3.2 Local assimilations and syllabification rules 55dialectally 1-bbaffae-t or 0-aebbuffae-t), 3FePl PerfP abbuffas-t-nast, but (with
VV-Contraction) 3MaPl PerfP abbuffe-n and lSg PerfP abbuffe-γ.
e rather than ae is also the output when light V-final non-augment verbs
like -vksi> 'eat', in the perfective (PerfP -aksa-), combine with singular
V-initial subject prefixes, lSg -aer and 2Sg -aed. Thus contrast 3MaPl aksae-n
'they-Ma ate' and 2MaPl t-aksae-m 'you-MaPl ate' with lSg akse-r and 2Sg
t-akse-γ.
If e is the regular output of /a + ae/, at least for verbs, how do we account
for the short ae output for the light V-final non-augment verbs like -vksi>
'eat'? I take this output to be due to Presuffixal α-Shortening (§3.4.9.1), a
morphophonemic rule that is seen most transparently with V-final non-
augment verbs followed by a C-initial subject suffix, as in 3FePl PerfP
aksae-naet 'they-Fe ate' from /aksa/. If this rule is allowed to apply before
V-initial (as well as C-initial) subject suffixes, then the derivation of 3MaPl
aksae-n 'they-Ma ate' from /aksa-aen/ is mediated by Presuffixal α-Shortening,
which produces intermediate /aksae-aen/. This is, for all practical purposes, the
/A + ae/ —> ae process already seen in (37.c).
The difference between outputs ae and e for underlying /a + ae/ in (37.d)
also correlates with a difference in accentuation. In both cases, the data are
consistent with Default Accentuation, but only if the relative ordering of
Default Accentuation and VV-Contraction is inverted in the two cases.
Specifically, when the output is ae, both the stem-final and suffix-initial V's are
"counted" in Default Accentuation, so after contraction we get a default accent
on the word-penult (which is the underlying antepenult). In this derivation,
Default Accentuation must precede VV-Contraction. Example: /arrafta-aen/,
surface arrafte-n 'they-Ma had a scare'. By contrast, when the output is e, this
contracted V is treated as a single V in Default Accentuation, resulting in a
default accent on the word-antepenult. Example: /abbuffa-aen/, surface
abbuffe-n 'they-Ma were in large quantity'. For more on interactions between
VV-Contraction and Default Accentuation, see §3.3.1.3.
The grammatical distribution of the regular e output, and of the
morphophonemically specialized ae output, is summarized in (38).(38) as/α Versus e Outputs for /a + ae/ in Verb-Suffix VV-Contractionconversion distribution/a-as/ —» e a. augment verbs: all V-initial subject suffixes
b. light V-final non-augment verbs: lSg and 2Sg
subject suffixes
c. V-final non-augment long imperfectives: all V-
initial subject suffixes