Abstract Feature-based models of sign language use distinctive features to describe the phonological structure of signs. We use near-minimal pairs and phonological phenomena like productivity and neutralisation in French Sign Language to show that the feature [web], which refers to the webbing part of the fingers, should be (re)introduced into the list of phonologically active features. In discussing potential cases of [web] in other sign languages and the impact on the shape of phonological inventories, we first offer an account of [web] in terms of a location feature in line with most traditional feature-geometry models. We then offer some speculations on why a more uniform characterisation of [web] and the features in the same subclass in terms of the orientation type results in more economical models.

Abstract Marlo et al. (2015) claim that Kuria verbal tone morphology undermines three well-established principles of locality and modularity: (1) Phonological Locality: the assumption that rules and constraints may only evaluate a small window of phonological objects; (2) Cyclic Locality: the stratal organization of morphophonology into stems, words and phrases; and (3) Indirect Reference: the claim that phonological rules and constraints cannot directly access morphosyntactic information. Sande et al. (2020) turn this claim into an argument for a new model of the morphosyntax–phonology interface, Cophonologies by Phase, which erases the separation between phonology and morphology and abandons standard locality domains in favour of syntactic phases. In this article, I show that the conclusions of both articles are unfounded: the Kuria data follow naturally from an analysis based on autosegmental tone melodies in a version of Stratal Optimality Theory which embraces all three restrictions, Phonological and Cyclic Locality and Indirect Reference, the latter implemented by Coloured Containment Theory. I argue that this approach obviates the technical and conceptual objections raised by Marlo et al. against a tone-melody analysis of Kuria, and makes more restrictive predictions about possible systems of tonal morphophonology compared to construction phonology frameworks.

Abstract A major issue in Bantu morphophonology is how to get the right tones in the right ‘cells’ in the verb paradigm. In many Bantu languages, grammatical tones are assigned to different positions in the verb stem depending on inflectional features of tense, aspect, mood (TAM), polarity and clause type: The same TAM may assign different tones (and different segmental allomorphs) in the affirmative vs. negative and in main vs. relative clauses. Although such ‘melodic tones’ (Odden & Bickmore 2014) are typically restricted to the verb stem (root + suffixes), often also the domain of vowel harmony and other segmental phonology, both the presence and mapping of grammatical tones within the stem cannot be determined without reference to the prefixal inflectional marking of subject, negation, TAM and object which precede the stem. In this article, we discuss three cases in Ekegusii, a Bantu language of Kenya, that require the stem-assigned grammatical tones to look ‘outward’ to morphological and phonological properties of such prefixes: (1) differential mapping according to whether the pre-stem tone-bearing unit is toneless, a derived H(igh) (from H-tone spreading), or underlyingly /H/ (Bickmore 1997, 1999); (2) presence of an object prefix in imperative and subjunctive forms and (3) initial/final tone agreement between the subject prefix and the final vowel of the verb (cf. Rolle & Bickmore (2022). We will show that Ekegusii provides extensive evidence that both the presence of grammatical Hs and their specific mapping, while targeting the stem (root + suffixes), must be ‘globally’ calculated on the basis of the entire morphosyntactic structure of the verb (including features exponed by prefixes).

Abstract This article considers the question of what constitutes item-based morphology, with a specific look at grammatical tone. Numerous case studies of grammatical tone are examined in light of the debate on whether morphology is item-based or process-based. In each case, tonal alternations are an exponent, sometimes the sole exponent, of some grammatical feature. Two of the case studies are examples of grammatical tone that can straightforwardly be analysed as involving concatenated morphophonological forms; however, in other cases, the grammatical tone cannot be reduced to the concatenation of a tonal affix or phonological feature with some stem. The latter type cannot straightforwardly be analysed as item-based, but if still phonologically predictable and productive, is not satisfactorily analysed as suppletive. This article suggests a set of diagnostics that can be used to determine whether a given phenomenon is best analysed as item-based, process-based or suppletive. Then, an analysis is presented in Cophonologies by Phase (CbP), where morphosyntactic features can be mapped not only to underlying phonological items, but also to morpheme-specific constraint weight adjustments. CbP allows for what may have been traditionally called item-based and process-based morphology to co-exist in a single framework.

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.