Metrically conditioned pitch and layered feet in Chugach Alutiiq

Abstract

This article presents a reanalysis of the foot-based phonology of Chugach Alutiiq (henceforth CA), a language that displays a complex mixed ternary-binary rhythm, as well as metrically conditioned distributions of pitch, fortition and vowel lengthening. Elaborating on earlier analyses of CA that had posited some kind of ternary constituent (Hewitt, 1991(Hewitt, , 1992Leer, 1985aLeer, , 1985bLeer, , 1985cRice, 1992), we propose CA should be analyzed by means of the Internally Layered Ternary (ILT) foot, a minimal recursive foot (Prince, 1980;Selkirk, 1980), which was recently revived in a typological study of binary-ternary stress (Martínez-Paricio & Kager, 2015). It will be argued that ILT feet capture CA's puzzling dual behavior of unstressed and stressed syllables straightforwardly by referring to the status of syllables as heads or dependents of minimal or non-minimal feet. After showing the value of ILT feet in the analysis of CA rhythmic and segmental patterns, we turn to our analytical focus, the distributions of high and low pitch. This distribution is arguably metrically conditioned, yet an analysis based on stress or standard binary feet cannot capture it, whereas the ILT approach can. To highlight the advantages of our approach, we end by offering brief comparisons with previous analyses of CA.Keywords: metrical phonology; phonological representations; ternary stress; metrically conditioned pitch. RESUMEN:Tonos condicionados por la estructura métrica y pies mínimamente recursivos en Chugach Alutiiq. -Este artículo presenta un reanálisis de diversos aspectos fonológicos de la lengua esquimal Chugach Alutiiq (de ahora en adelante, CA): la asignación de acentos rítmicos (binarios y ternarios), la distribución de los tonos alto y bajo, el fortalecimiento de algunas consonantes y el alargamiento de determinadas vocales. Influidos por análisis previos de la lengua que postularon la existencia de algún tipo de constituyente prosódico ternario en CA (Hewitt, 1991(Hewitt, , 1992Leer 1985aLeer , 1985bLeer , 1985cRice, 1992), proponemos que la fonología métrica de CA debe analizarse por medio de un pie Ternario Mínimamente Recursivo (TMR); estas estructuras fueron originariamente propuestas por Prince (1980) y Selkirk (1980), y han sido recientemente retomadas en un estudio tipológico sobre el ritmo binario y ternario (Martínez-Paricio & Kager, 2015). A lo largo del artículo se demostrará que todos estos procesos pueden recibir un análisis fonológico sencillo si se incorporan, entre las posibles representaciones métricas del lenguaje, los pies TMR. Concretamente, se demostrará que el pie TMR permite dar cuenta del comportamiento dual de las sílabas tónicas y átonas en CA mediante la referencia al estatus específico de estas sílabas bien como núcleos o dependientes de un pie mínimo o no mínimo. Tras resaltar el papel que desempeñan los pies recursivos en diversos patrones rítmicos y segmentales de CA, nos centramos en el análisis de la distribución de los tonos alto y bajo en esta lengua. El artículo se ...

Contrastive foot structure in Franconian tone-accent dialects

“…This would be in line with ideas on recursion in foot structure that have often been proposed in the literature (e.g. Hammond 1986, Rice 1992, Davis 2005, Martínez-Paricio 2013). Indeed, structures such as those in (7) would correspond closely to Morén-Duolljá's (2013) representation of the tone-accent opposition in Götaland Swedish.…”

The binary-to-ternary rhythmic continuum in stress typology: layered feet and non-intervention constraints

“…Estonian and Chugach display mixed ternary/binary patterns, with the ternary foot being the preferred foot. However, mixed binary/ternary patterns, with the binary foot as the preferred foot, are also attested in languages such as Wargamay, Yidiɲ and Garawa (Kager 1994, Martínez-Paricio 2012, 2013). Distributional evidence for ternarity in such languages was offered in previous studies (see §1 and §2.1 for references).…”

“…At the left end of the continuum (Garawa, Wargamay), ternary feet are used only as last-resort devices in odd-parity forms to ensure exhaustive parsing (Bennett 2012, Martínez-Paricio 2012). At the right end of the continuum (the Cayuvava mirror-image pattern), ternary feet occur rigorously, at the expense of exhaustivity (Kager 1994, Martínez-Paricio 2013). In the two rhythmic types lying between these extremes, ternary feet are preferred to binary feet; exhaustivity is either maintained (allowing multiple binary feet per form; Estonian, Chugach) or relaxed (allowing only one binary foot per form; Tripura Bangla, Hocąk).…”

“…(2b)). This has been argued to be the case in Wargamay and Yidiɲ, two Australian languages with binary stress where only syllables with a double-head status undergo a vowel-lengthening process (see Martínez-Paricio 2012, 2013 for details). Similarly, it has been proposed that the layered foot provides an optimal framework for capturing reported differences among weak syllables.…”

“…((σσ)Ftσ)Ft or (σ(σσ)Ft)Ft. Contrary to the originally dominant belief that the unique raison d’être of ternary feet is their ability to model ternary rhythm, a number of recent works in metrical phonology have provided cross-linguistic segmental and tonal evidence in support of the incorporation of ILT feet in prosodic representations (Davis 1999, 2005, Jensen 2000, Davis & Cho 2003, Yu 2004, Bennett 2012, 2013, Martínez-Paricio 2012, 2013, Buckley 2014). Importantly, some of these studies have shown that ILT feet can also be active in languages with binary rhythm, hence an ILT foot should no longer be regarded as a ternary-specific ad hoc device exclusively required to account for ternary stress distributions.…”