Tone and accent in Oklahoma Cherokee

441 Pages·2013·3.87 MB·English

TONE AND ACCENT IN OKLAHOMA CHEROKEE

by

HIROTO UCHIHARA
DEFENSE DATE: JULY 31, 2013

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF
THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
Copyright by
Hiroto Uchihara
2013

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation could not have been completed without the support of many people, some of
whom I would like to acknowledge here.
This dissertation is dedicated to the Cherokee people, who have inherited this fascinating language.
Cherokee people have always been welcoming since the first time I visited their communities, and I am
fortunate to have had opportunities to work on Cherokee with its speakers. I would especially like to
thank Professor Durbin Feeling, without whose comprehensive and precise dictionaries this dissertation
would have been impossible. He generously allowed me to sit in his Cherokee Linguistics class at
Northeastern State University, Oklahoma, and discuss various topics on Cherokee with him. He has also
introduce me to the speakers. I am also deeply grateful to my consultants, Mr. Marion ‘Ed’ Jumper, Mr.
DJ McCarter, Mr. Marion ‘Junior’ Scraper, and Mrs. Ida Scraper for sharing their profound knowledge on
the language with me. I also owe much to Dr. Brad Montgomery-Anderson and Professor Wyman Kirk at
Northeastern State University, Oklahoma, for introducing me to the community and the speakers, as well
as discussing various topics on Cherokee. I would also like to thank the project members of the NSF
project (award # 1065160) “Collaborative Research: Documenting Cherokee (CHR) Tone and Vowel
Length”, especially Dr. Marcellino Berardo, for letting me sit in some of their meetings; their tireless
effort to document, preserve and revitalize the language is invaluable when the language is facing
endangerment. It has also been inspirational to discuss various topics on Cherokee with my fellow
Cherokee linguist, Dr. Chris Koops at University of New Mexico. ᎢᏨᏯᎵᎡᎵᏥᏏ, ᏂᎦᏓ!
It has been a thrilling experience to study at the Department of Linguistics at University at Buffalo;
Their heavily data-oriented academic orientation has been the best fit for me. First of all, I owe my
deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Karin Michelson. We started our weekly meetings in my first year of
graduate school, and many ideas popped up through those meetings, including my paper on noun
incorporation on Cherokee (Uchihara 2014), as well as this dissertation topic. As a specialist in Iroquoian
phonology and morphology, Dr. Michelson has been the best advisor imaginable on this dissertation topic.
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She has always been encouraging and has had high expectations from me, and has always thought what
would be the best for me. Dr. Michelson has also been tremendously helpful in giving me advice on doing
fieldwork (especially on a Native American language) and applying for grants and academic positions.
Her extremely careful reading, deep understanding of the topic and insightful feedback (as well as
correcting my English) have improved this dissertation to a whole different level. Without her patience
and advice I could not have been able to complete this dissertation.
Dr. Jeff Good has been my role model throughout my graduate career. I have always enjoyed his
challenging classes, from which I learned so much. He has always been willing to meet and discuss
various topics with me, and his vast knowledge on any field of linguistics has helped me tremendously in
finding the right references. He has always been willing to give me advice in doing fieldwork and
applying for grants. He handles everything so efficiently, and this way he has shown me the American
professionalism.
Dr. Jeri Jaeger’s attitude towards academic research, to question assumptions which are not verified,
has taught me how to be a sound linguist. Her deep understanding of my papers and critical feedback has
made me think over the validity of my analyses.
In addition to the members of my committee, I am grateful to all the faculty at University at
Buffalo, who have always stimulate me intellectually and have had the highest expectation from me. I am
especially thankful to Dr. Jean-Pierre Koenig, who has always been supportive as the Director of the
Graduate Studies and the chair of the department; I have always enjoyed seminars and lab meetings by Dr.
Juergen Bohnemeyer and I owe much to him for introducing me to Mesoamerican linguistics; Dr. Tsan
Huang for introducing me to phonetics with her exciting classes and project. The secretaries at the
department have always been extremely helpful with administrative issues. It was also an invaluable
experience to teach Japanese under the direction of Dr. Mitsuaki Shimojo and Dr. Akemi Isselbaecher;
my students’ diligence to learn Japanese was my motivation to work harder. I would also like to thank the
Department of Linguistics at University at Buffalo for their continuous funding and support, and
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Fulbright Program for enabling me to study in the United States by supporting me financially and for
providing me with the opportunities to connect with aspiring students from all over the world.
My friends and fellow students in the Department of Linguistics made my graduate career much
more enjoyable. I was especially fortunate to have enthusiastic field linguists as my cohorts: Jesse
Lovegren (along with his wife, Duylinh Nguyen), Adam Sposato, and Jennifer Wilson, to name a few.
Talking with and having dinner with my Japanese colleagues, especially Yoshihiko Asao and Natsuko
Nakagawa, Natsumi Koike and Helmy Bayasud were the best comfort when I am exhausted from being in
a foreign country and speaking in a foreign language. My other classmates have always been my
inspiration, especially Dawei Jin, Carolyn O’Meara, Jeruen Dery, Karl Sarvestani, Fen Yik, Anastasia
Stepanova, and Jay Stallings, to name a few.
My interest and basic education in linguistics were nurtured in Japan. My experiences at Tokyo
University at Foreign Studies and the Department of Linguistics, University of Tokyo have solidified my
interests in linguistics. I would like to thank especially Professor Shinjiro Kazama at Tokyo University of
Foreign Studies, my first academic advisor who fascinated me into field linguistics; Professor Tooru
Hayasi, my advisor at the Department of Linguistics, University of Tokyo, who has taught me how to be
an honest and careful researcher, and without whose encouragement I would not have been able to
continue studying Cherokee in the first uneasy phase and come to the United States; Professor Zendo
Uwano, whose lectures on Japanese accentology have introduced me into the labyrinth of phonology,
especially the tonal and accentual phenomena. I was also fortunate enough to be surrounded by striving
fellow students in these institutions, especially Noboru Yoshioka, Shiho Ebihara, Michinori Shimoji,
Naonori Nagaya, Fuyuki Ebata, Norikazu Kogura, Hiromi Kaji, Mitsuya Sasaki, to name a few.
My parents, Tatsuo Uchihara and Atsuko Uchihara, have always been supportive, both morally and
financially, of my graduate career. Despite my choice to live a somewhat unexpected life style, they have
always been by my side, even during our hardest times.
This project has been funded by various sources. My fieldtrip to Oklahoma in 2011 was funded by
Mark Diamond Research Fund, University at Buffalo; my fieldtrip in 2012 was supported by Phillips
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Grand, American Philosophical Society. I have also been funded by the Summer Research Fund,
Department of Linguistics, at University at Buffalo.

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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ xviii
ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................................................... xix
Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Tone and accent of Oklahoma Cherokee ........................................................................................... 1
1.2. The Cherokee Language .................................................................................................................... 4
1.2.1. Geographic location .................................................................................................................... 4
1.2.2. Genetic affiliation ....................................................................................................................... 5
1.2.3. Speakers and variation ................................................................................................................ 6
1.3. Previous studies ................................................................................................................................. 7
1.4. Database for this study ....................................................................................................................... 9
1.5. Orthography ..................................................................................................................................... 11
1.5.1. Segmental orthography ............................................................................................................. 12
1.5.1.1. Representation of C + h clusters ........................................................................................ 12
1.5.1.2. Vowel length ...................................................................................................................... 13
1.5.2. Conventions for writing tones and accents ............................................................................... 13
1.5.3. The Cherokee Syllabary ............................................................................................................ 17
1.6. Theoretical assumptions ................................................................................................................... 18
1.7. Structure of Cherokee ...................................................................................................................... 19
1.7.1. The verb .................................................................................................................................... 19
1.7.1.1. The verb base ..................................................................................................................... 20
1.7.1.2. Aspectual suffixes .............................................................................................................. 22
1.7.1.3. Modal suffixes.................................................................................................................... 26
1.7.1.4. Reflexive/middle prefix ..................................................................................................... 26
1.7.1.5. Pronominal Prefixes ........................................................................................................... 27
1.7.1.6. Pre-Pronominal Prefixes .................................................................................................... 32
1.7.2. The Noun .................................................................................................................................. 34
1.7.3. The Adjective ............................................................................................................................ 35
1.7.4. Stem alternations ....................................................................................................................... 35
1.7.4.1. Laryngeal Alternation ........................................................................................................ 35
1.7.4.2. Tonicity .............................................................................................................................. 37
1.8. Organization of the dissertation ....................................................................................................... 38
PART I. Segmental phonology ................................................................................................................... 40
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Chapter 2. Segmental Inventory.................................................................................................................. 41
2.0. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 41
2.1. Vowel phonemes .............................................................................................................................. 41
2.1.1. Vowel quality ............................................................................................................................ 41
2.1.2. Vowel length ............................................................................................................................. 42
2.2. Consonant phonemes ....................................................................................................................... 44
2.2.1. Plosives ..................................................................................................................................... 45
2.2.2. Affricates ................................................................................................................................... 49
2.2.3. Fricatives ................................................................................................................................... 50
2.2.4. Resonants .................................................................................................................................. 52
2.2.5. Laryngeal Consonants ............................................................................................................... 54
2.2.6. Phonological status of the Ch sequences .................................................................................. 55
2.2.7. Internally complex segments: c, kw and tl ................................................................................ 57
2.2.7.1. c .......................................................................................................................................... 57
2.2.7.2. kw, tl ................................................................................................................................... 58
2.3. Word-final vowels ........................................................................................................................... 59
2.3.1. Word-final vowel deletion ........................................................................................................ 59
2.3.2. Tone and length of the word-final vowel .................................................................................. 63
Chapter 3. Vowel Deletion and h-Metathesis ............................................................................................. 65
3.0. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 65
3.1. Vowel Deletion ................................................................................................................................ 66
3.1.1. Basic facts ................................................................................................................................. 66
3.1.2. Optionality of Vowel Deletion .................................................................................................. 69
3.2. h-Metathesis ..................................................................................................................................... 72
3.3. When *CVh cannot be remedied ...................................................................................................... 74
3.3.1. Preceding vowel is long ............................................................................................................ 74
3.3.2. Preceding C = h, ʔ or s .............................................................................................................. 75
3.3.3. The resulting sequence is impermissible................................................................................... 76
3.3.4. Tone is irrelevant ...................................................................................................................... 76
3.3.5. Lexical idiosyncrasies ............................................................................................................... 77
3.3.6. h-Metathesis does not apply to its own output .......................................................................... 78
3.3.7. Summary ................................................................................................................................... 79
3.4. Interim summary .............................................................................................................................. 81
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3.5. Towards a unified account of Vowel Deletion and h-Metathesis .................................................... 83
3.5.1. Constraint-based account .......................................................................................................... 83
3.5.2. Against Deletion plus Epenthesis ............................................................................................. 86
3.6. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 88
Appendix to Chapter 3. How deleted vowels are represented in the syllabary ....................................... 89
Chapter 4. Laryngeal Alternation of Ch clusters ........................................................................................ 93
4.0. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 93
4.1. Plosive/affricate plus h clusters........................................................................................................ 94
4.1.1. Type (i): hT ............................................................................................................................... 95
4.1.2. Type (ii): Th .............................................................................................................................. 96
4.1.3. Type (iii): hTh ........................................................................................................................... 98
4.1.4. Type (iv): Th (T= kw, tl).......................................................................................................... 100
4.1.5. Type (v): exceptions................................................................................................................ 101
4.1.6. Summary ................................................................................................................................. 102
4.2. Resonant plus h clusters ................................................................................................................. 103
4.2.1. Type (i): hR ............................................................................................................................. 105
4.2.2. Type (ii): Rh ............................................................................................................................ 106
4.2.3. Type (iii): htlh ......................................................................................................................... 107
4.2.4. Type (iv): exceptions .............................................................................................................. 108
4.2.5. Summary ................................................................................................................................. 109
4.3. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 110
Chapter 5. Phonotactics, Syllable Structure and Segmental Processes ..................................................... 112
5.0. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 112
5.1. Phonotactics ................................................................................................................................... 112
5.1.1. CC sequence ............................................................................................................................ 112
5.1.1.1. One of the members has to be s, h or ʔ ............................................................................ 113
5.1.1.2. Sonority Sequencing Principle ......................................................................................... 114
5.1.1.3. RR and RT sequences ....................................................................................................... 116
5.1.2. CCC sequences ....................................................................................................................... 117
5.1.3. CCCC sequence ...................................................................................................................... 120
5.2. Syllable structure ........................................................................................................................... 121
5.2.1. Onset ....................................................................................................................................... 123
5.2.2. Rhyme ..................................................................................................................................... 124
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5.2.2.1 Nucleus ............................................................................................................................. 125
5.2.2.2 Coda .................................................................................................................................. 126
5.3. Segmental processes and constraints ............................................................................................. 127
5.3.1. *V V ....................................................................................................................................... 127
1 2
5.3.1.1. Elision .............................................................................................................................. 128
5.3.1.2. Consonant epenthesis ....................................................................................................... 129
5.3.1.3. Fusion ............................................................................................................................... 129
5.3.2. Vowel-consonant interactions ................................................................................................. 130
5.3.2.1. *VVC]σ............................................................................................................................. 131
5.3.2.2. *VVh]σ ............................................................................................................................. 133
5.3.2.3. *VVʔ ................................................................................................................................. 135
5.3.3. Constraints on consonant sequences ....................................................................................... 137
5.3.3.1. Vowel epenthesis ............................................................................................................. 137
5.3.3.1.1. a-epenthesis ...................................................................................................................... 138
5.3.3.1.2. i-epenthsis ........................................................................................................................ 140
5.3.3.2. *Cʔ ................................................................................................................................... 140
5.3.3.3. *ChR ................................................................................................................................ 142
5.3.3.4. *STST (S = h or s) ............................................................................................................ 144
5.3.3.5. Sources of ts ..................................................................................................................... 146
5.3.4. On the epenthetic status of prefix vowels and glides .............................................................. 148
5.3.4.1. Short vowels of PPP ......................................................................................................... 148
5.3.4.2. Short vowels of PP ........................................................................................................... 150
5.3.4.3. Long ii of PP which is deleted ......................................................................................... 154
5.3.4.4. Glides of PPP and PP ....................................................................................................... 155
5.3.4.4.1. -y ....................................................................................................................................... 155
5.3.4.4.2. -w ...................................................................................................................................... 156
5.4. Relevance of the mora and the syllable ......................................................................................... 157
5.4.1. Relevance of the syllable ........................................................................................................ 157
5.4.1.1. Superhigh assignment ...................................................................................................... 157
5.4.1.2. H3 assignment .................................................................................................................. 158
5.4.1.3. Closed Syllable Shortening .............................................................................................. 159
5.4.1.4. Speakers’ intuition ........................................................................................................... 159
5.4.2. Relevance of mora .................................................................................................................. 159
5.4.2.1. TBU of H1 and H2 ........................................................................................................... 160
5.4.2.2. *TROUGH.......................................................................................................................... 160
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