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Robert Poletto |
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Robert Poletto Greetings! I finished my Ph.D. in December 1998. Now that I am no longer a graduate student, I won't be updating this page as often as I used to. However, I have put my dissertation online if you want to download it. If you are trying to contact me, see below. A copy of my c.v. is also available here. DissertationTopics in Runyankore PhonologyAbstractThis dissertation examines several issues in the phonology and morphology of the Bantu language Runyankore. While this language has been studied in the past, to date there has been no extensive discussion of the tonal patterns, reduplication, or the syntax-phonology interface. Along with description, this dissertation also examines the role of Optimality Theory in grammatical analysis. The verbal system of Runyankore contains a number of different types of tonal patterns. Two major categories of tone pattern emerge: lexical and melodic. The lexical tone patterns contain high tones associated with some segmental morpheme. On the other hand, the melodic tone patterns contain a high tone that is morphologically associated with the tense/aspect. We find that to describe these patterns, the notion of constraint must be extended to include macroconstraints, which comprise two or more constraints that are joined in a Boolean relationship. These morphological constraints outrank those constraints responsible for the more general tone patterns. In fact, the linking of the macroconstraints with particular patterns indicates a close relationship between constraint conjunction and morphology. Reduplication in Runyankore exhibits the familiar pattern found in many Bantu languages. However, there are two very unusual features of Runyankore reduplication that have special theoretical interest. First, very short verbs in Runyankore cannot undergo reduplication because they do not contain enough segmental material. Secondly, in a number of morphologically conditioned consonant mutations in Runyankore, there is an asymmetry between their appearance in the reduplicant and the base of reduplication. Finally, we consider the interface between syntax and phonology in Runyankore. There are two different tonal rules that apply within distinct phrasal contexts. One rule deletes a high tone from nouns. The second rule inserts a high tone onto a number of different lexical categories. Ultimately, through thorough description and analysis, we find that the grammar must make reference to syntactic structures to predict high tone deletion and to prosodic structures to predict high tone insertion. Download Dissertation
Contact InformationElectronic MailYou can send me email at the following addresses. Since you are accessing this page at OSU Linguistics, the LING address should still be working. After September 1999, you might have the best luck with the Yahoo! address. If none of these work, try finding me at Yahoo! People Search.
Snail MailRobert Poletto Fax NumberIf you need to send me a fax (for some reason) you can sent it to the following number. Unless eFax I think this will work.
Curriculum VitaeDownload a copy of my curriculum vitae. It is in Adobe PDF format as well. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding it. Return to the Department of Linguistics Homepage. Last Updated April 7, 1999 |
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