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Browsing Journals and Series by Subject "Algonquian languages"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
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    The acoustic correlates of Blackfoot prominence
    (University of Calgary, 2002-09) Van der Mark, Sheena
    Blackfoot, an Algonquian language spoken in Alberta and Montana, has been described as a pitch accent language (Frantz and Russell 1989; Frantz 1991; Kaneko 1999). Pitch accent languages mark phonetic prominence with a difference in pitch on the prominent syllable. Beckman (1986) has shown that Japanese (a prototypical pitch accent language) differs from English (a prototypical stress language) in that fundamental frequency (pitch) is the only variable that marks prominence in Japanese, whereas several variables mark prominence in English. These variables include fundamental frequency (F0) peak, amplitude peak, average amplitude, total amplitude and duration. Based on Beckman's analysis of Japanese, we would expect Blackfoot, as a pitch accent language, to mark prominence only with F0, thus patterning with Japanese. However, this analysis shows that in addition to F0, average amplitude was also correlated with prominence in Blackfoot, amplitude peak, total amplitude and duration were not. These results suggest that Blackfoot is different than Japanese in how prominence is marked. However, the results are similar enough to justify the classification of Japanese as a pitch accent language.
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    Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 18, Winter 1996
    (University of Calgary, 1996-01) Bailey, Julie A; Pasquini, Ana; Rowsell, Lorna V; Smith, Laura Catharine
    The editors of this issue, Julie Bailey, Ana Pasquini, Laura Smith and Lorna Rowsell, are pleased to present the eighteenth issue of the Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics published by the Department of Linguistics at the University of Calgary. The Papers published here represent works in progress and as such should not be considered in any way final or definitive.
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    Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 24, Fall 2002
    (University of Calgary, 2002-09) Dobrovolsky, Michael; Edwards, Jodi
    The editors of this volume, Jodi Edwards and Michael Dobrovolsky are pleased to present the twenty-fourth issue of the Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics published by the Department of Linguistics at the University of Calgary. The papers contained in this volume represent works in progress and as such should not be considered in any way final or definitive.
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    Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 28, Fall 2014
    (University of Calgary, 2014-09) Jones, Jacqueline; MacDonald, Danica; Windsor, Joseph W.
    No abstract available.
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    Calgary Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 5, Spring 1979
    (University of Calgary, 1979-05) O'Grady, William D.
    This issue is the fifth in the series of working papers published by LOGOS, the Student Linguistics Society at the University of Calgary. The series provides a vehicle for faculty members and students to publish current research. These papers represent research in progress and are not to be considered final statements by the authors. The appearance of these articles in the current issue does not preclude their publication in altered form elsewhere.
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    Causes of rapid phonological change: the case of Atsina and its relatives
    (University of Calgary, 1979-05) Pentland, David H
    The cause of change has always been one of the great unanswered questions of linguistics. It is easy enough to describe the effects of a particular change, but the theories that have been advanced to account for the change's arising in the first place range from the laughable to the merely inadequate. Istvan Fodor (1965) suggests a distinction between internal and external factors. Internal causes of change are the "inherent laws" of a language which cause it to change in a particular way. Fodor observes (15) that the nature of such laws has not been elucidated; nor can it be -- the question is circular: Language X has changed in a certain manner because it was the inherent tendency of that language to do so. Among the external factors examined by Fodor are the effects of history, culture, society, geography, neighbouring peoples, and the national character. Some of these are undoubtedly major conditioners of phonological and other linguistic change, but others are merely coincidental and unrelated to linguistic developments.
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    A comparison of Japanese and Blackfoot vowel devoicing
    (University of Calgary, 2014-09) St. Goddard, Rosalind
    This paper compares and contrasts the factors that contribute to devoicing in Japanese and Blackfoot. Japanese vowel devoicing has received rigorous discussion in linguistic literature. Tsuchida (2001) provides a particularly persuasive argument for Japanese vowel devoicing using the Optimality Theory Framework (Prince and Smolensky 2004); she argues that all Japanese voiceless fricatives are specified for [SG] and devoicing occurs when this [SG] feature is shared within a syllable. The notion that voiceless vowels carry the feature [SG] can also be extended to instances of Blackfoot vowel devoicing. Blackfoot voiceless vowels generally occur in two contexts: They occur word finally, and word-medially when they are followed by the palatal/dorsal sounds [x]/[ç], which are orthographically represented as . In contrast to Japanese voiceless fricatives, it appears that not all Blackfoot voiceless fricatives distribute the [SG] feature. The Blackfoot palatal fricative [ç] and the dorsal fricative [x] both trigger devoicing, whereas the fricative [s] does not. To explain this patterning of [x] and [ç], Reis Silva (2008) argues that [x] and [ç] are not fricatives, but rather preaspiration ([SG]) specified on certain obstruents. In this paper, I will discuss the constraints proposed in Tsuchida (2001), and extend/adapt those constraints to Blackfoot word final vowel devoicing. Additionally, In my analysis of Blackfoot word-medial vowel devoicing, I will adopt Reis Silva’s (2008) analysis that [x]/[ç] are not fricatives, but preaspiration specified on obstruents. Lastly, I argue that the word-medial vowel devoicing that occurs with [x] and [ç] is phonological rather than phonetic.
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    The distribution and use of aahk- modality in Kainai Blackfoot
    (University of Calgary, 2014-09) Lewis, Blake
    This study investigates the distribution and use of modality in Kainai Blackfoot in the presence of the morpheme aahk-. By using utterance in context tasks and judgement tasks, I elicited data from three native speakers. This study is limited to combinations of strong and weak modals of the epistemic and deontic type. Modality that uses aahk- in Kainai Blackfoot consists of the combination of the morpheme aahk- and a second (optional) morpheme, which join as a single lexical item based on negation use and surface order. Kainai Blackfoot makes a four-way modal distinction. One distinction is between strong and weak modals and a second is made between epistemic and deontic type modals. However, the weak modals have a level of overlap and can be ambiguous.
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    Initial change in Blackfoot
    (University of Calgary, 2005-05) Proulx, Paul
    This paper is a preliminary description of the history of Blackfoot initial change, a peculiar modification of the verb stem found in most Algonquian languages, from Proto Central Algonquian times to the present. It begins with extensive notes on the historical phonology of Blackfoot, necessary to following the examples when discussing the history of initial change.
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    One aspect of Cree syntax
    (University of Calgary, 1996-01) Watai, Fumi
    In this paper I will adopt the adjunct NP framework. developed by Jelinek (1984) and Baker (1991) wherein most NPs are generated in adjunct positions and coindexed with pronominal arguments. This theoretical framework. allows us to distinguish the components in A'-position from other components in A-position and to determine what makes freedom of word order possible. The goals of this paper are twofold: the first is to analyze the structure of Cree and to argue that Cree is a configurational language. and the second is to apply this Cree structural analysis to the so-called inverse construction in order to determine what kind of operation is involved in the inverse form and in Case and theta role assignment, in general.
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    Resolving hierarchy conflict: local obviation in Blackfoot*
    (University of Calgary, 2005-05) Bliss, Heather; Jesney, Karen
    Algonquian languages, including Blackfoot, are renowned for their failure to directly follow the Universal Animacy Hierarchy, which privileges first person over second person. In at least certain aspects of the Blackfoot grammar, it is typically assumed that second person is privileged over first. Even more surprising is that this apparent [2>1] hierarchy is not the sole one operative within this language. Rather, elsewhere within the grammar, the Universal Animacy Hierarchy appears to be obeyed, with the first person being privileged over the second. In this paper we argue that this apparent hierarchy conflict in Blackfoot can be resolved by reconsidering the nature of person marking and the role of obviation in the verbal complex. Specifically, we propose extensions to Harley and Ritter’s (2002) morphosyntactic feature geometry to include obviation. This is represented within a Stage node which, along with Participant, is a dependent of Sentience. Further to this, we argue that Proximate and Obviative features are not limited to non-local referents as is typically assumed. Rather, local persons can also express obviation contrasts. We treat the Blackfoot person prefixes as exemplifying precisely such specification, in contrast with previous proposals which identify them as first and second persons. Recognizing these prefixes as participating in the obviation system provides insight into seemingly problematic phenomena within Blackfoot’s verbal morphology. Crucially, our account facilitates a resolution of the apparent hierarchy conflicts present in other analyses and reaffirms the centrality of the Universal Animacy Hierarchy in Blackfoot.
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    The role of sonority in Blackfoot phonotactics*
    (University of Calgary, 2005-05) Elfner, Emily
    Contrary to appearance (e.g. nómohtsstsiinssoka anni iihtáísttsikaahkiaakio’pi ‘she singed me with the iron’), the phonotactics of Blackfoot, an Algonquian language spoken in southern Alberta and northern Montana, are highly restrictive. In this paper, I describe Blackfoot phonotactics and demonstrate that the distribution of Blackfoot phonemes may be explained with reference to sonority. The role of sonority in phonotactics is a concept which has been well-documented phonologically (Sievers 1881 et seq) and has been shown to have phonetic motivation (Parker 2002). It has been held accountable for universal preferences in syllable structure (for example, the preference for CV syllables), as well as for the sequencing of segments within and across syllables, as evidenced in generalisations such as the Sonority Sequencing Principle. Cross-linguistic study has revealed the universal applicability of the sonority scale (ibid.), a formal ranking of sound classes according to their relative sonority. In Blackfoot, reference to the traditional sonority hierarchy not only motivates the phonotactic constraints but also provides a possible explanation for several morphophonological processes.