.4 Other syntactic markers
2.3.4.1 Negation There are three negative markers in Michif, used in different verbal contexts. Each marker is used for a particular verbal mode: independent, conjunct or imperative. According to
21 Bakker’s ‘conjunct marker’ may be thought of as synonymous with Valentines ‘subordinator’. It precedes subordinate phrases, and is the term used by Wolfart (1973, 1996), Bakker (1997) and others.
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Bakker (1997), the most common negative marker in Michif is /nu/, which marks negation in non-imperative verbs. Consider the examples below.
Examples from Bakker (1997: 93) (139) nu ka-paktn-ka:šu-w č-tuhte :-t NEG FUT-allow-pass-3 COMP-go-3 ‘She will not be allowed to go’
(140) nu k-tpe:jm-a :w l mnuš NEG 2-own.TA-3Æ3’DAMS cat ‘This cat does not belong to you.’
However, in my field work, I have found that my principal consultant consistently uses /nmja/ or /nm/ in negative sentences in the independent mode contexts where Bakker has found /nu/.
Consider the data below, analogous to Bakker’s examples in (139)-(140).
(141) nmja kj nakam-w NEG proper sing-3 ‘He doesn’t sing well.’ (142) nmja wi atkew nmja wi+ atke-w NEG VOL+ work-3 ‘He doesn’t want to work.’ (143) nm ga ltrstin nm n-ka+l-trsti-n NEG 1-FUT+mrk-trust-NON3 ‘I wouldn’t trust him.’
I do not have an explanation for the differences in negation, and assume that this is a dialectal difference between my consultants and those of Bakker’s.
The negative marker /ka/ is used to negate subordinate or conjunct verbs, as in the example below.
(144) gi wihtmww ka ti phpt n-ki+ wihtamw--w ka ti php-t 1-PST tell-DIR-3 CJNEG PURP laugh-3CJ ‘I warned her not to laugh.’
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Finally, /kja/ is used to negate verbs in the imperative mode. Consider the examples below.
(145) a. nakna ‘Stop it.’ b. kja nakna ‘Don’t stop it.’ (146) a. wihtamwn ‘Tell me.’ b. kya wihtamwn ‘Don’t tell me.’
In sum, there are three negative markers in Michif, one used exclusively for each mode. These are summarized in the table below.
(147) Mode negative marker independent /n m ja/ conjunct /ka/ imperative /kya/
2.3.4.2 Question markers Yes-no questions are formed by the addition of a question marker /ti/. Consider the following examples.
(148) a. nht mtgn n-nht mhtk-n 2-want read-NON3 ‘I want to read.’ b. knht mtgn ti k-nht mhtk-n ti 2-want read-NON3 Q ‘Do you want to read?’
(149) wikt ti kinht lmtdklwn ? wikt ti k-ki+nht lmtdkl-w-n ever Q 2-PST+WANT teacher-BE-NON3 ‘Did you ever want to be a teacher?’
(150) n kot t anma? DET hill Q DEM ‘Is that a hill?’
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Note that there is no change in word order, and the question marker is ordered depending on what is being put into question.
2.3.4.3 Subordinate markers There are three subordinating markers in Michif, which introduce conjunct, or subordinate, clauses. They are given in the table below.
(151) Conjunct markers Marker Bakker’s gloss (2004) Syntactic function // ‘as’ complementizer (COMP) /ka/ ‘who’ relativizer (REL) /t/ ‘in order to’ purpose (PURP)
Instead of using the translations in Bakker (2004), I will refer to the syntactic functions of the markers as I have given above.
(152) a. gi wihtamk ti pojjn n-ki+ wihtam-w-kw ti poj-n 1-PST+ tell-3-INV PURP stop-1CJ ‘He told me to stop/finish.’ b. gi wihtamk pojjn n-ki+ wihtam-w-kw poj-n 1-PST+ tell-3-INV COMP stop-1CJ ‘He told me that I was finished.’
Note the semantic difference between the pair of sentences in (152a, b). Examples of the relative clause marker /ka/ are given below.
(153) la fij ka lasmartwt la + fij ka+ la- smart-w-t DF.F+ girl REL+ MRK-smart-BE-3CJ ‘The girl that is smart.’ (154) John s liv ka knwjk John s liv ka+knw-j-k John 3.POSS book REL+ be.long-OBV-IN.CJ ‘John’s book that is long.’
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(155) l gars l bajk ka tehtapt l+gars l+ bajk ka+tehtap-t DF.M boy DF.M bike REL+ride-3CJ ‘The boy who’s riding the bike.’
In some cases /ka/ and // appear to be interchangeable, according to my consultant.
(156) a. l kfi fr pi mjpagwak nmjœhten l kfi fr pi mj-pakwa-k n-mijht-en PL coffee strong and COMP bad-taste-3IN.CJ 1-good.think-3IN.O ‘I like hot, bitter coffee.’ (lit. I like hot and that-is-bitter coffee) b. l kfi fr pi ka mjpagwak l kfi fr pi ka mj-pakwa-k DET coffee strong and REL bad-taste-3INAN.CJ ‘I like hot, bitter coffee.’ (lit. I like hot and which-is-bitter coffee)
In sum, there are three conjunct or subordinating markers in Michif. The marker /ti/ marks what I am calling a purpose between the matrix and subordinate clauses, while // serves as a straightforward complementizer. The last marker, /ka/, marks a relative clause.
2.3.4.4 Summary of Minor Categories
Minor categories are a diverse group of primarily functional items within both the verb phrase and noun phrase. This overview serves to familiarize the reader with what is being referred to as a minor category. In the next section, I show that they warrant their own categorization distinct from other morphemes due to phonological considerations.
2.4 Morphological domains - defining the phonological word in Michif
Before addressing phonological processes and distribution in Michif, we must define the domains of discussion. The question of what is a word in Algonquian languages is not entirely straightforward, as entire English sentences may be expressed in Michif by means of what has traditionally been called a word, as shown in many of the above examples. Given that throughout this thesis I will be referring to positions such as word-final and word-initial, and
76 discussing phonological processes and distributions in terms of different domains, it is necessary to define these terms. In this section I will examine phonological domains in Michif in order to define what a word is for the purposes of this work.
There are different ways of defining a word, the details of which are not necessarily important for our purposes, but which are touched on here to show that the word is a linguistic object which may be defined at different levels. Words may be defined syntactically, as items which may be manipulated by syntax, but whose internal structure is invisible to syntax (Di
Sciullo & Williams 1987). The word may also be defined morphologically, where the stem is the head and affixes have argument structures, and where a number of principles may be identified as being purely morphological (DiSciullo & Williams 1987). For our purposes, however, the most relevant notion of a word is that of a phonological word, a domain between the phonological phrase and the syllable (Nespor & Vogel 1986, Selkirk 1984). In this case, the phonological word is a domain for various phonological generalizations, phonological rules, and is often subject to minimality constraints (Hall 1999). These constraints are language-specific, and limit the minimal size of the word, so that anything below the defined minimum is not usually considered a word.
In the following section, I examine what I consider to be a word in Michif for the purposes of this thesis. Before discussing the Michif data specifically, I will present claims made for other related Algonquian languages to show what has been argued to be a word in these other related languages. I will then examine Michif data in order to arrive at a definition of a word in Michif for the purposes of this thesis. Given that the word may be defined in a number of ways, I will discuss what a word in Michif is in terms of domains of phonological processes.
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2.4.1 The ‘word’ in other Algonquian languages
Russell (1999) proposes that some of the complexity traditionally assumed for Cree verbal morphology is illusory, and the phonological word in Cree is smaller than has been claimed by traditional Algonquian linguists. Specifically, he claims that Plains Cree preverbs should be thought of as separate words from the verb stem, which in turn combines with suffixes to form a phonological word. Russell shows that based on size and shape constraints, stress domains, and segmental rules, preverbs should be thought of as separate domains, and make up phonological words on their own. For example, most preverbs can occur outside the verbal complex as independent adverbial particles, as in the following examples.
Plains Cree (from Russell 2000: 3) (157) a. kitimâkêyimew mitoni she:is:kind:to:him a:lot ‘she is very kind to him’ b. ta- kakwê- mitoni- wîcihisoyêk fut try:to a:lot study:2pl (158) a. pôsîs kî kwaskwêpanihow pîhci cat PAST- she:jumps inside ‘the cat jumped inside’ b. pôsîs kî pîhci kwaskwêpanihow cat PAST- inside- she:jumps ‘the cat jumped inside’
Furthermore, Cree preverbs are subject to a bimoraic minimal word constraint with no inherent upper bound on length. Suffixes, on the other hand, may consist of a single segment and appear to have an upper bound on length of one syllable, as outlined in the table below.
(159) Phonotactic constraints on Cree (from Russell 2000:4)
minimum size maximum size affix 1 mora/segment 1 syllable22 preverb 2 morae none word 2 morae none
22 Russell (1999) claims that there is a strong tendency towards shortness among Cree suffixes , and that a one- syllable maximum is a possible strong claim with some deconstruction of affixes (Russell 1999:207).
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A similar analysis is given by Valentine (2001) for Nishnaabemwin, where preverbs are distinguished from person prefixes due to ‘their relative phonological autonomy, most notable with respect to stress rules and epenthetic processes.’ Let us look at the argument from stress for distinguishing preverbs and prefixes, while making stems and suffixes a single domain.
According to Valentine (2001), a metrical stress rule in Nishnaabemwin creates iambic pairings of syllables into feet starting word-initially. The vowels of weak syllables in
Nishnaabemwin are deleted, but the final vowel of a word must always be strong, even if it falls in a position that would otherwise make it weak. Consider the following examples, where the underlying vowels are bolded.
Nishnaabemwin (Valentine 2001:55-5623)
Nishnaabemwin (160) [mkiznan] W S W S m - k i z - n a n /m a k i z i n a n/ ‘shoes’ (161) [nwaabmignaan] W S W S W S n - w aa b - m i g - n aa n /ni w aa b a m i g o n aa n/ ni-waabam-igo-naan/ 1-see-INV-1PL ‘S/he sees us (excl)’
Note that in the above examples all non-final short vowels are designated as weak and deleted.
Furthermore, in (161) the prefix ni- and suffixes -igo and -nan are part of the domain for this process. Now consider the following examples, from Valentine. In (162) and (163), /bi/ is a preverb.
23 Valentine’s underlying forms are actually the Minnesota Ojibwe forms, but as he treats them as underlying, I have done so here as well.
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Nishnaabemwin (Valentine 2001:60) (162) (bi) (nga)(mon) S W S S (bi) (n-ga)(mon) /bi nagamon/ come.and ANsg.sings ‘Come and sing.’ (163) *(b-na)(gmon) W S W S b- na g-mon /bi nagamon/ come.and- ANsg.sings ‘Come and sing.’
Comparing the preverb bi- in (162)-(163) with the prefix ni- in (161), we see that there is a difference in patterning. If the preverb patterned along with the prefixes, we would expect to get the ungrammatical form in (163), as the initial syllable would create an iambic foot with the second syllable, and the initial weak syllable would be deleted. However, the fact that the form in (163) is ungrammatical suggests that the preverb /bi/ is treated as a separate word when applying the stress rules, as it is in (162). The fact that the vowel is not deleted shows that this morpheme is treated as a separate unit, whereby the rule where the vowel in the last syllable in a word domain is always strong applies. Valentine further shows that the person prefixes are attached directly onto the preverb, and the vowels are dropped, thus not defining a word domain.
In this section I have presented claims for Nishnaabemwin and Plains Cree which find that preverbs need to be analysed as a separate domain from the verb stem and suffixes.
Throughout this thesis, I will continue to contrast these two domains with respect to phonological inventories and patterning, showing that the two display many phonological differences, and should be defined similarly to Nishnaabemwin and Plains Cree, making a difference between categories of morphemes.
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2.4.2 The ‘word’ in Michif Like Russell and Valentine for Plains Cree and Nishnaabemwin, I will argue for the separation of prefix and preverb in Michif into two different phonological domains. This evidence comes from a number of sources: stress assignment, differences in vowel inventories, semantic differences and native speaker orthography.
I argue that in addition to stems, there are two distinct morphological categories in
Michif. These are normally called preverbs and prefixes in Algonquian scholarship, but I will call them minor categories and affixes, respectively, to be more inclusive of similarly patterning elements which are not attached to verbs. Evidence pertaining to individual chapters of this thesis will be examined as they become relevant. Specifically, differences in stress assignment analogous to Nishnaabemwin will be discussed in chapter seven on stress, and differences in vowel inventories will be discussed in chapter five on vowels. In addition to this phonological evidence to be seen later, however, I will outline here two extra-phonological arguments for considering these to be different categories.
Bakker (1997) includes preverbs under prefixes in his characterization of the Michif verb.24 His verb template is given in its entirety below (Bakker 1997:98).
(164) Prefixes Conjunct marker or person agreement – tense – mode – modality – preverb – aspect (reduplication)
Stem Root – medial – final
Suffixes Quantitative valency – direct/inverse – obviative – agreement – plural – conditional
24 In fact, Bakker (1997) refers not to the Michif verb, but rather to the Cree verb in Michif, a reflection of his split grammar assumption. Given the assumptions here, however, we may say that Bakker is referring to the Michif verb.
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Focussing on the prefixes, we see that Bakker characterizes the conjunct marker and person agreement as being in complementary distribution, preceding the rest of the markings. He does this because person agreement is absent in the conjunct mode, as discussed in section
2.2.2.4.2.1. I argue however that person agreement should not be thought of as being part of the same type of morphological category as the other preverbal material, for both distributional and semantic reasons, and that Bakker’s template, while representing an accurate ordering of markings, does not go far enough in its representation of preverbal material. Person prefixes pattern differently phonologically and have different semantics from other preverbal material, and should not be given the same templatic slot.
One reason to separate these two types of preverbal material is based on syntactico- semantic grounds. Person marking is a type of agreement, unlike the categories marked by preverbs such as tense, mode and aspect. See Déchaine (1999) and Cook (2003) for recent arguments that person markers occupy a different position from preverbs in Algonquian languages.
Orthographic evidence also suggests that person markers have a different status than preverbs. Michif speakers often separate the preverbs (minor categories) into separate words when writing Michif, while the person prefixes are written together with a preverb or stem.25
Though it is not tradition to base linguistic analysis on the intuitions of speakers, this sort of evidence is often very useful (Mithun 2001, Rice 2001). The following examples are from a
Michif word and phrase list.26
25 The writing system of Michif is in early stages, and as a result is not consistent enough to be able to say that in every case of a preverb, it is written separately, and in every case of a prefix, it is written together. 26 The first line of these examples is written in the orthography adopted by Fleury (2000). I give the IPA equivalents along with the morpheme boundaries in the second line, with the glosses in the third line and the English translation in the fourth line.
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(165) nimohya gee meetshoun anoush. nmja gi+mit-n an NEG 1.PST+eat-NON3 today ‘I haven’t eaten today.’
(166) keenootaykatawn chee? k-nht kat-n ti 2-be.hungry-NON3 Q ‘Are you hungry?’ [Examples taken from Fleury 2000]
Note that in example (165), gee, which marks past tense,27 is written separately from the rest of the verb, whereas in (166), kee is written as all one word with the verb. This implies that the past tense marker is considered to be a separate word, whereas the person prefix is not.28
In addition to this evidence, I will show in the chapters that follow that affixes display different inventorial distributions and phonological patterns from the preverbs, which further argues that affixes must form a word domain with a stem, while preverbs form their own domain. As an example of this obligatory attachment as a property of the person prefixes, consider the examples in (167), where although person pronouns may be expressed in Michif for emphasis, they cannot appear alone, and must attach to some other stem.
(167) a. kija, *k ‘you’ b. nija, *n ‘me’
This evidence all points towards an analysis of Michif which separates the different morphological categories, and is meant to set up the discussion of domains which continues throughout the thesis.
27 Note that the first person prefix n- is actually attached to the ki+ past tense marker, but in Michif there is vowel deletion in the prefixes and the n- surfaces as voicing on the following obstruent, yielding gi+. This is a regular process in Michif, where the n- prefix surfaces only as voicing. 28 Michif speakers also speak English, but note that translation of these terms would actually yield the opposite grouping: person pronouns in English (which would correspond to prefixes in Michif) would be written separately, while past tense would be written together with the verb. So even though the orthography is arguably based on English writing, the breaking up of elements is certainly not due to English influence.
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In this section I have given a preview of reasons to separate Michif morphological categories into affixes and preverbs, analogous to other related Algonquian languages such as
Cree and Nishnaabemwin. Though I have not gone into detail with all the different types of evidence, the different patterning will become clear throughout the following chapters.
Specifically, in chapter three I show that syllables need not line up with morpheme boundaries, but that minor categories form their own boundaries. In chapter 5 I show different vowel inventories for affixes, minor categories and stems. Chapter 7 shows that preverbs form their own word domain for stress, while affixes (including person prefixes) do not, coming under the same word domain as the verb to which they attach. Chapter 8 shows that regular phonological processes such as vowel deletion occurs across affixal, but not preverbal boundaries. These differences in patterning consistently show phonological evidence for the separation into different morphological categories of the different types of morphemes. It has been my intent in this section simply to expose the rationale for differentiating the categories, in order to examine them separately throughout the thesis.
2.5 Summary In this chapter, I have presented a sketch of Michif morphology as an introduction to phonological patterning. I have shown that there is little morphological productivity in the nominal and adjectival domains, but that verbs are morphologically extremely complex, and have outlined the basic paradigms of the Michif verb. The affixes are summarized in Appendix
A. Furthermore, I have introduced three different kinds of morphemes in Michif: stems, minor categories (including preverbs) and prefixes. Stems combine with prefixes to combine a phonological word, while preverbs pattern with other minor categories in having a domain separate from affixes with respect to phonological domains. I gave preliminary reasons for separating these two morphological categories, based on syntactico-semantic and phonological
84 grounds, as well as on speakers’ intuitions, supported by similar analyses of other closely related languages. In the rest of the thesis, I will return to the differences between these categories, strengthening the argument for a split based on phonological patterning.
3 The syllable
The goal of this chapter is to outline Michif syllabic structure. Given that decisions on consonant and vowel inventories in chapters 4 and 5 are based in part on phonotactic patterning, a basic understanding of syllabic structure is necessary before embarking on conclusions with respect to these inventories. Discussion of the syllable here will be limited to structure as assigned prior to Michif processes affecting syllabic structure, such as vowel devoicing or deletion, which yield other possible surface clusters. These phonotactic processes will be discussed in detail in chapter eight, once the phonological inventories and other segmental processes are outlined.
The majority of Michif phonological research to date has focused on inventories and some phonological processes, with syllabic structure not yet having been undertaken as an object of serious study. To my knowledge, the only such work is a section of a chapter of a
Master’s thesis by Rik van Gijn (2000) on the syllable in mixed languages, which is based on
Michif analyses and data from Bakker (1997) and Rhodes (1986). However, as van Gijn begins from the assumption that historically Cree and French words occupy distinct strata, he supplements this data with syllabic structure analyses for Plains Cree and European French, and not from Michif. As a result, the present thesis is the first work on syllabification dealing with primary Michif data from a Michif-specific perspective.
3.1 Overview The maximal Michif syllable is of the shape CCCVC. However, there are a number of restrictions on which consonants may appear in the onset and the coda and this maximum is not common. Michif onsets of two consonants are limited to obstruent + liquid/glide sequences and sibilant + obstruent sequences, while Michif onsets of three consonants are limited to sibilant + obstruent + glide sequences. Examples and details will be discussed in section 3.1.2 on onsets.
85 Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 86 I will also give evidence in section 3.1.1 that rhymes have a maximal weight restriction of two morae and that word-medial codas are rare, and limited to liquids /l/ and /r/.
3.1.1 Rhymes In this section, I examine Michif rhymes and their constituting elements, nuclei and codas. I show that codas are rare, but can occur. Furthermore, coda consonants constrain what may appear in the nucleus, evidence of a constraint against having more than two morae in rhymal position. I first examine coda consonants, then move on to nuclei, and finally show the overall rhymal structure.
3.1.1.1 Codas I show in chapter four that any consonant may appear word-finally in Michif, which could lead one to the conclusion that coda consonants are quite free in Michif. However, edges have been observed to pattern differently than medial positions cross-linguistically, resulting in what are often called Edge Effects, describing the fact that more segments are sometimes allowed in a word-initial or word-final position than general syllable-final position cross-linguistically. (See for example Kaye 1990, Charette 1991, Harris & Gussmann 1998) For this reason, it is imperative to look more closely at word-medial clusters where the first consonant might be syllabified as a coda. Upon this closer examination, it becomes apparent that coda consonants in non-word-final position are much rarer than word-final consonants more generally in Michif.
Consider the following data, where the syllable markers are placed respecting regular sonority sequences.
(1) l pr.tr ‘the picture’ (2) l far.mji ‘the farmer’ (3) gar.s ‘boy’ (4) kr.bo ‘a crow’ (5) sl.da ‘soldier’
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 87 (6) dk.tœr1 ‘doctor’
Note that the majority of these examples involve liquids /r/ and /l/ in coda position. I will argue that liquids are the only possible regular coda consonants in Michif.2
One might also imagine the liquids could be part of the nucleus rather than the coda. For instance, in recent work, Nikiema & Bhatt (2003, 2004) claim that post-vocalic /r/ is syllabified directly into the nucleus in Haitian Creole (HC), forming an r-diphthong. Nikiema & Bhatt
(2004) argue that if /r/ is in the nucleus, distributional gaps in nasal vowels followed by nasal consonants in HC and the blocking of regressive nasalization are explained. Furthermore, the innovation of a vowel length contrast by other French lexifier creoles can be explained where forms with long vowels correspond to forms with r-diphthongs in HC while forms with short vowels correspond to forms without r-diphthongs in HC. They also predict the fact that word- final consonant cluster simplification does not simplify underlying /barb/ into *[bar], but rather
[bab].
In Michif similar evidence is absent. I assume that without positive evidence that /r/ is in the nucleus, the /r/ is part of the coda. Specifically, assuming there is a vowel nucleus (peak), consonants will be syllabified by default in onset and coda position (Blevins 1995, also Halle &
Vergnaud 1978, Selkirk 1982, cited in Blevins 1995). I have found no evidence in Michif suggesting that an analysis whereby r-diphthongs are posited to form a nucleus in Michif would be preferential.
Liquids can trigger vowel deletion, which allows them to surface in a position other than their underlying onset position. The details of this deletion will be discussed in more detail in
1 This is the only word I have found which contains a non-sonorant coda. It is not clear to me how this may be accounted for, other than perhaps it being an example where regular phonotactic rules of Michif may not apply, given the English-Michif bilingualism of all Michif speakers, and the fact that a cognate form ‘doctor’ exists in English with a non-sonorant consonant in coda position. 2 Although I argue here that only liquids are possible coda consonants, we will see evidence in chapter 8 that glides are also permitted in coda. I assume due to sonority that this is not unexpected.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 88 chapter 7, but for the moment, consider the examples below which display derived consonant clusters.
(7) nl.d.nin. n-l-dni-n 1-MRK-dinner-NON3 ‘I’m having dinner’ (8) a. l.su.piw. l-supi-w MRK-supper-3 ‘He’s having supper.’ b. nl.su.pin n-l-supi-n 1-MRK-dinner-NON3 ‘I’m having supper’ d. kl.su.pi.hkn. ti. k-l-supi-hk-n ti 2-MRK-dinner-make-NON3 Q ‘Are you cooking supper?
The laterals in (7) and (8b, c) are resyllabified from an onset position. I assume that post- vocalic /l/ is more naturally considered to be derived into coda position, as in the absence of evidence to the contrary; nuclei are generally the locus for vowels, and not consonants.
Furthermore, given that they mirror the regular post-vocalic liquid forms given in (1)-(5), I will assume that it is preferable to analyse liquids generally as being in coda rather than in nuclear position.
Note that Wolfart (1996) states that the only two consonants permissible in Plains Cree coda position are /h/ and /s/. This claim is visited in van Gijn (2000) for Michif. My claim for
Michif differs from Wolfart’s characterization of Plains Cree in two ways. First, I do not consider /h/ to be in coda position in Michif3 when it precedes a consonant, and second, Michif allows liquids in codas. I will show in chapter 4 that /h/ does not pattern with coda consonants,
3 /h/ can appear word-finally, but recall all consonants can appear word-finally. That consonants appear word- finally does not necessitate positing them in coda position generally, due to edge effects discussed in section 3.1.1.1.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 89 as it may be preceded by a tense or lax vowel, while coda consonants are preceded only by lax vowels. I analyse /h/ as part of a following onset, forming a single preaspirate segment with the voiceless stops and affricate, and therefore not to be considered a coda in Michif. I further argue in chapter 7 that /s/ does not pattern with other coda consonants, and that it should be considered as part of the following onset. In this section, I have shown that only liquids are permitted in coda position before the rules of vowel deletion.
In chapter 7, I will also show how vowel deletion triggers many more cases of surface liquids in codas, but as this section deals with syllabic structure before processes affect it, I will set those facts aside for the moment.
3.1.1.2 Nuclei
Nuclei can be made up of a tense, lax, or nasalized vowel. The vowel inventory, to be described in detail in chapter 5, is shown in (9).
(9) Michif Vowels Oral Nasalized
i y u i e ε ο œ
a ã
When the nuclear vowel is followed by a coda consonant, it may not surface as tense or nasalized. Consider first the following examples of monomorphemic forms with word-medial coda consonants, with the relevant segments bolded.
(10) krbo ‘a crow’ (11) n prtr ‘a picture’ (12) gars ‘boy’ (13) l dktœr ‘the doctor’ (14) prtpk ‘a porcupine’ (15) farmji ‘a farmer’
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 90 Note that in the above examples, there are no instances of tense vowels and coda consonants. I have not found any examples of such rhymes. Given this, I assume that there is a weight constraint in Michif where there may be no more than two morae in a rhyme. Oostendorp
(1995) argues that tense vowels may occupy two morae in the same way as long vowels. Note that this appears to be borne out in Michif.
Further support for this weight constraint is found in the distribution of nasalized vowels. It has been claimed by Paradis & Prunet (2000) that nasalized vowels have a complex structure like long (and tense) vowels. If nasalized vowels also occupy two morae, we would not expect to find nasalized vowels surfacing with coda consonants, just as we don’t find tense vowels preceding coda consonants. This does appear to be the case, in that nasalized vowels are lax and appear only in open syllables. Consider the data below.
(16) a. b ‘good’ b. bn œr ‘early in the morning’ (17) a. INDEF.SG.M DET b. n INDEF.SG.F DET (18) ti question marker
Though minimal pairs are not always found, I have not found any cases of nasalized vowels in closed syllables. This supports the view that rhymes are restricted to two morae, which results in the following possibilities: a tense vowel, a nasalized vowel, or a lax vowel with a coda consonant.
3.1.1.2.1 Position of glides According to van Gijn (2000), one of the differences in structure between the Cree and
French vocabulary in Michif is the structure of the nucleus. His claim is that glides forming diphthongs are found in the onset in French, while in the nucleus in Cree. He argues that onsets are obligatory in Plains Cree, but that glides are in onset only when the onset constraint overrides its being in the nucleus. However, I have not found convincing evidence in the Michif
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 91 data that would suggest that glides are in the nucleus in the Cree cognates in Michif, and therefore I treat glides as being part of the onset. In this section I will elaborate on van Gijn’s arguments, and show why I treat all pre-vocalic glides as part of the onset.
The claim that glides are part of the onset in French is based primarily on onset restrictions, where glides are not permitted in an onset in those cases where there are already two other consonants (see Kaye & Lowenstamm 1984 for discussion).4 Consider the following
French examples. The syllable boundaries are indicated with dots.
French (19) a. lje. ‘to link’ b. pri.e / *prje. ‘to bend’ (20) a. lwe. ‘to rent’ b. tru.e / *trwe. ‘to put a hole in something’ (21) a. rl. ‘small street’ b. kry.l / *krl. ‘cruel’
If glides were part of the nucleus in French, there would be no reason for the clusters in the examples in (19b)-(21b) to be ungrammatical, as they would constitute a structure no different than the licit examples in (19a)-(21a). Therefore, van Gijn concludes that glides are best treated as part of the onset in French.
Van Gijn’s treatment of glides as part of the nucleus in Cree is based on two arguments: first, the fact that there are no restrictions on the combinatory possibilities with the preceding consonant, pointing to the fact that these are not part of the same constituent, and second, due to a phonological contraction rule in Cree, which replaces the clusters /we/ and /wi/ with [o].
4 Note, however, that there are exceptions to this generalization in French, namely where a stop + liquid + [] + [i] may surface as a three-segment cluster, as in the following examples. i. pli. / *ply.i ‘rain’ ii. trit. / *try.it ‘trout’
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 92 Consider the following Cree examples displaying this contraction, from Wolfart (1996: 434).5
The relevant segments are bolded.
Cree (22) [kipakamahon]6 /ke-pakamahw-in/ 2-hit-NON3 ‘you hit me’ (23) [kipakamahotin] /ke-pakamahw-etin/ 2-hit-INV.NON3 ‘I hit you’
In the above examples, an underlying glide and vowel become surface [o]. Van Gijn’s argument is that the existence of a rule targeting glide+vowel means that the glide and vowel make up a single constituent.
I will show that van Gijn’s arguments are not convincing for Michif (and perhaps not for
Cree), and suggest that there is no empirical reason to consider onsets of Cree vocabulary to be different from those of French vocabulary in Michif, and furthermore that there are theoretical reasons for positing that glides are in onset position in Michif generally.
Both of van Gijn’s arguments are based primarily on co-occurrence restrictions in Cree.
First, a lack of co-occurrence restrictions between glides and the onset consonants which precede them is presented by van Gijn as evidence for them appearing in the nucleus. However, it is equally the case that there are no co-occurrence restrictions between glides and nucleus vowels, which could suggest that the glides are not part of the nucleus, but rather the onset.
Consider the following data.
(24) ke.kwaj. ‘what’ (25) kw.kwe.p.t.kew. ‘She’s fishing’
5 Phonemicization in Cree opposes long and short vowels, and so these data may not be compared directly to the Michif data, but is instead presented on its own here. Glosses are my own, as the examples appear without in Wolfart (1996). 6 Wolfart’s underlying /e/ surfaces in modern Plains Cree as /i/.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 93 (26) ka.kwi.ta.h-h. hurry-IMP ‘Hurry up!’ (27) dpwehten n-tpweht-en 1-believe.it-NON3IN I believe it.
As can be seen in the examples above, glides can occur with both tense (25, 26, 27) and lax (24) vowels, as well as in syllables with diphthongs (24). Van Gijn’s co-occurrence restriction argument applies equally to the view opposite to his; that glides are in the onset and not the nucleus.
Furthermore, for van Gijn, the fact that there is a rule affecting the /we/ and /wi/ sequences is enough to claim that these make up a constituent. First, however, the segment /e/ to which he refers is simply used in underlying forms to represent the /i/ that was a historically short /e/ but which has merged on the surface with historically short /i/7. Given that the rule to which he refers is a diachronic one, there is no real basis for comparison with the synchronic rules in the French component of Michif. There is no restriction on synchronic /we/ constituency in Michif. Consider the examples below.
(28) kikwewak8 kikwe-w-ak crazy-3-3PL ‘They’re crazy.’ (29) gikwepnn n-kikwep-n-n 1-crazy.from.liquid-NON3-1PL ‘We’re drunk.’ (30) kihkwewak kihkwe-w-ak wash.face-3-3PL ‘They’re washing their face.’
7 Thanks to Richard Rhodes for pointing out these facts. 8 Although these forms may break down further derivationally, /we/ is nevertheless tautomorphemic.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 94 If there were genuinely a constituency co-occurrence restriction against [we], we could expect not to get the forms above. The above examples show that /we/ is not an illicit underlying or surface sequence in Michif, and so there is no constraint on the sequence per se, which should be the case if its constituency alone is the impetus for the phonological process, as van Gijn suggests. Furthermore, it seems that the synchronic applications of this process apply only at morpheme boundaries, as in the data given below.9
(31) a. pigptew pikw-pt-e-w break-push/pull-DIR-3 ‘He ripped s.o. apart.’ b. +pgpajk +pkw-paj-k CJ+break-INCHOATIVE-3INAN.CJ ‘(the chair) that is broken’
Phonological constituency therefore may be important, but in the absence of contrasts, it is difficult to tease apart. It is plausible that the process is based on morphological structure and not phonological constituency. In any case, [we] is an acceptable phonological sequence in surface Michif and cannot be used as a reason to stratify the lexicon according to vocabulary source.
It is also the case that /kw/ sequences alternate with /g/ in Michif, as in (31a, b), with the rounding of the /w/ affecting the following vowel in the forms where the segment /w/ is not found on the surface. Consider the examples below.
9 This process is discussed in more detail in chapter 4.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 95
(32) a. biknen10 n-pikw-n-en 1-break-by.hand-NON3IN ‘I’m breaking it.’ (with my hand) b. pikwepkam11 pikw-wep-k-am-w break-swing-by.foot/body-3IN-3 ‘He broke it (with swinging foot).’ c. pigptkew pikw-pt-ke-w break-push/pull-INDF.OBJ-3 ‘He’s plowing.’ (lit. ‘He’s breaking by pulling.’) d. ki piktaham ki pikw-tah-am-w PST break-by.axe-3IN-3 ‘He broke it with an axe.’
The data in (32a, c, d) show that there is a phonological process changing underlying /kw/ to [g].
Following van Gijn’s line of reasoning that a phonological process is affected by constituency, it is equally reasonable to believe that the glide /w/ is part of the onset, given that it plays a role in the onset alternation as well as the nucleus alternation. Therefore, I conclude that this is not good evidence on which to base such a claim.
Lastly, note that all the above examples involve only /w/, though the glide /j/ is also present in Plains Cree. Van Gijn admits that he cannot explain why Cj sequences are lacking.
The fact that the constraints hold only for one segment, as opposed to for glides as a general rule weakens van Gijn’s arguments, and should lead to taking a closer look at Cw clusters, as opposed to making generalizations across a natural class. As we will see in chapter 4, these Cw clusters, especially /kw/ sequences, exhibit similar patterns in many Algonquian languages,
10 These examples are repeated from section 2.2.1.2 on verbal derivation. 11 Because verbal derivation is not being studied in depth here, the glosses and exact forms of the medial and final suffixes are unclear. I am relying on glosses for Cree cognates wherever it has been possible to find them, though these may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. The important point however is that Michif verbs evidently share the same root-medial-final derivation pattern as Cree; the specifics are left to further research.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 96 where the lip rounding affects the following vowel, and any extrapolation of these specific facts to a generalization regarding glides as a class should be seen as premature.
Furthermore, given that there are no jV sequences, the wV sequences would be the only glide-vowel nucleus in Michif. On the other hand, there are onset clusters elsewhere in Michif, so a consonant-glide sequence would simply fit in among the other onset clusters. There is no compelling evidence that these glide-vowel sequences are diphthongs.
To this point I have attempted to show that van Gijn’s arguments for Cree glides appearing in the nucleus are tenuous. I will now argue that we have positive evidence for the glide appearing in the onset. Consider the following data, where the relevant rhymes are bolded.
(33) tpwehtamwak tpweht-am-w-ak believe-3IN-3-3PL ‘They believe it.’ (34) manwew l kek manwe-w l+kek cut- 3 DET cake ‘They cut the cake.’
Recall that I showed that a Michif rhyme may be made up of a maximum of two morae. The above bolded segments would violate the weight restriction on rhymes that we saw in the previous section. If /w/ is part of the nucleus, then there would be a total of three morae in the rhyme: the glide counting for one and the tense vowel counting for two. Furthermore, the word- edge rhymes in (33) and (34) would carry a total of four morae, as they would include a glide, a tense vowel and a coda. Although an extra mora is not surprising at word-edge, two extra morae are unexpected. Given these facts, an analysis where the glides are part of the onset is preferable, as it does not violate any phonotactic restrictions.
I hope to have shown that the arguments for glides in the nucleus are not convincing for
Michif. Given the lack of convincing co-occurrence restrictions, that all of these arguments are based on a single segment, /w/, and given that there are onset clusters elsewhere in Michif, van
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 97 Gijn’s arguments are tenuous. I argue therefore that there is little reason to treat Cree-source glides differently from French glides, and I will consider them to be within the onset, which will be discussed in detail in section 3.1.2.
In this section, I have shown evidence that rhymes are restricted to a maximum of two morae, and so may consist either of a lax vowel, tense vowel, a lax nasalized vowel, or a lax vowel with a coda consonant. I have attempted to show that glides do not form part of the nucleus, contra van Gijn (2000), and that nuclei are made up of vowels alone. Having outlined the Michif rhymes, I will now move onto the description of Michif onsets.
3.1.2 Onsets In this section I will argue for onset structure in Michif. This data comes in a large part from consonant clusters, which are discussed in detail in chapter 4. In word-initial position, there are a maximum of two consonants permitted as long as the sequence is Obstruent-Liquid.
This would lead to a first hypothesis that onsets are maximally binarily branching. The problem with this, however, is that there are many stem-medial three-segment clusters, as we saw in chapter three, and I give some examples below.
(35) gikwepnn n-kikwep-n-n crazy.from.liquid-NON3-1PL ‘We’re (excl.) drunk.’ (36) kikw-n k-kikw-n 2-crazy-NON3 ‘You’re crazy.’ (37) n istwr kttmn n + istwr k-tm-n F.SG.INDF story 2-talk-NON3 ‘Can you tell a story?’
Given that these three-segment clusters never appear in word-initial position, but that corresponding two-segment clusters without the initial sibilant consonant do, the question must
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 98 be asked whether the onset is made up of maximally two or three segments. Positional evidence points to the sibilant being parsed as the coda of a preceding syllable, but I will argue that this sibilant is rather part of the maximal onset. I will show that though there is a positional gap for these three consonant onsets in word-initial position, that this is not surprising given historical facts, and that in addition, there are many derived three-segment clusters in word-initial position. Most crucially, though, sibilants do not pattern as other coda consonants, and so it must be concluded that they are not part of the coda.
Recall from section 3.1.1.2 that only lax vowels are permitted before a coda consonant in
Michif, due to the constraint on only having two morae. Consider the following data, where the relevant segments are bolded.
(38) kkbw kkb-w shave-3 ‘He’s shaving.’ (39) s dw kkikam s dw ki kk-am 3.M.POSS finger PST cut-3IN ‘He cut his finger.’ (40) kikwew kikwe-w crazy-3 ‘He’s crazy.’ (41) s bt kkam s bt kk-am 3.M.POSS clothes wear-3IN ‘He puts on clothes.’ (42) tahkktam takkt-am step.on-3IN ‘He steps on it.’
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 99
(43) la lap at-w F.SG.DF lamp turn.on-3 ‘She turns on the light.’
Based on the observation that there are no word-initial three-segment clusters beginning with sibilants, a reasonable possibility for syllabification could be that the sibilant is not permitted in a maximally two-segment onset, but that rather, it is syllabified in coda position, forming a rhyme with the preceding segment, as illustrated in the example below.
(44) k.k.b.w. ‘he’s shaving’
In the examples above, sibilant + consonant sequences follow both tense vowels (38-40) and lax vowels (41-43). If there are only two morae in a rhyme, and a tense vowel occupies both, then the sibilant cannot occupy a coda position, and must be in the onset of the following syllable.
Therefore I conclude that the sibilants in the examples in (41)-(43) are not in coda position, but rather in the onset of a following syllable.
Similar data is used in chapter 4 to argue for preaspirated consonants as single segments.
Specifically, the fact that both tense and lax vowels are found before preaspirates hp, ht, hk and ht is argued to demonstrate that the h was not part of a coda of a preceding syllable, but rather part of a single preaspirate segment. Consider the following examples. The preaspirated consonants and the vowels that precede them are bolded.
(45) gihkwn n-kihkw-n 1-wash.face-NON3 ‘I’m washing my face’ (46) kthkn ti? k-hk-n ti 2-sick-NON3 Q ‘Are you sick?’ (47) giohkwmn n-kiohkwm-n 1-hot.sleep-NON3 ‘I’m sleeping warmly’
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 100
(48) + liv amht-w SG.INDEF.M book read-3 ‘He’s reading a book.’ (49) hkwatn ‘It is freezing.’ (50) hkhk ‘spit’
The data in (45)-(47) are examples of tense vowels before hC, while the data in (48)-(50) show lax vowels before hC as well. Since both qualities of vowels may appear in this environment and we have already seen that no coda consonant is allowable following a tense vowel, the /h/ of the /hC/ clusters must be syllabified into the following onset and therefore I consider them to be single complex segments along with the obstruents they precede.
Note that a similar case could be made for the sibilants; i.e. that they be considered as a single segment with the following segment. We do not find either hC segments or sibilant clusters word initially, and both tense and lax vowels appear before hC segments and sibilant clusters. Cross-linguistically, however, it is common to find sibilants as the exception to syllabification rules. Blevins (1995:213), for example, simply dismisses s-clusters when describing other clusters in her discussion of the Sonority Sequencing Generalization, one example that the sibilants are treated differently cross-linguistically. It is a well-known fact that s-clusters go against the sonority sequencing generalization that onset clusters must follow rising sonority, and these clusters have often been assigned a different representation than other clusters (see for example Davis 1990 for Italian, Barlow 2001 for English, and Steriade 1988 for
Sanskrit).
Given the above, I argue that the maximal onset in Michif is as follows:
(51) Sibilant + Stop + Liquid/Glide
The following data show how syllabification applies to Michif. Periods denote the split between syllables.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 101 (52) kwa.drij. ‘square dance’ (53) tram. ‘white poplar’ (54) vjej. ‘old’ (55) plym. ‘pen’ (56) pr.tr. ‘picture’ (57) far.mji. ‘farmer’ (58) i.stwr. ‘story’ (59) ki.kwn. ‘You’re crazy.’ k-kikw-n 2-be.crazy-NON3 (60) gi. ka.kej.m.kwak. ‘They were lonesome for me.’ n-ki. kakejm-kw-w-ak 1-PST be.lonesome-INV-3-PL
The examples above are fairly straightforward. All have consonant clusters, and in most cases they are syllabified as onsets (52-55), (58-61) with the exception of the liquids, which are syllabified into coda position (56-57). I do not include the word-final coda consonants in the description of Michif syllabification, as all consonants may appear word-finally. To include them would be to miss the generalization that only liquids appear in word-medial coda position, especially given that edge effects often give rise to more word-final consonants, as discussed above.
Although I have presented a maximal onset of three consonants, I have not given any examples of word-initial three-segment clusters. Given the historical development of Michif, this should not be surprising. No examples of word-initial clusters other than kw- are found in
Wolvengrey’s (2001) Cree dictionary, which leads me to assume that that Plains Cree does not allow any word-initial clusters underlyingly at all. Given this fact, it would be impossible to obtain these forms in Michif. However there are many word-medial clusters derived through affixation, as we saw in chapter 3. Three-segment initial clusters are likewise not common in
French, though more frequent word-medially in underlying and especially surface forms, through schwa-deletion. These facts do not necessarily constitute evidence for a three-segment
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 102 onset, but are presented simply as an explanation for why there is such a gap in the word-initial onsets.
3.2 Syllabification of different morphological domains In chapters 4 and 5, I give vowel and consonant inventories of Michif, and in so doing, I make reference to vowels and consonants in different syllabic environments. In order to do so, it is important to address the question of syllabification in different morphological domains, where what may traditionally be called a word contains different internal domains. In this section, therefore, I will show how morphemes in different domains are syllabified. Once this syllabification has been determined, we may proceed with the inventorying of Michif phonemes.
Recall from chapter 2 that I identified three types of morphemes in Michif, stems, affixes and minor categories. I showed in chapter 2 that affixes and stems form a closely-knit unit, one which I called a phonological word. Minor categories each form their own phonological unit.
Evidence from syllabification supports a fundamental difference between affixes and minor categories. Consider the following forms, where the syllables are demarcated by dots in the first line, and the second line is the underlying phonological form with morpheme boundaries shown. Recall that - denotes a morpheme boundary while + denotes a word boundary. Note that in the data in (61), syllables are blind to affixal boundaries.
(61) a. .t.m.ow [C] /tm--w/ work-REFL-3 ‘He’s talking about himself.’
b. k.t.t.m..nn [C] /k-tm--n-n/ 2-talk-REFL-NON3-1PL ‘We’re (incl) talking about ourselves.’
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 103
(62) k.n.p.n.ww. / k-np-n-ww / 2-sleep-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) are sleeping.’ 12 (63) ki. .t.m..n.ww [C] k-ki+tm--n-ww 2-PST + talk-REFL-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) talking about yourselves.’
In the above examples, syllabification occurs across suffixes: in (62) the NON3 and the 2PL suffixes are treated as one unit with respect to syllabification, as are the stem and three suffixes in (63). In these examples, morphological boundaries need not line up with syllable edges. In fact, an epenthetic segment -t- is added in (61b) to permit proper syllabification by ensuring an onset, avoiding the vowel hiatus, evidence showing a preference for CV syllables, and suggesting that Michif does not permit VV sequences.13 This epenthesis is obligatory, and further processes may be applied to the resulting forms. Consider further examples of this epenthesis below.
(64) a. .hk.w [C] /hk-w/ sick-3 ‘He’s sick.’ b. k.t.hk.n [C] /k-hk-n/ 2-sick-NON3 ‘You’re sick.’ c. d.hk.n [C] /n-hk-n/ 1-sick-NON3 ‘I’m sick.’
In (64b, c), we see again the effects of the epenthesis of the -t-, but note that in (64c) the addition of the prefix n- and the -t- epenthesis are somewhat obscured by the voicing of the
12 Note that the prefix /k-/ is missing. This is part of a common -deletion process discussed in detail in chapter 8. 13 The t-epenthesis occurs only after person prefixes in Michif. The epenthetic segment [j] breaks up vowel hiatuses in all other lexical and post-lexical environments. t-epenthesis is further discussed in chapter 6 while j- epenthesis was first seen in chapter 2.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 104 epenthetic segment, triggered by the nasal consonant, which then deletes. This voicing of initial consonants when following a first person prefix is regular and obligatory in Michif, as was seen in chapter 2. Compare similar forms below.
(65) a. p.hp-w. [C] /php-w/ laugh-3 ‘He’s laughing.’ b. b.hpn. [C] /n-php-n/ 1- laugh -NON3 ‘I’m laughing.’ (66) a. a..kw. [C] /ak-w / stingy -3 ‘He’s stingy.’ b. a..kn [C] /n-ak-n/ 1- stingy -NON3 ‘I’m stingy.’
In (65b) and (66b) the lax vowel // of the prefix is deleted, and the remaining nasal consonant triggers voicing assimilation on the obstruent, and then is subsequently deleted, leaving only its voicing as a remnant of the first person marker. What is important here is that in terms of syllabification, the forms with the epenthetic -t- are treated in the same way as any other consonant-initial form.
Now consider the data in (67), where the boundaries in question are between preverbs, and thus not the same as the morpheme boundaries seen above.
(67) a. ki. .t.m..n.ww [C] k-ki+ tm--n-ww 2-PST + talk-REFL-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) talking about yourselves.’ b. m.t. a.t.kh. [C] mt + at.ke-h. start + work-IMP ‘Start working!’
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 105
In (67a, b), where a preverb+stem sequence is found, there is no epenthetic segment added to avoid the hiatus (cf. (61b)), as these vowels are not in the same domain, and so no phonotactic constraint is breached.14 This is evidence that the preverb is patterning in its own word domain, unlike affixes.
The above evidence has shown that preverbs pattern differently from the prefixes, and I have claimed that preverbs are outside the phonological word domain, and so syllabification does not cross the boundary between a preverb and a stem. However, it must be mentioned that in some cases, a short final vowel optionally deletes at the end of a preverb, before vowel-initial stems.
(68) n.mt. .hk.n. [C] n-mt+hk-n 1-start+ sick-NON3 ‘I’m getting sick.’
It may appear in the above example that the preverb-final vowel deletes for syllabification reasons as above, so as to avoid the vowel hiatus, and as such be counterevidence for my claim that syllabification does not take place over a + boundary. However, I argue that this is not the case for two reasons. First, this vowel deletion is optional. Note the analogous data in (69) below, where word-final - is not deleted.
(69) ki mt atke-w [C] ki+mt+ atke-w PST+start+ work-3 ‘He started to work.’
I argue that this phenomenon is different from the regular phonological processes seen so far in
Michif in that it is post-lexical.
14 Note that in faster speech, there is an optional glide [j] inserted after the preverb /ki/ and other preverbs generally. Given the optionality of this insertion, I assume this is a ‘post-lexical’ insertion. Regardless, this does not change the analysis that the prefixal and preverbal domains pattern differently in Michif.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 106 I assume there are two levels in which phonological processes occur: lexical and post lexical, as described in Kiparsky (1982) and much subsequent work. Post-lexical processes occur after syntax and are often quite different from lexical processes. Restrictions on syllable structure are often more relaxed for post-lexical processes, phonetic motivation is normally more transparent than for lexical processes, and the post-lexical processes are also often optional whereas lexical processes are not (Kenstowicz 1994). The above example of optional final vowel deletion has many characteristics of post-lexical processes, and is evidence that the type of deletion seen in (68a, b) is not of the same type of process as the obligatory t-epenthesis seen within the word boundaries.
Claims made by Wolfart (1996:432) for Cree support this claim for Michif as well, when he states that external sandhi (post-lexical processes occurring across word boundaries) in Plains
Cree are always optional, while internal sandhi (lexical processes occurring over morpheme boundaries) are always obligatory. In addition to the differences in types of processes, this - deletion occurs optionally in word-final position generally, not only in front of vowel-initial stems. In Michif, this is primarily seen in the imperative forms.
(70) np-h()! sleep-IMP ‘Sleep!’
Given that this vowel deletion optionally occurs in contexts other than before vowels, it should not be considered to be evidence against my claim that syllabification occurs over word-internal boundaries but not word boundaries, as the deletion is not occurring due to reasons of syllabification. I claim therefore that the examples such as those seen in (68a, b) do not contradict the claim that affixes and preverbs pattern differently with respect to domain of syllabification for two reasons.
Chapter 3 The Michif syllable 107 A second reason that I do not consider the process in (68 a,b) to be occurring over a + boundary is that though it seems to be done for reasons of syllabification (ie. avoiding a vowel hiatus, as in the cases seen in (64-66), this type of deletion occurs in various phonological environments. In (70), the deletion occurs word-finally, where there would be no reason to delete a vowel for the purposes of avoiding a vowel hiatus. I argue therefore that this deletion is not for the purposes of syllabification, but is rather an optional post-lexical process.
This section has provided evidence to show that syllabification is blind to affixal boundaries; that syllables are formed across these boundaries to the point that phonological processes affected by syllable position are triggered across boundaries and epenthesis ensures proper syllabification. On the other hand, preverb-stem sequences do not exhibit these processes, and preverbs do not syllabify with the verb stem to which the preverbal items are associated. Syllabification thus provides further phonological support for the separation of preverbs and affixes into two different morphological categories.
3.3 Summary In sum, Michif syllables are maximally CCCVC, with several restrictions. The final consonant in any branching onset must be a liquid or glide. Onsets may be tertiary branching only when the first consonant is a sibilant. Rhymes are maximally bimoraic and only liquids may appear in non-word-final coda position. I have also shown evidence that minor categories pattern differently with respect to syllabification than affixes.
4 Michif Consonants
In this chapter, I give the consonant inventory for Michif and show the distribution and patterning of consonants based primarily on data from my fieldwork. In section 4.1, I present a list of the consonantal sounds of Michif1. In section 4.2 I give a more fine-grained distribution of these consonants, and in section 4.3 I discuss the permissible consonant clusters and their distribution in Michif. Section 4.4 deals with allophony in Michif consonants. The present analysis differs from previously proposed inventories and description in that it treats Michif as having a single Michif inventory, rather than two inventories, one for historically French items and another for historically Cree items. I will examine the previous consonant inventory claims in chapter six.
4.1 Michif consonant inventory
Section 4.1 is organized as follows: the entire inventory of 21 consonants of Michif is outlined in the chart in (1), and the rest of the section describes with examples each of the segments listed in the inventory. The sub-sections begin with a discussion of laryngeal properties of the obstruents in section 4.1.1 and then starting in section 4.1.2, I turn to a general description of all Michif consonants based on manner of articulation, further sub-divided based on place of articulation. In each case, examples of these consonants are given.2
1 Due to intense language contact and the English-Michif bilingualism of Michif speakers, we find many English words in today’s Michif. For the purposes of this thesis, I will omit obvious English borrowings, on the basis that we are not in a position to determine their status in the grammar of Michif. 2 Next to each example, the cognate from the mother language is given in orthography for reference purposes. 108 Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 109
(1)
labial labio- alveolar alveo-palatal velar glottal dental stops hp p b ht t d hk k g affricates ht t d
fricatives f v s z h
nasals m n liquids r l glides w j
4.1.1 Laryngeal qualities of consonants Before elaborating on place of articulation, I will first show that there are three possibilities for laryngeal quality in Michif stops: plain, preaspirated, and voiced. I will justify this three-way distinction by showing that all three laryngeal manners share the same environment with other manners, even if they do not all occur in all environments. Fricatives have only two distinguishing laryngeal specifications: plain and voiced. I will also show that affricates pattern with stops, in that they have three specifications for laryngeal features.
Though these /hp/, /ht/, /hk/, /ht/ sequences are cited in both Plains Cree and Michif literature, (Bakker 1997 for Michif, Wolfart 1996 and Wolvengrey 2001 for Cree) the question as to whether they should be considered to be a single, preaspirated segment or a consonant cluster has not been addressed, and all these authors give only the plain consonants in their consonantal inventories, in essence treating the hC sequences as consonant clusters. Wolfart
(1996), for example, gives the following phonological inventory for Plains Cree:
(2) p t c k s h m w y i a o i e a o [Wolfart 1996: 431]
Wolfart goes on to outline the distribution of consonants and semivowels in a table where he treats preconsonantal /h/ as part of a consonant cluster.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 110
(3) Distribution of consonants in Plains Cree: [Wolfart 1996: 431]
#___V V___V V___# p(w) (h,s)p(w) (h,s)p t(w) (h,s)t(w) (h,s)t c(w) (h,s)c(w) (h,s)c k(w) (h,s)k(w) (h,s)k h(w) s s(w) s m(w) m(w) m n n(w) n w w w y y(w) y hy
Contrary to this traditional characterization of hC sequences, I will provide arguments to consider these sequences in Michif as single segments3 rather than consonant clusters. These arguments will be outlined in section 4.1.1.2, where I will also provide examples of data with preaspirated consonants in different positions. In addition to preaspirated consonants, there are also plain and voiced segments in the inventory, and the following sections will outline and provide data of the three laryngeal specifications for Michif obstruents, beginning with voiced obstruents, then moving onto preaspirated obstruents, and then finishing with the plain
(voiceless, unaspirated) consonants.
4.1.1.1 Voiced obstruents In this section, I show examples of phonemic voiced obstruents in Michif. Note that there are cases of allophonic voicing which will be dealt with in section 4.4; here, I will only discuss phonologically voiced obstruents.
3 Note that I am not making claims for Cree, but am referring to these authors as they are the closest work with which to compare.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 111
Stops, fricatives and affricates all have voiced forms. There are three voiced stops: /b/, /d/ and /g/. The following examples show voiced segments in word-initial position. Recall that the determiner is a separate word marked with +. (4) li+ grn [F]4 PL+berry ‘berries’
(5) l+ b + t [F] DET+good+weather ‘nice weather’
(6) do+ kawm-h 5 [C] go + lie.down.-h ‘Go to bed!’
There are two voiced fricatives, /z/ and //.
(7) ti + zg [F] 2.POSS.PL+ fingernail ‘your fingernails’ (8) s + nu [F] 3.POSS.SG + knee ‘his knee’ (9) li + vœ [F] PL + hair ‘hair (on head)’
In addition to voiced fricatives and stops, Michif has a single voiced affricate, /d/.
(10) si + didi [F] 3.POSS.PL + breast ‘her breasts’
4 Next to each example I have labelled the vocabulary from which it is historically derived: F=French, C=Cree, O=Ojibwe and E=English. This is done for notational purposes in anticipation of discussion of the issue of Michif grammar as stratified based on historical source in chapters 6-8. 5 Note that historically, /do/ may derive from Plains Cree /ntawi/ ‘go to’ [Cree source Wolfart 1996: 429]. Like elsewhere in Michif, // deletes and the n drops, leaving voicing on the t. See first person verb forms in chapter 2, for example. Furthermore, it is reported that final also deletes in Michif (and in Cree) and so we’d be left with /daw/, which could fairly unsurprisingly surface as [do]. It is further important to note that though this deletion and assimilation phenomenon is analogous to the productive process occurring with the 1st person morpheme, in this instance, as there is no evidence for the underlying form (as there is in the case of the 1st person verbal paradigm, for instance), this should not be thought of as a synchronic Michif process. Thus, the /d/ appears to have been lexicalized, and is phonemic in Michif.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 112
(11) dis [F] ‘ten’ (12) l + b + dœ [F] DF.M.SG good god ‘God’ (13) la + gres + dyr [F] DF.F.SG + fat + hard ‘animal fat’
Stem-medially, we find similar voiced obstruents as we do stem-initially. The following data shows voiced stops appearing stem-medially.
(14) ti + babn [F] 2POSS + lips ‘your lips’ (15) dilet dguti [F] milk strained ‘cottage cheese’
Voiced fricatives also occur stem-medially, as seen in the data below.
(16) l pavij d mtf [F] DF.M.SG flag of Michif ‘Métis flag’ (17) n + mz [F] INDF.F.SG + house ‘a house’ (18) la pud a fizi [F] DF.F.SG gunpowder gunpowder (19) l + mi [F] DF.MS.SG + food ‘food’
The voiced affricate /d/ also appears stem-medially, as in the following data.
(20) mardi [F] ‘Tuesday’ (21) li + mando [C] PL + bug ‘the bugs’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 113
The same voiced segments which appear stem-initially and stem-medially also appear stem- finally in Michif. The following data constitute examples of voiced stops in stem-final position.
(22) l kab [F] DF.F.SG rope (23) l djab [F] devil (24) la + vjd [F] DF.F.SG meat ‘meat’ (25) la + dg d la rivjr ru [F] DF.F.SG jig of DF.F.SG river red Red River Jig (26) ti zg [F] 2.POSS.PL nail ‘your fingernails’
In the following data, we see that voiced fricatives are also found in stem-final position.
(27) li+ liv [F] PL+ book ‘books’ (28) si+ valiz [F] 2.POSS.PL+ suitcase ‘his suitcases’ (29) + pje [F] IND.M.SG + trap ‘a trap’
I have found no cases of the word-final voiced affricate [d] in Michif.
4.1.1.2 Preaspirated obstruents In addition to the voiced series of obstruents, there is a series in Michif which may be characterized as preaspirates, which are generally written in the orthography and transcribed as hC. I will first argue for the treatment of these preaspirates alongside the other series of single segments analogous to the voiced and plain series, rather than two individual segments in a cluster. I will then provide data analogous to the voiced stops of preaspirated consonants in various positions within the stem. Note that unlike the voiced and plain series of obstruents,
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 114 which include stops, affricates and fricatives, there are only preaspirated stops and affricates, and no preaspirated fricatives in Michif.
My claim that preaspirated stops should be considered single segments are based primarily on two facts. First, preaspirated stops are found in roughly the same environments as plain and voiced series of stops, and second, they do not appear to affect vowel quality in a way in that they would be likely to do if they were syllabified as two segments.6
First, consider the data below, where the preaspirated stops and affricates appear in most environments, analogous to the voiced and plain series. Though preaspirates are not found in stem-initial position, they do appear both stem-medially and morpheme-initially. The data below show preaspirated stops in stem-medial position.
(30) php-w [C] laugh-3 ‘He’s laughing.’ (31) ki+pehtaw-e-w [C] PST-hear-DIR-3 ‘S/he heard him/her.’ 7 (32) htp la + r [C, (F)] ht-pt- la + r out-pull-IMP DF.F.SG car ‘Pull the car out.’
Preaspirates are also found word-finally and stem-finally. Consider the following examples.
(33) l gtar kthtkew [(F), C] l+ gtar kt-ht-ke-w DF.M.SG+ guitar play-CAUS-INDEF.OBJ-3 ‘He plays guitar.’ (34) t dw ka+twah-ike-h-k avk [(F), C] 2.POSS.M.SG finger REL+point-INDF.OBJ-INDF.SUBJ-3INAN.SUBJ.CJ with ‘the finger that you point with (your pointing finger)’
6 Wolvengrey (2001: xvii) and Wolfart (p.c.) report that there is indeed a vowel quality difference before preaspirated consonants in Plains Cree, where the length differences are neutralized, and all vowels are phonetically long. 7 The bracketed language is the one relevant to the bolded segment. The parentheses indicate that there are elements from both languages in the example.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 115
(35) gi+ wpamgnn pahknjhk [C] n-ki wapam-kw-n-n + pahkn-hk 1-PST see-INV-NON3-1PL COMP+ fall-1/2CJ ‘He watched us (excl) fall.’ (36) ki+wihtamgnn ti+poj-jahk [C] ki+wihtam-kw-nn ti+poj-ahk PST+tell.smthing-DIR-REC-NON3-1PL CJ-stop-3PL.CJ ‘He told us to stop.’ (37) /itejht-am/ [C] think-3IN ‘He thinks.’
I have found no examples of preaspirated consonants appearing stem-initially. Although this gap could be an indicator that they may not be phonemic, I do not believe this to be the case in
Michif. They do occur morpheme-initially, or as morphemes on their own, as in the following examples.
(38) np-hkn [C] sleep-DEL.IMP ‘Sleep later/when you like.’
(39) n-l-dni-hk-n [(F), C] 1-MRK-lunch-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m going to make lunch.’
Evidence from vowel quality shows that preaspirates do not pattern as two segments, insofar as the /h/ is not syllabified into coda position. Preaspirated stops may follow both tense and lax vowels, as touched on in the arguments for syllable structure in chapter 3.
(40) dpwehten [C] n-tpweht-en 1-believe- NON3.IN.TR ‘I believe it.’ (41) gihkwn [C] n-kihkw-n 1-wash.face-NON3 ‘I’m washing my face.’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 116
8 (42) kthkn ti? [C] k-hk-n ti 2-sick-NON3 Q ‘Are you sick?’ (43) giohkwmn [C] n-kiohkwm-n 1-hot.sleep-NON3 ‘I’m sleeping warmly.’ (44) + liv amhta-w [C] SG.INDF.M book read-3 ‘He’s reading a book.’ (45) hkwatn [C] hkwat-n freeze-INAN3 ‘It is freezing.’ (46) ihkhk [C] ‘spit’
The data in (40)-(43) are examples of tense vowels before hC, while the data in (44)-(46) show lax vowels before hC as well. Recall from chapter 3 that tense vowels may not appear with a coda consonant. The grammaticality of the examples in (40)-(43) shows that /h/ must not be in coda position, as it would create an illicit sequence of three morae in the rhyme. This constitutes evidence that the /h/ of hC clusters does not appear in coda, but rather in the following onset.
In addition to the positional arguments, there are theoretical reasons to call these preaspirates single segments rather than hC clusters. Steriade (1990: 209) argues that affricates are in fact underlyingly single stop segments, and that their affricate nature derives from place specifications. Complex segments such as preaspirates may be treated in a similar vein, where although they may appear as clusters, they pattern together as other stops, and differ only in glottal state from voiced and plain stops. Furthermore, in a recent study of the phonetics of preaspirated stops, Silverman (2003) treats preaspirates as single segments a priori. Therefore,
8 Recall from chapter 2 that an epenthetic -t- appears between the person prefixes n- and k- and vowel-initial verbs.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 117 though he does not address the question of phonological structure, the underlying assumption is that these elements are to be treated as a single segment rather than as a cluster.
In this section I have argued for a series of preaspirated consonants, which I have shown to be found in similar environments as the voiced consonants. Stemming from their appearance in similar positions as other stops and affricates, as well as from evidence from vowel quality, I have also argued for their treatment as single segments. Having described this preaspirated series, I will now move onto the plain series of obstruents.
4.1.1.3 Plain obstruents The last series of obstruents in Michif is the plain series. These obstruents are unaspirated and voiceless, and appear word-initially, medially and finally. The following data shows stops and affricates in word initial position.
(47) kk-paj-h [C] kk-paj-h wake.up-INCHO-IMP ‘Wake up!’ (48) dlt kji [F] milk curdled ‘sour milk’ (49) n prtpk [F] INDF.F.SG porcupine ‘a porcupine’ (50) thkow [C] thk--w dissolve-REFL-3 ‘The ice melts.’ (51) /ti/ [C] Q (question marker) (52) ma tyjr [F] F.SG.POSS spoon ‘my spoon’ (53) li tir [F] ‘Northern lights’
In the following data, stops and affricates occur word-medially.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 118
(54) tpew [C] tpe-w pull-3 ‘He’s pulling (a trailer, sled)’ (55) ka+ mp-n dm [C, (F)] FUT +snow-IMP tomorrow ‘It will snow tomorrow.’ (56) mtf [F] ‘Métis’ (57) mt+ ekwakwan [C] INC+ be.cloudy ‘It’s getting cloudy.’
In the following examples, plain stops and affricates are found word-finally.
(58) la pp [F] DF.F.SG pipe ‘the pipe’ (59) la sup [F] DF.F.SG soup ‘the soup’ (60) la prt [F] DF.F.SG door ‘the door’ (61) kijpt ti k-peh-n [C] still Q 2-wait-NON3 ‘Are you still waiting?’ (62) [ nptk] [C] /+np-t-k/ COMP+sleep-3.CJ-3PL.CJ ‘that they sleep’ (63) li+ k [F?] PL worms intestinal worms (64) n patak [F] SG.F.IND potato ‘a potato’ (65) wihkt [C] ‘never’
The plain obstruents surface as voiced in certain contexts. This voicing will be discussed in section 4.4.1.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 119
Now that I have examined the laryngeal qualities of the consonants, I will move onto consonant place and manner of articulation.
4.1.2 Stops
4.1.3 Stops – places of articulation As seen in (1), Michif possesses stops at three different places of articulation: labial, alveolar and velar. We find voiceless, voiced and preaspirated counterparts at each of these places of articulation, for a total of nine stops.
4.1.3.1 Labial There are three labial stops in Michif; /hp/, /p/ and /b/. Examples of each are found below.
(66) phphkw [C] pahp-h-kw-w laugh-TR-INV-3 ‘They make fun of him.’ (67) pekijk-h ahpi [C] come.visit-2IMP sometime ‘Come and visit sometime.’ (68) lm s + bopr ki+ wpam-e-w [F, C] man his + brother.in.law PST+ see-DBL3-3 ‘The man saw his father-in-law.’ (69) bahknn [C] /n-pahkn-n/ st 1 -fall-NON3 ‘I’m falling’ (70) la + lp [F] DF.F.SG + lamp ‘the lamp’
4.1.3.2 Alveolar Michif has three alveolar stops, /ht/, /t/ and /d/, as shown in the examples below. The relevant segments are in bold font.
(71) tnde thtajn [C] tnde thta-n? where COMP go-2CJ ‘Where are you going?’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 120
(72) pwehte-w [C] move.out-3 ‘He moves out’ (73) dis li+ tahkwamnna [C] ten PL-chokecherries ‘ten chokecherries.’ (74) ka+ do+ np-n-n [C] FUT+go+sleep-NON3-1PL ‘We’ll all go to sleep.’ (75) +mas dlo [F] ‘a lot of water’
4.1.3.3 Velars
There are three velar stops in the Michif inventory: /hk/, /k/ and /g/. Examples with the relevant segments bolded are given below. Note in particular the near-minimal pair in (77) and (78).
(76) kahkijaw nœ do mit-n-n dahr la oma. [C] everyone VOL GO eat-NON3-1PL out there ‘We are all going out to eat now.’ (77) pahkhtn [C] fall.3 ‘It is falling.’ (78) paktn [C] let.go ‘Leave him/it alone!’ (79) kawkamhk [C] ‘round dance’ (80) tahkwamnna [C] ‘chokecherries’ (81) ihkhk [F] ‘to spit’ (82) gro prz gimijk [F, C] + gro prz n-ki-mj-kw INDF.M.SG + big present 1-PST-give-INV ‘He gave me a big present’ (83) + uma kla [F] INDF.M.SG +mare brown ‘a brown mare’ (84) +fø ga+matst-n [(F), C] +fø n-ka+matst-n INDF.M.SG +fire 1-FUT-start.fire-3 ‘He’ll start a fire.’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 121
4.1.4 Obstruents - Fricatives There are seven fricatives found in Michif: three pairs of voiced-voiceless counterparts and one unpaired glottal fricative.
4.1.4.1 Labio-dentals Michif has are two labio-dental fricatives, voiceless /f/ and voiced /v/.
(85) li + frez [F] PL strawberry ‘strawberries’ (86) li + vo [F] PL horse ‘horses’ (87) li+ fij [F] PL+girl ‘the girls’
4.1.4.2 Alveolars There are two alveolar fricatives in Michif, /s/ and /z/.
(88) dis li+zitwl [F] ten PL+star ‘ten stars’ (89) ki lsupi n [F/C] k-ki+ l- supi- n 2-PST+ NOM- supper-NON3 ‘You ate supper.’
4.1.4.3 Alveopalatals In addition to the alveolar fricatives, Michif has two alveopalatal fricatives, // and //. Note that there is a constraint disallowing alveolar and alveopalatal fricatives within a root: sibilants must share the same place of articulation. This will be discussed in more detail in chapter 6.
(90) n-k [C] 1POSS-mother-in-law ‘mother-in-law’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 122
(91) n-ipkk-n [C] 1-long.remember-NON3 ‘I have a good memory.’ (92) k-nawaw-n [C] 2-chase-NON3 ‘You’re running after me.’ (93) n vjej e [F] F.INDF old chair ‘an old chair’ (94) wal [F] INDF.M horse
4.1.4.4 Glottal There is one glottal fricative in Michif; /h/.
(95) anh [C] ‘those’ (96) awana ka+ wha-t awa la gros tart [C, (F)] who REL+bake-3CJ PROX.AN.SG DF.F big pie ‘Who baked this big pie?’ (97) n + h [F] F.INDF + axe ‘an axe’
4.1.5 Obstruents - Affricates There is one phonemic pair of affricates in Michif, a voiced and a voiceless pair, which may be realized phonetically as alveolar [ts] and [dz] or alveo-palatal [t] and [d]. I will label these as alveo-palatal for two reasons. First, this appears to be the pronunciation norm of my consultants and the Michif speakers in Manitoba generally, and second, there is a Michif rule triggering the place assimilation of the preaspirates to an alveo-palatal place of assimilation, which leads me to analyzing the segment as underlyingly alveo-palatal. This rule will be discussed in section 4.4.1.
(98) dis [F] ‘ten’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 123
(99) tatago [O] M.INDF.SG teeter-totter ‘a teeter-totter’ (100) li mando [C] PL bug/worm ‘bugs’ (101) nawt n hte knn [C] nawt n-nhte kn-n more 1-WANT tall-NON3 ‘I want to be taller.’ (102) wikt ti k-nht l-mtdikl-w-n [C, (C/F)] ever Q 2-WANT MRK-schoolteacher-BE-NON3 ‘Did you ever want to be a school teacher?’
4.1.6 Sonorants - Nasals There are two nasal consonants in Michif; a labial and an alveolar, as shown in the examples below.9
(103) n-m magrt [C. F] 1POSS-older.sister Margaret ‘my eldest sister Margaret’ (104) la + fam [F] DF.F.SG+woman ‘the woman’ (105) n+ pnez [F] DF.F.SG+bedbug ‘a bedbug’ (106) n-mit-n [C] 1-eat-NON3 ‘I’m eating.’
4.1.7 Sonorants - Liquids There are two liquids in Michif, a lateral /l/ and a rhotic /r/.
(107) la + um bl [F] DF.F.SG + mare white ‘the white mare’
9 It should be noted that we find the velar nasal // in the English vocabulary of Michif. Though it would be interesting to find the status of English loan words into Michif, it is outside the scope of this thesis and the question will be left for future research.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 124
(108) ki+ l-supi-n-n [F/C] PST+M.DF.SG-dinner-NON3-1PL ‘We had supper.’ (109) ma+ en lr-w-an [F/C] 1.POSS.F +chain gold-BE-4 ‘My chain is gold.’ (110) + ntrm [F] M.SG.INDF funeral ‘a funeral’ (111) li rasd [F] PL bead ‘beads’ (112) tuliur [F] everyday
4.1.8 Sonorants - Glides There are two glides in Michif, /j/ and /w/, as seen in the examples below.
(113) n-mj aj-n [C] 1-well be-NON3 ‘I am fine’ (114) jr [F] yesterday (115) m + zjœ [F] 1.M.POSS + eye ‘my eye’ (116) wank-h [C] wake.up-IMP ‘Wake up!’ (117) wit-h-n [C] help-TR-NON3 ‘Help me!’ (118) j awa [F, C] M.SG.INDF dog PROX.AN ‘This is a dog.’ (119) l pwas [F] DF.M.SG fish ‘the fish’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 125
4.2 Consonant distribution Recall from chapter 2 that affixes along with the stems to which they attach form a unit called a phonological word, while minor categories such as preverbs and particles form their own phonological domain. Furthermore in chapter 3 I showed that syllabification is blind to morphological boundaries between stem and affix, while minor categories and phonological words disallow syllabification across their boundaries. In anticipation, I will use phonological words, meaning stem and affixes together, as a domain to determine what sort of positional consonantal distribution is allowable in Michif.
4.2.1 By position in word
4.2.1.1 Word-initial position All Michif consonants but preaspirated stops may be found in word-initial position.
(120) Word-initial Word-final p, t, k, b, d, g hp, p, t, k, b, d, g f, v, s, z, , , h f, v, s, z, , , h t, d t, d n, m n, m l, r l, r w, j w, j
4.2.1.2 Word-medial All consonants appear word-medially in Michif.
4.2.1.3 Word-final position The data below, as well as the cross-section of data throughout section 4.1, show examples of stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals and glides in final position.
(121) sk li e vr dajn [F, C] /sk li e vr n-aj-n/ five DEF.PL. chair green 1-have-NON3 ‘I’ve got 5 green chairs.’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 126
(122) n tab pigpajk gi atwn [F, C] /n tab +pikw-paj-k n-ki + atw-n/ SG.F.INDF table CJ+be.broken-INCHO-3INAN.CJ 1-PST+ buy-NON3 ‘I bought a broken table.’ (123) n gros bts [F] SG.F.INDF big.F building ‘a big building’ (124) li ptt fij bl [F] PL small girl white ‘the little white girls’ (125) m kte-w [C] too hot-3 ‘It’s too hot’ (126) nmhkt [C] ‘never’ (127) atke-h [C] work-IMP ‘Work!’
I have not been able to find examples of word-final preaspirates, but /hk/ is found in surface word-final position, as in the example below.
(128) ki npjahk [C] ki np-ahkw COMP+ PST + sleep-1/2CJ ‘that we were sleeping.’
4.2.2 Based on morphological category The examples given in section 4.1 were all taken from Michif stems. In this section, I look at affixes and preverbs to see whether a similar inventory is present for consonants in Michif.
4.2.2.1 Affixes I have found a smaller number of consonants present in the inventory within affixes in Michif than in the stems: while there are 21 consonants in Michif as a whole, only eleven are present within the affixal domain. Below I give the inventory of the consonants I have found in Michif affixes.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 127
(129) p, t, k, hk t , h n, m l w, j
Note that there are consonants making up each of the places of articulations as well as all manners of articulation: stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, glides and sonorants. Below I give examples of each of the above consonants found in Michif affixes. These are organized by manner of articulation.
4.2.2.2 Affixal obstruents Below are examples with the eight obstruents found in Michif affixes. The first set of data show the simple stops /p t k/ and the preaspirates /ht hk/, with the relevant segments bolded.
(130) m vjœ-pan [C] my + husband-NOMPST ‘my deceased husband’ (131) k-with-t-n [C] 2-help- NON3INV -NON3 ‘I help you (sg).’ (132) k-with-t-n-ww [C] 2-help- NON3INV-NON3-2PL ‘I help you (pl).’ (133) hk-w-ak [C] be.sick-3-3PL ‘They’re sick.’ (134) nlsupihkn [C] n-l-supi-hk-n 1-AFF-dinner-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m going to cook supper.’ (135) wpa-ht-am [C] see-INAN-3IN ‘She sees it/them.’ (136) ki npjhk [C] + ki+ np-hkw CJ+ PST + sleep-1PLCJ ‘that we (excl) were sleeping.’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 128
The surface form of the example below appears to show the affricate /t/ in an affix.
(137) +np-tk [C] /+np-t-k/ CJ+sleep-3CJ-3PLCJ ‘that they are sleeping.’
Recall however from chapter 2 that the third person conjunct form is /-t/, and the affrication is triggered by the high vowel in the plural morpheme /-k/, to be discussed in section 4.4.3, and therefore the affricate is allophonic.
The following examples show the two fricatives found in the Michif affixes, / h/.
Again, the relevant segments are bolded.
(138) tmow [C] tm--w talk-REFL-3 ‘She’s talking about herself.’ (139) ki katawa-h-e-w [C] be.beautiful-TR-DBL3-3 ‘He made her beautiful.’ (140) da la prizo awa-h [(F),C] in DET jail be.inside-IMP ‘Get in jail!’
Now that I have shown examples of affixes containing obstruents, I will move onto the sonorants within the affixal domain.
4.2.2.3 Affixal sonorants Both nasals and glides are found within the affixal domain. Examples of these are given below. (141) gi wihtamk t pojjn [C] /n-ki + wihtam-w-kw ti + poj-n/ 1-PST + tell-3-INV PURP + stop-1CJ ‘He told me to finish.’ (142) /tejht-am + atke-t/ [C] think-3IN COMP+ work-3CJ ‘He thinks (that) she’s working.’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 129
(143) ln dtnn [C] / + ln n-t-n-n/ DET lunch 1-take-NON3-1PL ‘I’m taking a lunch.’ (144) k-nim-n-ww [C] 2-dance-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) are dancing.’
There are also instances of /l/ in the affixes, as seen below.
(145) nlfojwn [F/(C)] n-l-fo-w-n 1-MKR-crazy-BE-NON3 ‘I’m crazy.’ (146) m fw li-vr-w-an [F/(C)] my grass MRK-green-BE-3IN ‘My grass is green.’ (147) l-supi-w [F/(C)] MKR-dinner-3 ‘He’s having dinner.’
Though I showed in chapter 2 that the determiner l is in its own domain, I argue that in the examples above, the item /l-/ is not the same morpheme for two reasons. First, /l-/ in the above examples does not represent the same semantics as the determiner /l/. In the above examples,
/l-/ does not appear with a noun, but rather an adjective or a noun. There would be no need for a definite determiner in the above contexts. More compellingly, the marker appears inside the person prefixes and forms a phonological unit with the prefix and the root. This is evident where we see the vowel // deleting in certain contexts. The phonological environments triggering -deletion will be discussed in chapter 8, but suffice it to say here that // deletes within a phonological word when it is unstressed and where phonotactics allow. Consider then the following examples where // is deleted on the surface. The relevant segments are bolded.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 130
(148) a. l-supi-w [F/C] MRK-dinner-3 ‘He is eating dinner.’ b. nlsupin [F/C] /n-l-supi-n/ 1-MRK-dinner-NON3 ‘I am eating dinner.’ c. klsupinww [F/C] /k-l-supi-n-ww/ 2-MRK-dinner-NON3-2PL ‘I am eating dinner.’
The example in (148a) shows that the vowel does exist underlyingly, while the examples in
(148b, c) show that the vowel can delete. The fact that it can delete shows that it is not outside the phonological domain for processes and phonotactics, which was our diagnostic for establishing the domain. For these reasons, I argue that the /l-/ marker in these verbs is not a determiner with its own phonological domain, but rather an affix which forms a phonological unit with the verb like any other affix. Therefore, I argue that the sonorant /l/ appears within the affixal domain.
To conclude, there is a reduced inventory of consonants within the affixal domain, but note that the only natural class not found is the affricate. Otherwise, fricatives, stops, nasals, liquids and glides are all found within this domain.
4.2.3 Minor Categories Recall from chapter 2 that minor categories occupy a morphological category between affixes and stems, and make up their own phonological domain. A variety of consonants are found within this domain; they are given in bold.
(149) p, t, k, b, d, g f, v, s, z, , , h
t, d n, m l, r w, j ht, hk, ht Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 131
(150) ga kakwe pon awat-n [C] n-ka+kakwe +pon + awat-n 1+FUT+TRY+STOP+ put.in.box-NON3 ‘I will try finish putting it in the box.’ (151) emk atke-h [C] now work-IMP ‘Work right away!’ (152) ka + kibejkane-w [C] FUT + wash.dishes-3 ‘He will wash the dishes’ (153) kekwaj + nht + mnhkwejn [C] what + want + drink-2.CJ ‘What do you want to drink?’ (154) la+ fij [F] F.SG.DF+girl ‘the girl’ (155) dat kiwn [C] n-at + kiw- n 1-INCEPT+ go.home-NON3 ‘I’m going home.’ (156) nmjá + wi + do+ atke-w [C] NEG + want + go work-3 ‘He doesn’t want to go to work.’
Note that the minor categories are similar to the stems in that most places and manners of articulation are represented. There does not seem to be a real systemic difference between the inventories of the two morphological categories. This is not surprising, given that the two are types of words.
4.3 Consonant clusters In this section, I show the consonant clusters available in Michif and give their distribution word-initially and word-finally.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 132
4.3.1 Word-initial clusters Consonant clusters appearing in word-initial position are common, but constrained to certain types of sequences. There are two types of clusters. First, we find sequences of an obstruent followed by a sonorant, as in the examples below.
(157) C+r C+l C+w C+j gros ‘big’ bl ‘white’ fw ‘grass’ zjœ ‘eyes’ frmi ‘ant’ plym ‘pen’ zwzo ‘bird’ vjej ‘old’ tram ‘white poplar’ bwt ‘box’ kwadrij ‘square dance’ pwas ‘fish’
It is also possible to get sibilant + consonant clusters, as seen in the examples below.
(158) a. vo ‘horses’ [F] b. wal ‘horse’ c. m ‘path’ d. mi ‘shirt’
There are many examples of sibilants surfacing in clusters with a wide range of consonants.
This is often due to the deletion of the unstressed vowel // which will be discussed in detail in chapter 8.
4.3.2 Word-final consonant clusters Although single word-final consonants are common, consonant clusters appearing in final position do not occur in Michif.
4.3.3 Word-medial consonant clusters There are a number of examples in Michif of word-medial consonant clusters. Consider the examples below, where the consonant clusters are bolded.
(159) gars ‘boy’ [F] (160) li zrtj ‘toes’ [F]
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 133
(161) l frno ‘the oven’ [F] (162) t grlo ‘your testicles’ [F] (163) slda ‘a soldier’ [F]
(164) l prtr ‘the picture’ [F] (165) l farmje ‘the farmer’ [F]
(166) n istwr ‘a story’ [F] (167) dajkn ‘I’m tired.’ [C] n-ajk-n 1-be.tired-NON3 (168) kikwn ‘You’re crazy.’ [C] (169) kkpw ‘He’s shaving.’ [C]
(170) l dktœr ‘the doctor’ [F] (171) samdi ‘Saturday’ [F]
Note that the examples are overwhelmingly cases of either liquid+consonant (159-165) or else sibilant+obstruent (166-169). In the examples in (159-163), the clusters are not in the same syllable (C.C structure), in (164-165) the structure is C.CC, and in (166-169) the clusters are in onset position together. This conforms to what was seen in chapter 3 with regards to syllable structure with the exceptions in (170-171).
4.3.4 Other clusters In addition to the above clusters, there are apparent k clusters found word-initially and word- medially, as seen in the data below.
(172) kipeknkewak ‘They’re washing clothes.’ [C] (173) l kfi ktew ‘The coffee is hot.’ [(F), C] (174) ke ‘very’ [C] (175) ta fs kkipeknen ‘You’re washing your face.’ [C]
I will show in chapter eight that the above are surface clusters: in all the above cases there is a
// underlyingly between the Cs.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 134
It is also common to find clusters made up of consonants and glides, as in the examples below.
(176) ki+kakeht-am-w-ak pr nija [C] PST+be.lonesome-INOBJ-3-PL for me ‘They were lonesome for me’ (177) damkwak [C] n-am-kw-w-ak 1-tell.story-INV-3-3PL ‘They’re talking about me.’
4.4 Consonantal Alternations In this section I outline some allophonic alternations of consonants in Michif. In section 4.4.1 I examine preaspirated place assimilation, in section 4.4.2, obstruent voicing, and in section 4.4.3,
I show to what extent affrication is productive in Michif.
4.4.1 Place assimilation in preaspirates The aspiration in the preaspirated consonants is normally pronounced as a fricative of the same place of assimilation of the stop. To my knowledge, this place assimilation has been previously unreported in Michif. This frication replacing so-called aspiration is a very common process with preaspirated consonants Silverman (2003), and Michif is no exception. In Michif, it is most prevalent with the dorsal consonants, though it is seen with the coronals as well.
Michif labials, however, are never pronounced with frication, but rather with true aspiration. I have outlined the process below.
Place-assimilation of /h/ (178) /ht/ →[t] /ht/ → [t] /hk/ → [xk]
Consider the examples below exemplifying this process. The relevant symbols are in bold.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 135
(179) [xkwak] /hk-w-ak/ be.sick-3-3PL ‘They’re sick.’ (180) [paxkn] /pahkn/ fall.3 ‘He’s falling.’ (181) [itejtam] /itejhtam/ ‘He thinks.’ (182) [btpohaw] /n-phtpoh--w/ 1-poison-DIR-3 ‘I poison him.’ (183) l piano kttkew l piano kthtke-w DET piano play.instrument-3 ‘He plays piano.’
The following examples show that this process does not affect the labial preaspirated consonants.
(184) [ahpi] *[aφpi] ‘sometime’ (185) [phphkow] *[paφpihkow] php-h-kw-w laugh-cause-INV-3 ‘They make fun of him.’
As the above examples show, non-labial ‘preaspirated’ consonants are pronounced with frication rather than with aspiration in Michif. It is worth noting that while the dorsal consonants are always fricated instead of aspirated, frication on coronal preaspirates is optional, showing that place of articulation of the preaspirated consonant plays a role in its surface realization.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 136
4.4.2 Obstruent voicing As I showed earlier in this chapter, there are three series of obstruents in Michif: aspirated, voiced and plain. The plain series gets variably voiced in certain contexts, dependent on both phonological and morphological considerations. First, I will outline the two voicing environments, and show how morphological category is relevant for this voicing process.
The first environment where voicing of plain obstruents occurs is when the obstruent is adjacent to a nasal consonant at a morpheme boundary. Consider the following data. In (186a) and (187a), vowel deletion results in the adjacency of the sonorant and plain obstruent, and the obstruent is voiced. Note that this is not the case for the examples in (186b) and (187b), where we see the plain consonants surfacing as unvoiced.
(186) a. ndajn ~ dajan10 n-t-aj-n intermediate stage n-aj-n 1-be.here-NON3 ‘I’m here’ b. ktajn k-aj-n 2-be.here-NON3 ‘You’re (sg) here’ (187) a. bmhn surface form n-pmihn intermediate stage n-pmh-n underlying form 1-fly-NON3 ‘I’m flying’ b. kpmh-n k-pmh-n 2-fly-NON3 ‘You’re (sg) flying’
Similar data is given in (188), where vowel deletion results in the adjacency of a sonorant with a plain obstruent.
10 Recall from chapter 2 that the nasal in this form and in the form in (192) may further delete, leaving its trace simply through voicing on the following obstruent.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 137
(188) tnde tn-te Q-there ‘where’
The examples below show that this is indeed at a morpheme boundary.11 Secondly, they show no voicing.
(189) a. tn tn- Q-thus ‘how’ b. tnhk tn-hk Q-happen why
In (189a) note there is no voicing of the fricative //, which shows that the postnasal voicing occurs only with stops.
Another source of voicing are Cw sequences. These are most often /kw/ sequences, but other consonants are also affected. The consonant nearly always assimilates in voicing with the glide, and in some cases there is no glide in the surface form. Note that even when this is the case, there is still voicing on a preceding consonant. Consider the following examples, where the relevant segments have been bolded.
(190) a. pigptew pikw-pt-e-w break-push/pull-DIR-3 ‘He ripped s.o. apart.’ b. +pgpajk +pkw-paj-k CJ+break-INCHOATIVE-3IN.CJ ‘(the chair) that is broken’
11 Further evidence that [tnde] is in fact underlyingly three-syllables comes from the fact that the 1st syllable is stressed, which would be expected given the stress rule (see chapter 7 for details of stress rule).
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 138
c. [pikwamew] ~ [pigmew] pikw-am-ew break-by.mouth-IN.O-3 ‘He damaged it with teeth.’ d. pikwataham pikw-tah-am break-by.axe-IN.O ‘He broke it with axe.’ (191) a. nawa nawawa- chase-IMP ‘Chase (sg) that person!’ b. nawte-w nawawat-e-w chase-DBL3-3 ‘He’s chasing her.’ c. nawtn n-nawawat--n 1-chase-REFL-NON3 ‘I’m chasing myself.’ (192) nnhtjpgwn n-nhtejpkw-n 1-thirsty-NON3 ‘I’m thirsty.’ (193) [megwt] mekwt ‘while, during’
When the glide precedes a consonant-initial morpheme, it surfaces as a vowel in order to be properly syllabified. In addition, word-medial /w-a/ often surfaces as //, as in the examples in
(190a-c), 191a).
I have shown that /C[plain]w/ sequences surface as /C[voiced]/ or /C[voiced]w/. However, consider as well the examples below where this process does not occur.
(194) ki+kwetapi-w PST+ tip-3 ‘It tipped over.’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 139
(195) kwakwepitkewak kwakwepitke-w-ak fish(with rod&reel)-3-3PL ‘They’re fishing’ (196) kwa ‘pig’
The above examples show us that the phenomenon is positional: in word-initial position, there is no voicing and the glide does not become //. What is interesting is that this pattern has resulted in the reanalysis of many historically French /k-/ initial items. Consider the examples below.
(197) French Michif gloss 12 k kwa ‘pig’ krd kward ‘string’ krnej kwarnej ~ krnej ‘crow’ w krkt kwark ~ k rk ‘okay, correct’
The above examples are never pronounced with a glide in French, but Michif speakers reanalyzed the word-initial /k/ forms as being /kwa/ underlyingly by analogy with the process elsewhere in Michif.
The voicing process targets only the plain and not the preaspirated obstruents. Consider the following data.
(198) a. [kegwaj mnhkwjn] kekwaj mnhkw-n what drink-2CJ ‘What did you drink?’ b. [mnhkweh] mnhkwe-h drink-IMP ‘Drink! (sg)’
12 The same reanalysis has occurred with some non-initial items as well, i.e. French kla ‘brown’ is often pronounced [kwala] in Michif.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 140
(199) [gihkwn] n-kihkw-n 1-wash-NON3 ‘I’m washing’
The above data show that preaspirated consonants do not get voiced when preceding a glide.
Position in the word is a further factor involved in obstruent voicing. Consider the data below, where there is no voicing.
(200) nawawnn nawaw-n-n chase-NON3-1PL ‘Chase us!’ (201) kekwaj ka twjn *dw-jn kekwaj ka tw-n what CJ+say-2CJ ‘What did you say?’ (202) jikwakwan be.cloudy ‘It is cloudy.’
The bolded obstruents in the above data are all in non-final syllables. In the cases where the glide does surface in Michif (ie. does not become a vowel), voicing occurs primarily when the
/Cw/ sequence is the onset of the word-final syllable. Compare for example (190a), where the
Cw- sequence in a final syllable surfaces as a voiced obstruent, with (190b, c) where the non- final syllables are not voiced. Obstruent voicing may be a way in which Michif marks edge prominence, accounting for the fact that there is much more voicing at the end of a Michif word than earlier in the word.
In this section I cited several factors contributing to obstruent voicing in Michif: morpheme boundaries, adjacency to a sonorant and word-final edge. Because voicing is variable in Michif, data from running speech is needed in order to determine sociolinguistic rules for this voicing. Because I do not have access to this data, and given the limited number of
Michif speakers left, I am unable to outline definitive rules for obstruent voicing. However, I
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 141 hope that the above section has served to illuminate some of the important linguistic factors governing obstruent voicing in Michif.
4.4.3 Affrication/palatalization There is an affrication process changing /t/ to [t] before high front vowels at morpheme boundaries in Michif. Consider the following examples.
(203) a. ki+twe-w +ki+np-t [C] PST-say-3 CONJ-PST-sleep-3CJ ‘He said that she was sleeping.’ b. ki twew ki nptk [C] ki+twe-w +ki+np-t-k PST-say-3 CONJ-PST-sleep-3CJ-3PLCJ ‘He said that they were sleeping.’ (204) a. ki+twe-w +ki+lsupi-t [C, F] PST-say-3 COMP+PST+have.supper-3CJ ‘He said that she was eating.’ b. ki-twe-w ki lsupitk [C, F] ki-twe-w +ki+lsupi-t-k PST-say-3 COMP+PST+sleep-3CJ-3PLCJ ‘He said that they were sleeping’
In the data in (202b-203b) we see that affrication occurs before the high front vowel at a morpheme boundary. The examples in (204)-(209) show that /t/ does not necessarily palatalize before high front vowels tautomorphemically.
(205) ti zarej POSS ear ‘your ears’ (206) prtpk ‘a porcupine’ (207) li b tiro rosehips (208) l ti ‘tea’ (209) thk-w melt-3 ‘It (the ice) melts.’
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 142
(210) ta mi miktka-h your shirt change-IMP ‘Change your shirt!’
Furthermore, the affricate /t/ is found before vowels that are not high and front and before the glide /w/, showing that it is not purely allophonic.13
(211) t ty ‘your bum’ 14 (212) twir ‘buckskin’ (213) hn tahk-w ‘One is short.’
Affrication in Michif is a rule which occurs in only a sub-set of possible environments, and is not productive per se in Michif.
4.5 Conclusions In this chapter I have outlined the phonological inventory of the Michif consonants. I have shown that there are 25 consonants in all, representing six places of articulation, three laryngeal types and six manners of articulation, including the glides. The entire inventory is reproduced as follows.
(214)
labial labio- alveolar alveo-palatal velar glottal dental
stops hp p b ht t d hk k g
fricatives f v s z h affricates ht t d nasals m n liquids r l glides w j
13 Note that /t/and /t/ were certainly historically allophonic in Cree and in French. However, both segments appear in similar environments today and are therefore now both phonemic in Michif. 14 The high front glide // in French items has been substituted with /w/ in corresponding Michif items. Presumably the affrication occurred at a point in history before the glide substitution, which would offer a historical explanation for the affrication before a labio-velar glide.
Chapter 4 Michif Consonants 143
Furthermore, I have shown that most of these consonants are found in most positions with the exception of word-initial preaspirates. Although the number of consonants found in affixes and minor categories is somewhat less than those found in the stems, these do not appear to make up any systemic subset of the larger consonant inventory, given that they span all places and manners of articulation. Lastly, I have outlined some of the segmental processes affecting the underlying consonants in Michif. The primary processes include voicing of plain obstruents and place assimilation of the aspirated part of preaspirate consonants. Now that the consonants have been described, the next chapter will outline the vowel inventory and processes in an analogous fashion.
5 Michif Vowels
In this chapter I outline the phonemic vowel inventory for Michif and examine the distribution of these vowels. As with the consonants, this chapter outlines a single inventory for Michif.
Unless otherwise noted, data from both language components will be given for each phoneme, showing that there is no stratification based on that phoneme. Section 5.1 gives the vowel inventory of Michif while section 5.2 outlines distributional facts for Michif vowels based on morphological category (5.2.1) and stressed or unstressed position (5.2.2). Section 5.3 summarizes the vowel inventories and section 5.4 discusses variation within the rounded vowels. Section 5.4 looks at a case of phonetic vowel variation.
5.1 Michif vowel inventory
This section will outline the overall inventory of vowel phonemes in Michif. It is organized first by oral vowels versus nasalized vowels. The oral vowels are organized first by height, and within each height, by frontness to backness, and then further by rounding.
5.1.1 Vowels – oral
Phonemically, there are eleven oral vowels in Michif. In this section, I list the vowels and give examples of each, primarily from my own fieldwork.1
(1) Vowels – Oral
i y u
e ε œ ο
a
1I have used my own fieldwork almost exclusively due to the fact that other research on Michif has different assumptions regarding phonemicization. Specifically, historically Cree words are often represented by traditionally Cree phonemes, while historically French items are represented by traditionally French phonemes (Rhodes 1977, 1985, Bakker 1997, Bakker & Papen 1997). As I assume that it is possible (and preferable) to represent a unified phonology of Michif, the transcriptions found in these sources is often not appropriate due to different underlying assumptions in representing the language. To avoid misrepresenting that work, I have chosen to rely on my own data as well as recordings by other authors (esp. Bakker), but not their transcriptions. 144 Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 145
5.1.1.1 High vowels There are four distinctive high vowels in Michif, one front unrounded, one front rounded, one front lax unrounded and one back.
5.1.1.1.1 Front There are three high front vowels in Michif. Two are unrounded, contrastive in quality: /i/ and
//. Examples are given in (2)-(10), with the relevant vowels highlighted.
(2) a. li +ptt fij [F] PL small girl ‘the little girls’ b. l + pti gars [F] DF.M.SG small boy (3) ki + wit-t-w-ak [C] PST + help-REC-3-3PL ‘They helped each other.’ (4) ktamn [C] k-am--n 2-talk-REFL-NON3 ‘You’re talking about yourself.’ (5) k-l-supi-n [F, C] 2-MRK-dinner-NON3 ‘You’re eating dinner.’ (6) + liv [F] INDF.M.SG + book ‘a book’ (7) dapn [C] n-ap-n 1-sit-NON3 ‘I’m sitting.’ (8) ktapain [C] k-tapai-n 2-flee-NON3 ‘You’re running away.’ (9) tapaiw [C] tapai-w flee-3 ‘He’s running away.’
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 146
(10) apw [C] ap-w sit-3 ‘He’s sitting.’
In addition to the two unrounded vowels, there is one high front rounded vowel in
Michif, /y/, as shown in the examples below.
(11) n +trty [F] det + turtle (12) dsy [F] on top (13) /so+ ty/ [ty] ~ [tœ] [F] his+ rear, bum [cf. /tœ/ ‘tail’, C /ti/, conjunct] (14) pyr2 [F] ‘pure’
5.1.1.1.2 Back
There is one tense high back vowel /u/ and one lax high back vowel // in Michif. This vowel varies on the surface phonetically between [o] and [u], making it difficult in many situations to determine what vowel is underlying, especially since Michif has a phonological /o/ in its inventory as well. However, minimal pairs, as well as instrumental study confirm that there are in fact two different back vowels in Michif: one higher than the other. The examples below include this high back vowel.3
(15) /l + rugaru/ [l + rugaru] ~ [l + rogaro] [cf. F loup-garoup] DF.M.SG + werewolf ‘the werewolf’ (16) dsur la+tab [F] under DF.F.SG+table ‘under the table’ (17) /kuto/ [kuto] ~ [koto] [cf. F. couteau] ‘knife’
2 Item from Rhodes 1985:290. 3 I have given both the phonological and phonetic forms for completeness. These alternations will be discussed further in this section.
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 147
The examples above are taken from the French source vocabulary. Given that Cree does not make a phonemic contrast between /o/ and /u/, it is not surprising that there would not be any contrasting data from the Cree vocabulary. A priori, we don’t know whether the Cree vowel is best thought of as /u/ or /o/. Despite phonemicizing the segment as /o:/, Wolfart describes the vowel as ‘high back,’ specifying that it is ‘lower high’ (Wolfart 1996: 430). The examples below show a minimal pair illustrating the difference between the high and mid tense vowels.
(18) /li + pu/ [li pu] ~ [li po] [F] PL+louse ‘lice’ (19) /li + po/ [lipo] ~ * [li+pu] [F] PL+hide ‘hides’
In addition to the minimal pairs, showing that the two sounds are distinctive, phonetic analysis of these minimal pairs reveals that the form with the high vowel consistently shows a lower first formant, which is an indication of a higher vowel, even though to non-native ears, these two sounds are nearly identical.
Michif data with lax high back vowels are given below.
(20) k-t-am--n-n [C] 2-t-talk.about-REFL-NON3-1PL ‘We’re talking about ourselves (incl).’ (21) /witíh-k-w/ [C] help-INV-3 ‘They are helping him.’
The back vowels will be discussed in more detail in chapter 6.
5.1.1.2 Mid vowels There are five mid vowels altogether in Michif. In this section I give examples of each vowel.
5.1.1.2.1 Front There are three front mid vowels in Michif, two unrounded, distinguishable by quality; /e/ and
//, and one rounded; /œ/.
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 148
5.1.1.2.1.1 Unrounded
Though in some instances the distinction between unrounded front mid vowels appears to have been neutralized, there is a definite phonemic distinction between the two vowels. The neutralization will be discussed in more detail in section 5.4. In this section, however, I show that the two appear in similar environments, and thus should be considered to be distinctive, as shown by the data below. The relevant segments are bolded.
(22) n + prtr [F] INDF.F.SG + picture ‘a picture’ (23) l n [F] DF.M.SG oak tree (24) li+bult d mtf [F] PL+meatball of Michif ‘The Michif meatballs’
The examples show the front mid tense vowel. Note in particular the minimal pair in (23) and
(29).
(25) ke [C] ‘very’ (26) a.t.ke.wak. [C] atke-w-ak work-3-3PL ‘they’re working.’ (27) ki.we.tk. [C] kiwe-tk go.home-IMP ‘Let’s go home. (28) l + farmji [F] ‘the farmer’ (29) n + en [F] ‘a chain’ (30) sez li +e [F] 16 DET + chair ‘sixteen chairs’ (31) ki+twe-w +ki+np-t [C] PST+say-3 CONJ+PST+sleep-3CJ ‘He said that she was sleeping.’
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 149
5.1.1.2.1.2 Rounded In addition to the front unrounded vowels, there is also a front rounded vowel /œ/.
Consider the data in (32)-(34). Note that though there are no front rounded vowels in Plains
Cree, there are front rounded vowels in the Cree part of Michif, as in (32).
(32) nœ+mti-n [C, contrast with: /n-mti-n/ ‘I am hunting.’] IMMFUT+hunt-1 ‘I’m going hunting.’ (33) d +l+mdœ [F] in+DF.M.SG+middle ‘in the middle’ (34) s+tœ [F] ‘his tail’
In these examples /œ/ is in open syllable, in similar environments, evidence that the segment is phonemic in both vocabularies.
5.1.1.2.2 Back There are two distinct mid back vowels, a tense round vowel /o/ and its lax counterpart //. As with the other vowels, there is a lot of phonetic variation in the surface forms. The following data show that the two vowels are both found in similar environments. Below, we see both /o/ and // in open, stressed syllables. The relevant segments are bolded.
(35) li. vo. li+vo PL+horse ‘horses’ (36) [gi. wi.hta.mk. t. po.j.jn.] /n-ki + wihtam-w-kw ti + poj-n/ 1-PST + tell-3-INV PURP + stop-1CJ ‘He told me to finish.’ (37) ki. wi.t.t.n.ww. /k-ki+wit-t-n-ww/ 2-PST +help-REC-NON3-2PL
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 150
‘You (pl) helped each other.’
Both /o/ and // are also found in unstressed syllables, as in the examples below.
(38) po.nah. /pon-am-h/ make.fire-3IN-IMP ‘Make a fire!’ (39) l tnœr M.SG.DF thunder ‘thunder’
The following show further examples of both mid back vowels before word-final consonants. (40) [gi. pon. a.wa.tn.] /n-ki+pon+ awat-n/ 1-PST+STOP put.in-3 ‘I finished putting it in.’ (41) oma l + pov. + pr.tr d +dn SG.PROX.IN DF.M.SG+awful+ picture of +John ‘This awful picture of John’
Note that Bakker (1997) gives /u/ as the sole back round vowel in his phonemic inventory of French vowels (i.e. no /o/). This is somewhat surprising given Bakker’s position on the French component of Michif being like French, as French has two back round vowels in its segmental inventory, /u/ and /o/. Lexical items transcribed by Bakker with /u:/ are often pronounced [o] by my consultant. For instance, for Bakker’s /l-u:r/, ‘bear’ and /gru/ ‘big’,
(Bakker 1997:81), Fleury gives [lor] or [lur] and [gro]. It is likely that Bakker posited only one back round vowel due to the phonetic closeness of the two vowels. However, the minimal pair
/pu/ ‘lice’ and /po/ ‘hide, skin’ show that these are indeed two phonemes.
Furthermore, while there is phonetic variation where the high vowel may sometimes sound close to the mid vowel, the reverse is never true. So we have a system where /u/ may be
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 151 realized on the surface as somewhere between [u] and [o], but /o/ may never be realized phonetically as [u].4 Consider the examples below.
(42) /ty/ [ty] ~ [tœ] ‘rear’ (43) /tœ/ [tœ] ~ *[ty] ‘tail’ (44) /li + pu/ [li pu] ~ [li po] PL+louse ‘lice’ (45) /li + po/ [lipo] ~ * [li+pu] PL+hide ‘hides’
The above examples show that the underlyingly high vowels in (42) and (44) may be realized as a mid or high vowel, while the underlyingly mid vowels in (43) and (45) can never be realized as a high vowel. This shows that there is a distinction made between two segments, and that they are not simply surface phonetic differences.
We saw similar variation in the front round vowels in (42)-(43) above. The high front vowel could be pronounced with a great deal of height variation. This suggests some symmetry in the phonological system, with both sets of round vowels showing similar phonetic patterning.
I will expand on this patterning in section 5.4.
Recall that Plains Cree has only one long back vowel in its inventory, freely varying phonetically somewhere between [o:] and [u:]. Factors governing this variation remain unclear.
Given that there is no evidence that the tense back vowels in historically Cree vocabulary
4 Note that Bakker’s (1997) transcriptions appear contradictory to my claim that /o/ may never surface as [u]. I believe that this surface realization of /o/ as [u] is to be simply due to dialectal surface differences. These forms are furthermore very variable, so [o] may sound like [u] to the non-native speaker. What is interesting here is that there is an apparent conflict between the two phonological systems in the new contact grammar. In one component, there was one round back vowel, /o/, which was realized phonetically anywhere between [u] and [o], dependent on the speaker (or, perhaps the hearer, in this case the linguist’s perception). In the other, these two constitute different phonemes. It is possible that the phonological contrast of the two phonemes is phonetically neutralized to a large extent, but that the direction of this neutralization (ie. towards [u] or [o]) is dialect-dependent. Instrumental analyses of the vowels of Bakker’s speakers would need to be undertaken in order to confirm whether this was the case.
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 152 pattern either with high or mid vowels, and that there is phonetic variation in Michif as well, I will assume that these segments should be considered to be mid vowels, following the phonemicization in the Plains Cree literature (Wolfart 1996), and the fact that my consultant normally uses a lower vowel than a true [u]. Note that there are no compelling linguistic reasons to choose one transcription over the other; the choice is somewhat arbitrary, as there are no patterns affecting just one item to help us choose a symbol.
5.1.1.3 Low vowels There are two low vowels in Michif: /a/ and //. The //, along with being more back, is perceptually somewhat longer than /a/ as well. The following minimal pairs show that the two vowels are distinct. Note that in addition to the near-minimal pair in (46) and (47), they are both found in open syllables.
(46) [dp-n] /ni-tp-n/ 1-look-NON3 ‘I’m looking.’ (47) [dap-n] /n-ap-n/ 1-sit-NON3 I’m sitting.’ (48) tpi-w look-3 ‘He’s looking.’ (49) ap-w sit-3 ‘He’s sitting.’ (50) la + bts F.DF.SG building ‘the building’ (51) la+ glas F.DF.SG +ice ‘the ice’
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 153
5.1.1.4 Oral vowels - summary The goal of this section has been simply to list the vowel phonemes in Michif, and to give evidence for their existence in the vowel system. I have shown that there are 12 oral vowels, as given in (52), repeated from (1) in this chapter.
(52) Vowels – Oral
i y u
e ε œ ο
a
There are three height distinctions, as well as lax and tense and round and unround vowels.
Note that data from both source vocabularies of Michif have been given in all cases but for two vowels, /y/ and /u/. Previous inventories given for Michif have claimed that a dual inventory was necessary; that the phonemes in the Cree vocabulary were different from the phonemes in the French vocabulary. The inventory presented here is not based on an assumption of lexicon stratification, and presents an inventory which accounts for the forms found in Michif.
Instrumental evidence has furthermore been shown to support an analysis with a single inventory. Up to this point, only the oral vowels have been presented. In the next section I will discuss the nasalized vowels in Michif.
5.1.2 Nasalized vowels
In addition to the eleven oral vowels, there are four nasalized vowels in Michif, as given in the chart below.
(53) Michif Vowels – Nasalized
i ã
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 154
These nasalized vowels are exemplified in the examples below.
5 (54) a. ti question marker [C cognate /ci:/ ] b. fw ‘grass’ [F cognate /fw/] c. dd ‘inside’ [F cognate /dda/] d. relativiser/(conjunct) [C cognate /e:/] e. hi ‘this’ [C cognate /o:hi/] f. l ‘long’ [F cognate /l/]
Note that in some cases, there is some phonetic variation between long and nasalized vowels.
However, there are a few minimal and near-minimal pairs which support an analysis where nasalized vowels are phonemic, rather than simply phonetic. Consider the examples below.
(55) a. /mafwe/ ‘my goodness’ [F] b. /t/ ‘conjunct marker’ [C] c. /dlo/ ‘water’ [F]
Note that (55a) forms a minimal pair with (54b), while (55b) forms a minimal pair with (54a).
(55c) is also a near-minimal pair with (54f), where we get both the nasalized and the tense mid back vowel in word-final position, after /l/. Though there are not many examples of minimal pairs, the fact that the nasalized vowels appear in the same environments as other vowels leads me to claim that nasalized vowels are phonemic in Michif.
5.2 Vowel distribution Now that the overall vowel inventory has been outlined, I will turn to the distribution of vowels within different domains and environments. In the preceding section, though not stated explicitly, I gave examples primarily of vowels in non-affixal items, and so section 5.2.1 looks at vowel distribution in different morphological domains. Section 5.2.2 compares stressed and unstressed syllables to see whether there are distributional differences or allophony between the
5 I use the standard Cree transcription of the affricate /c/ in the Cree cognates (Wolfart 1996, Wolvengrey 2001), but assume this corresponds approximately to IPA /t/ in Michif forms.
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 155 vowels found in the two, and section 5.2.3 examines some of distribution and allophony between open and closed syllables in Michif. After having examined distribution and allophony in these different domains, other variation in the surface forms of vowels will be described.
5.2.1 Distribution by morphological category
5.2.1.1 Vowel inventory in affixes
In this section, the scope of our vowel investigation is focused on the affixal domain only. Affixes employ much smaller number of vowels than found in the language as a whole; six oral vowels are found in all, as shown below.
(56) e a
The data below show examples of the high front vowel // within the affixal domain. Note that this data include examples of // in prefixes (57, 58), suffixes (59), and in nouns (57) and verbs
(58, 59). The affix vowels in question are bolded.
(57) n-()k [C] 1-mother.in.law ‘(my) mother-in-law’ (58) k-t-am--n [C] 2-t-tell.story-REFL-NON3 ‘You’re telling a story about yourself’ (59) +ki+l-supi-t-k [C, F] CJ+PST+PREF-have.dinner-3-3PL ‘that they were having dinner’
The data in (60)-(61) show examples of suffixes containing the front mid lax vowel //.
(60) +ki+l-supi-jhk [C, F] CJ+PST+pref-have.dinner-2PL ‘that you (pl) were having dinner’ (61) + atke-jn [C] CJ+work-2SG ‘that you (sg) are working’
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 156
No examples of // in prefixes have been found. Given that many preverbal markers are preverbs rather than prefixes, the inventory of prefixes is very small, consisting solely of the person prefixes. Thus it is not surprising to not find a variety of vowels in the prefixes. In addition to the mid lax vowel, the tense vowel /e/ is found in affixes, as below.
(62) n-wpaht-en [C] 1-see-NON3IN ‘I see it.’
Examples of /a/ appearing within suffixes are given below. Again, no examples of /a/ have been found in prefixes.
(63) + atke-jahk [C] + atke-ahkw CJ + work- 1PL ‘that we (incl) are working’ (64) tm--w-ak [C] tell.story-REFL-3-3PL ‘They’re talking about themselves.’
There is one remaining vowel in the affixal inventory, //, as in the examples below.
(65) k-t-am--n-n [C] 2-t-talk.about-REFL-NON3-1PL ‘We’re talking about ourselves (incl).’ (66) /witíh-k-w/ [C] help-INV-3 ‘They are helping him.’ (67) l+m --a ki+wpam-e-w [C] DET.man 3-father-in-law-OBV PST+see-DBL3-3 ‘The man saw his father-in-law.’
The last vowel found within the affixal domain is //, as in (68) below.
(68) kkejhtam wpamjhk [C] /kkejhtam + wpam--hk/ know.INOB COMP see-DIR-1PLCJ ‘He knows that we (excl.) see him.’ (69) kkejhtam wpamjahk [C]
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 157
/kkejhtam + wpam--ahkw/ 2-know.INOB COMP see-DIR-1/2PLCJ ‘He knows that we all (incl.) see him.’
As we see in the above examples, there is a quality distinction between a tense and lax vowel in the first person exclusive and inclusive plural affixes.
In this section, it has been shown that there is only a subset of the vowel inventory present within the affixal domain in Michif. The table below summarizes which vowels are found in prefixes versus suffixes. The vowels found in stems are also given for comparison, with examples of each to be found in sections 5.2 and 5.3. Vowels found in preverbs are investigated in the following section.
(70) Prefixes Suffixes Stems , , , , a, , e i, , e, , u, , o, , , a, , a,
This is interesting because it points to a morphological categorially-based domain for stratification of inventories in Michif. I will now compare this reduced inventory with the inventory of the minor category domain, to show that the asymmetries we saw in the morphology chapter arise in the inventories as well.
5.2.1.2 Vowel inventory in minor categories
In contrast to the affixes, which have a simple inventory of four lax vowels, the preverbs show a much richer distribution of vowels, including tense, lax and nasalized vowels.
5.2.1.2.1 Lax vowels The lax vowels /a/, // and // are found in non-prefixal preverbal material, as in the examples below. The relevant vowels are bolded.
(71) [ka kipejkanew] [C]
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 158
ka + kipejkane-w FUT + wash.dishes-3 ‘He will wash the dishes.’ (72) [kekwaj nht mnhkwjn] [C] kekwaj nht+ mnhkw-n what WANT+drink-2CJ ‘What do you want to drink?’ (73) [at kiwn] [C] at + kiw- n INCEP+ go.home-NON3 ‘I’m going home.’ (74) [l kb ht ptam] [C] l+ kb ht +pt-am DF.M.SG+rope out+ pull-3IN ‘He pulls a rope.’
5.2.1.2.2 Tense vowels
There is nearly a full range of tense vowels in the inventory of preverbs, as seen in the examples below. The only two tense vowels I have not found in the preverbs are /u/ and /y/.
(75) [gi pon awatn] [C] /n-ki + pon + awat-n/ 1-PST + stop + put.in-NON3 “I finished putting it in the box.’ (76) [nœ do mtin] [C] n-nœ+do+ mti-n 1-IMMFUT + go + hunt-NON3 ‘I’m going hunting.’ (77) [ki mt awatw] [C] /ki+mt+ awat-w/ PST+start+put.in-3 ‘He started to put it in the box’ (78) [emk atkeh] [C] /emk atke-h/ IMM + work-IMP ‘Work right away!’ (79) [nmja wi do atkew] [C] /nmja + wi + do + atke-w/ NEG + VOL + go work-3 ‘He doesn’t want to go to work.’
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 159
The range of vowels in the above examples is striking when compared to the very limited inventory of vowels found in the affixes.
5.2.1.2.3 Nasalized vowels
All the nasalized vowels are represented in the minor categories, as shown below.
(80) + atkejn [C] + atke-n CJ +work-1CJ ‘that I work’ (81) ti [C] question marker (82) m+dw [F] 1.POSS.SG +finger ‘my finger’ (83) d [F] LOCATIVE PREP
5.2.1.2.4 Summary of vowel inventory in minor categories
This section has served to outline the range of vowels found in the Michif minor categories.
The table below gives a summary of these vowels:
(84) Minor categories
lax tense nasalized , a, i, e, o, , œ i, , a,
Recall from section 5.2.1.1 that there is a substantially different inventory in Michif affixes, given below.
(85) Affixes lax tense nasalized , , a, , , e -
The reduced inventory of vowels as compared to the minor categories, when coupled with the other patterning differences between these two domains seen in chapter 2, suggest a more general differentiation of the two morphological categories. Recall that there are functional
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 160 differences between the preverbs and the prefixes as well as differences in the writing system.
If we contrast the inventories given in (84) and (85), we find that this is further evidence that morphological categories affect the phonological patterning, with distribution being sensitive to this split between affix and stem/preverb.
Compare as well the vowel inventory of the preverbs with that of the stems in Michif, in the chart below. The bolded vowels do not appear in minor categories.
(86) minor categories stems i, , e, , o, , , a, i, , e, , u, o, , , œ, i, , a, a, y, œ, i, , a,
The minor category and stem inventories are quite similar, and all vowel quality, height and backness specifications are represented in both domains.
In sum, I have shown in this section that the vowel inventory in affixes is somewhat impoverished in comparison with that of the minor categories and stems, while the inventory in preverbs is nearly that of the stems. Interestingly, it seems that Michif distinguishes between morphological domains in terms of inventorial complexity.
5.2.2 Distribution based on stressed/unstressed position
In this section, I outline the distributional differences in Michif between stressed and unstressed syllables. Rhodes (1986) also addresses this question. His assumptions differ from those here in that he separates the vowel systems based on vocabulary source, and deals in this paper only with the vowels in the historically French vocabulary items. The Michif French vowel system according to Rhodes, then, is as follows:6
(87) In stressed syllables In unstressed syllables
6 IPA has been substituted for Rhodes’s symbols, for intra-thesis consistency’s sake. His /ü/ is replaced by /y/, his /ö/ with /œ/, and his // with //.
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 161
i y u i u
() œ a a
Rhodes (1986) further focusses on the correspondences between standard French orthography and Michif French vowels. In this thesis, the distribution of vowels in stressed versus unstressed syllables in Michif as a singular system will be given below. Where possible, examples will be taken from both source vocabularies of Michif.
5.2.2.1 High vowels Both /i/ and // are permissible in unstressed and stressed positions alike, as shown in the following examples. The data in (88) show an example of both /i/ and // in unstressed position, while /i/ and // in stressed position are given in (89) and (90), respectively.
(88) n-l-supi-hk-n [C, F] 1-MKR-dinner-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m making dinner.’ (89) ki+ with-e-w [C] PST + help-DBL3-3 ‘He helped her.’ (90) np-w-ak [C] sleep-3-3PL ‘They’re sleeping.’
In fact, a vast majority cases of // in unstressed position lead to deletion, which will be discussed in more detail in chapter 8, but the above examples show that it is not simply the fact of being unstressed which leads to deletion; other factors are in play.
Next, consider the back high vowel /u/, which also surfaces in unstressed position as well as stressed, as in the examples below. Recall from section 5.1 that there are no Cree-source
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 162 cases of /u/, and so the examples below are from French source vocabulary. The example in
(91) shows stressed /u/ while (92) shows unstressed /u/.
(91) nlsupinn [C, F] n-l-supi-n-n 1-MKR-dinner-NON3-1PL ‘We’re having dinner’ (92) gi lsupin [C, F] n-k + l-supi-n 1.PST + MRK-dinner-NON3 ‘I had dinner.’
The lax high back vowel // is also found in both stressed and unstressed syllables.
(93) tm--w-ak tell.story-REFL-3-3PL ‘They’re talking about themselves.’ (94) wit-t-n-ww help-REC-NON3-2PL ‘You’re helping each other.’
Lastly, like its back counterparts, /y/ is also found in both stressed and unstressed positions, as shown in the data below.
(95) n trty [F] INDF.F.SG turtle ‘a turtle’
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 163
(96) la myzyk [F] DF.F.SG music ‘music’
Now that the high vowels have been presented, let us move on to look at mid vowel distribution in unstressed syllables.
5.2.2.2 Mid vowels All five mid vowels can surface in either stressed or unstressed position. First, consider the examples below with the two front unrounded vowels in stressed (97), (99) and unstressed
(98), (100) positions.
(97) gakwe pojn [C] n-kakwe + poj-n 1-TRY finish-NON3 ‘I’ll try to finish.’ (98) atkewak [C] atke-w-ak work-3-3PL ‘They’re working.’ (99) li+ bult [C] PL meatball ‘meatballs’ (100) la+ prri [C] F.SG.DF prairie ‘the prairie’
The following examples show the front round vowel /œ/ in both stressed (101) and unstressed
(102-103) position.
(101) l dœzjm [F] DF.M.SG second ‘the second’ (102) vjœ [F] ‘old’ (103) nœ [C] IMMFUT preverb
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 164
Turning to the back mid vowels, these two vowels likewise follow the same pattern seen thus far, surfacing in stressed (104), (106), (108) and unstressed (104), (105), (107), (108) positions, as given in the examples below.
(104) [gi wihtamk ti pojjan] /n-ki + wihtam-w-kw ti + poj-n/ 1-PST + tell-3-INV PURP + stop-1CJ ‘He told me to finish.’ (105) po.nah. /pon-am-h/ make.fire-3IN-IMP ‘Make a fire!’ 7 (106) ki mijpnn [C] k-ki + mij-pn-n 2-PST + nice-appear-3OBJ-NON3 ‘You found it nice.’ (107) ki mijpn [C] ki+mijw-pn PST+good-appear ‘He found it nice.’ (108) kla [F] ‘brown’
5.2.2.3 Low vowels Both low vowels may appear in both stressed and unstressed positions. The examples in
(109) and (110) give /a/ in stressed and unstressed positions, while (111) and (112) show // in stressed and unstressed positions, respectively.
(109) ktápnn k-ap-n-n 2-sit-NON3-1PL ‘We (incl) are sitting down.’ (110) ktapnww k-ap-n-ww 2-sit-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) are sitting down.’
7 Note that the prefix k- is deleted. This is an instance of the regular unstressed -deletion which will be discussed in chapter six. In this case, deletion is possible because of the identical consonants in the prefix and preverb.
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 165
(111) ktpnn k-tp-n-n 2-see-NON3-1PL We (incl.) are looking. (112) ktpn k-tp-n 2-see-NON3 ‘You (sg) are looking.’
5.2.2.4 Nasalized vowels All four nasalized vowels are found in stressed position, as shown in the examples below.
(113) l ‘long’ (114) fw ‘grass’ (115) dd ‘inside’ (116) hi ‘this’
Nasalized vowels are also found in unstressed position, as in (116) above and further examples below, where the relevant segments are bolded.
(117) ta mwr ‘your jaw/chin’ (118) s ‘ginger’
I have not found any examples of /i/ in unstressed position. Nevertheless, three of four of the nasalized vowels are found in unstressed position, and all are found in stressed position, so I will treat the gap as accidental.
5.2.2.5 Summary of vowel inventory in stressed and unstressed syllables In this section, I have shown examples of nearly all oral and nasalized vowels in both stressed and unstressed syllables. The details are summed up in (119) and (120).
(119) In stressed syllables
i y u i
e œ o
a a
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 166
(120) In unstressed syllables
i u
e o a a
The front rounded vowel and the high front nasalized vowel are the only two vowels missing in unstressed syllables. Based on the data in this section, there is no evidence to posit different inventories based on stress domain, contra Rhodes (1986). Examples have been shown for all vowels in the inventory in both stressed and unstressed syllables.
5.3 Michif vowel summary Overall, the phonological vowel inventory in Michif is made up of fifteen vowels altogether, outlined in the charts below.
(121) Michif Vowels Oral Nasalized
i y u i e ε œ ο
a ã
5.4 Michif rounded vowel variation In this section, I wish simply to point out a pattern of surface variation of some Michif vowels seen earlier in this chapter. Recall from section 5.2 that high rounded vowels vary phonetically in height so as to create confusion with corresponding mid vowels in the inventory.
Specifically, /u/ may surface as anywhere between [o] and [u], and /y/ may surface as anywhere between [œ] and [y]. It was argued that these still constitute separate phonemes, as the mid version of the vowel may never surface as the high version. The minimal pairs repeated below demonstrate this.
Chapter 5 Michif Vowels 167
(122) /ty/ [ty] ~ [tœ] ‘rear’ (123) /tœ/ *[ty] ~ [tœ] ‘tail’ (124) /li + pu/ [li pu] ~ [li po] PL+louse ‘lice’ (125) /li + po/ [lipo] ~ * [li+pu] PL+hide ‘hides’
It is interesting to note the patterning together of the two vowels /y/ and /u/: Cree does not make a height distinction in its rounded vowels, and this distinction is blurred in Michif.
5.5 Conclusions
This chapter has served to outline the overall vowel inventory in Michif in a unified analysis, without regards to source language. It was shown that only two vowel segments are limited to the French vocabulary, while all others are found in both source languages. Thus it appears that language source is not a strong marker for different patterning domains, though this will be discussed in more detail in chapter six. Instead, different vowel distributions appear to occur based on which morphological categories the item belongs to. For instance, syllabification is blind to affixal boundaries, but not preverbal boundaries. Further, the distribution of vowels in affixes is much more restricted that the distribution of vowels in the preverbs. This is interesting because it shows that while Michif does display domains, they are not historically-based, as has often been claimed (for example Rhodes 1986, Bakker 1997,
Bakker & Papen 1997) but rather based on synchronic linguistic factors. In the next chapter I examine the claims of language source influencing patterning in synchronic Michif. Given the dual language heritage of Michif, it is an interesting case of what happens phonologically when two systems collide.
6. Chapter 6 – Evidence for Stratification The goal of this chapter is to examine previous claims made about the nature of the Michif phonological inventory and lexicon. The previous chapters were very data heavy, so I will first summarize my proposed inventories. These inventories are different from those given in most of the Michif literature, and therefore some discussion is warranted. It has generally been claimed that Michif has two separate phonological inventories, based on language source.
Specifically, Michif words taken from historically French vocabulary are said to have one phonological inventory, while Michif words from historically Cree vocabulary are said to have a different phonological inventory. This is made clear in the following quote.
(1) ...it is clear that two separate phonological systems must be posited for Michif...each lexical item must be marked [± French] or [± Cree] in the (mental) lexicon...in order to ensure the item undergoes the right set of phonological rules. Similarly, each rule is marked [± French] or [± Cree]. [Bakker &Papen 1997: 312]
This type of stratification based on lexical source has been claimed for other languages, notably
Japanese, and in section 6.2 I will discuss theoretical implications of such an analysis. Then in section 6.3 I will outline the phonological inventories proposed by Rhodes (1986), Bakker
(1997) and Papen (2003), who argue for a stratified Michif phonological inventory. In section
6.4 I will show that inventories alone are not sufficient to claim stratification, and that dynamic evidence from phonological patterning is necessary. Then in section 6.5 I will examine the claims of stratified patterning by the above authors, ultimately showing that many of these so- called patterns are in fact merely fossilized remnants of diachronic processes which do not apply in synchronic Michif. In other cases, I show that the data from the Manitoba speakers does not necessitate an analysis with a dual phonological inventory. I conclude that Michif phonology need not be stratified, based on the evidence thus far.
168 Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 169
6.1 Michif literature and stratification Before examining the claims of Michif phonological stratification according to lexical source in section 6.3, I will outline stratification as a theory of the lexicon.
6.1.1 What is stratification? It is often found that not all morphemes in a language pattern identically with respect to a given phonological process. Lexicon stratification, or the partitioning of the lexicon into distinct subsets with different phonological characteristics, is a model which attempts to explain these different phonological patterns. Different types of models of stratification have been proposed, for example based on morphological levels (Kiparsky 1982) or on lexical sources (Itô & Mester
1995). In the following sections, I give a brief overview of these proposals.
6.1.2 Stratification based on morphological levels Kiparsky (1982) proposed the well-known model of Lexical Phonology which places different morphemes and processes on different levels of the lexicon to explain patterning differences in
English. Lexicon stratification has been argued for in many languages, such as Japanese (see for example Itô & Mester 1995) and English (see Kiparsky 1982) to explain different phonological patterning between different affixes. In English, for example, strata are proposed in order to explain differences in stress assignment and attachment properties of Germanic affixes on the one hand, and Latinate on the other. Various arguments are used to support this analysis. For example, /k/ becomes /s/ in certain English words (of Latinate origin), but not in others (of Germanic origin). (Kiparsky 1982)
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 170
(2) English k Æ k (Germanic) k Æ s (Latinate) picnic Æ picnicking electric Æ electricity snack Æ snacking public Æ publicize critic Æ criticism
Other examples include stratification of stress assignment, where Germanic affixes in English do not affect stress placement, while Latinate suffixes do. Consider the following examples.
English [Chomsky & Halle 1968] (3) a. éarth, éarthly, unéarthly, unearthliness [Germanic] b. témpest, tempéstuous, tempestuósity [Latinate]
In the Germanic forms in (3a), stress remains fixed regardless of affixation, while in the Latinate forms in (3b), stress moves depending on the number of syllables in the word. English stress assignment is sensitive to the Latinate/Germanic distinction. As a result, word stress does not shift rightwards in the case of unearthliness as we might expect, and as it does in the examples in (3b). Note that a learner gets a positive cue from the pattern and should be able to store a given lexical item into the appropriate stratum, based on this data. What may have begun in
English as stratification based on language source has changed into synchronic strata no longer dependent on source.
6.1.2 Stratification based on lexical sources - Itô & Mester (1995) Itô & Mester (1995, 1999, 2004) argue that the Japanese lexicon is stratified by the lexical source of the item in question. They argue for four strata: a native or Yamato vocabulary, a Sino-Japanese vocabulary, a foreign (non-Chinese) vocabulary and a mimetic vocabulary.1 This choice of stratification comes from historical reasons. A principal example of evidence for stratification stems from the fact that Yamato vocabulary items undergo
1Note that mimetic has been claimed not to be a strata, see Ohno 1999. The number of strata in Japanese is not relevant; whether strata exist at all is the question.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 171 rendaku, or sequential voicing, while non-native strata items do not (Vance 1987, Itô & Mester
1995, 1999). Rendaku, or sequential voicing, is a process whereby initial consonants of second members in a compound are voiced. See the examples in (4a, b) and (4c), where rendaku applies in the Yamato vocabulary items in (4a, b), but not in the non-Yamato items in (4c).
Japanese Yamato vocabulary (4) a. ko + taiko → kodaiko ‘small’ 'drum' 'small drum' b. take + sao → takezao 'bamboo' 'pole' 'bamboo pole' [Examples from Otsu 1980] Sino-Japanese vocabulary c. ageha + tyoo → agehatyoo (*agehadyoo) ‘swallow’ ‘butterfly’ ‘swallow-tailed butterfly’ [Example from Kuroda 2000]
However, Vance (1987) shows that it is not the case that rendaku never applies to non-Yamato vocabulary items. In the examples in (5), the second item in the compound is foreign, or non-
Yamato. Nevertheless, rendaku applies.
(5) a. ama + kappa → amagappa ‘rain’ ‘coat’ ‘raincoat’ b. ura + hyooi → urabyooi ‘back’ ‘cover’ ‘backcover’ [Examples from Vance 1987]
Furthermore, not all Yamato vocabulary items necessarily undergo rendaku. Note the following exceptions to this rule below, where the second item in the compound is from the Yamato vocabulary.
(6) a. soko + cuti → sokocuti2 *[sokozuchi] ‘bottom’ ‘soil’ ‘subsoil’ b. kucu + himo → kucuhimo *[kutsubimo] ‘shoe’ ‘lace’ ‘shoelace’ [Examples from Vance 1987]
2 /c/ is a voiceless palatal fricative.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 172
Further, in some cases rendaku is not predictable. (Iwasaki 2002 Chapter 3) (7) a. mono + hoshi → monohoshi3 ‘thing’ ‘dried’ ‘place to dry clothes’ b. ume + hoshi → umebosi ‘plum’ ‘dried’ ‘plum pickles’ (8) a. yama + saki → yamasaki ‘mountain’ ‘mountain edge’ ‘Yamasaki [NAME]’ b. yama + saki → yamazaki ‘mountain’ ‘mountain edge’ ‘Yamasaki [NAME]’
Given the fact that the constraint on rendaku application is a general tendency and not an absolute rule, when considering the perspective of the Japanese acquirer, certain questions arise.
Rice (1997) points out that the counterexamples render opaque any constraints on different strata of the lexicon. As well, Kuroda (2000) argues based on internal grounds that rendaku does not provide evidence for stratification in Japanese.
Note that the type of claim for Japanese is similar to that for Michif: both claim that the historical language sources of morphemes continue to play a role in the synchronic grammar of the language. I will now move onto the specifics of these claims for Michif. In the next section,
I will examine the inventories and the arguments given for positing the split in the Michif literature.
6.2 Distributional/inventorial arguments Rhodes (1977, 1986) is the first to posit that two separate phonological inventories are necessary in Michif: “Michif is a language with two largely independent phonemic systems, a Cree system and a French system” (Rhodes 1977: 23). This position is revisited in most subsequent work on
Michif, for example Bakker (1997), Bakker & Papen (1997) and Papen (2003). All these
3 Thank you to Manami Hirayama for help with glosses and grammaticality judgements.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 173 authors give two separate inventories in their analysis. Rhodes (1977) gives the Michif phonological inventories as follows:
Cree phonemes [Rhodes 1977: 23] (9) Vowels i· u· i u e· a· a (10) Consonants p t t k h m n j w
French phonemes [Rhodes 1977:23] (11) Vowels i y u e i o œ æ æ a Consonants p t t k b d d g f s h v z m n ()4 w () l r j
Bakker also posits two distinct inventories, given in (12).
4 Rhodes puts // and // in parentheses because he did not collect examples, but says it was due to oversight rather than due to inexistence of examples.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 174
(12) Cree and French Phoneme inventories in Michif 5 [adapted from Bakker 1997:80] Consonants Vowels French part of Michif Oral p t t k i y u b d d g f s h œ v z æ m n a r l Nasal Glides u w j æ ø a Cree Part of Michif Long p t t k i: u: h e: m n a: Glides Short i u w j a Nasal i u æ
Note that these inventories make for a very complex view of Michif: every lexical item (and morpheme) must be marked ± French or ± Cree to know which inventory applies, and every phonological rule must also be marked for language source. Languages can be complex, but following Occam’s razor, we prefer a simple explanation to a complex one.
Since Michif is a language which developed out of the contact of two languages with different phonological inventories, let us speculate about how it may have done so. There are
5 I have altered Bakker’s phonetic symbols to those used in this thesis to avoid confusion: t=č, d=j, =š, =ž, =α, =ι.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 175 two plausible possibilities: that the new language formed makes use of all of the phonemes or that similar phonemes mapped onto each other. In the following sections I will investigate these two possibilities using the vowels as illustration.
6.2.3 Hypothesis A – all phonemes occur in new language This hypothesis is essentially the view that Rhodes, Bakker and Papen adopt by positing two inventories. Before discussing the implications of such a development, I will give the inventories for the two languages, so that we may see what the contact language would look like upon merger of the two. First I present the vowel inventories of Canadian French and Plains
Cree6.
(13) Standard Canadian French (CF) inventory: (Walker 1984) a) Oral b) Nasalized
i y u
e ε ø œ ο œ ã
a Total: 17 vowels.
(14) Plains Cree (PC) inventory7 (Wolfart 1996): i: i e: ο ο: a a:
Total: 7 vowels.
6 It is clear that these inventories must be somewhat hypothetical, given that we are discussing the inventories of the French spoken at the time and location of Michif creation. However, these hypothetical inventories are likely to be at least close to the actual inventories, and any differences are not crucial to the conclusions I will be drawing. 7 There is a great deal of phonetic variation with these back vowels, ranging from [o]~[u]. See chapter 5 for discussion.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 176
Assuming we incorporate all the French and Cree vowels into the newly-formed language, we would find an inventory of 21vowels as given below.
(15) Hypothetical new language inventory: a) Oral b) Nasalized
i: i y u œ e: e ε ø œ ο ο:
ã a: a
Total: 21 vowels.
This twenty-one-vowel inventory includes oral and nasalized vowels, a three-way lax-short- long8 distinction, five high oral vowels, nine mid oral vowels (including //) and three low oral vowels, as well as three mid nasalized vowels and one low nasalized vowel. However in
Maddieson’s (1984) database of the world’s languages, 96% of the vowel inventories range in size from 3 to 17, with over two-thirds of them having between 5 and 9 vowels (Maddieson
1984:128). A large vowel inventory is not reason enough to reject this hypothesis, however the three-way distinction contrasting a long, a short and a lax vowel is unusual. Vowel length is often phonetically predictable based on vowel quality (Maddieson 1984:128) and the three-way long-short tense-lax distinction is not included in his database. Based on these facts, it seems preferable to find an analysis which could avoid the marked properties of the inventory in (15).
More importantly, there is little real evidence that all of these phonemes actually exist in
Michif. Consider for example the three-way lax-tense-long distinction posited by this hypothesis. Evans (1985) comments on a lack of short/long and lax/tense distinctions for
Michif when discussing phonological convergence. She claims that the two systems, French
8 Note that if we keep the phonemicization as is, short vowels in Cree would be equivalent to tense vowels in French, and so this would result in the three-way distinction.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 177 and Cree, have converged in Michif. According to her, lax vowels in the French vocabulary are equivalent phonetically to short vowels in the Cree vocabulary, while tense vowels in the French vocabulary are equivalent phonetically to long vowels in the Cree vocabulary. I will discuss this possibility further in the next section, but this analysis is supported by the writing system created by native Michif speakers, which do not contrast more than 2 vowels for a given height/frontness position. Though basing linguistic analysis on the intuitions of speakers is not traditional, this sort of evidence is often very useful (Mithun 2001, Rice 2001). 9 Consider the examples below from the writing system developed by Rita Flamand which makes no distinction between French and Cree vocabulary items, as is evident in the examples below taken from the pronunciation guide. The relevant segments are bolded.10
(16) Michif French English Michif Cree English cognate cognate a saprañ ça prend ‘have to’ apiw apiw ‘s/he sits’ /sapr/ /apw/ i michin medicine ‘medicine’ mishkum miskam ‘s/he finds it’ /mtn/ /mkm/ o toltáñ tout le temps ‘all the otina otina ‘take it’ /tult/ time’ /tna/ ó rózh rouge ‘red’ óta ōta ‘here’ [ru]~[ro] /ota/ e set sept ‘seven’ itwew itwēw ‘s/he says’ /st/ /twew/
It is clear that the writing systems do not treat the French and Cree vocabularies differently with respect to spelling and pronunciation, evidence that there is no intuitive separation of vowels of the two source vocabularies by native speakers of Michif.
9 Since Michif writing systems are still in development, I do not wish to place undue importance on their accuracy in representing phonetic realities. However, note that the system fails to treat the different vocabularies separately. 10 The transcriptions show that an orthographic symbol does not always correspond to the same phoneme. This is explained by phonetic variation and the newness of the orthography. Note however that the fact that both Cree- source and French-source items are listed together shows that native speakers are not aware of any intrinsic difference between the two historical vocabularies.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 178
6.2.4 Hypothesis B – like phonemes map onto each other Given that the evidence suggests that Michif is not simply a combination of all the phonemes of
French and Cree, let us consider what alternative development could have taken place. If we treat the two phonological inventories as contrastive systems instead of as random individual phonemes, we can look at the mixing process in a different way. Assuming these systems carry a certain number of contrasts, we could assume that the new contact language would need to maintain similar types of contrasts.
Note that in both French and Cree there is a two-way contrast within vowels of similar height and frontness. In French, that contrast is labelled a quality, or tense-lax distinction, while in Cree it is labelled a quantity, or long-short distinction. As we have seen, however, no language in Maddieson’s survey makes both a tense-lax and a long-short contrast, and tense-lax already carries a phonetic length distinction. We can assume that it would be important to maintain this two-way contrast in the new contact language. This could be done with corresponding vowels from the source languages mapping onto each other in the new language.
Abstracting away from the complete list of phonemes for the time being, consider the (partial) inventories below:
(17) Cree inventory (Wolfart 1996): Partial Canadian French inventory (Walker 1984):
i: i i e : ο ο: e ε ο a a: a
If we imagine super-imposing the two inventories on top of each other, from the fourteen vowels in the two systems, we would get a vowel inventory of eight as below, abstracting away from the symbols (and the other vowels excluded from this partial French inventory):
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 179
(18) x x x x x x x x
In fact, the vowel inventory given for Michif in chapter five matches the above schemata:11
(19) i
e ε ο
a
As implied from the data in the writing system above, Cree /i:/ would correspond to French /i/, which would correspond to Michif /i/. Likewise, Cree /e:/ would correspond to French /e/, which in turn would correspond to Michif /e/. This is consistent with impressions from my field work, as well as with Evans (1985), who claims that French tense and Cree long vowels have converged.
In order to strengthen the impressionistic evidence, I measured the formants of vowels from a number of tokens found in elicited data using PRAAT, phonetic analysis software. This is not data obtained in laboratory conditions, but they nevertheless show that there is no phonetic reason to separate the data.
6.2.4.1 Measurements of like phonemes in both vocabulary sets I measured three sets of vowels, with each set including both Cree-source and French-source items with vowels which I propose map onto each other: French /i/ and Cree /i:/, French // and and Cree /a:/ and French /o/ and Cree /o:/. The availability of corresponding data in both
11 Note that both // and /o/ are phonetically variable between a mid to high vowel, and that in fact, /u/ is also phonetically variable. However, the minimal pair /pu/, [po]~[pu] ‘lice’ and /po/, *[pu]~[po] ‘skin, hide’ is evidence for this phonemic contrast. Although this difference is difficult to hear to the non-native (Anglophone) ear, my principal consultant, to whom I posed the question, has no problem hearing the difference.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 180 vocabularies made comparison of all vowels difficult, but I hope that the evidence presented here will suffice to show correspondences.
First I will discuss the high front tense/long vowel. I measured the F1 through F3 at the midpoint of each vowel, as well as the length of each token shown in the tables below in order to see whether there was any measurable difference between the Cree source items and the
French source items. Consider first the following table, which examines the vowel /i/. Note that each token represents the high front tense/long vowel despite the different orthographies.
(20) Formants and length of Michif high front long/tense vowels Length F1 (Hz) F2 (Hz) F3 (Hz) Orthography Gloss (sec.) 383.27 2435.59 2648.10 0.1319 Kawiichihin chiin?12 ‘Can you help me?’ 356.78 2296.65 2621.35 0.1415 Weepat ka Cree mishpoun. ‘It will snow soon.’ source items 362.33 2270.97 2598.21 0.0832 Tawnday ‘Where do they weekichik? live?’ 373.45 2264.34 2662.65 0.0927 ‘(They) are weehkatishahahk. delicious.’ 359.17 2267.11 2550.80 0.1862 Wee. Keeshtawow ‘Yes. You (pl) too.’ French 367.09 2323.15 2570.69 0.2070 Wee. Keeshta. ‘Yes. You (sg) too.’ source 342.79 2159.90 2527.50 0.1567 items aen biskwee ‘biscuit’ 381.52 2349.68 2544.72 0.1741 aen kapo d chwiir ‘buckskin coat’
The above table shows that all three formants are quite similar, regardless of language source.
The F1 range is 356Hz-383Hz for Cree-source items and 342-381Hz for French-source items; the F2 range is 2264Hz-2435Hz for Cree-source items and 2159Hz-2349Hz for French source items. The difference in ranges for F3 is likewise similar; the two groups are within 100Hz of the other. Note that the most important measures, those for F1 (measuring height) and F2 (along with F1, measuring backness) are extremely similar and overlapping, and within normal speaker
12 I have left the data in the original orthographies to show the pre-phonemicized, or pre-theoretical vowel. Note that the orthographies differ in their representation of the same vowel.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 181 variation.13 The F3 of the Cree-source items is slightly higher than the F3 of the French-source items in all cases, but the difference is still within normal variability. Given any of the particular measurements, for instance, it would be impossible to ascertain whether the vowels were from the Cree- or French-source vocabulary.
I also measured the length of each item. These are potentially harder to compare, given the different phonetic environments of the tokens: surrounding consonants, position in the word and stress all play a role in determining length. I measured only stressed vowels to minimize these differences, but was not able to create exact environments in each language source.
However we can see from the data that linguistic environment is the appropriate predictor for determining length, and not the source language of the item: Cree-source long vowels should be inherently longer than French-source tense vowels, according to the dual-inventory hypothesis.
For comparison, English long (or tense) vowels are roughly twice as long as short (or lax) vowels (Roach 2000). We see from the above table, however, that the French-source items are consistently longer than the Cree-source items, which is the opposite of what we would expect if the dual-inventory hypothesis were correct. The length can be explained in part by the fact that the French items are before a pause while the Cree items are within a word, but we would still not expect such a complete lack of length difference between the two if one is short and the other is long. This evidence thus supports a single high front tense phoneme rather than two.
Consider next the mid back rounded tense/long vowel in the following table. Again I measured only stressed vowels and in this case, tried to find only word-final instances. All the bolded orthographic vowels represent the same sound.
13 There is of course much variation in the acoustic quality of individual vowels even within the same speaker. (Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996).
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 182
(21) Formants and length of Michif mid back tense/long vowels F1(Hz) F2(Hz) F3(Hz) Length (sec) Orthography Gloss 471.16 772.83 3184.27 0.1476 kee pashikoow ‘S/he got up.’ Cree 474.11 739.27 2745.72 0.1510 pashikoow ‘To get up’ source 426.768 600.595 2780.35 0.1510 ‘He goes to items dookooshoomow bed.’
428.128 594.252 2257.56 0.1674 ‘He goes to dookooshoomow bed.’ 453.81 801.67 2667.38 0.1020 aen kapo d chwiir ‘buckskin coat’ French 457.14 719.55 2676.38 0.1500 la poo door ‘bearskin’ source 451.53 735.80 2524.24 0.2411 Aen nwayzoo ‘bird’ items 451.39 718.45 2470.83 0.2792 Aen brayroo ‘badger’ 437.43 730.30 2495.49 0.2752 Aen tooroo ‘bull’
Again, the above table shows that there is little difference between the two strata with respect to vowel formants. The F1 for the Cree-source items varies between 426Hz and 474Hz while the
F1 measurement for French-source items varies between 437Hz and 457Hz, right in the middle of the Cree-source F1 measurements. The F2 shows a little more variation with a range between
594Hz and 772Hz for Cree-source items and 718Hz and 801Hz for French-source items. Not again however that they are overlapping and that there is no clear distinction between the two.
The length measurements for the back mid vowel are even more striking than for the high front vowel seen above. Again, we would expect to find the Cree-source vowels longer than the
French-source vowels. However quite the opposite is shown in the above data: the French- source vocabulary items for ‘bird’, ‘badger’ and ‘bull’ are a full 0.1 second longer or more than the Cree items in similar phonetic environments.
Finally, consider the following table with the low vowel //. Like in the previous tables, two orthographies are represented, but the bolded vowels represent the same vowel.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 183
(22) Formants and length of Michif low tense/long vowels F1(Hz) F2(Hz) F3(Hz) Time(sec) Orthography Gloss 783.67 1355.40 2705.22 0.2266 Kimiyeunipaan ‘You slept well.’ Cree 832.40 1327.44 2515.52 ‘Do you have 0.1348 source kitayaawaawak (children)? items 793.70 1332.34 2497.60 0.1811 dayaawaawak ‘I have (two children). 850.83 1327.62 2489.05 0.2335 ayamihaa ‘Pray’ 817.03 1356.74 2313.71 0.2624 French Enn hawsh ‘Axe’ 838.92 1352.80 2532.76 0.2706 source Lee rasaed ‘Beads’ items 817.15 1372.18 2381.72 0.2322 Lee batraav ’Beets’
Again, looking at the first three formants for each token, there does not seem to be any marked distinction between those of Cree-source items and those of French-source items. The Cree- source items for F1 range between 783Hz and 850Hz while the French-source items range between 817Hz and 838Hz, right in between the Cree-source items. There is no way to tell these apart. Similarly, the F2 measurements for both Cree-source and French-source vowels are all within 45Hz and fall well between the range of normal variability.
Turning to the length measurements, again we see that the French-source vowels are consistently equal or longer than the Cree-source vowels. This suggests that the Cree-source vowels cannot be inherently longer than French-source vowels and thus is evidence against the dual phonologies hypothesis.
Overall, the data in the above charts show that it is not possible to determine which source language a particular vowel belongs to based on typical acoustic properties such as formants given the slight variability between the measurements and the fact that there is no pattern emerging which would distinguish one set of vowels from the other. Although there are not enough tokens to undertake a statistical analysis, the examples given do not even suggest that there are differences worth exploring with such an analysis. Furthermore, the dual phonology hypothesis predicts that Cree-source vowels should be phonetically longer than their French-
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 184 source correspondents, given that Plains Cree has long vowels and French does not. However the length measurements in the above charts show that this is not the case; the French-source items are longer than the Cree-source items in nearly all cases.
In order to posit two sets of vowels in Michif, one French set with a tense/lax distinction, and one Cree set with a long/short distinction, we would need to see evidence of such a distinction being made in the language. Cross-linguistic typological data show that the sorts of contrasts that would be made in such a language would be very unusual, and I argue that positive evidence must be shown in order for this hypothesis to be adopted. In fact, I have given evidence here from writing systems that there is no such distinction made among native Michif speakers, and have further shown that there is no evidence either that such a distinction is made phonetically. When we look at the phonological inventories as systems mapping onto each other instead of random phonemes, we are able to predict a system consistent with the one I have presented for Michif here; one which results in an inventory which does not contrast both length and tenseness. Note that each source language expressed a 2-way contrast in vowels, and such a 2-way vowel contrast is still expressed in the contact language, Michif. I claim then that we need to look at the contrasts made by the two source systems, and then see how the new system (Michif) expresses those contrasts. Mapping phoneme to phoneme does not give us a sense of the phonological system(s) at work.
6.3 Other inventory conflict sites In chapter 1 I introduced the notion of ‘conflict sites,’ or areas where the two grammars do not coincide. Although in chapters 2 through 5 I describe Michif patterning without much reference to source languages, examining conflict sites between Cree and French is fruitful to see how
Michif treats these conflicts. In addition to the conflict sites based on differences in patterning to be addressed in section 6.4, there are several more individual conflict sites with respect to
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 185 inventories which I address in this section. I will show that the new Michif inventory is not as large as we would expect if both inventories were amalgamated, and there are not enough differences between the French and Cree systems within Michif to warrant positing two distinct inventories based on distributional factors alone.
6.3.1 Front round vowels Although French has two mid round vowels, Michif has only one. Furthermore, as we saw in chapter five, this vowel is found in lexical items from both vocabularies.
(23) d +l+mdœ in+DF.M.SG+middle ‘in the middle’ (24) nœ+mti-n [contrast with: /n-mti-n/ ‘I am hunting.’] /n-nœ+mti-n/ 1-IMMFUT+hunt-NON3 ‘I’m going hunting.’ (25) s+tœ 3.POSS.M tail
Given that this vowel is now present in both components of Michif, it cannot serve as an inventorial cue for stratification.
6.3.2 Schwa
If the two systems were amalgamated, we would expect to see instances of // in the French vocabulary. However, // does not exist in Michif. In many instances where a French cognate would have a //, there is no longer a vowel present in Michif :
(26) pti ‘small’ [cf. French cognate /pti/] (27) vo ‘horses’ [cf. French cognate /vo]
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 186
In cases where there is a vowel remaining where the Canadian French (CF) historical cognate had // (ie. the vowel has not been deleted altogether), it is replaced by //, as in the examples below.
(28) dm ‘tomorrow’ [cf. French cognate /dm/] (29) l ‘the’ (M.DF.SG) [cf. French cognate /l]
The Michif vowel system has developed and the French // is not part of it, therefore cannot be used as a cue for lexicon stratification.
6.3.3 Glides There are two glides in Plains Cree and three in all varieties of Canadian French. Both languages include /j/ and /w/, but French also has // in its phonemic inventory. However, recall that the Michif inventory presented in chapter 4 gives only the two glides /j/ and /w/. French lexical items which contain the glide // have been reanalysed as /w/ in Michif. The examples below show the correspondences. The relevant segments have been bolded.
Canadian French Michif English gloss (30) na nwa ‘cloud’ (31) t wt ‘eight’
The above examples show that Michif /w/ replaces French //. This is another way in which the new Michif system does not distinguish between language source: Michif has merged // and
/w/ into /w/, resulting in a consistent inventory across language sources.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 187
6.3.4 Nasalized vowels There are nasalized vowels in Canadian French, but no nasalized vowels in Plains Cree.
However, there are nasalized vowels in both Cree and French vocabulary items in Michif.
Consider the following examples:
(32) a. dd ‘inside’ [CF cognate /dda/] b. indf. masc. determiner [CF cognate /œ/] c. ti question marker [PC cognate /ci:/] d. complementizer [PC cognate /e:/] e. hi ‘this’ [PC cognate /o:hi/]
What is interesting here is how contrast is being expressed in Michif. Historically, these Plains
Cree (PC) words in Michif contained long vowels. Recall however that there are no long vowels in Michif, as shown in section 6.2. This lack of long vowels may have triggered the mapping of some long vowels onto something within the system with similar structure, namely nasalized vowels. The systematicity of this development is left to further research.
A priori, it is unsurprising that these former long vowels get reanalyzed either as tense or as nasalized, as both would allow the more complex structure and contrastive nature of a long vowel to not be lost. Whalen & Beddor (1989) show that there is a link between length and perceived nasality, which has been lexically encoded in other Algonquian languages regardless of consonantal context as ‘intrusive’ nasals.14
In both language components, nasalized vowels are phonemic, as shown in chapter 5. This is important because it shows that while the source languages had different vowel inventories with respect to nasalized vowels, the new language does not make a difference between the two components.
14 See Goddard 1965, 1971 for the development of a distinctively nasalized vowel from a long oral vowel in some Eastern Algonquian languages, and see Paradis & Prunet (2000) for how nasalized and long vowels have similar structures.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 188
6.3.5 Summary of conflict sites Given its mixed nature, we could expect there to be a number of distributional differences between the French and Cree vocabulary of Michif. However, looking at the ‘conflict sites’, or the properties which differ in these source languages, we actually find fewer differences than potentially expected. The table below sums up the distributional facts with respect to each of the source languages.
(33) Conflict sites between Cree and French and Michif components Plains Cree Canadian Cree component French French of Michif component of Michif Vowel quantity quality quality quality quality/quantity Nasalized vowels none yes yes yes none yes none none Glides /j/, /w/ /j/, /w/, // /j/, /w/ /j/, /w/ Phonemic affricates yes no yes yes Front rounded vowels none œ, ø, y œ œ, y Larygneal preaspirated, plain preaspirated, plain, specifications for (voiced in phonetic plain, voiced plain voiced stops inventory) Labiodentals no yes no yes # of back round 1 2 1 2 vowels
The above table shows that there are several ways in which the Cree and French components of
Michif are more similar than their source languages. It is true that the two vocabularies are not completely identical: for example, the segments /y/ and /u/ are never found in Cree-source items, and the segment /i/ is never found in French-source items. This evidence has been frequently cited as proof that there are separate strata in Michif, which I will discuss in section
6.3.2. However, the two vocabulary sources appear to be have adapted to become more similar
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 189 to each other within Michif. This has led to a claim by Evans (1985) of phonological convergence.
6.3.1 Phonological convergence? There has been some discussion in the Michif literature that the two components in Michif have converged. This phonological convergence, if shown to exist, would lend support to a non- stratified view of Michif. However, Bakker (1997) denies this convergence based on historical reasons outlined here.
Evans (1985) claims that there is some phonological convergence occurring in Michif.
Much like the above sections, she goes through several conflict sites and shows that the different phonological properties of each source language are in fact similar within Michif. Specifically, she cites the fact that there is consonant assimilation, vowel reanalysis and nasalized vowels in the Cree component, as well as loss of liaison and a voiced-voiceless contrast in the Cree component, and aspirated consonants in both components. However, Bakker disputes that convergence is the reason for these similarities, as we see in the following quote:
(34) After careful study…I can only conclude that there is no solid evidence for phonological convergence: the two systems have remained completely separate throughout the existence of Michif. [Bakker 1997: 83]
This lack of phonological convergence is part of Bakker’s argument for two distinct phonological components in Michif. Note that Bakker does not deny the data, but rather denies that each component is influenced by the other. He argues for each point that there are other potential explanations for the apparent convergences such as influence of English, or the fact that these patterns are already found in Michif French and therefore may have been borrowed before the creation of Michif. He claims that we need not posit convergence between the two components to explain the facts. It is not my intention to debate convergence or non-
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 190 convergence, however; whether Bakker is correct is not at issue here. The issue is whether these diachronic considerations may be used as a synchronic argument for stratification, which I argue is not the case. It doesn’t matter why the two components are similar synchronically: if they both pattern in the same way, there is no reason to think a learner will be able to separate the lexical items based on historical information for which there is no synchronic evidence. In fact, given that Bakker does not argue against the similarities in the two components, but rather the origins of these similarities, his claims argue against synchronic stratification more so than for it.
6.3.2 (Non-)Necessity of claiming stratified distributions/inventories Below I give again the phonological inventory charts from chapters 4 and 5. In (38) we see the consonant inventory from chapter four.
(35)
labial labio- alveolar alveo-palatal velar glottal
dental stops hp p b ht t d hk k g fricatives f v s z h affricates ht t d nasals m n liquids r l glides w j
Chapter five showed that Michif has sixteen vowels altogether, given in the charts below.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 191
(36) Michif Vowels Oral Nasalized
i y u i
e ε œ ο ã a
Recall that in chapters 4 and 5, I gave examples containing each segment from both parts of the
Michif vocabulary wherever possible. Though the majority of the segments may be found in both vocabularies, it is true that some phonemes are found only in one or the other. Three vowels and four consonants are found only in the historically French items: /y/, /u/, labio-dental fricatives and liquids, while preaspirated segments and /i/ are found only in historically Cree vocabulary. The question that must be asked, however, is what does this gap tell us? Can and should we posit a lexicon split based on this sort of evidence? I will argue that this gap does not give us sufficient evidence to stratify a lexicon.
Bakker (1997) and Bakker & Papen (1997) believe that the fact that certain phonemes never occur in words of the vocabulary of a certain source language tells us that the phonologies are pattterning differently. However, this evidence relates to distribution, and not patterning.
Specifically, it tells us that if a lexical item contains either of the phonemes /f/ or /v/, for example, we know that this could not be a historically Cree vocabulary item. However, there is no information regarding classification for those items which do not contain these phonemes.
For example, there would be no way for the learner to know in which part of their lexicon to store the following items.
(37) k-np-n-ww 2-sleep-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) are sleeping.’
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 192
(38) ko-w hide-3 ‘He’s hiding.’ (39) n-mj aj-n 1-well be-NON3 ‘I’m fine.’ (40) apjn + ap-n COMP + sit-1CJ ‘that I was sitting’ (41) s dw ki kik-am his finger PST cut-INOB ‘He cut his finger.’ (42) n putn gi h-w n+putn n-ki+h-w INDF.F.SG+bag.pudding 1-PST+make-3AN ‘I made bag pudding.’ (43) n sn ‘a penny’ (44) am ‘never’ (45) n + tab ‘a table’
In the above data, all the phonemes occur in both the French or Cree vocabularies. This type of negative distributional evidence therefore does not allow us to make generalizations over phonological patterning; it is sufficient only for a small number of lexical items. Note that
English similarly has phonemes in certain positions that derive only from certain sources: initial
/v/ occurs only in words from French (vine, very, vase, etc.) but we do not claim or observe synchronic stratification because of this. 15 Distributional differences, while potentially supporting evidence for stratification, are not sufficient in themselves for a stratification claim: we need evidence from phonological or morpho-phonemic alternations, to give cues to the speaker to store different items in different parts of their lexicon. (See also Inkelas, Orgùn &
Zoll 1997 and Rice 1997.)
15 Thank you to Elan Dresher for pointing out this fact.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 193
I therefore conclude that inventory differences are not sufficient in Michif to warrant a lexicon split. In fact, Michif displays fewer of the differences than one might imagine, given its nature: many of the conflict sites found between Cree and French are not present in the newly- formed language. In section 6.4 I investigate possible alternation differences between the two vocabularies, as this is necessary positive evidence to give speakers a cue to stratify their lexicon.
6.4 Patterning Though distributional arguments play a large role in the claim of stratification, the authors advocating Michif stratification also argue that there are differences in morpho-phonemic patterning based on language source. In this section I will examine these arguments, dividing them into claims of consonant patterning, of vowel patterning and of phonotactic patterning.
6.4.3 Consonantal alternations In this section I will examine previous arguments for phonological independence of the two language components in the lexicon that have been made based on consonant alternations. In some cases, phonological independence has been claimed but no data has been given.
6.4.3.1 Optional aspiration of stops Rhodes (1977) argues that optional aspiration occurs in Michif of Cree /p t k/ but not French /p t k/. Evans (1985), however, gives examples of aspiration in both vocabularies of Michif, reproduced below.
(46) a. si thuth ‘that's all’ [French] b. la thab ‘the table’ [French] c. khi:pakamahn ‘you hit it (past)’ [Cree]
Bakker (1997) also discusses this issue, though he simply says that it is likely that both components have been influenced by English. In any case, the data suggests that there is
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 194 optional aspiration in both components, and therefore no difference in patterning, and this would not be a cue for stratification.
6.4.3.2 Optional voicing of /t k/
Rhodes (1977) also claims that there is optional voicing of /t/ and /k/ in the Cree component but not in the French component. He does not give any examples, and I have not found any evidence of such a specific rule. It is likely however that this is part of a more general obstruent voicing rule in Michif which affects k particularly often due to the frequency of /kw/ which triggers voicing on the /k/. I discussed this in detail in chapter 4 where I showed that obstruent voicing occurred only at morpheme boundaries. Assuming this is the case, the lack of voicing in the French component is due then to the fact that the environment for voicing is not found in the French vocabulary. A lack of productive morphology in the French component has resulted in a lack of environments in which the rule may apply. However, the lack of environments does not mean the rule has failed to apply; rather it is never given the opportunity to do so. This also means that there is no cue for a learner to separate lexical items into separate strata.
6.4.3.3 Sibilant harmony The Michif literature reports sibilant levelling or harmony whereby only one place of articulation is permitted for sibilants in any form. This is identified in Rhodes (1986) and Evans
(1985), and revisited in Bakker (1997). Bakker cites the following examples of French items undergoing this process:
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 195
(47) Michif French cognate gloss16 s ‘dry’ (F. sèche) av sova ‘First Nations’ (F. sauvage) sez ez ‘chair’ (F. chaise) zezy ezy ‘Jesus’ (F. Jésus) ssi si ‘window’ (F. chassis) sasœr asœr ‘hunter’(F. chasseur) n mi yn miz ‘a shirt’(F. chemise)
This data comes up with respect to the issue of phonological convergence discussed in section
6.2. Bakker allows that this sibilant leveling is due to Cree or Ojibwe influences on French, but claims that this is not necessarily due to convergence of the two vocabularies, as the Métis dialect of French has also been shown to display the same phenomenon (Douaud 1980, 1985,
Papen 1984). For Bakker, this sibilant leveling came in through the French component and not through the Cree component, and therefore there is no convergence. Note however that the manner in which the constraint against different places of sibilant articulation came to be part of the language is not important in determining whether Michif patterns in a stratified way today.
The very fact that both components pattern in the same way shows that there is no way for a
Michif learner to differentiate between the two. While the timeline for when sibilant harmony was introduced to French may be argued, there is no arguing that the two components are different.
Furthermore, although there appears to be a structural constraint on Michif forms, this is not a dynamic process in Michif. Note that the French cognates in (47) are assumed to be underlying forms and the Michif assumed to be surface forms. However, there is no evidence that these forms surface in Michif in any systematic way, thus no evidence suggesting a phonological process at work in Michif. Lastly and most importantly, the environments do not
16 Data from Bakker 1997:84-5 and also my fieldnotes.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 196 exist to allow this to apply on historically Cree vocabulary, as Cree only has one sibilant; /s/ or
// in free variation. Note that rather than the French vocabulary patterning differently from
Cree vocabulary, in fact it seems to have converged so that there is a structural constraint on all
Michif vocabulary items that only one sibilant place of articulation is allowed within the morpheme. This was already the case in Cree, but it has now been extended to the French vocabulary as well.
In sum, sibilant harmony cannot be used as evidence for split phonology in synchronic
Michif because it is not a dynamic process, but rather a diachronic one from French to Michif, and this (albeit diachronic) environment is not present in Cree items due to inventorial considerations. Furthermore, the fact that French vocabulary items now only permit one place for sibilants mirrors what was happening in the Cree vocabulary, leading to the conclusion that the French vocabulary has changed diachronically to mirror Cree, and both vocabularies seem to follow the same rules in Michif where they would not have in their respective source languages.
6.4.4 Vowel alternations A few vowel processes have also been claimed to occur in the Michif literature, specifically by
Rhodes (1977, 1986), cited also by Bakker (1997). The vowel processes cited are normally said to affect the vowels in only one component, and not pan-Michif. In this section, I will investigate these claims and their validity in a synchronic grammar of Michif.
6.4.4.1 High back vowel alternations Rhodes cites morphophonemic alternations showing that back high vowel /u/ patterns differently based on language source. The data shows an apparent patterning contrast where
Cree-source Michif items find underlying /u/ surfacing as only [] in positions in which underlying /u/ in French-source Michif words normally surface as [u]. Keep in mind that
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 197 despite the orthographic examples given by Rhodes, the underlying phoneme in each bolded lexical item is considered to be /u/.
(48) Michif – Cree vocabulary [Rhodes 1986:294] a. anos [an] ‘today’ b. minos [mn] ‘cat’ c. namo [nam] ‘no, not’ d. wapamiso [wapam] ‘look at yourself’ (49) Michif – French vocabulary [Rhodes 1986:294] a. bouche [bu] ~ [b] ‘mouth’ b. rouge [ru] ‘red’ c. mou [mu] ‘soft’ d. chou [u] ‘cabbage’
These data suggest that the vowel /u/ is patterning differently depending on its historical domain. However, let us examine the assumptions in the underlying phoneme in question. Recall from section 6.2 that I argued that there has been mapping of like segments within the individual systems of Michif. In the above data, note that Rhodes is assuming that the Cree /u/ and the French /u/ should be considered the same, and therefore should pattern together. However, if we look at mapping the like segments, we see that the Cree /u/ (Wolfart’s /o/) should not in fact map onto the French /u/, and the two should not be thought to be equivalent. The vowels in each grouping represent different phonemes: the first group, underlying //, and the second, underlying /u/. The underlying representations for the data in (48) and (49) would therefore be as follows.
(50) Michif – Cree vocabulary a. anos /an/ ‘today’ b. minos /mn/ ‘cat’ c. namo /nam/ ‘no, not’ d. wapamiso /wapam/ ‘look at yourself’
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 198
(51) Michif – French vocabulary a. bouche /bu/ ‘mouth’ b. rouge /ru/ ‘red’ c. mou /mu/ ‘soft’ d. chou /u/ ‘cabbage’
Given that the vowels in the two groups are different underlyingly, we would not expect them to pattern in the same way.
In order to strengthen this analysis, I measured six tokens found in my elicited data, using
PRAAT to measure the first and second formants (F1 and F2). Given that the F1 formant tends to shift with the height of the tongue body, with a low F1 signifying a high tongue body
(Ladefoged 2000), I focussed on measuring the F1 of each token. There were 4 types and 6 tokens altogether of examples of the data given by Rhodes: 2 instances of /nam/ (one of
Rhodes’ words), one instance of /ktk/ ‘get undressed’ (which parallels Rhodes’ /wapams/, also an imperative) as well as two words with a French /u/: /lipu/ ‘lice’ and /a+dasur/ ‘under’ (2 instances). The results are as follows.
(52) Cree u/ Michif French u/ Michif u17 a. nmo F1=588 d. lipu F1=534 b. nmo F1=677 e. adasur F1=441 c. ktko F1=647 f. adasur F1=416
Note that in each case, the F1 is lower in the second group of vowels, suggesting a lower F1 and therefore higher tongue positioning. The fact that the F1 of the first group is consistently lower suggests two things: first that the two vowels are different; and second, that the data in (52a-c) has a lower tongue position than that in (52d-e). Lax vowels have a lower tongue position than
17 Although the data in (52e, f) precedes /r/, this should not affect the F1 value. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) show that surrounding consonants have minimal effect on the mean value of F1 and F2 of vowels measured at the midpoint, as was done for this data.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 199 tense vowels. Given that the Cree cognates for (52a-c) all have the short vowel, I assume that it should be unsurprising to find that Michif should also have a lax. Though it is based on just a few tokens, this instrumental evidence suggests further support that the apparent differences in patterning are due to the fact that the underlying vowels themselves are different, not that the two components are treating a same vowel differently.
6.4.4.2 Phonetic realization of /a/ Rhodes (1986) argues that the allophones of Cree /a/ are strikingly different from the allophones of French /a/, and therefore constitute evidence that the Cree-source and French-source systems pattern differently. However, the data collected from Manitoba speakers does not support this analysis. Rhodes describes /a/ fronting to [] in closed final syllables, particularly in nasal- closed syllables, and elsewhere being variously realized as [] or [α], while French /a/ is realized as [a] or [æ]. However my consultants do not possess this fronting pattern, and furthermore, their French /a/ does surface as [] just as Cree /a/ does.
Rhodes (1986) reports that /a/ has different allophones in the same environments in the
French and Cree vocabularies, evidence for two systems being at work within Michif. In
Rhodes’s speakers, /a/ is fronted/raised to [] or [] in the Cree component (specifically in the
18 2.CJ /-(j)an/ and TI ending /-am/ ), while French /a/ varies freely between [a] and [æ].
However, the system with my speakers is somewhat different to that described by Rhodes in that there is no fronting in the /-am/ suffix. Given that there’s no general pattern of [a] fronting to
[] in my data, there is no reason to posit /a/ as underlying, and so I have analyzed the vowel in
2.CJ as // underlyingly.
18 See section 2.2.2.4.2 for discussion of these suffixes.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 200
Rhodes further argues that /a/ is posited as underlying in the 2.SG.CJ forms to account for the surface length differences with the 2.PL.CJ forms, as well as the TI -n suffix. However, the examples he cites actually have long vowels in their Cree counterparts, and so if they are mapped as I have suggested above, they should actually map to /e/ in Michif, and not //. This means that they are different vowels underlyingly and therefore would not be expected to pattern like //. The surface contrast is explainable by the fact that they are different vowels, and these examples turn out to be irrelevant to the patterning of /a/ or //.
In addition to the differences in the Cree-source data, the French-source data I have elicited shows variation similar to the Cree data, which differs from that given by Rhodes. I have not observed fronting of French component /a/. In fact, I have found that /a/ in the French component may surface as the so-called Cree component allophone [] in some cases. Rhodes reports that the following allophones exist in his data.
(53) Michif – French vocabulary [Rhodes 1986:294] a. femme [fam] ~ [fæm] ‘woman’ b. gages [ga] ~ [gæ] ‘wages’ c. table [tab] ~ [tæb] ‘table’
Though Rhodes’ claim is that /a/ is realized as [α] or [] in the Cree component and [a] or [æ] in the French component, in my speakers I found that the pronunciation of ‘femme’ is variably realized as [fam], [fm] or [fæm]. Note that the realization with [] coincides with the variant
Rhodes claims for the Cree (but not French) part of Michif.
Furthermore, though the vowel /a/ does exhibit phonetic differences in certain vocabulary items in my speakers, this variability does not appear to be possible for all French
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 201 vocabulary items. Consider the examples below which do not exhibit [a]~[æ] variability as far as I have found.
(54) Michif – French vocabulary a. /la/ [la] ~*[læ] DF.F.SG determiner b. /samdi/ [samdi]~[smdi]~*[sæmdi] ‘Saturday’ c. /mam/ [mam] ~ *[mæm] ‘mother’
Note first of all that (54b) is another example of French component /a/ optionally surfacing as
[]. In addition, I have not seen evidence that the above forms ever surface with an [æ]. Note that regardless, there are examples of underlying /a/ in the French component surfacing with [], which Rhodes argues occurs only in the Cree component with his speakers. However even in
Rhodes’ speakers, it is possible that the phonetic variability is restricted to a subset of vocabulary and does not apply specifically to items across-the-board. This restricted variable vocabulary would therefore not constitute a cue for stratifying all vocabulary items.
In sum, the data described in Rhodes (1986) and that collected in my work appear to differ somewhat. The fact that /a/ is not systematically fronted to [] before nasals and that /a/ variably surfaces as [a] or [] in both the French and Cree vocabularies in the Manitoba speakers I worked with is significant in that it means that both vocabularies are patterning in similar ways. This is important because it becomes possible to account for variability without positing two strata.
6.4.4.3 Vowel assimilation Rhodes (1986) claims that there is a form of vowel harmony which has developed in Michif
French phonology, and this claim is taken up in Bakker (1997). Rhodes reports a regressive rounding harmony process, citing the examples below, reproduced in Bakker (1997):
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 202
(55) Orthography Standard Michif English gloss19
a. pouilleux [pujø] [pujy] ~ [pyjy] ‘full of lice’
b. mesure [mzyr]20 [myzyr] ‘measure’
c. chevreuil [vrœj] [uvry] ‘deer’ d. fusil [fyzi] [fizi] ‘gun’ e. musique [myzik] [myzyk] ‘music’ [Rhodes 1986: 293, reproduced in Bakker 1997:81]
The claim is that vowels tend to get raised and/or rounded under the influence of fronted or rounded vowels in the word. For instance, according to Rhodes, in (55e), the underlying form for ‘music’ has rounding of the second vowel /i/ to get [y] due to the harmonizing influence of the first vowel. There are several problems with this analysis. First, there is no evidence for a synchronic process of harmonization at work in the examples above. Second, even diachronically, in some cases, the harmonization is regressive (55a, e), while in others; the harmonization is progressive (55 b, d). In some cases, the harmonization is of height (55a, b) while others are of rounding (55d, e), while in still another case, there is rounding harmonization and subsequent raising of both vowels, (55c). Contrast especially the example in (55d) with
(55e), where although both vowels are in the same order underlyingly, the surface vowels are different. No systematic rule could predict the so-called surface forms, raising suspicion that this is not a systematic synchronic phonological process.
The comparison given by Rhodes (1985) and Bakker (1997) are Standard French forms, and so there is no evidence that these are the underlying forms in Michif. The harmony or assimilation must have been historical rather than synchronic, as there is no evidence to suggest
19 Glosses mine. 20 I have replaced Bakker’s symbol [∂] with IPA [], widely used in French phonological literature.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 203 that the synchronic underlying forms are anything other than those in the Michif column above.
In fact, the vowel // given in the underlying forms in (55b, c) is not even part of the vowel inventory of Michif (see chapter 5), and so it is unlikely that these could be in an underlying representation in a synchronic phonological analysis.
In sum, I claim that there is no evidence that there is an active synchronic process of vowel harmony in effect in Michif which changes the forms in the ‘Standard’ column into the forms in the ‘Michif’ column in (55), as the ‘standard’ forms never surface in Michif.
6.4.4.4 //-devoicing Rhodes claims that Cree /i/ is usually devoiced and often elided before // and /h/ while French
/i/ and // never are. This is presumably meant to explain data like the following.
(56) thkw [C] thk--w dissolve-by.heat-3 ‘It melts.’
Rhodes claims that there is a deletion rule which applies in the Cree but not the French vocabulary. I will show however that first, this environment is not sufficient to describe the
Michif facts as found in my data and that second, this deletion occurs in both source language components.
First of all, the vowels being discussed must be defined. Recall from section 6.2 that the
Cree /i/ corresponds to Michif //, as there is only a two-way distinction in Michif vowels.
There are no cases where a high front long vowel is elided in Michif or in Cree.
Upon closer observation we find that it is not a case of French versus Cree driving the deletion environment, but instead of a lack of appropriate morphological environments which obscures the process in the French component. Recall from chapter 2 that there is little productive morphology in the nominal (ie. historically French) vocabulary; most of the forms
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 204 are fossilized. This sets up a situation where the two vocabularies may not always be comparable, as alternations are required to see where the patterning lies. However, there are
French vocabulary items which do delete // before /s/. Consider the examples below.
(57) a. lsupiwak /lsupi-w-ak/ have.supper-3-3PL ‘He’s having supper.’ b. lsup /lsupi-h/ have.supper-IMP ‘Have supper!’ c. [nlsupin] ~ [nlsupin] /n-l-supi-n/ 1-have.supper-NON3 ‘I’m having supper.’ (58) a. dsur ‘under’ b. -dsur ‘underneath’
In (57), the suffixes are Cree, but the roots of the items are French. The data in (57a, b) show that there is an underlying vowel which deletes in (57c). Despite this being a French-source item, its vowel deletes. Similarly in (58), assuming the two forms are related, there is another case of -devoicing in French vocabulary.
Although I have shown that // does delete in both vocabulary components based on the optional rule cited by Rhodes, I do not believe his rule is an full representation of the facts for either component: //-elision before /s/ and /h/ is only part of the phenomenon, as the vowel is often elided in other environments. This process is discussed in detail in chapter 8, but for the moment consider the following examples. Consider for example the following examples, where
// is deleted preceding segments other than /h/ and /s/.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 205
(59) nl.p..hkn [F, (C)] n-l-p-hk-n 1-MRK-bread-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m making bread.’ (60) ka+pahkn [C] k-ka+pahkn-n 2-FUT + fall-NON3 ‘You will fall.’ (61) a. (k) (na)(wn) [C] k-nawaw--n 2-chase-OBJ.AN-NON3 ‘You (sg) are chasing me.’ b. knaw--n-ww (k)(na)(w)(nww) k-nawaw---n-ww 2-chase-TR-OBJ.AN-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) are chasing me.’ 21 (62) a. lmhkw [F (C)] l-m-hk-w MRK-road-MAKE-3 ‘He’s making/building a road.’ b. ga lmhkn n-ka + l-m-hk-n 1-FUT + MRK-road-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’ll build a road.’ c. lmhke-w-ak l-m-hke-w-ak MRK-road-MAKE-3-3PL ‘They’re building a road.’ d. m INDF.M road ‘a road’
I have found that the environment for //-deletion or devoicing is somewhat more complicated, based on phonotactics rather than a simple segmental environment. When we delve deeper into the data, we find that // is devoiced or elided in similar environments across Michif, regardless
21 This form’s stress pattern is unusual given that we might expect a compound-type stress and vowel coalescence (to be discussed in section 6.4.4.6), yielding the form [lmhkw]. In these types of examples, the affixal // is sometimes pronounced as /j/, and sometimes the vowel or preaspiration is simply lengthened to compensate for the lost vowel, yielding [lmjhkw] or [lm:hkw]
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 206 of source language. I will show details of this patterning in chapter 8, but even if the rule were as Rhodes claims, it would not be evidence for two separate vocabulary components, as both components have similar cases of devoicing/deletion of // and therefore this is not a reliable cue for a learner.
6.4.4.5 Liaison Opinions are divided on the status of liaison in Michif. Bakker (1997 and p.c.) treats liaison as a fossilized process, a view that I support, while Papen (2003) claims that it is active in Michif.
Liaison is part of a more general phenomenon called enchaînement, a well-known French process where final consonants are pronounced as the onset of a following vowel-initial word within a syntactic phrase.22 Examples of enchaînement are in (63). The first column gives the
French orthographic forms, the second column shows the syllable divisions when each word is pronounced in isolation, and the third column shows the syllable divisions when the two items are pronounced together within a syntactic phrase.
French In isolation Enchaînement (63) a. pour elle pur. l. pu.rl ‘for her’ b. quel âge kl. a. k.la ‘how old’
Note that in each case, codas of isolated words are syllabified into onsets of a following vowel- initial word. This can result in homophonous phrases such as the following:
French (64) a. qui l’aime /ki/ /lm/ b. qu’il aime /kil/ /m/ ‘who likes him’ ‘that he likes’
Both the above phrases are pronounced [ki lm], with an onset and no coda.
22 The syntactic details of where enchaînement and liaison do or do not appear is somewhat more complicated, but for our purposes it is sufficient to say that it occurs within a syntactic phrase. Examples of the appropriate context include determiner+noun, adjective+noun, verb+object.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 207
Liaison is a type of enchaînement, but entails the surfacing of a consonant before a vowel-initial item, where one does not surface in any other context, either before a consonant- initial item, or before a pause. This is a pan-French property, and examples are given below.
French (65) a. [l pti gars] ‘the small boy’ /l ptit gars/ DET small boy b. [l pti tœf] ‘the small egg’ /l ptit œf/ DET small egg c. [i l pti] ‘He is small.’ /il ptit/ ‘He is small.’ (66) a. [l gro gars] ‘the small boy’ /l gros gars/ DET big boy b. [l gro zœf]23 ‘the small egg’ /l gros œf/ DET big egg c. [i l gro] ‘He is big.’ /il gros/
In the above examples we see that different consonants surface before the vowel-initial items, which shows that it cannot be a single epenthetic process. These consonants surface elsewhere in French, notably in feminine forms, they appear in French orthography, and historically they were pronounced.
I contend that liaison is not productive in the French-based lexicon of Michif. Vowel- initial nouns have been reanalyzed in Michif to be consonant-initial, by lexicalizing the French liaison process so that the final consonant of a determiner (usually /n/ from un or /z/ from les) is now the onset of the Michif noun. The examples below show that the determiner’s final
23 The liaison consonant surfaces as /z/ due to a regular intervocalic voicing rule of French.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 208 consonant is no longer relevant to the noun’s onset in Michif. Rather, the initial consonant is simply the historical remains, or lexicalized version, of the French liaison process.24
Michif French (67) a. li zf ‘eggs’ c.f. les oeufs /le-z-œ/ b. zf ‘an egg’ c.f. un oeuf /œ-n-œf/ (68) a. zarb ‘a tree’ c.f. un arbre /œ-n-arb/ b. li zarb ‘trees’ c.f. les arbres /le-z-arb/ (69) a. e vr d v ‘a glass of wine’ c.f. un verre de vin /œ vr d v/ b. e vr d dus ‘a glass of juice’ c.f. un verre de jus /œ vr d dus/25 c. e vr d lo ‘a glass of water’ c.f. un verre d’eau /œ vr do/ (70) a. ntrm ‘a funeral’ c.f. un enterrement /œ natrma/ b. gro ntrm ‘a big funeral’ c.f. un gros enterrement /œ gro zatrma/ c. ltrm ‘the funeral’ c.f. l’enterrement /latrma/ d. li ztrm ‘funerals’ c.f. les enterrement /l zatrma/
In examples (67) to (70), the initial consonants in bold have been reanalyzed from the liaison consonants in French. I have given the expected French liaison consonant on the right in bold.
The examples in (70) show that this reanalysis is variable: we can get n-, l- or z- as the initial consonant. The examples in (70a, c and d) all reflect French norms, but if regular liaison were occurring, (70b) would be ungrammatical, as ztrm would be the expected form.
In examining the data more closely, it is possible to consider the variation as morphological rather than phonological. In (67) and (68), the forms are identical regardless of morphological category, but in (70) there is variation. This variation can be considered to be morphological. The plural form surfaces with an initial z-, the definite singular with l- and the indefinite with n-. Rather than seeing the variation as a phonological phenomenon, we may simply say that the form in (70) has different allomorphs depending on morphological category.
24 It is interesting to note that this type of determiner agglutination lexicalization is commonly found in other languages which have borrowed French nouns as well. In Slave, an Athapaskan language, there is a set of /l/-initial nouns that have all been borrowed from French (Rice, 1989). For example: /líabú/ from le chapeau ‘hat’, /lidáw/ from la table ‘table’and /libó/ from le pot ‘pot’. This is also well-documented in French-based creoles. 25 /dus/ is borrowed from English ‘juice’.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 209
Papen (2003) argues instead that the above forms are examples of the phonological process of liaison, which he claims is a productive process in the French, but not in the Cree, component of Michif. He argues the following:
(71) The only valid argument in favour of considering liaison to no longer be functional in Michif would be to show that the “wrong” (e.g. unexpected) consonant occurs, as in (en grous)t-igleez or la n-ouvrage, or that there is no consonant at all, as in aen alimael. [Papen 2003:51]
Note however that this is not the case; that it is precisely the forms that don’t follow the expected pattern that are the crucial ones: those examples where ‘regular’ liaison applies don’t reveal anything if it is indeed the case that it is lexicalized. If an ‘incorrect’ liaison is applied, this is evidence that Michif does not follow the French pattern, and in fact good evidence that liaison is not productive in Michif.
Papen (2003) examines vowel-initial nouns of French, English and Cree- origin nouns, and finds variability with respect to liaison consonants by searching dictionary entries
(Laverdure & Allard 1983) of nouns which in French are vowel-initial. He claims to have found sixteen cases of ‘unexpected’ liaison consonants, and in ‘half of these cases, other entries for the same word show either the expected consonant or the correct vowel-initial form’. However,
Papen considers forms found in the Michif dictionary not conforming to French liaison rules to be ungrammatical, as shown by the following. (Asterisks in original, Papen 2003:52.)
(72) *en grous tigleez ‘a big church’ (73) l’igleez ‘the church’ (74) vit d’igleez ‘church windows’ (75) *li loor, lee noor, aen zoor ‘bear’
In a synchronic analysis of the liaison process of Michif, an assumption that these forms are
‘ungrammatical’ because they do not follow French rules is flawed, as it assumes that the
French forms are ‘correct’. Papen makes this assumption, often using the judgement ‘correct’ or
‘erroneous’ liaison consonant, when the very fact that these forms do exist in Michif (and even
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 210 in written form, in the dictionary) should be proof that they are grammatical. This is an example of applying historical French rules erroneously to synchronic Michif data, analogous to the historical forms of nominal derivation said to be synchronic processes in Michif discussed in chapter 2. In the examples above in (72)-(75), there is no reason to label the forms with initial consonants which would be ungrammatical in French as ungrammatical in Michif. Indeed, this is evidence supporting a view of liaison as a fossilized, unproductive process in synchronic
Michif, as there is evidently no pattern of liaison consonants at work in Michif.
6.4.4.6 Vowel coalescence Bakker & Papen (1997) refer to Cree vowel coalescence rules given in Wolfart (1973, 1996) as further examples of rules applying to the Cree component of Michif but not to the French component of Michif. Consider the examples below, from Wolfart (1996). 26
Cree (76) pimohteyiwa /pimohte-eyiwa/ ‘The other walks.’ (77) pihtokwekocin /pihtokwe-akocin-w/ ‘He comes flying inside.’ (78) pehoyiwa /peho-eyiwa/ ‘The other waits.’
Wolfart’s rules for coalescence are given below. Essentially, a short vowel deletes when adjacent to a long vowel. If two short vowels are adjacent, the second one deletes.27
26 Wolfart (1996) does not give glosses for his examples. I have left the transcription as he gives it; /y/ corresponds to IPA /j/ and // denotes a long vowel. Lastly, he does not give an example of a short vowel deleting before a long vowel. 27 In the case of two long adjacent vowels, there is [j] epenthesis to break up the hiatus.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 211
Cree
(79) V1V2: →V2:
V1:V2 →V1:
V1V2 →V1
However, there are examples of vowel hiatus surfacing in Michif, seen in the examples below.
Michif (80) l.foww lfo-w-w crazy-BE-3 ‘He is crazy.’ (81) l.groww lgro-w-w big-BE-3 ‘He’s big.’ (82) lkarewan l-kare-w-an MRK-square-BE-3IN ‘It is square.’ (83) latrtyhkw la-trty-hk--w MRK-turtle-MAKE-REFL-3INAN ‘S/he’s acting like a turtle.’ (lit. make oneself into a turtle) (84) lktwan l-kt-w-an MRK-cotton-BE-4 ‘It’s made of cotton.’
The above data could be interpreted as examples of French-source vocabulary which does not pattern like Cree-source vocabulary. However, note that there are also similar examples to the
French-source ones found entirely within the Cree vocabulary. Consider the following example.
The relevant segment is bolded.
(85) nmjœhten l kfi n-mj-ejht-en l+kfi 1-good-think-NON3IN DET+coffee ‘I like coffee.’
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 212
It appears that vowel hiatus is also found in Cree-source vocabulary in Michif. I argue that there is a morphological explanation for the different patterning. The above cases are all examples of derivational suffixes attaching to lexical items, whereas the Cree-type examples given in (76)-
(78) are examples of stem-internal derivation. Recall from section 2.2.1 that most Michif verbs are made up of (at least) a root and a final, and that these elements combine together to form a stem to which inflectional affixes attach. Recall as well however that compounding is another way in which Michif derives lexical items, and that compounds pattern as though there are phonological boundaries within the larger phonological boundary with respect to stress. I argue that the data in (80)-(85) are examples of such compounds, and the possibility of vowel hiatus in the above examples is indicative of the phonological boundaries within the words. Vowel hiatuses are allowable at compound, but not regular morphological boundaries. 28 This is consistent with Bakker (1996:240) who makes a distinction between the level of morphology which manipulates more meaningful, freer units as in the examples in (80)-(85) and that which manipulates bound units with no discernable meaning, i.e. regular verbal derivation. The examples in (80)-(85) also show that that the vowel coalescence rules described in Wolfart
(1996) for Cree do not apply to all cases in Michif, and most importantly, not to all cases of
Cree-source vocabulary. Analogous examples may be found of vowel hiatus in both strata of the language. Therefore vowel coalescence cannot be used as a pattern-based cue for stratification.
6.4.4.7 t-epenthesis Bakker & Papen (1997) list a few processes that are restricted to the Cree vocabulary of
Michif. The most important is the insertion of /t/ between a vowel-final personal prefix and a
28 Stress assignment is another example of a difference in patterning between compound and regular morphological boundaries, discussed in section 7.2.1.1.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 213 vowel-initial stem, a process active in Plains Cree (Wolfart 1996:434). This was shown in chapter 3 but I illustrate this t-epenthesis process for Michif again below.
Michif (86) a. amhtaw amhta-w read-3 ‘He reads.’ b. ktamhtanww k-t-amhta-n-ww epenthesis k-amhta-n-ww 2-read-NON3-2PL ‘You (pl) are reading.’ (87) a. aj-jn +aj-n CJ+be.here-1CJ ‘that I exist/am here.’ b. ajwak aj-w-ak be.here-3-3PL ‘They are here.’ (88) a. daj-n n-t-aj-n epenthesis n-aj-n 1-be.here-NON3 ‘I exist/am here.’ b. ktajn k-t-aj-n epenthesis k-aj-n 2-be.here-NON3 ‘You exist/are here.’
The data in (86a-88a) show that the underlying stems of the verbs are vowel-initial, as they surface with initial vowels when no prefix is present (86a, 88a), or when a conjunct marker precedes (87a). The data in (86b-88b) show that when there is a person prefix attached to a vowel-initial stem, however, there is epenthesis of the segment [t], presumably to ensure an onset for the following syllable. It is true that this occurs only in the historically Cree component of Michif, but note that this rule applies (even in Plains Cree) only in this specific
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 214 morphological environment: a prefix attaching to a vowel-initial verb. Recall from the rules in
(72) that normally when two vowels become adjacent due to affixation in Plains Cree, one deletes. This environment is not available in the French component, as vowel-initial French vocabulary items are not found in Michif, given the reanalysis of such French items as consonant-initial as discussed in section 6.4.4.5, the morphological domain is a sufficient (and more accurate) environment for the rule, and there is no need to resort to rules referring to inaccessible historical domains when a synchronic domain is possible.
6.4.4.8 d vs. d alternations
Papen (2003) discuses [d] versus [d] alternations, claiming that this process only occurs within the French component. However, while he discusses the evidence in data from the French component, he does not show any examples where the rule fails to apply in the Cree component.
I will show here that this is not an example of a process failing to apply in Cree; that in fact this alternation is purely historical and does not apply productively in either component. Instead, the regular morpheme is simply /d/. Let us examine the process to see why I claim it is unproductive.
First of all, we must be clear on what rule is being applied. In French, if /d-/ precedes a consonant-initial item, it remains unchanged. However, when preceding a vowel-initial item,
French deletes the vowel to avoid a vowel hiatus. Consider the following examples.
French (89) [œ vr d v] /œ vr d v/ INDF.M glass of wine ‘a glass of wine’ (90) [œ vr d y] /œ vr d y/ INDF.M glass of juice ‘a glass of juice’
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 215
(91) [œ vr do] /œ vr d o/ INDF.M glass of water ‘a glass of water’ (92) [dy y dra] /dy y d ra/ PARTITIVE juice of orange ‘orange juice’
A similar process does seem to be possible in Michif. The discussion of liaison in 6.4.4.5 showed that French component vowel-initial words in Michif have undergone reanalysis and are consonant-initial. Therefore cases where we would expect to see the [d]~[d] alternation do not generally arise. For example, consider the example below, analogous to the French example in
(91).
(93) [ vr dlo] / vr d lo/ ‘a glass of water’
Note that in this example, the reanalysis of the noun into a consonant-initial word removes the environment for the vowel deletion to take place. The reason I say this is a productive process in Michif, however, and not simply inactive, is due to the treatment of recent loanwords. When an English vowel-initial loanword follows /d/, the vowel is in fact deleted as it is in French.
Consider the following example:
(94) [ma tujr pl dotmil] /ma tujr pl d+otmil/ my spoon full of+oatmeal ‘My spoon is full of oatmeal.’
The above example shows that when the noun is vowel-initial, deletion does take place.
However, since the environment in the French data has been reanalyzed and no longer exists in
Michif, we cannot say that it applies to French, but not Cree, vocabulary items in Michif.
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 216
6.5 Conclusions This chapter has discussed lexicon stratification and Michif phonology. Stratification has been argued for in some languages such as Japanese (see for example Itô & Mester 1995) and English
(see Kiparsky 1982) to explain different phonological patterning between different affixes.
However, assuming that learnability considerations make a non-stratified grammar the default analysis, the burden of proof is on those proposing stratification to show that there is in fact evidence for such an analysis. I have shown in this chapter that there are serious problems in determining diagnostics for stratification in Michif. First, there is little to no French derivational or inflectional morphology, and so morpho-phonological arguments fail due to lack of productivity and environments. Furthermore, many of these processes identified with stratification are historical, relying on French or Cree form as underlying, and are not productive in Michif at all. Rhodes points to two cases of patterning differences between Cree and French vocabulary, but I have argued that the facts today may equally be accounted for under a single- phonology analysis. The remaining diagnostics for stratification discussed in Bakker (1997) and Bakker & Papen (1997) are primarily distributional, and thus deal with only a subset of vocabulary items, which cannot always provide conclusive evidence either way supporting or denying a stratificational hypothesis. While this evidence may support one or another view, it should not be used on its own as a diagnostic. A synchronic, productive process affecting all lexical items or at least items in both vocabularies is necessary to conclusively decide whether a lexicon patterns in a stratified way. To that end, chapters 7 and 8 will serve as case studies for diagnostic patterns: chapter 7 investigates stress, an ideal diagnostic, as all vocabulary items are subject to the patterns of rhythmic stress. If Cree and French stress systems differ, and if Michif stress patterns depend on the vocabulary item in question, there would be a strong case for the stratification hypothesis to be applied to Michif. If, however, stress is assigned in the same way
Chapter 6 Evidence for stratification 217 across the board, this is equally strong support for the opposing view; that all vocabulary items are treated as equal, Michif items. Chapter 8 will then examine -deletion in Michif, since it appears to be a productive process in both vocabularies. The question here will be whether - deletion follows the same patterns in both vocabularies. In both cases I will show that a closer, more nuanced look at the data shows that there is analogous patterning in both vocabulary components.
7 Chapter 7 – Michif Stress
The goal of this chapter is twofold. The first goal is to analyse the word stress system of Michif and the second, to show that Michif stress does not differentiate between the Cree and French vocabularies, but is instead an amalgam of the Cree and French systems. In the first section I outline the pattern of stress assignment in Michif using the framework of Hayes (1995). This pattern will be shown to apply to items of both source vocabularies. After having laid out the
Michif pattern, I turn to the stress patterns of French and Cree. Finally, I show that the Michif pattern draws on elements of the two source language patterns.
7.1 Introduction to parametric metrical theory
Hayes (1995) proposes a theory of metrical stress where cross-linguistically, stress systems may be accounted for with a finite number of parameters. Only the parameters relevant for discussion of Michif stress are discussed here1.
Michif is a bounded system, where stress falls within a particular domain with respect to other syllables. Systems may be quantity sensitive, with attention to syllable weight, or quantity insensitive. Binary feet may be right-headed (trochaic) or left-headed (iambic). Finally, stress may be determined from either the right or left edge, and may or may not be sensitive to word- internal structure.
Though Hayes proposes several other parameters necessary to predict stress systems cross-linguistically, the ones discussed in the previous paragraph will be the principal ones of interest in Michif. Basic Michif stress is not complex, as we will see, though there are some exceptions which we will address, but not present a definitive solution for in this thesis. What
1 For a synopsis of all parameters see Hayes 1995: 400-402. 218 Chapter 7 Michif Stress 219 will prove interesting here is the comparison of the stress systems of the source languages as compared with Michif.
7.2 Michif stress
I turn now to the description of the patterning of Michif stress. In order to do so, it is necessary to take into account words of different numbers of syllables and their stress patterns within the data. The first set of examples is made up of words of two syllables and the second set, of three syllables. Recall from chapter 2 that suffixes along with their stems are part of a single phonological unit, and therefore stress is applied to the entire item.
Michif: (1) a. mit-w2 ‘S/he is eating.’ [C] eat-3 b. np-w ‘S/he is sleeping.’ [C] sleep-3 c. kart ‘carrot’ [F] d. uḿ ‘mare’ [F]
(2) a. mit-w-ak ‘They are eating’ [C] eat-3-3PL b. k-np-n ‘You (sg) are sleeping’ [C] 2-sleep-NON3 c. kla ‘brown’ [F] d. ǹtrḿ ‘funeral’ [F]
Primary stress in these examples is always word-final. In words of three syllables, we also find secondary stress on the first syllable of the word, as in (2). Now consider the following data,
Michif words of four or more syllables.
2 Primary stress is marked with an acute accent over the vowel (ie. é) and secondary stress is marked with a grave accent (ie. è). Note as well that the ‘eat’ forms have had stress applied on the forms after deletion, i.e. on the form mit-instead of the underlying mit-. Details of vowel deletion will be outlined in chapter 8.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 220
(3) a. n-mit -n-n ‘We’re eating.’ [C] 1-eat-NON3-1PL b. n-np-n-n3 ‘We’re sleeping.’ [C]
1-sleep-NON3-1PL c. kmbínz̀ ‘longjohns’4 [F] d. otombil ‘car’5 [F]
In the above examples, we find primary stress on the antepenultimate syllable, with secondary stress word-finally. This pattern is reinforced when longer words are considered, as in the examples below.
(4) a. k-mit- n-ww ‘You (pl) are eating.’ [C] 2-eat-NON3-2PL b. k-np-n-ww ‘You (pl) are sleeping.’ [C] 2-sleep-NON3-2PL c. n-l()-supi-n-n ‘We’re (excl) having supper.’ [F/C] 1-MRK-supper-NON3-1PL d. n-l()-dni-hk-n ‘I’m going to make lunch.’ [F/C] 1-AFF-lunch-MAKE-NON3
We see from the above examples that the five-syllable words have the same primary stress as four-syllable words, on the antepenultimate syllable. In this case, though, secondary stress is on alternating syllables in either direction starting from the primary-stressed syllable with secondary stress on the final syllable. This is also the case for the six and seven-syllable words, seen below.
(5) a. k-ptpoh-t-n ‘I’m poisoning you.’ 2-poison-INV-NON3 b. k-nwa--n-ww ‘You (pl) are chasing me.’ k-nawawa--n-ww 2-chase-DIR-NON3-2PL c. k-l-fo-w-n-n ‘We’re crazy.’ 2-AFF-crazy-BE-NON3-1PL
3 Note that due to regular deletion rules, this form is often realized as [npnn]. This will be explained in detail in chapter eight. 4 Example taken from Bakker 1997: 83. 5 Example from Bakker (pc): actual phonetic realization of vowels unsure, as communicated in writing in French orthography.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 221
(6) a. [klfojwnww] ‘You (pl) are crazy.’ k-l-fo-w-n-ww 2-AFF-crazy-BE-NON3-2PL b. [gi+ptpotnww]6 ‘I poisoned you (pl).’ /n-ki+phtpo-h-t-n-ww/ 1-PST+poison-TR-INV-NON3-2PL
Descriptively, we may say that in Michif words of three syllables or fewer, primary stress falls on the final syllable and secondary stress surfaces in three syllable words on the first syllable, while in words of four syllables or more, primary stress falls on the antepenult and secondary stress is alternating throughout the word. Note that this pattern holds regardless of the language source of the word in question: historically Cree (data in 1-5, a, b) and historically French (data in 1-3, c,d) lexical items, as well as items of mixed origin (data in 4c-d, 5c, 6a) pattern in the same way.
7.2.1 Patterning of different morphological domains
Though the above description of Michif stress patterning holds in a majority of cases, there are a few cases of apparent differing patterns. Before formalizing the Michif patterning, I will show that apparent counter-examples to the stress pattern outlined above do not in fact pose a problem once the different morphological categories are teased apart. Recall that in the examples in (2)-(6), the addition of a fourth syllable by means of inflection entailed a stress change from final to penultimate. Now consider the following paradigmatic forms.
(7) np-w-ak ‘They are sleeping’ sleep-3-3PL (8) ki+np-w-ak ‘They were sleeping’ *ki+np-w-ak PST-sleep-3-3PL
6 Recall that we count only from the + boundary; the first syllable in the surface representation (first two in underlying) forms its own domain for stress.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 222
Note that when the past tense marker is added in (8), stress does not change as would be expected in a four-syllable word: primary stress remains word-final. However, when we add the first person prefix such as in (9), primary stress does move to the antepenultimate syllable, as expected.
(9) n-níp-n-n ‘We’re sleeping’7 1-sleep-NON3-1PL
Note further the examples in (10) where stress does not shift in the presence of preverbs, as expected.
8 (10) a. nht+npn *nohté+npn n-nht+np-n 1-WANT+sleep-NON3 ‘I want to sleep’ b. ka+do+np-n-n *ka+do+np-n-àn FUT +GO+sleep-NON3-1PL ‘We’ll go to sleep.’ c. gi+mt+ awat-n * gi+mti+awatn n-ki+mti+ awat-n 1-PST+INC +put.in.box-NON3 ‘I started to put it in the box.’
The examples in (8) and (10) show that either the stress rule is wrong, or that it does not apply to all elements.
Consider now the morphology of forms where the stress pattern is unexpected, given the number of syllables. In all of these cases, the word in question has a preverb as part of it. While stress placement is sensitive to syllable count, another factor is involved: the syllables must all fall within the phonological word. Thus, this is another example of different phonological patterning based on the affix/minor category split: minor categories are their own domain for stress.9
7 The prefix ni- may delete, yielding the form npnan. This deletion will be discussed in chapter 8. 8 The initial ni- may delete, to be discussed in detail in chapter 8. 9 Within the phrase, there is evidence that phonologically small minor categories can optionally combine with
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 223
7.2.1.1 Compound stress
Recall from section 2.2.1.2 that in addition to regular affixation, I claimed there is evidence of compounding in Michif. In this section I show evidence for these compounds based on stress. Specifically, the stress assignment of certain verb forms is explainable if we assume that there is a second phonological word boundary.
I showed above that the antepenultimate syllable is stressed in words of more than three syllables, with alternating secondary stress in either direction. However, stress assignment in the following words does not follow this pattern quite so neatly.
(11) a. nlatrtywnn cf. * nlatrtywnn n-la-trty-w-n-n 1-MRK-turtle-BE-NON3-1PL ‘We (excl) are turtle-like.’ b. nlatrtyhkow cf. * nlatrtyhkow n-la-trty-hk--w 1-MRK-turtle-MAKE-REFL-NON3-1PL ‘He’s acting like a turtle.’ (lit. he’s making himself a turtle’)
The ungrammatical forms given in (11) are those expected under the Michif stress rule.
However, note that it is the final syllable of the incorporated nominal preceding the verb ‘to be’ which must be assigned stress. This is potential evidence for compounds patterning differently from other derivation and inflection. The details of this patterning will not be explored in this thesis. However, note that the differences in stress assignment between compounds and other morphology supports the claim for vowel coalescence in chapter 6 that we observe different phonological patterns at compound boundaries than other morphological boundaries.
major categories such as nouns and verbs. I assume this is a post-lexical phenomenon and it is left to further research since we are focusing on word-level stress.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 224
7.2.2 Formalization of Michif stress The descriptive generalizations in the previous section may now be formalized. Setting aside for the moment the distinction between primary stress and secondary stress, observe only the patterns of stressed versus non-stressed syllables. First of all, Michif stress may be characterized as consisting of bounded iambs, from the right edge. This can be drawn from the fact that stress is word-final in two-syllable words, and is borne out in the rest of the data, where the words with odd-numbered syllables show us that the direction of stress assignment is from right to left. Given that secondary stresses are based on the overall number of syllables in the word, stress at the foot level must be assigned iteratively. Primary stress does not always fall on the same syllable; in words of three syllables or less stress is word-final while in words of more than three syllables it is on the antepenult. The fact that main stress is confined to the antepenult in longer words shows that it is tied to the right edge, though the rightmost foot does not get main stress when there is a branching foot to its left.
This situation may be dealt with by using foot extrametricality, as per Liberman &
Prince (1977), Hayes (1995) and many others. An extrametrical foot is invisible for the purposes of stress rule application. In the case of Michif, a word’s the final binary foot is extrametrical and thus does not get counted for stress. Main stress is on the right, which is the penultimate foot now that the final binary foot is considered extrametrical.
These generalizations are formalized within Hayes’ (1995) parameters as in (12).
(12) Michif parameter settings:10 (i) bounded feet yes, binary (ii) Headedness R-headed (iambs) (iii) Directionality R-to-L (iv) Iterativity yes, iterative (v) Extrametricality Right-most foot is extrametrical
10 This stress system applies to most lexical items, but not always to a few invariable words such as tánde ‘when’. There is further some deletion of unstressed //, rendering opaque some stress patterns. This will be discussed in chapter 8.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 225
This means that feet are right-headed, and thus assigned a strong (S) designation, while the non- heads receive a weak (W) designation. Any syllable designated S will receive stress and syllables designated W will be unstressed. Moving up the prosodic hierarchy, still working from right to left, the left foot in the right-most word branch is designated (S), resulting in the primary stress assignment on the antepenultimate syllable. This is illustrated in the trees below for examples of four and five syllables.
(13) a. 4 syllables11 b. 5 syllables Wd Wd g ty F F F fh g fh W S S W S (x x) ‹(x x)› (x) (x x) ‹(x x)› (n mi) (t nn) k (mi t) (n ww) ‘We are eating.’ ‘You (pl) are eating.’
Note that word-final syllables are stressed even though they are extrametrical. Hayes (1995:
217) attributes secondary stress heard in Ojibwa to phonetic final lengthening, and this is the position I will adopt here; that word- and phrase- final phonetic lengthening occurs, which makes the final extrametrical syllables more perceptually prominent.
If the word is only two or fewer syllables, then foot extrameticality is blocked because it must not exhaust the stress domain. In other words, if a final binary foot is the only available foot, then of course extrametricality cannot apply and we get final stress, as in the example in
(14a).
11 ‹(x x)› designates an extrametrical foot.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 226
(14) a. 2 syllables b. 3 syllables
Wd Wd g f F F fh g W S S (x x) (x) ‹(x x)› (mi tw) *(mi) (t wak) ‘S/he is eating.’ ‘They are eating.’
In (14a) there is no other foot on which to assign stress and so the final foot must be counted. In
(14b), however, there is an available non-branching foot in the three-syllable word. Note that if we designate the final foot as extrametrical and assign main stress onto the penultimate non- branching foot, we obtain the ungrammatical form in (14b). The correct stress assignment is of course with final primary stress, not antepenultimate, as given in (15).
(15) mit-w-ak ‘They are eating’ eat-3-3PL
The difference between this example and the other correctly predicted examples is that in (14b) the foot designated as strong is not binary branching. This is evidence for Michif requiring stressed feet to be branching. Therefore main stress may only be on a branching foot. Stress at the word level is therefore realized on the only other possibility: the word-final syllable. The correct structure for (14b) is therefore as given in (16).
(16) 3 syllables
Wd fy F F g fh S W S (x) (x x) (mi) (t wak) ‘They are eating.’
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 227
In this section, I have provided an analysis of Michif stress assignment based on Hayes
(1995). The question of language source was not directly addressed, though it may be noted that the examples of stress assignment given in (1)-(6) were taken from both vocabulary sources. As there are no French-source words to my knowledge of more than four syllables, it is impossible to give parallel examples throughout the examples, but mixed vocabulary items were substituted for French-only items in order to show that there is uniformity in the stress assignment across vocabulary items in Michif.
7.3 Comparison of systems with source languages of Michif
Now that an analysis for Michif stress has been given, I will turn to the systems in the source languages of Michif, for the sake of comparison. It will be interesting to compare the three systems to see whether Michif mirrors the system of one of the source languages, or whether some changes have taken place.
7.3.1 Description of French stress
Most of the interest in French prosody is at the phrasal level, since primary stress is always word-final (Tranel 1987 for Standard French, Brent 1974 for both Canadian and
Standard French).12 There is evidence that the French spoken at the time when Michif was formed also had word-final stress. French grammars as early as 1606 noted that the accent is placed on the final syllable (Nicot 1606, Renier-Desmarais 1705). Voltaire even remarks that
French prosody is different from other European languages in that French stresses the final syllable of the word, whereas other languages stress the penult or antepenult (cited in Levitt
1968: 67). Brousseau (2003), in discussion of the French input into Haitian Creole, notes that
12 French stress is on the final syllable except when the final syllable is schwa, which I will not discuss here other than saying I assume that final schwas are extrametrical.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 228 the stress system characterizing French was in place by the seventeenth century, and that this system had word-final stress, citing Marchello-Nizia (1995) and Thurot (1881-83). Levitt
(1968) also argues that there is evidence that the French accent of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was fundamentally the same as today (namely, word-final tonic accent).
For these reasons, I will analyse the prosodic system of the input variety of French as quantity- insensitive and word-final.
7.3.1.1 Formalization of French stress
Brousseau (2003) examines elements of the phonological systems of French and Fongbe, the input languages of Haitian Creole, with the ultimate goal of showing the role of markedness values in the transfer from the input languages to the resulting creole language. Her study is a comparison of the stress systems of the two input languages analogous to the present study of
Michif. Brousseau gives a list of parameters based on Hayes (1995) for the French input into
Haitian Creole, which, given the assumptions made in the previous section, should correspond to the French input into Michif in terms of the stress assignment. Her parameters are given below.
Parameters for French (Brousseau 2003):13 (17) P1 Word tree is strong on R P2 Feet are unbounded P3 Feet are built from right P4 Feet are strong from R P5 Feet are not Quantity-Sensitive P8a No extrametrical syllable P10 Stress is non-persistent P11 Destressing applies in phrasal domain.
I will assume Brousseau’s parameters P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P8a, but P10 and P11 bear discussing. First, P10 and P11 deal with parameters applying at the phrasal level. The non-
13 The parameters (P1, etc.) cited by Brousseau are found in Dresher & Kaye (1990).
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 229 persistence of stress explains destressing of elements in non-final phrase position, as illustrated below.
French (18) a. petite [ptit] b. la petite fille [laptitfij]
Note that in (17b), there is destressing of [ptit] when it is in a phrasal domain. However, as the present paper deals only with word level stress, these last two parameters simply are not relevant to the work here.
In addition to word-final main stress, French possesses optional non-final secondary stress (Di Cristo 1998, Tranel 1987, Verluyten 1984) on the antepenult of trisyllabic words.
Consider the following examples, adapted from Di Cristo (1998:198).
French (19) œ f àbrika d màterjó d kstryksj
Both Tranel and Verluyten characterize the underlying rhythm of French words as alternating weak and strong syllables, or alternating stress, therefore in our formalization, binary iterative feet must be posited. Therefore I give the parameter settings for French stress as follows:
(20) French parameter settings: Foot level (i) Bounded feet yes, binary (ii) Headedness R-headed (iii) Quantity Sensitive no, QI (iv) Directionality R-to-L (v) Iterativity yes
Feet are described as bounded here under the assumption that we should predict the alternating secondary stress if possible. Although secondary stress is optional, it should be predictable based on the formalization, and therefore I argue that an analysis as bounded and iterative is preferable to an analysis with unbounded feet as given in Brousseau (2003), which cannot predict the contexts with secondary stress.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 230
Now that the parameter settings for French have been outlined, I will move on to the settings for Cree, the other Michif input component.
7.3.2 Description of Plains Cree stress
Wolfart (1996) describes the stress pattern of words in Plains Cree as depending on the number of syllables rather than on vowel length (1996: 431) Further, he states that disyllabic words are stressed on the last syllable, giving the example [mihti] ‘piece of firewood’. Wolfart notes that certain disyllabic particles show variation in stress assignment, but attributes this to sentence-level prosodic patterning not yet studied. As we are interested only in the word level, we may set these variable words aside for the purposes of this study. Words of more than two syllables display a different stress pattern outlined in (19).
(21) …in words of three or more syllables, primary stress falls on the third syllable from the end…Secondary stress then falls on alternate syllables in either direction, reckoned from the antepenult…Note that the above rule holds for Plains Cree even where the penultima is long. [Wolfart 1996 : 431]
Wolfart describes a system which is quantity insensitive, given that long vowels do not affect stress assignment, like Michif and French. This is illustrated by the two examples below which share the same stress pattern based on syllable position in the word. The example in (22a) has a long vowel in primary stressed position and a short vowel in unstressed position, however the primarily stressed vowel in example in (22b) is short and the unstressed vowel is long.
Plains Cree (22) a. ne:hiyaw ‘Cree Indian’ b. mita:taht ‘ten’ [Wolfart 1996:431]
The above examples are evidence that length does not play a role in Cree stress, as both long and short vowels may receive primary stress or be unstressed. Further, the pattern which he
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 231 describes has bounded iambic iterative feet, as stress is alternating across the word. Note his example below. The separation into binary feet is my own, for illustration.14
Plains Cree (23) pskwa:psmown (p) (s kwa:) (p s)(mo wn) ‘Shut-Eye dance’ [example from Wolfart 1996:431]
7.3.2.1 Formalization of Cree stress
Formalizing Wolfart’s description of the stress pattern according to the framework within which we are working, the parameter settings are given in (24).
(24) Cree parameter settings: (vi) bounded feet yes, binary (vii) Headedness R-headed (iambs) (viii) Directionality R-to-L (ix) Iterativity yes, iterative (x) Extrametricality Right-most foot is extrametrical
Given the similarities between Cree and Michif stress, the similarities of their parameters should be unsurprising. The only difference between the two is that there is no prohibition in Plains
Cree on degenerate feet, or single syllables forming a foot. Plains Cree parses degenerate feet just like regular binary feet, and if they end up in primary stress position, there is not the ungrammaticality that we saw in the Michif data (see 14b). Note the tree in (25) below for the
Cree data in (22a) above.
Cree stress assignment for a three-syllable word. (25) Wd f F g S (x) ‹(x x)› (ne: ) (hi yaw) ‘Cree Indian’
14 No glosses were given for the item.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 232
Like in Michif, what is heard as final secondary stress is phonetic final prominence. Now that the parameters for all three systems have been laid out, I will compare the stress assignment of each system.
7.4 A comparison of the three stress systems Vocabulary items from both source components of Michif have been shown to be treated in the same way in Michif with regards to stress (see section 7.2). The Michif parameters are thus different from the parameters in either component language. In comparing the parameter settings of each of the systems, we may be able to determine whether Michif has innovated or borrowed from one or both of the source languages.
All three systems assign iambic feet from the right, and so in disyllabic words, all three systems predict primary stress word-finally.
Two syllable stress assignment: (26) Cree French Michif Wd Wd Wd g g g Fs Fs Fs v v v W S W S W S (x x) (x x) (x x) Given that both French and Cree have word-final stress in disyllabic words, and that Michif is derived from these languages, it is not surprising that Michif would also have word-final stress in disyllabic words.
Moving to longer words, we see that the parameters of the two source languages are similar in that they are form iterative, iambic feet from the right. Though Cree and Michif share the same headedness, Michif requires branchingness of strong syllables while Cree does not.
These differences result in different predictions with regards to stress in words of three and four syllables. Consider first words of three syllables.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 233
Three syllable stress assignment (27) Cree French Michif Wd Wd Wd f v v F F F F F g g v g v S S W S S W S (x) ‹(x x)› (x) (x x) (x) ‹(x x)›
Given the constraint in Michif against assigning primary stress to a non-branching word-level constituent, the (S) designation must move to the only foot which can receive it; the right-hand foot. In words of three syllables, the fact that Cree degenerate feet are able to host a (S) designation results in different stress assignment, as shown in (26).
In four-syllable words, the constraint against non-branchingness is not relevant, as all feet are properly binarily branching, and Cree and Michif parameters yield the same stress pattern.
In this case, the different headedness at the word level of French and Michif does surface, and different positions for primary stress result. Consider the trees in (28).
Four syllable stress assignment (28) Cree French Michif Wd Wd Wd t ty t Fs Fw Fs Fs v v v v W S W S W S W S W S W S (x x) ‹(x x)› (x x ) (x x) (x x) ‹(x x)›
We see in (28) that Cree and Michif assign primary stress on the antepenult, while French assigns primary stress word-finally. This holds equally for all words of more than four syllables, given the right-headedness of French word layer construction. In longer words,
Michif and Cree look identical, while French and Michif look different.
What is interesting in looking at this comparison, is that from the structures in (27) and
(28) we see that Michif could be thought of as an amalgam of the two source language systems.
In words of three syllables, the parameters yield the same stress pattern as French, and in words
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 234 of more than three syllables, they are the same as Cree. Michif has not simply adopted one of the source language’s stress systems, but rather innovated a mix of the two.
7.5 Speculating on the split vocabulary patterning
We have seen that Michif stress is identical in 2-syllable words, like French in 3- syllable words, and like Cree in 4-syllable or longer words. It is interesting to speculate as to why Michif stress developed in this way. We could imagine that since French predominates in nouns and Cree in verbs, Michif could have split the stress system on the lines of these syntactic categories. For example, a trisyllabic noun would be primary stress-final as in French, but a trisyllabic verb would be stressed as in Cree, on the antepenult. Other languages do have different stress patterns based on syntactic category. Consider the data below.
English Noun Verb (29) récord recórd présent presént cóntract contract
Furthermore, Lenakel forms moraic trochees from left to right in verbs and adjectives and from right to left in nouns (Hayes 1995:168). The fact that other languages do make this type of noun-verb split is precedent for differences in stress patterning based on syntactic category. It is therefore plausible that Michif could have also made this split. Although this option was available from a typological point of view, the fact that Michif amalgamated the different influences into a single consistent pattern supports the position that Michif does not make such a split.
Interestingly, it has been claimed that English similarly amalgamated influences from
Old English and Latin. Lahiri and Dresher (2005) argue that Latin loan words were able to change the parameters of English stress because they tended to be longer than the native words.
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 235
Words of the native stress pattern did not change in appearance, but the system changed because of the new long words contributed by Latin. This may also have been the case with Michif, where French would have introduced many more shorter words into the Plains Cree system, which in turn changed the parameters of the stress system. Speculating, this seems especially plausible seeing as though the Michif and Plains Cree stress systems are so similar other than for shorter words: the part of the Michif lexicon on which French would exert the most influence.
7.6 Conclusions
This chapter has presented a formal account of Michif word stress based on the parameters outlined by Hayes (1995). Stress is an excellent diagnostic for stratification, as it is a phonological process which acts upon all lexical items of a language. This phonological process does not treat items from one source language in any way differently than the other, a strong piece of evidence against a split grammar hypothesis. However, the phonological domain was shown to be important in assigning stress. While Michif affixes combine with stems to form a phonological unit to which stress is assigned, preverbs were shown to form their own domain for stress. This difference in stress assignment between affixes and minor categories joins evidence from syllabification and vowel inventories that Michif treats affixes and minor categories differently in the phonology. It was further observed that compound words appear to contain phonological word boundaries within the compound word boundary in that stress can sometimes be assigned to an incorporated lexical item.
Further, upon comparison of Michif with its source languages, Michif emerged as an amalgam of both French and Cree stress systems, where words of three syllables patterned as in
French, but words of more than three syllables patterned as in Cree. It is important to note that the Michif stress system comprises elements of both the Cree and French systems, but is not identical to either. These findings suggest that it is worthwhile to look at Michif as a single
Chapter 7 Michif Stress 236 system to find emergent patterns which might be missed if it is treated as having two distinct grammatical systems languages.
Chapter 8 - Vowel deletion
In this chapter I investigate the phenomenon of short vowel deletion in Michif. Papen
(2003) argues that evidence for the phonologies being stratified in Michif comes from vowel deletion occurring in the French but not the Cree component of Michif. I will show, however, that there is vowel deletion in both components of the Michif grammar. Given that both source languages have vowel deletion processes, I will first outline the processes in these languages
(section 8.1) and discuss whether the process is best described as devoicing or deletion (section
8.2). After comparing the two source languages in section 8.3, I describe the Michif deletion patterns (section 8.4). Finally I compare the three systems in section 8.5 and show in section 8.6 that like the stress patterns we saw in chapter 7, there is no differentiation on the part of deletion with regards to the historical domains in Michif.
Note that in Cree, French and Michif, vowel deletion is a variable process, dependent on speaker and rate and formality of speech. However, in all these languages, most regular-rate speech does delete vowels. I will discuss environments where these vowels may delete, even if they do not always delete. Sociolinguistic factors of when vowel deletion occurs remain outside the scope of this study and are left to further research.
8.1 Deletion in the source languages of Michif
Both Plains Cree and Canadian French have frequent vowel deletion. In this section I outline the processes in the source languages so that we may compare them with the Michif process, as
I did in chapter 7 with stress assignment. This comparison will enable us to see how the new contact system arose out of the two mother languages.
237 Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 238
8.1.1 Canadian French deletion In Canadian French, there are two reported phenomena similar to Michif vowel deletion. We find both the widely-reported case of schwa-deletion, where a schwa is deleted in certain phonological contexts, and the devoicing of high vowels between certain voiceless obstruents.
In this section I will outline both phenomena.
8.1.1.1 Schwa-deletion In all varieties of French, etymological schwa is regularly deleted in certain contexts, giving rise to surface clusters. Consider the examples below.
Canadian French [examples from Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993:42] Surface forms Underlying forms English (1) a. [samdi] / samdi/ ‘Saturday’ b. [meds] /meds/ ‘doctor’ c. [rsasma] /rsasma/ ‘census’ d. [fntr] /fntr/ ‘window’ e. [fø] /vø/ ‘hair’ f. [zgdr] /sgdr/ ‘secondary’
The underlying forms above all contain schwas, given in bold. Note that these vowels do surface in formal speech and poetry, evidence that they are indeed underlyingly present. Note that in the surface forms, however, vowels generally delete, giving rise to the surface clusters given in bold. Conversely, the schwa in the following French items are never deleted.
Canadian French [examples from Ostiguy & Tousignant 1993:43] Surface forms Underlying forms English (2) a. *[krl] /krl/ ‘quarrel’ b. *[tnas] /tnas/ ‘tenacious’ c. *[pze] /pze/ ‘to weigh’ d. *[mrkrdi] /mrkrdi/ ‘Wednesday’ e. *[ystma] /ystma/ ‘exactly’
If the schwa is deleted, the resulting surface forms given above are ungrammatical. In the above examples, the underlying forms and the correct surface forms are identical.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 239
The rules for schwa-deletion are largely based on syllabification, where an unstressed schwa is deleted when the consonant cluster resulting from it follows appropriate phonotactics.
Ostiguy & Tousignant (1993) give the following rules for schwa-deletion:
(3) Rules for French schwa-deletion i. Word-finally, except when it gets phrasal stress1 ii. Word-medially when preceded by only 1 consonant. (need to avoid adjacency of 3 consonants) iii. In first syllable, when preceded by a fricative.
Walker (1984) gives similar environments for schwa-deletion in Canadian French, but states explicitly that the vowel deletes only in weak (i.e. unstressed) position, and he also points out that the deletion occurs more frequently when there is a fricative or sonorant to ‘absorb’ the vowel, as he puts it.
8.1.1.2 High vowel devoicing High vowel devoicing in Canadian French is a variable process, described by Walker
(1984) as occurring in the following primary environments:
(4) Rules for French vowel devoicing i. High vowels in weak position. Vowels in initial or final syllables are not usually affected. ii. Between two voiceless segments
However, Walker also says there is sometimes devoicing in initial syllables, as in his examples below:
Canadian French [examples from Walker 1984] (5) a. [pypitr] /pypitr/ ‘desk’ f. [kupabl] /kupabl/ ‘guilty’ g. [pitun] /pitun/ ‘girl’ h. [si ty vø] /si ty vø/ ‘if you want’
1 Although primary stress in French is word-final, schwa in word-final position does not receive stress, as in the following representative examples: /ýst/ ‘just’, /fntr/ ‘window’, /bn/ ‘good.F’. These schwas are deleted in regular speech, yielding [ýst], [fntr], [bn].
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 240
Essentially, a high vowel will often get devoiced if it is unstressed and surrounded by voiceless sounds, but this happens most often in word-medial contexts.
8.1.2 Summary of Canadian French vowel weakening
I have outlined two reported vowel weakening phenomena comparable to -deletion in Michif: high vowel devoicing and schwa-deletion. These two processes are unrelated, as they affect different vowels and are triggered on the one hand by phonotactics and the other by featural specifications of adjacent segments. The two phenomena are summarized below.
(6) Summary of Canadian French vowel weakening
Vowel devoicing Vowel deletion Targets /i y u/ // Triggers surrounding voiceless phonotactics – whenever segments syllabification of resulting cluster is possible
8.1.3 Devoicing or deletion? Note that both devoicing and deletion processes are reported in CF. Although this is an important distinction to make for Michif, it is not one we are able to make at this time. Although it may turn out that there are two separate processes at work, I will treat all instances in Michif as the same vowel weakening a priori, which I will call vowel deletion. While in CF devoicing targets high vowels and deletion targets schwa, in Michif the same vowel, //, is nearly always targeted, and the high tense vowels are never the target of devoicing, and so Michif does not appear to make any distinction between the two processes. If there does not seem to be a need to separate the data into two processes when a more general rule may account for the data as a whole, this should be the preferred analysis. I will therefore operate under the assumption that there is no reason to posit two processes unless the data shows otherwise. It is possible that further study will show that
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 241 there are reasons to tease apart two processes at work. However the goal of this chapter is not to show that there is a difference between devoicing and deletion, but to show that the
Michif system is consistent across all vocabulary items, and that there is no split along source vocabulary lines. Therefore, while there may be things we don’t understand about the systems, the fact remains that Michif treats its vocabulary items identically.
Now that I have outlined the French phenomena and explained that I will treat all cases of vowel weakening in Michif as a single process, I move to Cree deletion.
8.1.4 Plains Cree deletion Vowel deletion in Plains Cree is an understudied area. Wolfart (1996) states that there is elision of short vowels, especially /i/2, between homorganic consonants, and that the forms he gives throughout his work are those found in elevated or especially slow speech (1996:432). Given this, I assume that there is much variable deletion. He cites the following examples.
(7) [kkàmpáyhtn] ‘I’ll kill you.’ /kiká nipáh-iti-n/ 3 2-FUT kill-INV-NON3 (8) kon(i)ta ‘in vain, without reason’ (9) nin(i)tawe:yihte:n ‘I want it.’
The surface form given in (7) is one possible way to pronounce this word, though not all speakers will delete all short vowels in every utterance, and Wolfart states that in the examples in (8) and (9), the vowel in parentheses is normally deleted. Although Wolfart claims the deletion occurs between homorganic consonants, deletion is clearly not restricted to this environment, as can be seen in (7) with the deletion of /i/ between non-homorganic /n/ and /p/.
Wolvengrey (2001) also mentions that the deletion of unstressed short vowels is very common, saying further ‘this vowel is retained in spelling, even when it is rarely, if ever pronounced.’ He gives the following examples in his pronunciation guide:
2 Recall that in Wolfart’s vowel system, /i/ is short, in contrast with /i:/. 3 Glosses in my own.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 242
(10) a. [taan si] ‘hello, how are you’ /taanisi/ b. [taan taj] ‘where’ /taanitee/
Consider as well the following words, where the same short vowel does not delete. The relevant segments are bolded.
Plains Cree (Wolvengrey 2001a:xxv)4 (11) a. [sè we pt tsg gn] ‘phone’ /seeweepitsikan/ b. [ tàjoh kéj wn n] ‘legends’ /aatajoohkeewina/ c. [ks kn w hm m to wk km mk] ‘school’ /kiskinwahamaatowikamik/
Although there are unstressed short vowels in the above examples, they are not deleted.
Though these authors mention vowel deletion, no serious study of the exact environments conditioning the deletion of Plains Cree /i/ appears to have been undertaken. I will formulate my generalization regarding Plains Cree deletion then based on Wolfart’s basic description, as it is the only one available, understanding that it may not be a complete characterization of the
Cree deletion process.
(12) Summary of Plains Cree vowel deletion
Vowel elision5 Target /i/ Trigger surrounding homorganic consonants
The above is based on the characterization of vowel elision based on Wolfart (1996) and
Wolvengrey (2001), even though the data in (7) implies there to be more elision than simply between homorganic consonants.
4 I have adapted the phonetic transcription to be analogous to the transcription of Michif I use throughout the thesis so as to avoid confusion. The transcription given conforms to the pronunciation guide given by Wolvengrey. 5 I use the term elision, as that is what Wolfart calls it.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 243
8.2 Comparison of two systems
Given the descriptions of vowel deletion in each source language, we can now compare the two to see in which environments each language would delete the vowel. I will then describe the Michif deletion and compare it to each source language. We can expect that each source system is somewhat different. If each Michif component patterns in the same way, however, we can assume that Michif phonology does not differentiate between the historical domains. This would be strong evidence against a stratificational view of the Michif lexicon. The following table summarizes the environments which favour vowel deletion in Plains Cree and Canadian French. The French environments include both high vowel devoicing and schwa deletion. (13) Comparison of CF and PC vowel weakening
Canadian French Plains Cree Vowel devoicing Vowel deletion Vowel elision Targets /i y u/ // /i/ Environment between voiceless where syllabification between homorganic segments of resulting cluster is consonants possible
The table above suggests that the two languages have very different vowel deletion processes, which I will show is not actually the case in section 8.4.2. I will next describe the Michif process and then compare all three languages.
8.3 Michif deletion
Like Plains Cree and Canadian French, Michif variably deletes vowels in various environments. While I have done my best to describe the facts as I have found them, the exact process and rules governing this phenomenon remain uncertain. Because deletion is a variable process, in order to conclusively determine the extent of the deletion, we would need texts and longer discourse. In my data, whenever there is deletion, I can be sure that deletion is possible, of course, but where there is no deletion, I cannot be sure whether it is possible or not. Speaker intuitions about these sorts of phenomena are also not to be trusted, as speakers believe they
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 244 speak much more formally than they do. However, the goal of this chapter is to show that
Michif is consistent over all its vocabulary. To that end, the rules as I have found should be sufficient for our purposes, and the study here is worthwhile, though it is clear that more work in this area would be interesting.
The deletion of // is possible in Michif in three environments. This section will investigate and summarize these three environments without reference to the source languages, before moving to comparing the deletion systems of Michif with those of Cree and French in section 8.4.
8.3.1 Following a liquid or glide
Deletion of // in Michif is possible following a liquid or glide when a licit phonotactic structure results, namely a liquid or glide in a coda position of a previous syllable.6 Recall that liquids and glides are permitted in Michif codas underlyingly. Consider the following data.
(14) a. [lsupiw] *[lsupiw] l-supi-w MRK-supper-3 ‘He’s having supper.’ b. nl.su.pin. n-l-supi-n 1-MRK-dinner-NON3 ‘I’m having supper’ c. kl.su.pi.hkn. ti k-l- supi- hk-n ti 2-MRK-dinner-make-NON3 Q ‘Are you cooking supper? (15) nl.p..hkn n-l-p-hk-n 1-MRK-bread-make-NON3 ‘I’m making bread.’
6 In chapter 3 I only discussed liquids appearing as coda consonants in Michif. Although I have not found examples of underlying glides in coda position, I assume that given their higher sonority than liquids that they would be expected to be possible in coda position if coda liquids are found.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 245
(16) n-mjœjhtam n-mjœjht-am Intermediate form /n-mj-ejht-am/ 1-good-think-4 ‘I’m happy with it.’
The example in (14a) shows that the vowel is underlying, while the examples in (14 b,c) and
(15)-(16) show that the vowel may delete when the liquid can be properly syllabified without it.
(14a) also shows that the deletion is based on phonotactics: the // is not deletable following a liquid unless that liquid will surface in coda of a previous syllable. Since the liquid in (14a) is word-initial, it cannot get into coda position, and the vowel is therefore undeletable.
8.3.2 Between identical consonants
The second //-deletion environment is between identical consonants. An unstressed // between two identical consonants may delete, often but not always giving rise to a long consonant. Consider the examples below, where the relevant segments are bolded.
(17) mo- kapo n:àto-n-en mo- kapo n-nàto-n-en 1.poss.m coat 1-look.for-NON3-INAN ‘I’m looking for my coat.’ (18) ka+pahkn k-ka+pahkn-n 2-FUT + fall-NON3 ‘You will fall.’
In (17), the vowel in the person prefix deletes, resulting in the prefix surfacing only as lengthening. In (18), the two bolded vowels may delete: the first // because it is between two identical /k/, and the second // because it appears between two identical /n/. There is no perceptible lengthening of consonants in (18).
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 246
8.3.3 Adjacent to a sibilant
Lastly, // may be deleted word-medially if there is an adjacent sibilant. Consider the following examples. The first line shows the syllable division and stress assignment. Recall from chapter 7 that primary stress is on the antepenult in words of four syllables or more, and that there is secondary stress on alternate syllables. The second line shows the morpheme boundaries and underlying representation. The relevant segments are bolded, showing sibilant- adjacent -deletion.
(19) a. wa.n.k /wank-h/ get.up-IMP ‘Get up!’ b. wt. oer. n.wan.kn. /wt oer n-wank-n / 8 hour 1-get.up-NON3 ‘I get up at 8 o’clock.’ (20) a. .ht.p. la ar /ht-pt- la ar/ out-push/pull-IMP.3OBJ DET car ‘Pull out the car!’ b. manpk li kart /man- pt- - k li+kart/ away- push/pull-IMP.3OBJ-PL PL-carrots ‘Pull out the carrots.’ (21) a. gwn /n-kw-n/ 1-be.angry-NON3 ‘I’m angry.’ b. kkwahn /k-kwa-h-n/ 2-be.angry-TR-NON3 ‘You’re making me angry.’ (22) thkw /thk--w/ dissolve-by.heat-3 ‘It melts.’
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 247
(23) pahkn /pahk n/ fall ‘He’s falling.’ (24) n-ku /n-ku/ 1-mother.in.law ‘my mother-in-law’
The above examples all contain underlying // which deletes when adjacent to a sibilant.
Deletion occurs when the sibilant precedes the // (as in 24) or follows it (as in (19b 20b, 21,
23)).
Though vowel deletion is often a result of phonotactic triggering, this last environment is primarily segmental. Consider the following examples. The vowels which would be stressed if not deleted given the stress rule are given in bold in the underlying representation.
(25) n-pikkwe-n-n /n-pikkwe-n-n/ 1-speak-NON3-1PL ‘We are speaking.’ (26) wankwak /wank-w-ak/ wake.up-3-3PL ‘They’re waking up.’ (27) l furno ktew /l+furno kte-w/ the+oven hot-3 ‘The oven is hot.’ (28) kl kkawew / kl kkaw-e-w/ a tie wear-DBL3-3 ‘He wears a tie.’ (29) si da kipek nam /si da kipekn-am/ his teeth wash-3IN ‘He’s brushing his teeth.’
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 248
Primary stress would normally be assigned to the vowel which deletes in (25), and secondary stress would be assigned to the deleted vowels in (26-29). The above examples show that even stressed vowels may be deleted if they follow the segmental environment favouring deletion.
This implies that the segmental environment is quite strong, as normally unstressed vowels are subject to deletion.
Regarding the resulting word stress, note that in the cases of deleting stressed vowels, stress moves leftwards where possible. In example (25), primary stress shifts to the left to the surface antepenultimate syllable. However, if there is nowhere to shift to, the stress is lost.
Recall that only words of four syllables or more get antepenultimate stress: words of three syllables receive final stress. This means that a primary stress will never be lost, as it will always be able to shift over to the left one syllable. Therefore only secondary stress can be lost.
Note as well from the examples in (14)-(24) that there is no change in stress assignment when an unstressed vowel is deleted: the form surfaces with stresses on adjacent syllables.
8.3.4 Summary of Michif vowel deletion In this section I have shown three environments where vowel deletion occurs in Michif. These are summarized in the following table.
(30) Michif vowel deletion
Vowel deletion Target // Environment i. when phonotactics allow ii. between identical consonants iii. adjacent to sibilant
Whether the vowel deletion discussed here is actually deletion, devoicing or some combination of the two is left for further study. For the purposes of this thesis, the description above suffices to show that the Michif pattern is consistent, and differs from both the Cree and French patterns.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 249
8.4 Comparison of the three systems
8.4.1 Are the processes comparable? At first glance, the three systems do not appear at all alike. Compare the summaries of the environments permitting vowel deletion below.
(31) Vowel weakening in three systems Canadian French Plains Cree Michif Vowel Vowel Vowel elision Vowel deletion devoicing deletion Targets /i y u/ // /i/ // Environment between whenever between i. when voiceless syllabification homorganic phonotactics segments of resulting consonants allow cluster is ii. between possible identical consonants iii. adjacent to sibilant
Though there are differences between the three languages, there are more similarities than at first glance. Consider first the vowels targeted in each language. While on the surface the vowels targeted are different for each language, in fact the vowels correspond in large part to the same segments within their individual system. Setting aside the high vowel devoicing in CF for the time being, I will compare the remaining vowels targeted for devoicing/deletion processes.
Recall from chapter six that it is important when comparing the vowels in the three different languages to view these vowels as occupying space as part of a larger contrastive system rather than as a ‘pure’ phoneme without reference. In section 6.2.4 I showed that the
Cree /i/ should actually be considered to be the Michif //, based on the vowel inventories. This then makes the Cree and Michif targets in the above chart identical.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 250
In addition, recall that there is no // in Michif. Again in chapter 6, I showed that what was historically a French // surfaces in Michif as // if in fact there is a vowel at all. The examples are repeated here.
(32) pti ‘small’ [cf. French cognate /pti/] (33) vo ‘horse’ [cf. French cognate /vo] (34) dm ‘tomorrow’ [cf. French cognate /dm/] (35) l ‘the’ (M.DET) [cf. French cognate /l]
The data in (32)-(35) shows that historical schwas have become // in Michif. Therefore we can consider that although the individual target vowels may appear to be different, in fact they represent analogous segments within the inventories, and the three targets are essentially the same vowel.
Now consider the high vowel devoicing in CF. First, note that the targeted vowels are quite different from those just discussed. Furthermore, I have not found any evidence that high tense vowels devoice in Michif as they do in CF. Consider the following data from Michif.
(36) [ikah] ik-ahw-h comb-by.tool-IMP ‘Comb your hair.’ (37) [la putn] DET pudding ‘bag pudding’
I have found no instances of devoicing of the bolded vowels in the above examples or in analogous examples. Though it is possible that it may exist, I have not managed to find any examples of high vowel devoicing in Michif. In my estimation these tense vowels are unlikely to be deleted. Given this, coupled with the fact that the targeted vowels appear to be very different from the other cases of deletion, I will set aside the high vowel devoicing as a point of comparison between the three systems, focussing on schwa-deletion in French, i-deletion in
Cree and -deletion in Michif, as they appear to be comparable processes.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 251
Given that that the target vowels for deletion refer to the same entity within each system, from this point forward I will abstract away from the individual segments being deleted. When
I refer to // or vowel deletion, I am referring to // in Michif, but to the analogous vowel in the source language; // in CF or /i/ in Cree.
8.4.2 Comparing the three languages Consider now the following updated table comparing the three systems.
(38) Vowel weakening in three systems CF PC Michif Target vowel unstressed unstressed stressed & unstressed Environment where only 2 between when consonants homorganic phonotactics surface in a consonants allow cluster between identical consonants adjacent to sibilant
In observing the target vowel, we see that though CF and PC are reported to delete only unstressed vowels, Michif allows vowels in stressed syllables to optionally delete (as in (25-
29)). This does not occur in either source language, and appears to be a Michif-specific innovation. This is one major difference between the child language and its parents. What is surprising is that while the two source languages are compatible with respect to this fact, Michif follows its own, different system.
The environments are not exactly comparable between the three languages, but note that
Michif deletion does appear to be in some sense an amalgam of French, a phonotactically-driven deletion and Cree, a segmentally-driven deletion, in that it includes both environments favouring vowel deletion.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 252
8.5 Michif vowel deletion across historical domains I set up the table in section (38) as a general Michif rule, not making reference to source language, but in this section I explicitly show that there is no need to posit separate strata in order to correctly predict the Michif forms. Where possible I give examples of deletion in both vocabularies, and I also include discussion on why such data is difficult to find, but that this difficulty is relevant to our positing of different strata.
8.5.1 Michif vowel deletion in Cree vocabulary
The following examples have been selected to show Cree vocabulary following the rules of - deletion outlined above. Consider the following examples, where the relevant segments are bolded.
(39) nmjœjhtam n-mjœjht-am Intermediate form /n-mj-ejht-am/ 1-good-think-4 ‘I am happy with it.’ (40) manpk li kart /man- pt- - k li+kart/ away- push/pull-IMP.3OBJ-PL PL-carrots ‘Pull out the carrots.’ (41) thkw thk--w dissolve-by.heat-3 ‘It melts.’ (42) n-k n-k 1-mother.in.law ‘my mother-in-law’ (43) ka+pahkn k-ka+pahkn-n 2-FUT + fall-NON3 ‘You will fall.’
The above examples are all taken from earlier in the chapter, and show each of the environments favouring vowel deletion in Michif: where a liquid or glide can be syllabified into a coda (39),
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 253 where a sibilant is adjacent to the vowel (40-42) and when the vowel is between two identical consonants (43). Note that since there are no liquids in Cree, we cannot expect to find Cree vocabulary which deletes an // allowing a liquid to surface in coda position; such data clearly cannot exist. However, the data in (39) displays the same pattern for glides and can be considered to be analogous.
8.5.2 Michif vowel deletion in French vocabulary As I have shown throughout this thesis, the lack of productive morphology affecting
French items renders a true comparison with Cree-source alternations difficult and sometimes impossible. There are two ways in which I will show that the Cree- and French-source vocabulary items are compatible within Michif. First we do have a few examples of alternating data, especially with mixed vocabulary items. In addition, I show that where alternations are not possible, the environments favouring deletion merge with what are possible consonant clusters in the French component. Though these forms may not prove that deletion is occurring in the
French component, they serve to show that from a surface perspective, we can end up with similar clusters in both parts of the vocabulary.
First I show mixed-source data showing vowel deletion within the French part of the data.
Consider the following examples, where the relevant segments have been bolded.
(44) nl.d.nin. n-l-dni-n 1-MRK-lunch-NON3 ‘I’m having lunch.’
(45) nl.p..hkn n-l-p-hk-n 1-MRK-bread-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’m making bread.’
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 254
The data in (44)-(45) show liquids being syllabified into coda position, analogous to the Cree- source example in (39).
I have found no possible environment in the French component for the deletion of // between identical consonants. Although it seems at first glance that the determiner /l/ before an
/l/-initial noun could give rise to this deletion, recall that the determiners form their own phonological domain, and so are not be expected to pattern in the same way as affixes.
With respect to the sibilant adjacency favouring deletion, French component vocabulary appears compatible with Cree vocabulary in Michif. Consider the following examples.
(46) a. dsur ‘under’ b. a-dsur ‘underneath’
In (46a), the // does not delete because it would create an impossible word-initial cluster, but in
(46b) the cluster is fine because it is word-medial. I am assuming that the two forms are morphologically related, which is somewhat unclear given that there is no larger paradigm in which to situate them. Therefore this be may a somewhat tenuous assumption, but it supports the view that both components pattern in the same way nonetheless.
Though synchronic data is mostly unavailable, there is historical support based on forms found in Michif from the French component. Consider the following data.
(47) vo ‘horses’ [cf. French /vo] (48) wal ‘horse’ [cf. French /val/] (49) stite ‘this summer’ [cf. French /st ete/] (50) m ‘road’ [cf. French /m/] (51) mi ‘shirt’ [cf. French /miz/]
Note that the examples in (47)-(51) are instances of sibilants forming clusters with other consonants. In one case, I have been able to find productive alternations of these roots.
Compare the examples below with (51). The relevant segments are bolded.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 255
7 (52) a. lmhkw l-m-hk-w MRK-road-MAKE-3 ‘He’s making/building a road.’ b. ga lmhkn n-ka + l-m-hk-n 1-FUT + MRK-road-MAKE-NON3 ‘I’ll build a road.’ c. lmhke-w-ak l-m-hke-w-ak MRK-road-MAKE-3-3PL ‘They’re building a road.’
The examples in (52) show that there is indeed an underlying vowel in the form given in (50) which can surface when stressed. While I have not been able to confirm the underlying vowels in other forms, it is likely that there is more wide-spread vowel deletion than is obvious on the surface. Note that even if not all the clusters are cases of dynamic alternations of underlying forms with a vowel, the clusters in the French component are not incompatible with those in the
Cree component. There is no counter-evidence from the French component which could apply counter to the Michif deletion rules seen in this chapter. Therefore even if the rules happen to apply primarily to Cree-component vocabulary, they do not fail to apply to French-component vocabulary: they simply have less of a chance to apply, and therefore cannot serve as a cue for stratification.
I have shown that there is synchronic high vowel deletion in the French component of
Michif consistent with that of the Cree component, and that crucially, French forms conform to the rules which apply productively in the Cree form. This tells us that there would be no way for a learner to know that the two components are patterning differently, and means that we should not posit distinctive strata a priori.
7 See footnote 21, page 205 for the unusualness of this stress.
Chapter 8 Vowel deletion 256
8.6 Summary
In this chapter I outlined the relevant vowel deletion processes in the source languages of Michif with respect to Michif -deletion. I showed that the processes are already fairly compatible in the source languages, but that Michif displays its own system. The major innovation is that
Michif allows stressed vowels to delete while the parent languages do not. Furthermore, and crucially, I showed that there is no evidence that vocabulary from one source language differs synchronically from the other. The environments are not present for a learner to stratify his or her grammar based on -deletion (contra Papen 2003), even though the two source systems do appear to be somewhat different. I conclude, then, that Michif operates under one deletion system and does not require any extra historical knowledge by speakers.
9. Conclusions In this chapter I will present the major contributions of the thesis as a whole (section 9.1), summarize the findings in each thesis chapter (section 9.2) and summarize the arguments made in various chapters for prosodic domains (section 9.3). In section 9.4 I then discuss implications of my findings for Michif in the larger picture. Finally, in section 9.5 I comment on directions for further research.
9.1 Contributions
The principal contributions of this thesis are twofold: first, to contribute to the description of
Michif, an under-described language, and second, to show that Michif does not stratify based on lexical source, but does pattern differently with respect to synchronic linguistic criteria.
This thesis contributes the first unified phonological and morphological description of the language which does not rely on comparison with Cree and French. Underlying forms in this thesis are purely Michif, unlike previous work which often saw Canadian French or Plains
Cree forms as pseudo-underlying. The inventories in chapters 4 and 5 are the first unified phonological inventories to be posited for the language, and likewise, the syllable structure given in chapter 3 is the first not said to be divided based on language source.
My second major contribution is to show that Michif patterns consistently just as any other language, arguing against the stratified lexicon hypothesis for Michif. In addition to the counterarguments given, I gave positive evidence for Michif, rather than French and Cree patterning. This is important because it calls into question the assumptions generally held by linguists about the language. Furthermore, though I showed that phonological phenomena do not pattern different along historical domains, I did show that phonological phenomena pattern differently along synchronic prosodic domains. Michif affixes and minor categories pattern
258 Chapter 9 Conclusions 259 differently, but this is based on regular synchronic patterning of linguistic, rather than historical, criteria.
9.2 Summary of the thesis
The goal of the first three major chapters of this thesis was to present a basic synchronic description of Michif morphology and phonology without paying attention to historical source.
Chapter two describes basic Michif morphology. I showed that nominals are morphologically fairly impoverished, but that verbs, on the other hand, are quite complex. Much of this chapter focused on outlining verbal inflectional morphology. In addition to this description, I examined the notion of phonological word and claimed that the word in Michif is comprised of a root and possible affixes. There is further another morphological category which I simply call ‘minor categories’ which forms a phonological word on its own.
In chapter 3 I discuss the properties of the Michif syllable. I argue that the maximal
Michif syllable is CCCVC, but that the three-consonant clusters are constrained to sibilant+obstruent+glide. Furthermore, coda consonants are restricted to liquids (and glides, seen in chapter 8), where word-final consonants do not occupy a coda position. I also argued contra van Gijn (2000) that glides appear in onsets, rather than in nuclei, in Cree vocabulary items in Michif. Lastly, I show that syllabification occurs across affixal, but not minor category boundaries, supporting evidence from vowel inventories that morphological categories pattern differently from each other.
Chapters 4 and 5 describe Michif consonants and vowels, respectively. Chapter 4 outlines the phonological inventory of Michif consonants, divided by place and manner of articulation, giving examples of each consonant in both Cree and French source vocabulary wherever possible. I then showed the distribution of consonants based on position in the word
Chapter 9 Conclusions 260 and by morphological category, and gave examples of possible consonant clusters in Michif in word-initial, medial and final positions. Finally, I outlined some common Michif consonantal alternations. Chapter 5 follows a similar format: first I outline the heights, backness and qualities of Michif vowels, and next I show vowel distribution based on morphological category and stressed position. I showed that morphological categories have very different inventories for vowels: affixes contain fewer vowels, none of which are nasalized, while minor categories and stems have much richer vowel inventories. Lastly, I showed that there is variation in the rounded Michif vowels.
Chapter 6 sets aside Michif description to look at previous work on Michif and underlying assumptions present in said work. Nearly all previous research has assumed that
Michif is a unique language in the world in that it possesses a split grammar based on vocabulary source. In chapter 6 I show that a non-stratified account must be the default analysis and that there must be sufficient evidence to claim the contrary. I go on to show that this evidence is not actually present in the speakers I worked with; that a unified account of both the consonant and vowel inventories in Michif is possible and preferable, and that the stratified view of the language is based on the linguist’s, rather than the speaker’s knowledge. I also show that the patterning evidence cited by previous authors such as Rhodes (1986), Bakker
(1997) and Papen (2003) is not convincing in the Michif of my consultants for synchronic stratification. In some cases such as liaison the patterning is not a rule in Michif, but rather in one of the source languages (liaison, section 6.4.4.5), and for t-epenthesis, the environment for the rule does not apply to both vocabularies (section 6.4.4.7). In yet other cases, such as with the back vowel alternations (section 6.4.4.1), I have shown that a different phonemicization can correctly account for the data without claiming dual inventories.
Chapter 9 Conclusions 261
In chapters 7 and 8 I give two case studies of phonological patterning which are uniform across the two vocabulary sources in Michif, despite the fact that they are conflict sites between the two source languages. Chapter 7 shows that although French and Cree stress are not identical, Michif stress is applied with the same rules whether the item in question is of French or Cree origin. Chapter 8 moves onto -deletion in Michif, also showing that the same pattern is followed in both language sources: the same vowel is deleted in similar contexts. Crucially, a learner of Michif does not have any phonological cues from patterning with which to learn to stratify his or her grammar, which must call into question a stratificational analysis of Michif.
9.3 Prosodic domains in Michif Another theme that arises in this thesis is that we observe different patterning according to prosodic domains in Michif. These differences are found in both phonological distribution and phonological patterning. Specifically, in chapter 5 I showed that the vowel distribution in affixes is a subset of those found elsewhere in Michif: primarily lax vowels appear in affixes, while nearly all tense and nasalized vowels are found in the minor categories and roots. I also showed in chapter 3 that syllabification occurs across affixal, but not minor category, boundaries. Finally, in chapter 7 I showed that minor categories such as preverbs form a separate domain for stress assignment, while affixes attach to the root for form a single domain.
These facts combined make for compelling evidence that differences in Michif patterning stem from linguistic, and not language source, factors.
Chapter 9 Conclusions 262
9.4 Implications Although this thesis is an important part of studies on the Michif language, it has implications beyond this specific language. My findings should be important both to language contact studies and to the phonological literature on the stratification of the lexicon.
All linguistic work on Michif to the present has operated under the assumption that the language stratifies its grammar based on historical language source. It is held as the primary example of a language resulting from contact which maintains two distinct systems. The results of this study call into question this commonly held assumption in the contact literature. It should also prove interesting for the study of languages resulting from contact more generally, especially French in contact. Much research is currently being done on the results of contact within French-based creole languages, and this work should inform some of that work, as a typologically different contact language.
The findings for Michif also have implications on the phonological stratification literature more generally. Michif is a relatively young language which has had only a few generations to evolve into a coherent single system from two typologically different languages, and yet there are few signs of actual synchronic patterned stratification. Given this fact, it might be surprising that a well-established language such as Japanese, which started borrowing from
Chinese in the 5th century, would survive centuries with separate strata. In essence, Michif should be the quintessential stratified language. The fact that it is not should raise questions regarding the validity of the claim that older languages such as Japanese maintain different strata, especially given the current controversy over the stratification claim.
Chapter 9 Conclusions 263
9.5 Issues for further research There are a number of issues raised in this thesis but set aside for further research In terms of description, only word-level stress was described, and so phonological phrasing is an important next step in the study of the intonational patterns of Michif. Another area left largely undescribed is verbal derivation in Michif. Bakker (1997) says derivation is not as rich in
Michif as it is in Plains Cree, but a thorough investigation of verbal derivation could not be given proper treatment here, and so it will need to be left to further research. Note that for both of these studies it would be necessary to engage with more consultants, and especially to have running speech. I hope that this thesis will prove a good starting point to investigate these other important areas of Michif study.
In addition to the areas not investigated, it was found that there were limits on establishing certain rules of variation given the dataset I had. Vowel deletion or devoicing examined in chapter 8 is such a case. In order to properly study the conditions on vowel deletion, we need data from running speech from many speakers.
Lastly, this thesis stemmed from a more general interest in the results of language contact, specifically with French in North America. Although it touches on some of the types of things which can happen when two languages influence each other, it has principally served to describe the Michif language in a synchronic fashion. I hope to have shown that we can study
Michif patterns in their own right, in order to further the study of the results of language contact.
Michif should prove to be a fruitful testing ground for examining linguistic factors involved in language change. For example, given two competing systems in the sources, which one wins out? Will a more or less complex structure result in the new form? Michif may be able to help in answering these types of questions.
References
Anderson, A. (1997) Dr. Anne Anderson’s Métis Cree Dictionary. Duval House Publishing: Edmonton.
Bakker, P. (2004) ‘The verb in Michif.’ La Lawng: Michif Peekishkwewin Vol 2: Language Theory. L Barkwell, ed. Pemmican Publications.
------. (1997) A language of our own. Oxford University Press.
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Michif preverbs and other verbal minor categories: Abbreviation Marker Form PST Past tense ki FUT Future ka VOL Volitional wi IMMFUT Immediate Future nœ INC Inceptive mt OPT Optative do PROG Progressive at WANT “want” nht TRY “try” kakwe STOP “stop” pon COMP Complementizer REL Relativizer ka PURP Conjunct purpose marker t NEG Negator nm(ja) CJNEG Conjunct negator ka IMPNEG Imperative negator kaja
270 Michif verbal affixes (cont’d) 271
Michif verbal affixes Abbreviation Marker Form DIR Third and non-third -- participants – direct INV Third and non-third -kw- participants – inverse NON3DIR Both non-third participants – -- direct NON3INV Both non-third participants – -t- inverse DBL3 Third - third participants -e- 1 First person n- 2 Second person k- NON3 Non-third person -n 3 Third person -w 1PL 1st plural person -n 2PL 2nd plural person -ww 3PL Third plural person -ak NON3IN Non-third subject, inanimate -en object IN Third animate subject, -am inanimate object
272
Abbreviation Marker Form rd IM Impersonal 3 subject (IM) -n 1CJ First person conjunct -n 2CJ Second person conjunct -n 3CJ Third person conjunct -t 1PLCJ 1st plural person exclusive in - hk conjunct 1/2CJ 1st plural person inclusive in -ahkw conjunct 2PLCJ 2nd plural person in conjunct -hkw 3PLCJ Third plural person in - k conjunct 1/3CJ First person subject, third -k person object in conjunct 2O Second person object in -k conjunct IMP Imperative -h IMP1/2 First person inclusive -tn transitive imperative IMP1/2IN First person inclusive -tk intransitive imperative IMPOBV Obviative imperative object -m IMPPL Imperative plural -k REC Reciprocal -t REFL Reflexive - TR Transitiviser -h MRK Nominal marking see determiners