Prosodic targets in Tashlhiyt Berber morphology and metrics
Tomas Riad
Tashlhiyt Berber has a relatively rich prosodic morphology, showing up in imperfectives
and several noun/adjective formations (Jebbour 1999, Dell & Elmedlaoui 1992/2001), cf.
(1). I propose an analysis in similar terms of two secret languages, Tagnawt and Taqjmit
(Douchaïna 1998, Lahrouchi & Ségéral 2010), where the target for the prosodic morpheme
is partly disguised, cf. (2). ‘L’ = light syllable, ‘H’ = heavy syllable. Moras are
underscored, and epenthetic segments are italicized.
(1)
Prosodic morphemes in regular word formation
construction
root
Imperfective
Tifrdi
Abnakli
Tirrugza
Azddayru
Ukris
krz
frd
skr
rgaz
tlf
krs
(2)
prosodic
target
LL
LL
L.H.L
L.H.L
L.H.L
H.H
prosodic
morpheme
k.krz
fr.di
s.kaj.ri
r.rug.za
nt.tal.fu
uk.ris
output
gloss
k.krz
ti-fr.di
a-s.kaj.ri
ti-r.rug.za
a-nt.tal.fu
uk.ris
‘plough’
‘graze/grazing’
‘doer/drunkard’
‘manhood’
‘be lost soul’
‘trousseau’
Prosodic morphemes in secret languages
secret
language
Tagnawt
Taqjmit
root
/ksudʕ/
/sala/
/ksudʕ/
/gn/
prosodic
target
L.LL.L
L.H.L
L.LL.L
L.H.L
prosodic
morpheme
k.ka.sdʕ sdʕ
ss.al ll
k.ka.sdʕ sdʕ
g.g.an ni
disguised output
gloss
aj-kkasdʕ-wa-sdʕ
aj-ssal-wa-lli
ti-kkasdʕ-ju-sdʕ
ti-ggan-ju-ni
‘be afraid’
‘busy oneself with’
‘be afraid’
‘avoid’
The prosodic morphemes exhibit unmarked properties regarding foot size (always binary:
[´μμ] or [´μμ][´μμ]), but also marked properties (e.g. the misaligned foot in L.H.L, L.LL.L).
I argue that the marked properties are due to distinctive violation (Golston 1996) of the
familiar rhythmic constraints NOCLASH and NOLAPSE.
These patterns are connected to the verse metrics of Tashlhiyt Berber (Jouad 1995,
Dell & Elmedlaoui 2008), where verse feet belong to one of two classes: {LL.H} or {L.H.L,
L.LL.L}. The similarity warrants the argument for identity between units of prosodic
morphology and units of meter (Golston & Riad 2000). I show that the rhythmic constraints
are operative in the meter, such that clash is fully avoided while lapse is both partly avoided
and employed to define marked properties of verse feet (thus: NOCLASH ⨠ NOLAPSE). The
upshot is a demonstration of how rhythmic constraints are operative to, on the one hand,
optimize rhythm in meter (regular grammatical evaluation), on the other hand, structure
meter by required arrhythmy in verse feet (definition of prosodic shape).
Dell, Francois & Mohamed Elmedlaoui. 1992/2001. Quantitative transfer in the nonconcatenative morphology
of Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber. Journal of Afroasiatic Languages 3, 89–125. [Reprinted in C. Kreidler (ed.)
2001. Phonology, Critical concepts, vol. 3, 535–579. Routledge]
Dell, François & Mohamed Elmedlaoui. 2008. Poetic meter and musical form in Tashlhiyt Berber songs.
Rüdiger Köppe, Köln.
Douchaïna, Rqia. 1998. La morphologie du verbe en tagnawt. Etudes et Documents Berbères 15/16: 197–209.
Golston, Chris & Tomas Riad. 2000. The phonology of Classical Greek meter. Linguistics 38.1.
Golston, Chris. 1996. Direct Optimality Theory: Representation as pure markedness. Language 72.4, 713–748.
Jebbour, Abdelkrim. 1999. Syllable weight and syllable nuclei in Tachelhit Berber of Tiznit. Cahiers de
Grammaire 24 (1999), « Phonologie : théorie et variation », 95–116.
Jouad, Hassan. 1995. Le calcul inconscient de l’improvisation. Poésie berbère – rythme, nombre et sens.
Peeters, Paris.
Lahrouchi, Mohamed & Philippe Ségéral. 2010. La racine consonantique: évidence dans deux langages secrets
en berbère tachelhit, Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes [online], 39, 2010.