Benjamin Molineaux

Pertinacity and Change in Mapudungun Stress Assignment

The stress assignment system of contemporary Mapudungun (a.k.a. Araucanian) has long been controversial. This paper reconsiders the system in light of morphological structure, contrasting the present-day data with the sparse but suggestive historical record spanning 1606–1916. I argue that Mapudungun has undergone changes to both the metrical and the morphological domains determining stress position. I show that lack of weight sensitivity early on is quickly replaced by a decidedly weight-sensitive system and that stress appears to have changed from marking the edge of verbal roots to marking the edge of stems. Crucially, however, certain aspects of the system—such as right-alignment of prosodic units and the left-headedness of feet—show pertinacity: lack of change despite surface alternations. I conclude that stress assignment in Mapudungun is subordinate to morphophonological transparency both synchronically and diachronically, such that the hierarchy and position of stress may vary in order to highlight elements of the language’s polysynthetic, agglutinating morphology.

The diachrony of Mapudungun stress assignment

Stress assignment is one of the most widely-known and controversial aspects of present-day Mapudungun (aka Araucanian) phonology. Here, the diachrony of the phenomenon is explored based on the available written record spanning 1606–1936. Having surveyed these sparse but suggestive data, and contrasted them with present-day evidence, I suggest four distinct stages of development. Ultimately, I go on to argue that Mapudungun has undergone changes both to the morphological and metrical domains which determine stress assignment. At the level of the morphology, stress appears to have changed from marking the edge of verbal roots, to marking the edge of stems. In terms of metrical units, the apparent lack of weight-sensitivity in the earliest stages of the language is replaced by a decidedly weight-sensitive system towards the end. Finally, I argue that stress assignment in Mapudungun is subordinate to morpho-phonological transparency both synchronically and diachronically, allowing the position of stress to vary in order to highlight the morphology.

Native and Non-native Perception of Stress in Mapudungun: Assessing Structural Maintenance in the Phonology of an Endangered Language

Today, virtually all speakers of Mapudungun (formerly Araucanian), an endangered language of Chile and Argentina, are bilingual in Spanish. As a result, the firmness of native speaker intuitions—especially regarding perceptually complex issues such as word-stress—has been called into question. Even though native intuitions are unavoidable in the investigation of stress position, efforts can be made in order to clarify what the actual sources of the intuitions are, and how consistent and ‘native’ they remain given the language’s asymmetrical contact conditions. In this article, the use of non-native speaker intuitions is proposed as a valid means for assessing the position of stress in Mapudungun, and evaluating whether it represents the unchanged, ‘native’ pattern. The alternative, of course, is that the patterns that present variability simply result from overlap of the bilingual speakers’ phonological modules, hence displaying a contact-induced innovation. A forced decision perception task is reported on, showing that native and non-native perception of Mapudungun stress converges across speakers of six separate first languages, thus giving greater reliability to native judgements. The relative difference in the perception of Mapudungun stress given by Spanish monolinguals and Mapudungun–Spanish bilinguals is also taken to support the diachronic maintenance of the endangered language’s stress system.

Vigencia del Diccionario Araucano de Félix de Augusta, a cien años de su publicación

El trabajo que sigue presenta al Diccionario Araucano, de Felix de Augusta (1916), en su contexto social y linguistico original, para luego evaluarlo en el marco de la lengua y sociedad mapuche de cien anos mas tarde. Se examinan los factores que hicieron del Diccionario un referente excepcional para la difusion y estudio academico del Mapudungun, poniendolos en contrapunto con aquellos factores que conspiran contra su vigencia y utilidad hoy. Evaluamos, ademas, la dificultad de la actualizacion o reemplazo de esta obra, justo en el momento historico en que la lengua mas necesita de un referente lexico. Finalizamos con algunos prospectos para la lexicografia mapuche del siglo XXI y para el uso del Diccionario en proyectos de revitalizacion y linguistica historica.