jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
3.5 Syntactically controlled phonological processes 149
T-md, R, K, and some Gao-area dialects, we get "0- in the MaPl (for i-) as in
T-ka, but also get 't-0- in the FePl. The dialectal difference can be seen in the
PP formed by Locative daer 'in' and the PI noun t-l-rubba 'gulps', which
appears as T-ka daer "t-a-vubba but e.g. T-md dsr "t-0-Yubba. Note the
accents; the T-ka schwa is capable of taking accent (here, default accent on the
antepenult), but the T-md zero is disregarded in accentuation, so phrasal accent
falls on the preceding preposition. A further example is t-l-hatt-en 'sheep-PI',
daer t-3-hatt-en 'in the sheep' (T-ka, some Gao-area dialects) or dser
t-0-hatt-en (K, other Gao-area dialects).
There is a real question whether the basic Prefix Reduction rule converts
PI i- to V (which can then be syncopated in some environments), or to 0-
(with a schwa inserted by a later rule if too many C's have piled up). Within
T-ka, MaPl i- seems to have a basic reduced form '0-, but FePl t-i- has a basic
reduced form ""t-a-. so the MaPl and FePl diverge in vocalism. In T-md and
other dialects that allow FePl t-0-, it is reasonable to take ^0- as the basic
reduced form of PI Ί- in both MaPl and FePl
I will agonize about this no further, and will formulate the Prefix-
Reduction rule as (127), allowing some latitude in the plural.
(127) Prefix-Reduction (Nominal Prefixes in Dependent State)
In a "dependent" syntactic position (after preposition, some types of
compound final, postverbal subject), reduce full to short V in
nominal vocalic prefix, i.e.:
a. {-a--e-} —>-ae-
b. -i- —> -3- or -0- [see above for details]
