Register Circumfixes overwrite Downstep in Hausa and Chimiini S¨oren E. Tebay Universit¨at Leipzig January 29, 2019 S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 1 / 34 Main Claim Downstep Deletion in interrogative utterances can be modelled as circumfixation of h-register features. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 2 / 34 Table of Contents Introduction Data Automatic and Non-Automatic Downstep Downstep Deletion in Hausa Downstep Deletion in Chimiini Analysis Theoretical Background Automatic Downstep in Hausa Non-Automatic Downstep in Chimiini Discussion Conclusion S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 3 / 34 Introduction Introduction I Global phonological processes, such as phrasal accent, have been a problem for generative phonology with a strict concatenative view. I Q-Raising/Downstep Deletion in Hausa and Chimiini is one such process. I I argue these can be derived by circumfixing high register features to the domain of downstep. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 4 / 34 Introduction The Erasure Problem (Trommer, 2011) I Affixal registers behave different from underlying one. I Affixed registers spread through a whole domain whereas underlying register feature do not. I Solution: Contiguity constraint (cf. Trommer 2011) makes reference to both underlying and specifically to surface structure. (1) Contiguity(register) (=Cont(r)): Count one violation for every tonal root node ◦1, such that a. ◦1 is visibly associated to a register r1 of color c1 and b.r 1 is both preceded and succeeded by some register of color c2. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 5 / 34 Data Data S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 6 / 34 Data Automatic and Non-Automatic Downstep Automatic and Non-Automatic Downstep Automatic downstep I Automatic downstep is the lowering of the register after low tones. I All following high tones will be slightly lowered. Non-Automatic downstep I Non-Automatic downstep is the lowering of the register after high tones. I All following high tones will be slightly lowered. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 7 / 34 Data Downstep Deletion in Hausa Downstep Deletion in Hausa I In Hausa, automatic downstep is deleted in the last phonological phrase of a polar question. I Otherwise, high tones following low tones are downstepped in all contexts. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 8 / 34 Data Downstep Deletion in Hausa Downstep Deletion in Hausa II Yaa aik`a w`a Manii )ϕ l`aabaar`ın wann`an yaar`on al`aramm`a Yaa aik`a w`a Manii )ϕ l`aabaar`ın wann`an yaar`on al`aramm`a Figure 1: No Downstep in polar questions in Hausa (Inkelas & Leben, 1990, 22-23) S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 9 / 34 Data Downstep Deletion in Chimiini Downstep Deletion in Chimiini I In Chimiini, non-automatic downstep is deleted in the whole utterance of polar questions. I Otherwise, consecutive high tones are downstepped. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 10 / 34 Data Downstep Deletion in Chimiini Downstep Deletion in Chimiini II Figure 2: No Downstep in polar questions in Chimiini (Kisseberth, 2017, 235-237) S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 11 / 34 Analysis Analysis S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 12 / 34 Analysis Analysis Basic Idea: I A high register circumfix attaches to the domain of downstep deletion in questions. I A Contiguity constraint forces these registers to overwrite intervening high registers. I Since the tonal root nodes are occupied, docking/spreading of low register is blocked. I Hence, downstep is blocked in questions. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 13 / 34 Analysis Theoretical Background Theoretical Background I Colored Containment (van Oostendorp, 2007; Revithiadou, 2007) I Containment OT system: input has to be contained in each candidate. I Instead of deletion, association lines are marked as phonetically invisible. I The only morphological information that is available to the phonology are the differences in morphological affiliation (=color). I Epenthetic material has no morphological affiliation (=colorless). + Constraints can make reference to the surface structure and/or complete structure. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 14 / 34 Analysis Theoretical Background Theoretical Background II Register Tier Theory (Snider, 1990) I Autosegmental division between tones and registers. I Register features h and l on one tier. I Tone features H and L on another tier. I Both linked to tonal root nodes (◦). I Register features lower/raise pitch globally. I Tonal features lower/raise pitch locally. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 15 / 34 Analysis Theoretical Background Theoretical Background III (2) Representation of Downstep in the Register Tier Theory a. Automatic Downstep ◦ ◦ L = H l h b. Non-Automatic Downstep ◦ ◦ H = H h l h I I assume Share(low) and OCP(high) as the trigger of the two types of downstep. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 16 / 34 Analysis Theoretical Background Theoretical Background IV Pivot Theory of Affixation (Fitzpatrick, 2004; Yu, 2007) I Affixes are specified for the prosodic constituent and the position they attach to. + Extension: Affixes can also take large hosts like intonational phrases and phonological phrases. I One part of the circumfix is prefixed to the left edge of the phrase and the other part is suffixed to the right edge of the same phrase (cf. Trommer 2011). (3) Syntactic structure of a question CP C C0 [+wh] sentence S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 17 / 34 Analysis Theoretical Background Theoretical Background V (4) Constraints triggering downstep a. Share(low) (=Sh(l)) Count one violation for every pair of tonal root nodes, such that one of them is associated to a low register and the other one is not associated to that very same low register. b. ObligatoryContourPrinciple(high) (=OCP(h)) Count one violation for every pair of adjacent high registers on the register tier. (5) Constraints on Tonal Autosegmental structures a. Associate(N) (=As(N)) Count one violation for every node N that is not associated to a tonal root node. b. *F,G Count one violation for every tonal root node that is associated to a node F and a node G. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 18 / 34 Analysis Theoretical Background Theoretical Background VI + NoLineCrossing is violable (cf. Bagemihl 1989). (6) NoLineCrossing(register)(=NLC(r)) Count one violation for every ordered pair of register features r1 and r2 which are linked to tonal root nodes ◦1 and ◦2 such that a.r 1 is linked to ◦1 and b.r 2 is linked to ◦2 and c.r 1 precedes r2 d. but ◦1 succeeds ◦2. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 19 / 34 Analysis Automatic Downstep in Hausa Automatic Downstep in Hausa I I Automatic Downstep in Hausa is triggered by a Share(low) constraint. I Further spreading of underlying registers incurs fatal violation of Associate(low), since more low registers would have to be delinked. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 20 / 34 Analysis Automatic Downstep in Hausa Automatic Downstep in Hausa II (7) Evaluation of [. r`on Ť´al`aŤr´amm`a] – downstep ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ L H L H L (l) (h) (l) l h l h l Input: As NLC(r) Sh As *H,l ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ L H L H L a. l h l h l ∗∗∗!∗ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ L = H L = H L + b. l h l h l ∗∗ ∗∗ ∗∗ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ L = H = L = H = L c. l h l h l ∗!∗ ∗∗ ∗∗ S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 21 / 34 Analysis Automatic Downstep in Hausa Downstep Deletion in Hausa I I In questions, a high register cirumfix attaches to the last prosodic phrase of the utterance ( h -- h ). I A high ranked Contiguity constraint forces this circumfix to overwrite as many intervening high registers as possible. I It is not possible to overwrite low registers since Associate(low) is undominated. I Automatic downstep is blocked, since low register spreading would keep the high register cirumfix from docking – a violation of Contiguity. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 22 / 34 Analysis Automatic Downstep in Hausa Downstep Deletion in Hausa II (8) Derivation of [. r`on ´al`ar´amm`a?] – no downstep ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ (r) L H L H L (l) (h) (l) h l h l h l h Input: As Cont NLC(r) Sh As *H,l ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ L H L H L a. h l h l h l h ∗∗∗∗!∗ ∗∗∗∗ ∗∗ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ L = H L = H L +b. h l h l h l h ∗∗∗ ∗∗ ∗∗∗∗ ∗∗ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ L = H L = H L c. h l h l h l h ∗∗∗∗!∗ ∗∗ ∗∗∗∗ ∗∗ S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 23 / 34 Analysis Non-Automatic Downstep in Chimiini Non-Automatic Downstep in Chimiini I Downstep in declarative sentences in Chimiini consists of epenthetic low registers. I These are inserted due to an OCP(high) constraint. I They have to be associated, due to a high ranked Associate(low) constraint. I High registers are then delinked due to a high ranked constraint against multiple registers associated to one tonal root node. S. E. Tebay (U Leipzig) Downstep Deletion January 29, 2019 24 / 34 Analysis Non-Automatic Downstep in Chimiini Non-Automatic Downstep in Chimiini (9) Evaluation of a declarative sentence in Chimiini – downstep ◦ ◦ ◦ H H H (l) (h) h h h Input: *r,r As OCP(h) DEP(l) As ◦ ◦ ◦ H H H a. h h h ∗!∗ ◦ ◦ ◦ H = H = H + b.