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Conditions on complex exponence: A case study of the Somali subject marker

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Christopher R. Green and
Nicola Lampitelli
Christopher R. Green*
Affiliation:
Dept of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Syracuse University, Huntington Beard Crouse 307, Syracuse, NY 13244 USA
Nicola Lampitelli*
Affiliation:
Département des Sciences du langage, Université de Tours, 3, rue des Tanneurs, 37041 Tours cedex 1 France
*
cgreen10@syr.edu
nicola.lampitelli@univ-tours.fr
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Abstract

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This paper offers a novel analysis of the complex patterns of exponence exhibited by the Somali subject marker (MRK). Somali subject marking presents a typologically rare case of subtractive grammatical tone, and one in which an otherwise predictable process of High tone loss is sometimes impeded by factors related to word structure. In the simplest instances, MRK is realized only tonally by the loss of High tone from the last word in a DP. Under some conditions, however, it is realized only segmentally, with no High tone loss. Still other times, both exponents appear, and even in a few instances, neither is realized. These outcomes are predictable, but analyzing them presents several challenges. One of these is motivating the outcomes from a single underlying form given the apparent independence of the tonal and segmental exponents. Others concern defining the trigger of subtraction and the domain or valuation window in which subtraction occurs. We propose a formal account of these outcomes within Cophonologies by Phase (Sande & Jenks 2018; Sande, Jenks & Inkelas 2020), whose division of vocabulary items into three types of phonological content is uniquely suited to addressing these analytical hurdles.

Keywords

Somalisubtractioninterfacesallomorphygrammatical tone

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Phonological Data and Analysis , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , 2022, pp. 1 - 31
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Published by the Linguistic Society of America with permission of the authors under a CC BY 3.0 license.
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Christopher R. Green & Nicola Lampitelli

Footnotes

*

The authors are grateful for comments and feedback from colleagues and audience members at the Gothenburg Somali Workshop and the 2021 Princeton Phonology Forum, particularly Sharon Rose, Nina Kaldhol, Laura Downing, Sabrina Bendjaballah, David Le Gac, and Giorgio Banti. They are also indebted to two anonymous reviewers and the editor for critical but highly positive and constructive feedback which helped to substantially improve this paper.

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