Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:37:46.412Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A phonological account of Tlapanec (Mè’phàà) tonal alternation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2019

HIROTO UCHIHARA Open the ORCID record for HIROTO UCHIHARA [Opens in a new window]  and
GREGORIO TIBURCIO CANO
HIROTO UCHIHARA*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
GREGORIO TIBURCIO CANO*
Affiliation:
Secretaría de Educación de Guerrero
*
Authors’ address: Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Mario de la Cueva, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Ciudad de México, Mexicohirotouchihara81@gmail.com
Authors’ address: Calle Huehuetepec No. 14, Zilacayotitlán, municipio de Atlamajalcingo del Monte, estado de Guerrero, Mexico
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Tlapanec (Mè’phàà) is known for its enigmatic tonal alternation in verb forms according to person and aspect-mode categories, in addition to suppletion and other segmental alternations. In this paper, we argue that the tonal alternations observed in Tlapanec regular agentive verbs can be straightforwardly accounted for by phonology, without resorting to any extreme abstractness: the lexical tones of the prefixes and the verb stems, with underspecification and floating tones, and cross-linguistically common tone processes such as tone spreading and floating tone docking. Such a phonological (or a morpheme-based) approach is contrasted with a word-based approach, where tonal alternations are viewed as inflectional classes. We show that the phonological approach is more adequate than a word-based approach.

Keywords

paradigm complexityphonologyTlapanectoneword-based morphology
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , November 2020 , pp. 807 - 863
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We would like to thank Shun Nakamoto, Kevin Cline, Néstor Hernández-Green and Carolyn O’meara for their valuable insights, and three anonymous referees of the Journal of Linguistics for their critical but constructive feedback, which significantly improved the paper. A previous version of this paper was presented at the Third Conference on the Sound Systems of Latino America at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in October 2018; we are grateful to the organizers and participants of the conference. This project was funded by the project PAPIIT-IN404019, ‘Complejidad paradigmática y tonal de las lenguas otomangues’, at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The first author contributed the majority of the analysis, and the second author provided the data. Both authors worked together to check the data.

Glossing abbreviations follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules (http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php). The following is the list of abbreviations employed in this paper: 1, 2, 3 = first, second, third person; A, B, C = Class A, B, C; cmp = completive; ex = exclusive; H = high tone; in = inclusive; incmp = incompletive; L = low tone; M = mid tone; OCP = Obligatory Contour Principle; pl = plural; pot = potential; sg = singular; TAM = tense-aspect-mode; TBU = tone-bearing unit; X = any tone.

References

Ackerman, Farrell & Malouf, Robert. 2013. Morphological organization: The low conditional entropy conjecture. Language 89.3, 429–464.Google Scholar
Albright, Adam & Fuss, Erik. 2012. Syncretism. In Trommer, Jochen (ed.), The morphology and phonology of exponence, 236–288. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Stephen. 1992. A-morphous Morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Antilla, Parto. 2007. Variation and optimality. In de Lacy, Paul (ed.), The Cambridge handbook of phonology, 519–536. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Aronoff, Mark. 1994. Morphology by itself: Stems and inflectional classes. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Backley, Phillip. 2011. An introduction to Element Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Baerman, Matthew. 2005. Directionality and (un)natural classes in syncretism. Language 80, 807–824.Google Scholar
Baerman, Matthew. 2012. Paradigmatic chaos in Nuer. Language 88.3, 467–494.Google Scholar
Baerman, Matthew. 2013. Inflection class interactions. In Hathout, Nabil, Montermini, Fabio & Tseng, Jesse (eds.), Morphology in Toulouse, 1–24. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Baerman, Matthew. 2014. Covert systematicity in a distiburtionally complex system. Journal of Linguistics 50, 1–47.Google Scholar
Baerman, Matthew. 2015. Seri verb classes: Morphosyntactic motivation and morphological autonomy. Language 92.4, 792–823.Google Scholar
Baerman, Matthew, Brown, Dunstan & Corbett, Greville G.. 2005. The syntax–morphology interface: A study of syncretism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baerman, Matthew & Palancar, Enrique. 2015. The organization of the Chinantec tone paradigms. Ms., University of Surrey.Google Scholar
Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo. 2012. The architecture of grammar and the division of labour in exponence. In Trommer, Jochen (ed.), The morphology and phonology of exponence (Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 41), 8–83. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Black, Cheryl A. 2005. An autosegmental analysis of Meˈphaa (Tlapanec) noun inflection. In de Azcona, Rosemary Beam & Paster, Mary (eds.), Survey of California and other Indian languages 13, 1–14. Berkeley, CA: University of California.Google Scholar
Blevins, James P. 2006. Word-based morphology. Journal of Linguistics 42, 531–573.Google Scholar
Blevins, James P. 2016. Word and Paradigm Morphology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Booij, Geert. 2017. Construction Morphology. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.254.Google Scholar
Booij, Geert. 2018a. The construction of words: Introduction and overview. In Booij (ed.), 3–18.Google Scholar
Booij, Geert(ed.). 2018b. The construction of words: Advances in Construction Morphology. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Brown, Dunstan & Hippisley, Andrew. 2012. Network morphology: A defaults-based theory of word structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan. 2001. Phonology and language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Caballero, Gabriela. 2018. Construction-based inflection tone patterns in Choguita Rarámuri. Presented at Tonal Aspects of Language, 18–20 June, Berlin.Google Scholar
Carrasco Zúñiga, Abad. 2006. Los Procesos Morfofonológicos de la Lengua Meˈphaa. MA thesis, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.Google Scholar
Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew. 1983. Paradigm economy. Journal of Linguistics 19, 115–128.Google Scholar
Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew. 1994. Inflectional classes, gender, and the principle of contrast. Language 70, 737–787.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam & Halle, Morris. 1968. Sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Clements, George Nick. 1984. Principles of tone association in Kikuyu. In Clements, George N. & Goldsmith, John [A.] (eds.), Autosegmental studies in Bantu tone, 281–339. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Cline, Kevin. 2013. The tone system of Acatepec Me’paa. MA thesis, University of North Dakota.Google Scholar
Coetzee, Andries W.2004. What it means to be a loser: Non-optimal candidates in Optimality Theory. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Coetzee, Andries W. & Pater, Joe. 2011. The place of variation in phonological theory. In Goldsmith, John [A.], Riggle, Jason & Yu, Alan C. (eds.), The handbook of phonological theory, 401–434. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Corbett, Greville G. 2009. Canonical inflectional classes. In Montermini, Fabio, Boyé, Gilles & Tseng, Jesse (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 6th Décembrettes: Morphology in Bordeaux, 1–11. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. http://www.lingref.com/cpp/decemb/6/index.html.Google Scholar
Corbett, Greville G. 2015. Morphosyntactic complexity: A typology of lexical splits. Language 91.1, 145–193.Google Scholar
Corbett, G. G. & Fraser, Normal. 1993. Network morphology: A DATR account of Russian nominal inflection. Journal of Linguistics 29, 113–142.Google Scholar
Coto Solano, Rolando. 2017. Tonal reduction and literacy in Me’phaa Vátháá. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Dressler, Wolfgang U. 1985. Suppletion in word formation. In Fisiak, Jacek (ed.), Historical semantics: Historical word-formation, 97–112. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Duncan, Phillip. 2017. The role of argument structure in Me’phaa verbal agreement. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Finkel, Raphael & Stump, Gregory. 2007. Principal parts and morphological typology. Morphology 17, 39–75.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, John A.1976. Autosegmental Phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, John A. 1990. Autosegmental and Metrical Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Good, Jeff. 2018. Modeling signifiers in constructional approaches to morphological analysis. In Booij (ed.), 19–58.Google Scholar
Guy, Gregory. 2011. Variability. In Van Oostendorp et al. (eds.), vol. IV, 2190–2213.Google Scholar
Hyman, Larry M. & Schuh, Russell G.. 1974. Universals of tone rules: Evidence from West Africa. Linguistic Inquiry 5, 81–115.Google Scholar
INALI [Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas]. 2008. Catálogos de lenguas indígenas nacionales: Variantes lingüísticas de México con sus autodenominaciones y referencias geoestadísticas. http://www.inali.gob.mx/clin-inali/mapa.html.Google Scholar
Iverson, Gregory K. & Salmons, Joseph C.. 2011. Final devoicing and final laryngeal neutralization. In Van Oostendorp et al. (eds.), vol. III, 1622–1643.Google Scholar
Kaye, Jonathan, Lowenstamm, Jean & Vergnaud, Jean-Roger. 1990. Constituent structure and government in phonology. Phonology Yearbook 7, 193–231.Google Scholar
Kim, Yuni. 2016. Tonal overwriting and inflectional exponence in Amuzgo. In Palancar, Enrique & Léo Léonard, Jean (eds.), Tone and inflection, 199–224. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Lampitelli, Nicola. 2017. A morphophonological analysis of the velar insert in Italian verbs. Glossa2.1, 47: 1–26. doi:http://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.234.Google Scholar
Leben, William R.1973. Suprasegmental phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Léonard, Jean-Léo & Kihm, Alain. 2010. Verb inflection in Chiquihuitlán Mazatec: A Fragment and a PFM Approach. In Müller, Stefan (ed.), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar, 288–306. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Marlett, Stephen. 2019. On the analysis of the glottalic element in Me’phaa. Ms., Summer Institute of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Marlett, Stephen & Weathers, Mark. 2012. Me’phaa (Tlapanec). Ms., Summer Institute of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Matthews, P. H. 1965. The inflectional component of a word-and-paradigm grammar. Journal of Linguistics 1.2, 139–171.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John & Prince, Alan. 1986. Prosodic morphology. Ms., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
McPherson, Laura. 2016. Cumulativity and ganging in the tonology of Awa suffixes. Language (Phonological Analysis) 92.1, e38–e66.Google Scholar
Mel’čuk, Igor. 1976. On suppletion. Linguistics 170, 45–90.Google Scholar
Myers, Scott. 1997. OCP effects in Optimality Theory. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 5, 485–518.Google Scholar
Navarro Solano, Abad. 2012. El patrón de alineamiento en el meʔ 1phaa1. MA thesis, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.Google Scholar
O’Neil, Paul. 2014. The morphome in constructive and abstractive theories of morphology. Morphology 24, 25–70.Google Scholar
Oropeza Bruno, Iván. 2014. Fonética, fonología y tonología del Mè’phàà de Unión de las Peras. BA thesis, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Palancar, Enrique. 2012. The conjugation classes of Tilapa Otomi: An approach from canonical typology. Linguistics 50, 783–832.Google Scholar
Palancar, Enrique & Feist, Timothy. 2015. Agreeing with subjects in number: The rare split of Amuzgo inflection. Linguistic Typology 19.3, 337–383.Google Scholar
Pirrelli, Vito, Ferro, Marcello & Marzi, Claudia. 2015. Computational complexity of abstractive morphology. In Baerman, Matthew, Brown, Dunstan & Corbett, Greville G. (eds.), Understanding and measuring morphological complexity, 141–166. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Prince, Alan & Smolensky, Paul. 2008. Optimality Theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Reynolds, William. 1994. Variation and phonological theory. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Skousen, Royal, Lonsdale, Deryle & Parkinson, Dilworth B. (eds.). 2002. Analogical modeling: An exemplar-based approach to language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Stump, Gregory. 2001. Inflectional morphology: A theory of paradigm structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stump, Gregory. 2016. Inflectional paradigms: Content and form at the syntax–morphology interface. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Suárez, Jorge A.1983. La Lengua Tlapaneca de Malinaltepec. México, D. F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Thornton, Anna M. 2012. Reduction and maintenance of overabundance: A case study on Italian verb paradigms. Word Structure 5.2, 183–207.Google Scholar
Tiburcio Cano, Gregorio. 2017. La flexión verbal del me’phaa de Zilacayotitlán. MA thesis, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.Google Scholar
Van Oostendorp, Marc, Ewen, Colin J., Hume, Elizabeth & Rice, Keren (eds.). 2011. The Blackwell companion to phonology, 5 vols. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Wichmann, Søren. 1992. A semantic framework for the Azoyú Tlapanec iterative. International Journal of Linguistics: Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 25, 125–142.Google Scholar
Wichmann, Søren. 1996. The degrammaticalization of agentivity in Tlapanec. In Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth, Fortescue, Michael, Harder, Peter, Heltoft, Lars & Jakobsen, Lisbeth Falster (eds.), Content, expression, and structure: Studies in Danish functional grammar, 343–360. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Wichmann, Søren. 2005. Tlapanec cases. In de Azcona, Rosemary Beam & Paster, Mary (eds.), Survey of California and other Indian languages 13, 133–145. Berkeley, CA: University of California.Google Scholar
Wichmann, Søren. 2006. Sandhi tonal interno en la morfología verbal tlapaneca. In Ciscomani, Rosa María Ortiz (ed.), Memorias del VIII Encuentro Internacional de Lingüística en el Noroeste 2, 337–355. Hermosillo: Editorial UniSon.Google Scholar
Wichmann, Søren. 2009. Case relations in Tlapanec, a head-marking language. In Malchukov, Andrej & Spencer, Andrew (eds.), The Oxford handbook of case, 797–807. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zimmermann, Eva. 2017. An argument for sub-tonal features: Floating tones in two Otomanguean languages. Acta Linguistica Academica 64.4, 619–656.Google Scholar
Zwicky, Arnold M.1985. How to describe inflection. Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 11 (BLS 11), 372–386.Google Scholar