Prosody drives Paraguayan Guaraní suffix order

Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 2022

Cross-linguistically, affix order is commonly determined by semantic scope (Rice 2006) or a morphological template. Less frequently, affix order is free, which means that suffixes can be reordered without a concomitant change in scope. To address the question of what gives rise to and constrains free affix order (FAO), I present a case study of Paraguayan Guaraní (or PG, Tupí-Guaraní, Paraguay, ISO 639-3: gug). I argue that FAO in PG should be analyzed as driven by prosodic factors. The prosodic analysis has previously been proposed only for Chintang (Bickel et al. 2007). Two major analyses of FAO see the phenomenon as driven by either morphology (e. g. Ryan 2010) or prosody (Bickel et al. 2007). The morphological analysis proposes that FAO is a consequence of free variation within the morphological template. The prosodic analysis models FAO with prosodic subcategorization for phonologically prominent positions. I argue that the two analyses make different predictions as to the preconditions for and the extent of FAO. I show that both the morphological and the prosodic profile of FAO are attested. I propose that FAO in PG is an instance of the latter. Thus, I demonstrate that FAO is not a unified phenomenon, but rather should be typologized as driven by either morphological or prosodic factors.

Languages

This paper examines in detail the morpho-syntax of the verbal phrase in Paraguayan Guarani, in root and complement clauses, and argues that while the ordering relation between the verb and its associated functional morphemes is congruent with the syntax (cf. the Mirror Principle), the ordering of post-verbal arguments is best understood in terms of phonological linearization. More specifically, it is argued that there are language-particular prosodic requirements that force the post-verbal arguments to be phonologically linearized outside the accentual domain defined by the verb and its associated functional morphemes.

This chapter is a concise grammatical sketch of modern Paraguayan Guarani, destined as a brief introduction to the defining typological, phonological, and morphosyntactic features of the language that sets the background to understand the analyses in the remaining chapters.

2008

Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics , 2018

Spanish dialects show substantial variation in coda s weakening. Yet, to provide a comprehensive treatment of this phenomenon, a bigger prosodic constituent than just the co-da position should be analysed. Crucially, two aspirating varieties of Spanish are considered. The Granada dialect weakens s to [h] inside words, at word edges and at prefix edges. The process may be either transparent (esto [éh.to] 'this', des-calzar [deh.kal.sáɾ] 'to unshoe', las cosas [lah.kó.sah] 'the things') or opaque (des-hecho [de.hé.tʃo] 'un-done', las aguas [la.há.ɣwah] 'the waters'). Chilean Spanish, on the other hand, presents transparent (esto [éh.to] 'this', des-calzar [deh.kal.sáɾ] 'to unshoe') and opaque (las aguas [la.há.ɣwa] 'the waters') aspiration, as well as deletion (las cosas [la.kó.sa] 'the things'), and no aspiration across a prefix boundary (des-hecho [de.sé.tʃo] 'undone'). The reported variable behaviour calls for an integrated approach to segmental weakening across all prosodic constituents, and for a revision of the present understanding of conti-guity. The boundary between the prefix and the stem is protected by the grammar despite the weak coda position of the prefix-final s, therefore the domain of application of the CONTIGUITY constraint should be extended to the supramorphemic level.

Doctoral Dissertation, UConn, 2020

This dissertation develops a theory of lexical accent where the central role is given to the notion of accent competition as the defining property of lexical accent systems. Languages with complex morphology (traditionally known as ‘polysynthetic’) are the empirical basis for this study as they provide a particularly fruitful ground for investigating the effects of both phonological and morphological factors in the assignment of lexical accent. Novel in-depth analyses are developed for Arapaho (Plains Algonquian), Nez Perce (Sahaptian), Ichishkiin Sɨnwit (Sahaptian), and Choguita Rarámuri (Uto-Aztecan). I argue that accent competition across languages is resolved in formally similar ways and that no idiosyncratic, language-specific analyses for individual lexical accent systems are warranted. It is thus proposed that the idiosyncrasy in lexical accent systems is found in the distribution of underlying accents, but not in the rules of the systems. I propose a typology of lexical accent systems and argue that they fall into one of two types based on the mechanism of accent competition resolution: I. Cyclic: In an accent competition, accent in the outermost derivational layer within the domain wins, or II. Directional: In an accent competition, either the right-most or the left-most accent within the domain wins. The second group of proposals made in this dissertation concerns the status of fundamental properties of stress and prosody – Culminativity and Obligatoriness of stress (Trubezkoy 1939/1960; Hyman 2006, 2009), and primary versus non-primary stress. It has previously been claimed that Culminativity of stress can be breached in highly synthetic languages (e.g. Blackfoot, Stacy 2004; Arapaho, Bogomolets 2014a,b; Mapudungun, Molineaux 2018; Yupik, Woodbury 1987). I argue that stress is in fact always culminative, but Culminativity should be regarded as a macroparameter allowing for a set of language-specific ways to implement it, including a mechanism of clash avoidance and an enforcement of ‘one and only one’ stress within domains smaller than a morphological word. Finally, this dissertation addresses the general structure of the word-level prosodic system. I propose that the word-level prosodic system is not bipartite: primary stress vs. rhythm, but tripartite: primary stress vs. secondary stress vs. rhythm.