1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Linguistic Variation
  4. Online First Articles
  5. Online First Article
image of The emergence of vowel harmony in Armenian dialects
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

We find vowel harmony systems in many non-standard varieties of modern Armenian. It has been speculated that these may have acquired vowel harmony due to contact with Turkic varieties (Scala 2018). On the basis of an exploration of the synchrony and typology of Armenian vowel harmony, consideration of historical changes that could have caused harmony to develop, and evaluation of new data bearing on the origins of backness and rounding harmony in Oghuz, we propose that the vowel harmony systems of the modern Armenian dialects show evidence of having been influenced by Turkish, but the numerous differences between Armenian and Turkish vowel harmony point against a straightforward copying of the Turkish phonological system. We theorize that vowel harmony in Armenian arose due to a combination of language-internal and ‑external factors: vowel shifts in some Armenian dialects, alongside universal analytic and channel biases, provided the necessary preconditions for the development of vowel harmony by the 11th century AD, prior to the arrival of Turkic speakers in the Armenian homeland. Extensive contact with Turkic vowel systems may then have encouraged the phonologization of this assimilation process, but in strikingly different ways than are found in Turkic languages.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/lv.23049.hop
2024-08-27
2024-09-19

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/lv.23049.hop
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Achaṙean, Hrach‘eay
    1926 K‘nnut‘iwn Maraghayi Barbaṙi [Study of the Maragha Dialect]. Erevan.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. 1926–1935 Hayeren Armatakan Bararan [Armenian Root Dictionary]. Erevan: Petakan Hamalsaran.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. 1901 Usumnasirut‘iwnner haykakan barbaṙakhōsut‘ean [Studies in Armenian dialectology]. Vagharshapat: Tparan Mayr At‘oṙoy S. Ejmiatsni.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. 1911 Hay barbaṙagitut‘iwn [Armenian Dialectology]. Ēminean Azgagrakan Zhoghovatsu 8. Moscow: Lazarean Chemaran.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Achaṙyan, Hrach‘ea
    2003 K‘nnut‘yun Kilikiayi barbaṙi [Study of the dialect of Cilicia]. Erevan: University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Aghayan, Eduard
    1954 Meghru barbaṙə [The dialect of Meghri]. Erevan: Haykakan SSṘ GA Hratarakch‘ut‘yun.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Anonymous
    Anonymous 2008 Bible Revizyon 2008. Accessed online athttps://archive.org/details/turev_202204/mode/2upon30 July 2023.
  8. Berg, Thomas
    2008 On The Complementary Nature Of Consonant And Vowel Harmony in Child And Adult Language. Word:–. 10.1080/00437956.2008.11432588
     https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2008.11432588 [Google Scholar]
  9. British and Foreign Bible Society
    British and Foreign Bible Society 1896 Matean hin ew nor ktakaranneri [Book of the Old and New Testaments]. Kostandnupolis: A. Yakob Pōyacheani tparan.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Ch‘olak‘ean, Yakob
    2009 K‘esapi barbaṙə [The dialect of Kesab]. Erevan: “Hayastan” Hratarakch‘ut‘yun.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Chervela, N.
    1981 Medial consonant cluster acquisition by Telugu children. Journal of Child Language:–. 10.1017/S0305000900003019
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900003019 [Google Scholar]
  12. Chiu, F., Fromont, L., Lee, A., & Xu, Y.
    2015 Long-distance anticipatory vowel-to-vowel assimilatory effects in French and Japanese. InT. S. C. for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.), Proceedings of the xviiith international congress of phonetic sciences, pp. 1–5. Glasgow: University of Glasgow.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Clements, G., & Sezer, E.
    1982 Vowel and Consonant Disharmony in Turkish. InH. V. Hulst, & N. Smith, The Structure of Phonological Representations, pp. 213–255. Dordrecht: Foris. 10.1515/9783112423325‑007
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112423325-007 [Google Scholar]
  14. Cohen, Evan
    2012 Vowel harmony and universality in Hebrew acquisition. Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics:–. 10.1163/18776930‑00400001
     https://doi.org/10.1163/18776930-00400001 [Google Scholar]
  15. Conklin, Jenna and Olga Dmitrieva
    2019 Vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in Spanish Nonwords. Phonetica():–. 10.1159/000502890
     https://doi.org/10.1159/000502890 [Google Scholar]
  16. Conklin, Jenna
    2015 The Interaction of Palatal Coarticulation and Palatal Harmony in Kazan Tatar. InProceedings of Purdue Linguistics Association 10th Symposium, West Lafayette, IN.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Conybeare, Frederick
    1905 Armenian version of the OT. InA dictionary of the Bible vol. 1, James Hastings, ed., –. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Do, Y., and S. Mooney
    2022 Variation awaiting bias: Substantively biased learning of vowel harmony variation. Journal of Child Language:–. 10.1017/S0305000920000719
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000920000719 [Google Scholar]
  19. Dolatian, H.
    (2022) “An apparent case of outwardly-sensitive allomorphy in the Armenian definite”. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics(). 10.16995/glossa.6406
     https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.6406 [Google Scholar]
  20. Dolatian, Hossep and Peter Guekguezian
    2023 Relativized Locality: Phases and Tiers in Long-Distance Allomorphy in Armenian. Linguistic Inquiry (): –. 10.1162/ling_a_00456
     https://doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00456 [Google Scholar]
  21. Drachman, Gaberell, and Angeliki Malikouti-Drachman
    1973 Studies in the acquisition of Greek as a native language: I. Some preliminary findings on phonology. Ohio State University Working Papers in Linguistics.–.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Fowler, Carol
    1981 Production and perception of coarticulation among stressed and unstressed vowels. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research:–. 10.1044/jshr.2401.127
     https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.2401.127 [Google Scholar]
  23. Goshgarian, Rachel
    2013 Futuwwa in Thirteenth-Century Rūm and Armenia: Reform Movements and the Managing of Multiple Allegiances on the Seljuk Periphery. InThe Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East, A. Peacock and Sara Nur Yıldız, eds.London: I. B. Tauris, –. 10.5040/9780755693368.ch‑009
     https://doi.org/10.5040/9780755693368.ch-009 [Google Scholar]
  24. Haneyan, Anahit
    1978 Tigranakerti barbaṙə [The dialect of Tigranakert]. Erevan: Haykakan SSṚ Gitut'yun Akademia Hratarakch'ut'yun.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Harrison, K. D., Dras, M., & Kapicioglu, B.
    2002 Agent-Based Modelling of the Evolution of Vowel Harmony. Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society(), –.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Hopkins, Elizabeth
    2022 Vowel harmony in Armenian dialects. Master’s dissertation, Cambridge University.
  27. Jahukyan, Gevork‘
    1972 Hay barbaṙagitut‘yan neratsut‘yun [Introduction to Armenian dialectology]. Erevan: Haykakan SSH GA Hratarakch‘ut‘yun.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Jankowski, Henryk
    2012 Rounded-unrounded vowel harmony in Turkish. Studia Uralo-Altaica:–.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Johanson, Lars
    1979 Die westoghusische Labialharmonie [The West Oghuz labial harmony]. Orientalia Suecana:–.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Johanson, L.
    1998 The history of Turkic. InJohanson and Csató (1998).
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Johanson, L., & Csató, E. A.
    (1998) The Turkic Languages. London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Kappa, Ioanna and Marina Tzakosta
    2019 Vowel harmony patterns in Greek dialectal child speech. InLanguage Variation — European Perspectives VII, Selected papers from the Ninth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 9), Malaga, June 2017, Edited byJuan A. Villena Ponsoda, Francisco Díaz Montesinos, Antonio Ávila Muñoz, and Matilde Vida Castro. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp.–. 10.1075/silv.22.08kap
     https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.22.08kap [Google Scholar]
  33. Karimzad, F.
    2014 Vowel Harmony in the Azeri Spoken in Iran: Dialectal Variations and a Possible Sound Change in Progress. Qualifying Paper, University of Illinois.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Kerslake, Celia
    1998 Ottoman Turkish. InJohanson and Csató (1998).
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Keskin, Cem
    2022 Transient behavior in vowel harmony. Manuscript, University of Potsdam.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Khalat‘eants‘, Grigor
    1911 Yovakim Shṙeōderi T‘ght‘erits‘ (Nra “Aramean lezuin ganji” 200 ameaki aṙit‘ov) [From the pages of Joachim Schröder (on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his “Thesaurus of the Armenian Language”)]. Huschardzan: Festschrift aus Anlass des 100 jährigen Bestandes der Mechitaristen Kongregation in Wien (1811–1911), ed. Mechitaristen-Kongregation unter Mitwirkung der Mitarbeiter der Monatsschrift und Zahlreicher Armenisten, pp.–. Wien: Druck und Verlag der Mechitaristen-Kongregation.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Mailhot, Frédéric
    2010 Modelling the acquisition and evolution of vowel harmony. Doctoral dissertation, Carleton University. 10.22215/etd/2010‑09741
     https://doi.org/10.22215/etd/2010-09741
  38. Mansuroğlu, Mecdut
    1954 The Rise and Development of Written Turkish in Anatolia. Oriens:–.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Margaryan, Alek‘sandr
    1975 Gorisi barbaṛĕ [The dialect of Goris]. Erevan: Erewani hamalsarani hratarakch‘ut‘yun.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. McCollum, Adam
    2016 Modeling the Gradient Evolution and Decay of Harmony Systems. Proceedings of AMP 2015. 10.3765/amp.v3i0.3654
     https://doi.org/10.3765/amp.v3i0.3654 [Google Scholar]
  41. Mokari, Payam Ghaffarvand and Stefan Werner
    2017 Azerbaijani. Journal of the International Phonetic Association:–. 10.1017/S0025100317000184
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100317000184 [Google Scholar]
  42. Ohala, J. J.
    1994 Towards a universal, phonetically-based theory of vowel harmony. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Speech and Language Processing, pp.–. Yokohama, Japan. 10.21437/ICSLP.1994‑113
     https://doi.org/10.21437/ICSLP.1994-113 [Google Scholar]
  43. Ohala, John
    1994 Hierarchies of environments for sound variation; plus implications for ‘neutral’ vowels in vowel harmony. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia:–. 10.1080/03740463.1994.10420414
     https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.1994.10420414 [Google Scholar]
  44. Öhman, Sven
    1966 Coarticulation in VCV utterances: Spectrographic measurements. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America:–. 10.1121/1.1909864
     https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1909864 [Google Scholar]
  45. Revithiadou, A., Oostendorp, M. V., Nikolou, K., & Tiliopoulu, M.-A.
    2004 Vowel harmony in contact-induced systems: the case of Asia Minor dialects of Greek. Proceedings of the international conference series of Modern Greek dialects and linguistics theory:–.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Ross, A.
    1937 An example of vowel-harmony in a young child. Modern Language Notes:–. 10.2307/2911665
     https://doi.org/10.2307/2911665 [Google Scholar]
  47. Rysling, A., & Kingston, J.
    2023 Phonetic and functional precursors to vowel harmony. InNancy Ritter & Harry Van Der Hulst (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Vowel Harmony. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Sanjian, Avedis and Andreas Tietze
    1981 Eremya Chelebi Kömürjian’s Armeno-Turkish poem “The Jewish bride”. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Sankoff, Gillian
    2001 Linguistic Outcomes of Language Contact. InPeter Trudgill, J. Chambers & N. Schilling-Estes, eds., Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp.–.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Sargseants‘, Sargis
    1883 Agulets‘ots‘ barbaṙə (Zōkeri lezun) [The dialect of the Agulets‘is (the language of the Zoks)]. Moskva: Skoropechatnja O. Gerbeka.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Scala, Andrea
    2018 Borrowing of phonological rules: case studies from Romani, Armenian and Yiddish and some general reflections. Journal of Language Relationship:–.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Schröder, Johannes Joachim
    1711 Thesaurus linguae armenicae. Amsterdam: n.p.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Schütz, E.
    1971 Jeremia Čelebis türkische Werke (zur Phonetik des Mittelosmanischen). Studia turkica, ed.L. Ligeti, pp.–. Budapest: Akademia Kiado.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Sebastats‘i, Mkhit‘ar
    1727 Duṙn k‘erakanut‘ean [Door to grammar]. Vēnētik: ‘I tparani Andōni Pōṙt‘ōli.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Stemberger, J.
    1993 Glottal transparency. Phonology:–. 10.1017/S0952675700001755
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675700001755 [Google Scholar]
  56. van Oostendorp, M., Revithiadou, A., & Nikolou, K.
    (2006) Vowel Harmony in Contact Induced Systems: The Case of Asia Minor Dialects of Greek. InM. Janse, B. Joseph, & A. Ralli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory (pp.–). University of Patras.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Vaux, B.
    1996 Vowel harmony in the Armenian dialect of Marash. Manuscript, Harvard University.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. 1998 The Phonology of Armenian. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 10.1093/oso/9780198236610.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198236610.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  59. Vaux, Bert, and Ariwan Suhairi
    2024 Armenian Vowel Harmony. InThe Oxford Handbook of Vowel Harmony, Harry van der Hulst and Nancy Ritter, eds.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Weitenberg, Jos
    2017 The dialectology of Armenian. Volume 2 Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook, edited byJared Klein, Brian Joseph and Matthias Fritz, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, pp.–. 10.1515/9783110523874‑020
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110523874-020 [Google Scholar]
  61. Zōhrapean, Yovhannēs
    1805 A[stua]tsashunch‘ matean hin ew nor ktakaranats‘ [Bible: Book of the Old and New Testaments]. Venetik: ’I Gortsarani S[r]b[o]yn Ghazaru.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/lv.23049.hop
Loading
The emergence of vowel harmony in Armenian dialects
John Benjamins ; https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.23049.hop
/content/journals/10.1075/lv.23049.hop
/content/journals/10.1075/lv.23049.hop
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: Turkic ; phonetics ; dialects ; historical phonology ; Armenian ; vowel harmony ; Turkish ; Azeri ; historical linguistics

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error