The Na-Dene Languages

Jaker, Alessandro; Welch, Nicholas; Rice, Keren

doi:10.4324/9781315210636-20

Cited by 42 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…The hierarchy is a > o > u > i > e. In addition, a and u may coalesce to yield o, whereas a and i do not coalesce to e. See Marinakis (2004) for extensive discussion of the vowel hierarchy in the related language Tłı ˛cho ˛. See also Jaker (2015) for discussion of a consonant hierarchy in Dëne Su ˛łıné. Word-medially, /ai/ and /au/ arise exclusively as a result of intervocalic consonant deletion.…”

Section: Consonants and Morphological Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In prefixes, this contrast is neutralized, yielding a five-vowel system. The vowels in (10) are given in broad phonemic transcription; for an experimental study investigating the precise quality of these vowels, see Jaker (2018) Non-moraic vowels have been proposed elsewhere in the literature. Hayes proposed using non-moraic vowels as the representation of glides /j, w/ (1989: 256).…”

Section: Background On Tetsó ˛T'ınémentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tets´ǫt’ıné prefix vowel length: Evidence for systematic underspecification

Jaker

2022

Nat Lang Linguist Theory

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Tetsó ˛t'ıné is a dialect of Dëne Su ˛łıné (ISO: CHP) spoken in Canada's Northwest Territories. The verb system of Tetsó ˛t'ıné has only recently been described (Jaker and Cardinal 2020); this paper is the first to propose an analysis of the distribution of long and short vowels in Tetsó ˛t'ıné prefixes. In Tetsó ˛t'ıné, all long vowels in prefixes are derived from intervocalic consonant deletion, although not all cases of intervocalic consonant deletion result in a long vowel. Whether or not deletion of an intervocalic consonant results in a long or short vowel depends on a combination of two factors: the consonant that was deleted, and the morphological level to which the preceding prefix belongs. In this paper, I propose that the basic generalization about prefix vowel length can be stated in terms of SYSTEMATIC UNDERSPECIFICATION (Kiparsky 1993). I claim that prefix vowels, unlike stem vowels, have zero moras underlyingly, and only acquire a mora after passing through at least one level of the phonology. This analysis predicts that prefix vowel length ought to be subject to a Derived Environment Effect (DEE), for which there is indeed evidence. The pattern of mora insertion in Tetsó ˛t'ıné prefix vowels is thus an example of the interleaving of phonology and morphology, and illustrates how phonological behaviour can be to some extent predicted based on morphological structure.

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Section: Consonants and Morphological Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background On Tetsó ˛T'ınémentioning

confidence: 99%

Tets´ǫt’ıné prefix vowel length: Evidence for systematic underspecification

Jaker

2022

Nat Lang Linguist Theory

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“…The order of morphemes in the Dene verb, and the selection and blocking relations which exist between template positions, pose a challenge for nearly all generative models of morphology and syntax (Rice 2000). In this paper, we will not address the issue of how discontinuous morphological dependencies within the template in (2) can be accounted for within a Lexical Phonology framework (see Jaker et al 2020), although we suggest that these may be accounted for by restrictions on semantic compatibility. Here, we will merely point out that template positions with similar function tend to be grouped together.…”

Section: Stratal Optimality Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Level 1 prefixes contribute voice/valence information, and Level 2 prefixes contribute subject agreement and aspect. It has been proposed that the Level 3 prefixes contribute number agreement (Rice & Saxon 1994), Level 4 prefixes contribute object agreement and Level 5 prefixes add lexical and adverbial information (Jaker et al 2020), as in (3). 2

…”

Section: Stratal Optimality Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Level ordering and opacity in Tetsǫ́t’ıné: a Stratal OT account

Jaker

Kiparsky

2020

Phonology

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Dene (Athabaskan) verbs are widely known for their complex morphophonology. The most complex patterns are associated with two conjugation markers, /s/ and /n/, which are associated with a floating H tone to their immediate left. In this paper, we provide an analysis of /θe/ and /ɲe/, the reflexes of the /s/ and /n/ conjugations in Tetsǫ́t’ıné. Whereas previous accounts of these conjugations have relied heavily on morphological conditioning, we show that, once level ordering, autosegmental phonology and metrical phonology are brought to bear on the problem, morphological conditioning is not required. Within the framework of Stratal OT, we propose the Domain Reference Hypothesis, by which phonological constraints may only refer to morphological domains and their edges. In addition, we show that in Tetsǫ́t’ıné there is a correlation between phonological opacity and morphological structure, as predicted by the Stratal OT model.

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“…Nevertheless, this list indicates that two-copula systems are robust in all branches of this family. For the genetic relationships among Dene languages, see Jaker et al (2019)).…”

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confidence: 99%

Copular clauses in Dene languages: Argument structure and interpretation

Welch

White²

2021

Can. J. Linguist.

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A widely accepted assumption in both the syntactic and semantic literature is that copulas lack semantic content. A consequent question is how to explain the existence in certain languages of two copular verbs that give rise to different interpretations. Such is the case in numerous languages of the Dene family (formerly known as Athapaskan). We explain this situation with the hypothesis that the copulas realize an underlying three-copula system differing in argument structure. Differences between the interpretations of copular clauses in these languages originate in the compositional semantics of these structures, not in any lexical semantic differences.This hypothesis successfully predicts the distributional differences between the surface forms of the Dene copulas, such as their compatibility with adjuncts of time and intentionality, interactions with accusative case, and semantic lifetime effects.

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The Na-Dene Languages

Cited by 42 publications

References 0 publications

Tets´ǫt’ıné prefix vowel length: Evidence for systematic underspecification

Tets´ǫt’ıné prefix vowel length: Evidence for systematic underspecification

Level ordering and opacity in Tetsǫ́t’ıné: a Stratal OT account

Copular clauses in Dene languages: Argument structure and interpretation

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