A Tonal analysis of Lithuanian nominal accent

Collection:
Mokslo publikacijos / Scientific publications
Document Type:
Straipsnis / Article
Language:
Anglų kalba / English
Title:
A Tonal analysis of Lithuanian nominal accent
Authors:
Blevins, Juliette
In the Journal:
Language. 1993, vol. 69, no. 2, p. 237-273
Subject Category:
LT
Kirčiavimas. Tartis. Akcentologija / Accent. Accentology.
Summary / Abstract:

ENIn this paper I present a tonal analysis of inflection, derivation, and compounding for Standard Lithuanian nominals. I argue that nominal accents in this language surface as a result of rules of high tone insertion and high tone deletion, and that accented morphemes are represented with underlying high tones linked to the appropriate moras. The predictability of circumflex accents in stem-initial and stem-final contexts for unaccented stems is handled by invoking limited use of extraprosodicity and floating high tones. In addition to improving the empirical coverage of earlier proposals, this analysis offers three central arguments for underlying tones as opposed to accentual diacritics or metrical representations. First, the general status of diacritic accents is suspect; various pitch-accent systems have been successfully reanalyzed without the use of such diacritics, and independent motivation for such diacritics outside the realm of pitch-accent systems is meager. Second, there is evidence of tonal stability under segment-deletion and demorification in Lithuanian, while other accentual alternations such as that captured by de Saussure's Law have markedly tonal characteristics. Finally, tonal representations are supported by data from a Zhemayt dialect in which words may surface with multiple accents. [From the publication]

DOI:
10.2307/416534
ISSN:
0097-8507; 1535-0665
Subject:
Kalbotyra / Linguistics
Related Publications:
Permalink:
https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/113402
Updated:
2025-02-20 18:48:25
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