The phonology and phonetics of Jamaican Creole reduplication

335 Pages·16.418 MB·English

by  Gooden Shelome A.

THE PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS OF
JAMAICAN CREOLE REDUPLICATION

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the
Graduate School of the Ohio State University

By

Shelome A. Gooden, B.A., M.A.

******

The Ohio State University
2003

Dissertation Committee: Approved by

Professor Donald C. Winford, Co-adviser ________________________
Co-advisor
Associate Professor Elizabeth V. Hume, Co-adviser Linguistics Graduate Program

Professor Mary M. Beckman

________________________
Co-adviser
Linguistics Graduate Program
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© Copyright by
Shelome Gooden
2003
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ABSTRACT

This dissertation is an extensive treatment of the phonological and phonetic
properties of Jamaican Creole (JC) reduplication. While reduplication is thought to be a
typical feature of Creole languages and has been studied in the past, to date little work
has been done on the phonetic or morpho-phonological properties of the process.
Complementing the analysis of reduplication developed in this work, is an analysis of the
prosodic system of the language. The analysis posited, treats the prosodic system of JC as
a stress-based system in which lexical contrasts are signaled by differences in the
alignment of the F contour with the word.
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Reduplication processes in JC are similar in form and semantics to those found
in other Caribbean English Creoles. The processes are described and analysed from an
Optimality Theoretic perspective. The phonological aspect focused on delimiting the
constraints on the segmental properties of reduplication processes. The observation is
that the JC reduplicant is a prosodic foot which copies its base completely. Further, it is
shown that when the required phonological conditions cannot be satisfied, there is no
reduplication.
The phonetic aspect investigated how the phonological constraints on
reduplication interact with the phonetic properties of reduplicated words. Particular
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attention is paid to intensive and distributive reduplication processes, which yield
segmentally identical words. Specifically, it is shown that distributive reduplications
pattern like other words in the language. Consequently, they are treated as a single
prosodic word with a single nuclear pitch accent. Intensive reduplications pattern
differently and are analysed as two prosodic words with a prenuclear pitch accent and a
nuclear pitch accent.
This work has import firstly for our understanding of the productivity and scope
of reduplication in Jamaican Creole. It also contributes to our understanding of the
relationship between word-level prosody and the semantic functions of reduplicated
words in Creole languages in general. Thus, this dissertation represents an important step
towards our understanding of the relatively understudied area of Creole prosodic systems.

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Dedicated to my grandparents, Lois and Vaughn

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For the existence of this dissertation I am indebted to a great many people. For my
intellectual growth, I owe a great deal to my advisors. Donald Winford’s advice both
academic and personal has helped me to keep focused over the years. I consider myself
blessed to have found teacher, mentor, advisor and friend in him. Elizabeth Hume has been
supportive, insightful and patient during my own quest to understand the inner workings of
my ‘mother tongue’. Mary Beckman has provided excellent council and support for my
research on this project.
Thanks also to my former teachers Hubert Devonish and Silvia Kouwenberg at the
UWI Mona campus who planted the seed of interest in academic research. I especially
thank Hubert Devonish for continual discussions of my research which include but are not
limited to, long phone calls and prolonged office hour meetings. Thanks also for giving me
access to the research facilities in the Linguistics Department at Mona during my visits
home and helping me find ‘hard to find’ books and manuscripts.
My fieldtrips to Jamaica were supported by the Department of Linguistics, the Office
of International Affairs and the Graduate School at OSU. I thank all those
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involved with the different travel committees for helping me obtain the financial support
for my research. Thanks also to the administrative and computer support staff in the
department, especially Jim Harmon, for technical help and for giving me more than fair
share of server space to store my many sound files.
I appreciate the support and help I received from my fellow graduate students. I
want to thank especially Hope Dawson, Michelle Ramos-Pellicia, Misun Seo and Huang
Tsan for friendship, and more importantly, sisterhood. Members of the Phonies and
Changelings discussion groups in the department deserve thanks as well for providing
forums for discussing my work.
The incessant prayers of my mother, Hazel, and my grandmother, Agatha, have
sustained through the years and my daddy, Haskel taught me that possibilities are endless
and encouraged me to pursue my goals.
Finally I would also like to acknowledge the support of the citizens of the Top Alston
community who have been patient enough to endure my many questions about patwa.
Special thanks to Sister Gloria, Miss Addy and Miss Brown for taking the time to provide
me with meals.
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CURRICULUM VITAE

September 6th, 1973 ......................................Born - Clarendon, Jamaica W.I.
1993.................................................................B.A. (Honors) Linguistics,
University of the West Indies,
Jamaica
2002.................................................................M.A. Linguistics, Ohio State University
1997- 2001.......................................................Graduate Teaching and Research Associate
The Ohio State University
2001 - 2003......................................................Editorial Associate
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages

PUBLICATIONS
Research Publication

1. (2002). Past Time Reference in Belizean Creole. UPenn Working Papers in Linguistics.
Vol. 8:3. Selected Papers from NWAV 30.

2. (2003a). Reduplication in Jamaican Creole: Semantic Functions and Prosodic
Constraints. In S. Kouwenberg (ed). Twice as Meaningful: Reduplication in Pidgin
and Creoles. Westminster Creolistics Series Volume 8. London. Battlebridge
Publications. pgs. 93-103.
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3. (2003b). with Silvia Kouwenberg and Darlene LaCharité. Jamaican Creole
Reduplication: An Overview. in S. Kouwenberg (ed). Twice as Meaningful:
Reduplication in Pidgin and Creoles. Westminster Creolistics Series Volume 8.
London. Battlebridge Publications. pgs. 105 -110.

4. (2003c). with D. Winford, H. Dawson and R. Dodsworth. OSU Working Papers in
Linguistics. Studies in Language Contact and Language Change.

5. (2003d). Prosodic Contrast in Jamaican Creole Reduplication. In Ingo Plag (ed). The
Phonology and Morphology of Creole Languages. Linguistische Arbeiten. Tübingen.
Niemeyer. pgs. 193 - 208.

FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Field: Linguistics
Minor Fields: Phonology, Creole Linguistics, Sociolinguistics

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Abstract................................................................................................................................ii

Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iii

Acknowledgement...............................................................................................................v

Vita....................................................................................................................................vii

List of Maps......................................................................................................................xiii

List of Tables....................................................................................................................xiv

List of Tableau ..................................................................................................................xv

List of Figures.................................................................................................................xviii

Chapters:

1. Introduction......................................................................................................................1

1.1. Overview..................................................................................................................1
1.2. Goals of the Study....................................................................................................4
1.3. Phonological Aspects...............................................................................................5
1.4. Phonetic Aspects....................................................................................................10
1.5 Broader Implications...............................................................................................13
1.6. Theoretical Assumptions.......................................................................................14
1.6.1. Optimality Theory.......................................................................................15
1.6.2. Metrical Theory..........................................................................................20
1.7. Structure of the dissertation...................................................................................25
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