In this appendix, I discuss a subset of Estonian paradigms with stem alter-nations, and I argue that they exhibit the same abstract structure as non-alternating paradigms, for the discussion of which see §3.4.1. The line of analysis and the presentation of the patterns draws mainly on Prince (1980) and P¨ochtrager (2006), and I also build on the proposal in Svenonius (2008) for a related phenomenon in Northern Saami. I refer the interested reader to
the first two works for a detailed discussion of the phonological side of the patterns I will go through.
The general picture of stem alternations in Estonian is the following. In a paradigm with stem alternations, forms are based on either the so called
“strong grade” or “weak grade” of the stem. In most of the cases, the two stems are related by a phonologically transparent process of lengthening/shortening, such that, for instance, the strong grade is CVV:C and the weak grade is CV:C.
I note here from the start, however, that according to the analysis I present, the notion of the strong/weak stem is not relevant for the morpho-syntax;
rather, the two distinct stems arise from the interaction of both phonological and morpho-syntactic factors.
My focus here will be on vocalic alternations, but many stems also show alternations in consonant length. The distribution of the consonantal length mirrors the distribution of the vocalic length, and the two processes are thus clearly related. The morpho-syntactic analysis I provide here for the vocalic alternations can be extended to most of the consonantal alternations, the
“quantitative” once in particular. For worked out proposals of how vocalic and consonantal alternations are related, see Prince (1980) and P¨ochtrager (2006).
The last thing we need to know in order to understand the paradigms with grade alternations is that Estonian shows a three-way contrast in both consonant and vowel length, traditionally denoted as Q1 (short), Q2 (long), and Q3 (overlong). In the following paradigm, the nominative and the partitive have an overlong (Q3) vowel, and the accusative/genitive has a plain long (Q2) vowel. The overlong/long difference is not reflected in the orthography, but it is clearly distinctive, because it differentiates the partitive from the genitive.
To make this clearer, I have included an extra column which states the length of the vowel in phonological terms, and makes the distinction stand out.
(73) Estonian structural cases, vocalic alternations (from P¨ochtrager 2006:p.199)29 story, sg. stick, sg. abstractly
nom siid liiv Q3
acc siid-i liiv-a Q2+V gen siid-i liiv-a Q2+V part siid-i liiv-a Q3+V
What I propose is that in the paradigm above, the partitive is derived from the genitive by the addition of a floating mora, see (74). The accommodation of the floating mora by the segmental material leads to the emergence of the strong grade. The same approach has been pursued in Svenonius (2008) for a
29To illustrate the point that the alternations in consonant length obey the same morpho-syntactic pattern as vocalic alternations, consider the examples below:
(i) Estonian structural cases, consonant gradation (from P¨ochtrager 2006:p.199)
related phenomenon in Northern Saami.
(74) The Morpho-syntax of the genitive/partitive
story, sg. stick, sg. abstractly church, sg.
gen siid-i liiv-a Q2+V kirik-u
part siid-i-µ liiv-a-µ Q3+V kirik-u-t
The proposed decomposition strengthens the point made on the basis of the non-alternating stems, namely that the partitive is based on the genitive. I repeat one of the non-alternating paradigms in the last column, and we can observe that under this approach, the floating mora is an allomorph of-t.30
Let me point out, however, that there are several reasons why the process of alternation between Q3 and Q2 is to be regarded as shortening, rather than lengthening, see Prince (1980:p.539). Perhaps the strongest one is that the weak grade can be predicted from the strong grade, but the strong grade cannot be predicted from the weak grade. Thus, the strong grade is the underlying form, and it shortens in the genitive/accusative due to a regular phonological process. The accommodation of the floating mora in the partitive makes it impossible for the process to apply.
The question now is what is responsible for the overlength of the nomina-tive. One option would be to extend the “floating mora” approach, as shown in (75).
(75) The morpho-syntax of the grade alternation, to be modified story, sg. stick, sg. abstractly
nom jutt kepp [V=Q1C=Q3]
acc jut-u kep-i [V=Q1C=Q2]-V gen jut-u kep-i [V=Q1C=Q2]-V part jutt-u kepp-i [V=Q1C=Q3]-V
(ii) Estonian structural cases, consonant gradation (from P¨ochtrager 2006:p.199) story, sg. stick, sg. abstractly
nom kiit taak [V=Q2C=Q2]
acc kiid-u taag-a [V=Q2C=Q1]-V gen kiid-u taag-a [V=Q2C=Q1]-V part kiit-u taak-a [V=Q2C=Q2]-V
30As is often pointed out in this context, the grade alternation is a productive process with the ability to target relatively recent loans. Thus, consider the two following pairs from Prince (1980:ex.30). (The forms are not in the orthographic form, and I reproduce them as given in the source material.)
(i) Gradation in recent loans
argument, sg. beefsteak, sg.
gen arkument-i bii:f:fsteek-i part arkument:t-i bii:f:fstee:k:k-i
story, sg. stick, sg. abstractly church, sg.
nom siid-µ liiv-µ Q3 kirik (*-t)
acc siid-i liiv-a Q2+V kirik-u
gen siid-i liiv-a Q2+V kirik-u
part siid-i-µ liiv-a-µ Q3+V kirik-u-t
This approach is unproblematic regarding the fact that the partitive still contains the genitive; however, it raises some issues concerning the morpho-syntactic distribution of the floating mora. The problematic nature of such a distribution can be nicely illustrated on the comparison with the paradigm kirik ‘church.’ In the partitive, the moraic suffix in the paradigm of siid is essentially an allomorph of the segmental suffix -t of kirik. However, the -t does not surface in the nominative. This is straightforward if -t spells out the additional feature which is characteristic of the partitive in comparison to the genitive. But then, if the morpho-syntax of the moraic suffix is parallel to the morpho-syntax of the -t (in that it spells out the feature which derives the partitive from the genitive), how come that the moraic suffix does show up in nominative?
Thus, an alternative approach is to be preferred. One possibility which I propose here is the following. Taking the strong grade to be the underlying form, the idea is that the shortening into the weak grade does not take place in the nominative because the relevant conditions for shortening do not obtain there. Under this approach, thus, the relevant condition for shortening is “be followed by a vowel (and not be required to accommodate a mora).” If this is correct, the paradigms we have been looking at then exhibit the abstract structure shown in (76). Note that now the distribution of the floating mora mirrors perfectly the distribution of -t, and we get the strong grade in the nominative “for free,” because the condition for shortening is not met:
(76) The morpho-syntax of the grade alternation story, sg. stick, sg. abstractly church
nom siid liiv Q3 kirik
acc siid-i liiv-a Q2+V kirik-u
gen siid-i liiv-a Q2+V kirik-u
part siid-i-µ liiv-a-µ Q3+V kirik-u-t
Now in order to phrase the conditions on shortening in less ad hoc terms, I will suggest a possible implementation in terms of foot structure, building on insights in Prince (1980). Basing his claim on various phonological effects that Q3 leads to, Prince (1980) proposes that there is a bi-unique relationship between ‘being a syllable which forms a foot’ and ‘being Q3,’ see below:
(77) The nature of Q3, Prince (1980): Q3 = [f oot 1 syllable ]
Taking (77) to be correct, we have to posit a complete foot for each sylla-ble with overlength. Thus, we arrive at the following representations, where brackets represent feet. Q3 surfaces when the overlong syllable forms a foot of its own, and it has to shorten to Q2 otherwise:
(78) Estonian structural cases, vocalic alternations
story, sg. stick, sg. abstractly
nom [f oot siid ] [f oot liiv ] [Q3Q1]-ø
acc [f oot siid -i ] [f oot liiv -a ] [Q2Q1]-V
gen [f oot siid -i ] [f oot liiv -a ] [Q2Q1]-V
part [f oot [f oot siid ] -i ] [f oot [f oot liiv ] -a ] [Q3Q1]-V
How does the foot-structure arise? First, due to some version of prosodic hierarchy, every word corresponds automatically to a foot, see, for instance, Selkirk (1996). Thus, the fact that the nominative, accusative and genitive each correspond to a foot does not require extra attention. Crucially, we do not need to posit the moraic suffix for the nominative in order for the strong grade to arise.
The only unusual thing is the extra foot in the partitive; this foot needs a special morpho-syntactic trigger. The trigger, as suggested above, is the extra floating mora of the partitive.31
The general conclusion I draw here is that we have seen additional evidence that the partitive in Estonian is morphologically derived from the genitive (just like all the semantic cases). This evidence derives from the fact that while the genitive is based on the weak grade, the partitive requires the strong grade. Under the interpretation of stem alternations proposed in Svenonius (2008), the strong grade of the partitive is triggered by the insertion of an extra floating mora.
31While the particularities of the solution can be disputed, the bracketing in (78) seems agreed on. For instance, P¨ochtrager (2006:p.202) arrives at an identical brack-eting, but proposes a different interpretation of it. According to his proposal, the brackets correspond to separate phonological domains, roughly comparable to sepa-rate cycles or phases of phonological computation.
Part II
Case computation
135
Chapter 4 Peeling
4.1 Introduction
The first three chapters of this dissertation have been dedicated to the devel-opment of an adequate representation of case, such that syncretism patterns and various other phenomena are accounted for. According to this proposal, individual cases are composed of a number of features, and these features ar-ranged in the functional sequence. I repeat the essence of the proposal in (1).
(1) Comitative F Instrumental
E Dative D Genitive
C Accusative B Nominative
A DP
...
In this chapter, I start looking at k-selection, i.e., how a particular case is determined in a larger syntactic context. I present data which show that the structure of a given case is relevant for its syntactic distribution; or in other words, the representation of case is relevant for its computation. To account for this, I will adopt a particular version of a base-generation approach to k-selection proposed by Starke (2005), called the Peeling theory. The gist of the
137
proposal is that nouns are base-generated with a number of case projections on top of them, and they strand these projections when they move up in the tree:
(2)
K2P
K2 K1P
K1 KP
...
...
K3P
K3 K2P
K2 K1P
K1 KP
...
...