In this first book-length study of synchronic umlaut, a comprehensive
comparative analysis of the phonology and morphology of the umlaut
alternation in present-day German and the Austronesian language
Chamorro is presented in the framework of Optimality Theory. Umlaut in
German and Chamorro is local and noniterative vowel fronting at the
edge of a morphological base. Umlaut in German is stress-insensitive,
morphologically conditioned, and takes place at the right edge of
words, whereas Chamorro umlaut interacts significantly with stress, is
phonologically and morphologically conditioned and takes place at the
left edge of words. The account of German and Chamorro umlaut
presented in this book results in a fresh perspective of the
phonology-morphology interface and the interaction between segmental
and metrical structure with wide cross-linguistic implications. A new
conception of morphological conditioning based on morphological
faithfulness and Representation as Pure Markedness is developed. Given
this approach, I propose that the requirement that there is no back
vowel at the edge of the morphological base plays a fundamental role
in German and Chamorro umlaut. It is demonstrated how the interaction
of Pure Markedness desiderata and alignment, faithfulness and
markedness constraints accounts for German and Chamorro umlaut without
floating autosegments. Moreover, a careful analysis of Chamorro stress
is able to explain the umlaut-stress interaction without the
previously necessary, yet problematic transderivational correspondence
relation. The Chamorro data collected for this study through extensive
field research on Guam and Saipan contribute significantly to the
documentation of this endangered language.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9783110915570
Publisert
2015
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
De Gruyter
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter