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Minding the Gaps in the Wolane Verbal System

Paper · 2019 · Noam Faust

Summary

This is a theoretical morphology paper, not an NLP paper. It examines how verbs are organized in Wolane, an East-Gurage Ethiosemitic language of Ethiopia. Its only data source is Meyer's 2006 descriptive grammar. Meyer sorts verbs into types by the surface vowels of their three stems (perfective, imperfective, jussive) and into subtypes by how many consonants each stem has. Faust argues that this surface-driven sorting leaves four empty cells and two irregularities in the paradigm. He reanalyses the data in the spirit of Voigt (1990) and Goldenberg (1994):

  • Several apparently two-consonant verbs actually contain a third radical, a glottal stop /ʔ/, which disappears or changes neighbouring vowels in most positions.
  • Types B and C pattern like four-radical verbs.
  • One stem vowel is inserted only when the syllable structure requires it.

The result is a single vocalization pattern shared by all verbs, with no types at all. Surface variety comes only from how these vowels interact with each verb's lexical radicals. This matters for the debate over whether speakers store abstract roots or concrete stems. Wolane supports the root.

Key points

  • Meyer (2006) posits five verb types. The three main ones are defined by the first perfective vowel: A has [ɛ], B has [eː], C has [aː].
  • The problems identified are:
    • no 2C-Ø verbs in type A;
    • no 2C-a verbs in type C;
    • neither type B nor type C contains any 4C verbs;
    • /ʔ/ never appears as the second or third stem consonant.
  • The two asymmetries are:
    • type C imperfectives use [i] in biconsonantal stems but [aː] in triconsonantal ones;
    • only type A 3C verbs keep a jussive [ɛ].
  • Meyer himself states four realization rules for /ʔ/:
    • lowering: #ʔɛ → ʔa;
    • coalescence: CɛʔɛC → CaːC;
    • raising: CɛʔC → CiC;
    • compensatory lengthening: CʔɛC → CaːC.
  • Under the reanalysis, a verb that Meyer had left unclassified also fits the system.

Interesting ideas

  • I1. Empty cells and lopsided patterns in a classification table can signal that the classification itself is wrong, not that the language is odd.
  • I2. A segment that surfaces only in one position, while leaving traces elsewhere, can explain a whole family of "irregular" forms with a few rules.
  • I3. Store only the truly arbitrary part of an entry and derive everything predictable, since storing full forms is redundant when one pattern covers all items.
  • I4. Some elements appear only when structure requires them, like a vowel that behaves as epenthetic and drops when syllabically unneeded.
  • I5. The author prefers pronounceable placeholder letters (Q, T, L, D) over C1, C2, C3 so that templates can be read aloud.

For Mova

How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests:

  • I1 (tokens): Audit the paradigm tables in crate en for systematic holes, and treat clusters of holes as a prompt to rethink inflection classes rather than adding exceptions.
  • I2 (tokens): Lemma rules could posit an abstract underlying stem plus a few alternation rules, which keeps the morphology explainable and shrinks the irregular-form lexicon.
  • I3 (world): Compiled knowledge such as verb classes and measures could hold only idiosyncratic facts and derive the rest, so each derived fact traces back to a rule.
  • I4 (back): Generation could insert optional function words or punctuation only when a structural constraint demands it, which gives each inserted token an explicit justification.
  • I5 (learn): Self-induced repair rules and templates could use short, readable symbolic names, which makes rule logs easier for humans to inspect.

Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.

 Institutions

🎓Université Paris 8Paris · France4 works · 9 citations🔬Structures Formelles du LangageSaint-Denis · France3 works · 2 citations

📚 Shelves 2The field of science this work belongs to (OpenAlex fields).Arts and Humanities · 9,296 worksLanguage and Linguistics · 9,206 works

Cite

Cite as Noam Faust. 2019. Minding the Gaps in the Wolane Verbal System. Linguistique et Langues Africaines 5.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. DOI 10.4000/lla.377

@inproceedings{faust2019minding,
  title = {{Minding the Gaps in the Wolane Verbal System}},
  author = {Noam Faust},
  booktitle = {Linguistique et Langues Africaines 5},
  year = {2019},
  doi = {10.4000/lla.377},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.4000/lla.377}
}

References

21 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

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