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Schwa-final nouns and nouns without final schwa

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Frisian has many nouns ending in schwa, which have a schwa-less allomorph, used mainly in particular morphological contexts. Schwa-final nouns have the definite article de (not it). This might lead one to assume that noun-final schwa has the status of a suffix, which is argued not to be the case.

Frisian has many nouns ending in schwa, examples of which are given in (1):

Examples of nouns ending in schwa

seage

/sɪəɣə/

saw

planke

/plaŋkə/

board; shelf

skjirre

/skjɪrə/

scissors

harke

/harkə/

rake

doaze

/doəzə/

box

tomme

/tomə/

thumb

extra

In Dutch, only a small number of nouns with final schwa have remained. The Dutch counterparts of the words in (1) are (a) zaag, (b) plank, (c) schaar, (d) hark, (e) doos, and (f) duim, so without final schwa.

Noun-final schwa has a special status, in that it determines the word class and the sub-word class of the free morphemes it is part of. Firstly, a simplex content word ending in schwa is a noun.

extra

There are no more than a handful of exceptions to this regularity:

The definite article de /də/ the.
The numerals alve /ɔlvə/ eleven, tolve /tolvə/ twelve, trije /trɛjə/ three and the quantifier folle /folə/ much; many; alve and tolve have the schwa-less variants alf /ɔlf/ and tolf /tolf/.
The adverbs foare /foərə/ in front of the house; in the front room, folle /folə/ much; often, and tige /ti:ɣə/ very.
The adjectives tige /ti:ɣə/ very good and jinse /jɪ:nsə/ yonder.
The pronoun (de/dy) jinge /jɪŋə/ (the/that) one.
The prepositions (be)tuske /(bə)tøskə/ between, binne /bɪnə/ inside, boppe /bopə/ above, bûte /butə/ outside, and njonke /njoŋkə/ next to. The prepositions (be)tuske, binne, bûte and njonke are, or are becoming, obsolete. At present, they are almost exclusively realized with final /-n/: (be)tusken, binnen, bûten and njonken. In Wâldfrysk, binne- and bûte- are productive as the left-hand member of compounds.

Secondly, Frisian has two singular definite articles, viz. de /də/ and it /ət/, both meaning the (see Gender marking). As to simplex nouns, the choice between de and it is largely arbitrary, that is to say, to a great extent the language-learning child simply must learn which definite article a given noun is associated with (see Hoekstra and Visser (1996) and Visser (2011) for more on this matter). For schwa-final nouns it is different, for they have the article de. This is nicely illustrated by 'minimal pairs' of nouns with the same meaning, one without final schwa and associated with it, one with final schwa and associated with de. Examples are given in (2):

Examples of 'minimal pairs' with schwa-less it-nouns and schwa-final de-nouns

it focht ~ de fochte

/foxt(ə)/

liquid; moisture

it gol ~ de golle

/ɡol(ə)/

storage for hay or corn in a barn

it koard ~ de koarde

/koəd(ə)/

cord

it oard ~ de oarde

/oəd(ə)/

region; residence

it sou ~ de souwe

/sɔw(ə)/

riddle, sieve

it tsjil ~ de tsjille

/tsjɪl(ə)/

wheel

it wek ~ de wekke

/vɛk(ə)/

hole (in the ice)

it festjebûs ~ de festjebûse

/-bus(ə)/

watch pocket

Especially the last case is most revealing. It is the compound of festje /fɛst+tsjə/, the diminutive of fest /fɛst/ waistcoat, and (schwa-less) bûs /bus/ pocket. This is one of the few cases of a nominal compound in which the definite article is not determined by the right-hand member − here the de-word bûs −, but, instead, by the left-hand member, the diminutive (it-word) festje. If, however, the right-hand member is the schwa-final variant bûse /busə/, the compound has the article de.

Noun-final schwa therefore might be assumed to have the status of a suffix. Another indication of this is that it seems to determine the choice of the plural suffix. Like Dutch, Frisian has two plural suffixes, -en /-ən/ and -s /-s/ (see Regular plural formation). Dutch nouns ending in schwa can be pluralized with both -en and -s (the latter is gaining ground at the expense of the former), whereas they can only be pluralized with -en in Frisian. The Dutch noun bode /bodə/ messenger for instance has the plural forms boden and bodes, the Frisian counterpart boade /boədə/ on the other hand can only be pluralized as boaden. This leads Hoekstra (2011:291-296) to the assumption that in Frisian the choice of the plural suffix -en in the case of schwa-final nouns is not determined on phonological grounds, but that the suffix is selected by final schwa.

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It is noted by Hoekstra (2011:293) that noun-final schwa also induces a plural in -en in case it is preceded by another schwa syllable. The nouns rigel /riɣəl/ row and keppel //kɛpəl/ group; herd; flock have the regular plural forms rigels and keppels. The schwa-final variants rigele /riɣələ/ and keppele /kɛpələ/, on the other hand, are pluralized as rigelen and keppelen, despite the fact that -en makes for a sequence of two schwa syllables − a lapse − here (see Alternating stress principle). Nouns ending in the suffix -ing //ɪŋ/ can be pluralized with either -en or -s (see variation of -en and -s). As noted by Hoekstra, however, nouns ending in the variant -inge /ɪŋə/ − few though they may be − only allow for a plural in -en, so printinge /prɪntɪŋə/ edition and rispinge //rɪspɪŋə/ harvesting; harvest have the plural forms printingen and rispingen (*printinges and *rispinges are out).

Though non-final schwa has suffix-like properties, it does not contribute to the meaning of the noun it is part of. Therefore, it may be considered an augment or stem extension. There are several indications for this. Firstly, some schwa-final nouns are in free variation with nouns without final schwa, as exemplified in the examples below:

Examples of pairs of nouns with and without final schwa

blabze

/blabzə/

blabs

/blabz/

mud, sludge

dauwe

/dɔwə/

dau

/dɔw/

dew

doaze

/doəzə/

doas

/doəz/

box

dodde

/dodə/

dod

/dod/

slumber, drowse

fluite

/flʌytə/

fluit

/flʌyt/

flute

hekse

/hɛksə/

heks

/hɛks/

witch; shrew

jerke

/jɛrkə/

jerk

/jɛrk/

drake

klauwe

/klɔwə/

klau

/klɔw/

fluke

mudde

/mødə/

mud

/mød/

hectolitre

poppe

/popə/

pop

/pop/

baby

rieme

/riəmə/

riem

/riəm/

belt

rouwe

/rɔwə/

row

/rɔu/

mourning

seale

/sɪələ/

seal

/sɪəl/

hall; room; ward

skrage

/skra:ɣə/

skraach

/skra:ɣ/

trestle

snibbe

/snɪbə/

snib

/snɪb/

snappish girl

snotte

/snɔtə/

snot

/snɔt/

(nasal) mucus, discharge

spjelde

/spjɛldə/

spjeld

/spjɛld/

pin; brooch

sprake

/spra:kə/

spraak

/spra:k/

speech; language

stjerre

/stjɛrə/

stjer

/stjɛr/

star

tippe

/tɪpə/

tip

/tɪp/

tip

(t)sjoele

/(t)sjuələ/

(t)sjoel

/(t)sjuəl/

shovel

tuorre

/tworə/

tuor

/twor/

beetle

ûne

/unə/

ûn

/un/

oven

welle

/vɛlə/

wel

/vɛl/

spring, well

wolle

/volə/

wol

/vol/

wool

Secondly, if a noun with final schwa shows up as the left-hand member of a compound, it may or may not keep its schwa, examples of which are given in (4):

Examples of nominal compounds with a schwa-final left-hand member with or without final schwa

With final schwa

moanne#ljocht

moonlight

(cf.

moanne

moon

)

tsjerke#ried

church council

(cf.

tsjerke

church

)

Without final schwa

bûs#jild

pocket money

(cf.

bûse

pocket

)

greid#boer

livestock farmer

(cf.

greide

grassland, meadow

)

Thirdly, schwa is deleted in case the nouns in question undergo diminutive formation, a derivational process of great generality. There are three diminutive suffixes, whose distribution is solely determined by the final segment of the noun. The nouns in (1) above select their allomorph on the basis of the consonant preceding final schwa instead of final schwa itself, in which case they all would select the suffix -ke ( /-kə/), as do nouns ending in a vowel. This is shown in the table below:

Table 1

seachje [sɪəxjə] little saw	cf. eachje [ɪəxjə] little eye (from each /ɪəɣ/)
harkje [harkjə] little rake	cf. parkje [parkjə] little park (from park /park/)
plankje [plaŋkjə] little shelf	cf. drankje [draŋkjə] drink (from drank /draŋk/ spirits)
doaske [dwaskə] little box	cf. noaske [nwaskə] little nose (from noas /noəz/)
skjirke [skjɪrkə] little scissors	cf. blierke [bljɪrkə] little blister (from blier /bliər/)
tomke [tomkə] little thumb	cf. blomke [blomkə] little flower (from blom /blom/)

Fourthly, schwa is lost in case the nouns in question take part in noun-to-verb-conversion (see Verbal conversion), also a derivational process of great generality. Examples are given in the table below:

Table 2

seage /sɪəɣə/ saw	seagje /sɪəɣjə/ to saw
flibe /flibə/ saliva	flybje /flibjə/ to slobber; to spit, to spew
besite /bəsitə/ visit	besytsje /bəsitjə/ [bəsitsjə] to visit
kroade /kroədə/ (wheel)barrow	kroadzje /kroədjə/ [kroədzjə] to wheel

As besytsje and kroadzje make clear, the resulting stem-final /-t/ and /-d/ trigger the regular insertion of [-s-] and [-z-] before the suffix -je (see /{s/z}/-insertion between /{t/d}/ and /jə/).

Since the diminutive suffixes and the verbal inflectional suffixes all contain schwa, the deletion of stem-final schwa might be considered as a rhythmically induced process, a sequence of two schwa-headed syllables being disfavoured. One would expect schwa deletion to be a variable and non-obligatory process, then. The above, however, shows that with respect to diminutive formation and noun-to-verb-conversion schwa deletion is obligatory and that it has morpho-phonological effects.

In general thus nouns ending in schwa have a schwa-less allomorph, used mainly in particular morphological contexts. We might express this relation as follows:

noun-final schwa relation

Figure 1

[click image to enlarge]

References

Hoekstra, Jarich2011Meervoudsvorming in het Westerlauwers Fries en het Nederlands (en patroniemvorming in het Noord-Fries)Taal en Tongval63281-301
Hoekstra, Jarich2011Meervoudsvorming in het Westerlauwers Fries en het Nederlands (en patroniemvorming in het Noord-Fries)Taal en Tongval63281-301
Hoekstra, Jarich & Visser, Willem1996De en it-wurden yn it FryskUs Wurk4555-78
Visser, Willem2011Historical gender change in West FrisianMorphology2131-56

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About this article

Author(s): Willem Visser

Category: Frisian Phonology

Keywords: nounschwa-finalnon-schwa-final

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Willem Visser	December 2015

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