Shilluk noun morphology and noun phrase morphosyntax

1. Shilluk noun morphology and noun phrase morphosyntax Bert Remijsen Otto GwadoAyoker University of Edinburgh

2. About of this talk MESSAGE • Overview of the morphology and syntax of Shilluk nouns. PARTS • Background on the sound system, esp. tone and length • The inflectional paradigm: forms and their functions • The syntax of the noun phrase

3. Background on Shilluk

4. Background on Shilluk • A West Nilotic language, within the Nilo-Saharan language family • Spoken in South Sudan • At least 200,000 speakers Figure. Map from Storch (2005), showing the West Nilotic languages South Sudan

5. Background on Shilluk / sound system Consonants

6. Background on Shilluk / sound system Consonants

7. Background on Shilluk / sound system Consonants

8. Background on Shilluk / sound system Consonants Vowels

9. Background on Shilluk / sound system Consonants Vowels

10. Background on Shilluk / sound system + Advanced Tongue Root - Advanced Tongue Root F1 (z-transformed) F2 (z-transformed) Figure. Means and distributions (ellipses cover 1 standard deviation) for first and second formants for Shilluk vowels. Data: 4 items for each of 10 vowels for 9 speakers.

11. Background on Shilluk / sound system • Most lexical stems consist of a single closed syllable with structure C(w/j)VC • Rich in suprasegmentals: - 3 levels of vowel length

12. Background on Shilluk / sound system • Some minimal sets for vowel length.

13. Background on Shilluk / sound system Figure. Means and standard deviation for vowel duration by Vowel length (V, VV, VVV) Vowel duration (ms)

14. Background on Shilluk / sound system • Most lexical stems consist of a single closed syllable with structure C(w/j)VC • Rich in suprasegmentals: - 3 levels of vowel length - 8 tonemes, including four falling contours (cf. Andersen 1999 on Päri)

15. Background on Shilluk / sound system

16. Background on Shilluk / sound system

17. Background on Shilluk / sound system “[T]here is no possible opposition between two HL or two LH contours where the two tones are synchronized differently within the syllable.” [Hyman 1988:51] “[I]t might be that in some languages pitch changes are timed relatively early in the syllable, and in other languages they are timed relatively late. Such control would only be phonetic, never phonological.” [Odden 1995:450]

18. Background on Shilluk / sound system • Evidence for contrastive alignment in contour tones is most compelling from a system with level tones as well: Figure. Schematic representations of four tone categories distinguished by tonal alignment.

19. Background on Shilluk / sound system Early High Fall Late High Fall

20. Background on Shilluk / sound system • Acoustic evidence for contrastive tonal alignment: Figure. Means and standard deviations for tonal alignment in Shilluk (high turning point by Tone), from Remijsen & Ayoker (2014). Figure. Schematic representations of four tone categories distinguished by tonal alignment. 20

21. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

22. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns • Key characteristic: head-marking

23. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

24. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns Pertensive: morphological marking of the head (possessed) term of a possessive noun phrase (Dixon 2011).

25. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

26. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

27. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

28. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns Construct state: morphological marking on the head of a modified noun phrase (Creissels 2009).

29. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

30. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

31. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

32. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

33. The inflectional paradigm of Shilluk nouns

34. The syntax of the noun phrase

35. The syntax of the noun phrase • Key characteristic: head-initial • Template (dimin) head (numeral) (other modifier) (demonstrative)

36. The syntax of the noun phrase / modification • Three syntactic structures are used with modifiers:

37. The syntax of the noun phrase / modification • Three syntactic structures are used with modifiers: Indefinite Definite

38. The syntax of the noun phrase / modification • Example from narrative illustrating definiteness:

39. The syntax of the noun phrase / modification • The same structures are used when verbs are used as modifiers:

40. The syntax of the noun phrase / an aside on adjectives • Shilluk adjectives have a contingent or stage-level form alongside the absolute base form – comparable to long-form vs. short-form adjectives in Russian (Roy 2013).

41. The syntax of the noun phrase / numerals • Cardinals derived through affixation • They are nouns • They constitute heads in relation to following modifiers

42. The syntax of the noun phrase / numerals • Cardinals derived through affixation

43. The syntax of the noun phrase / numerals • Numerals are nouns, as seen from their paradigms:

44. The syntax of the noun phrase / numerals • Numeral inflected for pertensive:

45. The syntax of the noun phrase / numerals • Numeral inflects for construct state: • Note that the overall head of the noun phrase is in the base form.

46. The syntax of the noun phrase / the scope of agreement • Demonstratives are marked stem-internally or by a separate morpheme

47. The syntax of the noun phrase / the scope of agreement • The demonstrative modifies the nearest noun head it can modify:

48. The syntax of the noun phrase / the scope of agreement • It is the rightmost modifier within the noun phrase:

49. The syntax of the noun phrase / the scope of agreement • Hypothesis: the demonstrative modifies the nearest noun head with which it can go:

50. The syntax of the noun phrase / the scope of agreement • In the following example, the demonstrative inflection has scope over the whole noun phrase because it is a compound noun: