Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus
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The colour of liquid: a sociophonetic analysis of the changing positional allophony of the South African English lateral approximant
Full text linkThis article provides a sociophonetic analysis of General South African English /l/, based on the naturalistic speech of 50 male and female L1-speakers of this variety of South African English (SAfE), all from Cape Town and ranging from 18-82 years of age. Emphasis falls on testing descriptions provided by the impressionistic literature of the so-called ‘colour’ of the two main allophones of this phoneme i.e. those in initial and final positions; and on determining whether there has been any change in this regard. The relevant phonetic (acoustic) analysis focuses on the parameters of F2 or F2-F1 (as general measures of ‘colour’) and co-articulatory resistance (as an additional parameter of darkening, particularly with respect to final-/l/) to determine the overall status of /l/ as well as to determine whether or not the acoustic difference between initial-/l/ and final-/l/ meets the criteria provided by Recasens (2012) for extrinsic allophony. These parameters also constitute dependent variables for a statistical analysis which determines the relative effect of one internal (positional allophony) and two external (age and gender) independent variables on these parameters. The results provide evidence to suggest that pronouncements in the impressionistic literature are incorrect. While there has been a darkening of /l/-colour in apparent time, /l/-colour in General SAfE has been and is consistently of a relatively dark kind, as in the case of the Australasian varieties of English, the closest relatives of SAfE. Furthermore, results show that any remaining difference in colour between the two positional allophones is purely the result of intrinsic allophony i.e. General SAfE does not display a full RP-like clear-dark allophony. Results do, however, confirm that female speakers have a slightly more fronted variant of initial-/l/, probably a prestige variant
Towards a prosodic model for Tiberian Hebrew: An intonation-based analysis
Full text linkThis study advances a preliminary framework for conceptualising the prosodic nature and structure of Tiberian Hebrew (TH) represented by the tÌ£aÊ¿ămeÌ‚ hammiqrāʾ through an analysis of an extant Ashkenazi cantillation tradition. The tÌ£aÊ¿ămeÌ‚ hammiqrāʾ (lit. “the senses of the reading [viz. Scripture]â€) are notations added by medieval scribes to the written text of the Hebrew Bible to preserve and transmit its oral performance. Modern prosodic theory and the musical concept of conjunct and disjunct melodic motion are used to demonstrate that the tÌ£aÊ¿ămeÌ‚ hammiqrāʾ have a highly structured iconic and intonational basis that organises the system and conforms substantially to Selkirk’s (2000, 2009) cross-linguistic prosodic hierarchy. The intonation-based prosodic model proposed in this study offers a solution to the limitation Dresher (1994, 2013; see also Dresher and DeCaen 2018; DeCaen and Dresher 2020) encounters with the intonational phrase domain of his prosodic model, permitting an alternative analysis of so-called pausal forms as lengthened forms, which can occur at prosodic phrase boundaries regardless of pause. The intonation-based model is tested by assessing how accurately it reflects the cross-linguistic prosodic features of restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses. The results indicate that TH distinguishes three prosodic classes of relatives—prosodically marked restrictives, prosodically marked nonrestrictives, and prosodically undifferentiated relatives—findings that accord with Birkner’s (2012) intonation-based study of the prosodic structure of German relative clauses
Do prior motion serial verbs (go) morphologize? Insights into diachrony from typology
Full text linkAssociated motion is a grammatical category which modifies a verbal predicate by adding a motion component such as indicating that motion took place prior to the event predicated by the verb. Many languages express prior associated motion (‘go and V’) in the form of a serial verb construction, while in other languages the same meaning is expressed morphologically. This suggests a possible diachronic link between serial verbs and affixes, but a comparison of the synchronic distributions of prior associated motion in serial verb constructions and verbal morphology reveal that such a path of grammaticalization is remarkably rare. This can be at least partially explained by temporal iconicity and a cross-linguistic suffixing bias. We conclude that prior motion serial verb constructions are relatively stable diachronically. The source of prior motion morphology is more likely other multiverb constructions, especially those with non-finite verbs where an overt morpheme marking dependency is lost to allow for a more efficient expression of this grammatical category, ultimately leading to univerbation
Mind the subtle f0 modifications: The interaction of tone and intonation in Sinitic varieties
Full text linkSinitic varieties are well known for their complex lexical tone systems. Lesser known is that these varieties also employ intonation for multiple communicative functions, ranging from indexing a speaker’s socio-cognitive information (such as emotions and attitudes) to signaling various linguistic information (such as asking questions, marking focus, and encoding prosodic structure). This paper reviews the multiplexing of lexical tone and intonation into the same melodic f0 signal. The main empirical focus is on Standard Chinese; whenever possible, comparisons are made across Sinitic varieties (such as Shanghai Wu Chinese and Cantonese). I will show that lexical tone constrains the changes of f0 for intonation. How tone and intonation interact, however, varies across communicative contexts and language varieties, which is also reflected in how listeners utilize the f0 information to decode the melodic pitch signal during speech processing. From a cross-linguistic viewpoint, findings on intonation in Sinitic varieties suggest 1) the need for detailed acoustic and perceptual studies to understand the subtle f0 modifications for intonation in tone languages, and 2) the importance of a comparative approach to understanding the similarities and differences of intonation in tone languages
When verbs ‘stay (and) go’ together: Pseudo-coordination in Juǀ’hoan and ǃXun
Full text linkMulti-verb constructions are an areal feature of Kalahari Basin Area languages (“Khoisanâ€), a Sprachbund comprising the Kx’a, Tuu, and Khoe-Kwadi families. Presently, these languages are characterised by two distinct multi-verb constructions with specific distributions: strictly contiguous serial verb constructions in Kx’a and Tuu correspond to multi-verb constructions involving a morphophonological linker, or “junctureâ€, in Khoe-Kwadi. This paper describes an additional multi-verb construction, namely pseudo-coordination. Drawing on a corpus of spontaneous discourse data, this paper demonstrates the rise of pseudo-coordination from a biclausal construction in Juǀ’hoan and ǃXun (Ju, Kx’a). The comparative analysis highlights the verbs that typically arise the context of pseudo-coordination and the resulting functions. This paper describes the polygrammaticalisation resulting from pseudo-coordination, including other multi-verb constructions
Khoekhoe Lexical Borrowing in Regionalised Afrikaans
Full text linkThis brief paper aims to draw attention to the widespread and ongoing phenomenon of lexical borrowing from Khoekhoe-branch languages into regional Afrikaans. A case study of one Afrikaans plant name loaned from Khoekhoe-branch languages, karee (Searsia lancea, Searsia spp.), is used to demonstrate how post-shift phonological attrition can lead to lexical conflation, and hence to semantic extension. This paper strongly recommends that public-facing scientific organisations take greater care when providing linguistic information to lay communities, and also motivates increased study of the behaviour of click consonants in a post-shift context in order to develop a clearer understanding of Khoekhoe-branch language history
The Phonological System of TumÉi
Full text linkAs part of a linguistic research team I recorded a Khoisan language currently spoken by three people in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Since the variety of language spoken in this location is close to varieties of both the Khoekhoe and Tuu language families, the question of genetic affiliation and classification within the Khoisan language cluster becomes significant. Although reported to have significant lexical similarities due to intensive language contact (Güldemann 2006), extensive research provides evidence of numerous linguistic differences which distinguish between the varieties within the Khoisan families mentioned above (Beach 1938, Bleek 1930, Ladefoged & Traill 1994, Miller, Brugman, Sands, Namaseb, Exter & Collins 2007). Overall, this project attempts to answer the question: How unique is this undocumented language TumÉi in comparison to varieties of geographically neighbouring Khoisan language clusters? This comparative analysis is comprised of a detailed description of the vowel and consonant systems, as well as evidence of phonetic and phonological contrasts. The clear focus on the analysis of sound contrasts is a consequence of limited data due to speaker competence. As a result of intense incomplete acquisition and linguistic attrition, the consultants produce utterances using Khoisan content words within an Afrikaans framework (Killian 2009). Specific research questions include:
What is the sound inventory of this language?
Are there phonation or glottalization contrasts in vowels?
Are there laryngeal contrasts in consonants?
What kinds of clicks make up the inventory?
This project is a direct effort toward the revitalization and documentation of indigenous languages. Determining the genetic affiliations of this language which is positioned relatively equidistant to the surrounding languages, would also contribute to gaps within the linguistic isoglosses in South Africa
Serial Verb Constructions in North-West Semitic languages: From a synchronic radiation back to the ‘Big Bang’
Full text linkThe present article argues that Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in North-West Semitic (NWS) languages have emerged from clause fusion. The analysis of the synchronic profiles of SVCs in four of the oldest attested languages of this branch, i.e., Canaano-Akkadian, Ugaritic, Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Aramaic, reveals an evolutionary path from less cohesive non-canonical serializing patterns of a pseudo-coordinated character to increasingly more cohesive and canonical serializing patterns. The ultimate source of this path and verbal serialization is reconstructed as conjunctive coordination with two clauses being linked by the predecessor of a coordinator that surfaces as u/w in the four analyzed languages
Juncture-Verb Constructions in Northeastern Kalahari Khoe: A comparative perspective
Full text linkMultiverbal predicates constitute a defining feature of the Kalahari Basin linguistic area of southern Africa encompassing the Kx’a, Tuu, and Khoe-Kwadi language families. Here, we focus on a complex predicate type restricted to the Khoe-Kwadi family’s Khoe branch which involves a linker morpheme and is thus referred to as Juncture-Verb Construction (JVC). While JVCs have synchronically been interpreted as Serial Verb Constructions (SVC), their origin and relationship with SVCs in the narrower sense as found in the Kx’a and Tuu families remain debated. The Kalahari Khoe languages Ts’ixa, Shua and Northern Tshwa spoken along the northeastern Kalahari Basin fringe present a convenient case study to expand the descriptive corpus on Khoe JVCs while addressing the limits of areal spread and contact influence. We show that all languages under consideration present JVCs with formal and functional properties corresponding to those found in other Kalahari Khoe languages, while also sharing features with SVCs as attested in the Kx’a and Tuu families. Both JVCs and SVCs contrast with conjoined predicates and are defined by single-eventhood. JVCs cover the same semantic domains found among SVCs of the Kx’a and Tuu families, can be subdivided into symmetrical and asymmetrical constructions, and show the same potential for lexicalization and grammaticalization, respectively