Athabaskan Morphology

LING 481/581

Winter 2011

Organization

• Athabaskan language family

• Athabaskan consonant inventories

• Athabaskan word formation types

(Athapaskan,

Athabascan) [æTbæskn]

Athabaskan

language family

Navajo

Apachean languages

Kwalhioqua-

Tlatskanie

Na-Dene

Tlingit Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak

Eyak Proto-Athabaskan

CAY CBC NW Can

Deg Xinag Witsuwit’en Tsek’ene

CAY = Central Alaska-Yukon; CBC = Central BC; NW Can = NW Canada

Na-Dene language family

2

5

0

0

y

r

s.

Dene-Yeniseian: http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/dy/

Northern Athabaskan languages

Deg Xinag

(Ingalik)

Tsek’ene

(Sekani)

Witsuwit’en

(Babine)

Athabaskan phonology • Witsuwit’en consonants

labial alveolar palatal labio-

velar

uvular glottal

stop p p p’ t t t’ c c c’ kw kw

kw’

q q q’ /

affricate ts ts ts’

t t t’

fricative s z ç xw X h

nasal m n

approx. l j w

Uvular sounds in Witsuwit’en

[qhE] ‘footwear’

[XE] ‘grease’

[ntq] ‘straight up’

[qis] ‘king (Chinook) salmon’

Ejectives

Ejective vs. voiceless unaspirated stops and affricates

[ntq] ‘straight up’

[nt’q] ‘your collarbone’

Witsuwit’en

Tsek’ene

[tsèh] ‘gum, pitch’

[mtsheh] ‘in front of him/her’

[ts’èh] ‘sinew’

Athabaskan morphology

Morphological processes

affixation (simple cases)

compounding

ablaut

position-class morphology (complex

affixation)

Major lexical categories in Ath. languages

Categories that affixes can be added to

nouns

verbs

postpositions

directional adverbs

adjectives

Affixation (simple cases)

[to] ‘water’

[sto/] ‘my water’

[nto/] ‘your (sg.) water’

[nxwto/] ‘your (pl.), our water’

[pto/] ‘his/her/its water’

[hpto/] ‘their water’

Affixes to nouns. A possessive paradigm in Witsuwit’en:

Morphological analysis

to ‘water’ root, free morpheme

-/ possessed affixes (bound morphemes) suffix

s- ‘my’ prefixes

n- ‘your (sg.)’

nxw- ‘our, your (pl.)’

p- ‘his, her, its’

hp- ‘their’

Adpositions

Prepositions: preposition - noun count for me

verb preposition noun

Postpositions: noun – postposition. Witsuwit’en: [s- pe c’otw]

me for you (sg.) count

noun postposition verb

‘count for me’

Affixation to postpositions

[spe] ‘for me’

[mpe] ‘for you (sg.)’

[nxwpe] ‘for us, you (pl.)’

[ppe] ‘for him, her, it’

[hppe] ‘for them’

Morphological analysis

sg pl

1 person s-

nxw- 2 person n/m-

3 person p- hp-

Prefixes to nouns/postpositions:

Nouns vs. postpositions

1. Prefixation to nominal vs. postpositional objects of verbs with third

person singular subject

Nouns: p- 3sg. possessor. -le ‘hand’ (noun)

ple yunqhat ‘hei slapped hisj hand’ his hand he slapped it

Postpositions: y- 3sg. object of postposition. -le ‘hand to’ (postposition)

yle yin/ay ‘hei handed it to himj’

hand to him he handled it

Really different categories?

Yes. Two morphological differences between nouns and

postpositions in Witsuwit’en.

2. Reflexive (‘-self’) prefixes to nouns vs. postpositions.

Nouns: t- reflexive used with third person singular

subjects only

– -ne/ ‘mother’ (noun)

• sne/ pq’Esy’ ‘I love my mother’ my mother I love her

• tne/ yq’Entsy’ ‘she loves her mother’ her mother she loves her

Postpositions: t- reflexive used with subjects of all

persons and numbers

– - ‘with’ (postposition)

• t neyecltc ‘I’m talking to myself’ with self I’m talking

• t neyeltc ‘she’s talking to herself’ with self she’s talking

Directional adverbs

tq ‘up’

jq ‘down’

nq ‘uphill, back’

tshn’ ‘downhill’

nu/ ‘upstream’

te/ ‘downstream’

ns ‘ahead’

ni/ ‘behind’

/n ‘side’

/ats ‘side, outside’

jen ‘across’

Affixes to directional adverbs

n- neutral distance

ts’e- ‘in a straight, direct line’

te-, nte- ‘right here’

u-, i- ‘way out there’

w- ?

-xw~-xwy ‘in general area in direction’

-t~-tst ‘at place in direction’

-ts ~ -tits ‘from place in direction’

-sts’n ~ -sts’y ‘other side of place in direction’

-li, -sljez ‘further, little ways further in direction’

Prefixes

Suffixes

Directional adverb examples

to tq /ce ‘there is high water’

ntqstits hanje ‘he came down from above’

ts utq hatit’ay ‘the mountain sticks way up’

schnle utxw nesje ‘he walked around above timberline’

-zeq utxw ‘roof of mouth’

njqstits hanje ‘he came up from below’

-tshole ujxw ‘under the tongue’

Compounding

• Noun + noun examples. Varying degrees of

compositionality.

– tho ‘water’ + tsut ‘coat’ = ‘raincoat’

– -nin ‘face’ + ts’n ‘bone’ = ‘cheek bones’

– tni ‘person’ + nin ‘face’ = ‘penny’

– wq’z ‘cold’ + u ‘tooth’ = ‘icicle’

– c’tsht ‘ruffed grouse’ + qhE ‘foot’ =‘the letter X’

– tlkw’aX ‘frog’ + netc ‘blanket’ =‘broad-leaved

plantain’

Verbal time categories in Athabaskan

• imperfective: uncompleted action, state

• perfective: completed action, state

• future: action, state to take place in future (some

degree of certainty)

• optative: wish for future action, state

Witsuwit’en has all four categories.

Tsek’ene has all four categories, except future > immediate future.

Deg Xinag has largely abandoned the optative. Imperfective is used instead

(with adverbs).

Ablaut in Witsuwit’en

verb root impf/opt perfective future

-/qes/ ‘scratch hard’ –[qes] –[qez] –[qs]

-/qz/ ‘do with arms’ –[qis] –[qz] –[qs]

Ablaut patterns:

/e/ --> // in the future

// --> /i/ in the imperfective/optative

(Voicing changes to the root-final consonant are

predictable, analyzable as affixation of

phonological feature [±voiced].)

Complex affixation:

Affixation to verbs

• Unusual features of verbs in Athabaskan languages

1. Position class morphology: prefix order restrictions

Verb prefix positions Root Suffix

postposition/adverbial12 – iterative11

– multiple10 – negative9 –

incorporated root8 – inceptive7 –

distributive plural6 – pronominal

object/subject5 – qualifier4 –

tense/neg3 – subject2 – valence1

negative - tense

2. Discontinuous morphemes.

Form: affixa + affixb + ... = ‘’

Some examples of discontinuous morphemes:

we9-i3- ... -l perfective negative

we9-s3- ... -/ non-perfective (impf, fut, opt) negative

je10-t4- ‘all over’

nepe12- ‘in circle’

nepe12-t4- ‘turn around’

u3- ... -/ optative

Some verbs (dictionary entry)

• Simple cases. Verb = bound root

– -jin ‘sg./du. stand’

– -tseq ‘be lightweight’

– -/as ‘du./group goes, walks’

– -/a ‘sun, moon goes’

Some verbs (actual words)

• Minimal verb word: dictionary form of verb + tense affix(es)

• Some verb words based on:

– -jin ‘sg./du. stand’ • [hjin] ‘he’s standing’

[]3- imperfective (Phonology in this example:

epenthetic word-initial [h])

• [ujin’] ‘let him stand’ [u]3- ... -[/] optative

More verbs (dictionary form)

Complex cases. Verb = prefix(es) + root

O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

t4-t1-/as ‘du. pick berries (while walking

around)’

O = object required (transitive verb)

Some more verb words

1. [tci ujin] ‘he/she is picking huckleberries’

Morphemes in this example:

tci ‘huckleberry’

O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

3- imperfective

Phonology in this example:

Ø / u __

2. [c’ojin] ‘he/she is picking (something)’

Morphemes in this example:

O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

3- imperfective

c’5- unspecified object

Additional phonology in this example:

c’ + u c’o

3. [c’onjin] ‘he/she is picking (round things)’

Morphemes in this example:

O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

3- imperfective

c’5- unspecified object

n4- ‘round’

4. [wec’onsjin’] ‘he/she isn’t picking (round things)’

Morphemes in this example:

O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

3- imperfective

c’5- unspecified object

n4- ‘round’

we9-s3-... -/ non-perfective negative

Order restrictions within position 3:

3- impf > s3- negative

Additional phonology in this example:

n + / n’

5. [wec’onzsjin’] ‘I’m not picking (round things)’

Morphemes in this example:

O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

3- imperfective

c’5- unspecified object

n4- ‘round’

we9-s3-... -/ non-perfective negative

s2- 1sg. subject

Additional phonology in this example:

/s/ [z] / ___ V

Additional phonology in this example: Ø / th __ C // + / t /n/ Ø / ___ C]syllable

6. [wec’onthzisyit] ‘I won’t pick (round things)’

Morphemes in this example:

O-u4-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

c’5- unspecified object

n4- ‘round’

we9-s3-... -/ non-perfective negative

s2- 1sg. subject

th3-i3-...- future

Order restrictions within position 3:

th3- fut > s3- negative

Morphemes in

6. ‘I’m not going to pick (round) things’

[we- c’- o- n- th- [] z- i- s- ji -t -]

negative round 1 sg. subject

unspecified object ‘pick (berries)

while stationary’

future

Athabaskan word formation: summary

• Lexical categories: nouns vs. postpositions

• Word formation types in Ath languages

– Ablaut

– Compounding

– Affixation

• with nouns, postpositions: relatively simple (one or

two bound morphemes per word)

• with verbs: multiple prefixes possible, prefixes

strictly ordered (position classes), discontinuous

morphemes