Athabaskan Morphology LING 481/581 Winter 2011 Organization • Athabaskan language family • Athabaskan consonant inventories • Athabaskan word formation types Athabaskan language family (Athapaskan, Athabascan) [æTbæskn] Kwalhioqua- Tlatskanie Navajo Apachean languages Na-Dene language family Na-Dene Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak Eyak Proto-Athabaskan 2 5 0 CAY CBC NW Can 0 y Deg Xinag Witsuwit’en Tsek’ene r s. CAY = Central Alaska-Yukon; CBC = Central BC; NW Can = NW Canada Dene-Yeniseian: http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/dy/ Northern Athabaskan languages Deg Xinag (Ingalik) Tsek’ene (Sekani) Witsuwit’en (Babine) Athabaskan phonology • Witsuwit’en consonants labial alveolar palatal labio- uvular glottal velar stop p p p’ t t t’ c c c’ kw kw q q q’ / kw’ affricate ts ts ts’ t t t’ fricative s z ç xw X h nasal m n approx. l j w Uvular sounds in Witsuwit’en [qhE] ‘footwear’ [XE] ‘grease’ [ntq] ‘straight up’ [qis] ‘king (Chinook) salmon’ Ejectives Ejective vs. voiceless unaspirated stops and affricates Witsuwit’en [ntq] ‘straight up’ [nt’q] ‘your collarbone’ Tsek’ene [tsèh] ‘gum, pitch’ [mtsheh] ‘in front of him/her’ [ts’èh] ‘sinew’ Athabaskan morphology . Morphological processes affixation (simple cases) compounding ablaut position-class morphology (complex affixation) Major lexical categories in Ath. languages . Categories that affixes can be added to . nouns . verbs . postpositions . directional adverbs . adjectives Affixation (simple cases) Affixes to nouns. A possessive paradigm in Witsuwit’en: [to] ‘water’ [sto/] ‘my water’ [nto/] ‘your (sg.) water’ w [nx to/] ‘your (pl.), our water’ [pto/] ‘his/her/its water’ [hpto/] ‘their water’ Morphological analysis root, free morpheme to ‘water’ -/ possessed affixes (bound morphemes) suffix s- ‘my’ prefixes n- ‘your (sg.)’ nxw- ‘our, your (pl.)’ p- ‘his, her, its’ hp- ‘their’ Adpositions Prepositions: preposition - noun count for me verb preposition noun Postpositions: noun – postposition. Witsuwit’en: [s- pe c’otw] me for you (sg.) count noun postposition verb ‘count for me’ Affixation to postpositions [spe] ‘for me’ [mpe] ‘for you (sg.)’ [nxwpe] ‘for us, you (pl.)’ [ppe] ‘for him, her, it’ [hppe] ‘for them’ Morphological analysis Prefixes to nouns/postpositions: sg pl 1 person s- n xw- 2 person n/m- 3 person p- hp- Nouns vs. postpositions Really different categories? Yes. Two morphological differences between nouns and postpositions in Witsuwit’en. 1. Prefixation to nominal vs. postpositional objects of verbs with third person singular subject Nouns: p- 3sg. possessor. -le ‘hand’ (noun) h ple yunq at ‘hei slapped hisj hand’ his hand he slapped it Postpositions: y- 3sg. object of postposition. -le ‘hand to’ (postposition) yle yin/ay ‘hei handed it to himj’ hand to him he handled it 2. Reflexive (‘-self’) prefixes to nouns vs. postpositions. Nouns: t- reflexive used with third person singular subjects only – -ne/ ‘mother’ (noun) • sne/ pq’Esy’ ‘I love my mother’ my mother I love her • tne/ yq’Entsy’ ‘she loves her mother’ her mother she loves her Postpositions: t- reflexive used with subjects of all persons and numbers – - ‘with’ (postposition) • t neyecltc ‘I’m talking to myself’ with self I’m talking • t neyeltc ‘she’s talking to herself’ with self she’s talking Directional adverbs tq ‘up’ jq ‘down’ nq ‘uphill, back’ tshn’ ‘downhill’ nu/ ‘upstream’ te/ ‘downstream’ ns ‘ahead’ ni/ ‘behind’ /n ‘side’ /ats ‘side, outside’ jen ‘across’ Affixes to directional adverbs Prefixes n- neutral distance ts’e- ‘in a straight, direct line’ te-, nte- ‘right here’ u-, i- ‘way out there’ Suffixesw- ? -xw~-xwy ‘in general area in direction’ -t~-tst ‘at place in direction’ -ts ~ -tits ‘from place in direction’ -sts’n ~ -sts’y ‘other side of place in direction’ -li, -sljez ‘further, little ways further in direction’ Directional adverb examples to tq /ce ‘there is high water’ ntqstits hanje ‘he came down from above’ ts utq hatit’ay ‘the mountain sticks way up’ schnle utxw nesje ‘he walked around above timberline’ -zeq utxw ‘roof of mouth’ njqstits hanje ‘he came up from below’ -tshole ujxw ‘under the tongue’ Compounding • Noun + noun examples. Varying degrees of compositionality. – tho ‘water’ + tsut ‘coat’ = ‘raincoat’ – -nin ‘face’ + ts’n ‘bone’ = ‘cheek bones’ – tni ‘person’ + nin ‘face’ = ‘penny’ – wq’z ‘cold’ + u ‘tooth’ = ‘icicle’ – c’tsht ‘ruffed grouse’ + qhE ‘foot’ =‘the letter X’ – tlkw’aX ‘frog’ + netc ‘blanket’ =‘broad-leaved plantain’ Verbal time categories in Athabaskan • imperfective: uncompleted action, state • perfective: completed action, state • future: action, state to take place in future (some degree of certainty) • optative: wish for future action, state Witsuwit’en has all four categories. Tsek’ene has all four categories, except future > immediate future. Deg Xinag has largely abandoned the optative. Imperfective is used instead (with adverbs). Ablaut in Witsuwit’en verb root impf/opt perfective future -/qes/ ‘scratch hard’ –[qes] –[qez] –[qs] -/qz/ ‘do with arms’ –[qis] –[qz] –[qs] Ablaut patterns: /e/ --> // in the future // --> /i/ in the imperfective/optative (Voicing changes to the root-final consonant are predictable, analyzable as affixation of phonological feature [±voiced].) Complex affixation: Affixation to verbs • Unusual features of verbs in Athabaskan languages 1. Position class morphology: prefix order restrictions Verb prefix positions Root Suffix postposition/adverbial12 – iterative11 negative - tense – multiple10 – negative9 – incorporated root8 – inceptive7 – distributive plural6 – pronominal object/subject5 – qualifier4 – tense/neg3 – subject2 – valence1 2. Discontinuous morphemes. Form: affixa + affixb + ... = ‘’ Some examples of discontinuous morphemes: we9-i3- ... -l perfective negative we9-s3- ... -/ non-perfective (impf, fut, opt) negative je10-t4- ‘all over’ nepe12- ‘in circle’ nepe12-t4- ‘turn around’ u3- ... -/ optative Some verbs (dictionary entry) • Simple cases. Verb = bound root – -jin ‘sg./du. stand’ – -tseq ‘be lightweight’ – -/as ‘du./group goes, walks’ – -/a ‘sun, moon goes’ Some verbs (actual words) • Minimal verb word: dictionary form of verb + tense affix(es) • Some verb words based on: – -jin ‘sg./du. stand’ • [hjin] ‘he’s standing’ []3- imperfective (Phonology in this example: epenthetic word-initial [h]) • [ujin’] ‘let him stand’ [u]3- ... -[/] optative More verbs (dictionary form) Complex cases. Verb = prefix(es) + root O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’ t4-t1-/as ‘du. pick berries (while walking around)’ O = object required (transitive verb) Some more verb words 1. [tci ujin] ‘he/she is picking huckleberries’ Morphemes in this example: tci ‘huckleberry’ O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’ 3- imperfective Phonology in this example: Ø / u __ 2. [c’ojin] ‘he/she is picking (something)’ Morphemes in this example: O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’ 3- imperfective c’5- unspecified object Additional phonology in this example: c’ + u c’o 3. [c’onjin] ‘he/she is picking (round things)’ Morphemes in this example: O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’ 3- imperfective c’5- unspecified object n4- ‘round’ 4. [wec’onsjin’] ‘he/she isn’t picking (round things)’ Morphemes in this example: O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’ 3- imperfective c’5- unspecified object n4- ‘round’ we9-s3-... -/ non-perfective negative Order restrictions within position 3: 3- impf > s3- negative Additional phonology in this example: n + / n’ 5. [wec’onzsjin’] ‘I’m not picking (round things)’ Morphemes in this example: O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’ 3- imperfective c’5- unspecified object n4- ‘round’ we9-s3-... -/ non-perfective negative s2- 1sg. subject Additional phonology in this example: /s/ [z] / ___ V 6. [wec’onthzisyit] ‘I won’t pick (round things)’ Morphemes in this example: O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’ c’5- unspecified object n4- ‘round’ we9-s3-... -/ non-perfective negative s2- 1sg. subject h t 3-i3-...- future Order restrictions within position 3: h3 t - fut > s3- negative Additional phonology in this example: Ø / th __ C // + / t /n/ Ø / ___ C]syllable Morphemes in 6. ‘I’m not going to pick (round) things’ negative round 1 sg. subject [we- c’- o- n- th- [] z- i- s- ji -t -] unspecified object future ‘pick (berries) while stationary’ Athabaskan word formation: summary • Lexical categories: nouns vs. postpositions • Word formation types in Ath languages – Ablaut – Compounding – Affixation • with nouns, postpositions: relatively simple (one or two bound morphemes per word) • with verbs: multiple prefixes possible, prefixes strictly ordered (position classes), discontinuous morphemes .