Gita KAZLAUSKAITĖ

Vilnius Pedagogical University

STRUCTURE AND ORIGIN OF LITHUANIAN PHONOLOGY TERMS

The article examines contemporary Lithuanian phonology terms in terms of their structure and origin. The research material was collected from A. Girdenis’s works “Phonology” (1981) and “Theoretical Foundations of Phonology” (1995). All the terms discussed can be divided into two groups: one-word and compound terms. One-word terms comprise simple words and derivatives; according to their method of formation, derivatives may be suffixal, inflectional, or prefixal formations, or compounds.

The discussion of international terms in terms of word formation raises many problems, since the structure of a given term cannot always be explained synchronically in a motivated way. Terms of this type enter Lithuanian already formed and are not the result of Lithuanian word formation. For this reason, their segmentation and the identification of affixes are somewhat formal and conditional. In some cases, only morphemic, rather than derivational, divisibility can be discussed. Only those international terms that have a base word functioning in Lithuanian are considered true derivatives here.

Discussion of international terms also raises the problem of bound and residual stems. In word formation, a bound, or dependent, stem is one that “differs from an independent (free) stem in that it cannot by itself form the stem of a word (or inflected form) and always occurs (as a primary stem) together with a suffix, prefix, or another stem. A bound stem recurs in at least two words: it is revealed by comparing their inflectional stems, excluding nonmatching affixes and constituent elements”¹. Residual stems are distinguished in words in which “an affix can seemingly be identified (on the basis that the segment formally coincides with another known affix and that the meaning of the word under consideration allows it to be compared with other words containing such an affix), but the remainder is otherwise not known as a stem (either independent or combined with other derivational affixes)”

¹ Urbutis V. Žodžių darybos teorija. V.: Mokslas, 1978. P. 121.

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².

In Lithuanian terminology, most Lithuanian-derived nouns are suffixal formations³. This tendency is also evident in the formation of phonology terms.

The most productive suffixes for forming deverbal nouns are the verbal abstract-noun suffixes -imas (stress assignment, palatalization, devoicing, merger) and the international suffix -(i)acija (articulation, aspiration, domination, dephonologization, pharyngealization, phonologization, glottalization, implication, intonation, commutation, correlation, labialization, monophthongization, neutralization, palatalization, rephonemization, transphonologization, velarization). Only one derivative each is formed with other suffixes, e.g.: -ymas (utterance), -tis (pronunciation), -cija (reduction), -muo (syllable), -ata (aspirate).

The most productive suffix for forming denominal nouns is the denominal abstract-noun suffix -umas (sonority, voicelessness, hardness, softness, sonority deficiency, lack of palatalization, non-continuity, relevance, voicing, tautosyllabicity, continuity, noisiness, monosyllabicity, harshness). Derivatives with other suffixes are uncommon, e.g.: -atika (phonematics), -oidas (diphthongoid), -ikas (enclitic, proclitic).

In addition to genuine derivational suffixes, endings that do not perform a word-forming function should be distinguished. Terms with these endings generally have bound (1) or residual (2) stems, e.g.: -ija: 1) exclusivity, prosody, position, -cija: 1) distribution; 2) extension, coalescence, correction, -ema: 1) expressem, phoneme, prosodeme; 2) ceneme, dialeme, syndeme, socioleme, -ata: 2) affricate, geminate.

Inflectional formations are extremely rare in phonological terminology. Only one or two derivatives are formed with each of the endings -as and -is: -as (sound), -is (stress, vowel).

Prefixal formations are more characteristically formed with international prefixes: meta- (meta-allophone, metaphoneme, metasound, metatony, metavariant), archi- (archiphoneme, archiprosodeme, architoneme), ante- (antepenul-

² Ten pat. P. 112.

³ Ke inys S. Priesaginė lietuviškų terminų daryba // Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai. V: Mokslas, 1975. T. XVI. P. 7.

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tima). Derivatives with Lithuanian prefixes are uncommon: prie- (consonant, pitch accent), ne- (not a vowel, non-consonant).

Phonology terms considered compounds include half-phoneme, diphthong, monophthong // single-vowel sound.

Lithuanian phonological terminology also contains elements of international terms that do not function as independent words but are not considered true affixes either. Prepositional international elements are more common, and are often treated as components of compound words or prefixoids: bi- (biphoneme), phono- (phonotactics, phonostatistics, phonostylistics), hyper- (hyperphoneme), quasi- (quasiphoneme, quasihomonym), morpho- (morphosyllabeme).

International loan terms make up a substantial part of phonology terminology: acute, apophony, circumflex, diphthong, emphasis, final, formant, glide, grave, initial, medial, mora, polyphthong, sonant, tone.

In terminology, two-word compound terms are conventionally divided into three groups according to the relation between the head and dependent element: 1) terms with an agreeing attribute, 2) terms with a governed attribute, 3) terms with an adjoined attribute⁴. Only terms from the first and second groups are used in phonological science.

In terms with an agreeing attribute, the attribute is most often expressed by a relational or qualitative adjective. Relational adjectives are generally Lithuanian denominal (1), deadjectival (2), participial (3), adverbial (4), or foreign-origin (5) adjectives with the suffix -inis: 1) dental // palatal // labial // front articulation, labial // nasal // lateral affricate, diphthongal // labial // nasal // front // back vowel, fundamental frequency, coalescent diphthong, sound element, vocalic // diphthongal // group // consonantal // semivocalic // compound phoneme, guttural // occlusive // lingual // fricative // consonantal // pharyngeal // syllabic // intermediate sound, vowel group, acoustic feature, initial // consonant cluster, final // initial // secondary stress, etc.;

⁴ Gaivenis K. Dvižodžiai sudėtiniai terminai dabartinėje lietuvių kalboje // Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai. V.: Mokslas, 1975. T. XVI. P. 61.

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2) acute accent;

3) continuous circumflex, falling // broken // rising pitch accent;

4) inherent prosody;

5) phonetic alphabet, faucal affricate, phonological // spectral analysis, accentological archaism, phonological argument, alveolar // heterosyllabic // retroflex articulation, flat // sharp // diffuse // compact vowel, contrastive // oppositional distribution, correlative series, phonological // prosodic // supersegmental element, phonological evolution, peripheral // functional // historical phonetics, autosegmental // autonomous // diachronic // dichotomic // generative // classical // metrical // prosodic phonology, diphthongal // diffuse // pharyngeal // compact // laryngeal // mekelic // musical // palatal // uvular // velar sound, etc.

A small group of terms with an agreeing attribute has an attribute expressed by the suffix -utinis (1) or by compound (2) adjectives:

1) high // low vowel, final syllable;

2) falling circumflex, “two-apex” phoneme, multiple-tap sound, two-phoneme group, single-member medial, multi-member // multilateral // bilateral opposition, polysyllabic // disyllabic // tetrasyllabic // trisyllabic word.

The agreeing attributes in two-word terms are also expressed by qualitative simple (1) or pronominal (2) adjectives:

1) defective distribution, unstable // potential // independent phoneme, commutable sound, fixed stress, proportional opposition, optional realization, etc.

2) voiceless affricate, voiceless // palatalized articulation, open // high // long // short // simple // steady // weak // strong // short // closed // low vowel, mixed diphthong, general phonetics, general phonology, weak phoneme, sonorous // dull // hard // clear // sonorant // low sound, free stress, empty slot, optional neutralization, potential // virtual pause, minimal pair, weak // strong position, high // sonorous // dull // voiceless // hard // palatalized // nonsonorous // nonpalatalized // unvoiced // noncontinuant // clear // simple // cautious // voiced // lateral // continuant // stop // low // harsh consonant

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, harsh // smooth preglide, open // closed juncture, long syllable, free variant, universal markedness.

Common are agreeing modifiers expressed by passive (1) or active (2) participles:

1) fricative // trilled articulation, tense // variable // murmured // lax // invariable // unstressed vowel, complementary distribution, unrealized phoneme, pharyngealized // tense // labialized // lax // velarized sound, aspirated // pharyngealized // glottalized // labialized // unaspirated // unmotivated // nonfricative // palatalized // fricative // plosive // trilled consonant, stressed // unstressed syllable, etc.;

2) commutating sound, rising // falling tone, rising // falling preglide.

In terms of the governing-modifier type, the head words govern a modifier expressed in the genitive case, so a more detailed classification is based on the nature of the genitive. Thus, the modifier is expressed by a descriptive (1) or possessive (2) genitive:

1) stress echo, vowel // sound combination, phoneme distribution, chain of vowel harmony, sound // consonant group, vowel harmony, phoneme inventory, phoneme // sound // consonant sequence, voice // consonant quantity, phoneme // syllable quality, sound complex, correlation of aspiration // series // palatalization // voicing // harshness, class of vowels // phonemes // sounds // consonants // semivowels // sonorants, phoneme matrix, bundle of correlations, neutralization position, external juncture, boundary signal, vowel // stress // consonant system, sound stylistics, stress type, stress position, palatalization // pronunciation trigger;

2) syllable accent, archiphoneme representative, phoneme allophone, syllable center, consonant voicelessness, sound biphonemicity, phoneme exemplar, sound function, pronunciation intensity, syllable intonation, sound property, consonant hardness, consonant softness, phoneme norm, syllable base, property of an allophone // sonority // sound // intonation // correlation // tone, principles of phonology, syllable boundary, consonant voicing, system gap, strength of voice // sound // pronunciation, phoneme surrogate, consonant timbre, pronunciation duration, diphthong monophonemicity.

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The terms with a governed modifier whose head word is a deverbal noun should be noted separately. By meaning, terms expressing objective (1) and subjective (2) relations are distinguished:

1) vowel accommodation, vowel assimilation, consonant aspiration, stress retraction, phoneme identification // identification, phoneme manifestation, sound modulations, vowel nasalization, tone leveling, phoneme determination, phoneme // stress realization;

2) evolution of stress assignment, embodiment of phonemes, phoneme combination, vowel // consonant change, vowel fronting, consonant cluster, vowel // phoneme accumulation, vowel backing.

In Lithuanian phonological terminology, compound three-word terms are used in three types of constructions: 1) another modifier is added to the head word and its modifier (a compound term); 2) a modifier added to the head word is expressed by a genitive phrase (a compound term); 3) the head word has two independent modifiers attached to it.

In terms of the first type, the first modifier is usually expressed by a noun in the genitive, and the second modifier by an adjective with the suffix -inis, e.g.: regressive vowel assimilation, expanded syllable center, phonological word center, initial // medial consonant cluster, central // peripheral syllable element, phonological word element, positional // inherent syllable length, articulatory // inherent // spectral properties of sounds, heterosyllabic sound sequence, initial consonant cluster, synchronous sound change, syntagmatic phoneme // consonant class, tautosyllabic // heterosyllabic sound complex, non-phonemic boundary signals, basic phoneme variant, etc.

In terms of the second type, the main element of the genitive phrase forming the modifier is always expressed by a noun in the genitive; the dependent element may be a genitive noun with the adjective suffix -inis (1), a noun (2), an adjective (3), or a passive participle (4), e.g.:

1) height of the fundamental tone, distribution of vowel phonemes, penultimate-syllable stress, criterion of acoustic similarity, class of suprasegmental elements, degree of articulatory features, manifestation of phonological stress, periphery of the phonological system, phonological element

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realization, clustering of consonant phonemes, phonetic transcription symbol;

2) syllable // word-initial cluster, change in stress position, mechanism of sound change, phrase intonation component, methodology for identifying // determining phonemes, realization of a phoneme sequence, technique for identifying phonemes;

3) individual voice characteristic, steady // shifting articulation sound, free-stress system;

4) variable articulation sound, fixed-stress language, lengthening of stressed vowels, fixed-stress system.

In three-word terms of the third type, the first modifier is usually an adjective with the suffix -inis, -ė, and the second is an adjective with the suffix -inis, -ė (1), a noun in the genitive (2), a participle (3), or an adjective in the nominative (4), e.g.:

1) phonological auditory experiment, suprasegmental phonological element, transitional nasal element, d positive?

2) tongue-back affricate, phonological analysis of language, tongue-back articulation, sound aspect of language, non-front // front // back consonant of the tongue, phonetic realization of stress assignment // stress, phonological system of a language // dialect, phonological structure of intonation // word, etc.;

3) fronted back articulation, fronted back vowel, murmured // “reduced” vowel phoneme, prenasalized // velarized consonant phoneme;

4) pure compound diphthong, long // short vowel phoneme, hard // soft // plain consonant phoneme, binary plosive cluster, binary plosive sequence, ternary internal sequence.

Since compound four-word terms make up only a small proportion of all phonology terms, their forms are not very varied either. The most common is a construction in which a two-member group of modifiers and a separate modifier are attached to the head word: relative height of the fundamental tone, implosive part of an internal cluster, syllabic murmured

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// equivalent of reduced voice, phonological criterion of syntagmatic identification, planimetric model of a phonological system, phonetic // “external” reduction of a phonological element, segmental // syllabic realization of reduced voice, Latin phonetic transcription symbol.

In terms of origin, terms may be Lithuanian, i.e. terms formed using the internal resources of their own language; borrowed from other languages, so-called international terms; or mixed terms—hybrids.

International terms make up the majority of one-word phonology terms—70.8%, e.g.: articulation, aspiration, aspirate, biphoneme, dephonologization, diphthong, exclusion, expressem, emphasis, phonotactics, geminate, hyperphoneme, intonation, commutation, labialization, metatony, prosodeme, rephonemization, synharmonism, sonant, tone, velarization, etc.

The other one-word phonology terms are distributed as follows: Lithuanian terms—24.5%, e.g.: voiced sound, sonority, voicelessness, diphthong, sound, hardness, accentuation, stress, palatalization, softness, lack of sonority, voiceless sound, lack of softness, non-consonant, utterance, consonant, pitch accent, voicing, syllable, devoicing, merger, pronunciation, continuity, abruptness, monophthong // single vowel; hybrid terms—4.7%, e.g.: metasound, half-phoneme, relevantness, tautosyllabicity, monophonemicity.

Table 1. One-word phonology terms by origin.

Term type | Number (units) | Percent (%) 1. International terms | 75 | 70.8 2. Lithuanian terms | 26 | 24.5 3. Hybrid terms | 5 | 4.7 Total | 106 | 100

Compound terms are formed following the pattern of word combinations in their own language, but their components may have various origins. In phonology, compound two-word terms consisting of two Lithuanian components are used most frequently—32.6%, e.g.: diphthongal // final // labial // nasal // front // back vowel, mixed diphthong, consonant devoic-

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lateral, guttural // occlusive // lingual // fricative // consonantal sound, sound feature, sound combination, non-final stress, non-final accent, high // sonorous // dull // voiceless // hard // soft // unvoiced // non-soft // non-hissing // non-continuant // prominent consonant, rising // falling // rough // smooth pitch accent, long // stressed syllable, polysyllabic // disyllabic // quadrisyllabic word. The rarest are compound two-word terms whose both elements are international—4.6%, e.g.: allophone of a phoneme, defective // phoneme distribution, phoneme prototype, potential phoneme, phoneme group, phoneme identification, phoneme // sonant class, phoneme combination, aspiration correlation, phoneme manifestation, phoneme matrix, individual modifications, phoneme norm, neutralization position, phoneme realization, text segmentation, phoneme surrogate, substitution test. Other types of two-word terms are distributed quite evenly: one Lithuanian and one international element—22.3%, e.g.: fricative // trilled articulation, complementary distribution, vowel // diphthongal // consonantal // semivowel phoneme, vowel harmony, sound // sound complex, series // softness // harshness correlation, vowel // sound // consonant // semivowel class, distribution table, cluster of correlations, allophone // intonation // correlation // tone feature, stress realization, phoneme cluster; a hybrid and a Lithuanian element—21.4%, e.g.: phonetic alphabet, flat // sharp // diffuse vowel // pharyngeal // compact // laryngeal // palatal sound, dynamic // phonological // monotonic // musical // tonal stress, abruptive // cerebral // glottal // intervocalic // cacuminal // compact // palatal // retroflex consonant, hyperdactylic // orthotonic word; a hybrid and an international element—19.1%, e.g.: phonological // spectral analysis, phonological // paralinguistic // prosodic // segmental // simultaneous element, autonomous // diachronic // dichotomous // classical // metrical // prosodic phonology, assimilative // facultative // contextual // structural neutralization, phonological opposition, acoustic signal, phonological // phonotactic system, implosive sonant, phonetic // phonological transcription, facultative // compositional // positional variant.

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Table 2. Two-word phonology terms by origin.

Term type

Number (units)

Percent (%)

1. Two Lithuanian elements

169

32,6

2. One Lithuanian and one international element

116

22,3

3. One hybrid and one Lithuanian element

111

21,4

4. One hybrid and one international element

99

19,1

5. Two international elements

24

4,6

Total

519

100

The combinations of elements in compound three-word terms are highly varied in terms of origin. These terms may consist of Lithuanian and international elements—30.1%, e.g.: velar affricate, velar articulation, expanded syllable nucleus, steady // gliding articulation sound, pronounced sound complex, mechanism of sound change, free-stress system; a hybrid, an international, and a Lithuanian element—25.6%, e.g.: regressive vowel assimilation, phonetic word center, central syllable element, heterosyllabic // tautosyllabic sound complex, syntagmatic relations of phonemes, syntagmatic properties of phonemes, phonological structure of a word, phonetic transcription symbol; hybrid and Lithuanian elements—15.8%, e.g.: positional syllable length, articulatory // inherent // spectral sound features, heterosyllabic sound combination, synchronous sound alternation, degree of articulatory features, relevant phonological feature, premise of phonological research, qualitative phonetic phenomenon; three Lithuanian elements—14.3%, e.g.: fronted back vowel, pure compound diphthong, velar nasal sound, intrinsic syllable length, initial consonant cluster, syllable onset clusters, penultimate stress, secondary // tertiary stress, non-front // front // back consonant of the tongue, external // inter-word open juncture; hybrid and international elements—13.5%, e.g.: phonological auditory experiment, classical synchronic phonology, paradigmatic // syntagmatic identification of phonemes

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cation, a syntagmatic class of phonemes, a class of suprasegmental elements, classification of phonological elements, syntagmatic classification of phonemes, methodology for identifying phonemes, the periphery of the phonological system, realization of a phonological element, the phonological structure of intonation; three international components – 0.7%, e.g.: a component of phrase intonation.

Table 3. Three-word phonology terms by origin.

Term type

Number (units)

Percent (%)

1. Lithuanian and international components

40

30,1

2. Hybrid, international, and Lithuanian component

34

25,6

3. Hybrid and Lithuanian components

21

15,8

4. Three Lithuanian components

19

14,3

5. Hybrid and international components

18

13,5

6. Three international components

1

0,7

Total

133

100

Four-word complex terms are used sparingly in phonology. Terms consisting of Lithuanian, hybrid, and international components account for 37.5%, e.g.: syllabic equivalent of a reduced vowel, basis for the classification of phonological elements, segmental // syllabic realization of a reduced vowel, Latin sign for phonetic transcription; Lithuanian and hybrid components account for 25%, e.g.: relative pitch of the fundamental tone, implosive part of an internal cluster, a monosyllabic explosive syllable part, a simultaneous timbral feature of consonants; hybrid and international components account for 18.75%, e.g.: phonological criterion of syntagmatic identification, planimetric model of the phonological system, phonetic reduction of a phonological element; Lithuanian and international components account for 18.75%, e.g.: syllabic equivalent of a murmured vowel, a pre-vocalic phoneme with restricted distribution, a language with open syllable structure.

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Table 4. Four-word phonology terms by origin.

Type of term Number (units) Percentage (%) 1. Lithuanian, hybrid, and international elements 6 37.5 2. Lithuanian and hybrid elements 4 25 3. Hybrid and international elements 3 18.75 4. Lithuanian and international elements 3 18.75 Total 16 100

Thus, the majority of derived nouns among the one-word terms used in Lithuanian phonology are suffixal derivatives. Derivatives formed by other methods are relatively few. Most multiword terms are two-word terms (with a concordant or governed modifier). In terms of origin, international terms are the most numerous in the group of one-word terms; among two-word terms, those whose both elements are Lithuanian are most numerous; among three-word terms, those composed of Lithuanian and international elements are most numerous. These data are, of course, not absolute (this would require an analysis of a larger number of works on phonology from a terminological perspective), but it is possible to discern trends.

Received 1999 09 29

TERMS OF LITHUANIAN PHONOLOGY: STRUCTURE AND ORIGIN

Summary

This paper analyses modern terms of Lithuanian phonology by structure and origin. All terms are divided into two types of structure: one-word and compound terms. One-word terms of Lithuanian phonology by origin are 1) Lithuanian, i.e. have been formed with inner means of Lithuanian language, 2) adopted from other languages, the so-called international terms and 3) mixed terms-hybrids. The structure of compound terms by origin is multiple.

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