This document provides an overview of prosodic morphology. It discusses autosegmental phonology and how phonological representations consist of independent tiers. Mapping principles ensure proper associations between tiers. Root and pattern morphology is examined in Semitic languages like Arabic, where words are formed by modifying the internal structure of consonantal roots. Prosodic morphology analyzes non-concatenative word formation using independent tiers for the root, skeletal template, and vocalic melody. Exercises are also mentioned.

2. PROSODIC MORPHOLOGY
Course instructor: Dr. Bashir Shawish
Presented by: Huwaida F. Habara

3. Key Points
 Autosegmental Phonology
 Mapping Principles
 Skeletal Tier
 Root and Pattern Morphology
 Arabic Binyanim
 Prosodic Morphology & Nonconcatenative Morphology
 Morpheme Tier Hypothesis
 Exercises

4. Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith,1976)
It developed out of the work of the generative theory presented in the
The Sound Pattern of English SPE.
It refuted the original assumptions, formalisms, and principles of SPE.
It was based on earlier work of the
London School of prosodies (Firth 1948; Palmer, 1970)
American structuralists (Hockett, 1955; Harris, 1944) on ‘Long components’

5. Hypothesis
Phonological representations consist of several independent, parallel tiers.
Each tier contains a linearly ordered sequence of autosegments.
No feature may appear on more than one tier.
Various tiers are organized by association lines.
The underlying and surface forms consist of parallel strings of segments
arranged in two or more tiers.

6. Stress a multi-tiered analysis
A suprasegmental feature that is superimposed on syllables
(Ladefoged, 1993).
It is not a feature of consonants or vowels.
Stress shifts when certain stratum 1 affixes are added.
pro’ductive ~ produc’tivity com’pute ~ compu’tation
’parent ~ pa’rental

7. Tone
Autosegmental theory was originally used to describe tone.
It was later extended to describe morphological data.
Similar to stress, tone is an independent prosody.

8. MAPPING PRINCIPLES
AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE ‘UG’

9. Mapping Principles: Tones
Tones are represented on the tonal tier.
Consonants and vowels are represented on the segmental
tier.
Processes on different tiers can be independent.
Tonal tier: H L H
Segmental tier: pi pa pu

10. Tiers
In terms of phonological representation tiers are independent, but not
isolated.
Tiers are linked in complex hierarchical structures and are in interaction.
The skeletal tier holds together the segmental and tonal tier by means of
association lines.

11. Independence of Autosegments
In Luganda, when the first vowel of a sequence of two vowels
is deleted, the tone linked to it is not.
Segmental tier: kusa ebjo kuse:bjo ‘to grind those’
Tonal tier: L H L H L H L H

12. Skeletal Tier
Each X stands for a segment
(Hyman, 1985).
CV slot: an alternative representation
(Clements and Keyser, 1983).
Tonal tier: H L L H
Skeletal tier: X X X X X X
Segmental tier: a f i a f i
Tonal tier: H L L H
Skeletal tier: V C V V C V
Segmental tier: a f i a f i

13. Autosegmental representation
‘conventions’
• Unbroken line indicates pre-linking
• Broken line indicates linking
• ‡ crossed-through line indicates delinking
• [ ] Brackets show boundaries
• Ⓥ A circle around an item indicates its deletion

14.  Elements at one tier
 may remain unassociated with any elements.
 may be associated with more than one element at another tier.
Permissible Associations

15. Contour tones result from the multi-linking of a vowel to a high tone
and low tone simultaneously.
• (ʹ) High tone
• ( ̀) Low tone
• (ˆ) HL falling contour tone
• (ˇ) LH rising contour tone
• ( ) Blank mark ‘no tone’

16. In Yekhee:
òké òkpá òkôkpá ‘one ram’
ówà ówà ówŏwà ‘every house’
(data from Odden, 2005)
Contour Tone

17. Are there constraints on the linking of elements on
different tiers?
How do independent tiers interact in the process of
speech production?

18. Mapping Principles
Well-Formedness Condition WFC (Goldsmith, 1976, 1990; Clements
and Ford, 1979)
Universal Linking Conventions (Pulleyblank, 1986)

19. Well-Formedness Condition
WFC controls the association between tiers.
Goldsmith’s tone mapping rules state that:
All vowels are linked to at least one tone.
All tones are linked to at least one vowel.
Association lines never cross.
These rules ensure that inter-tier configurations are not violated.

20. Universal Linking Conventions
Two Contrasting Versions
1. Automatic spreading
 Tones spread automatically to tone-bearing units that are not
associated with any tone (Goldsmith , 1976, 1990) and (Halle &
Vergnaud, 1980).
 H L H L
V V

21. 2. Non-automatic spreading
 The spreading of tones to toneless segments is rule-
governed and not automatic (Pulleyblank, 1986).
 In tone languages, tones that are not associated with any
vowels are deleted. They can only spread to adjacent
vowels if a rule permits this association.

22. Universal Linking Conventions
ULC expressed by Pulleyblank (1986) and Archangeli (1983):
 Link a series of autosegments with a series of tone-bearing elements
on the skeletal tier.
 Perform the association from the beginning to the end of the word in a
one-to-one fashion.
 Association lines do not cross.

23. Non Crossing Constraint.
 Segments on independent tiers are linked by an ordered series of
association lines.
 Each linking reflects an articulatory gesture.
 Association lines imply that a given segment ‘vowel’ is articulated in a
temporal sequence in relation to another segment ‘tone’.
 If the articulation is interrupted by another articulatory gesture, and
we want to restart the original gesture, we must start all over again
(Katamba, 2006).

24. * H L ✓ H L H
ba la ba ba la ba
 Some violations of WFC may occur.
 WFC triggers appropriate repair rules which makes the
smallest number of adjustments to conform the
phonotactic constraints of the language.

25. THE SKELETAL TIER or CV TIER
 Vowels are associated with V slots.
 Consonants are associated with C slots.
 The Luganda word njala ‘hunger’ is represented as follows:
Skeletal tier: C C V C V
Segmental tier: n j a l a

26. Gemination and the CV tier
 When there are more X slots on the skeletal tier than there are
segments on the segmental tier, a single segment is linked with two
X slots simultaneously on the skeletal tier.
 tta ‘kill’ ta ‘let go’
go’
C C V C V
t a t a

27. Vowel Gemination: lengthening
 Siiga ‘smear, paint’ siga ‘sow, plant’
 C V V C V C V C V
 S i g a s i g a
[Luganda data]

28.  /ba - e - laba/
‘they - themselves – see’
 /bi - e - laba/
‘they – themselves – see’
 . [be:laba]
‘they see themselves’
 . [bje:laba]
‘They (animals) see themselves’

29.  When two vowels are adjacent, the first is deleted if it is a non-high
vowel. The associated V slot of the deleted vowel is inherited by the
following vowel resulting in ‘lengthening of the vowel.
 C V V C V C V C V V C V C V C V V C V C V
 b a e l a b a b @ e l a b a b e l a b a [be:laba] they-
themselves-see they see themselves

30.  If the first vowel is a high vowel /i/ or /u/, it is linked to the previous
C slot. The second vowel is then linked to the V slot originally
associated with the high vowel. [bje:laba]
C V V C V C V C V V C V C V C V V C V C V
b i e l a b a b i e l a b a b j e l a b a
They-themselves-see They see themselves

31. ROOT AND PATTERN MORPHOLOGY
LANGUAGE TYPOLOGY
Infixation and Reduplication

32. Arabic Binyanim
 The principal English word formation methods are:
 Affixation
 Compounding
 Conversion
 In Semetic languages, words are formed by modifying the internal
structure of the root.

33.  Arabic verb roots consist of consonants.
 Verb forms are assigned to 15 binyanim.
 Each binyan has its own vowel arrangement and further
consonants.

34. The root ktb ‘write’
 kataba
 kattaba
 kaataba
 taktubu
 takaatabu
 ktataba
 kitaabatun
 kuttaabun
 kitaabatun
 maktabun
 makaatibu
 kutiba
 nkatab
 ‘he wrote’
 ‘he caused to write’
 ‘he corresponded’
 ‘she wrote’
 ‘they kept up a correspondence’
 ‘he wrote, copied’
 ‘book’ (nominative)
 ‘Quraan school’ (nominative)
 ‘act of writing’ (nominative)
 ‘office’ (nominative)
 ‘offices’ (nominative)
 ‘it was written’ past passive
 ‘subscribe’
(from McCarthy, 1981)

35. The derivation of one binyan from the other
is supported by semantic and morphological
evidence.
DERIVED FORM DERIVATIONAL SOURCE
Second Binyan First Binyan
• kaððab ‘to consider a lier’ • kaðab ‘to lie’
• qattala ‘to massacre’ • qatala ‘to kill’
Third Binyan First Binyan
• kaatab ‘to correspond’ • katab ‘to write’
• qaatala ‘to fight with’ • qatala ‘to kill
causative
reciprocal

36. Prosodic Morphology and Non-Concatenative
Morphology
 The traditional morpheme-based approach used in analyzing
concatenated languages is not satisfactory in the analysis of non-
concatenative word-formation processes.

37. Prosodic Morphology
 Prosodic Morphology was initiated by McCarthy (1979, 1981)
 He noticed the similarities in the behavior of vowel insertion in
Arabic consonantal roots and that of tone spreading.

38. Hypothesis
 “the verb in Arabic has elements arranged on three independent tiers
at the underlying level of representation in the lexicon, the three tiers
being the root tier (also called the consonantal tier), the skeletal tier
and the vocalic melody tier”(Katamba, 2006).
 Root tier: k t b
 Skeletal tier: c v c v c v
 Vocalic melody tier: u i a

39. 1. The Root Tier
 The semantic content is signaled by the consonantal segments.
 The root is realized by a number of word-forms.
 The word-forms realize a variety of grammatical words.
 The replacement of the consonantal root with another results in a
different lexeme.

40. 2. The Skeletal Tier
 It is also called the prosodic template tier, provides a canonical
form ‘template’ that is assigned a specified meaning and a
grammatical function.
 The template CVVCVCV has a reciprocal meaning.
 Thus, qaatala ‘to fight with’ has a two-way reciprocal meaning.
 The consonantal and vocalic pattern of the skeletal tier serve as
the basis of deriving words.

41. 3. The Vocalic Melody Tier
 Provides information such as tense, voice, mood, or aspect
similar to that carried by affixes.
 Provides melodies consisting of a vowel or more that are
associated with the vowel slot on the skeletal tier.

42. Derivation of the past tense ‘CVCVCV’
 The prosodic representation with the vocalic melody is /a/.
 Association goes from left to right.
 The /a/ is associated with the first V slot.
 /a/ spreads to the two unassociated V slots on the skeletal tier.
Root tier: ð h b ‘to go’
Skeletal tier: C V C V C V
Vocalic melody tier: a
Giving: ðahaba ‘he went’

43. How should the past tense of fʕl ‘do’ be presented?
fʕl
Root tier: f ʕ l
Skeletal tier: C V C V C V
Vocalic melody tier: a
Giving: faʕala ‘he did’

44. qarraʔa ‘he caused to read ’
causative CVCCVCV
qrʔ
 Root tier: q r ʔ
 Skeletal tier: C V C C V C V
 Vocalic melody tier: a
 Giving: qarraʔa

45. Verb Roots of Two Consonants
sm ‘ to poison’
Past tense CVCVCV Causative CVCCVCV
 Root tier: s m
 Skeletal tier: C V C V C V
 Vocalic melody tier: a
 Giving: s a m a m a
 Root tier: s m
 Skeletal tier: C V C C V C V
 Vocalic melody tier: a
 Giving: s a m m a m a
Why is it assumed that the root is biliteral ‘sm’ and not triliteral‘smm’?

46. Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP)
 “at the melodic level, adjacent identical elements are prohibited.”
(McCarthy, 1986: 208)
 Leben (1973) explained that identical consecutive tones at the tonal
tier are banned in the underlying representation.
 A morpheme cannot be associated with two identical tones
simultaneously.
 The OCP “blocks or triggers the repair of representation” of such rules
(Yip, 1988).
(Katamba, 2006)

47. ‘dahraja’ caused to roll
 ‘dahraja’ has a causative meaning yet there is no consonant
germination in its derivation!
 ‘dahraja’ has a quadriliteral root ‘dhrj’ roll
 The template for the causative binyan is CVCCVCV the adjacent
middle C slots are ungeminated.

48.  Root tier: d h r j
 Skeletal tier: C V C C V C V
 Vocalic melody tier: a
 Giving: dahraja ‘caused to role’

49. Syrian Arabic Binyanim
‘tjr’ ‘to trade or do business’
‘ttajara’ did his business
Syrian Arabic utilizes a binyan that
links the first two C slots with a
consonant on the root tier.
 Root tier: t j r
 Skeletal tier: C C V C V C V
 Vocalic melody tier: a
Giving: t t a j a r a

50. Syrian Arabic Binyanim
Another option permits a right-
to-left association of the melody.
This option also permits a right-
to-left spreading of the first
consonant.
 Root tier: t j r
 Skeletal tier: C C V C V C V
 Vocalic melody tier: a
 Giving: t t a j a r a

51. The Morpheme Tier Hypothesis
According to McCarthy (1981), in the lexicon ,the representation of
morphemes resides on independent tiers. Morpheme tiers are symbolized
by M.
In non-concatenative languages, it is common to find discontinuous
morphemes(Harris, 1951; McCarthy, 1981).
Sounds that represent an infixed morpheme interrupt sounds that
represent another infixed morpheme; and in turn, these sounds interrupt
the base.

52. Representation of Morphemes in the Lexicon
 M
 Vocalic melody tier: a

 Skeletal tier: C V V C V C V
 Root tier: k t b
M
Giving: kattaba ‘he corresponded’
 M
 Vocalic melody tier: u i a
 Skeletal tier: C V C V C V
 Root tier: k t b
M
Giving: kutiba ‘it was written’

53. There are three morphemes in kattaba
M
Vocalic melody tier: a
Skeletal tier: C V V C V C V
Root tier: k t b
M
Giving: kaataba ‘he corresponded’
 1. Vocalic melody morpheme
 Represented by the vowel segments
that convey grammatical information
 2.Template morpheme
 Represented by the skeletal tier
 3. Root morpheme
 Represented by the consonantal elements
on the root tier

54. Reflexive Morphemes in Syrian Arabic
 smʕ ‘hear’
 samiʕa ‘hear something’
 stamaʕa ‘hear for oneself'
 rfʕ ‘lift’
 rafaʕa ‘lift something’
 rtafaʕa ‘lift oneself’

55.  Reflexive morpheme: M
 t in the environment ω[C__
C
t-morpheme on a separate tier

56. M
M
t- morpheme: t
Vocalic melody: a
Skeletal tier: C C V C V C V
Root tier: s m ʕ
M
Giving: s t a m a ʕ a
Tier conflation: C C V C V C V
s t a m a ʕ a

57. Operation of Tier Conflation
kitaab-un ‘book’ (nominative)
 M
Vocalic melody: i a
Skeletal tier: C V C V V C
Root tier: k t b
M

58. The first cycle includes tier conflation. The prosodic template for turning Arabic
triconsonantal verb root ktb into a noun is CVCVVC or CCVC and the vocalic
melody is either /i - a/ or /a/.
Tier conflation: C V C V V C
k i t a b
The next cycle includes the affixation of the suffix –un or both the prefix ma- and
suffix –un.
Affixation: kitaab – un or ma – ktab –un

59. Lexical Morphology Revisited
 Nodes dominating morphemes are analogous to brackets.
 In the lexicon, tier conflation takes place at the end of each cycle
erasing M nodes.
 At the beginning of a lexical cycle, morphemes are represented on
independent tiers. However, after applying all the rules at a given
stratum these morphemes will arrive at the same tier.
 “morphological rules can only access information that is available
at the stratum at which they apply” (Katamba,).

60. DERIVATION OF THE FIFTH BINYAN
takassab ‘to earn’

61.  a. Underived: M
k s b
 b. Stratum 1 M
Vocalic melody tier: a
Skeletal tier: C V C C V C
Root tier: k s b
M
C.Tier conflation: C V C C V C
k a s a b
d. Stratum 2: ta-kassab
e. Output: takassab

62. Why are the phonological representations are ill-formed?
 pi pa pu pi pa pu pi pa pu
 L L H L H L H

63. Egyptian Arabic verbal root gls ‘sit’
 galasa means:
past tense ‘he sat’
 Discontinuous morpheme:
The vocalic melody for the past tense is the vowel /a/. This vowel
spreads throughout the root gls in the template CVCVCV forming galasa.
Therefore, the past tense morpheme in galasa in not continuant; instead
it interrupts the root.

64. Syrian Colloquial Arabic
data from (Younis, 1975)
Perfect Subjunctive
daraset 'I studied'
darasna 'we studied'
darasti 'you (feminine) studied'
daras 'he studied'
darset 'she studied'
darasu 'they studied'
tedros 'that she study'
yedros 'that he study'
tedersi 'that you (masculine) study
What is the consonantal root meaning ‘study’?
drs

65. tedros tedresi
 M
 t-morpheme tier: t
 M
 Vocalic melody tier: e o
 Skeletal tier: C V C C V C
 Root tier: d r s
 M
 M
 t-morpheme tier: t
 M
 Vocalic melody tier: e i
 Skeletal tier: C V C C V CV
 Root tier: d r s
 M

66. Standard Arabic fʕl ‘do’
 faʕala
M
Vocalic melody tier: a
Skeletal tier: C V C V C V
Root tier: f ʕ l
M
 tafaaʕala
M
ta- morpheme tier: t a
M
Vocalic melody tier: a
Skeletal tier: C V C V V C V C V
Root tier: f ʕ l
 M

67. Glossary
 Autosegmental Phonology: A non-linear approach to phonology that
allows phonological processes, such as tone and vowel harmony, to be
independent of and extend beyond individual consonants and vowels.
 Binyan: a kind of word stem into which vowels and affixes can be
slotted, typically consisting of three letters (plural: binyanim).
 Concatenation:The attachment of morphemes one after the other.
 Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP): A hypothesis stating that (certain)
consecutive identical features are banned in underlying
representations.
 Reflexive: A construction where both the subject and object refer to
the same individual.

68.  Reciprocal: A grammatical form indicating mutual action.
 Skeletal tier:The level that holds together other levels within a non-linear
representation.
 Template: A non-linear representation with formal structure that is
predetermined in some fashion.
 Tier: A level of representation in a non-linear structure.
 Tier conflation: Merging the tiers all together in one linear representation.
 Tone: A pitch difference that conveys a part of a contrast in word meaning
or grammatical function.
 Well-formedness condition: It is a condition which governs the way the CV
skeleton has to be associated with the other tiers.

69. Further Reading
Katamba, F., & Stonham, J. (2006).Morphology (2nd edition). New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Ladefoged, P. (1993). A course in phonetics. Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company
McCarthy, J. (1981). A Prosodic Theory of Nonconcatenative Morphology.
Linguistic Inquiry, 12(3), 373-418. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4178229
Odden, D. (2005). Introducing phonology. New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Watson, J. C. (2007). The phonology and morphology of Arabic. New York:
Oxford University Press.