Connecting /t/ in Maltese numerals: synchrony and diachrony

4th International Conference on Maltese LinguisticsUniversité Lyon 2

17/06/2013

• Christopher LucasSOAS, University of London

• Michael Spagnol• Albert Gatt

University of Malta

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Maltese cardinal numerals 2–10

  Long form‘two’ tnejn‘three’ tlieta‘four’ erbgħa‘five’ ħamsa‘six’ sitta‘seven’ sebgħa‘eight’ tmienja‘nine’ disgħa‘ten’ għaxra

Short formżewġtlieterba’ħamessittseba’tmiendisa’għaxar

-t formżewġttlitterbatħamestsittsebattmintdisatgħaxart

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Outline

The synchronic distribution of the -t form numerals: Existing claims and their inadequacy. Production experiment to produce more accurate

generalization.

Reconstructing the evolution of this distribution.

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Previous literature

Two main types of claim: -t is triggered by an initial consonant cluster in

the following plural noun.

Not quite as contradictory as they may seem!

Both views tell part of the story.

-t is triggered by an initial vowel in the following plural noun.

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Previous literature

Consonant cluster views: Cremona (1938: 204–5): plurals that are CC-

initial + monosylabic trigger -t (+ epenthetic /i/), e.g.:

ħabib ‘friend’, pl. ħbieb, 2 friends: zewġt iħbieb

belt ‘town’, pl. bliet, 8 towns: tmint iblietfenek ‘rabbit’, pl. fniek, 10 rabbits: għaxart ifniek

But snin ‘years’ is exceptional: għaxar snin

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Previous literature

Consonant cluster views: Borg (1974): -t insertion, where licit, is always

optional as one means of avoiding illicit consonant clusters, e.g.:

kelb ‘dog’, pl. klieb, 7 dogs: sebat iklieb / seba’ klieb

Also: -t is ungrammatical before a (non-epenthetic) initial vowel, and with “sound” plurals, e.g.:

stampa ‘picture’, pl. stampi, seba’ stampi

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Previous literature

Initial vowel views: Sutcliffe (1936: 188–9): -t co-occurs with a

following vowel, whether epenthetic or not. Aquilina (1965: 118): all V-initials, all

monosyllabics, optional with CC-initial disyllabics.

Hoberman (2007: 277–8): before any Arabic-derived V-initial, e.g. erbat aħwa ‘4 siblings’, all monosyllabics, optional with CC-initial disyllabics.

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Experiment

Our intuition: onset is the key factor, with number of syllables also contributing.

Different phonological properties of various numerals (mono-/disyllabic, C-final vs. V-final) perhaps also relevant.

Not feasible to properly test further potentially relevant variables (sound vs. broken plural, Arabic- vs. Romance-derived) in a single experiment.

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Experiment design

Subjects: 35 students of the University of Malta (18 female, 17 male) + 5 older speakers (40+, 4 female, 1 male).

Test items: 1 of 7 numerals (2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) paired with a singular noun.

Fillers: a numeral (11–19) paired with a singular noun.

Task: say the phrase as you would in normal speech.

N.B.: 2–10 take a plural noun, 11+ a singular. 3 + 6 excluded.

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Experiment design

  Long form‘two’ tnejn‘three’ tlieta‘four’ erbgħa‘five’ ħamsa‘six’ sitta‘seven’ sebgħa‘eight’ tmienja‘nine’ disgħa‘ten’ għaxra

Short formżewġtlieterba’ħamessittseba’tmiendisa’għaxar

-t formżewġttlitterbatħamestsittsebattmintdisatgħaxart

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12 qasba

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12 qasba2 tifla13 bandiera7 artiklu15 għalqa10 larinġa11 bejt5 ħsieb19 ballun7 ħu/oħt19 kutra2 wild

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Experiment design

56 plurals were tested, divided equally into 8 categories:

CC-initial: Mono-, Di-, PolysyllabicCV-initial: Mono-, Di-, PolysyllabicV-initial: Di-, Polysyllabic

Subjects were split into 7 groups. Each group had a different combination of numeral and noun, e.g.:Group 1: 2 tifla, 7 artiklu, 8 butGroup 2: 4 tifla, 8 artiklu, 9 butGroup 3: 5 tifla, 9 artiklu, 10 but etc.

Test nounsMonosyllabic Disyllabic Polysyllabic

CC-initial fniek ‘rabbits’ bramel ‘buckets’ kmandamenti ‘commandments’klieb ‘dogs’ platti ‘plates’ trakkijiet ‘trucks’bniet ‘girls’ stampi ‘pictures’ flokkijiet ‘shirts’djar ‘houses’ ġranet ‘days’ dmirijiet ‘duties’ħbieb ‘friends’ skejjel ‘schools’ ħsibijiet ‘thoughts’snin ‘years’ ljieli ‘nights’ żminijiet ‘times’bwiet ‘pockets’ kmamar ‘rooms’ studenti ‘students’

CV-initial files ‘files’ kotba ‘books’ neputijiet ‘grandchildren’films ‘films’ naħat ‘sides’ larinġiet ‘oranges’xhur ‘months’ bozoz ‘bulbs’ pappagalli ‘butterflies’jiem ‘days’ widnejn ‘ears’ kategoriji ‘categories’gowls ‘goals’ żgħażagħ ‘youths’ pajjiżi ‘countries’fonts ‘fonts’ diski ‘disks’ postijiet ‘places’toasts ‘pieces of toast’ kelmiet ‘words’ verżjonijiet ‘versions’

V-initial   ilsna ‘tongues’ arloġġi ‘clocks’  erwieħ ‘souls’ ajruplani ‘aeroplanes’    ulied ‘sons’ operazzjonijiet ‘operations’    uċuħ ‘faces’ għasafar ‘birds’    idejn ‘hands’ appartamenti ‘appartments’    aħwa ‘siblings’ artikli ‘articles’    oqsma ‘fields’ individwi ‘individuals’

Di Mono PolyCC 123 177 4CV 1 30 1V 93 n/a 31

Responses with -t by onset and no. of syllables

Results for young (and older) speakersMonosyllabic % -t

(young)% -t(40+)

Disyllabic % -t(young)

% -t(40+)

Polysyllabic % -t(young)

% -t(40+)

CC-initial fniek 94% 100% bramel 74% 60% kmandamenti 6% 0%klieb 97% 100% platti 7% 0% trakkijiet 0% 0%bniet 88% 100% stampi 6% 40% flokkijiet 3% 0%djar 94% 100% ġranet 77% 80% dmirijiet 0% 0%ħbieb 94% 100% skejjel 56% 40% ħsibijiet 3% 0%snin 10% 25% ljieli 80% 80% żminijiet 0% 0%bwiet 76% 100% kmamar 71% 100% studenti 0% 0%

CV-initial files 0% 0% kotba 0% 0% neputijiet 0% 0%films 0% 0% naħat 0% 0% larinġiet 0% 0%xhur 3% 0% bozoz 0% 0% pappagalli 3% 0%jiem 97% 100% widnejn 0% 0% kategoriji 0% 0%gowls 0% 0% żgħażagħ 3% 0% pajjiżi 0% 0%fonts 0% 0% diski 0% 0% postijiet 0% 0%toasts 0% 0% kelmiet 0% 0% verżjonijiet 0% 0%

V-initial     ilsna 33% 40% arloġġi 9% 0%    erwieħ 84% 100% ajruplani 20% 20%    ulied 45% 40% operazzjonijiet 3% 0%    uċuħ 24% 20% għasafar 34% 60%    idejn 26% 80% appartamenti 6% 20%    aħwa 45% 20% artikli 9% 20%    oqsma 27% 20% individwi 9% 20%

Di Mono PolyCC 123 174 4CV 1 1 1V 66 0 31

Responses with -t by onset and no. of syllables, excluding erwieħ, jiem and snin

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Summary of results

Data were analysed using a linear mixed effects model, with random intercept and slope for test subjects, but not test items.

But no main effect of numeral choice.

Main effect of onset type (z=-9.79, p<0.001) and no. of syllables (z=-9.96, p<0.001).

Interaction between onset and syllables (z=2.54, p=0.01). No pairwise interactions involving numeral choice, but an interaction between all three conditions (z=2.5, p=0.01).

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Summary of results

Plurals with CV- onsets (other than jiem ‘days’) are extremely hostile to -t, regardless of no. of syllables, broken vs. sound etc.

CV-initial files 0% kotba 0% neputijiet 0%films 0% naħat 0% larinġiet 0%xhur 3% bozoz 0% pappagalli 3%(jiem 97%) widnejn 0% kategoriji 0%gowls 0% żgħażagħ 3% pajjiżi 0%fonts 0% diski 0% postijiet 0%toasts 0% kelmiet 0% verżjonijiet 0%

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Summary of results

With CC- onsets there is a strong interaction with no. of syllables: monosyllables (all broken plurals) strongly favour -t; disyllabic plurals are reasonably favourable when broken, apparently very hostile when sound; polysyllabic plurals (all sound) are very hostile.

CC-initial fniek 94% bramel 74% kmandamenti 6%klieb 97% platti 7% trakkijiet 0%bniet 88% stampi 6% flokkijiet 3%djar 94% ġranet 77% dmirijiet 0%ħbieb 94% skejjel 56% ħsibijiet 3%(snin 10%) ljieli 80% żminijiet 0%bwiet 76% kmamar 71% studenti 0%

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Summary of results

V- onsets are somewhat favourable when disyllabic, less so when polysyllabic. Unclear whether sound vs. broken plural or no. of syllables (or both) is relevant here.

V-initial ilsna 33% arloġġi 9%(erwieħ 84%) ajruplani 20%ulied 45% operazzjonijiet 3%uċuħ 24% għasafar 34%idejn 26% appartamenti 6%aħwa 45% artikli 9%oqsma 27% individwi 9%

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Summary of results

The interaction of onset, no. of syllables and numeral choice arises only with V-initial disyllabics, where frequency and phonology of word-final segment of the numeral seem to be relevant:

Numeral Freq. per million in MLRS corpus

Freq. -t with disyllabics

Final segment

żewġ 893.42 50% Obstruenterba‘ 293.27 30% Sonorantħames 276.2 43% Obstruentseba‘ 113.49 31% Sonoranttmien 93.04 33% Sonorantdisa‘ 73.72 25% Sonorantgħaxar 130.63 21% Sonorant

Questions arising

What kinds of rules do children acquire to produce these generalizations?

How did this system evolve from its early spoken Arabic ancestor?

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Is the apparent inter-speaker variation (partially) a reflection of optionality for individual speakers?

Questions arising

Yes. Of the 7 subjects we retested (1 from each group), none were consistent in their use of -t.

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Is the apparent inter-speaker variation (partially) a reflection of optionality for individual speakers?

Across all test items, consistency of -t insertion ranged from 50%–84% (for the least/most consistent subjects).

Optionality of -t for individual speakers

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Mono- Per subject consist-ency

Overall freq.

Di- Per subject consist-ency

Overall freq.

Poly- Per subject consist-ency

Overall freq.

CC- fniek 86% 94% bramel 86% 74% kmandamenti 86% 6%klieb 100% 97% platti 100% 7% trakkijiet 100% 0%bniet 100% 88% stampi 71% 6% flokkijiet 86% 3%djar 86% 94% ġranet 33% 77% dmirijiet 100% 0%ħbieb 100% 94% skejjel 57% 56% ħsibijiet 100% 3%snin 100% 10% ljieli 86% 80% żminijiet 100% 0%bwiet 86% 76% kmamar 83% 71% studenti 100% 0%

CV- files 100% 0% kotba 100% 0% neputijiet 100% 0%films 100% 0% naħat 100% 0% larinġiet 100% 0%xhur 83% 3% bozoz 100% 0% pappagalli 100% 3%jiem 100% 97% widnejn 100% 0% kategoriji 100% 0%gowls 100% 0% żgħażagħ 100% 3% pajjiżi 100% 0%fonts n/a 0% diski 100% 0% postijiet 100% 0%toasts 100% 0% kelmiet 100% 0% verżjonijiet 100% 0%

V-     ilsna 86% 33% arloġġi 83% 9%    erwieħ 57% 84% ajruplani 57% 20%    ulied 60% 45% operazzjonijiet 100% 3%    uċuħ 86% 24% għasafar 71% 34%    idejn 71% 26% appartamenti 86% 6%    aħwa 100% 45% artikli 86% 9%    oqsma 57% 27% individwi 71% 9%

Acquisition

Acquirers must posit something like the following rules: numerals followed by CV- onsets obligatorily lack

-t.

CC- broken plurals at least optionally trigger -t.

numerals followed by sound plurals with CC- (and CV-) onsets obligatorily lack -t.

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V- plurals (of all types?) optionally trigger -t.

Frequency

Acquirers are clearly sensitive to the token frequency of nouns and numeral + noun strings.

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Apparent effect of no. of syllables could perhaps be explained as an epiphenomenon of frequency and/or as parasitic on the fact that polysyllabicity is associated with sound plurals.

This will be investigated further with a planned corpus study and a second experiment focussed on distinguishing the role of no. of syllables vs. sound/broken plural.

Exceptions

Why treat results for erwieħ ‘souls’, jiem ‘days’ and snin ‘years’ as discountable exceptions?

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Erwieħ: etymologically (perhaps synchronically) erwieħ is CC- monosyllabic. Vowel epenthesis occurs whenever a word-initial

sonorant + consonant cluster follows something other than a vowel.

Usually this is /i/, e.g. bla lsien ‘without a tongue’ vs. ilsien, but before /r/ it is /e/, e.g. rġajt ‘I redid’ > erġajt

But epenthetic /e/ is usually retained in all contexts (i.e. is no longer epenthetic).

Evolution

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Classical Arabic (like Akkadian and Canaanite) exhibits gender polarity in numeral agreement from 3–10, e.g. yawmun (m.) ‘day’ > xamsatu (f.) ʾayyāmin ‘5 days’.

In many contemporary Arabic dialects this construction has been radically refunctionalized: Independent numerals are etymologically

feminine, e.g. xamsa ‘five’. Determiner numerals are (usually)

etymologically masculine, e.g. xamas sinīn ‘5 years’, but a reflex of tāʾ marbūṭa reappears with high-frequency V-initial plurals, e.g. xamas-t-iyyām ‘5 days’.

Evolution

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Assuming Maltese started from this kind of system, the following evolution seems likely: Stage I: only VCCV(V)C plurals take -t, e.g. aħbāb

‘friends’. Stage IIa: VCCVVC and CVCVVC collapse into

CCVVC, e.g. aħbāb ‘friends’ > ħbieb, kilāb ‘dogs’ > klieb.

VCCiCa > VCCCa, e.g. ilsna ‘tongues’ (< alsina) Stage IIb: among CCVVC plurals, only originally V-

initial ones take -t. Initial V preserved after -t.

Evolution

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Assuming Maltese started from this kind of system, the following evolution seems likely:

Stage IIc: initial V after -t reanalysed as epenthetic, except for ilsna etc.

Stage IIb: among CCVVC plurals, only originally V-initial ones take -t. Initial V preserved after -t.

Stage III: -t + epenthetic V generalized to all CCVVC plurals.

Stage IVa: all CC-initial broken plurals take -t, obligatoriness increases with frequency.

Stage IVb: all V-initial plurals take -t, obligatoriness increases with frequency.

Stage IVa: all CC-initial broken plurals take -t, obligatoriness increases with frequency.

Stage IVb: all V-initial plurals take -t, obligatoriness increases with frequency.

Present-day: CC- broken plurals identified as prototypical context for -t, V-initial contexts perhaps on the way out?

Jiem and snin

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High token frequency (of lexical items, constructions) is commonly associated with irregularity (Bybee 2003).

This is because high-frequency items are resistant to analogical (but not phonological) change.

Jiem ‘days’ < ayyām, i.e. a -t-inserting pattern. It is CV-initial but retains its V-type morphosyntax due to v. high frequency.

Snin ‘years’ < sinīn, i.e. a -t-resistant pattern. It is CC-initial but retains its CV-type morphosyntax due to v. high frequency. Also not a broken plural!

Conclusion

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Despite having no clear function, and often being optional, the Maltese numeral -t morpheme has survived for 1000+ years and expanded its range to include both V- and CC-initial following plural nouns.

This serves as a reminder that functional pressures are not the only drivers of linguistic change.

At least as important is the need for acquirers to establish generalizations which are consistent with their input, but also transcend it, allowing them to produce novel utterances.

This is true of all aspects of the input, even those as functionally redundant as Maltese numeral -t.

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