Andrew Dombrowski - University of Chicago

Andrew Dombrowski
University of Chicago
1. Introduction
Vowel-Zero Alternations in Albanian and Morphophonological Contact
1.1. Vowel-Zero Alternations in Geg
Fig. 1.1.1. Schwa deleted in Luznia e Dibrës
Luznia e Dibrës Original Form Gloss
därdh dardhë pear-NOM.SG.INDEF.
prrallz përrallës fairy tale-GEN.SG.DEF.
shpais shtëpisë house-GEN.SG.DEF.
pranver pranverë spring-NOM.SG.INDEF.
kpuc këpucë shoe-NOM.SG.INDEF.
ksaj kësaj this-GEN.SG.
ktu këtu here
thmit fëmijët children-NOM.PL.DEF.
shnre *shëndre December-NOM.SG.INDEF.
vllai vëllai brother-NOM.SG.DEF.
Fig. 1.1.2. Schwa preserved in Luznia e Dibrës
Luznia e Dibrës Original Form Gloss
ahër ahër village-NOM.SG.INDEF.
e kërmashme e kërmashme red and white (of
sheep)-FEM.SG.INDEF.
pastër pastër clean
përjashta përjashta outdoors
i vokël i vogël small-MASC.INDEF.
darzëm *dasëm wedding-NOM.SG.INDEF.
pullën pullën button-ACC.DEF.
patën patën have-3PL.AOR
Fig. 1.1.3. Schwa-loss leading to complex onsets-1
*shënre ‘December’ 1
*CrC *ə
shënre
shnre
!*
1 This intermediate form (where nd > n is disregarded) is given for clarity.

Fig. 1.1.4. Schwa-loss blocked by onset restrictions
përjashta ‘outside’ *CrC *ə
përjashta *
prjashta !* *
Fig. 1.1.5. Schwa-loss resulting in a complex coda and complex onset
përrallës ‘fairy
tale-GEN.SG.DEF.’
SONORITY *OCP-SON *CrC *ə
përrallës !**
prrallës !*
përrallz
prrallz
!*
Fig. 1.1.6. Schwa-loss blocked by sonority restrictions on the coda
i vokël ‘small-
MASC.INDEF.’
SONORITY *OCP-SON *CrC *ə
i vokl !*
i vokël *
Fig. 1.1.7. Schwa-loss blocked by OCP-SON
pullën ‘button-
DEF.’
SONORITY *OCP-SON *CrC *ə
pulln *!
pullën *
- NOTE: OT analysis is in terms of markedness constraints only, and therefore the
model is agnostic as to whether or not schwa is present in underlying
representation.
1.2. Vowel-Zero Alternations in Slavic
Figure 1.2.1. Vowel-zero alternations in Macedonian
environment examples of vowel-zero alternations
nouns in –ec SG.INDEF. starec ‘old man’
PL.INDEF. starci
disyllabic nouns in –el SG.INDEF. orel ‘eagle’
PL.INDEF. orli

exceptions: predel ‘limit’ ~ predeli, pastel ‘pastel’ ~
pasteli, etc.
nouns in –en SG.INDEF. kamen ‘stone’
PL.INDEF. kamni
foreign nouns in –er SG.INDEF. minister ‘minister’
PL.INDEF. ministri
adjectives in -en MASC.INDEF.SG. gladen ‘hungry’
MASC.DEF.SG. gladniot
FEM.INDEF.SG. gladna
exceptions: telen ‘wire’ ~ teleniot, telena; zelen ‘green’ ~
zeleniot, zelena, etc.
nouns in –ol SG.INDEF. jazol ‘knot’
PL.INDEF. jazli
exceptions: sokol ‘falcon’ ~ sokoli and sokli
nouns in –ok SG.INDEF. dobitok ‘livestock’
PL.INDEF. dobici
exceptions: početok ‘start’ ~ početoci, petok ‘Friday’ ~
petoci, etc.
adjectives in -ok MASC.INDEF.SG. sladok ‘sweet’
MASC.DEF.SG. slatkiot
FEM.INDEF.SG. slatka
exceptions: visok ‘tall, high’ ~ visokiot, visoka, etc.
foreign words in –izam SG.INDEF. komunizam ‘Communism’
SG.DEF. komunizmot
adjectives in -ar MASC.INDEF.SG. dobar ‘good’
MASC.DEF.SG. dobriot
FEM.INDEF.SG. dobra
l-participles of verbs 3SG.MASC. rekol ‘say’
3SG.FEM. rekla
2. Extension of Vowel-Zero Alternations in Geg
Fig. 2.1. Lack of extended alternations in Kastrati
NOM.SG.INDEF. NOM.SG.DEF.
vetull ‘eyebrow’ vetulla
kumull ‘plum’ kumulla
hekur ‘iron’ hekuri
Fig. 2.2. Extended alternations in Hasi
NOM.SG.INDEF. NOM.PL.INDEF.
vetëll ‘eyebrow’ vetlla
kumëll ‘plum’ kumlla
hekër ‘iron’ hekra

Fig. 2.3. Extended alternations in Puka
NOM.SG.INDEF. NOM.SG.DEF.
vetull ‘eyebrow’ vetlla
kumull ‘plum’ kumlla
hekur ‘iron’ hekri 2
Fig. 2.4. /u/ > /o/ in Opoja
NOM.SG.INDEF. NOM.PL.INDEF.
vetoll ‘eyebrow’ vetlla 3
kumoll ‘plum’ kumlla
grumoll ‘pile’ grumlla
Fig. 2.5. Nominal declension in Opoja compared to standard Albanian
Opoja Standard
Albanian
INDEF. DEF. INDEF. DEF.
Nominative (ni) motor motra (një) motër motra
Accusative (ni) motor motron (një) motër motrën
Genitive (i, e ni) motros (i, e) motros (i, e një) motre (i, e) motrës
Dative (ni) motros motros (një) motre motrës
Ablative (pi(j) ni) motros (pi(j)) motros (prej një) motre (prej) motrës
Fig. 2.6. Adjectives in Opoja compared to Geg
Opoja General Geg
MASC.SG. FEM.SG. MASC.SG. FEM.SG.
‘clothed’ i veshom e veshme i veshun e veshun
‘dried’ i terom e terme i terun e terun
‘slow’ i kadalshom e kadalshme i ngadalshëm e ngadalshme
Fig. 2.7. Adjectives in Opoja compared to Macedonian
MASC.(INDEF).SG FEM.(INDEF).SG.
Opoja Macedonian Opoja Macedonian
class A i vesh-om slad-ok e vesh-me slat-ka
‘clothed’ ‘sweet’ ‘clothed’ ‘sweet’
i kadal-sh-om mrt-ov e kadal-sh-me mrt-va
‘slow’
‘dead’ ‘slow’ ‘dead’
2
This form is not directly given; Topalli gives the genitive/dative form hekrit, which implies the
nominative definite singular form hekri.
3
This form is not explicitly given, but is extrapolated from the others.

class B i ble-m
‘bought’
i shti-m
‘added’
3. Analysis + Conclusions
Bibliography
rod-en
‘born’
zelen
‘green’
e ble-m-e
‘bought’
e shti-m-e
‘added’
Fig. 3.1. Grammatical interface model of ə > o (Opoja).
stage A: [+Slavic], [+Albanian]
change: [+Slavic] [+Albanian]
stage B: [+Slavic, +Albanian]
rod-en-a
‘born’
zelen-a
‘green’
Fig. 3.2.1. Reanalysis-driven grammatical interface model of alternations
extended without u > ə shift.
stage A: [+D1]
[+D2]
change: [+D2] [+D1]
stage B: [+D1, +D2]
Fig. 3.2.2. Partial-implementation grammatical interface model of alternations
extended without u > ə shift.
stage A: [+D1]
[+D2]
ə]>[+D2]
change: [+D2] [+D1]
stage B: [+D1, +D2]
ə]>[+D2]
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