Analogical Sound Changes in Persian Verbs: An Optimality Theoretic Account

Abstract

Abstract In this study, 7 kinds of Persian analogical sound changes have been detected and classified in 12 analogical patterns in a set of 80 simple verbs. Those changes then have been analyzed based on two different but related optimality theoretic approaches including constraints reranking and input restructuring. It is shown that the analogical changes have basically occurred in the past stems and in a proportional inter-paradigmatic or intra-paradigmatic leveling pattern which is based on present stems. The phonetic similarity between the present stems, is the prerequisite of the analogy and achieving similarity in the past stems. Both kinds of the analogical sound changes are explainable through IDENT-INPUTOUTPUT constraints being dominated by parochial IDENT-OUTPUTOUTPUT ones in the former approach, and relying on Lexical Optimization concept in the latter.Keywords: Persian language, analogical sound change, reanalysis, verbal stem, Optimality Theory IntroductionAnalogical change is a cognitive process through which the phonetic/morphological structures of linguistic forms changes in a way that they resemble the pre-existing form to which they are related morphologically, syntactically or semantically (Arlotto, 1972: 130; Trask, 2015: 99). So, analogy has always a base and follows a goal. Its base is mainly a form of the same language with a high frequency of use (Bybee, 1998), while the form itself does not usually change analogically (Beekes, 2011: 82). The goal of analogy is to create more uniform linguistic structures, in order for the language to achieve a simpler system and a one-to-one relation between form and meaning. Analogical changes are generally irregular and scattered, but some kinds of them are more systematic as they occur based on phonetic/phonological similarities between linguistic forms and among a wider range of interrelated structures, as paradigms (Hock, 2003). Analogical changes observed in Persian verbal stems have been driven based on the phonetic similarities among the structures in paradigmatic relationships and are formed at the phonology-morphology level, so they are considered systematic. Our goal in present study is to classify the analogical patterns of sound changes in Persian verbal stems alternation, to describe the mechanism of the patterns and to explain them in the framework of constraint-based Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, [1993]2004). Materials and MethodsA collection of 80 Persian simple verbs which have taken part in analogical relationships according to Monshizadeh (1998), were extracted from the lists appeared in Natel-Khanlari (1986: 399-405) and Sadeghi (2001). The present and past tense structures of the verbs including their roots and affixes and also their phonetic changes presented in Abolghasemi (1994) and Hasandust (2014) were investigated. Then, the analogical changes were classified and described in the form of some patterns, considering their bases and the kind of similarity relationship among the stems. Those analogical patterns were then analyzed using two Optimality Theoretic approaches to analogy: constraint reranking and the use of IDENT-OUTPUTOUTPUT constraints (McCarthy & Prince, 1995) and input restructuring based on concept Lexical Optimization (Prince & Smolensky, 2004: 225-226). Discussion of Results and Conclusions7 types of the analogical sound changes were detected in the verbs under study. They have mainly occurred in the past stems so that the phonetic similarities between the present stems have been the motivation for analogical changes of the past stems sounds and caused them, too to be alike. These changes were divided into two systematic patterns: four-part inter-paradigmatic analogy and intra-paradigm leveling (Garrett, 2015). The former functions as proportional equations (pattern 1) and extends the alternations which formerly existed in other paradigms: 1) a : b a´ : x x = b´ Parameters a and b in (1) are respectively, the present and past stems of the verb ɑludan ‘to pollute’, for instance. a (= present stem: ɑlɑj) is the base of the analogy due to its similarity with a´(= present stem from another paradigm: ɑzmɑj ‘to test’); both of them end in /ɑj/. Then, b´(= ɑzmud) is created in a way that it is more similar to b (=past stem of the base: ɑlud), resulting the alternative pattern a:b be extended to a´:b´: 2) ɑlɑj : ɑlud ɑzmɑj : x x= ɑzmud >>> /ɑzmɑj/ ~/ɑzmɑd/ > /ɑzmɑj/~ /ɑzmud/ Analogical leveling was the second analogical pattern observed in Persian verbal stems. It is a change in the form of the same paradigm and its final result is the reduction or removal of the pre-existing alternations among the members of paradigm (Campbell, 2013: 93). The change /i/ > /a/ in the past stem /ɡozaʃt/ ‘to pass’ is the outcome of its analogical leveling to the present stem /ɡozar/: 3) ɡozaʃtanpresent /a/ ɡozaʃtan past /a/ >>> /ɡozar/ > /ɡoziʃt > /ɡozar/ ~ /ɡozaʃt/ Being a cognitive phenomenon, analogy is usually the byproduct of reanalysis, where the language speaker misinterprets the phonetic/morphological structure of the linguistic forms and assigns them a new structural parsing different from their original and historical structures (Haspelmath, 1994: 54; Trask, 2015: 96-99). Reanalysis is observable when the reanalyzed components are used in creating new forms (Kiparsky, 2000). An instance of this is the emergence of the sequence /id/ as an independent suffix and its extension to other forms. The classified analogical patterns in the present research include 9 four-part and 3 leveling patterns all of which were analyzed based on the two approaches of Optimality Theory; constraint re-ranking and input restructuring. In the former, the dominance of parochial IDENT-OUTPUTOUTPUT conjunctive constraints (Mayers, 2002; Kraska-Szelenk, 2007) over the IDENT- INPUTOUTPUT constraints which control the faithfulness of the outputs to the inputs, is the main conflict responsible for the analogical occurrences. Reranking these constraints results in no analogy and explain free variation as well. Free variation refers to the simultaneous existence of both analogical and non-analogical forms in the language. Furthermore, by taking advantage of those constraints that guarantee preserving the phonetic variations (Kraska-Szelenk, 2007), the role of analogy in extending or reducing the alternations is captured. In the latter approach, Lexical Optimization plays a role. For Language speakers there are one-to-one mappings between input representations and their output counterparts as heard in the environment. After analogical creation, the speakers do not access the evidences of such mappings in their linguistic experience, so their grammar inputs change in order to match the outputs. The change is the addition of the new forms to their lexicon as the most harmonious forms which remain there till a new change happen. Input restructuring is evidenced by those Persian stems which had a different form in the past and are absent in present-day Persian or exist with a different category from the verbs.

Keywords

• persian language
• analogical sound change
• reanalysis
• verbal stem
• optimality theory