Stress and tone in Indo-Aryan languages.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The current work offers a comprehensive examination of stress and tone in ten Indo-Aryan languages, providing novel analyses within Optimality Theory. The languages are divided into three categories: those in which tone is attracted to stress; those in which stress is attracted to tone; and those in which no interaction between stress and tone occurs. The typology which emerges points to a property of prosodic balance occurring in this group of languages, whereby one prosodic feature behaves in a manner which appears complex, while the other feature behaves more simply. Also considered is the use of the notion of pitch accent in classifying these languages. Using Hyman's (2007a, 2007b, 2006) model of prosodic typology, the very idea of pitch accent is questioned and ultimately rejected, in favor of Hyman's prosodic model which only allows for the existence of tone and stress --- two features which can be clearly defined. Finally, a theoretical exposition of the interaction of stress and tone is offered. De Lacy's (2007, 2004a, 2004b) Stringent Markedness approach is evaluated. While possessing the beneficial feature of allowing for the ability to conflate categories, this approach is far too limited as a result of the singular tonal hierarchy it employs, which fails to cover a great deal of tonal phenomena, especially within the Indo-Aryan languages discussed here. Consequently, a multi-hierarchical theory of the interaction of stress and tone is proposed, which calls for the implementation of multiple attested hierarchies in order to accommodate a wider range of stress-tone phenomena and thus provide more cross-linguistic support than the Stringent Markedness approach.
The advantage of this work is threefold: the large collection of data on ten languages contained within illustrates the descriptive contribution; the Optimality Theoretic analyses of the languages, along with the emergent typology constitutes the analytical value; and the use of Optimality Theory, the evaluation of the Stringent Markedness approach (de Lacy, 2007; 2004a; 2004b), and the construction of a more comprehensive alternative to Stringent Markedness comprises the theoretical contribution. Not only is this work of appeal to scholars of Indo-Aryan, but also to scholars of Optimality Theory.