Difference between revisions of "Phonological Alternations"
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Sereer has salient alternations in the initial consonants of noun and verb stems. These alternations appear to be morphologically conditioned in a lexically specified manner, since they occur in several different segmental contexts whose only common element is being within a morphologically derived environment (e.g. plurality in both nouns and verbs; addition of apparent nominalizing suffixes to verbs). |
Sereer has salient alternations in the initial consonants of noun and verb stems. These alternations appear to be morphologically conditioned in a lexically specified manner, since they occur in several different segmental contexts whose only common element is being within a morphologically derived environment (e.g. plurality in both nouns and verbs; addition of apparent nominalizing suffixes to verbs). |
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| + | ==Nouns== |
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| + | |||
| + | ==Verbs== |
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| + | |||
| + | The initial consonant of verb roots can vary based on whether the subject is singular or plural. Non-implosives alternate with prenasalized stops, and implosives alternate with their voiceless counterparts. So far, these alternations appear to be completely predictable. |
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| + | sg.~pl. |
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| + | f~mb |
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| + | b~mb |
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| + | w~mb |
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| + | ɉ~ɲɉ |
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| + | χ~ɴɢ |
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| + | ɗ~ƭ |
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| + | ɓ~ƥ |
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| + | ʄ~ƈ |
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| + | |||
| + | Invariant: |
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| + | j~j |
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| + | l~l |
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| + | m~m |
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| + | n~n |
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| + | ŋ~ŋ |
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| + | ɲ~ɲ |
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| + | |||
| + | We still need to get the sg vs. pl. forms of verbs starting with: |
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| + | t |
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| + | d |
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| + | p |
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| + | r |
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| + | s |
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| + | q |
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| + | c |
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| + | k |
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| + | g |
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| + | ʔ, or vowel initial |
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| + | |||
| + | It seems that verb roots (as seen with singular subjects) cannot start with voiceless implosives or prenasalized stops. |
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Revision as of 20:09, 2 October 2012
Phonological Alternations
Morphophonology
Sereer has salient alternations in the initial consonants of noun and verb stems. These alternations appear to be morphologically conditioned in a lexically specified manner, since they occur in several different segmental contexts whose only common element is being within a morphologically derived environment (e.g. plurality in both nouns and verbs; addition of apparent nominalizing suffixes to verbs).
Nouns
Verbs
The initial consonant of verb roots can vary based on whether the subject is singular or plural. Non-implosives alternate with prenasalized stops, and implosives alternate with their voiceless counterparts. So far, these alternations appear to be completely predictable.
sg.~pl. f~mb b~mb w~mb ɉ~ɲɉ χ~ɴɢ ɗ~ƭ ɓ~ƥ ʄ~ƈ
Invariant: j~j l~l m~m n~n ŋ~ŋ ɲ~ɲ
We still need to get the sg vs. pl. forms of verbs starting with: t d p r s q c k g ʔ, or vowel initial
It seems that verb roots (as seen with singular subjects) cannot start with voiceless implosives or prenasalized stops.
