Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze morphophonological “realization” processes of morphemes in the subject dialect, and to represent the results by ordered rules.
Studied here is the dialect of Kuchinotsucho, Minamitakakigun, Nagasaki Prefecture.
Two phases are assumed in the description: morphological phase, and phonological phase. Three units are assumed as constituent elements of the morpheme forms: morphophoneme (keitaionso), morphophone (keitaion), and phoneme (onso).
In the morphological phase, morphophones are selceted from morphophonemes depending on morphological conditions. Morphological conditions are those total conditions in which are found the morphemes constituting the environment and the morphemes having the morphophoneme as a constituent element of their forms, and includes the tactical relation between the two morphemes. The following phenomena are treated in this phase: alternation of phonemes, e. g. t-d, s-h, e-u, e-i o-u, etc. and lengthening of vowels, e. g. toru (bird) qoori (dative form).
In the phonological phase, phonemes are selected from morphophones depending on phonological conditions (the selection is conditioned by the phonemic system of the subject dialect). Phonological conditions are those total conditions in which are found the morphophones constituting the environment for the morphophone which happens to appear, and the tactical (phonotactic) relation between the two morphophones. The following phenomena are treated in this phase: alternation of phonemes as conditioned by the phonemic system, e. g. t-c, d-z etc.; assimilation of phonemes in the final morae of some words, e. g.-bu+bV→-Q+bV, -bu+mV→-N+mV etc.; dropping of consonants or semi-vowels, C1C2→C1, je, ji→e, i; shortening of long vowels, CVVN→CVN, CVVQ→CVQ etc.
Each realization process is represented by a rule. Each rule consits of two parts: conditions, and result. Conditions are comprised of the logical product of the environmental element, tactical relation, and other conditions. e. g.(T1<<M) ∩(T1=1) ∩(M=T1E2) ∩(x1prM) ∩(x1M=II):(T1→d)
In general, the application of the rules of the morphological phase has precedent over the rules of the phonological phase.
