Prosodic structure in Ixtayutla Mixtec: Evidence for the foot by Kevin L. Penner A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Linguistics University of Alberta Examining committee: Dr. David Beck, Supervisor Dr. Anja Arnhold, Supervisory Committee Dr. Christian DiCanio, Supervisory Committee Dr. Stephanie Archer, Examiner Dr. Larry Hyman, External Examiner © Kevin L. Penner, 2019 Abstract Research on Mixtec languages (Otomanguean, Mexico), has long recognized a bimoraic/ bisyllabic “couplet” as an essential structure for the description of the phonology and morphology (e.g. Pike 1948; Josserand 1983); however, what exactly this structure is in terms of the struc- ture of the word, as well as the nature and extent of its influence in the grammar has not been adequately addressed. Most researchers have assumed that the couplet is the root, but this is prob- lematic since some synchronic roots are larger than a couplet, other couplets are multimorphemic and some couplets have a reduced form when not the stressed element in compounds. For a more adequate understanding of this structure, I turn to prosodic phonology where units of higher level phonological organization arranged in what is called the prosodic hierarchy form the domains for phonological patterns and provide the shapes of templates. Of particular relevance to the problem at hand is the foot, which is identified in the literature as a constituent between the syllable and the prosodic word in the prosodic hierarchy (Selkirk 1980a; Selkirk 1980b). Cross-linguistically, the foot is integrally connected to stress assignment, has a small inventory of basic shapes, plays an important templatic function in the synchronic and diachronic phonology of many languages and provides the domain for phonological rules and phonotactic generalizations. In this dissertation I show that the couplet in Ixtayutla Mixtec (IM), an underdescribed Mixtec variety spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico has all of these properties of the foot. I first show that the couplet is the locus of stress assignment in IM, a structure intermediate in size between the syllable and prosodic word and has the shape identified as a moraic trochee in Hayesʼ (1995) inventory of foot types. Although IM stress is not the iterative kind usually used in metrical arguments for the foot, Spanish loanword adaptation in IM clearly demonstrates that stress is obligatorily realized in a left-headed, bimoraic structure. ii iii Strong evidence that the couplet is a foot comes from the way this structure to which stress is assigned also functions templatically to create foot-sized structures. As the minimal word/root template, the foot triggers the synchronic augmentation of underlyingly monomoraic /CV(ˀ)/ struc- tures to bimoraic CV(ˀ)V. Fossilized stems also show how subminimal forms were combined to create foot-sized stems at an earlier stage of the phonology, while at the same time the foot pro- vides a template for the truncation of larger structures down to foot-size. Beyond mere size/shape, evidence for foot structure is seen, for instance, in the loss of unfooted, and therefore prosodically weak, pre-couplet vowels, as well as the loss of couplet-medial consonants, which stand in the weak position of the trochaic foot. Like the foot, the couplet also provides the domain for the realization of a number of diverse phonological patterns including distributional restrictions on contrastive laryngealization, nasalized segments, vowels, labial consonants, epenthetic laryngealization and tone. The end result of the foot-based analysis provided is in this dissertation a coherent explana- tion for a disparate set of phonological patterns encompassing the synchronic and the diachronic dimensions of the phonology. Preface This thesis is an original work by Kevin L. Penner. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “Documentation of Ixtayutla Mixtec”, ID: MS9_Pro00012477, April 21, 2010 (final renewal March 7, 2018). iv Dedication In memory of Alyssa Anne Penner 2006–2010 v Acknowledgments I would first like to acknowledge my Mixtec friends and consultants, who have spent count- less hours helping me learn and explore their language. I am particularly grateful to Primo Quiroz Quiroz, who invited me and my family to live among them, Miguel Quiroz Merino, who was my primary consultant and let our family live in his house for over a year, and Inez Merino Quiroz, who also provided a mountain of data, especially in the early days of my research. Other important Mixtec friends and consultants are Celerina Quiroz Merino, Andrea Hernandez Merino, Francisco Quiroz Merino and Andrés Quiroz Quiroz. I owe a debt of gratitude to the members of my supervising committee—Dr. David Beck, Dr. Anja Arnhold and Dr. Christian DiCanio—for the many hours they have devoted to this project, their challenging comments/questions and expert advice. I particularly thank my supervisor, David, for his patience, encouragement, expertise, commitment to excellence and repeated attempts to help me remember that this dissertation is just the beginning and not the last word about Ixtayutla Mixtec phonology. Thanks, also, to the other members of my committee, Dr. Larry Hyman and Dr. Stephanie Archer, for taking time to evaluate my dissertation and offer their insights. Thanks to Dr. Keith Snider for his input particularly in regard to the tone analysis; to Dr. Ben Tucker for serving on my candidacy committee, encouraging me and introducing me to acoustic analysis; to Dr. Scott Berthiaume for helping me with the initial analysis of vowel coalescence; to Robert Kirchner for his guidance on my initial descriptions of the tone system; to Dr. Antti Arpe and Stan Guedes for their help with statistics; and to Dr. Inga McKendry for her encouragement. Dr. Andy Black deserves a medal for developing the XLingPaper software I used to write this dissertation and for the one-on-one support he gave me. This dissertation would never have been completed vi vii without the help of these people and it is certainly a much better product for their input; but don’t blame them for the shortcomings that it still displays! My dear wife, Laurel, should be awarded a degree herself for her contribution in this project, preparing production experiment sound files for analysis, helping to populate my tone and Field- works databases, transcribing oral texts in ELAN for hours and hours and editing drafts of the dissertation. Beyond these practical helps, however, she has believed in me, when I did not believe in myself, endured my tirades and discouragement and shouldered extra family responsibilities be- cause of my long hours of work. I love you very much, Dear, and it’s clear that you love me, too. Thanks, also, to my children, Kyle, Gabrielle and Daniela, for your patience and love during the long journey to complete this project. May Alyssa, who passed away in the first year of my program, experience unbridled joy and peace in the loving arms of Papa. I also wish to express my gratitude for the considerable help and encouragement I have received from various others, without which I would not have made it through: to my parents for their unceasing prayers and encouragement; to my brother and his wife for letting me stay at their home in Edmonton; to Doug and Connie Inglis for discussions, friendship, coffee at Tim Horton’s, meals and a place to stay; to Greg and Chrisie Rector for letting me hide away in their loft to work undistracted for months; to Wayne Nelson for his friendship, hanging out with me early on Saturday mornings, encouraging me and praying with me; to Darcy Austin for his friendship, prayers, breakfasts and encouragement; to the guys in my Monday night group for the prayers and encouragement; and to my parents-in-law for their patience and many prayers. I would also like to thank SIL International for its financial support throughout the duration of my study program. The most important consequence of this PhD program has not been the linguistic knowledge and expertise I have developed, nor the contribution to the field that I believe my dissertation makes, but rather that it has made me face my fear of failure and taught me to cast myself upon the grace of my Heavenly Papa and to trust him a little more. It is my desire that this ancient heart-cry of the Psalmist would be true of me: viii Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.1 1 The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ps 73:23–26). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Contents Abstract ........................................... ii Preface . iv Dedication . v Acknowledgments . vi Abbreviations . xiii List of Tables . xvii List of Figures . xxi 1 Introduction . 1 2 Background to Ixtayutla Mixtec . 14 2.1 Language background . 14 2.2 The couplet in previous studies . 18 2.3 The syntax of Ixtayulta Mixtec . 24 2.4 Morphology . 33 2.4.1 Nominal morphology . 34 2.4.2 Verbal morphology . 37 2.4.3 Adjectives . 49 2.4.4 Summary . 51 2.5 Clitics . 52 3 Non-tonal phonology . 60 3.1 Vowels . 60 3.2 Consonants . 68 3.2.1 Voiceless consonants . 69 3.2.2 Voiced consonants . 72 ix x 3.2.3 Phonetically complex structures . 78 3.3 The syllable . 83 3.4 Stress . 88 4 Tonal phonology . 93 4.1 Tone in noun couplets .