Morphologically conditioned stress assignment in Choguita Rarámuri

Abstract

This article investigates the morphologically conditioned stress system of a previously undocumented Uto-Aztecan language, Choguita Rarámuri (Tarahumara). Stress distribution in Choguita Rarámuri results from a complex interaction between lexically prespecified stress, two systematic subpatterns (second and third syllable stress), a stress rule specific to noun incorporation constructions, and an initial three-syllable window, a highly unusual typological pattern. This article presents a cophonology analysis that captures the full range of stress alternations in this language through the association of morphological constructions with fully general phonological subgrammars, and through the association of morphologically conditioned phonological effects to the hierarchical structure of morphologically complex words. The cophonology analysis is contrasted with a Root Controlled Accent (RCA) analysis, an indexed constraint analysis argued for in Alderete (Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19: 455–502, 2001a, Morphologically governed accent in optimality theory, Routledge, 2001b) to account for the stress patterns of Cupeño, a Uto-Aztecan language with stress alternations similar to those attested in Choguita Rarámuri. In an RCA analysis, stress alternations are derived through a single constraint ranking and faithfulness constraints indexed to specific morphological contexts. This article argues that an analysis that overlooks morphological constituency and which indexes faithfulness constraints to morphological environments undergenerates in the Choguita Rarámuri case.