Connecting /t/ in Maltese numerals: synchrony and - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Connecting /t/ in Maltese numerals: synchrony and diachrony

4th International Conference on Maltese LinguisticsUniversité Lyon 217/06/2013

Christopher Lucas

SOAS, University of London

Michael

Spagnol

Albert

Gatt

University of MaltaSlide2

2

Maltese cardinal numerals 2–10 

Long

form

‘two’

tnejn‘three’tlieta‘four’erbgħa‘five’ħamsa‘six’sitta‘seven’sebgħa‘eight’tmienja‘nine’disgħa‘ten’għaxra

Short formżewġtlieterba’ħamessittseba’tmiendisa’għaxar

-t

form

żewġt

tlitt

erbat

ħamest

sitt

sebat

tmint

disat

għaxartSlide3

3

Outline

The synchronic distribution of the

-t

form numerals:

Existing claims and their inadequacy.Production experiment to produce more accurate generalization.

Reconstructing the evolution of this distribution.Slide4

4

Previous literature

Two main types of claim:

-t

is triggered by an initial

consonant cluster in the following plural noun.Not quite as contradictory as they may seem!

Both views tell part of the story.-t is triggered by an initial vowel in the following plural noun.Slide5

5

Previous literature

Consonant cluster views:

Cremona (1938: 204–5): plurals that are

CC-initial +

monosylabic trigger -t (+ epenthetic /i/), e.g.: ħabib ‘friend’, pl. ħbieb, 2 friends: zewġt iħbieb belt ‘town’, pl. bliet, 8 towns: tmint ibliet fenek ‘rabbit’, pl. fniek, 10 rabbits: għaxart ifniek But snin ‘years’ is exceptional: għaxar sninSlide6

6

Previous literature

Consonant cluster views:

Borg (1974):

-t

insertion, where licit, is always optional as one means of avoiding illicit consonant clusters, e.g.: kelb ‘dog’, pl. klieb, 7 dogs: sebat iklieb / seba’ klieb Also: -t is ungrammatical before a (non- epenthetic) initial vowel, and with “sound” plurals, e.g.: stampa ‘picture’, pl. stampi, seba’ stampiSlide7

7

Previous literature

Initial vowel views:

Sutcliffe (1936: 188–9):

-t

co-occurs with a following vowel, whether epenthetic or not.Aquilina (1965: 118): all V-initials, all monosyllabics, optional with CC-initial disyllabics.Hoberman (2007: 277–8): before any Arabic-derived V-initial, e.g. erbat aħwa

‘4 siblings’, all monosyllabics, optional with CC-initial disyllabics. Slide8

8

Experiment

Our intuition:

onset

is the key factor, with

number of syllables also contributing.Different phonological properties of various numerals (mono-/disyllabic, C-final vs. V-final) perhaps also relevant.

Not feasible to properly test further potentially relevant variables (sound vs. broken plural, Arabic- vs. Romance-derived) in a single experiment.Slide9

9

Experiment design

Subjects:

35

students of the University of Malta (

18 female, 17 male) + 5 older speakers (40+, 4 female, 1 male).Test items: 1 of 7 numerals (2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) paired with a singular noun.

Fillers: a numeral (11–19) paired with a singular noun.

Task: say the phrase as you would in normal speech.

N.B.: 2–10 take a plural noun, 11+ a singular.

3 + 6 excluded. Slide10

10

Experiment design 

Long

form

‘two’

tnejn‘three’tlieta‘four’erbgħa‘five’ħamsa‘six’sitta‘seven’sebgħa‘eight’tmienja‘nine’disgħa‘ten’għaxra

Short formżewġtlieterba’ħamessittseba’tmiendisa’għaxar

-t

form

żewġt

tlitt

erbat

ħamest

sitt

sebat

tmint

disat

għaxartSlide11

11

12 qasbaSlide12

12

12 qasba2 tifla13 bandiera7 artiklu

15 għalqa

10 larinġa

11 bejt

5 ħsieb19 ballun7 ħu/oħt19 kutra2 wildSlide13

13

Experiment design

56 plurals were tested, divided equally into 8 categories:

CC-initial: Mono-, Di-, Polysyllabic

CV-initial: Mono-, Di-, Polysyllabic V-initial: Di-, Polysyllabic Subjects were split into 7 groups. Each group had a different combination of numeral and noun, e.g.: Group 1: 2

tifla, 7 artiklu, 8 but Group 2: 4 tifla, 8 artiklu, 9 but Group 3: 5 tifla, 9 artiklu, 10 but etc. Slide14

Test nouns

Monosyllabic

Disyllabic

Polysyllabic

CC-initial

fniek

‘rabbits’bramel‘buckets’kmandamenti‘commandments’klieb‘dogs’platti‘plates’trakkijiet‘trucks’

bniet

‘girls’

stampi

‘pictures’

flokkijiet

‘shirts’

djar

‘houses’

ġranet

‘days’

dmirijiet

‘duties’

ħbieb

‘friends’

skejjel

‘schools’

ħsibijiet

‘thoughts’

snin

‘years’

ljieli

‘nights’

żminijiet

‘times’

bwiet

‘pockets’

kmamar

‘rooms’

studenti

‘students’

CV-initial

files

‘files’

kotba

‘books’

neputijiet

‘grandchildren’

films

‘films’

naħat

‘sides’

larinġiet

‘oranges’

xhur

‘months’

bozoz

‘bulbs’

pappagalli

‘butterflies’

jiem

‘days’

widnejn

‘ears’

kategoriji

‘categories’

gowls

‘goals’

żgħażagħ

‘youths’

pajjiżi

‘countries’

fonts

‘fonts’

diski

‘disks’

postijiet

‘places’

toasts

‘pieces

of toast’

kelmiet

‘words’

verżjonijiet

‘versions’

V-initial

ilsna

‘tongues’

arloġġi

‘clocks’

erwieħ

‘souls’

ajruplani

‘aeroplanes’

ulied

‘sons’

operazzjonijiet

‘operations’

uċuħ

‘faces’

għasafar

‘birds’

idejn

‘hands’

appartamenti

‘

appartments

’

aħwa

‘siblings’

artikli

‘articles’

oqsma

‘fields’

individwi

‘individuals’Slide15

Di

Mono

Poly

CC

123

1774CV

1301V93

n/a

31

Responses with

-t

by onset and no. of syllablesSlide16

Results for young (and older) speakers

Monosyllabic

%

-t

(young)

% -t(40+)Disyllabic% -t(young)% -t(40+)Polysyllabic% -t

(young)% -t(40+)CC-initial

fniek

94%

100%

bramel

74%

60%

kmandamenti

6%

0%

klieb

97%

100%

platti

7%

0%

trakkijiet

0%

0%

bniet

88%

100%

stampi

6%

40%

flokkijiet

3%

0%

djar

94%

100%

ġranet

77%

80%

dmirijiet

0%

0%

ħbieb

94%

100%

skejjel

56%

40%

ħsibijiet

3%

0%

snin

10%

25%

ljieli

80%

80%

żminijiet

0%

0%

bwiet

76%

100%

kmamar

71%

100%

studenti

0%

0%

CV-initial

files

0%

0%

kotba

0%

0%

neputijiet

0%

0%

films

0%

0%

naħat

0%

0%

larinġiet

0%

0%

xhur

3%

0%

bozoz

0%

0%

pappagalli

3%

0%

jiem

97%

100%

widnejn

0%

0%

kategoriji

0%

0%

gowls

0%

0%

żgħażagħ

3%

0%

pajjiżi

0%

0%

fonts

0%

0%

diski

0%

0%

postijiet

0%

0%

toasts

0%

0%

kelmiet

0%

0%

verżjonijiet

0%

0%

V-initial

ilsna

33%

40%

arloġġi

9%

0%

erwieħ

84%

100%

ajruplani

20%

20%

ulied

45%

40%

operazzjonijiet

3%

0%

uċuħ

24%

20%

għasafar

34%

60%

idejn

26%

80%

appartamenti

6%

20%

aħwa

45%

20%

artikli

9%

20%

oqsma

27%

20%

individwi

9%

20%Slide17

Di

Mono

Poly

CC

123

1744CV

111V66

0

31

Responses with

-t

by onset and no. of syllables, excluding

erwie

ħ

,

jiem

and

sninSlide18

18

Summary of results

Data were analysed using a linear mixed effects model, with random intercept and slope for test subjects, but not test items.

But no main effect of

numeral choice.

Main effect of onset type (z=-9.79, p<0.001) and no. of syllables (z=-9.96, p<0.001).

Interaction between

onset and syllables

(z=2.54, p=0.01). No pairwise interactions involving numeral choice, but an interaction between

all three conditions

(z=2.5, p=0.01).Slide19

19

Summary of results

Plurals with

CV- onsets

(other than

jiem ‘days’) are extremely hostile to -t, regardless of no. of syllables, broken vs. sound etc. CV-initialfiles0%kotba0%neputijiet0%films

0%naħat0%larinġiet0%xhur3%bozoz0%pappagalli3%(

jiem

97

%)

widnejn

0%

kategoriji

0%

gowls

0%

żgħażagħ

3

%

pajjiżi

0%

fonts

0%

diski

0%

postijiet

0%

toasts

0%

kelmiet

0%

verżjonijiet

0%Slide20

20

Summary of results

With

CC- onsets

there is a strong interaction with no. of syllables: monosyllables (all broken plurals) strongly favour

-t; disyllabic plurals are reasonably favourable when broken, apparently very hostile when sound; polysyllabic plurals (all sound) are very hostile. CC-initialfniek94%bramel74%kmandamenti6%klieb97%platti

7%trakkijiet0%bniet88%stampi6%flokkijiet3%djar94%ġranet

77%

dmirijiet

0%

ħbieb

94%

skejjel

56%

ħsibijiet

3

%

(

snin

10

%)

ljieli

80%

żminijiet

0%

bwiet

76%

kmamar

71%

studenti

0%Slide21

21

Summary of results

V- onsets

are somewhat favourable when disyllabic, less so when polysyllabic. Unclear whether sound vs. broken plural or no. of syllables (or both) is relevant here.

V-initial

ilsna33%arloġġi9%(erwieħ84%)ajruplani20%

ulied45%operazzjonijiet3%uċuħ24%għasafar34%idejn26%appartamenti6%

aħwa

45%

artikli

9%

oqsma

27%

individwi

9%Slide22

22

Summary of results

The interaction of onset, no. of syllables and

numeral choice

arises only with

V-initial disyllabics, where frequency and phonology of word-final segment of the numeral seem to be relevant:NumeralFreq. per million in MLRS corpusFreq. -t with disyllabics

Final segment

żewġ

893.42

50%

Obstruent

erba

‘

293.27

30%

Sonorant

ħames

276.2

43%

Obstruent

seba

‘

113.49

31%

Sonorant

tmien

93.04

33%

Sonorant

disa

‘

73.72

25%

Sonorant

għaxar

130.63

21%

SonorantSlide23

Questions arising

What kinds of rules do children acquire to produce these generalizations?

How did this system evolve from its early spoken Arabic ancestor?

23

Is the apparent inter-speaker variation (partially) a reflection of optionality for individual speakers?Slide24

Questions arising

Yes. Of the 7 subjects we retested (1 from each group),

none

were consistent in their use of

-t

.

24Is the apparent inter-speaker variation (partially) a reflection of optionality for individual speakers?

Across all test items, consistency of

-t

insertion ranged from

50%–84%

(for the least/most consistent subjects).Slide25

Optionality of

-t

for individual speakers

25

Mono-

Per subject consist-ency

Overall freq.Di-Per subject consist-encyOverall freq.Poly-Per subject consist-encyOverall freq.

CC-

fniek

86%

94%

bramel

86%

74%

kmandamenti

86%

6%

klieb

100%

97%

platti

100%

7%

trakkijiet

100%

0%

bniet

100%

88%

stampi

71%

6%

flokkijiet

86%

3%

djar

86%

94%

ġranet

33%

77%

dmirijiet

100%

0%

ħbieb

100%

94%

skejjel

57%

56%

ħsibijiet

100%

3%

snin

100%

10%

ljieli

86%

80%

żminijiet

100%

0%

bwiet

86%

76%

kmamar

83%

71%

studenti

100%

0%

CV-

files

100%

0%

kotba

100%

0%

neputijiet

100%

0%

films

100%

0%

naħat

100%

0%

larinġiet

100%

0%

xhur

83%

3%

bozoz

100%

0%

pappagalli

100%

3%

jiem

100%

97%

widnejn

100%

0%

kategoriji

100%

0%

gowls

100%

0%

żgħażagħ

100%

3%

pajjiżi

100%

0%

fonts

n/a

0%

diski

100%

0%

postijiet

100%

0%

toasts

100%

0%

kelmiet

100%

0%

verżjonijiet

100%

0%

V-

ilsna

86%

33%

arloġġi

83%

9%

erwieħ

57%

84%

ajruplani

57%

20%

ulied

60%

45%

operazzjonijiet

100%

3%

uċuħ

86%

24%

għasafar

71%

34%

idejn

71%

26%

appartamenti

86%

6%

aħwa

100%

45%

artikli

86%

9%

oqsma

57%

27%

individwi

71%

9%Slide26

Acquisition

Acquirers must posit something like the following rules:

numerals followed by

CV-

onsets obligatorily lack

-t.

CC- broken plurals at least optionally trigger -t.numerals followed by sound plurals with CC- (and CV-) onsets obligatorily lack -t.

26

V

- plurals

(of all types?)

optionally trigger

-t

.Slide27

Frequency

Acquirers are clearly sensitive to the token frequency of nouns and numeral + noun strings.

27

Apparent effect of no. of syllables could perhaps be explained as an epiphenomenon of frequency and/or as parasitic on the fact that

polysyllabicity

is associated with sound plurals.

This will be investigated further with a planned corpus study and a second experiment focussed on distinguishing the role of no. of syllables vs. sound/broken plural.Slide28

Exceptions

Why treat results for

erwieħ

‘souls’,

jiem ‘days’ and snin ‘years’ as discountable exceptions?

28

Erwieħ

: etymologically (perhaps synchronically)

erwieħ

is CC- monosyllabic.

Vowel epenthesis occurs whenever a word-initial

sonorant

+ consonant cluster follows something other than a vowel.

Usually this is /

i

/, e.g.

bla

lsien

‘without a tongue’ vs.

i

lsien

, but before /r/ it is /e/, e.g.

rġajt

‘I redid’ >

erġajt

But epenthetic /e/ is usually retained in all contexts (i.e. is no longer epenthetic).Slide29

Evolution

29

Classical Arabic (like

Akkadian

and Canaanite) exhibits gender polarity in numeral agreement from 3–10, e.g.

yawmun

(m.) ‘day’ > xamsatu (f.) ʾayyāmin ‘5 days’.

In many contemporary Arabic dialects this construction has been radically

refunctionalized

:

Independent numerals are etymologically feminine, e.g.

xamsa

‘

five

’.

Determiner numerals are (usually) etymologically masculine, e.g.

xam

a

s

sinīn

‘5 years’, but a reflex of

tāʾ

marbūṭa

reappears with high-frequency V-initial plurals, e.g.

xamas

-t-

iyyām

‘5 days’.Slide30

Evolution

30

Assuming Maltese started from this kind of system, the following evolution seems likely:

Stage I: only

V

CCV(V)C plurals take

-t, e.g. aħbāb ‘friends’.Stage IIa: VCCVVC and CVCVVC collapse into CCVVC, e.g. aħbāb ‘friends’ > ħbieb,

kilāb

‘dogs’ >

klieb

.

VCCiCa

>

VCCCa

, e.g.

ilsna

‘tongues’ (<

alsina

)

Stage

IIb

: among CCVVC plurals, only originally V-initial ones take

-t

. Initial V preserved after

-t

.Slide31

Evolution

31

Assuming Maltese started from this kind of system, the following evolution seems likely:

Stage

IIc

: initial V after

-t reanalysed as epenthetic, except for ilsna etc. Stage IIb: among CCVVC plurals, only originally V-initial ones take -t

. Initial V preserved after

-t

.

Stage III:

-t

+ epenthetic V generalized to all CCVVC plurals.

Stage

IVa

: all CC-initial

broken

plurals take

-t

,

obligatoriness

increases with frequency.

Stage

IVb

:

all

V-initial plurals take

-t

,

obligatoriness

increases with frequency.

Stage

IVa

: all CC-initial broken plurals take

-t

,

obligatoriness

increases with frequency.

Stage

IVb

:

all

V-initial plurals take

-t

,

obligatoriness

increases with frequency.

Present-day: CC- broken plurals identified as prototypical context for

-t,

V-initial contexts perhaps on the way out?Slide32

Jiem

and

snin

32

High token frequency (of lexical items, constructions) is commonly associated with irregularity (

Bybee 2003).This is because high-frequency

items are resistant to analogical (but not phonological) change.

Jiem

‘days’ <

ayyām

, i.e. a

-t

-inserting pattern. It is CV-initial but retains its V-type

morphosyntax

due to v. high frequency.

Snin

‘years’ <

sinīn

, i.e. a

-t

-resistant pattern. It is CC-initial but retains its CV-type

morphosyntax

due to v. high frequency. Also not a broken plural!Slide33

Conclusion

33

Despite having no clear function, and often being optional, the Maltese numeral

-t

morpheme has survived for 1000+ years and expanded its range to include both V- and CC-initial following plural nouns.

This serves as a reminder that functional pressures are not the only drivers of linguistic change.

At least as important is the need for acquirers to establish generalizations which are consistent with their input, but also transcend it, allowing them to produce novel utterances.

This is true of all aspects of the input, even those as functionally redundant as

Maltese numeral

-t

.Slide34

References

Aquilina, Joseph. 1965. Teach Yourself Maltese. London: The English Universities Press.Borg, Alexander. 1974. Maltese Numerals. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 124, 291–305.Bybee, Joan L. 2003. Mechanisms of change in grammaticalization: The role of frequency. In Richard D. Janda & Brian D. Joseph (eds.), Handbook of Historical Linguistics, 602–23. Oxford: Blackwell.Cassar, Carmel. 2000. A Concise History of Malta. Msida: Mireva.Cremona, Antonino. 1938. Tagħlim fuq il-Kitba Maltija. It-Tieni Ktieb. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fabri

, Ray. 1994. The syntax of numerals in Maltese. In Joseph M.

Brincat

(ed.), Languages of the Mediterranean. Proceedings of the Conference held in Malta, 26–29 September 1991, 228–39. Msida: University of Malta.Hoberman, Robert D. 2007. Maltese morphology. In Alan S. Kaye (ed.), Morphologies of Asia and Africa, 257–81. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.Sutcliffe, Edmund. 1936. A Grammar of the Maltese Language, with Chrestomathy and Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Taine-Cheikh, Catherine. 2012. Numerals. In Lutz Edzard & Rudolf de Jong (eds.) Encyclopeida of Arabic Language and Linguistics Online. Brill Online. http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/numerals-COM_vol3_023834