Vowel harmony in Indo-Portuguese creoles

 

Clancy Clements

(Indiana University)

 

 

In the Indo-Portuguese (IP) creoles of Daman and Korlai, vestiges of Portuguese nominal vowel harmony (e.g. [novu] ‘new-masc’ vs [nOvc] ‘new-fem’) have become phonological distinctions, as illustrated in the examples in (1).

            (1)        Korlai Creole Portuguese (KCP) and Daman Creole Portuguese (DCP)

                        a. [pork] (< Ptg. porco ‘male pig’) – [pOrk] (< Ptg. porca ‘female pig’)

                        b. [avo] (< Ptg. avô ‘grandfather’) – [avO] (< Ptg. avó ‘grandmother’)

Thus, in both KCP and DCP, there must have existed Portuguese vowel harmony in the nominal system from very early on since we find the [o]-[O] distinction in both creoles.  Assuming this to be true, we can deduce that during the formative period of KCP and DCP formed, there were also audible, qualitative distinctions between mid-vowel realizations in atonic and tonic syllable.  Evidence of this is found in the verbal system of both creoles in question.  KCP exhibits vowel harmony in present and past forms of certain verbs, as shown in (2) (from Clements (1996:65).

            (2) KCP

            isparga (< MP esfregar ‘wash, scrub [plates, pots and pans]’) - isporgo ‘washed, scrubbed’

            kombarsa (< MP conversar ‘converse’) ‘speak' - komborso ‘spoke’

            kosarta (< MP consertar ‘repair’) - kosorto ‘repaired’

            umbarka (< MP embarcar ‘put on board’) ‘turn  upside down’- umborko ‘turned upside down’

            umbarsa or hembarsa (< MP embaraçar ‘embarrass, entang­le’) ‘entangle’ - umborso ‘entangled’      utarna (< MP entornar ‘spill, turn over’) - utorno ‘spilled, turned over’

Interesting is that this case of vowel harmony in KCP is not found in bi-syllabic but rather only in tri-syllabic verbs.  That is, there is no case of *marcha-morcho in KCP.  However, in DCP, we do find vowel harmony in both bi- and tri-syllabic verbs, albeit it of another sort.  Illustrative examples are shown in (3).  Note that this instanciation of vowel harmony affects front (3a) as well as back vowels (3b,c).

            (3) DCP)

            a.         e + C + a         è        i + C + o

                        chega (< MP chegar ‘arrive’) - chigo ‘arrived’

                        berra (< MP berrar ‘yell’) - birro ‘yelled’

                        entra (< MP entrar ‘enter’) - intro ‘entered’

            b.         o + C + a         è        u + C + o

                        korta (< MP cortar ‘cut’) - kurto ‘cut’

                        kompra (< MP comprar ‘buy’) - kumpro ‘bought’

            c.         o + C … + a    è        u + C … + o

                        konsarta (< MP consertar ‘repair’) - kunscrto ‘repaired’

In these findings, there are various possible repercussions for the history Portuguese vowels.  If it is true, as argued in Clements (1996) and Clements and Koontz-Garboden (2002), that KCP and DCP formed at least by the end of the 16th century, then Portuguese midvowels in pretonic and tonic syllables were already qualitatively different by then.  However, the vowel harmony could possibly be a later development.  It will be argued on socio-historical grounds that in KCP it must have been in place by 1740.  In the case of DCP, dating the vowel harmony is more difficult given that there was significant Portuguese presence in Daman up to the 19th century.  Given that it seems to be pervasive and regular, it is argued that it is most likely an older trait of DCP and that it reflects early qualitative differences between midvowel realizations in pretonic and tonic syllables in 16th-17th century Portuguese.

 

 

 

References

Clements, J. Clancy. 1996. The Genesis of a Language: The Formation and Development of Korlai Portuguese. Benjamins: Amsterdam.

Clements, J. Clancy and Andrew Koontz-Garboden.  2002. Two Indo-Portuguese creoles in contrast.  Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 17:191-23.