Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T01:55:29.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stress Alternations and Vowel Length: New Evidence for an Underlying Nine-Vowel System in Swedish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Stig Eliasson
Stig Eliasson
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Uppsala University, Box 513, S-757 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Get access

Abstract

This paper presents new empirical evidence for a process description of quantity in Swedish. Like most other Germanic languages, Swedish possesses a rich array of stress-governing derivational suffixes which cause stress and length alternations in the stems to which they are attached. Such alternations bear crucially on the choice between a unit-oriented or process-oriented approach to Swedish phonology. Inasmuch as 18-vowel-phoneme solutions presuppose lexically inherent vocalic length, they result in a multitude of morphophonemic alternations between long and short vowels. In process solutions, such quantitative alternations follow predictably from independently motivated rules. These results have important implications for the description of the phonemic system, phonotactics, rule component, and morphological structure of the language. The conclusions are directly valid also for Norwegian.

Type
Research Article
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , December 1985 , pp. 101 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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

REFERENCES

Abraham, W. et al. 1974. Terminologie zur neueren Linguistik. (Germanistische Arbeitshefte, Ergänzungsreihe 1.) Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.Google Scholar
Allén, S. et al. 1981. Svensk baklängesordbok. Stockholm: Esselte Studium.Google Scholar
Árnason, K. 1980. Quantity in Historical Phonology. Icelandic and Related Cases. (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 30.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Berulfsen, B. 1969. Norsk uttaleordbok. Oslo: Aschehoug.Google Scholar
Dressier, W. U. 1981. Outlines of a Model of Morphonology. In Dressier, W.U. et al. (eds.) 1981, Phonologica 1980. Akten der Vierten Internationalen Phonologie-Tagung, Wien 1980. (InnsbruckerBeiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 36.) Innsbruck: Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, pp. 113–122.Google Scholar
Elert, C.-C. 1970. Ljud och ord i svenskan. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Elert, C.-C. et al. (eds.) 1984. Nordic Prosody III. Papers from a Symposium. (Acta Universitatis Umensis, Umeå Studies in the Humanities 59.) Umeå: University of UmeUmeå/Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. 1970. Studies in Swedish Phonology. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. 1974. How Abstract is Swedish Phonology? Paper presented at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea, Jyväskylä, May 30–31, 1974.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. 1979. Swedish Quantity Revisited. In Gårding et al. (1979:111–122).Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. 1980. Expressivgeminering hos svenska hypokorismer och ellipsord. Nysvenska Studier 59–60, 341–361.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. 1981. Besprechung von Magnús Pétursson, Isländisch. Indogermanische Forschungen 85 [1980], 364–371.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. 1984. Is There a Morphophonemic Process of Vowel Shortening in Swedish? In Ringgaard, K. & Sørensen, V. (eds.) 1984, The Nordic Languages and Modern Linguistics 5. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of Nordic Languages and Modern Linguistics in Århus 1983. Århus: Nordisk Institut, Aarhus Universitet, pp. 231–235.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. In press. Sandhi in Peninsular Scandinavian. In Andersen, H. (ed.), in press, Sandhi Phenomena in the Languages of Europe. (Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs.) Berlin: Mouton Publishers.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. Forthc. Is Sound Change Teleological? The Case of the Central Scandinavian Vowel Shift. To appear in Folia Linguistica Historica.Google Scholar
Eliasson, S. & La Pelle, N. 1973. Generativa regler för svenskans kvantitet. Arkiv för nordisk filologi 88, 133–148.Google Scholar
Fretheim, T. (ed.) 1981. Nordic Prosody II. Papers from a Symposium. [Dragvoll]: Tapir.Google Scholar
Gårding, E. et al. (eds.) 1979. Nordic Prosody. Papers from a Symposium. (Travaux de l'Institut de Linguistique de Lund 13.) Lund: Department of Linguistics, Lund University.Google Scholar
Games, S. 1976. Quantity in Icelandic: Production and Perception. (Hamburger Phonetische Beiträge 18.) Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.Google Scholar
Hagström, B. 1967. Andeheuokalerna ifäröiskan. Enfonetisk-fonologiskstudie. (Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Stockholm Studies in Scandinavian Philology. New Series 6.) Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Hansson, Å. 1983. Phonemic History of Faroese. In Dahlstedt, K.-H. et al. (eds.) 1983, From Sounds to Words. Essays in Honor of Claes-Christian Elert 23 December 1983 (Acta Universitatis Umensis, Umeå Studies in the Humanities 60). Umeå: University of Umeå, pp. 127–158.Google Scholar
Jahr, E.H. & Lorentz, O. (eds.) 1981. Fonologi/Phonology. (Studier i Norsk Språkvitenskap 1.) Oslo: Novus Forlag.Google Scholar
Jahr, E.H. & Lorentz, O. 1983 a. Innleiing. In Jahr & Lorentz (1983b:9–29).Google Scholar
Jahr, E.H. & Lorentz, O. (eds.) 1983 b. Prosodi/Prosody. (Studier i Norsk Språkvitenskap 2.) Oslo: Novus Forlag.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, P. 1984. On the Lexical Phonology of Icelandic. In Elert et al. (1984:135–164).Google Scholar
Lass, R. 1983. Quantity, Resolution, and Syllable Geometry. Folia Linguistica Historica 4, 151–180.Google Scholar
Lass, R. 1984. Phonology. An Introduction to Basic Concepts. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Liberman, A. 1982. Germanic Accentology. Volume I. The Scandinavian Languages. (Minnesota Publications in the Humanities, Volume One.) Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Liljestrand, B. 1975. Så bildas orden. Lund: Studentlitteratur.Google Scholar
Lyttkens, I. A. & Wulff, F. A. 1916. Ordskatt och ljudförråd i svenska språket. Lund: C. W. K. Gleerups Forlag.Google Scholar
Maddieson, I. 1984. Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Malmberg, B. 1956. Distinctive Features of Swedish Vowels: Some Instrumental and Structural Data. In For Roman Jakobson, 1956. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 316–321. [Reprinted in Malmberg, B. 1971, Phonétique générate et romane. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 249–1255.]Google Scholar
Odhner, E. 1979. Svenskt rimlexikon. 3rd ed. rev. by Hallén, S.. Stockholm: Forum.Google Scholar
Söderbergh, R. 1967. Svensk ordbildning. (Skrifter utgivna av Nämnden för svensk språkvård 34.) Stockholm: Svenska Bokförlaget/Norstedts.Google Scholar
Thorell, O. 1981. Svensk ordbildningslära. Stockholm: Esselte Studium.Google Scholar
Vanvik, A. 1972. A Phonetic-Phonemic Analysis of Standard Eastern Norwegian. Part I. Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap 26, 119–164. [Also, in Norwegian version, in Vanvik (1979).]Google Scholar
Vanvik, A. 1979. Norsk fonetikk. Lydlœren i standard østnorsk supplert med materiale fra dialektene. Oslo: Fonetisk institutt, Universitetet i Oslo.Google Scholar
Wessén, E. 1965. Svensk språkhistoria II. Ordbildningslära. 5th ed.Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar