A CVCV Analysis of Syllabic Consonants in

Coptic
Jean-Marc B ELTZUNG 1 & Cdric PATIN 1,2
1
LPP, Paris
2
ZAS, Berlin
beltjm@hotmail.com
cedric.patin@gmail.com
24 May 2007

1 Introduction
(1)

syllabic consonants have received different treatments in phonological literature in CVCV phonology, a radical extension of the Government Phonology
theory: syllabic consonant = a segment associated both to a C slot and a V slot
right-branching hypothesis (Blaho 2004, among others) 6= left-branching
hypothesis (Scheer 2004, among others)

(2)

this paper deals with syllabic consonants in Coptic, a now extincted AfroAsiatic language

(3)

it will be shown that coptic phenomena support the left-branching hypothesis

2 Schwas and syllabic consonants

(4)

no place here for an extended discussion we will assume a basic knowledge

of the nature of syllabic consonants however, it is important for our purpose
to focus on the close relationship between syllabic consonants and sequences
of a schwa and a consonant

(5)

three different evidences supporting the relation existing between syllabic consonants and schwa + consonant sequences: free variation + interdialectal variation + complementary distribution.

2.1

Evidence 1: free variation

(6)

first evidence in favor of a direct link between C and C: they are in free varia"
tion in many languages

Many

thanks to Gwendoline Fox for helpful corrections

(7)

the presence or absence of the schwa is most of the time related to the style
of speech (e.g. Halh Mongolian (Karlsson Mukhanova 2006, 2007): alternation
between a N sequence (in formal speech) and an N (in casual speech))

(8)

the most discussed cases of C / C free alternation are probably in Germanic

"
languages
a. English (Clark & Yallop 1995: 67)
sudden [s2dn] [s2dn]
medal
[mEdl] [mEdl" ]
"
b. German (Siebs 1961, cited in Clark
& Yallop 1995: 68)
haben
[ha:bn]
[ha:bm] to have
geben
[ge:bn] [ge:bm" ] to give
sagen
[za:gn] [za:gN"]
to say
"
danken [daNkn] [daNkN
] to thank
"
c. NE Dutch (Toft 2002: 112)
kiken [kikn] [kikN] to look

(9)

note that the presence of a schwa is supported in 8-b and 8-c by the absence of
homorganicity, while its absence is related to homorganicity

2.2

Evidence 2: interdialectal variation

"

"

(10)

the direct link between C and C is also supported by the fact that a C sequence in a dialect may" correspond to a syllabic consonant in another one
(e.g. syllabic nasals in Hellendoorn Dutch but [n] in other variants of Dutch
(van Oostendorp 2001, 2004))

(11)

Berber any consonant, even a voiceless stop, may be syllabic in Berber

Chleuh:
Berber (Chleuh) (Ridouane 2003: 269-70 and personnal communication)
kks
take off
"
fq.qs
irritate
"
"
tk.Sf
it dried
"
"
tf.ss
she is quiet
"
"
tk.kst
you took off
"
"
tqs.sf
it shrunk
"
"
tf.tk.tstt
you sprained it (fem.)

(12)

Ridouane (2003) has demonstrated that there is no schwa in the varieties of

Haha or Anti-Atlas, but that a schwa is present in the variety of Agadir:
Berber (Chleuh) (Ridouane 2003)
Agadir Haha
fk
fk
give
"
ks
ks
feed on
"
sXf
pas
Xf fade away

"

"

"

"

2.3
(13)

Evidence 3: complementary distribution

last evidence : complementary distribution

(14)

Britannic English (Toft 2002) the final /l/ is almost always syllabic (e.g.
people, vocal, etc.), while final /n/ shows two different behaviors: i. it tends
to be syllabic after /t/ (beaten) ii. there is a schwa between /p,k/ and a final
/n/ (deepen, beacon)

(15)

German (Noske 1996) "there is postlexically a free alternation between

syllabic sonorant cononants in German and a sequence of schwa + sonorant
[...] except for R, which is always vocalised under these circumstances" (p.
172-5).

(16)

Klaaifrysk Frisian (van Oostendorp 2004) "syllabic sonorants and schwa

are in a form of complementary distribution: the former occur in exactly
those environments where the latter do not occur." (p. 28)

(17)

Piro Arawakan, Peru (Lin 1997,2005) "the two forms, C and Cv , are
"
considered allophones of the corresponding underlying C (Matteson
1965:
v
33), and [that] the choice between C and C is rule-governed." (Lin 1997:
"
406)

3 Syllabic consonants in CVCV

3.1

The CVCV framework

(18)

CVCV is a radical extension of Government Phonology (Lowenstamm 1996,

Scheer 2004): Prosodic structure is universally composed of strictly alternating CV units : CVCV. . . Cn Vn . Two lateral relations structure the string:
a. Government
b. Licensing

(19)

two major predictions are made by CVCV:

a. No coda (constituent)
b. No branching constituents

(20)

according to CVCV:
a. a coda is a consonant followed by an empty nucleus ()
b. a geminate is a segment associated with two Onset positions
c. a long vowel is a segment associated with two Nuclei positions
d. Sgral & Scheer 1999, p. 16
closed syllable
geminate
long vowel
[...C#]
O N O N
C V C

O N O N
V

O N O N
C

O N

...

(21)

the Empty Category Principle (Kaye et al. 1990) states that a nucleus may remain unexpressed if, and only if, it is:
a. subject to Proper Government (PG)
b. enclosed within a domain of Infrasegmental Government (IG)
c. domain-final (parametrized)

(22)

lateral relations structuring the string:

a.

b.

c.

Proper Government (PG) is a dependency relation that holds between two

nuclei. One is the head (governor), the other its complement (governee).
Only plain vowels, IG enclosed vowels and domain-final vowels may
govern another one.
Infra-segmental Government (IG) is a dependency relation that holds between the Place primitives of two different Onsets. Sonorants are predicted to be governors and Obstruents governees.
Government Licensing: a consonant may govern another one (through
IG) if licensed by its own nucleus.

(23)

Government inhibits the segmental expression of its target + Licensing strengthens the segmental expression of its target

(24)

Proper Government
a. an ungoverned vowel may governs an empty nucleus
O1 N1 O2 N2

b.

C V

a governed vowel cannot govern a preceding empty nucleus

O1 N1 O2 N2 O3 N3

c.

C V

N1 must be phonetically expressed in this case

O1 N1 O2 N2 O3 N3
C

C V

(25)

Infra-segmental Government
a. a sonorant R may govern an obstruent T, but a T cannot govern a R
a. O N O N
b. O N O N

b.

T R V
R 8 T V
a consonant must be licensed by its own nucleus to be governer
O N O N O N
T

c.

R V C V

if not, the consonant cannot govern another one

O N O N O N
R

C V

(26)

Lowenstamm (1999) claimed that the diacritic # used at the beginning of the
words is an empty initial CV (C0 V0 )

(27)

accounts for the asymmetry of attested inital clusters in languages that have:
a. #TR only (Indo-European languages)

b.
c.

both #TR and #RT (some Semitic languages)

implication: #RT #TR

(28)

initial site is a site of clitization Clitization can take place iff the site is
licensed

(29)

a.

an infra-segmental domain allows the government of V0

C0 V0 C V C V

#
b.

R A

If IG fails to appear, V0 is not governed and may be pronounced

C0 V0 C V C V

T A

(30)

under CVCV, a syllabic consonant is a segment associated both to a C slot and

a V slot explains why syllabic consonant patterns with both vowels and
consonants (eg. tones, stress, homorgany)

(31)

almost all authors agree on the dual nature of syllabic consonants. However,
most of the discussion deals with Germanic or Slavic languages. A central
question regarding their representation: Are syllabic consonants:
a. right-branching (Blaho 2004) or
b. left-branching (Scheer 2004) ?
a. Right-branching b. Left-branching

3.2

C V

V C

Left- or right-branching ?

(32)

Right-branching: advocated by different authors Rennison 1993, Afuta 2002,

Blaho 2004, among others) + discussed in detail in Blaho (2004)

(33)

Blaho (2004) cites several arguments to support her analysis:

a. consonantal phonotactics : in Slovak, syllabic liquids are only sensitive to
consonants preceding them.
b. the minimal word constraint : she claimed that there is no word only composed of a syllabic consonant

(34)

weakness: arguments are builded upon a small set of languages (Germanic and
Slavic). There are counter-arguments in other languages:
a. consonantal phonotactics : syllabic nasals homorgonize with the following consonants in Yao (Ngunga 2000) and Dagaare (Bodomo 1997)
b. the minimal word constraint : syllabic consonants may appear as a word
of its own in Berber (Ridouane, pc): imperative [f] give and in Shaoxing
"
Chinese (Zhang 2006): [m] yes, [N] five
"

"

(35)

Left-branching: advocated by Harris (1994), Toft (2002) and Scheer (2004)

among others + discussed in details in Scheer (2004)

(36)

arguments:
a. alternation of C and C in Germanic languages
b. diachronical emergence" of syllabic consonants through the loss of a preceding vowel in Slavic (Scheer 2004)

(37)

weakness: arguments are builded upon a small set of languages (Germanic and
Slavic) e.g. counter-argument regarding syllabic consonants emergence in
other languages: in African languages, most of the syllabic nasals emerged
from the loss of following vowel (see for instance Creissels (1999) on Tswana)
synchronic alternations (Saghala our own data , Ganda: Kawaha 2001)

4 Syllabic consonants in Coptic

4.1

The Coptic language

(38)

Coptic is an extinct Afro-asiatic language.

a. last stage of Ancient Egyptian.
b. attested between the 3rd and 14th century CE.
c. not a uniform language but a set of five main dialects (from north to
south): Bohairic (B), Fayyumic (F), Sahidic (S), Lycopolitan (L) and
Akhmimic (A)

(39)

written with Greek alphabet

augmented by seven Demotic letters which dont
pp pp
exist in Greek e.g. rm-n-khme Egyptian ("man of Egypt")

4.2

Syllabic consonants: graphical expression

(40)

in Coptic SAL, a non-etymological

p p p p diacritic called supralinear stroke
may appear over all consonants: m, n. . .

(41)

different interpretations in the litterature:

a. Till (1932) : denotes a vowel since it alternates with schwa
b. Worrell (1934): indicates syllabic division of a word syllabic consonant.
c. Polotsky (1933): denotes a syllabic consonant

(42)

nowadays, supralinear stroke as syllabic marker has been commonly accepted

among authors (see Polotsky 1933, Nagel 1966, Plumley 1948, Vergote 1973, Depuydt
1985, Vicychl 1990, Peust 1999, Layton 2000 among others)

4.3
(43)

Syllabic consonants as left-branching: some indices

if supralinear stroke denotes syllabic consonants in SAL,
a. all consonants can have a syllabic function in unstressed syllables but
b. only syllabic sonorants can occur in stressed syllable (Worrell 1934, Nagel
1966, Vicychl 1990 among others)

(44)

4.3.1

our goal is to show that syllabic consonants are left-branching in Coptic. We

will focuse merely on syllabic sonorants and four arguments will be advanced:
1. inter-dialectal complementary distribution of C and C and intra-dialectal
"
free variation of C and C
"
2. emergence of stressed syllabic sonorants
3. reduplication process
4. coronal nasal homorgany before labial obstruents
Complementary distribution and free variation

(45)

Inter-dialectal: when a syllabic consonant appears in S, A and L (signaled by

supralinear stroke), B and F generally have a sequence of schwa (signaled by
e) and the non-syllabic counterpart:
C (SAL) C (BF)
a. S"nto
S nto
robe (of linen)
"
hrman
hrman
pomegrenate
"
hms
xms
ear
"
lhem
lhEm
to shout
"
hotB
xotB
to kill
SOlms
gnat, mosquito
b. SOlm" s
"
solp
solp
to break

(46)

C appears in BF in the following cases:

a. when the syllabic consonant in SAL is a sonorant or
b. when the syllabic consonant in SAL is an obstruent preceded by a sonorant1

(47)

Intra-dialectal. Free variation of C and C is sometimes observed in S

"
C
C
"
a. BSE
BSE
forgetfulness
"
lhem
lhem
roar
"
wmwmeat (construct form)
"
OBn
OBn
alum
"
mprmprdo not
"
"
"
b. m
pkmpknegative past tense
"
"
"
solp
solp
to break
"
hoBs
hoBs
cover
"
onh
onh
live
"
lahmf
lahmf
meaning unknow

(48)

this first argument leads us to represent Coptic syllabic consonant as leftbranching structure in a strict CV framework. Thus, we assume the following
representations for the form S. [Snto], B. [Snto] "robe (of linen)":

"


"

"

a. Sahidic

1 This

b. Bohairic

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3
n

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3
S

case may explain why examples with syllabic obstruents alternations are scarce cross-dialectally.

4.3.2

Stressed syllabic sonorants

(49)

the 2nd argument comes from stressed syllabic sonorants. Stressed syllabic
sonorants emerge diachronically through the loss of a stressed vowel preceding a non-syllabic sonorant. The lost vowel is always the outcome of Egyptian
stressed */i/, that is /a/ in closed syllables in S and B (but /E/ in other dialects)
and /i/ or /e/ in open syllables in all dialects (Vycichl 1990:74)

(50)

stress in Egyptian languages appears on either the ultimate or the penultimate

syllable of a word (trochaic system): */"rama / > /"rom/ man vs */"rin/ > /"ran/
name

(51)

a sequence *CiRT (where R=sonorant and T=obstruent) > (CaRT) > CRT in
"
S and A but CRT in B and F, as shown by the following examples:
Egyptian

S and A

B and F

tbt

tBt

tBt

"
hmtS

hmtS

fn -w

"
fnt

fnt

Slf

"
Slf

Slf

wrt

"
wrt

wrt

fish
vinegar
worms
fear
rose

"

(52)

this fact is very common in S and A and explain why *i > a and e is rare in
this environment. In B and F, a schwa occurs instead (written as e)

(53)

stressed syllabic consonants in S and A can be represented as follows (where

boxed positions represent the stress):
a. Sahidic
b. Bohairic
C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3
t

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3
t

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3
t

(54)

if the left-branching structure is correct, we must follow Scheer (1998:281)

and admit that Coptic final empty nuclei may govern the previous nucleus if
this nucleus is not lexically filled.

(55)

vowel loss is also synchronically reflected in the S and A verbal morphology where the vowel /i/ (i) of some infinitive verbs alterns with /a/ (a) in the
pronominal form when the following consonant is not a sonorant (56a.). When
a sonorant appears after the infinitive vowel /i/, the pronominal form has a syllabic consonant instead (56b.):

(56)
a.

b.

Infinitive

Pronominal

mis

mast-

S ik

Sakt-

hit

hat-

sih

saht-

in

nt-

S iB

"
SBt-

S in
smin

(* ant-)
(*SaBt-)
"
Snt- (*Sant-)
"
smnt- (*smant-)

to give birth
to dig
move around, convulse
be removed
to find
to change
to seek, ask
to establish

"

(57)

B and F generally have a schwa instead of syllabic consonants in (56b.). Right8

branching representation fails to predict the forms in (56a.) but correctly predicts the forms in (56b.)2 :
Right-branching representation
a. mast-f "to give him birth" b. Snt-f to ask him
"

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3- C4 V4
m

(58)

"

"

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3- C4 V4

in (57), the well formedness of the representation involves the absence of a

vowel in V1 . If V1 is present, C2 cannot spread on V2 but V2 must be expressed since it cannot be governed by V3 , already governed by V4 . A leftbranching representation correctly predicts both forms in (56a.) and (56b.):
Left-branching representation
a. mast-f "to give him birth" b. Snt-f to ask him
"

"

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3- C4 V4
m

4.3.3
(59)

"

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3- C4 V4

Reduplication
Coptic reduplication is formed by reduplication of the second and third consonants at the right of the base. In the infinitive form of verbs, the reduplicant
appears with no vowel but with a syllabic consonant wheras the root appears
with a full vowel in Sahidic (the dot denotes syllable boundary):
hBOr.Br
"

SOr.Sr
"
StOr.tr
"
Bas.Bs
"
kas.ks
sOl.sl

"

"
krOm.rm
"
mOn.mn

to become loosened
to knock down
to disturb
sort of duck
to danse
to comfort
to become dark
to move, shake (earth)

"

(60)

if syllabic consonants are right-branching in Coptic, the representation of reduplicated forms such as [mOnmn] to move, shake (earth) is ill-formed:
"

Right-branching structure

C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3 C4 V4
m

(61)

if syllabic consonants are Left-branching in Coptic, the representation of the

reduplicated forms are well-formed:
Left-branching structure
C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3 C4 V4
m

2 /-f/

is the third person masculin singular suffix

(62)

some reduplicated verbs appear without vowels neither in the base nor in the
reduplicant. This fact can be explained by vowel loss in S and A. Remember
that /a/ < */i/ in stressed closed syllables was lost before sonorants. In these
forms, the sonorant is always syllabic both in the base and in the reduplicant:
Reduplication in S (Plumley 1948:72, Vergote 1973:48)
Br.Br
to boil
"
"
tm.tm
to become heavy
"
"
km.km
to strike a musical instrument
"
"
krm.rm
to murmur
"
"
sn.sn
to resound
"
"
tl.tl
to drip
" "
hm.hm
to roar
"

(63)

"

if syllabic consonants are rigth-branching in Coptic, the representation of reduplicated forms such as [krmrm] to murmur is ill formed:
"

C1
k

(64)

"

V1 C2 V2 C3 V3 C4 V4 C5 V5

if syllabic consonants are left-branching in Coptic, the representation of the

reduplicated form is well-formed:
C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3 C4 V4 C5 V5
k

4.3.4
(65)

Homorgany
in Coptic, a consonant homorgany occurs in initial coronal nasal + obstruents sequences, where the nasal consonant is a proclitic element (/n-/ definite
plural article, genitive marker):

10

a.

m-mE:w
"
m-mayn
"
m-mes
"
m-Ba:mp
"
m-pew
"
m-p-nut

b.

"
n-wot

(*m-wot)
(*" m-wOyn)

"
n-wOyn

c.

"
n-rom

"

"
n-nOyt
"
n-tSOyt
"
n-Sns
"
"
n-swO

d.

"
n-kOw
"
n-kem

(*N-kOw ?)
(*N" -kem ?)

"

the thoughts
the signs
the interests
the goats
the heavens
of God
of only
of light
the men
of flour
of olives
of linen
of wheat
the others
of Egypt

"

(66)

in (65a.), coronal syllabic nasals are assimilated to a following labial obstruent3 , leading to a labial syllabic nasal. If the first consonant of the root is a
labial glide [w], as in (65b.), assimilation doesnt take place. In (65c.), coronal
syllabic nasal keep coronal articulation before coronal obstruents.

(67)

possible representations of Coptic homorgany stated in (65):

a. Left-branching
b. Right-branching
C V - C0 V0 C1 V1 C2 V2
m

C0 V0 C1 V1 C2 V2
m

(68)

the left-branching structure under (67a.) involves the clitic CV site. The rightbranching structure under (67b.) doesnt involve this site as C1 spreads on
his right (the clitic site withered away, as stated by Lowenstamm (1999)). The
right-branching structure fails to predict assimilation since it violates the Principle of Free Occurence (Kaye 1990), which states that there are no restrictions
on the melodic content of neighbouring onsets and nuclei.

(69)

an additional clue can be invoked throught the fact that there are no assimilations before /m/ filling the syllable nucleus (Till 1951:6567, Peust 1999:161
data from S):
a.

m-mes
"
m-Ba:mp
"
m-pew

b.

"
n-mlO:h

(*m-mlO:h)
(*m-m" sah)
"
"
n-mto (*m-mto)
"
n-msah

"

(70)

the interests
the goats
the heavens
the fights
of crocodile
the deapth (of a sea)

"

the forms standing in (69b.) show that no assimilation takes place when the
initial consonant of a stem is a syllabic consonant. As for examples in (67), if
we represent syllabic consonants as right-branching, assimilation is predicted
to occur in the forms given in (69b.):

3 However, assimilation sometimes fails to appear before the labial fricative /B/ in S: [n-Bal] the eyes
"
(*m-bal), [n-BaSOr] the foxes, etc.
"

"

11

C0 V0 C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3
m

(71)

if syllabic consonants are left-branching we can account for the fact that no
assimilation takes place in (69b.) because of the syllabic /m/:
C V - C0 V0 C1 V1 C2 V2 C3 V3
n

*m
(72)

since V1 is filled by the following consonant, the Free Occurrence Principle is

violate and no assimilation occurs in this case. According to Till (1951), the
fact that no assimilation take place can only be due to an intervening vowel
(graphically rendered by supralinear stroke)4 .

(73)

our analysis is supported by Scheer (2004: 707-41)s analysis of homorganicity according to him, a nasal in coda position (i.e. before an empty nucleus)
is weak and will therefore assimilates and or spread5 in order "to consolidate
its existence" (p. 710). This is what happens in (69)

(74)

Right-branching hypothesis predicts that in (69) the first nasal will stand in a
coda position too, and will then be unstable Left-branching hypothesis predicts that the nasal in (69) will stand in a strong position, since the following
nucleus is filled by the syllabic nasal, and then will not need to assimilate

5 References
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Bodomo, A. B. 1997. The Structure of Dagaare. Stanford Monographs in African Languages. CSLI Publications
Clark, J. & C. Yallop. 1995. An introduction to phonetics and phonology (2nd edition).
Oxford: Blackwell
Creissels, D. 1999. Remarks on the sound correspondences between Proto-Bantu and
Tswana (S.31), with particular attention to problems involving *j (or *y) and *i and
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Hombert, J.-M. & L. Hyman (eds.). Stanford: CSLI Publications. pp. 297-334.
Karlsson Mukhanova, A. 2006. Rhythm and Intonation in Halh Mongolian. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Kaye, J. 1990. Scoda

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Layton, B. 2000. A Coptic Grammar with Chrestomathy and Glossary : Sahidic Di4 Remember
5 see

that Till (1951) claim that supralinear stroke denotes a vowel, not a syllabic consonant.
Scheers analysis of German (Scheer 2004: 719-34

12

alect. Porta LinguarumOrientalium 20. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden

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J.M. van de Weijer (eds.). Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter.
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