The Phonology and Phonetics of Jamaican Creole Reduplication
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THE PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS OF JAMAICAN CREOLE REDUPLICATION DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Shelome A. Gooden, B.A., M.A. ****** The Ohio State University 2003 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Donald C. Winford, Co-adviser ________________________ Co-advisor Associate Professor Elizabeth V. Hume, Co-adviser Linguistics Graduate Program Professor Mary M. Beckman ________________________ Co-adviser Linguistics Graduate Program i © Copyright by Shelome Gooden 2003 i ABSTRACT This dissertation is an extensive treatment of the phonological and phonetic properties of Jamaican Creole (JC) reduplication. While reduplication is thought to be a typical feature of Creole languages and has been studied in the past, to date little work has been done on the phonetic or morpho-phonological properties of the process. Complementing the analysis of reduplication developed in this work, is an analysis of the prosodic system of the language. The analysis posited, treats the prosodic system of JC as a stress-based system in which lexical contrasts are signaled by differences in the alignment of the F0 contour with the word. Reduplication processes in JC are similar in form and semantics to those found in other Caribbean English Creoles. The processes are described and analysed from an Optimality Theoretic perspective. The phonological aspect focused on delimiting the constraints on the segmental properties of reduplication processes. The observation is that the JC reduplicant is a prosodic foot which copies its base completely. Further, it is shown that when the required phonological conditions cannot be satisfied, there is no reduplication. The phonetic aspect investigated how the phonological constraints on reduplication interact with the phonetic properties of reduplicated words. Particular ii attention is paid to intensive and distributive reduplication processes, which yield segmentally identical words. Specifically, it is shown that distributive reduplications pattern like other words in the language. Consequently, they are treated as a single prosodic word with a single nuclear pitch accent. Intensive reduplications pattern differently and are analysed as two prosodic words with a prenuclear pitch accent and a nuclear pitch accent. This work has import firstly for our understanding of the productivity and scope of reduplication in Jamaican Creole. It also contributes to our understanding of the relationship between word-level prosody and the semantic functions of reduplicated words in Creole languages in general. Thus, this dissertation represents an important step towards our understanding of the relatively understudied area of Creole prosodic systems. iii Dedicated to my grandparents, Lois and Vaughn iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For the existence of this dissertation I am indebted to a great many people. For my intellectual growth, I owe a great deal to my advisors. Donald Winford’s advice both academic and personal has helped me to keep focused over the years. I consider myself blessed to have found teacher, mentor, advisor and friend in him. Elizabeth Hume has been supportive, insightful and patient during my own quest to understand the inner workings of my ‘mother tongue’. Mary Beckman has provided excellent council and support for my research on this project. Thanks also to my former teachers Hubert Devonish and Silvia Kouwenberg at the UWI Mona campus who planted the seed of interest in academic research. I especially thank Hubert Devonish for continual discussions of my research which include but are not limited to, long phone calls and prolonged office hour meetings. Thanks also for giving me access to the research facilities in the Linguistics Department at Mona during my visits home and helping me find ‘hard to find’ books and manuscripts. My fieldtrips to Jamaica were supported by the Department of Linguistics, the Office of International Affairs and the Graduate School at OSU. I thank all those v involved with the different travel committees for helping me obtain the financial support for my research. Thanks also to the administrative and computer support staff in the department, especially Jim Harmon, for technical help and for giving me more than fair share of server space to store my many sound files. I appreciate the support and help I received from my fellow graduate students. I want to thank especially Hope Dawson, Michelle Ramos-Pellicia, Misun Seo and Huang Tsan for friendship, and more importantly, sisterhood. Members of the Phonies and Changelings discussion groups in the department deserve thanks as well for providing forums for discussing my work. The incessant prayers of my mother, Hazel, and my grandmother, Agatha, have sustained through the years and my daddy, Haskel taught me that possibilities are endless and encouraged me to pursue my goals. Finally I would also like to acknowledge the support of the citizens of the Top Alston community who have been patient enough to endure my many questions about patwa. Special thanks to Sister Gloria, Miss Addy and Miss Brown for taking the time to provide me with meals. vi CURRICULUM VITAE September 6th, 1973 ......................................Born - Clarendon, Jamaica W.I. 1993.................................................................B.A. (Honors) Linguistics, University of the West Indies, Jamaica 2002.................................................................M.A. Linguistics, Ohio State University 1997- 2001.......................................................Graduate Teaching and Research Associate The Ohio State University 2001 - 2003......................................................Editorial Associate Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages PUBLICATIONS Research Publication 1. (2002). Past Time Reference in Belizean Creole. UPenn Working Papers in Linguistics. Vol. 8:3. Selected Papers from NWAV 30. 2. (2003a). Reduplication in Jamaican Creole: Semantic Functions and Prosodic Constraints. In S. Kouwenberg (ed). Twice as Meaningful: Reduplication in Pidgin and Creoles. Westminster Creolistics Series Volume 8. London. Battlebridge Publications. pgs. 93-103. vii 3. (2003b). with Silvia Kouwenberg and Darlene LaCharité. Jamaican Creole Reduplication: An Overview. in S. Kouwenberg (ed). Twice as Meaningful: Reduplication in Pidgin and Creoles. Westminster Creolistics Series Volume 8. London. Battlebridge Publications. pgs. 105 -110. 4. (2003c). with D. Winford, H. Dawson and R. Dodsworth. OSU Working Papers in Linguistics. Studies in Language Contact and Language Change. 5. (2003d). Prosodic Contrast in Jamaican Creole Reduplication. In Ingo Plag (ed). The Phonology and Morphology of Creole Languages. Linguistische Arbeiten. Tübingen. Niemeyer. pgs. 193 - 208. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Linguistics Minor Fields: Phonology, Creole Linguistics, Sociolinguistics viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract................................................................................................................................ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iii Acknowledgement...............................................................................................................v Vita....................................................................................................................................vii List of Maps......................................................................................................................xiii List of Tables....................................................................................................................xiv List of Tableau ..................................................................................................................xv List of Figures.................................................................................................................xviii Chapters: 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................1 1.1. Overview.................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Goals of the Study.................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Phonological Aspects............................................................................................... 5 1.4. Phonetic Aspects.................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Broader Implications............................................................................................... 13 1.6. Theoretical Assumptions ....................................................................................... 14 1.6.1. Optimality Theory....................................................................................... 15 1.6.2. Metrical Theory .......................................................................................... 20 1.7. Structure of the dissertation ................................................................................... 25 ix 2. Reduplication in Jamaican Creole and Other Caribbean English Creoles.....................28 2.1. Introduction........................................................................................................... 28 2.2. Reduplication in Jamaican Creole..........................................................................30