Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T12:33:40.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Configuring Mutation in Irish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Nigel Duffield
Nigel Duffield*
Affiliation:
McGill University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article offers a unified syntactic treatment of initial mutation in Modern Irish, one of the best-known characteristics of that language. Both types of consonant mutation, as well as the less-studied mutations affecting vowels, are discussed. It is proposed that the appearance of initial mutation is a function of particular structural configurations: mutation is triggered by lexicalized functional heads. It is shown how this analysis applies in three syntactic contexts: before clausal predicates; within noun phrases; and following prepositions. Special attention is given to the problem raised by exceptional forms, and, in particular, to the problem of variable constraints on “spreading” (whereby mutation spreads to following modifiers only in certain instances).

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article propose une analyse unifiée des deux types de mutations consonan-tiques, de même que des cas moins étudiés de mutations vocaliques, en irlandais moderne. Il est proposé que l’occurrence de mutation initiale est liée à certaines configurations structurales particulières : la mutation affecte les éléments situés dans le domaine d’une tête fonctionnelle lexicalisée. Cette analyse s’applique dans trois contextes syntaxiques : avant le prédicat à l’intérieur de la projection phrastique, à l’intérieur des syntagmes nominaux, et après préposition. Une attention particulière est accordée au problème soulevé par certaines formes exceptionnelles, surtout en ce qui a trait au problème des contraintes variables sur la propagation de la mutation aux adjectifs post-nominaux.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 42 , Special Issue 1-2: Topics in Celtic Syntax , June 1997 , pp. 75 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acquaviva, Paolo. 1990. The syntactic function of lenition and nasalization in Old Irish. Ms., Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa.Google Scholar
Adger, David. 1996. Aspect, agreement and measure phrases in Scottish Gaelic. In The syntax of the Celtic languages: A comparative perspective, ed. Borsley, Robert D. and Roberts, Ian, 200–222. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adger, David, and Ramchand, Gillian. 1997. Relativisation in Scottish Gaelic and Modern Irish: A non-movement account. Paper read at the Celtic Linguistics Colloquium, University College, Dublin.Google Scholar
De Bhaldraithe, Tómas. 1975. The Irish of Cois Fhairrge, Co. Galway: A phonetic description. Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies. [1945.]Google Scholar
Bobaljik, Jonathan, and Carnie, Andrew. 1996. A minimalist approach to some problems of Irish word order. In The syntax of the Celtic languages: A comparative perspective, ed. Borsley, Robert D. and Roberts, Ian, 223–240. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit. 1995. Deconstructing the construct. Ms., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Borsley, Robert, and Tallerman, Maggie. 1993. Phrases and soft mutation in Welsh. Ms. University of Wales and University of Durham.Google Scholar
Carnie, Andrew. 1995. Non-verbal predication and head movement. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chung, Sandra, and McCloskey, James. 1987. Government, barriers and small clauses in Modern Irish. Linguistic Inquiry 18:173–208.Google Scholar
Christian, Brothers (The). 1990. New Irish Grammar. Dublin: C.J. Fallon.Google Scholar
Doherty, Cathal. 1996. Clausal structure and the Modern Irish copula. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 14:1–46.Google Scholar
Dooley Collberg, Sheila. 1991. The status of Agr in Modern Irish. Working Papers 37:129–160. Lund University, Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Duffield, Nigel. 1990a. Movement and Mutation in Modern Irish. In MIT Working Papers in Linguistics: Student Conference in Linguistics 1990, ed. Uziel, Sigal and Green, Tom, 31–45. Cambridge, Mass., Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Duffield, Nigel. 1990b. Movement and the case of the Irish verbal noun. In Proceedings of the Western Conference on Linguistics 3, ed. Birch, Barbara, Hunt, Kathy, and Samiian, Vida, 79–87. Fresno: California State University Google Scholar
Duffield, Nigel. 1991. Particles and projections. Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Duffield, Nigel. 1995. Particles and projections in Irish syntax. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffield, Nigel. 1996. On structural invariance and lexical diversity in VSO languages: Arguments from Irish noun phrases. In The syntax of the Celtic languages: A comparative perspective, ed. Borsley, Robert D. and Roberts, Ian, 314–340. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Duffield, Nigel. 1997a. Distributed mutation. In Proceedings of NELS 27, 103–116. GLSA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Duffield, Nigel. 1997b. Irish noun compounds: A morphological case study in Concatenation vs. Merger. Ms., McGill University.Google Scholar
Guilfoyle, Eithne. 1988. Parameters and functional projection. In Proceedings of NELS 18, ed. Blevins, James and Carter, Julie, 193–207. GLSA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Guilfoyle, Eithne. 1990. Functional categories and phrase-structure parameters. Doctoral dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Guilfoyle, Eithne. 1993. Non-finite clauses in Modern Irish and Old English. In Papers from the 29th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, ed. Beals, K. et al., 199–214. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Guilfoyle, Eithne. 1994. Modern Irish VNPs and the internal structure of VP. Paper read at the International Conference on Language in Ireland: Parasession on Generative Grammar, University of Ulster at Jordanstown.Google Scholar
Gussman, Edmund. 1986. Autosegments, linked matrices, and the Irish lenition. In Linguistics across historical and geographical boundaries, ed. Kastovsky, D. and Szwedek, A., 891–907. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Halle, Morris, and Marantz, Alec. (1993) Distributed morphology and the pieces of inflection. In The view from Building 20: Essays in linguistics in honor of Sylvain Bromberger, ed. Hale, Kenneth and Keyser, Samuel Jay, 111–176. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Harris, John. 1994. Minimalist phonology. Paper read at the International Conference on Language in Ireland, University of Ulster at Jordanstown.Google Scholar
Kaisse, Ellen M. 1985. Connected speech: The interaction of syntax and phonology. Orlando: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kiberd, Declan, and Fitzmaurice, Gabriel, eds. 1991. Crann faoi bhláth/The flowering Tree. Dublin: Wolfhound Press.Google Scholar
McCloskey, James. 1980. A note on modern Irish verbal nouns and the VP-complement analysis. Linguistic Analysis 6:345–357.Google Scholar
McCloskey, James. 1983. A VP in a VSO language? In Order, concord and constituency, ed. Gazdar, Gerald, Klein, Ewan, and Pullum, Geoffrey, 9–55. Dordrecht: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCloskey, James, and Hale, Kenneth. 1984. On the syntax of person-number inflection in Modern Irish. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 1:487–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCloskey, James, and Sells, Peter. 1988. Control and A-chains in Modern Irish. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 6:143–189.Google Scholar
Mohammad, Mohammad A. 1988. On the parallelism between IP and DP. In Proceedings of WCCFLl, ed. Borer, Hagit, 241–254. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Ni Chiosáin, Máire. 1992. Topics in the phonology of Irish. Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Ni Chiosáin, Máire. 1995. Optimal forms of vowel stems in Irish. Paper read at the Celtic Linguistics Conference, University College, Dublin.Google Scholar
Noonan, Máire. 1992. Case and syntactic geometry. Doctoral dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Noonan, Máire. 1994. VP internal and VP external AgroP: Evidence from Irish. In Proceedings of WCCFL 13, ed. Aranovich, R. et al, 318–333. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Ó Dónaill, Niall. 1977. Foclóir Gaeilge-Bearla. Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig An tSoláthair.Google Scholar
Ó Siadhail, Micheál. 1989. Modern Irish: Grammatical structure and dialectal variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ritter, Elizabeth. 1988. A head-movement approach to construct-state noun phrases. Linguistics 26:909–929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritter, Elizabeth. 1991. Two functional categories in noun phrases: Evidence from Modern Hebrew. In Syntax and Semantics 25: Perspectives on phrase structure: Heads and licensing, ed. Rothstein, Susan, 37–62. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ritter, Elizabeth. 1992. Cross-linguistic evidence for number phrase. In Canadian Journal of Linguistics 37: Functional categories, ed. Lefebvre, Claire, Lumsden, John, and Travis, Lisa, 197–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Ian. 1995. The syntax of direct object mutation. Paper read at the Celtic Linguistic Conference, University College, Dublin.Google Scholar
Rotenberg, Joel. 1978. The syntax of phonology. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Stenson, Nancy. 1981. Studies in Irish syntax. Tubingen: Günter Narr Verlag.Google Scholar
Travis, Lisa. 1991. Derived objects, inner aspect and the structure of VP. Paper read at NELS 22, University of Delaware, Newark.Google Scholar