Stem-Internal and Affixal Morphology in Shilluk

Abstract

This case study on Shilluk reveals a rich morphological system with a small segmental footprint. Whereas nouns and particularly verbs are characterized by extensive paradigms, many inflections are marked exclusively through stem-internal markers of vowel length, tone, ATR, and changes in the root-final coda. The chapter considers both stem-internal and affixal morphology. The conclusion summarizes the general characteristics of this system, and considers how it has developed diachronically. One important factor in the diachronic development is compensatory lengthening, which can still be observed synchronically. The extensive use of the same affixes for a wide range of morphosyntactic functions may also have played a role.

Floating quantity in Shilluk

“…This analysis builds on the description of the morphophonology of Shilluk nouns in Remijsen & Ayoker 2019. While the singular and plural forms of Shilluk nouns are in most cases formally related, this relation is not predictable (Gilley 1992, Remijsen, Miller-Naudé, & Gilley 2015, xu 2017. Hence, we treat the inflectional paradigms of singular and plural nouns independently.…”

Ternary vowel length in Shilluk

“…Crucially, it should not be interpreted in the sense that a High Fall would be associated with the vowel and the Mid tone with the coda. 7 (Remijsen et al 2015). Two of these are illustrated in (3): antipassive formation in (3a), and centripetal spatial deixis formation in (3b).…”

“…Ternary vowel length has been postulated for three languages closely related to Dinka, all belonging to the West Nilotic subbranch within the Nilo-Saharan family: Shilluk (Tucker 1955, Remijsen et al 2011, Remijsen et al 2015, Thok Reel (Reid 2010) and Nuer (Monich 2017).…”

“…[ATR] does not play a role in vowel harmony. However, there are several morphological processes in which [-ATR] changes to [+ATR] (Remijsen et al 2015). Two of these are illustrated in (3): antipassive formation in (3a), and centripetal spatial deixis formation in (3b).…”

“…2011, Remijsen et al . 2015), Thok Reel (Reid 2010) and Nuer (Monich 2017). However, the quantity distinctions in these three languages remain understudied, especially in terms of their phonetic realisation.…”