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Vowel sequences in Maltese sound Form I verbs

  • Christopher Lucas , Michael Spagnol and Niamh Brown
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The Next Century of Maltese Linguistics
This chapter is in the book The Next Century of Maltese Linguistics

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the historical phonological development of Maltese sound Form I verbs, tracing their evolution from Proto-Arabic. Building on the foundational work of van Putten (2020), who identified the exceptionless sound changes governing Maltese short vowels, this study presents both the regular phonological developments and the analogical changes that have influenced the vocalism of these verbs. On the basis of a comprehensive dataset of over 240 verbs, the study (a) reveals the differential effects on specific vowel sequences of different phonetic environments (including guttural and emphatic consonants), and (b) examines the impact of analogical restructuring on the Perfect and Imperfect forms of verbs, both between different tense–aspect forms of individual verb lexemes and across different lexemes. By categorizing these verbs into distinct classes based on their phonological behaviour, the article elucidates the systematic processes underlying their historical development. This work, thus, not only enhances our understanding of Maltese morphophonology but also contributes to broader discussions on language change within the context of Semitic languages, and the interaction of regular sound change and analogy in morphophonological change more generally.

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the historical phonological development of Maltese sound Form I verbs, tracing their evolution from Proto-Arabic. Building on the foundational work of van Putten (2020), who identified the exceptionless sound changes governing Maltese short vowels, this study presents both the regular phonological developments and the analogical changes that have influenced the vocalism of these verbs. On the basis of a comprehensive dataset of over 240 verbs, the study (a) reveals the differential effects on specific vowel sequences of different phonetic environments (including guttural and emphatic consonants), and (b) examines the impact of analogical restructuring on the Perfect and Imperfect forms of verbs, both between different tense–aspect forms of individual verb lexemes and across different lexemes. By categorizing these verbs into distinct classes based on their phonological behaviour, the article elucidates the systematic processes underlying their historical development. This work, thus, not only enhances our understanding of Maltese morphophonology but also contributes to broader discussions on language change within the context of Semitic languages, and the interaction of regular sound change and analogy in morphophonological change more generally.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Foreword VII
  4. Contents XI
  5. Part I: Historical linguistics & phonology
  6. Thezan’s Le regole per la lingua maltese and the historical phonology of Maltese 1
  7. Vowel sequences in Maltese sound Form I verbs 35
  8. Pantelleria: its Arabic dialect reconsidered with a little help from Maltese 81
  9. Maltese religious terms of Arabic/Semitic origin, their history and standardization 113
  10. Part II: Morphology & syntax
  11. Agree to disagree – “syntactic overgeneralisation in Maltese” revisited 139
  12. Word formation in Maltese: a detailed look at the loan derivational suffix –aġni 163
  13. Secondary predication in Maltese – Depictives 183
  14. Coordinated preposition sequences in Maltese 207
  15. The origin of object reduplication in Maltese: two contacts, one, or none? 235
  16. Part III: Applied linguistics
  17. Acceptability of nonbinary and gender-neutral constructions in Maltese & Maltese English 259
  18. Maltese first language acquisition of the plural 279
  19. Venturing into Virtual Reality: The dawn of a new tool in Maltese language teaching and learning 301
  20. Part IV: Synonymy
  21. But, but, but 325
  22. Heading towards definitions of silence: an analysis of synonymous nouns 355
  23. Index of authors
  24. Index of languages
  25. Index of subjects
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111705682-002

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Foreword VII
  4. Contents XI
  5. Part I: Historical linguistics & phonology
  6. Thezan’s Le regole per la lingua maltese and the historical phonology of Maltese 1
  7. Vowel sequences in Maltese sound Form I verbs 35
  8. Pantelleria: its Arabic dialect reconsidered with a little help from Maltese 81
  9. Maltese religious terms of Arabic/Semitic origin, their history and standardization 113
  10. Part II: Morphology & syntax
  11. Agree to disagree – “syntactic overgeneralisation in Maltese” revisited 139
  12. Word formation in Maltese: a detailed look at the loan derivational suffix –aġni 163
  13. Secondary predication in Maltese – Depictives 183
  14. Coordinated preposition sequences in Maltese 207
  15. The origin of object reduplication in Maltese: two contacts, one, or none? 235
  16. Part III: Applied linguistics
  17. Acceptability of nonbinary and gender-neutral constructions in Maltese & Maltese English 259
  18. Maltese first language acquisition of the plural 279
  19. Venturing into Virtual Reality: The dawn of a new tool in Maltese language teaching and learning 301
  20. Part IV: Synonymy
  21. But, but, but 325
  22. Heading towards definitions of silence: an analysis of synonymous nouns 355
  23. Index of authors
  24. Index of languages
  25. Index of subjects
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