Interactions of Nasal Harmony and Word-Internal Language Mixing in Paraguayan Guaraní

Abstract

Words containing morphemes from multiple languages offer a unique look into the grammatical systems that constrain word formation. In this paper, I introduce novel data from nasal harmony patterns in contexts involving word-internal language mixing between Paraguayan Guaraní and Spanish, collected with native speakers of Guaraní. I provide the first full formal constraint-based analysis of nasal harmony in Paraguayan Guaraní, then show that nasal consonants within Spanish roots trigger nasal harmony in Guaraní affixal morphology, providing evidence for an emergent case of long-distance nasal harmony in the language. I demonstrate that this data supports an analysis in which a single phonological system has access to two different strata based on language of origin, countering predictions made by some previous approaches to the phonology of language mixing. My analysis combines Cophonology Theory and Agreement by Correspondence with phase faithfulness: a root is first evaluated according to the phonological grammar associated with its lexical stratum, and is then subject to faithfulness to that output.