Accent and tone in Arapaho, Plains Algonquian

Abstract

This chapter focuses on word-level prominence in Arapaho (Hinónoʼeitíít), a severely endangered Plains Algonquian language spoken by approximately 1000 people, most of them in Wyoming and Oklahoma (see Cowell and Moss 2011: 1–3). In this chapter I propose a novel analysis of the stress system of Arapaho. I argue that it is best analyzed as a lexical accent system, i.e. the position of accent within a morpheme is phonologically unpredictable and is part of the underlying phonological form of the morpheme. As in other lexical accent languages (Bogomolets 2020; Revithiadou 1999; van der Hulst 2010), while the underlying position of an accent within a morpheme is generally unpredictable, a small number of regular rules governs the distribution of stresses within a word. The defining role in the system belongs to (i) the underlying specification of some syllables within some morphemes as carrying accent, to (ii) an accent competition resolution whereby the rightmost of competing accents wins, and to (iii) a trisyllabic stress ‘window’ aligned to the right edge of a morphological word. Stress must be present within the final three syllables of every morphological word, while a default penultimate accent is the result of an iambic foot followed by an extrametrical syllable. The chapter also provides a brief overview of the tone system in Arapaho. The language has developed a single falling toneme (HL); its assignment is synchronically unpredictable, i.e. lexical, and is independent from stress in the language.