Vowel length alternations in Czech diminutive derivation The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Vowel length alternations in Czech diminutive derivation Naoya Watabe (University of Tokyo / JSPS research fellow) Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics 26 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign May 19-21, 2017

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 1. Introduction

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Vowel length in Czech Unlike in many other Slavic languages, vowel length is contrastive in Czech. On the other hand, length alternations are conditioned by various morphological processes. (Short 1993; Scheer 2003) May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Diminutive derivation The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Diminutive derivation Vowel length alternations are observed in diminutive derivation. a. lengthening list ‘leaf’ li:st-ek (dim.) ɦlav-a ‘head’ ɦla:v-k-a (dim.) b. shortening du:m ‘house’ dom-ek (dim.) mra:z ‘frost’ mraz-i:k (dim.) kra:v-a ‘cow’ krav-k-a (dim.) May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Diminutive derivation The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Diminutive derivation Many exceptions are observed. oɦon ‘tail’ oɦon-ek (dim.) brad-a ‘chin’ brad-k-a (dim.) du:l ‘mine’ du:l-ek (dim.) ɟi:r-a ‘hole’ ɟi:r-k-a (dim.) kra:l ‘king’ kra:l-i:k (dim.) May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 In this presentation… Research questions How frequent are the length alternations observed? Why can both lengthening and shortening occur? What triggers them? Goal I argue that while the lengthening is triggered by the affix /-(e)k-/, the shortening is lexically specific to several nouns. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Outline Introduction Background Survey Proposal Conclusion May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 2. Background

Syllable structure and length exchange The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Syllable structure and length exchange Length alternation occurs when the syllable structure changes. (list) ‘leaf’ (li:)stek (dim.) (ɦla)va ‘head’ (ɦla:v)ka (dim.) This also holds true in other alternation patterns. (mra:z) ‘frost’ (mra)zu (gen. sg.) (kra:)v-a ‘cow’ (krav) (gen. pl.) May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Syllable structure and length exchange The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Syllable structure and length exchange Syllable structure itself does not determine the vowel length. Open syllables (li:)stek vs. (ɦla)va Closed syllables (list) vs. (ɦla:v)ka  Problematic in terms of output-based phonology A certain featural exchange rule has been assumed. (Anderson and Browne 1973) May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Moraic templates Scheer (2003) argued that the length of root vowels is determined by the moraic template for a given category. 3 morae are weighed to diminutives. ɦlav-a ‘head’ ɦla:v-k-a (dim.) mra:z ‘frost’ mraz-i:k (dim.) May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Moraic templates Exceptional patterns 4 morae oblak ‘cloud’ obla:ʧ-ek (dim.) 2 morae du:m ‘house’ dom-ek (dim.) kra:v-a ‘cow’ krav-k-a (dim.) May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 3. Survey

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Data collection Source An online Czech dictionary (Slovník spisovného jazyka českého: http://ssjc.ujc.cas.cz/) Targets Diminutive derivation patterns in which affixes /- (e)k-/ and /-i:k-/ are attached to nouns. Nouns ending in highly frequent suffixes (e.g. /-ost/) were excluded.  2,258 cases in total May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Overall results Lengthening Shortening Each process is triggered by the different affixes?? affix lengthening no shortening sum /-(e)k-/ 633 (46.17%) 738 (53.83%) 1371 /-i:k-/ 0 (0%) 168 (100%) 168 affix shortening no shortening sum /-(e)k-/ 42 (6.15%) 641 (93.85%) 683 /-i:k-/ 16 (44.44%) 20 (55.56%) 36 May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Lengthening: more detail The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Lengthening: more detail Lengthening was observed exclusively before /-(e)k-/. The frequency varied among genders: the rate was high among masculine and neuter nouns, whereas low among feminine ones. gender lengthening no shortening sum masculine 499 (63.65%) 285 (36.35%) 784 feminine 79 (15.31%) 437 (84.69%) 516 neuter 55 (77.46%) 16 (22.54%) 71 May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Shortening: more detail The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Shortening: more detail Shortening seemed to be triggered by /-i:k-/, but the frequency was not so high. It also occurred before /-(e)k-/ though that was quite rare. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Shortening in nominal declension The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Shortening in nominal declension Shortening is observed in the declension also. (Short 1993 among others) mra:z ‘frost’ mraz-u (gen. sg.) kra:v-a ‘cow’ krav (gen. pl.) This pattern is rare, however. 6.0% for /a:/, 10.8 % for /i:/ in the same dictionary. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Interaction Shortening was more likely to occur among the alternating nouns than others. Nouns alternating in the declension Other nouns affix shortening no shortening sum /-(e)k-/ 22 (59.46%) 15 (40.54%) 37 /-i:k-/ 10 (100%) 0 (0%) 10 affix shortening no shortening sum /-(e)k-/ 20 (3.1%) 626 (96.9%) 646 /-i:k-/ 6 (23.08%) 20 (76.92%) 26 May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Summary Lengthening should be triggered by the affix /-(e)k-/ though it tends to be blocked among feminine nouns. Shortening should be lexically specific: it was almost restricted to the nouns alternating in the declension. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 4. Proposal

Trigger of lengthening The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Trigger of lengthening A possible trigger is a floating mora on /-(e)k-/. MaxFlt: “All autosegments that are floating in the input have output corresponedents.” (Wolf 2006) oblak - ek obla:ʧek μ μ μ μ May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Locality of mora realization The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Locality of mora realization Only root-final vowels can be lengthened. oblak ‘cloud’ obla:ʧ-ek (dim.) / *u:blaʧ-ek, *oblaʧ-e:k Wolf (2006) proposed the constraints on realization of floating materials on the same morpheme or non- adjacent segments. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Locality of mora realization The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Locality of mora realization I propose the positional faithfulness (Beckman 1997) in non-final positions of roots and in affixes. Non-final vowels avoids deletion, too. Affixes do not undergo length alternations in general while can be deleted. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Locality of mora realization The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Locality of mora realization Faith-Vnon-final: ‘Non-final vowels in a root in the input must be realized as such in the output.’ Dep-μaffix: ‘Every mora in the exponent of an affix must be present in the input.’ May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Lengthening: summary /oblak-ek/ Faith-Vnon-final Dep-μaffix MaxFlt Ident oblaʧ-ek *! obla:ʧ-ek * u:blaʧ-ek oblaʧ-e:k μ May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Lexical property related to shortening The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Lexical property related to shortening Root-final vowels are underspecified for length, i.e. possess no underlying morae. Morae are assigned by nominal themes and/or case- number suffixes. Root-final vowels avoid the alternations if they possess underlying morae.  Faithfulness May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Shortening in the declension The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Shortening in the declension Masculine nouns: 1 mora Feminine and neuter nouns: 2morae mra:z- -∅ mraz- TH -u TH ~ μ μ μ Additional mora in nom. sg. kra:v- -a krav- -∅ TH TH ~ μ μ μ μ May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Declension vs. Diminutive derivation The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Declension vs. Diminutive derivation The affix /-(e)k-/ triggers lengthening on vowels with an underlying mora. MaxFlt should be ranked higher than the faithfulness constraint exclusively for this affix. MaxFltek >> Ident >> MaxFlt May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Diminutives from ‘shortening’ nouns The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Diminutives from ‘shortening’ nouns The emergence of short vowels may be conditioned by /-(e)k-/ while cannot by /-i:k-/, which has no floating morae. General unmarkedness of short vowels? May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Residual issue I The lengthening can be avoided before /-(e)k-/, especially frequently among feminine nouns. Some lexical properties may block the alternation. Lexical exceptions are observed in other sound alternations such as vowel-zero alternation. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Residual issue II Among nouns alternating in the declension, the shortening was avoided before /-(e)k-/ in some cases while never before /-i:k-/. Among the other nouns, the shortening before /-i:k-/ was not infrequent while rare before /-(e)k-/. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

Sequence of long vowels The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Sequence of long vowels The shortening occurs in the declension of several nouns when the case/number suffix begins in a long vowel (or a diphthong). ʧa:r-a ‘line’ ʧar-a:m / ʧa:r-a:m (dat. pl.) si:l-a ‘power’ sil-a:m / si:l-a:m (dat. pl.) Sequences of long vowels are disfavored? If so, the shortening is preferred before /-i:k-/. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Residual issue III If nominal themes and suffixes have morae also in diminutives, root-final moraless vowels should receive them. Morae may not be inserted to these morphemes in diminutives. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 5. Concluding remarks

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 No length exchange Lengthening is triggered by a floating mora on the diminutive affix /-(e)k-/. Shortening is lexically conditioned: it results from the absence of underlying morae on root-final vowels.  These processes are independent: length exchange is not motivated in Czech! May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 References Anderson, S. R., and Browne, W. (1973). On keeping exchange rules in Czech. Papers in Linguistics, 6, 445–482. Beckman, J. N. (1997). Positional faithfulness, positional neutralization and Shona vowel harmony. Phonology, 14, 1-46. Gribanova, V. (2015). Exponence and morphosyntactically triggered phonological processes in the Russian verbal complex. Journal of Linguistics, 51(3), 519–561. Scheer, T. (2003). The key to Czech vowel length: Templates. In Kosta, P., Blaszczak, J., Frasek, J., Geist, L., and Żygis, M. (eds.), Investigations into Formal Slavic Linguistics. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 97–118. Short, D. (1993). Czech. In Comrie, B., and Corbett, G. G. (eds.), The Slavonic Languages. London: Routledge, 455–532. Wolf, M. (2006). For an autosegmental theory of mutation. In Bateman, L., O’Keefe, M., Reilly, E., and Werle A. (eds.), University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 32: Papers in Optimality Theory III. Amherst: GLSA, 315–404. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Thank you for your attention! Děkuji vám za pozornost! naoya3938@gmail.com This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15J03345. May 19, 2017 FASL 26

The 10th meeting of Phonology Festa in Atami 2015/3/21 Future research /a/ was more likely to be lengthened than the other vowels. Why did feminine nouns frequently avoid the lengthening? May 19, 2017 FASL 26