SYLLABLES IN TASHLHIYT BERBERAND IN MOROCCAN ARABIC

Kluwer International Handbooks of Linguistics

VOLUME 2

The titles published in this series are listed at the end 0/this volume.

Syllables in Tashlhiyt Berber and in Moroccan Arabic

by

FRANC;OIS DELL EHESS-CNRS, Paris, France

and

MOHAMED ELMEDLAOUI Faculte des Lettres,

Oujda, Morocco

~.

" SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.

A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4020-1077-4 ISBN 978-94-010-0279-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-010-0279-0

Printed on acidjree paper

All Rights Reserved © 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2002 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permis sion from the Publisher, with the exception

of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.

TO MORRIS HALLE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Symbols and abbreviations

Preface

Chapter 1. Introduction1.1. Goals and general outlook1.2. The Berber 1anguages1.3. Berber in Morocco1.4. Tash1hiyt1.5. Tashlyiyt and Moroccan Arabic in contact1.6. Imdlawn Tashlhiyt

Chapter 2. Syntax and morphology, an overview2.1. Sound system2.2. Notational conventions2.3. Syntax

2.3.1. Basic sentence structure2.3.2. Yerba1 clitics2.3 .3. Relative clauses

2.4. Yerbal morphology2.5. Nominal morphology

2.5.1. Vowel-initial nouns, the basic facts2.5.2. Alternations involving the augment2.5.3. Consonant-initial nouns

2.5.3.1. 1C-initial nouns2.5.3.2. Other consonant-initial nouns

Chapter 3. Phonological backdrop3.1. Preliminaries on gemination3.2. The long segment as a sequence of two prosodic

positions3.2.1. Heteromorphemic geminates

3.2.1.1. Fusion of adjacent short consonantsinto a long one

3.2.1.2. The genitive preposition3.2.1.3 . (R)AD's final consonant

3.2.2. Syllable structure3.2.3 . Templatic morphology I

vii

xi-xm

xv-xvi

1-1115678

10

13-3713141717182123262831343437

39-6939

4142

4246484950

Vlll T ABLE OF CONTENTS

3.3. The long segment as a single melodie unit3.3.1. Templatie morphology II3.3.2. Feature changes in long consonants

3.4. "Tension"3.5. Conclusion on the geminates3.6. Dorsopharyngealization

3.6.1. Auditory properties3.6.2. The distribution of emphasis

3.6.2.1. In the lexicon3.6.2.2. At the phonetic level

3.7. The voieed pharyngeal consonant3.8. tu! fronting

Chapter 4. Tashlhiyt syllables I4.1. Syllabie consonants4.2. Tashlhiyt verse and singing4.3. Singing words to a tune4.4. Parsing Tashlhiyt verse: preliminaries4.5. Pattern satisfaction4.6. Generalizations on orthometric syllables4.7. The role of sonority4.8. Geminates in complex codas4.9. Alternative parses meeting all the constraints

4.9.1. Sonority plateaux in complex obstruent rimes4.9.2. Sequences of high vowels4.9.3. Alternative licit parses not due to DETACH

4.10. Summary

Chapter 5. Tashlhiyt syllables II5.1. The syllabifieation of word sequences outside of poetry5.2. Imperfective gemination: the basie generalization5.3. Imperfective gemination and the weight of hollow

syllabIes5.4. Length alternations in the causative prefix

5.4.1. Monosyllabic bases beginning with an onset5.4.2. Other bases

5.5. Conclusion

Chapter 6. Vowelless syllables6.1. Vowels vs. transitional vocoids6.2. VTVs are releases with voicing6.3. The distribution of VTVs

6.3.1. Two generalizations6.3.2. Release in heterorganie clusters

535355565858596161636568

71-11471798184858997

103108109112113114

115-134115117

122124125127134

135-187135137139140142

TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

6.3.3. Release before a sibling consonant 1466.3.3.1. SIBLING-RELEASE 1466.3.3.2. The Fusion rule 1496.3.3.3. Restrietions on fusion 154

6.4. The only surface vowels are a, i and u, two phonolog-ical arguments 1576.4.1. Morphemes with adjacent identical consonants 1586.4.2. Regressive devoicing 160

6.5. Epenthetic vowels in Rifian Berber 1636.5.1. The basic pattern for vowel epenthesis 1646.5.2. e devoicing and e absorption 1666.5.3. Final CC clusters 1706.5.4. An outstanding issue: syllabification in kernels 173

6.6. Short vocoids in other works on Tashlhiyt 175

Chapter 7. The syllabification of vocoids7.1. Vocoid sequences not containing underlying glides

7.1.1 . Sequences a+H7.1.2. Sequences H+a7.1.3. Sequences of potential hvs7.1.4. Sequences a+a7.1.5. Sequences involving aa

7.2. The need for underlying glides7.3. Glides which are sonority peaks in the underlying

representations7.3.1. Surface glides (onsets) which are sonority peaks7.3.2. Glide gemination

7.3.2.1. Feminine bound state forms7.3.2.2. Verbs and masculine bound state forms7.3.2.3. Other stern-initial glides

7.3.3. Surface glides (codas) which are sonority peaks7.4. Geminate glides7.5. Conclusion

Chapter 8. Syllable structure in Moroccan Arabic8.1. Introduction8.2. Standard transcriptions

8.2.1. The distribution of 'e' in standard transcriptions8.2.2. Uncontroversial schwas vs. putative ones

8.3. The structure of syllables in MA8.3.1. Hinge syllables; syllable-final schwas8.3.2. Inventory of syllable types8.3.3. Complex nuclei; evidence from syllable weight

8.4. Violations of SonPeak in MA

189-226189190191192193195196

202202204205208212215218224

227-290227230230235241242249257261

x T ABLE OF CONTENTS

8.5. The syllable structure of words 2678.5.1. A constraint-based analogue of right-to-left scan 2698.5.2. Kerneis ending in eCC; FinH 2738.5.3. Sonority in rimes; NoRR 2768.5.4. Favoring sonority peaks as nuclei; SonPeak 2828.5.5. Kerneis ending in eC; FinL 2848.5.6. Free variants in which SonPeak overrides FinL 288

8.6. Summary 290

Chapter 9. Vowelless syllables in Moroccan Arabic9.1. The new analysis is simpler9.2. Expanded hollow syllables9.3. Comparing Tashlhiyt and MA

9.3.1. Well-formed sequences of syllables in MA andin Tashlhiyt

9.3.2 . Strings pronounced alike in MA and in Tashlhiyt9.3.3. Glides which are sonority peaks

9.3.3.1. Vocalized glides9.3.3.2. @w diphthongs; NoRR violations

9.4. Releases in sequences of sibling consonants9.4.1. Fusion and NO-TREBLE9.4.2. Earlier views on releases in sibling sequences9.4.3. Releases between short sibling stops

9.5. Stable schwas9.6. Summary of Chapter 9 and issues for further research

Appendix I. Preliminaries to Appendices Hand III

Appendix H. Song

Appendix III. Oratorical encounter

Appendix IV. Five Ashlhiy tunes

Appendix V. List of verbs with imperfective gemination

References

Index

291-334292296303

303306308309313317318320324328332

335-341

343-347

349-357

359-361

363-366

367-377

379-385

ysi.xyhA

<A>2

11»

+

=#

+

*ADaorARaugauxbCC:CADcaucoldatDEdefdem

SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

IPA [j]IPA [f]IPA [3]IPA [X]IPA [1$]IPA [6]1. sy llable nucleu s; 2. (only in §3.6) dorsoparyngealized('emphatic ' )1. extrametric (Rifian); 2. example in Chap 8stop releasepau seranked higher than (constraints)cover symbol ranging over - , =, #word-internal morpheme boundaryboundary between cli tic and hostword boundary other than =(period) syllable boundary(tilde) the preceding symbol represents the fir st half of ageminateoccurs between two identical letters to indicate that theydo not represent an underlying geminate(asterisk) precedes an ill-formed itemlad! (complementizer)aori stlarl (imperfective preverb )augmentativeauxiliarybound stateany segment which is not a Vgeminated CClassical ArabiccodacausativecollectivedativeDelI and Elmedlaouidefinitedemonstrative

Xl

Xll

detdirndirdoDTfFDfutGgenHhvidIFDQimperimpfindivintInVIPITBIYTkoLlitloemMAMEnNnameoOTpPNGprepprtPwordRRADrep(R)ADRIPI

SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

determinerdiminutivedireetionaldireet objeetDell and TangifeminineFranccis Dellfutureglidegenitive1. high voeoid; 2. heavy syllable(potential) high vowelideminferred from direet questioningimperativeimperfeetiveindividuativeinterrogativeinitial vowelIntonational PhraseImdlawn Tashlhiyt Berberelitie iytkind oflight syllableliterallyloeativemaseulineMoroeean ArabieMohamed Elmedlaouinounnucleusproper nameonsetOptimality Theorypluralperson-number-gender affixprepositionparticipleword+clitics1. rime; 2. eonsonantal sonorant (Resonant)future preverbreeiproealAD or RADrepresentation whieh is an input to phonetie implementation

SYMBOLS AND ABBRE VIATI ON S

Rt feature-geometrie Root nodes singular0' syllableSVV short voieed voeoidSWF Syllable Well-Formednessu free state ('u ' for 'unbound')V vowel (syllabie voeoid)VjGj homorganie vowel-glide sequenee (iy, uw)VTV voiced transitional vocoidWH wh-wordX prosodie position (skeletal slot)

Xlll

PREFACE

This book is intended primarily as an original contribution to the investi­gation of the phonology of the two main languages spoken in Morocco.Its central topic is syllable structure. Our theoretical outlook is that ofgenerative phonology.

Most of the book deals with Tashlhiyt Berber. This language has asyllable structure with properties which are highly unusual, as seen fromthe vantage point of better-studied languages on which most theorizing aboutsyllabification is based. On the one hand, complex consonant sequencesare a common occurrence in the surface representations. On the otherhand, syllable structure is very simple: only one distinctive feature bundle(phoneme) may occur in the onset, the nucleus or the coda. The way thesetwo conflicting demands are reconciled is by allowing vowelless sylla­bies . Any consonant may act as a syllable nucleus. When astring issyllabified, nuclear status is preferentially assigned to the segments witha higher degree of sonority than their neighbours. Consider for instancethe expression below, which is a complete sentence meaning 'remove it(m) and eat it (m)':

/kks=t t-ss-t=t/ [k.st.s .t:"] .k.k~t.t.s. .slt.

The sentence must be pronounced voiceless throughout, as indicated bythe IPA transcription between square brackets ; the syllabic parse given afterthe IPA transcription indicates that the sentence comprises four syllables(syllable nuclei are underlined).

The differences between the dialects of Berber have to do primarilywith the phonology and the lexicon. Tashlhiyt appears to be the dialect inwhich the avoidance of vowel epenthesis is pushed to the greatest extremes.In Chapter 6 we briefly compare Tashlhiyt with Rifian Berber, which resortsto vowel epenthesis. Rifian is similar in this respect to Tamazight Berber,which was the main source of the Berber data used in phonological theo­rizing during the Seventies and the Eighties.

In the last two chapters we take a fresh look at syllable structure inMoroccan Arabic and we argue that our conclusions about Tashlhiyt Berbercarry over to a certain extent to Moroccan Arabic. The inventories of syllabletypes of the two languages are very similar. Unlike Tashlhiyt, MoroccanArabic has an epenthetic vowel; but the range of contexts in which vowelepenthesis occurs is much more restricted than is suggested by the standardtranscriptions. As in Tashlhiyt, any consonant can act as a syllable nucleus.When they occur at the end of an Intonational Phrase, syllables in which

xv

XVI PREFACE

the nucleus is an obstruent are subject to epenthesis. The inserted vowelcombines with the obstruent to form a complex nucleus. Consider forinstance the word in (i) below, which is the 3rd fern sg imperfective formof /zbd/ 'pull' . This word is usuaIly transcribed as (ii):

(i)/t-zbd/

(ii)t@zb@d

(iii).tt.b@d.

(iv).tt.bg.

In our account, the surface representation is (iii) when this word occursat the end of an Intonational Phrase, and it is (iv) elsewhere. While in variant(iv) the nucleus of either syllable is a bare consonant, (iii) has a final syllablewith a complex nucleus @d.

This book is organized as follows . Chapters 1 to 3 set the stage for thediscussion in Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7, which provide a detailed analysis ofthe syllable structure of Tashlhiyt. Chapters 8 and 9 develop an accountof Moroccan Arabic syIlabification that builds on the results of our dis­cussion of Tashlhiyt.

Our deepest gratitude goes to Michael Kenstowicz and to JeanLowenstamm. Their moral support came at two decisive moments duringthe writing of this book. They read a complete draft in painstaking detailand suggested many improvements. We are also deeply grateful to twoanonymous reviewers for Kluwer for their comments, as weIl as to an anony­mous reviewer for Cambridge University Press, who commented in 1999on an earlier draft which dealt only with Berber.

We owe a special debt to Nick Clements , Morris Halle and Lisa Selkirk ,who have discussed with us much of our earlier work on Berber. Talkingwith them and reading their work has been an important source of inspi­ration. We have also learned much from Lionel Galand, and ME wishesto thank hirn for his support and ever-readiness to help during the initialstages of his formation in Berber linguistics.

Vast thanks are due to Oufae Tangi and Fouad Saa for spending manyhours answering questions about their native languages.

We would also like to thank the Faculte des Lettres in Oujda in the personof its dean, Mohamed Laamiri, without whose understanding and assistancethis book could not have been written, as well as the following persons, whohave helped us in various ways: Claude Brenier-Estrine, Salem Chaker,Redouane Djamouri , Paulette Galand-Pernet, Mohamed Lahrouchi, AlainPeyraube, Rachid Ridouane, Miriam Rovsing-Olsen, Chakir Zeroual andalso Jacqueline Bergsma, Iris Klug and the other persons at Kluwer whoturned our manuscript into a book.

We are also deeply grateful to Najat, Tarik and Sara Elmedlaoui forsharing some of the constraints imposed by the preparation of this book.

This work was supported in part by funding from the CNRS (CentreNational de la Recherche Scientifique) and the AUPELF (Association desUniversires Partiellement ou Entierement de Langue Francaise),