The prosody of finiteness and non-finiteness:

the accent of Estonian finite and non-finite verbs

Anne Tammanne.tamm@unifi.itRIL HAS Budapest

University of Florence

Prosody and finiteness

• This contribution is about the prosodic characteristics of finiteness and non-finiteness.

• Can we regard prosody as another language module where finiteness operates in some languages?

Modules and finiteness

• I assume that certain verb forms, constructions and clauses can be either finite or non-finite.

• In terms of language modules, previous research has established that finiteness and non-finiteness phenomena are found in morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. How about prosody?

Morphological, semantic and pragmatic finiteness overlapping

(1) Ta on siin.

he[nom] be.3s here

‘He is here.’

Morphologically, non-morphologically non-finite

(2) Ta ei olnud siin sugugi he[nom] neg be-nud_ptcp here at all

mõtlemata kõigile tagajärgedele.without thinking of all the possible consequences‘He was not here without thinking of all the possible consequences.’

Morphologically nonfinite, non-morphologically finite

(3) Ta olevat kodus.

he[nom] be-quot home-ine

‘Allegedly, he is at home.’

What is finite in Estonian negative clauses?

• in Example (4) below containing negation, the verb is morphologically non-finite, but non-morphologically, it may be regarded finite

• what is finite and non-finite in this sentence? – is ei a particle, – a verb, – and if it is a verb, is it finite?

Negation and finiteness

(4) Ta ei olnud siin.

he[nom] neg be-nud_ptcp here

‘He was not here.’

(I set this apart in the study of finiteness

and accent)

Negation, finiteness, accent, stress

• This talk concentrates on the contrast between morphological and non-morphological finiteness and non-finiteness phenomena, adding negation.

• Negation is a crucial an object of study, since – it allows to test for several interdependent factors operating on

the different levels of linguistic description just as (non)-finiteness

– its accentuation and syntactic properties can be teased apart from those properties of finiteness and non-finiteness that apply because of the properties of the affirmative

– that there are many types that are present in Estonian allow us to say something more general about negation, prosody and (non)-finiteness

The main questions

• Can we tease apart the morphological and non-morphological finiteness and non-finiteness phenomena in terms of prosody, and accent?

• Does negation form any patterns with finiteness?• Is morphological/non-finite negation special in

terms of stress and accent?• What is the module on which we can build the

prosodic structure? • Can we predict stress and accent?

Negation, finiteness, syntax

• negated verbs assume a position in a sentence that can be different from the affirmative

• the arguments may also change their positions and accentuation due to the changed pragmatic and semantic factors

• in what follows, I establish the stress and accent pattern in some simple sentences and negation expressions

-mata attracts stress

• in production and perception tests, the -mata morpheme is distinguished from all other non-finite verb forms in stress – it is frequently stressed, while all others are unstressed (tud, nud, tav, v, mas, mast, ma, da)

• it is also bisyllabic, but since there are other bisyllabic combinations of nonfinite morphemes and case that are not stressed (-nuna, -tuna, -tava, -vale), the stress on -mata can be considered remarkable

-mata attracts accent

Also, while other non-finite forms tend to be unaccented in an identical position, the –mata forms are accented (lexical exceptions exist).

(5) Ta on (’)ujumas.

he[nom] be.3sg swim-m_inf_ine

‘He is off swimming.’

(6) Ta on ’uju’mata.

he[nom] be.3sg swim-m_inf_abe

‘He has not swum.’

ei is unaccented

The accentuation of the negation verb/particle ei is perceived as acceptable, but strange in perception tests, triggering unusual contexts.

(7) Ta ei olnud siin.

he[nom] neg be-nud_ptcp here

‘He was not here.’

(accent on olnud or siin)

mitte is partly unpredictable

From among the negation items, the accent of mitte is the most unpredictable and depends most on its position and the information structure, and its lexical surroundings.

mitte is partly predictable

‘teps ‘mitte ‘not at all’ (always accented)

mitte ‘mina vaid ‘sina (never accented)

(‘)mitte ‘midagi ‘nothing at all’ (variably accented)

eba- depends on the lexicalization

The stress pattern in the combinations with the prefixal eba- seem to depend on the lexicalization of the combination (the adjective part has always stress if not lexicalized, and nouns tend to be stressed).

‘ebameeldiv (-meel- has no stress)

‘eba‘uuenduslik (-uuen- has stress)

‘eba’küdoonia ‘quince’ (-küdoonia has stress)

Finite verbs unaccented

The finite verb in a clause is mostly unaccented, unless it is not required by information structural or other constraints, and its accenting is perceived as strange.

(8) Ta on ’siin. he[nom] be.3sg here

‘He is here.’

Clause-final finite forms accented

Clause-final finite forms are accented.

(9)

Seda ta mulle eile ‘ütles.

This.part s/he I-all yesterday say.3s.pst

‘Yesterday s/he did say it to me.’

Negative verbs are accented

• However, some listable finite verbs are rather accented, and their accentuation can be attributed to their role in discourse.

• Semantically negative verbs tend to attract accent.eemaldama ‘remove’ vs lisama ‘add’loobuma ‘decline’ vs nõustuma ‘agree’eitama ‘negate’

Non-finite forms clause-final

Non-finite forms appear mostly clause-finally, and are accented.

(10)

Seda sai mulle eile ‘öeldud.

This.part s/he I-all yesterday say.tud-ptcp

‘Yesterday it was told to me.’

Non-finite forms as main predicates in finite clauses

Non-finite forms that are the main predicates in finite clauses are not accented (exactly as the finite verbs).

(11) Ta olevat ’kodus.

he[nom] be-quot home-ine

‘Allegedly, he is at home.’

Negated verb, variable accent

Whether the verb form combining with ei is accented or not, depends on its position and its discourse properties (accented if clause-final, and/or on the ‘list’ of preferably accented predicates)

(12) Ei tea ‘öelda (no accent on tea ‘know’)

Neg know say-da_inf

‘One cannot say.’

Verbs in negative sentences vary in accent

The accentuation of the negation verb/particle ei is perceived as acceptable, but strange in perception tests, triggering unusual contexts.

(13) Ta ei (’)olnud ’siin.

he[nom] neg be-nud_ptcp here

‘He was not here.’

(accent on olnud or siin)

Non-finite negated forms as main predicates in finite clauses

Non-finite forms that are the main predicates in finite clauses and that are negated are accented.

(11) Ta ei ’olevat kodus. he[nom] neg be-quot home-ine

‘Allegedly, he is at home.’Accenting is a significant difference between morphologically finite and non-finite negated main predicates.

Clause-final verbs are accented

Clause-final verbs are accented.

(14)

Seda ta mulle eile ei ‘öelnud.

This.part s/he I-all yesterday neg

say-nud_ptcp

‘Yesterday s/he did not say this to me.’

Non-morphological finiteness as the basis for accenting

• One can conclude that the type of finiteness that is relevant for accenting is non-morphological in Estonian.

Prosody patterns little with morphological finiteness

• Prosodic patterns are generally more regular in terms of their correlation with the

(non-)finitness phenomena in syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and extra-linguistic or semi-linguistic properties (accentuation at the end of an utterance/sentence) than in terms of morphological finiteness.

An interesting correlation

• the correlation of accent and morphological finiteness is weak with morphological finiteness but some cases stand out as exceptions

• the negative (abessive) morphologically non-finite predicates (mõtlemata) and negated morphologically non-finite main predicates (ei olevat) are regularly accented

• the negative (abessive) morphologically non-finite forms can be predicted to carry accent, and the stress on the morpheme

Final conclusions

• the examples above showed that it is rather the negative content that attracts stress and accent in Estonian

• non-finiteness and negation together predict accent in some well defined environments in Estonian

Prosody not a module where finiteness operates

• Can we regard prosody as another language module where finiteness operates?

• The answer is no for Estonian, but there are regularities that might help to tease apart the morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic finiteness.

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Acknowledgements

• This research is supported by the grant The bidirectional relationships between the speech rhythm and Estonian grammatical and lexical structures, grant number ETF 2009, ETF7998 of the Estonian Science Foundation (Eestikeelse kõne rütmilisuse peegeldused grammatilistes ja leksikaalsetes struktuurides (ja vice versa)) or Modelling intermodular phenomena in Estonian, grant number SF 2009, SF0050023s09 of the Estonian Science Foundation (Eesti keele alusuuringud keeletehnoloogiliste rakenduste teenistuses)