Chimwiini phonological phrasing revisited

Abstract

This paper revisits the topic of phonological phrasing in Chimwiini. Previous discussion of Chimwiini phrasing has been based entirely on the evidence provided by the vowel length alternations found in the language. Unfortunately, these alternations do not allow an exhaustive account of Chimwiini phrasing. Chimwiini accent (or High tone) provides a new source of evidence. Accent falls on the final vowel in certain morphosyntactic contexts, otherwise on the penult. This accent is phrasal in nature: it is the final or penult vowel in the last word in the phrase that bears accent. Furthermore, what counts as a phrase for the purposes of accent are exactly the same phrases that are required to account for the vowel length alternations in Chimwiini. This accentual evidence is used to verify the general principle that a phonological phrase occurs at the edge of every (lexical) maximal projection, but it also establishes that a focused element resides at the end of a phonological phrase. The accentual evidence, particularly as it is revealed in sentences involving focus, suggest that phrasing may be recursive in Chimwiini, and that both Align-XP R and Wrap-XP (constraints well known in the literature) play a role in the language.