Three-way opposition in affixes

To complement their privative analysis of stems and to capture the influence that affixes have on accent assignment, Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) classify affixes by three categories:

H-inducing, L-inducing or tonally neutral.²² They, unfortunately, only provide us with a few examples of each affix type, most of which are derivational. These are given below in (8) according to tonal category.

(8) Tone inducing and neutral affixes (Withgott & Halvorsen 1984:9f, 21) a. H-inducing affixes

22. Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) signify these tone-inducing stems and affixes by a superscript H for Accent-2 inducing, superscript L for Accent-1 inducing, which correspond to the tone associated to the stressed syllable of Accent-2 and Accent-1 words in East Norwegian dialects.

23. The underlying stem for vakker ‘pretty’ is monosylabic /vakr/, which surfaces in the plural (vakre), comparative (vakrere) and superlative (vakrest).

24. A further neutral affix is the present tense suffix {-er}, which will be discussed in section 2.1.6.

As can be seen by the examples in (8), Withgott & Halvorsen (1984) classify the first set as H-inducing because these affixes bring about Accent 2 in words that have Accent 1 in iso-lation. The tone-bearing prefix {^Hu-}, for example, when added to monosyllabic frisk1

‘unspoiled’ produces the Accent-2 derivation 'ufrisk2 ‘spoiled’, as does the suffix {^H-lig} when added to latter1 ‘laugh’ ('latterlig2 ‘ridiculous’).

Following this pattern, L-inducing affixes result in Accent 1 when added to stems (8b). The superlative suffix {^L-(e)st} is one example of an L-inducing suffix. It produces Accent-1 forms when added to the monosyllabic stem kjær1 ‘dear’ or to the derived disyllabic Accent-2 'fyldig2

‘plump’, e.g. 'kjærest1 ‘dearest’, 'fyldigst1 ‘plumpest’. The neutral affixes presented in (8c), in contrast, do not alter word accent as shown here in the derivations containing the suffix {-het}:

'finhet1 ‘fineness’, 'lummerhet1 ‘humidity’, 'lumpenhet2 ‘meanness’. In the following, we now demonstrate how affixation affects accent assignment according to Withgott & Halvorsen.

(9) Accent assignment and affixation according to Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) a. H-inducing affixes:

Stem Affix + stem Association of floating H

Accent

assignment Gloss frisk1 ^Hu + frisk > ^H'ufrisk 'ufrisk2 spoiled latter1 latter + ^Hlig > ^H'latterlig 'latterlig2 ridiculous b. L-inducing affixes:

Stem Affix + stem Association

of floating L Accent

assignment Gloss kjør1 kjør + ^Lsel > ^L'kjørsel 'kjørsel1 driving

vakker1 vakr + ^Lest > ^L'vakrest 'vakrest1 prettySUPERLATIVE

fyldig2 fyldig + ^Lst > ^L'fyldigst 'fyldigst1 plumpSUPERLATIVE

The examples in (9a) illustrate accent assignment with H-inducing affixes {^Hu-} and {-^Hlig}.

In the first column, we list the accent of the stem as an isolated word (e.g. frisk1 has Accent 1).

In the second column, all tones of stems and affixes are given. Here we see that both the prefix {^Hu-} and suffix {-^Hlig} are equipped with floating H tones. In the third column, stress is assigned and main stress attracts any floating tones of the derivation, e.g. the floating H of {^H-lig} attaches to the main stressed syllable of ^H'latterlig. This linked H gives the whole derivation Accent 2, 'latterlig2 ‘ridiculous’, as can be seen in the fourth column.

Accent assignment functions in the same way for words containing an L-inducing affix, as illustrated in (9b). The floating L of {-^Lsel},{-^L(e)st} links to the main stressed syllables of

L'kjørsel and ^L'vakrest producing Accent-1 forms 'kjørsel1 ‘driving’ and 'vakrest1 ‘prettiest’.

Finally, the superlative suffix {-^L(e)st} attaches to the Accent-2 form fyldig2, producing 'fyldigst1 ‘plumpest’.

Unfortunately, Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) do not provide all the tonal possibilities here for these tone-inducing suffixes. They leave out a few details by not including examples of Accent-1 {-lig} derivations, for example, 'ordentlig1 ‘orderly’, as we saw in (4c). If {-lig} is indeed Accent-2 inducing, how would Withgott & Halvorsen explain Accent 1 here? Recall that stems for Withgott & Halvorsen only may bear lexical Accent 2. Therefore, the stem cannot be the causing Accent 1, but neither can the suffix if it is truly H-inducing.

Another blemish on Withgott & Halvorsen's approach concerns their examples used to illustrate the L-inducing properties of {-^Lsel} and {-^L(e)st}. These examples are not totally convincing since the forms they attach to already have Accent 1 from the start (i.e., kjør1, 'kjørsel1; 'vakker1, 'vakrest1). The Accent-1 inducing suffixes {-^Lsel} and {-^L(e)st} could also be said not to alter the tone at all – resembling the neutral suffixes in (8c). A more convincing example would be a monomorphemic polysyllabic word that has Accent 2 in isolation, which takes on Accent 1 when suffixed with a inducing suffix. However, the only example of a L-inducing suffix attaching to an Accent-2 polysyllabic word that Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) provide is {-^L(e)st}, which attaches to the already suffixed form 'fyld-ig2. Multi-affixed words behave differently in relation to accent assignment, which we will see later on in section 2.1.4. It is, therefore, difficult to be convinced of the actual Accent-1 inducing qualities of {-^Lsel} and {-^L(e)st}. When scrutinised more closely, the suffix {-^Lsel} in fact appears only on monosyllabic stems, producing Accent-1 derivations, as can be seen from the following examples.

(10) Examples of words suffixed with {-sel}

a. Monomorphemic stems b. Complex forms

Stem +

{-sel} Accent Gloss Prefixed form +

{-sel} Accent Gloss

'bren-sel 'brensel1 firewood 'anfør-sel 'anførsel2 command 'leng-sel 'lengsel1 longing 'etterspør-sel 'etterspørsel2 demand 'bind-sel 'bindsel1 bandage 'tilfør-sel 'tilførsel2 supply 'før-sel 'førsel1 transport 'avkjør-sel 'avkjørsel2 exit 'gjød-sel 'gjødsel1 manure 'advar-sel 'advarsel2 warning 'hør-sel 'hørsel1 hearing 'forvar-sel 'forvarsel2 prewarning As illustrated in (10), the suffix {-sel} only attaches to monomorphemic stems that are monosyllabic (10a), resulting in Accent-1 forms, or it also can be found complex derivations with Accent 2 (10b). The question arises, that if {-sel} is Accent-1 inducing, why does it fail to do so in these complex derivations?

Cases of the superlative suffix attaching to polysyllabic monomorphemic adjectives are also difficult to find. Norwegian, like English, has periphrastic inflection in most polysyllabic adjectives, but there are words ending in -ig, -lig, -som, e.g. 'viktig2 ‘important’, 'viktigst1 ‘most important’, 'farlig2 ‘dangerous’, 'farligst1 ‘most dangerous’, 'morsom2 ‘funny’, 'morsomst1

‘funniest’. These derived examples give us more evidence that the superlative suffix does induce Accent 1 and to a greater extent than {-sel}. However, for lack of more evidence we will just have to assume that both {-^Lsel} and {-^L(e)st} behave differently than neutral affixes for the time being – even though there is no immediate proof of their L-inducing capacities with simplex stems. We will discuss accent assignment and multiple affixation in more detail in section 2.1.4 of this chapter.

The next objects that deserve closer investigation are Withgott & Halvorsen’s neutral affixes. Using the neutral suffix {-het}, we illustrate how neutral affixes and accent assignment operate in Withgott & Halvorsen's approach.

(11) Neutral affixes and accent assignment

Stem Stem +{-het} Association

of stem’s H Accent

assignment Gloss a. lummer1 lummer + het > no tone - default L 'lummerhet1 humidity b. lumpen2 ^Hlumpen + het > ^H'lumpenhet 'lumpenhet2 meanness

Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) label affixes that have no affect on the accent of a word as neutral (cf. (8c)). Given the examples in (11), we see that regardless of whether we start out with an Accent-1 stem 'lummer1 (11a) or with an Accent-2 stem 'lumpen2 (11b), attaching a suffix, such as {-het}, will not change the accent. Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) claim this is because {-het} is a neutral suffix which bears no tone. Thus, the only tone that is available to link up to the stressed syllable must come from the stem – be it a H (lumpen2) or default L (lummer1). The stem lumpen2 has Accent 2, which indicates for Withgott &

Halvorsen that it bears a H on the main stressed syllable (^Hlumpen) and ultimately also causes the Accent-2 derivation ('lumpenhet2 ‘meanness’). The word 'lummer1 has no inherent tone, therefore, when the toneless suffix {-het} attaches to it, the result is a default L and Accent 1.

We explain how default tone assignment works for Withgott & Halvorsen (1984, 1988) below in section 2.1.5.

Withgott & Halvorsen (1984) represents one of the most in-depth analyses on word accent assignment since Rischel (1960/1983). Their approach helps to elucidate how words can be broken down into individual tone-bearing components and reveals the basic tools for determining accent assignment in most categories of words, although in an extremely complex way. Unnecessarily complex, as will become more and more evident in what follows and when we present our analysis in Chapter 3. However, to be able to compare Withgott & Halvorsen's approach to the other analyses discussed in this chapter and to our analyses presented in Chapter 3, we must provide the remaining tools needed for Withgott & Halvorsen’s (1984, 1988) analysis and illustrate why these are necessary with a few examples.