jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
136 3 Phonology
(110) PerfP Participles of 'eat'
a. Vksae-n MaSg (V-initial suffix)
b. t-aksae-t FeSg (V-initial suffix)
c. aksae-nen PI (C-initial suffix)
In the MaSg and FeSg participles (110.a-b), stem-final /a/ combines with
the initial /ae/ of the suffix to produce ae by VV-Contraction. This is consistent
with Presuffixal α-Shortening followed by VV-Contraction (37.c), as in 3MaPl
PerfP aksae-n (llO.a, above). The PI participle aksas-nen (llO.c) is a more
transparent example of Presuffixal α-Shortening because the suffix is C-initial.
In all three cases in (110), Presuffixal α-Shortening is effectively undone when
an ablaut lengthening formative is present, so the Resit forms of the participles
in (110) are MaSg i-ksd-n, FeSg t-aksd-t, and PI aksd-nen.
(108) and (110) show that Presuffixal α-Shortening applies to light V-final
verbs before any C-initial suffix, and for most but not all V-initial suffixes. For
heavy non-augment V-final stems, Presuffixal α-Shortening applies before all
V-initial subject suffixes (lSg and 2Sg in addition to 2MaPl and 3MaPl). PerfP
forms for a heavy non-augment V-final stem are given in (111), in the same
format as (108), above.
(111) PerfP of Heavy Non-Augment V-Final Verb ('be searched')
a. 1-ffayka 'it-Ma was searched'
b. affaykas-nset 'they-Fe were searched'
c. t-affaykae-d 'you-Sg were searched'
d. affaykae-n 'they-Ma were searched'
Note that the 2Sg (lll.c) has the same stem-suffix phonology as the
3MaPl (lll.d). The difference between light and heavy non-augment V-final
stems is a further indication that Presuffixal α-Shortening, at least before
V-initial suffixes, is morphologized.
I christen the rule Presuffixal α-Shortening (rather than ... V-Shortening)
since it applies only to /a/, not to other full V's. There are some verbs with a
final u or (in one case) i that can appear before the same C-initial suffixes
illustrated above, and shortening does not occur: PerfP andu-naet 'they-Fe
were churned', Shlmpf (Future) ad Iwi-naet 'they-Fe will be born' (contrast
PerfP awas-naet 'they-Fe were bom' with shortened ae from lal).
In cases like Shlmpf (Future) ad aksa-naet 'they-Fe will eat' from
/asksi-naet/, the schwa is not shortened from a full V. Rather, it represents a
deletable stem-final /i/ that is dropped word-finally, as in ad 0-aeks 'he will
eat'.
Presuffixal α-Shortening does not apply to V-final verbs when directly
followed by a C-initial object clitic: l-ksa-\taet 'he ate it-Fe' with unreduced a.
We do get a short ae before Centripetal clitic variant -\add, if no χ ablaut
