Tone-driven Vowel Epenthesis in Wamey Jack Merrill & Nik Rolle 5/12/20 Wamey tone-driven ǝ-epenthesis We argue (following Santos 1996) that in Wamey, [ǝ] is inserted to host a floating H tone after a linked L tone CVC root Tone pattern Surface -guv H -gúv ‘braid’ -guk L -gùk ‘be soft’ -gox HL -gôx ‘stay away’ -gwaf LH -gwàfǝ́ ‘sell’ 2 Tone-driven vowel epenthesis Intonation: pragmatic/discourse-based use of pitch Tone: grammatical/lexical use of pitch • Both analyzed with H, L, etc. • Both analytical traditions make frequent use of floating tones o I.e. a tone not underlyingly linked to a Tone-Bearing Unit (TBU) • In a number of languages, intonational floating tones are described as conditioning the insertion of a vowel to serve as its host o Roettger (2017), Roettger & Grice (2019); case studies in Sardinian (Torres-Tamarit et al. 2015, 2017), Galician (Martínez-Gil 1997), Moroccan Arabic (Dell & Elmedlaoui 2002), and Tunisian Arabic (Hellmuth in press), Bari Italian (Grice et al. 2015, 2018) 3 Intonational vowel epenthesis Example: Tashlhiyt Berber (Roettger 2017: 98) • In /tfsχt/ ‘you cancelled,’ there is no TBU to host an intonational H • Possible responses include epenthesis of [ǝ] to host the H: • Note that these cases seem to always involve optionality 4 Tone-driven vowel epenthesis However, in the realm of (grammatical/lexical) tone, it has been claimed that a floating tone does not condition the insertion of a TBU • de Lacy 2003, Blumenfeld 2006, Gleim 2019 The existing claim is that segmental epenthesis is always motivated by the segmental context We argue that Wamey is a strong counterexample to this claim • Wamey exhibits a phenomenon of ǝ-epenthesis that is entirely motivated by tone 5 The Wamey language Wamey/Konyagi (endonym wæ-mèỹ): • ~18,000 speakers in Senegal and Guinea • Part of the Tenda subgroup within Niger-Congo Bassari Tenda Bedik Wamey Documentation: • Some very limited documentation before Santos • Santos (1996): grammar + ~4000 entry lexicon 6 Fula Sereer Wolof Wamey Bassari Bedik Pajade Biafada Kobiana (S), Kasanga (N) Bainunk languages Cangin languages Nalu, Mbulungish Joola languages Manjak, Mankanya, Pepel Balanta Bijogo Southern Atlantic 7 Wamey consonant inventory labial coronal palatal velar labiovel. vl. stop p t c k kw (vl.) cont. f r s x xw vd. stop b d j g gw w l vd. cont. y v ry implosive ɓ ɗ ƴ nasal m n ñ ŋ ŋw nas. cont. w̃ l̰ ỹ vl. prenas. mp nt nc nk nkw vd. prenas. mb nd nj 8 Wamey vowel inventory high i u mid e ǝ o low æ a • No long vowels (assimilated V-V possible across morpheme boundary) • All vowels can appear in a root, including /ǝ/ e.g. æ̀ -mpǝ̀nk ‘wooden sword,’ lǝ̀n ‘snake’ But there are restrictions on /ǝ/, e.g.: • Cannot appear word-initially • No /Cǝ/ roots. 9 Wamey tone • Two underlying tones: H, L • No tone-bearing consonants • Surface falling (HL) and rising (LH) contours are found on a single TBU, but subject to restrictions— notably, only on stem-final syllable o Note: rising (LH) tone most often realized as a mid tone • All four surface tones are possible on a final vowel (other than ǝ, æ) wæ̀ -ɓùyá ‘puffy pants’ wæ̀ -ɓúmbà ‘earthen roundhouses’ wæ̀ -ɓùñâ ‘gifts’ wæ̀ -cémǎ ‘molars’ 10 Wamey tone • Furthermore, a LH contour must be preceded by a H tone — no L.LH o No similar restriction on HL L.HL kòmbô ‘sorghum’ H.HL ì-támpûl ‘navel’ H.LH æ̀ -ŋómpě ‘falcon’ *L.LH 11 *CC-driven ǝ-epenthesis in Wamey • CC clusters are not attested tautomorphemically • When they arise across a morpheme boundary, 3 possible responses: a) Do nothing — used in e.g. reduplication, compounding væ̀ -njæ̀ g-ƴæ̀ g ‘jaw joints,’ æ̀ -nkə́l̰-fǽc ‘first rooster crow’ b) Delete a consonant /-mǝ́t-ryǽry/ ‘make war + ASSOC’ → -mǝ́tǽry ‘fight’ c) Insert ǝ /-ƴív-má/ ‘be well + DURATIVE’ → -ƴívǝ́má ‘be always well’ 12 *CC-driven ǝ-epenthesis Whether C-deletion or ǝ-epenthesis is employed depends on the identity of the morphemes, as well as grammatical factors (e.g. negation) • For example, with “adverbial” verbal suffixes, ǝ is inserted, but with more ‘core’ verbal suffixes (mostly valence-changing), the suffix-initial C is deleted Our analysis of *CC resolution differs quite a bit from Santos’ analysis, which notably requires a few suffixes to be ǝ-final underlyingly Lots more to say about this *CC ǝ-epenthesis phenomenon, but as it’s completely separate from tone-driven ǝ-epenthesis, we’ll leave it for now 13 Tone patterns on Wamey roots On surface CVC roots: L ì-cæ̀ w̃ ‘hiding’ H ì-cǽw̃ ‘urinating’ HL ì-cæ̂ w̃ ‘domestic animal’ *LH *ì-cæ̌ w̃ 14 Tone patterns on Wamey roots 4 common surface patterns: • 1 - monosyllabic roots CVC • 2- roots ending in schwa CVCə • 3- bisyllabic roots ending in a vowel other than schwa CVCV • 4- those ending in a consonant CVCVC (with any vowel in either position) 1 - cvc 2 - cvcə 3 - cvcv 4 - cvcvc cv́c cv̂c *cv́cə́ *cv́cə̀ cv́cv́ cv́cv̀ cv́cv́c cv́cv̀c cv̀c *cv̌c *cv̀cə̀ cv̀cə́ cv̀cv̀ cv̀cv́ cv̀cv̀c cv̀cv́c 15 Tone patterns on Wamey roots • Roots of the shape [cv̀cə́] are very common [æ̀ -mbə̀ỹə́] ‘leper’ [à-l̰ə̀nkwə́] ‘imbecile’ [dòlə́] ‘today’ [ì-còkə́] ‘to weld’ • Types 3 CVCV and 4 CVCVC (with vowels other than final [ə]) demonstrate that there is no general ban on all H- or all L-toned words, nor a ban on transitions from H to L 1 - cvc 2 - cvcə 3 - cvcv 4 - cvcvc cv́c cv̂c *cv́cə́ *cv́cə̀ cv́cv́ cv́cv̀ cv́cv́c cv́cv̀c cv̀c *cv̌c *cv̀cə̀ cv̀cə́ cv̀cv̀ cv̀cv́ cv̀cv̀c cv̀cv́c 16 Tone patterns on Wamey roots • Just as cvc and CVCə roots are in complementary tonal distribution, CVCVC and CVCVCə roots are as well • Several mono-morphemic nominal roots of the shape [cv́cv̀cə́] exist [ì-pófòlə́] ‘ankle’ [ì-pǽl̰æ̀ cə́] ‘horse’ [ì-búl̰ùnə́] ‘wasp’ [ryénkànə́] ‘antelope species’ 5 - cvcv 6 - cvcvc 7 - cvcvcə cv́cv̂ cv́cv̌ cv́cv̂c (?cv́cv̌c) *cv́cv́cə́ *cv́cv̀cə̀ *cv́cv́cə̀ cv́cv̀cə́ cv̀cv̂ *cv̀cv̌ cv̀cv̂c *cv̀cv̌c *cv̀cv́cə́ *cv̀cv̀cə̀ *cv̀cv́cə̀ cv̀cv̀cə́ 17 Type frequency of tone patterns on roots/stems CVC roots (n=1625) CVCV stems (n=589) CVCVC stems (n=724) H cv́c 610 H(H) cv́cv́ 209 H(H) cv́cv́c 231 L cv̀c 795 L(L) cv̀cv̀ 27 L(L) cv̀cv̀c 83 HL cv̂c 47 HL cv́cv̀ 38 HL cv́cv̀c 18 LH cv̀cǝ́ 173 LH cv̀cv́ 293 LH cv̀cv́c 233 HHL cv́cv̂ 0 HHL cv́cv̂c 25 LHL cv̀cv̂ 16 LHL cv̀cv̂c 81 HLH cv́cv̌ 6 HLH cv́cv̀cǝ́ 18 LLH cv̀cv̌ 0 LLH cv̀cv̀cǝ́ 35 Most disyllabic stems contain a suffix (e.g. -á ‘anticausative’), so the counts are skewed in favor of certain patterns 18 Tone patterns on Wamey roots Derivations: i. H H ii. L L iii. H L H L iv. L H L H → | → | → \/ → | | cvc cv́c cvc cv̀c cvc cv̂c cvc cv̀cə́ 19 Tone patterns on Wamey roots • All consonants allowed in coda position (at all prosodic constituent levels, e.g. p-word, p-phrase, i-phrase) • ǝ-epenthesis in these roots cannot be attributed to any segmental factor […v̀cə́] […v̀c] […v̀cv́c] […v́c] […v̂c] i. [ì-pófòlə́] [ì-ɓòl] [ì-tàmból] [xóról] [l̰ə̀m və́pôl] ‘ankle’ ‘to refuse’ ‘to climb to the top’ ‘whistling viper’ ‘paternal aunt’ (mère du pénis) ii. [ì-pǽl̰æ̀ cə́] [ì-kæ̀ c] [ì-ŋàbə́c] [ì-mǽc] [kùmpôc] ‘horse’ ‘skin’ ‘to take a big share’ ‘to flood’ ‘pumpkin and peanut dish’ 20 Definite determiners Further evidence that [cv̀cǝ́] roots are underlyingly C-final: • The enclitic definite determiner =ŋǎ~ỹǎ~w̃ ǎ (form dependent on noun class) has a “short variant” =ǎ after C-final roots. /æ-tǝ́x=ŋǎ/ → æ̀ -tǝ́xǎ ‘the tree’ vs. /i-ɓú=ŋǎ/ → ì-ɓúŋǎ ‘the baobab fruit’ /i-líyá=ỹǎ/ → ì-líyáỹǎ ‘the tool’ • This “short variant” is used after [cv̀cǝ́] roots— interestingly with a surface long vowel after the root-final C Ⓗ /æ-mbǝ̀l =ŋǎ/ → æ̀ -mbǝ̀láǎ ‘the milk’ Ⓗ /i-bìn =ŋǎ/ → ì-bìnáǎ ‘the ant’ 21 [ə]-alternating suffixes in Wamey • Thus far, the simpler analysis is one which posits less structure rather than more, i.e. underlyingly CVC • However, roots show no active alternations which could provide direct evidence to the learner for V-epenthesis or V-retention • Fortunately, we can turn to affixal morphemes for evidence, which do show alternations between [C]-final and [Cə]-final variants • These pattern underlyingly as [C]-final based on how they condition following suffixes, and therefore support V-epenthesis 22 [ə]-alternating suffixes in Wamey 3SG.PFTV [-k]~[-kə́] ì-cǽs ‘to suffer’ cǽsə́-k ‘he suffers’ (il souffre - [S96:43]) ì-tòk ‘to eat’ tókə̀-kə́ ‘he ate’ (il a mangé – [S96:43]) 2PL.IMP [-n]~[-nə́] ƴə̀ɗ-ə́ry-æ̀ kə́-n ‘give (it)!’ (donnez donc! - [S96:554]) tòk-ə́ryì-nə́ ‘eat!’ (mangez! - [S96:220]) ADJ1 [-ǽx]~[-æ̀ xə́] ì-ƴǽk ‘be hot’ wə̀-nkà wæ̀ -ƴǽk-ǽx ‘hot water’ (de l'eau chaude - [S96:183]) ì-gùk ‘be sliced’ wæ̀ -wə́d wæ̀ -wùk-æ̀ xə́ ‘sl. mangos’ (des mangues talées - [S96:107]) ADJ2 [-ák]~[-àkə́] (after stem final [a]) ì-dáñá ‘to sit down’ dáñá-ák ‘seated’ (assis - [S96:200]) ì-ɓávà ‘to (still) be green’ ɓávà-àkə́ ‘still green’ (encore vert - [S96:115]) 23 [ə]-alternating suffixes in Wamey …C# ~ …Cə# Gloss S96 term i. [-k] [-kə́] ≈3SG.PERFECTIVE indice personnel minimal (ps. min.) [-ɗ] [-ɗə́] IMPERFECTIVE1 imperfectif [-nd] [-ndə́] IMPERFECTIVE2 imperfectif à l’énonciatif antérieur, l’impératif, i.a. [-n] [-nə́] 2PL.IMPERATIVE impératif (deuxième personne du pluriel) ii. [-ǽx] [-æ̀ xə́] ADJECTIVAL1 adjective [-ák] [-àkə́] ADJECTIVAL2 adjective [-ǽk] [-æ̀ kə́] ANTERIOR modalité verbale d’antériorité [-(ry)ǽry] [-(ry)æ̀ ryə́] ASSOCIATIVE associative [-(x)ǽl̰] [-(x)æ̀ l̰ə́] LOCATIVE locative 24 [ə]-alternating suffixes in Wamey Ⓗ Root /-k / CVC H /də́c/ ‘fart’ [lə́cə́-k] Ⓗ LH /ƴòmp / ‘slack (not taut)’ [yòmpə́-k] L /tòk/ ‘eat’ [tòkə̀-kə́] HL /yôj/ ‘bring’ [yójə̀-kə́] CVC+ H /ƴáry-í/ ‘baptize-PASS’ [yáryí-k] LH /tòk-í/