Organizers:
Description:
The purpose of this workshop is to bring together researchers of the Baltic languages interested in the interaction between the prosodic properties of syllables, word-forms and larger units as well as the segmental composition of the corresponding morphemes. This interaction has been repeatedly demonstrated to be crucial for understanding phonological and morphological developments in the Baltic languages. Among the insights gained from a close investigation of the intersection of segmental phonology and prosody are such fundamental achievements as Leskien's Law in Lithuanian and the laws of final syllables in Latvian.
In recent years, the interest in Baltic prosody and its possible interaction with segmental phonology and morphology has been growing, leading to new insights and hypotheses. To name just the most remarkable advances, one can point to Majer (2017) on the present tense active participle; Villanueva Svensson (2017/18) on the i-apocope, (2019) on infinitive endings, and (2020) on the East Baltic ‘secondary local cases’; as well as Wandl (2022) on definite adjectives; Bolotov & Oslon (2019) as well as Oslon (2023) on syncope and also on the formation of the ‘secondary local cases’; and, finally, Fries (2022) on the genitive plural of personal pronouns and the subjunctive mood in the East Baltic dialects. In the domain of derivational morphology, one may point to Rinkevičius (2018) on Latvian nominal suffixes and Hill et al. (2019) on preverbs in both East Baltic languages.
As it seems, investigating prosody opens new perspectives on historical phonology and, especially, historical morphology, which we are just beginning to explore. At the same time, the detailed reconstruction of Baltic prosodic changes in their complex interaction with segmental phonology and morphology may provide a model for similar investigations in other groups of related languages.
This workshop invites papers on all aspects of prosodic change and related issues in Baltic. Possible topics include but are not limited to the following:
- establishing new and challenging received laws of prosodic change,
- establishing new patterns of interaction between prosodic and segmental phonology,
- establishing new domains of prosodic and/or prosodically induced segmental change,
- research into the syntactic behaviour and segmental evolution of clitics,
- investigating processes of univerbation and their impact on prosody and morphology.
References
- Bolotov, S.G. & M.V. Oslon. 2019. “Pravilo Leskina-Otrembskogo-Smočin’skogo” i mnimye izključenija iz zakona de Sossjura. Balto-slavjanskie issledovanija 20. 55-91.
- Fries, Simon. 2022. Über die Variation bū́tų ~ bū́t und mū́sų, jū́sų ~ mū́s, jū́s im Litauischen und ihren Hintergrund in den prosodischen Verhältnissen des Urostbaltischen. Baltu Filoloģija 31(2). 4-47.
- Hill, Eugen, Daniel Daniel Kölligan, Corinna Scheungraber & Michael Frotscher. 2019. The development of prefixation in time and space. Ditropic clitics and prosodic realignment in dialects of Indo-European. Transactions of the Philological Society 117(2). 157-198.
- Majer, Marek. 2017. Lith. vedą̃ = Sl. *vedǫtь̍: the accentuation of the nom. pl. of active participles as further proof of finite origin. Baltistica 52(1). 5-32.
- Oslon, M.V. 2023. Ešče k voprosu o proisxoždenii litovskix inessiva i illativa. Slavjanskoe i balkanskoe jazykoznanie 23. 257-291.
- Rinkevičius, Vytautas. 2018. Latvių kalbos vardažodžių priesagų priegaidžių kilmė. Baltistica 53(2). 187-229.
- Villanueva Svensson, Miguel. 2017/2018. The conditioning of the Balto-Slavic i-apocope. Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft. 71(2). 277-304.
- Villanueva Svensson, Miguel. 2019. The infinitive in Baltic and Balto-Slavic. Indo-European Linguistics 7. 194-221.
- Villanueva Svensson, Miguel. 2020. Balto-Slavic accentology, Auslautgesetze, and the Baltic secondary local cases. Baltistica 55(1). 5-42.
- Wandl, Florian. 2022. Superlative morphology from syntax: Slavic nai-/naj- and internal definiteness marking in Old Lithuanian. Transactions of the Philological Society 120(1). 103-127.
Registration:
If you would like to submit a paper for this workshop, please fill out the registration form (will be available in February 2025).