Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Publication Date

7-12-1973

Abstract

The structure of the verb prefix system in the Navajo verb is clarified by a thorough generative phonological analysis of the morphophonemic alternations in the prefix complex. The intricate modal prefix alternations are presented in detail. Initially, an important internal boundary in the verb, the disjunct boundary, is demonstrated. The disjunct boundary is central to the formulation of a number of common phonological rules such as ni-absorption and vowel deletion, and it provides the organizing principle for a full structural statement of the mode system. A discussion of several pervasive, non-mode dependent phonological rules precedes the analysis of the verb mode phonology. These include the highly productive subject pronoun-classifier-stem initial consonant rules and the intricate vowel assimilation processes, as well as tone assimilation, strident assimilation, vowel elision, and syllabic n-rules.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Secondary Education

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy

First Committee Member (Chair)

Bruce Joseph Rigsby

Second Committee Member

Bernard Spolsky

Third Committee Member

Robert W. Young

Fourth Committee Member

Robert Harold White

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