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Linglib.Studies.Kenstowicz1987

Tangale sandhi as a probe for syntactic structure #

Formalises [kenstowicz-1987]: the blockage of phrasal phonological rules can reveal surface syntax "that we did not already know". Tangale elision and tonal delinking apply obligatorily between a verb and its object (15b, e) but block before a wh-object (15c, f). A [wh]-sensitive sandhi rule is rejected both on interface-theoretic grounds and by the minimal pair (16): wh-possessors inside NP trigger elision (ayab noŋ 'whose banana'). The solution: wh-subjects obligatorily postpose to a position with "the force of the English cleft" (18) — the Focus position — and apparently in-situ wh-objects occupy it string-vacuously, so a constituent boundary blocks sandhi. Elision tracks government exactly once the Focus position is admitted; the [wh] feature does not factor it.

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inductive Kenstowicz1987.Juncture :
Type

The junctures at which the sandhi rules are tested ((4)–(5), (15)–(16)).

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    @[implicit_reducible]
    instance Kenstowicz1987.instDecidableEqJuncture :
    DecidableEq Juncture
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    @[implicit_reducible]
    instance Kenstowicz1987.instReprJuncture :
    Repr Juncture
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    def Kenstowicz1987.instReprJuncture.repr :
    Juncture → ℕ → Std.Format
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    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
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      def Kenstowicz1987.elides :
      Juncture → Bool

      Observed: elision (and delinking) applies at the juncture ((4a, b), (5a–c), (15c, f), (16a, b)).

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        def Kenstowicz1987.secondIsWh :
        Juncture → Bool

        Whether the juncture's second element is a wh-word.

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          def Kenstowicz1987.governed :
          Juncture → Bool

          The juncture is a government configuration under the Focus-position analysis: head–complement and verb–object are; adjuncts and subjects are not; a wh-object sits in the postverbal Focus position across a constituent boundary (string-vacuous postposing, as with the obligatorily postposed wh-subjects of (18)); a wh-possessor has no NP-internal Focus position and stays in situ.

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            theorem Kenstowicz1987.elision_not_factor_through_wh :
            ¬Function.FactorsThroughOn elides secondIsWh Set.univ

            The rejected account: elision does not factor through the [wh] feature of the second word — wh-objects block it while wh-possessors trigger it ((15c, f) vs (16a, b)).

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            theorem Kenstowicz1987.elision_tracks_government (j : Juncture) :
            elides j = governed j

            His solution: elision tracks government exactly, once apparently in-situ wh-objects are placed in the postverbal Focus position. The blockage is a syntactic discovery made by phonology.

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            theorem Kenstowicz1987.wh_object_cell_audible :
            Tangale.blockedForm ≠ Tangale.elidedForm

            (15d–f): before a wh-object the verb surfaces in the blocked (faithful) form (dobgo noŋ), before a plain object in the elided–repaired form (dobug Malay) — audibly distinct by [Kid85]'s cascade.