LINGUIST List 7.454

Mon Mar 25 1996

Sum: Moraic Languages

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <dseelyemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Kawagashira Nobuyuki, Summary: moraic languages

Dear subsribers

 I posted a query for mora-time languages several months ago.
I am sorry to summarize it late.
I summarized the list of mora-timed languages by contributors.

CONTRIBUTORS
Thank you very much to the following contributors.

 Margaret Hall Dunn dunnhaskins.yale.edu
 Tapani Salminen tasalmincc.helsinki.fi
 Hartmut Haberland hartmutruc.dk
 Steven Schaufele fcoswsprairienet.org
 Kumiko Makihara kumikou.washington.edu
 Pier Marco Bertinetto bertinetsns.it

SANSKRIT

Steven Schaufele wrote:
Sanskrit is a mora-counting language in the same way that Latin and
Classical Greek are.
Short vowels count as 1 mora, long vowels as 2, and any consonant in
the coda (not only nasals) counts as 1 mora.

 ra.t.na.m "jewel"
 ya.jna.m "sacrifice" (acc.)
 pr.thi.vi.i "earth"
 sva.pa.tya.sya "handsome"
 vi.kra.a.n.ti.m "victorious stride"

The critical distinction is between 1-mora syllables and syllables of
more than one mora; all traditional Sanskrit poetic prosody depends upon
this distinction between `light' and `heavy' syllables. Little attention
is paid to the distinction between 2-mora and 3-mora syllables.

LATIN

Moraic features are similar to Sanskrit above.

CLASSICAL GREEK

Moraic features are similar to Sanskrit above.

LITHUANIAN

 gerai ge.ra.i HLL "well"
 lova lo.o.va HLL "bed"
 diena di.e.na LLH "afternoon"
 rytas ri.i.ta.s HLLL "morning"
 ac^iu a.a.Cu.u HLLL "thank you"
 labas la.a.ba.s LHLL "good"
 lovys lo.o.vi.i.s LLLHL "tub"
 vakaras va.a.ka.ra.s LHLLLLL "evening"

JAPANESE

 SEN-EN se.N.e.N [see~ee~] HLLL one thousand yen
 SENNEN se.N.ne.N [see~nee~] HLLL one thousand years
 SEIEN se.e.e.N [se::e~] LHHH cheering
 SEINEN se.e.ne.N [se:nee~] LHHH adolescent
 SEQKEN se.Q.ke.N [se_kee~] LHHH soap ([_] shows silence)
 TEQSEN te.Q.se.N [tes:ee~] LHHH iron wire
 UMA u.ma [u-ma] LH horse (ordinary)
 UMA N.ma [mma] LH horse (colloq., fast speech)
 POKEQTO po.ke.Q.to [poke_to] LHLL pocket

KILIVILA (KIRIWINA)

 ba.la "I will go"
 e.la "he/she goes"
 a.m.be.sa "where"
 ba.ki.u.m "I will do secretly"
 bi.ka.tu.po.i.a.i.m.si "they will ask you"
 m.se.'u "smoke"
 ka.bi.ta.m "wisdom"
 m.m.mo.ta "this (bundle)"
 la.o.di.la "bush, jungle"
 i.si.si.a.si "they stay (in a place)"
 i.ka.tu.po.i.a.i.da.si "he asks us"
 to.m.mo.ta "people"

UNKNOWN FOR MORANESS

FINNISH
 I and M. Hall Dunn agree Finnish is mora-timed. But T. Salminen, P. M.
 Bertinetto disagree.


This list is not perfect. I will welcome any information about moraness.
Please send email to me. Sincerely.

KAWAGASHIRA Nobuyuki
s945025ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp
kawagasrkoryu3.statci.go.jp
http://koryu3.statc.go.jp/~kawagasr/