open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/101895

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/84908

On the Alternation of /r/ Beginning Allomorphs and /t/ Beginning Allomorphs in Chuvash

日本語

ロータシズム

2022-03-20

Japan Association of Northern Language Studies

Northern Language Studies

12

53-67

The initial consonant of some Chuvash suffixes (the past tense suffix -R, the locative case suffix -RA, and the ablative case suffix -RAn) alternates between /r/ and /t/ (e.g. kay-r-ăm ‘I went’, kil-t-ĕm ‘I came’, šïv-ra ‘in water’, tăvar-ta ‘in salt’, külĕ-ren ‘from lake’, vărman-tan ‘from forest’). The comparative suffix alternates between the short form -rAx starting with /r/ and the long form -tArAx starting with /t/ (e.g. xitre-rex ‘more beautiful’, načar-tarax ‘worse’). On the past tense -R, every previous research describes that the allomorph -t (-č) appears after verb stems ending in /r, l, n/, and -r appears in other cases. On the locative -RA and ablative -RAn, some previous research describe that the allomorphs -tA, -tAn appear after nouns ending in /r, l, n/, and -rA, -rAn appear after nouns ending in other phonemes. Other previous research describe that the allomorphs -rA, -rAn may also appear after several nouns ending in /l, n/. On the comparative -rAx/ -tArAx, previous research describe that the allomorph -tArAx appears after adjectives ending in /r/, either rAx or -tArAx can appear after adjectives ending in /l, n, y, m/, and -rAx appears after adjectives ending in other phonemes. However, the frequency of the appearance of allomorphs starting with /r/ or /t/ is not described, in cases where either of them can appear. Based on the results of a quantitative survey using a web-corpus and contrastive research with other Turkic languages, this paper argues the following two points. First, the overall frequency of the appearance of the /t/-beginning allomorphs caused by the final sound of the preceding word is “/r, l, n/ > others” (the past suffix), “/r/ > /l/ > /n/ > others” (the locative and ablative suffixes), and “/r/ > /l/ > /n/ > /y, m/ > others” (the comparative suffix). These tendencies correlate with the phonetic similarity of the final phoneme of the preceding word to the phoneme /r/. Second, the following diachronic developments may have occurred in Chuvash. In many other Turkic languages, the forms of the past, locative and ablative suffixes begin with /d, t/ (e.g. Turkish -dV/-tV, -dA/-tA, -dAn/-tAn). So, it is possible that the sound change from /d/ to /r/ (rhotacism) occurred in the initial consonants of the corresponding suffixes of the language later developed into Chuvash (although /t/ survived after the alveolar sonorants /r, l, n/). On the other hand, the forms of the comparative suffixes of other Turkic languages are similar to Chuvash rAx (e.g. Uzbek -roq, Tatar -rAK). So, it is possible that -tArAx was formed by inserting a buffer syllable tA to prevent clustering of /r/ after the rhotacism. These hypotheses are also supported by the data presented in this paper.

紀要論文

Version of Record

2185-7121

AA12516968