Introduction to Russian phonology and word structure

Introduction to Russian phonology and word structure Ch 19: The uses of {j}, and the rule {o -> e}

1. Find the answer • How do we know that the first vowel in дешёвый, дешевле is a basic {o}?

1. Find the answer • How do we know that the first vowel in дешёвый, дешевле is a basic {o}? • Because we know that the adverb is дёшевo

3. What is {j} doing in verbs? • Can you make a generalization about the role of {j} in first-conjugation as opposed to second-conjugation verbs? Is there anything similar in other parts of speech?

3. What is {j} doing in verbs? • Can you make a generalization about the role of {j} in first-conjugation as opposed to second-conjugation verbs? Is there anything similar in other parts of speech? • First-conjugation verbs can have {j} all the way through the non-past • Second-conjugation verbs can have {j} only in the 1sg • Verbs (and some adverbs) tolerate mutation at the end of the stem, but nouns don’t

3. (again!) Digging deeper… • Why does Hamilton suggest {ob#|vrat|,i|t#} for обратить?

3. (again!) Digging deeper… • Why does Hamilton suggest {ob#|vrat|,i|t#} for обратить? • What has happened here is that {v} is dropped after the {ob#} prefix • Cf. область vs. власть and оборот vs. переворот

4. А female question… • Does Hamilton’s rule handle жён женский? How?

4. А female question… • Does Hamilton’s rule handle жён женский? How? • Yes, he does. Жён of course isn’t a problem, but женский is. Here is how he does it: the relational adjective suffix does softening, but the n then hardens by assimilation: {žon|,#sk|ij}

5. When is there no o > e? • Make a generalization about where o > e does not apply.

5. When is there no o > e? • Make a generalization about where o > e does not apply. • o > e (generally) does not apply wherever it would cause variation in a root or in an inflectional morpheme in inflection, thus destroying the unity of the category. The same goes also for diminutive formation.

6. Violations in the nursery..? • Why should it be possible to avoid the o > e rule in nursery words like пёсик and тётя?

6. Violations in the nursery..? • Why should it be possible to avoid the o > e rule in nursery words like пёсик and тётя? • Nursery language is one of the types of “affective” language. Affective language is language that is emotionally charged and often highly marked. Violation of phonotactic rules is more common in affective language. • For example, taboo language is also affective, and also has violations, cf. Czech píča ‘cunt’ and čurák ‘prick’, which given the normal phonotactics of Czech should be *píče and *čirák (which don’t exist), and of course the Russian еть ‘fuck’ with its very irregular morphology…

7. Morphological practice(s)… • Let’s do these on the board!

Introduction to Russian phonology and word structure