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Ablaut and transitive softening in the Russian verb

Ora Matushansky

► To cite this version:

Ora Matushansky. Ablaut and transitive softening in the Russian verb. Noah Elkins; Bruce Hayes; Jinyoung Jo; Jian-Leat Siah. Annual Meeting on Phonology, Oct 2022, Los Angeles, United States. AMP, Proceedings of the 2022 Annual Meeting on Phonology / Supplemental Proceedings, 2023. hal-03928693

HAL Id: hal-03928693

https://hal.science/hal-03928693

Submitted on 7 Jan 2023

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# Russian transitive softening as ablaut

## Ora Matushansky
SFL (CNRS/Université Paris-8/UPL)

### Transitive softening

A kind of mutation arising from a [Cj] cluster in several environments:

(1) a. pros- i- l- a → [prosíla]
ask TH PAST FSG
asked, requested FSG

b. pros- i- čen- a → [próšena]
ask TH PPP FSG
requested PPP.FSG

The [CiV] sequence turns into [CjV] and the [Cj] cluster mutates:

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>consonant</th><th>transitive softening</th><th>infinitive</th><th>1sg</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>a.</td><td>s, z</td><td>š, ž</td><td>pros-í-tj 'to beg'</td><td>proš-ú 'beg-1SG'</td></tr><tr><td>b.</td><td>t, d</td><td>č, ž</td><td>obíd-e-tj 'to offend'</td><td>obíž-u 'offend-1SG'</td></tr><tr><td>c.</td><td>x, k, g</td><td>š, č, ž</td><td>max-á-tj 'to wave'</td><td>maš-ú 'wave-1SG'</td></tr><tr><td>d.</td><td>p, b, m, v</td><td>plj blj, mlj, vlj</td><td>lju-b-í-tj 'to love'</td><td>ljublj-ú 'love-1SG'</td></tr><tr><td>e.</td><td>l, r, n</td><td>lj, rj, nj</td><td>bel-í-tj 'to whiten, tr.'</td><td>belj-ú 'whiten-1SG'</td></tr></tbody></table>

See Bethin 1992 for an analysis of this transformation

### Transitive softening with the thematic suffix -a-:

Some sixty verbs (non-productive), the usual example is pisátj 'to write' (→ píšet 'writes')

(1) is expected, given the thematic suffix -i-. (2b) is unexpected, given the thematic suffix -a-:

(2) a. murlik-a- l- a → [murlíkala]
purr TH PAST FSG
purred FSG

b. murlik-?- č- t → [murlíčet]
purr TH PRES 3SG
purr 3SG

c. na.murlik- a- (ě)n- o → [namurlíkano] (this is a nonce word)
on.purr TH PPP NSG
full of purring NSG

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

Issue: there are other a-thematic suffixes that do not do this:

(3) a. sos- a- l- a → [sosála]
suck TH PAST FSG
sucked FSG

b. sos- a- č- t → [sosjót]
suck TH PRES 3SG
suck 3SG

(4) a. čit- a- l- a → [čitála]
read TH PAST FSG
sucked FSG

b. čit- aj- č- t → [čitájet]
read TH PRES 3SG
read 3SG

### Prior research

Intuition: the thematic suffix -a- somehow turns into -i-

Halle 1965: [j] is inserted before an [a] followed by a lax vowel, [a] is deleted because vowels are deleted when they appear before another vowel

Lightner 1965, Lunt 2001: a tense vowel turns into [j] if followed by a lax one

Flier 1972: some vowels turns into glides when followed by some other vowels

Coats and Lightner 1975: the underlying form is -aj-, the vowel is deleted by a minor rule

Bethin 1992, Boyd 1997: an adjustment rule

Rubach and Booj 2001: allomorphy

### Proposal: the thematic suffix undergoes ablaut

Non-productive, 26 verbs, most involving one feature value change:

(5) [a back]: [mélet] 'grind.3SG' [molóla] 'ground.FSG'

(6) [a ATR]: [bjót] 'hit.3SG' [bíla] 'hit.PAST.FSG'

The featural change can go in both directions or the trigger can be either [+PAST] or [-PAST]:

(7) [a high] (primarily with underlying yers)

a. [derjót] 'tear.3SG' [dralá] 'tore.FSG'

b. [umrjót] 'will die.3SG' [umerlá] 'died.FSG'

More than one feature can be involved (further evidence from the five verbs with the [o]/[í] ablaut):

(8) [a back] [a ATR]
[pojót] 'sing.3SG' [péla] 'sang.FSG'

### The nitty-gritty

The thematic vowel change would involve the same ablaut as (5): fronting (a → e):

(9) murlik-a-ě-t
↓ ← ABLAUT (link the floating [-front] feature, cf. Wiese 1996)
murlik-e-ě-t
↓ ← GLIDE FORMATION
murlik-j-ě-t
↓ ← MUTATION
[murlíčet]

This way we keep the same thematic suffix -a- and only change one feature

Thematic suffixes should determine the conjugation class, and the second conjugation is characterized by the suffixes [e] and [i]

Before vowels [e] turns into a glide and yield transitive softening: second conjugation e-verbs:

(10) a. vert e- l- a → [vertéla]
spin TH PAST FSG
span FSG

b. vert- e- čen- a → [vérčena]
spin TH PPP FSG
spun PPP.FSG

The same approach would work for the five verbs with the thematic suffix -o-

### On the nature of ablaut

Evidence for ablaut triggered by both [+PAST] and [-PAST]: predictable vowel tensing: the back yer [ǔ] turns into [i]:

(11) a. dospát' 'to finish sleeping PRF',
b. dosipát' 'to finish sleeping IMPRF',

Both verbs in (7) surface with the stem [i] in the secondary imperfective, irrespective of where the yer is lowered:

(12) a. [derjót] 'tear.3SG' [dralá] 'tore.FSG'
razdirátj 'to tear apart IMPRF'

b. [umrjót] 'will die.3SG' [umerla] 'died.FSG'
umirátj 'to die IMPRF'

Assuming that the secondary imperfective operates on the underlying representation, both [+PAST] and [-PAST] seem to be capable of triggering ablaut

Some verbs involve the difference of more than one feature between present and past, and a more conservative analysis would postulate an intermediate underlying representation

There is one verb whose behavior suggests the opposite change in the thematic vowel:

(13) a. rev e- l- a → [revéla]
bellow TH PAST FSG
bellow FSG

b. rev- ?- č- t → [revjót]
bellow TH PRES 3SG
bellows 3SG

Despite the thematic suffix -e- in the past this verb belongs to the first conjugation (and does not undergo transitive softening that would be predicted by the prevocalic ě, cf. (9))

Straightforward solution: fronting in the past: underlying -a- to -e-

No evidence for the apophonic path (pace Ségéral & Scheer 1998)

Further issues:

- it would be nicer to have only one trigger and different features, but how?

- can the second conjugation -e- also undergo ablaut to yield -i- in the present?

- thematic change: the TS-theme is being replaced by the regular -aj- (4). Can it be the same thematic suffix with and without ablaut?

### Summary

Thematic vowel change is ablaut.

Pro: the process is needed anyway, and its other instantiations can explain other instances of thematic vowel changes

Contra: There is no suitable formal account of ablaut that I am aware of.

If we want to connect the conjugation class to the thematic suffix and/or have the proper underlying representation for secondary imperfective formation, the direction of ablaut would be determined by different suffixes in function of the lexical stem

### This one is (also) for Morris Halle

Disagreement about how to treat TS-verbs was the reason why he and I have never followed up on developing an account of the Russian verbal inflection. I hope he likes this take where he now is. With undying gratitude.

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