Syllable Structure, Phonotactics, and Stress

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Syllable Structure, Phonotactics, and Stress

• Four Melanau Dialects

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Preliminary phonotactic generali-zations re
Hmwk1 (perfect match data)

• CVCVC predominates
• CC virtually absent
• VV relatively frequent

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Generalization about CVCVC data Stress is
word-final

• Data Phonetics Gloss
• ara? ?ará? charcoal
• siaw siyaw chicken
• bua? buwa? fruit
• mua? muwa? dry
• t-?n-ui? t-?n-uwi? be heard (Belawi)
• dara? dara? blood
• saak saak red
• kait kait hook

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So, how to describe the stress when the
phonotactic pattern is CVCVVC? (most occur in
Belawi)

• Data Phonetics Gloss
• pujoa? pujoa? tapering
• ga?u?t ga?u?t scratch
• putia? putia? white

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What is a diphthong?

• A diphthong is a tautosyllabic VV phoneme
  containing contradictory features, e.g. high
  and -high or back and -back.
• Three diphthong types occur in Malayo-Polynesian
  languages Rising, Falling, and Front-back.

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Diphthong types

• There are equivalent ways to represent a
  diphthong phonetically, because y i? and
  w u?. For example
• Rising ai ?, ay au?, aw oi?, oy ou?, ow
  ei?, ey eu?, ew ?i ?, ?y ?u?, ?w
• Falling i?a, ya i??, y? u?a, wa u??, w?
• Front-back ui?, uy iu?, iw u?i, wi, i?u, yu
  eo?, ew oe?, oy

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Vowel sequences hetero-syllabic or
tauto-syllabic?

• Heterosyllabic vowel sequences
• siaw si.aw si.yau? chicken
• Tautosyllabic vowel sequences?
• a) law lau? day, siaw si.yau? chicken
• b) ñamu?k ña.mu??k mosquito (Belawi)

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Syllabification and Stress

• Phonotactics is independent of syllable
  structure. Juliette Levin (2004)
• Stress depends on prior syllabification.
• Bromberger and Halle (1989)

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Question

• Given the data below, is Melanau stress
  predictable in all dialects?
• How to reconcile the two stress patterns
• CVCVC and CVCVVC?

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Consider the following data

• Data w/ stress Gloss
• ará? charcoal
• siáw chicken
• p?-pujoa? tapering
• bua? fruit
• mua? dry
• putia? white (Belawi)
• ñamu?k mosquito (Belawi)
• t-?n-ui? be heard (Belawi)
• ga?u?t scratch (Belawi)
• ki?? other (Belawi)
• tu?s needle (Belawi)

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Problem for discussion

• Work with a partner to work out the stress rule.
• Method manipulate the syllable structure in
  order to obtain the maximally general stress
  rule. Remember Bromberger and Halle (1989)
  Stress rule depends on prior syllabification.

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Instructors analysis
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Melanau stress pattern

• All Melanau words receive stress on the final
  syllablic vowel of the word.
• Falling diphthongs consist of a syllabic and a
  non-syllabic vowel, e.g. /i??/ is one phoneme,
  and la.su??? /lasu??/ warm is disyllabic.

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Therefore the last two examples are
monosyllablesperhaps not phonetically but
phonologically.

• Data w/ stress Gloss
• p?-pujoa? tapering
• putia? white (Belawi)
• ñamu?k mosquito (Belawi)
• ga?u?t scratch (Belawi)
• ki?? other (Belawi)
• tu?s needle (Belawi)

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Phonotactics is independent of syllable
structure.Stress assignment depends on prior
syllabification.

• LING 485/585
• Winter 2009