Phonological data & analysis 

Abstract: This study describes the nasal system in Ecuadorian Siona, an endangered Western Tukanoan language spoken in the Ecuadorian province of Sucumbíos, using the Earbuds Method to analyze nasal events acoustically. This method provides a visual representation of the timing and duration of velum gestures through intensity (dB) and amplitude (Pa) fluctuations in the nasal and oral cavities. The studied events include nasal spreading (nasal harmony), triggers, targets, blockers, and transparent segments. Meanwhile, differences between nasal phonemes and nasal allophones are also identified along with the effects of morpheme boundaries during nasal spreading events. Results reveal that, unlike many other Tukanoan languages, /m/ and /n/ function as individual phonemes independent of their oral counterparts (/p̰/ & /t̰/). In addition, nasal harmony was identified as predominantly rightward spreading apart from syllable-delimited leftward spreading to vocoid segments. Moreover, suffixes responsible for blocking nasal spreading appear to be reminiscent of oral suffixes in Eastern Tukanoan languages. Finally, more blockers were identified in Ecuadorian Siona than in most Eastern Tukanoan languages.

Abstract: This paper offers a novel analysis of the complex patterns of exponence exhibited by the Somali subject marker (MRK). Somali subject marking presents a typologically rare case of subtractive grammatical tone, and one in which an otherwise predictable process of High tone loss is sometimes impeded by factors related to word structure. In the simplest instances, MRK is realized only tonally by the loss of High tone from the last word in a DP. Under some conditions, however, it is realized only segmentally, with no High tone loss. Still other times, both exponents appear, and even in a few instances, neither is realized. These outcomes are predictable, but analyzing them presents several challenges. One of these is motivating the outcomes from a single underlying form given the apparent independence of the tonal and segmental exponents. Others concern defining the trigger of subtraction and the domain or valuation window in which subtraction occurs. We propose a formal account of these outcomes within Cophonologies by Phase (Sande & Jenks 2018; Sande, Jenks & Inkelas 2020), whose division of vocabulary items into three types of phonological content is uniquely suited to addressing these analytical hurdles.

Abstract: This paper brings new evidence for PROSODIC CORRESPONDENCE, where prosodic units (e.g. main-stressed nuclei and prominent syllables) of morphologically related forms are compared. Since prosodic correspondence was formalized in Crosswhite’s (1998) analysis of Chamorro, it has received almost no empirical discussion. I argue that Tgdaya Seediq (Austronesian, Atayalic) has vowel alternations that should be analyzed using prosodic correspondence. In Seediq, unsuffixed and suffixed forms tend to share the same stressed syllable nucleus. This VOWEL MATCHING pattern cannot be explained as surface harmony, but it can be explained as the result of a constraint enforcing vowel identity of main-stressed nuclei in morphologically related forms. Unlike the categorical alternations analyzed by Crosswhite (1998), Seediq vowel matching is gradient and only emerges on a statistical level. Nevertheless, prosodic correspondence appears to be active in the synchronic grammar of Seediq; in a production experiment, speakers applied vowel matching to novel forms and even over-generalized it to environments not predicted by lexical statistics. Vowel matching is modeled in Maximum Entropy Harmonic Grammar (Goldwater & Johnson 2003), a stochastic variant of OT. I use prosodic correspondence to enforce vowel matching, and Zuraw’s (2000, 2010) dual listing approach to capture the discrepancy between lexical and experimental results.

Abstract: This paper investigates the interaction of word stress and phrasal prosody in Georgian by studying the distribution of acoustic cues (duration, intensity, F0) in controlled data. The results show that initial syllables in Georgian words are marked by greater duration than all subsequent syllables, regardless of syllable count and phrasal context. After excluding domain-initial strengthening as an alternative explanation, this finding provides evidence in favor of fixed initial stress. Likewise, initial syllables are marked by greatest intensity, but the consistent gradual drop in intensity throughout the word suggests that this effect may not be stress-related. The F0 results align with the existing accounts: individual lexical words form ACCENTUAL PHRASES, marked by a low pitch accent on the initial syllable and a high final boundary tone on the final syllable. Additionally, new evidence for a phrasal accent, aligned with the penult, is presented. F0 targets are shown to be completely absent in the context of post-focal deaccenting, which shows that F0-marking in Georgian is reserved for phrasal prosody and is not intrinsic to stress-marking. These results help account for the facts related to word stress, phrasal intonation, and their interplay in Georgian, the object of debate in the literature.