Phonology Assignment 7 SNS

7/30/2019 Phonology Assignment 7 SNS

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen SelfAL 5406 Phinnemore

8 February 2013

Phonology Assignment 7: Morphophonemics

1. Introduction

Owing to its structural properties, Mandarin is not a language characterized by much in the way of

morphology. Mandarin is not, however, altogether lacking in morphophonemics. More properly,Mandarin morphophonemics are largely morphotonemics, as tone sandhi comprises a major part of themorphophonemic alterations evident in the language. More truly morphophonemic alterations can also beobserved in word compounding, with which Mandarin is replete, and word formation through the additionof some precious few bound morphemes like the suffix -and the plural marker mn.

2. Tone Sandhi

Mandarin has four contrastive tones, all but one a contour tone. They are shown in Table 1.

high 1st tone rising 2nd tone

falling rising 3rd tone

falling 4th tone

Table 1: Mandarin Tones

The functional load of tone in Mandarin is quite high. On a purely segmental basis, the languageonly has 406 distinct syllables; once tonal contrasts are factored in, however, 1256 distinct syllables canbe produced (Yip 2002:172). Unlike African languages, tone in Mandarin is characterized by its stability:that is, tones tend to remain associated with the same tone bearing unit (henceforth TBU) and do not shiftfrom syllable to syllable (Yip 2002:132). There are, however, changes that occur when tones arejuxtaposed with one another in compound words and sentences. This phenomenon, known as tone sandhi,is well-documented in our data. The tone sandhi in our data reflects two distinct types: 1) sandhiassociated with specific words, namely the negative morpheme bu and word for one (j)i; and 2)sandhi associated purely with tonal juxtaposition. We shall take each of these types of sandhi in turn.

2.1 Tone sandhi associated with bu and(j)i

The negative morpheme and word for one in Mandarin are well known for engaging in sandhi withfollowing tones. The process with bunot is fairly simple. Before another fourth tone word, it becomesa second, or rising, tone. This change is illustrated in (1).

(1) u bu i laui

1SG NEG be teacher

I am not a teacher (S53.14).

The process with (j)i one is somewhat more complex. Before first, second, or third tones, theword becomes fourth, or falling, tone. Before a fourth tone, on the other hand, it becomes a second, or

rising, tone. These changes are illustrated in (2),(3), and (4).(2) u ti jixi kiautsi

1SG eat some dumpling

I eat some dumplings (S53.16).

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Deborah Cunningham & Stephen Self

(3) umen jiki ky

1PL together go

We go together (S53.17).

(4) t i ti ji k

DEM be ordinal one lessonThis is the frst lesson (S53.15).

An interesting further example of the changes associated withjicomes from the juxtaposition of theword with the general classifierk. As is often the case with classifiers in context, k is usuallypronounced without tone; however, the effect of its underlying fourth tone is sufficient to change the toneofji to second. This phenomenon is exemplified in (5).

(5) ta ju ji k laui

3SG have one CLAS teacher

He has one teacher (S53.14).

2.2 Tone sandhi associated with pure tonal juxtapositions

As we noted in our Phonology Paper (section 3.1), the third tone in Mandarin is unique. First, it isassociated with both a fall and a rise in pitch. Second, the nature of its long falling-rise tends to causeboth a lengthening of the syllable that bears the tone as well as its largyngealization and subsequentrealization with creaky voice. The third tone also participates in unique processes of tone sandhi.

Whenever two third tones are juxtaposed, the first is realized as a second, or rising, tone. This changeoccurs in the very common greeting ni xau (/ni xau/) (S135.6), meaning literally You good. It isalso illustrated in the compound word in example (6).

(6) /ui ui - ku/

water water ruit

ruit (S53.19-20).

Whenever a third tone is juxtaposed to a first, second, or fourth tone, on the other hand, it becomes ahalf-third tone, consisting of the fall without the final rise. These changes are illustrated in the compoundwords in examples (7), (8), and (9).

(7) /y y - jn/

language language language

language (S137.13)

(8) /tsu tsu - ku/

past past country

homeland

(9) /k k - i/

may/can be may/can be be

but

The other instance of tone sandhi not associated with specific lexical items involves second tone. Atnormal conversational speeds, second tone also exhibits certain changes indicative of tone sandhi. In

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particular, when second tone occurs in the middle of a trisyllabic expression, it often surfaces as first tone(Duanmu 2002:239). Examples are given in (10) and (11).

(10) san nin ki

three year grade

third grade (S131.46)

(11) tsu ju pi

onion oil cake

ried onion cake (S131.47)

3. The suffix -

The use of a special rhotacized suffix in Mandarin is associated with a particular kind of elevated,northern style of speech known in Chinese as erhua (Duanmu 2002:212). As Chao (1968:46) notes, thissuffix is the only non-syllabic affix in the whole language. Historically, - is related to a diminutivesuffix, though Chao (1968:46, 228) traces its use to two other sources as well. In terms ofmorphophonemics, the addition of the suffix to a given syllable results in a complex set of changes

depending on the nature of the final or coda of the host syllable. Table 2presents a listing of the changesgiven in Duanmu (2002:213); Duanmus [r] represents our / /, and [y] corresponds to the glide [j].

Unsuffixed Chao (1968) L. Wang and N. He (1985)

z, , i, n r r

a, ai, an ar ar

o or or

u ur ur

r r

au aur aur

u ur our

r r

a ar r

u ur ur

e r r

i, in ir ir

y yr yr

Table 2: Morphophonemic changes with the suffix - per Duanmu (2002)

Not all of these possibilities are evidenced in our data, though quite a few are. Those that are inevidence are presented in Table 3.

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Unsuffixed Suffixed Meaning Citation

/uan/ [u ] to play S141.35-143.36

/xu/ [hu ] fire, angry S143.37-18

/mi/ [mi ] tomorrow S143.41-42

/kiauxai/ [ iauh ] small child S143.43-145.44

/ i / [ ] thing S145.45-46

/xui/ [xu] time S127.30-31

/t / [t ] here S127.36

Table 3: Data from LC with - suffix

From Table 2 and Table 3, we can extract the following generalizations about the morphophonemic

changes occasioned by the addition of the - suffix.1. The codas i, n, and - are deleted before - . 1

2. The central low vowel /a/ backs further to [ ] before - .

3. Tone remains unaffected before - .

4. Neutral tone in compounds

As we indicated in our Phonology Paper (section 4.4), syllables in compound words are oftenpronounced without tone (the so-called neutral or fifth tone). The loss of tone coincides with a lack ofstress. The language has actually constructed a number of minimal pairs depending on whether the secondsyllable of such compounds is pronounced without stress and tone or not. Table 4 illustrates the contrasts.

normal stress + normal stress primary stress + unstressed

/xiuti/ S139.23 brothers /xiuti/ S139.24 younger brother'

/tuxi/ S139.25 east and west /tuxi/ S139.26 thing

Table 4: Minimal stress pairs in Mandarin

5. Other morphology in Mandarin

Though strictly outside the limits of morphophonemics because they do not involve any changes tothe phonetic form of the utterances to which they attach, we should mention a few bound stems inMandarin that participate in derivational processes. As we have noted previously, Mandarin can becharacterized as a language of compound words (Arcodia 2007:79). Thus, it should not be surprisingthat Mandarin makes use of words to form compounds in the same way that more polysyntheticlanguages use derivational affixes.

The word /xy/, which also occurs in the words /taxy/ university and /xyxi/ study, is usedas a suffix to create abstract nouns denoting fields of study, in much the same way as the Greek suffix-(o)logy is used in English. Similarly, /kia/ is used as a suffix to create agentive nouns, like the ist ending

1 NB: The loss of final /-/ should leave behind nasality on the pre- vowel (Duanmu 2002:214). Our admittedlysmall sample of data does not bear this generalization out.

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in English. Finally, the word /xua/ can be suffixed to nouns and adjectives to create transitive verbs inthe same way as the Greek suffix ize functions in English. Examples of these constructions are given in(12),(13), and (14).

(12) /tuuu - xy/

animal study

zoology (S163.43)

(13) /xiauu - kia/

novel - -ist

novelist (S163.44)

(14) /mi - xua/

American - -ize

Americanize (S131.49)

One final bound stem that bears mention is/tsi/. Ultimately derived from the word/tsi/, meaning

child, this toneless suffix is used in modern Mandarin as an obligatory element in the formation of ahost of nouns (Li and Thompson 1989:42-43). There is no common semantic link between these nounsand no derivational functional of the affix. For all intents and purposes, the words that occur with/-tsi/are simply frozen forms Examples are given in Table 5.

/k uai tsi/ chopsticks S53.11

/k uu tsi/ pants S43.7

/p antsi/ bowl S15.20

/haitsi/ child S79.22

/tutsi/ belly S69.81/pitsi/ nose S69.80

/t atsi/ guts S69.82

/putsi/ neck S71.83

/fatsi/ house S25.59

/t utsi/ seed S27.60

/iitsi/ leaf S27.61

Table 5: Nouns with the suffix -tsi

6. ReferencesArcodia, Giorgio Francesco. 2007. Chinese: A Language o Compound Words? Selected Proceedings of

the 5th

Dcembrettes: Morphology in Toulouse, ed. by Fabio Montermini, Gilles Boy, and Nabil

Hathout, 79-90.Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, http://www.lingre.com/

cpp/decemb/5/paper1617.pd(accessed 22 January 2013).

Chao, Yuen Ren. 1968. A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University o Caliornia Press.

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http://www.lingref.com/cpp/decemb/5/paper1617.pdfhttp://www.lingref.com/cpp/decemb/5/paper1617.pdfhttp://www.lingref.com/cpp/decemb/5/paper1617.pdfhttp://www.lingref.com/cpp/decemb/5/paper1617.pdf


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Duanmu, San. 2002. The phonology of standard Chinese. Oxord: Oxord University Press.

Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar.

Berkeley: University o Caliornia Press.

Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Phonology Assignment 7 SNS