Research areas

I highlight here three areas of my research: phonology, its interface with morphology and syntax, and Africanist linguistics. See my CV for a full list of publications, including links.

Phonology

Segment-tone interaction

Spoken phonological systems in general have two types of units: segments (consonants and vowels) and supra-segments (tone, stress, intonation, etc.). One part of my research asks what kinds of interactions between these two units are possible and which are impossible. Most recently, this has focused on a rare type of interaction called ‘tone-driven epenthesis’, defined as phonological insertion of a vowel in order to host a tone (e.g. a high pitch target). Although this process had previously been argued to be impossible/unattested, several cases are evident in African tonal languages such as Wamey [cou] and Ghomala’ [bbj]. Ultimately, this research fits into a larger typology of segment-tone interaction involving the cultivation of segmental environments best suited for realizing pitch targets.

• Rolle, Nicholas, & John T. M. Merrill. 2023. Tone-driven epenthesis in Wamey. Phonology. [LingBuzz]

• Rolle, Nicholas. 2023 (forthcoming). A tonological rarity: Tone-driven epenthesis in Ghomala’. For volume Rarities in phonetics and phonology. [LingBuzz]

Areality of phonological systems

Architectural and functional pressures shape phonological systems, but it is well-known that areal pressures do as well. As part of a larger ALFA project (Areal Linguistic Features of Africa), colleagues and I research the distribution of phonological features in Africa, especially typologically marked ones like Advanced Tongue Root harmony (ATR), or having a series of contrastive interior vowels (e.g. ɨ ə ɐ). One result is that while ATR is disproportionally found in Africa, it occurs in geographically unconnected zones between which ATR is systematically absent but interior vowels are pervasive, a correlation not made previously for this region. These findings show ATR/interiority antagonism, where elaboration of ATR along the acoustic dimension F1 limits elaboration of interiority distinctions along F2 (and/or vice-versa). See the ALFA page for more.

• Rolle, Nicholas, Florian Lionnet, & Matthew Faytak. 2020. Areal patterns in the vowel systems of the Macro-Sudan Belt. Linguistic Typology. [doi] [draft]

Interface with morphology and syntax

Interest in the phonological module naturally leads to asking how it interfaces with other modules, such as morphology/morphosyntax. Recent research of mine focuses on how grammatical tone (i.e. the expression of linguistic meaning partially or solely via tone) can inform current morphological debates on suppletion/allomorphy, directionality, and locality, debates which are otherwise almost entirely confined to segmental data. Moreover, certain kinds of grammatical tone patterns are restricted by morphosyntactic hierarchical relations (e.g. dominant tone), a topic which forms a major part of my current book project on grammatical tone (under contract with Mouton De Gruyter).

Other interface projects include deconstructing the theoretical notion of subcategorization into several ordered sub-types, arguing against the existence of phonological optimization in (suppletive) allomorph selection, and accounting for idiosyncratic effects in phrasal phonology at the morphosyntax/phonology interface. These efforts are part of a broader program I call Optimality Theoretic Distributed Morphology (OT-DM), whose goal is to demarcate which interface processes crucially apply simultaneously and which sequentially.

• Kalin, Laura, & Nicholas Rolle. 2022. Deconstructing subcategorization. Linguistic Inquiry. [draft]

• Rolle, Nicholas, & Lee Bickmore. 2022. Outward-looking phonologically-conditioned allomorphy versus first-last tone harmony in Cilungu. Morphology. [doi]

• Rolle, Nicholas. 2021. Against phonologically-optimizing suppletive allomorphy (POSA) in Irish, Tiene, Katu, and Konni. Acta Linguistica Academica. [doi] [draft]

• Rolle, Nicholas. 2020. In support of an OT-DM model. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. [doi] [draft]

• Rolle, Nicholas & Larry M. Hyman. 2019. Phrase-level prosodic smothering in Makonde. In Supplemental Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Meeting on Phonology. [doi]

Africanist linguistics

I have a commitment to the analysis, description, and documentation of African languages. One way this manifests is through extensive typological work on African language families based on previous literature, data, and raw materials. Additionally, I engage in in situ and ex situ fieldwork, such as in southern Nigeria and most recently in the mountainous northern regions of Sierra Leone. I view fieldwork as a collaborative engagement with community members, and seek to form mutually beneficial relationships (and ultimately friendships). I have done fieldwork on Limba [lma] (/hùyímbà/, a Niger-Congo Isolate), Esan [ish] (/ésã̀/, Edoid), Degema [deg] (/dégémɜ̀/, Edoid), Izon [ijc] (/ɪ̀zɔ̃́/, Ijoid), and Kalabari [ijn] (/káláꜜɓárɪ́/, Ijoid). African languages I have presented and published on using existing materials include Cilungu [mgr] (Bantu), Makonde [kde] (Bantu), Kuria [kuj] (Bantu), Ebira [igb] (Benue-Congo), Wamey [cou] (Tenda), Ghomala’ [bbj] (Grassfields), and Khoekhoe [naq] (Khoe-Kwadi).

See my CV for more information, including the locations in the California Language Archive where I archive my materials.

• Rolle, Nicholas, & Ethelbert E. Kari. 2022. Tone and prosodic recursion in Degema nouns and noun phrases. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. [LingBuzz]

• Rolle, Nicholas. 2022. Unpacking portmanteaux. Studies in African Linguistics. [doi]

• Rolle, Nicholas. 2021. Lexical tone contrast in Izon as ubiquitous floating tone. Phonological Data and Analysis. [doi]