Distinguishing Prosodic Word and Phonological Word in Warlpiri: Prosodic Constituency in Morphologically Complex Words

Abstract

Observations that the phonological word in Warlpiri does not map onto a single constituent in prosodic structure leads us to posit a three-way distinction between prosodic word (PWd), phonological word (PhonWd) and phonological phrase (PPh) in order to account for prosodic constituency in morphologically complex words. We will present evidence that stress is assigned at the level of the PWd, while accent is assigned at the level of the PPh. The PhonWd is the domain for the application of non-prosodic rules governing the distribution of articulatory gestures, e.g. regressive vowel harmony and suffixal allomorphy. Physical correlates of both stress and accent will be discussed. Nash (1986) defines the phonological word in Warlpiri as the domain of stress, vowel harmony and suffixal allomorphy; however, evidence of mismatches between the domains relevant for the application of stress, vowel harmony rules and case allomorphy in complex structures suggests that the PhonWd is distinct from both the PWd and the PPh. For example, regressive vowel harmony triggered by the PAST suffix /-rnu/ is blocked at the boundary between the preverb and verb in the string /pirri-kuju-rnu/ ‘scatter-throw-PAST’, which is defined by Nash (1986) as a single stress domain, thus indicating that the stress and vowel harmony domains are distinct. On the other hand, the nominal compound /wati-wiri-rli/ (lit. man-big-ERG) ‘big group of men’, while exhibiting the same stress pattern as the verbal compound /pirri-kujurnu/, is also the domain which determines suffixal allomorphy: compare with /wati wiri-ngki/ (lit. man big-ERG)‘a big man’. In the compound /wati-wiri-rli/ the morphemes /wati/ and /wiri/ are both PWds, and the compound itself is a PhonWd. In the phrase /wati wiri-ngki/, however, both constituent PWds are distinct PhonWds which combine to create a PPh. Furthermore, complex verbs may contain a consonant-final preverb which does not qualify as a PhonWd (no final vowel), although it does satisfy the requirements to qualify as a PWd (it contains a minimum of two moras or vowels), e.g. /jaarl-kujurnu/ ‘in the way throw-PAST’. While the inflected verb /kujurnu/ constitutes both a PWd and a PhonWd (representing the stress domain and vowel harmony domain respectively), the preverbs /pirri/ and /jaarl/ only constitute PWds which combine with the inflected verb to create a PPh.