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the university of chicago the phonology and ... - SIL International

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element begins with a vowel, vowel hiatus results which is typically not resolved (that is,<br />

one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> vowels is not deleted), contrary to <strong>the</strong> normal case with most compounds.<br />

Kam<strong>and</strong>a (p. 319) hypo<strong>the</strong>sizes that this is a case <strong>of</strong> grammaticalization in<br />

process. What began as an associative noun phrase has undergone compounding. Now = = = = <br />

<br />

is in <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> becoming a derivational agentive prefix, but does not yet exhibit all<br />

<strong>the</strong> properties <strong>of</strong> a true prefix.<br />

Derivation. Mono has several derivational processes. Boyd (1995: 11) claims that<br />

derivation in <strong>the</strong> Ubangian languages essentially creates nominals from verbs (he<br />

specifically discusses Gbaya, B<strong>and</strong>a, Ngb<strong>and</strong>i, <strong>and</strong> Sango). Both Cloarec-Heiss (pp. 116,<br />

121) <strong>and</strong> Kam<strong>and</strong>a (p. 281) interpret <strong>the</strong> data in this way as well. I will treat derivation in<br />

<strong>the</strong> same way, but <strong>the</strong>re is some evidence (which I will discuss) that some cases <strong>of</strong><br />

derivation could be interpreted as progressing in <strong>the</strong> opposite direction, that is, from a<br />

nominal to a verb.<br />

The first derivational process to be discussed is <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> a nominal from a<br />

verb with no affixing, but with <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> subminimal root augmentation applying if<br />

its structural description is met. In Mono, a large number <strong>of</strong> mostly stative <strong>and</strong><br />

intransitive verbs can become ei<strong>the</strong>r a noun or a descriptive adjective. Since nominals<br />

must be bisyllabic, subminimal root augmentation applies to monosyllabic forms, as<br />

shown in (15). Note that SRA also applies to verbs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> form CV1LV1.<br />

<br />

<br />

(15) Nominals derived from stative or intransitive verbs<br />

a. High tones<br />

F F F F ‘tart’ < FE FE FE FE ‘be tart’ (Adj < Stat V)<br />

K(@K( K(@K( K(@K( K(@K( ‘sweet’ < @K @K @K @K ‘be sweet’ (Adj < Stat V)<br />

((H( ((H( ((H( ((H( ‘dry’ < H H H H ‘dry’ (Adj < Intr V)<br />

A(CA(H( A(CA(H( A(CA(H( A(CA(H( ‘big (sg)’ < CAH CAH CAH CAH ‘grow’ (Adj < Intr V)<br />

A(>A( A(>A( ‘big, fat’ < >A >A ‘swell, become fat’ (Adj < Intr V)<br />

(@(H( (@(H( (@(H( (@(H( ‘ripe, red’ < @H @H @H @H ‘ripen’ (Kam<strong>and</strong>a 1998: 659) (Adj < Intr V)<br />

(I( (I( (I( (I( ‘place’ < I I I I ‘be (existential) (N < Stat V)<br />

=(=( =(=( =(=( =(=( ‘trip’ < = = = = ‘come, go’ (N < Intr V)<br />

A(A( A(A( A(A( A(A( ‘fruit’ < A A A A ‘bear fruit’ (N < Intr V)<br />

(( (( (( (( ‘laughter’ < ‘laugh’ (N < Intr V)<br />

102

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