The Luiseño Absolutive Suffix

Diachronic Perspectives

Bibliographic Data

ID3777934
AuthorsIngo Mamet (corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume52
Issue3-4
Pages239-273
Publication date2010-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropological linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-5483 • E-ISSN: 1944-6527
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/anl.2010.0015
OpenAlexW2093446644
LanguageEN
References cited30

The absolutive suffix, a semantically empty nominal increment, is a typical feature of Uto-Aztecan languages. As has been suggested since the early days of comparative Uto-Aztecan research, the distribution of its allomorphs in languages of the Takic branch provides insight into specific phonological processes of the protolanguage. In Luiseño, the suffix allomorphy is especially variable and, at the same time, archaic. The purpose of this article is to correlate the prosodic structure of Luiseño nominale with that of their cognate forms outside the Takic branch and to derive conclusions about the historical developments governing the distribution of the absolutive allomorphs, especially the extent to which the stress patterns of Proto-Uto-Aztecan and a hypothetical stress-controlled consonant strengthening can account for the situation in Luiseño. There is a clear diachronic contrast between stems with the shapes CVCV or CVC , which are regularly of Uto-Aztecan origin, and those exhibiting the shape CVCV , added to the lexicon more recently. Furthermore, stem-forming suffixes are argued to play an important role in Luiseño noun formation, affecting stress patterns and choice of absolutive allomorph

Allomorph · Diminutive · Linguistics · Morpheme · Optimality theory · Phonology · Stress (linguistics) · Suffix · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub