Distributed Generative Masoretics V TIBERIAN HEBREW EXTERNAL GEMINATION: THE SPECIAL CASE OF SEGOL Vincent DeCaen Draft 3 2021-04-08 1. Introduction1 1.1. Tiberian Hebrew (TH) EXTERNAL GEMINATION2 targets a final /CV/ syllable. Its vowel must be lax /ɛ, ɔ/ versus tense /e, o/. The syllable must be unstressed, whether lexically or as the result of STRESS RETRACTION.3 External gemination is rule-ordered after all stress-shifting and is transparent in this respect. 1.2. As a first approximation, this syllable must precede the main stress of the following word.4 There are important qualifications that will be made in their place. Regardless, the output of the transformation is a closed syllable /CV/ → /CVC/ in which the epenthetic coda consonant is copied 1 Acknowledgements … 2 Thus, Dresher (1994: §3.2.2, pp. 10f) as the neutral cover term. The generic term is deḥiq (Aramaic ‘compressed’) (Ofer 2013b, Khan 2020: §I.2.8.1.2., §I.3.1.9). There is confusion surrounding the nomenclature and relation to the term athe meraḥiq (Aramaic ‘coming from afar’) (Ofer 2013a, 2013b, Yeivin 1980: §403, p. 289, etc.). Elsewhere, it is also termed conjunctive dagesh (Yeivin 1980: 289-293; hence Revell 1988, 1989) and dagesh euphonicum (Gesenius 1910: §20.2, pp. 71ff). This Masoretic term ‘compression’ suggests the rule-ordering of vowel lengthening /ɛ/ → [ɛ:] followed by compression of the long vowel by gemination. Khan (2020) argues that the vowel is phonetically half-long [ɛˑ] (pp. 444, 448, 535f). From a generative perspective, a Duke of York treatment is to be avoided. Gemination should properly precede and thus bleed a much later surface lengthening. Vowel half-length is then a matter of phonetic implementation. 3 Technically, traditional nesigah (Hebrew ‘retreat’) involves specifically a conjunctive accent moving to an open penultimate syllable (Revell 2013, 1987: §1.12, p. 13). The term STRESS RETRACTION here (cf. TH RHYTHM RULE: Dresher 1994: §3.2.3) covers all types of retraction or even outright elimination of the main stress to resolve a stress clash (μ)μ́μ́ → (μ́)μμ́. 4 The TH WORD defined by the white space in the consonantal text. This corresponds specifically to the ORTHOGRAPHIC WORD in the taxonomy of senses of TH word in Dresher (2008). 1 from the initial consonant of the following word.5 This SANDHI GEMINATION bleeds the rule of SPIRANTIZATION.6 1.3. There are apparently non-phonological constraints on the application of TH external gemination. Indeed, in the case of final /ɔ/, there are additional morphological constraints (Group 2 (yes gemination) vs. Group 3 (no) in Revell 1989: §2, pp. 86f). For this reason, the special case of segol /ɛ/, with its smaller, more tractable dataset, is the focus of the present study. The intention is to set a baseline for the extended study of qametz /ɔ/. 1.4. The dataset of 313 tokens7 is provided as an Appendix.8 Sadly, there are significant gaps. This is the case, e.g., with all nouns with penultimate stress, whether spelled with final aleph9 or he.10 However, the demonstrative [ʔé:llɛ:]11 ‘these’ is well enough attested, and indeed, is key to understanding external gemination. There is no token in the Aramaic texts. 5 TH gemination fails with the gutturals /ʔ, h, ħ, ʕ/ in this context as expected. Revell (1988, 1989) conventionally adds /v/ as a fifth term in this list of exceptions. However, the conjunction /vɔ/ ‘and’ appears as pausal [vɔ:] before main word stress (Revell 2015: ch. 6 on the pausal conjunctive waw with qameṣ). For example, the construction is [qɔ:nɛ́: vɔ:sú:f] in Isa. 18:6, never [qɔ́:nɛv vasú:f] with schwa. In short, the environment for external gemination with /v/ is eliminated by pausal lengthening. Indeed, prosodic phrasing and pausal alternations must precede all other postlexical phonology. However, it is fully expected that /ʀ/ appear in the list of exceptional gutturals. Curiously, [ʀʀ] does occur in external gemination against expectation as explained below. It is characterized as an advanced uvular trill [ʀ̟ ʀ̟ ] by Khan (2020: 224, 521). 6 The non-emphatic stops [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, b, d, g] become fricatives following a vowel within the same phonological phrase (Dresher 1994: §3.2.1, p. 10; see further Khan 2020: §I.3.1.10). 7 Revell (1989) cites the figure of 277 tokens with /ɛ/ with 17 exceptions = 6% (p. 86); 548 tokens with /ɔ/ in Group 2 (yes gemination) with 41 exceptions = 7% (p. 87); and 189 tokens with /ɔ/ in Group 3 (no gemination) with one exception = 1% (p. 87). Previously, he had cited respectively 11/242 (5%), 51/508 (10%), and 14/184 (8%) (1988: 96). 8 The database was created by grep and awk searches in the Westminster MORPH 4.20 edition of the Leningrad Codex and compared against Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Elliger et al. 1984) and Dotan’s exacting edition Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia (2001). The Jerusalem Crown (Breuer & Ofer 2000) was used as a proxy for the Aleppo Codex. The facsimile editions of Leningrad (Freedman 1998) and Aleppo (Goshen-Gottstein 1976) were directly consulted in problematic cases. I found two instances of missing gemination in BHS: Job 39:9 and Prov. 6:35. The latter instance is also missing in MORPH. On errors in BHS generally, see Khan (2020: I.3.1.14.). 9 The segolates in [ɛ́] (gɛ́:vɛ:, dɛ́:ʃɛ:, tˁɛ́:nɛ:, kʰɛ́:lɛ:, kʰɛ́:sɛ:, pʰɛ́:lɛ:, pʰɛ́:ʀɛ:) and the segolates in [ó] (gó:mɛ:, dó:vɛ:, só:vɛ). 10 The two segolates in [é] (né:ðɛ: and qé:sˁɛ:) and one in [ɛ́] (hɛ́:ʁɛ:). 11 The IPA transcription follows Khan (2020) throughout. The only departure permitted in the present study is that a TH accent is marked by an acute accent, and the secondary metheg (ga`ya) by a grave accent. The maqqeph or TH hyphen is represented by an em-dash, whereas a simple morpheme boundary by the regular en-dash. 2 1.5. This study considers in detail the phonological constraints: lax vowel (§2), unstressed syllable (§3), and following main word stress (§4). The analysis revolves around the fundamental concept of VIRTUAL DISJUNCTION as theorized by Price (2010).12 Augmented lexical entries for the particle [nɔ́:] ‘prithee’, etc. and the demonstrative pronoun [zɛ́:] ‘this’ set aside classes of exception. There is only one outright exception (not even a rounding error) to the TH law of external gemination (Ps. 54:8) that is not without great interest. 2. Condition: Lax Vowel 2.1. The feature [tense] is contrastive only for the TH mid vowels.13 There is a systematic TH contrast between the marked [-tense] /ɛ/ and [+tense] /e/, directly corresponding to the contrast between [-tense] /ɔ/ and [+tense] /o/. External gemination applies only in the case of the lax vowels /ɛ, ɔ/.14 2.2. The case of nouns is the most straightforward. Consider the contrast between (1) and (2). In (1), the morphologically FREE (ABSOLUTE) noun ending in lax /ɛ/ is phrased with an adjective. The main stress retreats to [miq] and external gemination is triggered [ʀ] → [ʀʀ].15 However, in (2) the BOUND (CONSTRUCT) noun ending in tense /e/ remains unaffected. 12 Revell (2015) explicitly rejects this theory of virtual disjunctive accents (n. 51, p. 41). However, his principal objections are answered by DeCaen & Dresher (2020). 13 DeCaen & Dresher (ms) … summary … 14 Yeivin (1980) lists one exception with long /o:/ in Ps. 17:10 (§408, 293): [ħɛlbɔ́:mos sɔ:ʁʀú:] chanted mereka athnach D1. Note that [sɔ:ʁʀú:] is non-pausal despite the major athnach. Consequently and perhaps not coincidentally, a major secondary stress falls on the heavy syllable [sɔ̀:ʁ]. It is not unlikely that an initial secondary stress may be sufficient in such cases. See Yeivin’s Ps. 17:10, 58:10 and Gen. 19:2 (the latter in /ɛ/ appears as (40) in §3.15.3.8) (§408). See further Revell (1989): Josh. 8:2, Ps. 31:20, 60:6 (§7.1), Lev. 19:14, 19:32, Ps. 30:4, 1 Chron. 4:10 (§7.2), Exod. 27:3 (§7.3), Exod. 15:11, Josh. 8:28 (§7.6). Yeivin also lists a handful of examples in long, high /i:/ and /u:/ (§408). It is not clear that his list is meant to be exhaustive. Indeed, there may not be a complete listing (Khan p.c.). Nevertheless, there appear to be generalizations. • In the examples in long /i:/, two of the three involve the personal name [jɔ́:h] ‘LORD’ with initial /j/ in Ps. 118:5 and 118:18. These two tokens offer the only such environments before [jɔ́:h]. • Otherwise, gemination is generally associated with long /u:/ including Ps. 20:9. • Yeivin notes that gemination is “more commonly” associated with a following schwa. • The book of Psalms is disproportionately represented. 15 Or perhaps [rrˁ] conditioned by the coronal syllable onset [n]. The geminate rhotic also obtains in the noun-adjective pairing [mà:ʕanɛʀ‒ʀá:χ] in Prov. 15:1. Contrast [kɔl‒ʕó:se: ʀɔ́:ʕ] in Mal. 2:17. 3 16 17 (1) (kʰí: miqnɛʀ‒ʀá:v)2f (hɔ́:jɔ: ló:)1 ‘for he had much cattle’ (2 Chron. 26:10)18 (2) (và:jhi:‒ló: miqne:‒sˁó:n)2f (wumiqné: vɔ:qɔ́:ʀ)1 ‘For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds’ (Gen. 26:14) 2.3. A similar contrast is observed among participles. In broad strokes, free forms such as those in (3) realize the progressive is doing (predicate) or doing (adjective).19 Crucially, external gemination takes place in (3a) [l] → [ll]. Bound forms such as those in (4)20 have the sense of doer (nomen agentis) or (he) who doeth (relative).