Abstract
This study examines the syllable contact phonology of Bashkir (Kipchak, southern Urals, Russia), a language which exhibits a unique variation on general Turkic syllable contact phenomena, and proposes an Optimality Theoretic analysis, drawing on previous approaches to syllable contact in Turkic (Baertsch & Davis 2001, 2004, Gouskova 2001, 2004, Washington 2010). Bashkir desonorizes affix-initial coronal sonorants (/qullar/ --> [qul.dar]) to mandate compliance with the Syllable Contact Law (Davis, 1998). This occurs even at boundaries which would otherwise exhibit falling sonority, thereby maximizing sonority fall. Bashkir also exhibits a unique continuancy alternation pattern in desonorized affixes (taw-ðar, uram-dar, gaz-dar). This study adopts the Syllable Contact Hierarchy analysis proposed in Gouskova (2004), with ranking of relevant faithfulness constraints below all *DIST constraints mandating maximal sonority fall. It is proposed that continuancy alternations derived from a synchronically active lenition process, otherwise dominated by relevant faithfulness constraints, which emerges when unfaithfulness is forced to satisfy constraints on syllable contact.
Highlights
This paper examines the syllable contact phonology of Bashkir, a Kipchak Turkic language spoken in Russia, primarily in the Republic of Bashqortostan, in the southern Ural Mountains, where it is co-official with Russian
This paper has presented an overview of the data and an Optimality Theoretic analysis of the syllable contact phonology of Bashkir, a Kipchak Turkic language spoken in the southern Ural Mountains in Russia
Like many Turkic languages, Bashkir desonorizes coronal affix-initial sonorants in order to mandate maximal sonority fall across a syllable boundary
Summary
This paper examines the syllable contact phonology of Bashkir ( known by its endonym Bashqort1), a Kipchak Turkic language spoken in Russia, primarily in the Republic of Bashqortostan, in the southern Ural Mountains, where it is co-official with Russian. Differing from some other Kipchak languages, desonorization in Bashkir exclusively targets coronal segments This can be seen in the data in (7), wherein labial sonorants surface faithfully in a rising-sonority environment. It should be noted that desonorization only occurs as part of the inflectional morphology and does not affect derivational affixes beginning with coronal sonorants In this respect as well, Bashkir differs from some other Kipchak languages, such as Kyrgyz. This is seen below in (8), where the initial /l/ of the derivational suffix /-lEk/ does not desonorize, even if the final segment of the preceding stem is lower in sonority. A summary of the Bashkir data is given below in table 1
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