Abstract
Three case studies from Japanese and Ryukyuan are presented in support of the generalization that, in the course of grammaticalization of an innovative verbal construction, vowel-stem forms will resist reductive phonological processes that apply to consonant-stem forms. Given that the constructions of the case studies are based on the verbal Ren’yookei, this differential susceptibility to phonological reduction is attributed to the fact that vowel-stem Ren’yookei instantiate the structure [[X]s]w (s = stem, w = word) and are therefore isolation forms. A Stem Inalterability Condition is proposed to capture the observed generalization, and that condition is shown to account for the restriction of verbal onbin before t-initial suffixes to consonant-stems in both Japanese and Ryukyuan and to provide a natural understanding of the r-zero alternation of the Old Japanese Rentaikei and Izenkei suffixes.
Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to three JJL reviewers for comments that have led to many improvements; remaining errors are my responsibility.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Advancements in Japanese linguistics: diverse perspectives
- Articles
- Stem inalterability in Japonic
- Restructuring and focus in Japanese
- When syntax and semantics of compounds matter to voicing alternations: an experimental investigation of effects of grammatical relation on rendaku
- Temporal dynamics of alignment: unveiling new semantic dimensions in interpreting the illocutionary particle ne in Japanese
- Discourse analysis of “just chatting” streams on YouTube live: focusing on the interaction between virtual YouTubers and viewers
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Advancements in Japanese linguistics: diverse perspectives
- Articles
- Stem inalterability in Japonic
- Restructuring and focus in Japanese
- When syntax and semantics of compounds matter to voicing alternations: an experimental investigation of effects of grammatical relation on rendaku
- Temporal dynamics of alignment: unveiling new semantic dimensions in interpreting the illocutionary particle ne in Japanese
- Discourse analysis of “just chatting” streams on YouTube live: focusing on the interaction between virtual YouTubers and viewers