LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI XXXVIII (1997)

Gražina AKELAITIENĖ

THE TENDENCY TOWARD VOWEL HARMONY IN SUFFIXAL DERIVATIVES

In the 1938 volume of “Archivum Philologicum,” P. Skardžius’s article “On Vowel Assimilation” was published. On the basis of such facts from Eastern Aukštaitian dialects as kumãta, bá·ga, ná·ša, he argues that “vowels often influence one another by assimilation, both progressively and regressively” (Skardžius 1938: 40–44). He finds such instances of assimilation not only in dialects but also in some words of the standard language. He regards vakaras, vasara, nugara, vabalas, words of the Lithuanian language, as having earlier forms *vekeras, *vesera, *vebelas, *nuġera, and believes that their original e most likely changed into a under the influence of the neighboring a.

The aforementioned article, as well as the vowel assimilation in dialects described by more than one linguist (see: Girdenis, 1962; Skirmantas, Girdenis 1972; Vitkauskas 1974; Babickienė 1991), prompted attention to be drawn to the position of the morphonological vowel alternation /e/→/a/ and to an appropriate interpretation of the functioning of this alternation.

/e/→/a/ alternation is undoubtedly at the core of the entire morphonological system of Lithuanian. As is well known, it reflects the alternation *e:/*o inherited from Proto-Indo-European. The productivity of the /e/→/a/ alternation is easy to explain phonologically: in all positions except absolute word-initial position, the phonemes /e/ and /a/ are in complementary distribution (see Pakerys 1971: 18–19; Girdenis 1981: 128; 1995: 148). Only the morphonological /e/→/a/ alternation differs from the phonological opposition in its direction: the unmarked member here is the front vowel /e/, since it belongs to the base stem. Thus, the root morphoneme <e/a> is established in derivational oppositions.

The morphoneme <e/a> occurs most often in suffix-derived deverbal nouns. Suffix -a derivatives are particularly prominent in this respect: they make up 65% of all suffix-derived nouns containing the morphoneme <e/a>.

The morphoneme <e/a> usually occurs in the environment of sonorant consonants (roots of this structure make up 78%)¹. R-type consonants either constitute the coda of the roots under discussion on their own, or begin a two-member, and very rarely a three-member, coda: išneria→išnara, prakerpa→prakarpą, įteigė→įtaiga, skėlė→skalą, parėmė→paramą. Most

¹ Conventionally, based on a phonological interpretation of syllable structure, roots of the keit-, leid- type are also assigned to this group. The diphthongs in these roots are decomposed, i.e., only the vowel /e/ is treated as the nucleus, because in derivational oppositions of the keitė→kaitą type, only the first elements of the diphthong alternate. Thus, here, as in other cases, one can investigate which phonemes are adjacent to the morphoneme <e/a> under discussion.

147

Finally, a sonant /ŋ/ is usually found adjacent to it. In the initial, /v/ is usually found adjacent to the morphoneme, and the initial itself, like the final, is generally binary. Thus, the generalized structural formula for roots with the morphoneme <e/a> is as follows: (C)RVR(C)(C). Since /v/ is usually found adjacent to the morphoneme in the initial, and /n/ in the final, one can expect <e/a> often to occur between the consonants /v/ and /n/. In practice, this possibility is scarcely realized: the sequence...v <e/a>n... occurred only in the roots {tv<e/a>nk-}, {v<e/a>ng-} (užtvanka, atvanga). The consonant combinations on either side of the root center are varied, and none stands out appreciably in frequency. It is worth noting, however, that in more than one root the morphoneme <e> did not occur between identical R-type consonants. This is entirely understandable, since combinations of two identical sonorant consonants (homogeneous sequences) on either side of the root center are altogether rare in Lithuanian words (see Karosienė 1985: 27–28).

A comparison of the root vowels in all derivatives with the ending -a shows that the phoneme /e/ occurs in the center very rarely. It seems to be found only in išgesos (←išgėso), delsą (←delsia), kerčia (←kerčiasi), išpeika (←išpeikė), nėpena (←nesipeni), seką (←sėka), apsemą (←àpsemia), sutemą (←sutėmo), nėtesa (←nėtesi). Apparently, a certain correlation can be discerned between the formant and the realization of the root center. When the formant -a attaches to roots containing a vowel /e/ of the same height but of the other frontness class, it implies a change in that vowel: an ending expressed by a back vowel seems to “cause” the root vowel to change with respect to frontness (to become back). This “effect” of the formant can be represented schematically:

This implication seems to indicate a tendency for the vowels of adjacent morphemes to harmonize in frontness—a kind of assimilation that can be explained by the drive toward vowel harmony.

The change in the root vowel can also be interpreted somewhat differently. The very common /e/→/a/ alternation in derivatives with the ending -a suggests that there is a tendency for the consonants of the root final and initial to be harmonized with respect to palatalization. A kind of regressive chain reaction of phonemic influence takes place: the hardness of the root final, which depends on the formant vowel, seems to imply backing of the root vowel; the back vowel arising in the root center implies hardness of the initial (C←Vu←C←{-a}). This interpretation is contradicted by only a few derivatives with a soft root final before -a: kančią, aplaidžią, užmačią¹.

¹ This explanation, of course, is not intended to claim that palatalization before front vowels is a morphonological phenomenon; rather, here the phonological position creates conditions for morphonological change in the root center.

148

There are half as many derivatives with the ending -as and the morphoneme <e/a> in the root as there are derivatives with the ending -a. However, this should not be taken to imply that the ending -as has a different effect. After all, there are generally half as many derivatives with the ending -as as with the ending -a (see Urbutis 1961: 29, 47). The stem vowel /e/ /e/ is retained in only a few derivatives: paveldas (←paveldi), užperas (←užperi) apkėpas (←apkėpa), pėnas (←pėni), aptepas (←aptepa), atmenas (←atmena).

It is morphonologically significant that there are far more derivatives with the ending under discussion that contain the morphoneme <e/a> than derivatives with the ending -is¹. This merely confirms the earlier assumption of a tendency to harmonize the root center with the realization of the formant—a kind of regressive vowel assimilation. One can conclude that there is a clear tendency for formants containing back vowels to attach to roots containing vowels of the same frontness class. When a formant attaches to roots containing the vowel /e/, /e/ changes to /a/, creating a harmonious sequence of vowels in the root center and the formant: /a/.../a/. Since many of the derivatives in question are based on stems that also have the phoneme /a/ in the prefix, a homogeneous three-vowel sequence /a/... /a/.../a/ results, for example: apžvalga, pražanga, parama, pastaba; aptvaras, pašaras, apvadas, apgamas, palankas.

Given the typical structural pattern of roots characterized by the morphoneme <e/a> (a vowel occurs between R-type consonants), the tendency to harmonize the articulation of the root vowel with that of the formant vowel can be expressed by a schema showing the relationship between adjacent morphemes:

The relationship can also be considered in reverse: the realization of the allomorphs of the root under discussion indicates that the second structural component of the derivatives is most likely the ending -a or -as. Under this understanding of the relationship between alternation and the realization of the formant, it would be logical to conclude that the alternation should be regarded as a component of the formant².

The correlation of another derivative ending, -ius, which also contains a back vowel, with the morphoneme <e/a> is less clear, since there are relatively few verbal derivatives with this ending, while the morphoneme <e/a> occurs in several roots, for example, lėkia→lėkius.

In suffix-derived adjectives, the morphoneme <e/a> functions more often with the ending -us than with the ending -as: kvapūs, laidūs, landūs, talpūs. But this reflects not a different effect of the endings on the root realization; rather, it depends on the total number of derivatives.

¹ The ending -is implies alternations of a different kind—quantitative morphonological changes.

² V. Urbutis kaitų nelaiko formato komponentu (žr. Urbutis 1978: 231).

149

The likelihood of the /e/→/a/ change when inflectional endings are attached to the adjective stem paradigm is lower. Adjectives containing the morphoneme <e/a> make up 75% of all derivatives whose base verb stem had the phoneme /e/. Thus, the morphonological effect of noun endings on the root is greater than that of adjective endings with the same realization. The quality of the root-final segment may contribute to this. Unlike nouns, many adjective case forms have an ending after a palatalized consonant (atlaidžiam, atlaidžių, atlaidžiame); therefore, the final segment is likely to imply vowel backing to a lesser extent than in noun roots.

The tendency observed in the present-day language probably allows certain diachronic assumptions to be made. As is well known, the vowel system /a/ is widespread in Lithuanian nominal forms (see Karosienė 1987: 45). Perhaps the frequency of the phoneme /a/ in nominal roots indicates that such a tendency toward harmony existed diachronically in simple words (not derivatives) as well. After all, most nouns have the endings -as or -a, and thus a harmonious sequence of vowels in adjacent syllables (and morphemes) often occurs in them too.

LITERATŪRA

Babickienė Z. 1991: Regresyvinė balsių asimiliacija kretingiškių šnektose. – Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 29, 15–25.

Girdenis A. 1962: Balsių asimiliacijos reiškiniai Tirkšlių tarmėje. – Kalbotyra 4, 141–151.

Girdenis A. 1981: Fonologija. Vilnius: Mokslas.

Girdenis A. 1995: Teoriniai fonologijos pagrindai. Vilnius: Petro ofsetas.

Karosienė V. 1985: Pradinių ir galinių priebalsių derinimas vienskiemenėse vardažodžio šaknyse. – Kalbotyra 36(1), 18–31.

Karosienė V. 1987: Pirminių vardažodžių šaknų statistinės charakteristikos. – Kalbotyra 38(1), 44–55.

Pakerys A. 1971: Psichoakustinis balsių panašumas. – Kalbotyra 23(1), 17–33.

Skardžius P. 1938: Dėl balsių asimiliacijos. – Archivum Philologicum 7, 40–44.

Skirmantas P., Girdenis A. 1972: Progresyvinė balsių asimiliacija pietinėse „dounininkų“ šnektose. – Kalbotyra 24(1), 91–96.

Urbutis V. 1961: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos galūnių darybos daiktavardžiai. Kalbotyra 3, 27–60.

Urbutis V. 1978: Žodžių darybos teorija. Vilnius: Mokslas.

Vitkauskas V. 1974: Nauji regresyvinės balsių asimiliacijos veikimo faktai Kuršėnų šnektoje. Kalbotyra 26(1), 81–85.

DIE TENDENZ DER ANGLEICHUNG DER VOKALE IN DEN WORTBILDUNGSENDUNGEN

Zusammenfassung

Im vorliegenden Artikel wird aus morphologischer Sicht der Prozeß des Vokalwechsels /e/ → /a/ interpretiert. Sich auf die in den Mundarten ziemlich häufig beobachtete Assimilation der Vokale stützend, wird behauptet, daß die Ausdrucksform des Ableitungsstammes impliziert wird

150

durch die hinzugefügten Wortbildungsformanten, die Nominalendungen -a, -as, vgl.:

{seg-}+{-a} → sagà, {lek’-}+{-a} → lakà, {keit’-}+{-a} → kaità, {pašer’-}+{-as} → pāšaras, {palenk’-}+{-as} → pālankas.

Eine solche Angleichung der Vokale aufeinander folgender Morpheme (es ist eine Tendenz, keinesfalls eine Gesetzmäßigkeit) ist als morphonologische regressive Assimilation zu betrachten.

151