4.1 Tonal neutralization in Taiwan Southern Min
4.1.3 The extrametricality of neutral tones
4.1.3.2 Domain-finality
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(32) ALIGN-R(ϕ, Fnc≤2)
Assign one violation mark for every phonological phrase (ϕ) which is not right-aligned with some word with degree of grammaticalization lower than or equal to 2 (Fnc≤2).
With this alignment constraint ranked above ALIGN-R(ϕ, XP), function words that would carry neutral tone are forced to be located outside any phonological phrase. The following tableau illustrates this desirable results.
(33) ALIGN-R(ϕ, Fnc≤2) ≫ ALIGN-R(ϕ, XP) INPUT: (=30)
CAND 1: a. ( S S ϕ) B ϕ) CAND 2: a. ( S B ϕ) N))
/INPUT/ ALIGN-R(ϕ, Fnc≤2) ALIGN-R(ϕ, XP)
CAND 1 *!
CAND 2 *
4.1.3.2 Domain-finality
Another crucial property of the neutral tones in Taiwanese that is exceptional in Sinitic languages is that they are confined to the domain-final positions. Consider the examples below, where we can see that only in the final position can a non-prominent function word be neutral-toned.
[u7 khuann3-tioh0VP]
PRF see-PHA
(S B N ϕ)
‘(I) have seen it.’
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國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(34) Finality of neutral tone a.
b.
This confinement to final positions is in line with two of the universal restrictions on extrametricality proposed by Hayse (1982). The first, peripherality, restricts extrametrical constituents to the edges of a domain; and the other, edge markedness, prefers that they occur at the right edge. Under the framework of OT, these restrictions are incorporated into a constraint family, NON-FINALITY, which is presented as a replacement for extrametricality, as formulated in (35).
(35) NON-FINALITY:
Assign one violation mark for every phrase-final syllable that is parsed in a prosodic word.
One may conjecture that this constraint can be responsible for the finality of neutral tone. However, NON-FINALITY is not suitable for this case by nature, because it only aims at the final syllable/word. Empirically, this would make wrong prediction in the case with a sequence of function words phrase-finally, all having potential to be neutral-toned. In the case with sequential function words piled up at the final position are with degree higher than the threshold of neutralization, and they are attested to be neutral-[khioh8-tioh8 [tsinn5NP/DP] VP] ‘To have found money’
Pick-Fnc=3 money ( S S B ϕ)
[khioh8-tioh8 VP] ‘To have found’
Pick-Fnc=3
( B ϕ) N
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
toned altogether. Yet, NON-FINALITY can only ensure neutralization of the last syllable.
Logically, the point we should take into consideration is how to prevent non-prominent function words from losing their lexical tones at non-final positions, rather than trying to produce neutralization at final positions, because given the alignment constraint ALIGN-R(ω, Fnc≤2) in the current proposal, those words are destined for neutralization. In view of this, I propound that a non-prominent function word preserves its tonal contrast in non-final positions for improving on “prosodic coordination,” a notion put forward by Myrberg (2010, 2013). That is, phonology prefers sister nodes in the prosodic structure to be the same prosodic category, as shown in (36a); adjunction (unequal sister nodes), for example, adjoining a syllable to the left of a prosodic word (36b) or to the right of a prosodic word (36c), is less preferred.
(36) Prosodic coordination and adjunction
a. Coordination b. Adjunction to the left c. Adjunction to the right
ϕ ϕ ϕ
ω ω ω ω
σ σ σ σ σ σ
Myrberg propose an anti-adjunction constraint, known as EQUALSISTERS, to capture this structural preference, as defined below.
(37) EQUALSISTERS (or EQUSIS for short):
Assign a violation mark for every pair of sister nodes in the prosodic structure that are not instantiations of the same prosodic category.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
This constraint helps differentiate neutral tones in phrase-internal positions from neutral tones in phrase-final positions. As shown in (38a), with phrase-internal neutral tone, which is derived from function words in the form of free clitics, the neutral-toned syllable is adjoined both to the left (i.e. to the phrase-initial ω ) and to the right (to the phrase-final ϕ). In other words, it violates EQUALSISTERS twice. However, if the phrase-internal function words is promoted to the status of an independent ω, in which case it bears a full tone, like (38b), it is only adjoined to the right, while attaining coordination with the sister node to its left, and the violation on EQUALSISTERS is improved: only one violation. On might wonder why the function word does not promotes itself all the way to the status of ϕ so that it can remove all the violations on EQUALSISTERS. I suggest it is because the effect of the licensing constraint introduced in the last subsection, ALIGN-R(ϕ, Fnc≤2), which demands that a phonological phrase be licensed by right-alignment with a prominent function word. Promotion to ϕ would violate this constraint by having the promoted ϕ right-aligned with this non-prominent function word.
Therefore, by ranking ALIGN-R(ϕ, Fnc≤2) above EQUALSISTERS, we attain a partial improvement. Last, consider the case where the function word is at phrase-final positions. In this case, according to the discussion in the last subsection, the right edge of ϕ will be moved to the left of the function word by the licensing constraint ALIGN -R(ϕ, Fnc≤2). Consequently, the function word is a free clitic dominated immediately by the intonational phrase and it is left adjoined to a ϕ. There is no pressure for it to promote to the status of ω because promotion by one level does not fix the adjunction.
It cannot promote to ϕ either, given the high-ranking ALIGN-L(ϕ, XP).
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
(38) Prosodization of non-prominent function words in final vs. non-final positions a. Non-final free clitics: unattested phrase-internal neutral tone
ϕ
ϕ
ω ω
σS σ*N σB
b. Non-final promotion: attested phrase-internal full tone (in the sandhi form)
ϕ
ϕ ω ω ω σS σS σB
c. Final free clitic: attested phrase-final neutral tone
ι ϕ ω
σB σN
[khioh8-tioh8 [tsinn5NP/DP] VP] ‘To have found money’
Pick-Fnc=3 money
( S *N ( B ϕ) ϕ)
[khioh8-tioh8 [tsinn5NP/DP] VP] ‘To have found money’
Pick-Fnc=3 money
( S S ( B ϕ) ϕ)
[khioh8-tioh8 VP] ‘To have found’
Pick-Fnc=3
( B ϕ) N
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Fnc≤2), the phrase-internal promotion to ω is attained as the optimal candidate, which is shown in tableau (39).(39) ALIGN-R(ϕ, Fnc≤2) ≫ EQUALSISTERS ≫ ALIGN-R(ω, Fnc≤2)
a. Non-final promotion: attested phrase-internal full tone (in the sandhi form) INPUT: (=38a, b)
a. Final free clitics: attested phrase-final neutral tone INPUT: (=38c)
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This analysis is better than the previous ones because it also treats the finality of neutral tone as relevant to invisibility while maintaining the positional restrictions of base tone:
it can only appear in final positions of a phrase.