Directional asymmetries in the morphology and phonology of words, with special reference to Bantu

Abstract

This paper is concerned with two types of word-level asymmetries and their interaction: leftright asymmetries and stem-word asymmetries. Two left-right asymmetries are examined from a wide range of languages, one morphological (the predominance of suffixation over prefixation), one phonological (the preference for anticipatory over perseverative phonology). Since phonological processes are often triggered by features which originate in roots, a second asymmetry is also addressed: the tendency for suffixes to be more tightly bound to roots than prefixes. Asymmetries between stem-vs. word phonology are examined in Bantu, where suffixes are incorporated into a derived stem domain, from which prefixes are typically excluded. This root+suffix stem domain is shown to be the locus of phonological activity in Proto-Bantu and throughout the large Bantu family, which divides into two typological zones: (i) Northwest Bantu languages, which impose a maximal size condition and stringent consonant distribution constraints on stems; (ii) Central Bantu languages, which do not restrict the size or consonant distribution of stems, but frequently impose a minimal size condition on words. The study presents a number of generalizations concerning such asymmetries and identifies questions for future research.

Semantic transparency and masked morphological priming: The case of prefixed words

“…A number of studies have reported differences between prefixed and suffixed words (e.g., Beauvillain, 1996;Colé, Beauvillain, & Segui, 1989;Meunier & Segui, 2002), which may reflect a beginningto-end sequential bias in the processing of printed words (e.g., Bergman, Hudson, & Eling, 1988;Giraudo & Grainger, 2003;Libben, 1994) and/or differences in distributional properties (e.g., Chateau, Knudsen, & Jared, 2002;Hyman, 2008;Laudanna & Burani, 1995;Wurm, 1997). Following a number of earlier masked priming studies with prefixed or suffixed items, however, there are no direct reasons to expect different morphological priming effects with prefixed words (Duñabeitia, Perea, & Carreiras, 2008;Grainger et al, 1991).…”

Word accent and mapping rules in Yurakaré

“…Hildebrandt (2007) reports that Limbu (Sino-Tibetan, Nepal) prefixes are not part of the phonological word for some phonological rules, though they are for others (among them stress). Hyman (2008) shows that Bantu (Sub-Saharan Africa) prefixes are excluded from "phonological activity that originates in the stem". Bickel et al (2007) report that Chintang (Sino-Tibetan, Nepal) prefixes are best regarded to project p-words of their own in some respects (e.g.…”

Class 1 deverbal and nondeverbal nouns in Shona: A comparative analysis

“…We adopt the canonical morphosyntactic structure of the Bantu verb proposed by scholars such as Keach (1986), Mutaka and Hyman (1990), Myers (1990), Hyman (1993Hyman ( , 2005, Downing (1998Downing ( , 2006 and Ngunga (2000), amongst others. This structure consists of the following morphosyntactic constituents: (1967), Keach (1986), Myers (1990), Hyman (1993), and Downing (1998Downing ( , 2005Downing ( , 2006, amongst others, have provided both phonological and morphological evidence for the various constituents of the verb illustrated in Figure 4 above.…”