Transcript The prosody of finiteness and non-finiteness

The prosody of finiteness and
non-finiteness:
the accent of Estonian finite and
non-finite verbs
Anne Tamm
[email protected]
RIL HAS Budapest
University of Florence
Prosody and finiteness
• This contribution is about the prosodic
characteristics of finiteness and nonfiniteness.
• Can we regard prosody as another
language module where finiteness
operates in some languages?
Modules and finiteness
• I assume that certain verb forms,
constructions and clauses can be either
finite or non-finite.
• In terms of language modules, previous
research has established that finiteness
and non-finiteness phenomena are found
in morphology, syntax, semantics and
pragmatics. How about prosody?
Morphological, semantic and
pragmatic finiteness overlapping
(1)
Ta
on
siin.
he[nom] be.3s here
‘He is here.’
Morphologically,
non-morphologically non-finite
(2)
Ta ei olnud siin sugugi
he[nom] neg be-nud_ptcp here at all
mõtlemata kõigile tagajärgedele.
without thinking of all the possible
consequences
‘He was not here without thinking
of all the possible consequences.’
Morphologically nonfinite,
non-morphologically finite
(3)
Ta
olevat
kodus.
he[nom] be-quot home-ine
‘Allegedly, he is at home.’
What is finite in
Estonian negative clauses?
• in Example (4) below containing negation,
the verb is morphologically non-finite, but
non-morphologically, it may be regarded
finite
• what is finite and non-finite in this
sentence?
– is ei a particle,
– a verb,
– and if it is a verb, is it finite?
Negation and finiteness
(4)
Ta
ei olnud
he[nom] neg be-nud_ptcp
‘He was not here.’
siin.
here
(I set this apart in the study of finiteness
and accent)
Negation, finiteness, accent, stress
• This talk concentrates on the contrast between
morphological and non-morphological finiteness and
non-finiteness phenomena, adding negation.
• Negation is a crucial an object of study, since
– it allows to test for several interdependent factors operating on
the different levels of linguistic description just as (non)finiteness
– its accentuation and syntactic properties can be teased apart
from those properties of finiteness and non-finiteness that apply
because of the properties of the affirmative
– that there are many types that are present in Estonian allow us
to say something more general about negation, prosody and
(non)-finiteness
The main questions
• Can we tease apart the morphological and nonmorphological finiteness and non-finiteness
phenomena in terms of prosody, and accent?
• Does negation form any patterns with finiteness?
• Is morphological/non-finite negation special in
terms of stress and accent?
• What is the module on which we can build the
prosodic structure?
• Can we predict stress and accent?
Negation, finiteness, syntax
• negated verbs assume a position in a
sentence that can be different from the
affirmative
• the arguments may also change their
positions and accentuation due to the
changed pragmatic and semantic factors
• in what follows, I establish the stress and
accent pattern in some simple sentences
and negation expressions
-mata attracts stress
•
•
in production and perception tests, the -mata
morpheme is distinguished from all other nonfinite verb forms in stress – it is frequently
stressed, while all others are unstressed (tud,
nud, tav, v, mas, mast, ma, da)
it is also bisyllabic, but since there are other
bisyllabic combinations of nonfinite
morphemes and case that are not stressed
(-nuna, -tuna, -tava, -vale), the stress on -mata
can be considered remarkable
-mata attracts accent
Also, while other non-finite forms tend to be
unaccented in an identical position, the –mata
forms are accented (lexical exceptions exist).
(5) Ta
on
(’)ujumas.
he[nom]
be.3sg swim-m_inf_ine
‘He is off swimming.’
(6) Ta
on
’uju’mata.
he[nom]
be.3sg
swim-m_inf_abe
‘He has not swum.’
ei is unaccented
The accentuation of the negation
verb/particle ei is perceived as
acceptable, but strange in perception
tests, triggering unusual contexts.
(7) Ta
ei olnud
siin.
he[nom]
neg be-nud_ptcp here
‘He was not here.’
(accent on olnud or siin)
mitte is partly unpredictable
From among the negation items, the
accent of mitte is the most unpredictable
and depends most on its position and the
information structure, and its lexical
surroundings.
mitte is partly predictable
‘teps ‘mitte ‘not at all’ (always accented)
mitte ‘mina vaid ‘sina (never accented)
(‘)mitte ‘midagi ‘nothing at all’ (variably
accented)
eba- depends on the lexicalization
The stress pattern in the combinations with the
prefixal eba- seem to depend on the
lexicalization of the combination (the adjective
part has always stress if not lexicalized, and
nouns tend to be stressed).
‘ebameeldiv (-meel- has no stress)
‘eba‘uuenduslik (-uuen- has stress)
‘eba’küdoonia ‘quince’ (-küdoonia has stress)
Finite verbs unaccented
The finite verb in a clause is mostly
unaccented, unless it is not required by
information structural or other
constraints, and its accenting is
perceived as strange.
(8) Ta
on
’siin.
he[nom] be.3sg here
‘He is here.’
Clause-final finite forms accented
Clause-final finite forms are accented.
(9)
Seda
ta mulle eile
‘ütles.
This.part s/he I-all yesterday say.3s.pst
‘Yesterday s/he did say it to me.’
Negative verbs are accented
•
•
However, some listable finite verbs are
rather accented, and their accentuation
can be attributed to their role in
discourse.
Semantically negative verbs tend to
attract accent.
eemaldama ‘remove’ vs lisama ‘add’
loobuma ‘decline’ vs nõustuma ‘agree’
eitama ‘negate’
Non-finite forms clause-final
Non-finite forms appear mostly clausefinally, and are accented.
(10)
Seda
sai mulle eile
‘öeldud.
This.part s/he I-all yesterday say.tud-ptcp
‘Yesterday it was told to me.’
Non-finite forms as main predicates
in finite clauses
Non-finite forms that are the main
predicates in finite clauses are not
accented (exactly as the finite verbs).
(11) Ta
olevat ’kodus.
he[nom] be-quot home-ine
‘Allegedly, he is at home.’
Negated verb, variable accent
Whether the verb form combining with ei
is accented or not, depends on its
position and its discourse properties
(accented if clause-final, and/or on the
‘list’ of preferably accented predicates)
(12) Ei tea ‘öelda (no accent on tea ‘know’)
Neg know say-da_inf
‘One cannot say.’
Verbs in negative sentences
vary in accent
The accentuation of the negation
verb/particle ei is perceived as
acceptable, but strange in perception
tests, triggering unusual contexts.
(13) Ta
ei (’)olnud
’siin.
he[nom]
neg be-nud_ptcp here
‘He was not here.’
(accent on olnud or siin)
Non-finite negated forms as main
predicates in finite clauses
Non-finite forms that are the main
predicates in finite clauses and that are
negated are accented.
(11) Ta
ei ’olevat kodus.
he[nom] neg be-quot home-ine
‘Allegedly, he is at home.’
Accenting is a significant difference
between morphologically finite and nonfinite negated main predicates.
Clause-final verbs
are accented
Clause-final verbs are accented.
(14)
Seda
ta
mulle eile
ei ‘öelnud.
This.part s/he I-all yesterday neg
say-nud_ptcp
‘Yesterday s/he did not say this to me.’
Non-morphological finiteness as
the basis for accenting
• One can conclude that the type of
finiteness that is relevant for accenting is
non-morphological in Estonian.
Prosody patterns little with
morphological finiteness
• Prosodic patterns are generally more
regular in terms of their correlation with the
(non-)finitness phenomena in syntax,
semantics, pragmatics, and extra-linguistic
or semi-linguistic properties (accentuation
at the end of an utterance/sentence) than
in terms of morphological finiteness.
An interesting correlation
• the correlation of accent and morphological
finiteness is weak with morphological finiteness
but some cases stand out as exceptions
• the negative (abessive) morphologically nonfinite predicates (mõtlemata) and negated
morphologically non-finite main predicates (ei
olevat) are regularly accented
• the negative (abessive) morphologically nonfinite forms can be predicted to carry accent, and
the stress on the morpheme
Final conclusions
• the examples above showed that it is
rather the negative content that attracts
stress and accent in Estonian
• non-finiteness and negation together
predict accent in some well defined
environments in Estonian
Prosody not a module where
finiteness operates
• Can we regard prosody as another
language module where finiteness
operates?
• The answer is no for Estonian, but there
are regularities that might help to tease
apart the morphological, syntactic,
semantic and pragmatic finiteness.
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Acknowledgements
• This research is supported by the grant The
bidirectional relationships between the speech
rhythm and Estonian grammatical and lexical
structures, grant number ETF 2009, ETF7998 of
the Estonian Science Foundation (Eestikeelse
kõne rütmilisuse peegeldused grammatilistes ja
leksikaalsetes struktuurides (ja vice versa)) or
Modelling intermodular phenomena in Estonian,
grant number SF 2009, SF0050023s09 of the
Estonian Science Foundation (Eesti keele
alusuuringud keeletehnoloogiliste rakenduste
teenistuses)