Vowel Harmonies in Kazan Tatar
Element Theoretical Analysis
Chihiro Taguchi

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

11. Introduction: Tatar language• Tatar < Kipchak < Turkic• Agglutinative• SOV, AN• Extensive case-marking system• Chiefly spoken in Tatarstan, Russia

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University2

1. Introduction: Tatar vowels• 9 Vowels• /a/, /ä/, /ï/, /e/, /o/, /ö/, /u/, /ü/, /i/• Some argue 10, allowing for /ïy/• Vowel harmonies• Fronting harmony (FH)
• Rounding harmony (RH) (?)• Poppe (1965), Comrie (1997), Ersen-Rasch (2009)• Conklin (2015) claims there’s no such harmony

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University31. Introduction: Vowel harmony• A long-distance process of assimilation in which a certain vowel
triggers changes in the properties of adjacent vowels (Conklin 2015)• FH: [± front]• RH: [± rounded]• Also found in Turkish, Kyzgyz, Tuvan etc.

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

4What’s special about the Tatar RH?
• Past tense suffix in Turkish and Tatar: -tI / -dI• (1) Turkish:unut-tIforget-PST.3SG

ol-dI>‘S/he forgot’>

oldu (RH)

become-PST.3SG• (2) Tatar: onot-tI

onotto (RH)

‘S/he forgot’>

become-PST.3SG

Nov. 16, 2019

‘S/he became’>forget-PST.3SG

bul-dI

unuttu (RH)buldï (no RH)‘S/he became’

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University5

What’s special about the Tatar RH?
• Triggers
Turkish: /o/ & /u/Tatar: /o//u/ seems more trigger-like to be RH…
Why /o/, not /u/?

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

6

Aim of this study• To clarify the mechanism of the Tatar vowel harmonies
by means of• Element Theory (Backley 2011; Botma, Kula & Nasukawa 2013)< Government Phonology

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

72. Element Theory (ET)• In ET, phonological segments are expressed in elements• Vowel elements: |I|, |U|, |A|• Consonant elements: |H|, |L|, |ʔ|• Features: bivalent (+ or -)• /i/: [+high], [-back], [-round]• Elements: monovalent• /i/: |I|

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University8ET: Why |I|, |U|, |A|?
• /i/, /u/, /a/ are structurally simplex• cross-linguistically constitute basic vowels (Arabic, Greenlandic)

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University92.1. ET: Element Dependency• Like syntactic theories (cf. X-bar Theory), elements can also have ahead and a dependent• Headed element is underlined• Headedness expresses a prominence of a certain quality→ enables us to distinguish various vowels
e.g. Italian:• /e/: |I A|• /ɛ/: |I A|

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

103. The vocalic system of Tatar• (3) Phonetic distribution* Arrows show the processes of assimilation
Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

113. Vocalic system: with elements
Front
|I|

(4)
[-r]

Nov. 16, 2019

Back
[+r]
|U|

[-r]

[+r]
|U|

High | |/i/ |I|/ü/ |I U|/u/ |U|

Mid/e/ |I|/ö/ |I U| /ı̈ / | |/o/ |U|

Low |A|/ä/ |A I|/a/ |A|

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

12

A piece of evidence for emptiness of /ï/• Vowel-zero alternatione.g. xalïq ‘nation’ + -I (POS.3SG) -> xalqïbut balïq ‘fish’ + -I -> balïğï (*balqï)Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

13

Vowel-zero alternation of /ï/ in GP• In Government Phonology (GP) terms...
(5)

When the last nucleus is empty, the nucleus is itself p-licensed (underlined).
A p-licensed category gets no phonetic interpretation.
Because a p-licensed category cannot be a governor, the last nucleus cannot
p-license the preceding nucleus.
Therefore, the second nucleus is phonetically interpreted (cross-linguistically it is
to be a schwa-like vowel), and in Tatar it is expressed as /ï/.
When the last nucleus is filled by the suffix -ï, it is no longer empty (p-licensed)
and it p-licenses the preceding nucleus (i.e. the second last nucleus is empty).
By contrast, as for balïq, the second last empty is not empty but lexically filled.
Therefore, the suffix -ï cannot p-license the preceding nucleus.

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University143.1. Observations: FH• Spreading of |I|-element(6)

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University15

3.1. Observations: RH• Spreading of |U|-element(7)

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University

16

3.1. Observations: |U|-spreading blocked(8)

Possibly because *|U A| in the Tatar vocalic inventory;/u/ blocks |U|-harmony as well.
Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University173.2. ET analysis of FH(9)|||U||U||A|-|I|/ï//o//u//a/+|I|/e//ö//ü//ä/| |/i/• (10) Condition of FH
FH is caused if and only if the trigger has |I|-element
Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University18

3.3. ET analysis of RH• Why /u/ cannot be a trigger of RH?
• Kaun (2004) enumerates general tendencies favoring RH
(11)
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Nov. 16, 2019

The trigger is non-high
The trigger is front
The target is highThe target is backThe trigger and target agree in height
LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University19

3.3. ET analysis of RH: Mid vowels
Front|I|(4)

Nov. 16, 2019

Back

[-r]

[+r]
|U|

High | |/i/ |I|/ü/ |I U|

Mid/e/ |I|/ö/ |I U|

Low |A|/ä/ |A I|

[-r]

[+r]
|U|
/u/ |U|/ı̈ / | |/o/ |U|/a/ |A|

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University20

3.3. ET analysis of RH: Observations• Tatar has three vowel heights• High and low vowels are headed, ‘vague’ mid vowels are non-headed• /i/, /u/, /ü/, /a/, /ä/ block |U| spreading|U| spreading is blocked when intervened by vowel |X| where |X
U| is not well-formed in the vocalic inventory
OR|U| spreading is blocked when intervened by vowel with headed
element

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University21

3.3. ET analysis of RH: Observations• It is more coherent to generalize in terms of headedness• Because “blocked when |X U| is ill-formed” sounds an arbitrary rule

• (12) Conditions of RH in Tatar
RH is caused if and only if(a)(b)(c)

Nov. 16, 2019

the trigger has |U|-element
the trigger has no headed element
the target has no headed element

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University22

4. Conclusion
This study has• Formulated a simple account of FH and RH in Tatar• Clarified why /u/ cannot be a trigger, unlike Turkish• Supported Kaun’s (2004) finding on RH• Shown theoretical strengths of ET

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University23

References• Botma, Bert, Nancy C. Kula & Kuniya Nasukawa. 2013. Features. In Nancy C.
Kula, Bert Botma & Kuniya Nasukawa. The Bloomsbury companion tophonology. Bloomsbury Press, 33-63.
• Backley, Phillip. 2011. An introduction to Element Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
• Comrie, Bernard. 1997. Tatar phonology. In Alan S. Kaye (ed.), Phonologies of Asia
and Africa 2, 899-911.
• Conklin, Jenna T. 2015. The interaction of gradient and categorical processes oflong-distance vowel-to-vowel assimilation in Kazan Tatar. Purdue University OpenAccess Thesis, 565.
• Ersen-Rasch, Margarete I. 2009. Tatarisch Lehrbuch für Anfänger undFortgeschrittene. Harrassowitz Verlag.
Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University24

References• Kaye, Jonathan, Jean Lowenstamm & Jean-Roger Vergnaud. 1985. The internal
structure of phonological elements: A theory of charm and government.
Phonology Yearbook, 2(1), 305-328.
• Kaun, Abigail R. 2004. The typology of rounding harmony. In B. Hayes, R. Kirchner& D. Steriade. Phonetically based phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 87-116.
• Henry, Cassidy. 2018. An optimality theoretic analysis of vowel harmony in Kazan
Tatar. In 92nd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. 4: 1-11.
• Poppe, Nicholas. 1963. Tatar manual. Indiana University Press.

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University25

Игътибарыгыз өченрəхмəт!
İğtibarığız öçen räxmät!

Nov. 16, 2019

LSJ 159th Conference at Nagoya Gakuin University26