Morphophonology of the Nominal Suffix in Taiwan Hakka

Morpho-phonology of the Nominal Suffix in Taiwan Hakka Dialects Michael M. Opper Phondi Talk 10/15/2010

Objectives • Talk about the phonological fundamentals of four Taiwan Hakka dialects • Compare the Nominal Suffix NS in Taiwan Hakka dialects with a particular emphasis on Guanxi Sixian

Hakka Dialects and Chinese • Hakka is one of seven Chinese languages • Spoken primarily in Northern Guangdong and Western Fujian • Roughly three million speakers in Taiwan; fifty million worldwide

Some Features of Hakka Dialects • All Hakka dialects have a nominalizing suffix. It is cognate to SC 兒 and has been commonly written with the “dummy character” 仔 • Lack [y] • Lack yángshǎng陽上; only one shǎng tone • Register distinction in píng and rù; sometimes qù • Words with sonorant initials in higher registers • Unique words for son ‘lai 6’ and mother ‘oi 1’

Taiwan Hakka Dialects • Sixian spoken by roughly 50% of Taiwan Hakka • Hailu spoken by more than 20% • Raoping spoken by less than 20% • Others spoken by less than 10%

Dialects Surveyed • • Zhutian Sixian Guanxi Sixian Xinzhu Raoping Yangmei Hailu

Taiwan Hakka Phonology • C(G)VX structure for heavy syllables • CV structure for light syllables (the NS) • Rimes (Finals) V: - {a, e, i, o, u, ɨ} VX- V {e, o, a}, X {i, u, p, t, k, m, n, ŋ} • Dialects differ mainly in Onsets (Initials) and Tonemes

Zhutian Sixian Onsets Bilabials Unaspirated Voiceless Stops Aspirated Voiceless Stops Labiodentals Dentals Velars Glottals p包冰 t刀等 k歌经 Ø [ʔ] 嬰有 pʰ 泡喷 tʰ同定 kʰ苦圈 Unaspirated Voiceless Affricates ts子走 Aspirated Voiceless Affricates tsʰ次在 f福 v碗 Fricatives Nasals Lateral Approximant m尾忘 s双船 n牛难 l梨流 h号限 ŋ饿元

Zhutian Sixian Tones 24 – MH 31 – ML 11 – LL X 44 HH 32 ML 55 HH

Guanxi Sixian Onsets Bilabials Unaspirated Voiceless Stops Aspirated Voiceless Stops Labiodentals Dentals Velars Glottals p包冰 t刀等 k歌经 Ø [ʔ] 嬰矮 pʰ 泡喷 tʰ 同定 kʰ 苦圈 Unaspirated Voiceless Affricates ts子走 Aspirated Voiceless Affricates tsʰ 次在 f福 v碗 Fricatives Nasals Lateral Approximant m尾忘 s双 z药 n牛难 l梨流 h号限 ŋ饿元

Guanxi Sixian Tones 24 – MH 31 – ML 11 – LL X 44 – HH 32 – ML 55 – HH

Xinzhu Raoping Onsets Bilabials Unaspirated Voiceless Stops Aspirated Voiceless Stops Labiodentals Dentals Velars Glottals p包冰 t刀等 k歌经 Ø [ʔ] 嬰矮 pʰ 泡喷 tʰ 同定 kʰ 苦圈 Unaspirated Voiceless Affricates ts子走 Aspirated Voiceless Affricates tsʰ 次在 f福水 v忘 Fricatives Nasals Lateral Approximant m尾 s四 z蛳 n牛难 l梨流 h号限 ŋ饿元

Xinzhu Raoping Tones 11 – LL 53 – HM 55 – HH X 33 – MM 44 – HH 31 – ML

Yangmei Hailu Onsets Bilabials Labiodentals Dentals Post-Alveolars Velars Glottals Ø [ʔ] 嬰矮 Unaspirated Voiceless Stops p包冰 t刀等 k歌经 Aspirated Voiceless Stops pʰ 泡喷 tʰ 同定 kʰ 苦圈 Unaspirated Voiceless Affricates ts子走 tʃ张 Aspirated Voiceless Affricates tsʰ 次在 tʃʰ 抽 s四伞 ʃ食 ʒ有 f福 v忘 Fricatives Nasals Lateral Approximant m尾 n牛难 l梨流 h号限 ŋ饿元

Yangmei Hailu Tones 53 – HM 55 – HH 13 – 21 – ML LM X 33 – MM 55 – HH 32 – ML

The Nominal Suffix NS • Heavy syllables: CVX, Light syllables (such as the NS): CV • CVXCV will either have an unparsed syllable (CVX)CV or an ill-formed foot (CVX)(CV). • The NS cannot be a prosodic word, it affixes to a phonological word to avoid foot -based requirements • Requires an onset

The Nominal Suffix NS • Always e² in Zhutian Sixian (Common Sixian suffix) *** add examples • ɤ in Xinzhu Raoping and Yangmei Hailu, becomes a syllabic nasal following nasals with the same place of articulation *** add examples • Underlying /l/ in Guanxi Sixian

Guanxi Sixian NS Root-Final Segment Suffix Form Examples [-p] /pl / /hap 8. pl / ‘box’ [-t] /tl / /mat 7. tl / ‘socks’ [-k] /kl / /kok 8. kl / ‘rice patty’ [-m] /mɤ/ /zit 8. tjam 3. mɤ/ ‘a little bit’ [-n] /nɤ/ /mun 1. nɤ/ ‘mosquito’; /se 5. ŋin 2. nɤ/ ‘child’ [-n] /n / /lan 2. n / ‘basket’ [-ŋ] /ŋ / /kʰwai 5. tʰoŋ1. ŋ / ‘chopsticks box’ [ŋ ] /ŋɤ/ /ŋ 2. ŋɤ/ ‘fish’ [-i] /jŋ / /pʰi 1. jŋ / ‘quilt’; /mi 1. tʰjoi 5. jŋ / ‘rice bag’; /tʰjoi 5. jŋ / ‘belt’ [-i] /jɤ/ /pwoi 1. jɤ/ ‘heat rash’ /moi 5. jɤ/ ‘woman’ [-i] /jl / /koi 5. jl / ‘scab’; /kʰwai 5. jl / ‘chopsticks’; /lai 2. jl / ‘son’ [-a] /l / /tsaː 1. l / ‘car’ [-o] /wl / /tjao 5. wl / ‘bird’ [-u] /wŋ / /hu 1. wŋ / ‘beard’ ***switch bracket types

Guanxi Sixian NS • Four surface forms: the syllabic lateral [l ], the syllabic dental nasal [n ], the syllabic velar nasal [ŋ ] and the mid-high back unrounded vowel [ɤ]. • I hypothesize that the underlying form is /l/, only surfaces unchanged in a specific environment: after [aː]: e. g. /tsʰaː+l/ [tsʰaː. l ]

Guanxi Sixian NS • Vowel final roots show a remarkable amount of free variation. • Spreading of the non-low vowels: e. g. /tjao-l/ [tjao. wl ] and /koi-l/ [koi. jl ]. • In some forms, the /l/ becomes [ŋ ]: e. g. /pʰi. jŋ /. • the /l/ becomes the back vowel [ɤ]: e. g. /pwoi. jɤ/ • Since /a/ has no glide counterpart, there is a ban on epenthesis, and there is a strict adherence to right-alignment of roots with syllables, [tsʰaː. l ] is the only option.

Gemination • There is a strong pressure for every syllable to have an onset. • There is also a strong pressure for the rightmost segment of every root to be aligned with the right edge of a syllable.

Constraints for Geminates onset dep Every syllable must have an onset The right edge of every root must align with the right edge of some syllable. Do not epenthesize *gem Do not have geminates align-R(Root, )

Constraints for hap. pl (con’t) /hap-l/ ☞ onset align-R dep max (a) hap. pl (b) hap. l (c) haː. pl (d) hap. lɤ (e) hap *gem * *! *!

Constraint Variation for Nasals /mun-l/ align-R (a) mun. n ☞ onset max *! *gem * (b) mun. nɤ (c) muː. nn dep * *! * * (d) mun *! /mun-l/ ☞ align-R dep max (a) mun. n (b) mun. nɤ (c) muː. nn (d) mun *! onset *gem * *!

Explain that these variants occur because of confusion from the dialects