Dominance reversal in Kinande class 5 and Ikoma applicative

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7.1.3 Dominance reversal in Kinande class 5 and Ikoma applicative

Kinande Bantu JD42, [nnb] is a language which exhibits clear systematic [+ATR] dominance. Kinande has the underlying 7VH vowel inventory i a u and the two allophones [e o] which occur to the left of i u. Mutaka 1995 provides a detailed description of Kinande vowel harmony, and Archangeli and Pulleyblank 2002 is a recent theoretical account. In 209 below I show basic infinitive verbs with each of the seven underlying vowels, as well as agentive nominal foms showing leftward [+ATR] spreading. Basic infinitive verbs are formed with the class 5 prefix r -, and the agentive is formed with the class 1 prefix m - and the agentive suffix -i. The Kinande data presented here is from Gick et al. 2006. 209 [+ATR] spreading in Kinande tone and allophonic vowel length omitted N N N N K K K K J J J J H H H H - . - . . U . 8 . : 8 2 U . 8 . 8 . - - - - 8 . 8 8 . 8 A Note that in the infinitive, the prefix is [-ATR] before all root vowels except for [i u], in which case it is [+ATR]. In the agentive, the [-i] suffix causes all leftward vowels except for the augment to be realized as [+ATR]. This results in neutralization of the height 1 and 2 root vowels and allophonic raising of to [e o]. 86 Evidence of [+ATR] dominance comes primarily from the fact that [-ATR] root vowels become [+ATR] when 86 Note that these patterns of [+ATR] spreading to both stems and prefixes in Kinande are much like patterns found in Zanaki, a 7VH language in the Mara Region, neighboring Ikoma. See §7.3.1 for a brief description of Zanaki vowels. 255 followed by [+ATR] vowels. Similarly, default [-ATR] prefixes become [+ATR] when followed by a [+ATR] root. This is clearly not a case of simple root dominance, since the root vowel itself is subject to alternation. What is especially interesting about Kinande is that it exhibits an unusual pattern which has been analyzed as dominance reversal. Hyman 2002 and Kenstowicz 2009 describe a case involving the class 5 prefix. The class 5 prefix in the examples above is the infinitive prefix in Kinande, but it is also used as a standard class prefix for class 5 noun stems. There is, however, an interesting difference between the nominal prefix and the infinitive verbal prefix. The infinitive prefix is underlyingly [-ATR], as are most other prefixes in the language, whereas the nominal prefix seems to be underlyingly [+ATR]. The relevant generalizations, repeated from Hyman 2002 and Kenstowicz 2009, are summarized in 210 below. I have adjusted their transcriptions to match those used elsewhere throughout this thesis. 210 Kinande class 5 nominal and verbal prefixes a. Verbs [eri-] before i u UF [-ATR] r - [ r -] before a b. Nouns [eri-] before i a UF [+ATR] ri- [ r -] before The simplest analysis of these patterns is that the verbal prefix is underlyingly [-ATR] and consequently that [+ATR] spreads leftward from the stem to the prefix, just as we discussed above concerning the examples in 209, and which is also well-attested elsewhere in the language. The nominal prefix, however, has the opposite pattern. The least predictable and most widely occurring allomorph is the [+ATR] form, which is good reason to consider it to be underlying. This implies that [-ATR] spreads leftward from 256 stem to prefix, but only from the [-ATR] high vowels , not the [-ATR] mid vowels . Therefore, in Kinande, a language in which [+ATR] is clearly the dominant value, we now have a pattern in which [-ATR] appears to be spreading, but only in a very restricted and well-defined instance, that is, with the class 5 nominal prefix. It is unclear what sort of historical changes could have motivated this prefix to develop two different underlying forms. Nonetheless, if we take the distributions of these allomorphs at face value, we must concede that the underlying forms are actually different. This process is striking in its similarity to the applicative pattern in Ikoma, discussed in §6.1 above. For the purposes of this illustration, if we assume an analysis in which Ikoma has [-ATR] as the systematically dominant value which, as we will see in §7.2, could actually be a tenable analysis, it is difficult to account for the apparent [+ATR] spreading from the verb root to the applicative suffix. The applicative harmony pattern is repeated in 211 below. 211 Ikoma applicative vowel harmony - r following i, , a, , u -er following e, o Recall that the applicative in Ikoma is the only instance in which we find apparent [+ATR] spreading from the root to a suffix. All other rightward spreading to suffixes is from [-ATR] root vowels. In both the Ikoma applicative suffix and the Kinande class 5 nominal prefix, the underlying form of the affix is different than we would expect based on data from related languages and based on other language-internal factors e.g. underlying forms of other affixes. In Kinande we expect the prefix to be [-ATR] underlyingly, but it is [+ATR]. In 257 Ikoma we expect the suffix to be [+ATR] underlyingly, but it is [-ATR]. Also in both cases, these affixes have dominant-valued underlying forms which assimilate to the non- dominant value of the stem, but only when the stem and affix have an [ATR] contrast at the same height. Recall that only [-ATR] high vowels cause spreading to the high [+ATR] Kinande prefix, and only [+ATR] mid vowels cause spreading to the mid [-ATR] Ikoma suffix. Hyman and Kenstowicz both conclude that the Kinande pattern is a convincing case of dominance reversal, and I suggest that this analysis could work for Ikoma as well. Concerning the motivation behind the Kinande reversal, Hyman notes that it is very rare for a prefix to spread its [ATR] value rightward to a root vowel, whereas leftward spreading harmony is well-attested. These tendencies motivate a dominance reversal in order to maintain harmony. He summarizes his explanation 2002 22 I propose that the underlying form of the class 5 prefix sequence is -ri-, but that there is ATR-delinking … by what Bakovic 2000 terms “dominance reversal”. This is triggered by the fact that i, u cannot co-occur with , within a word at the lexical level in Kinande. Hyman explains the superficial [-ATR] spreading in terms of “ATR-delinking.” Therefore, there is still only one real dominant value in Kinande, but other factors in this case, a [+ATR] prefix and a dispreference for spreading from prefix to stem have resulted in a pattern of apparent spreading of the non-dominant value. 87 Following a similar line of argumentation, I suggest that the applicative suffix in Ikoma could very well be [-ATR] - underlyingly, as I argue for above, having arrived at this form via historical developments which are not clear at this time. Even if we suppose a framework in which only [-ATR] is specified as a way to directly encode 87 See Kenstowicz 2009 for an OT analysis of this pattern. 258 [-ATR] markedness, the apparent [+ATR] spreading from root to suffix could be understood not as [+ATR] spreading but instead as [-ATR]-delinking in order to satisfy harmony requirements. We have seen elsewhere in the language, especially in prefix dissimilation, that [ATR] differences across different heights particularly in the order [iu… ] are more acceptable than [ATR] differences at the same mid height. A [+ATR] vowel in the root followed by a [-ATR] vowel in the suffix would produce a disharmonic sequence of mid vowels. However, if [-ATR] is delinked from the suffix vowel, then it satisfies harmony. This could also explain why the [+ATR] form of the suffix only occurs following the mid vowels e o and not the high vowels which have the [-ATR] form of the suffix. The sequence [CiC- ] is not disharmonic and therefore does not need dominance reversal in order to repair it. This section has served not only to further illustrate the concept of dominance reversal, but also to demonstrate how one of Ikoma’s unusual vowel patterns can be explained with this concept.

7.2 Toward a unified analysis of Ikoma vowels