Constituency in

Oklahoma Cherokee
Hiroto Uchihara
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
1. Introduction
1.1. Internal structure of Cherokee verbs
• Cherokee verb structure:
• (PPP-)PP-(REFL-)(IN-)ROOT(-DERIV)-ASP-MOD

(1) (hla) yigv:nv̂:tlo:híha

hla yi-kvv-nvvʔ+:ʔtlhoo-híh-a
NEG IRR-1/2SG-leg+strap-PRS-IND
‘I’m not tying up your leg.’ (EJ2011)

• How can a ‘word’ be defined in Oklahoma Cherokee, a polysynthetic

language?
1. Introduction
1.1. Internal structure of Cherokee words
• In this presentation, I will provide:
• The planar structures in the verb, noun and adjective complex (§2).
• After a brief introduction on Oklahoma Cherokee (§1.2)
• A fine-grained description of the result of constituency diagnostics proposed
in Tallman (2020) applied to Oklahoma Cherokee (§3)
• Then I will show that:
• The principal candidate for a ‘word’ in Oklahoma Cherokee, where more
diagnostics converge than others, has quite a large size:
• this domain could theoretically contain up to 23 morpheme slots (§4)!
1.2. Oklahoma Cherokee
• Cherokee:
• ~1,850 remaining first-language
speakers in Oklahoma, ~250 in North
Carolina (Roy Boney, Jr., Manager of
the Cherokee Nation Language
Program, p.c)
• mostly 50 yo ～.
• Northeastern Oklahoma, western
North Carolina.
• Iroquoian > Southern Iroquoian
• The only tonal language among
Iroquoian languages
• Northern Iroquoian languages :
complex accentual system from a
penultimate accent in the Proto-NI
(Michelson 1988).
1.2. Oklahoma Cherokee
• Data:
• Primary sources
• collected in Oklahoma by the author between 2011-2013,
• collected online by the author and Chris Koops between 2020-present.
• Secondary sources
• Feeling (1975)
• Recordings made by William Pulte & Durbin Feeling in 1970’s
• Feeling et al. (2003)
• Cherokee Electronic Dictionary (Montgomery-Anderson et al. 2010)
1.2. Oklahoma Cherokee
• Pitch patterns found on a syllable in Oklahoma Cherokee:
• Level tones: Low (a), high (á)
• Contour tones: high-low (â:), low-high (ǎ), lowfall (à), superhigh (a˝)
 • Orthography
1.2. Oklahoma • Linguistic orthography
• Cherokee syllabary
Cherokee • Space between ‘words’, and enclitics are
usually written together with their hosts.
Organization
1. Introduction
2. Planar structure
3. Layers in Oklahoma Cherokee
4. Conclusion: defining ‘word’ in Cherokee
2. Planar structure
• As in other languages spoken in North America, Oklahoma Cherokee
is heavily ‘verbal’:
• More positions in the verbal planar structure (§2.1) than in the
nominal (§2.2) or adjectival (§2.3).
• This presentation focuses on the verbal template.
 Position Type Elements
2. Planar 1 zone DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
2 slot irrealis/relative
structure 3 slot translocative
2.1. Verbal planar 4 slot partitive
5 slot distributive
structure of 6 slot cislocative
Oklahoma 7
8
slot
slot
iterative
‘negative’
Cherokee 9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
10 slot middle, reflexive
11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
15 slot repetitive
16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
23 slot modal
24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
2. Planar structure
2.2. Nominal
planar structure of Position Type Elements
Oklahoma 1 zone DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
Cherokee 2 slot partitive
3 slot distributive
4 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
5 slot middle, reflexive
6 slot N
7 slot Noun root
8 slot -ya ‘real’, DIM -(u:)ca, adjectivizer -ha:ʔi
9 slot locative
10 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
2. Planar structure
2.2. Adjectival
planar structure of Position Type Elements
Oklahoma 1 zone DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
Cherokee 2 slot partitive
3 slot distributive
4 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
5 slot middle, reflexive
6 slot adjective root
7 slot intensifier
8 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
Organization
1. Introduction
2. Planar structure
3. Layers in Oklahoma Cherokee
4. Conclusion: defining ‘word’ in Cherokee
 Diagnostics Left-span Right-span Size Convergence Layer ID
Deviations from biuniquness (smallest) 4 13 10 1 1
3. Layers in H1 spreading 11 21 11 1 2
Oklahoma Minimal ciscategorical selection 11 23 13 1 3

Cherokee Minimal minimum free form

Fixed order (smallest)
9 22 14 1 4
2 17 16 1 5
Accent assignment (smallest) 7 23 17 1 6
Deviations from biuniquness (largest) 4 22 19 1 7
Accent assignment (largest) 5 23 19 1 8
• At least 12 layers interruptability (complex free forms) 2 23 22 3 9
can be identified Maximal ciscategorial selection 2 23 22 3 9
according to 18 Fixed order (largest) 2 23 22 3 9
Nominalization
diagnostics in the 1 22 22 1 10
Word final apocope
verbal domain. 2 24 23 5 11
Syllabification
• No convergence 2 24 23 5 11
h-metathesis + vowel deletion 2 24 23 5 11
except for Layers 9
Maximal minimum free form 2 24 23 5 11
and 11
Minimal repeated subspan 2 24 23 5 11
Maximal repeated subspan 1 24 24 1 12
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
• Deviations from biuniqueness (smallest)
7 slot iterative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 15 slot repetitive
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13)
Deviations from biuniquness (smallest)
• All positions within this domain manifest allomorphy.
• PART (pos. 4) ni- ~ i(y)-
• DIST (pos. 5) te:- ~ ti- ~ c-
• 1SG agentive (pos. 9) k- ~ ci-
• In most cases the allomorphs are predictable from the phonological and
morphological contexts
• PART allomorphy by [nominal] (Cook 1979: 64)
• DIST allomorphy by tonicity (Uchihara 2016: Appendix A) and the following sound
• 1SG agentive allomorphy by the following sound
• Except for the 3sg agentive pronominal prefix
• Where the allomorphy k(a)- ~ a- ~ Ø- is lexically conditioned.
• Some positions after position 13 also show deviations from biuniqueness,
which will be discussed in §3.6.
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
• Domain of H1 Spreading 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 15 slot repetitive
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
Domain of H1 Spreading
• H1 spreading:
• H1 spreads leftward to the preceding mora, as long as they satisfy complex phonological and
morphological conditions (Uchihara 2013:§8.5):
(2)
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
Domain of H1 Spreading
• Blocking of H1 spreading (Uchihara 2013:§8.5)
• if the preceding mora belongs to a pronominal prefix or a reflexive/middle prefix, this spreading is blocked
• it fails to spread to i:of the pronominal prefix in (3a)
• while in (3b), the H1 on -íʔ- spreads leftward to the vowel of the base:
(3a) ò:sdi:-[g-íʔ]-a (* ò:sdǐ:gíʔa )

H1
1DU.EX.A-eat-PRS-IND ‘he is eating it’ (DF, July 2013)
9-12-22-23
(3b) à:-[sdǐ:g-íʔ]-a

H1
3SG.A-eat.LG-PRS-IND ‘he is eating LG’ (Feeling 1975:47)
9-12-22-23
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
Domain of H1 Spreading
• Blocking of H1 spreading
• Note that REFL/MID is outside of this domain:
(4) à:-(a)da:-[sdâ:yv:-hv́sg]-a (*à:dǎ:sdâ:yv:hv́sga )

H1
3SG.A-REFL-cook.meal-PRS-IND
9-10-12-22-23
‘He is cooking a meal.’ (Feeling 1975: 7)

• Which suggests that REFL/MID is outside of Layer 2 (contra Lounsbury 1953:§6.2,

who treats reflexives as part of the base).
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
• Minimal ciscategorial selection 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 15 slot repetitive
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23)
Minimal ciscategorical selection
• All the morphemes in Layer 3 are ciscategorical (unique to verbs)
• all positions up to 23 are unique to verbs, while position 24 (enclitics) can attach to nouns
and adjectives in addition to verbs.
• On the other hand, partitive (position 4) and distributive (position 5) pre-
pronominal prefixes, as well as the pronominal (position 9) and REFL/MID
prefixes (position 10) can occur in nouns;
• Partitive: i:-nv̋:d ‘months’ (N); iy-údv̀:ndhi ‘for him to do it’ (V)
• Distributive: di:-(a)sgwage̋:ni ‘sides’ (N); di-chano:gî:sdi ‘for you to sing’ (V)
• Pronominal: jì:-sgaya ‘I’m a man’ (N); ji-gíʔa ‘I eat’ (V)
• REFL/MID: di:n-ada:-hnv̋:hli ‘(they are) brothers’ (N); à:-(a)da:-go:whtíha ‘he sees himself’ (V)
• In addition to these, relative (position 2) and translocative (position 3) can occur
on adjectives.
• Translovative: w-ǔ:sdǐ:kv̋:ʔi ‘smallest’ (Adj); w-u:nv:́ne:lé ‘he sent it’ (V)
• thus, this defines the left edge of the domain of ciscategorical selection.
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
• Minimal mínimum Word form 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 15 slot repetitive
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23)
Minimal minimum word form
• A minimum verb in Cherokee consists of a pronominal prefix (position
9), root (position 12), aspectual suffix (position 22) and a modal suffix
(position 23):

(5) galo:sga
ka-loo-sk-a
3S G .A -pass-P R S -IN D
9-12-22-23
‘He is passing it.’ (Feeling 1975: 102)
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
• Fixed order 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 15 slot repetitive
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17)
Fixed order
• In general, morpheme order is rigid in Cherokee.
• However, morpheme order appears to be variable in position 18:
• DAT+AMB:
(6) d-à:k-gi:ló:-ʔ-e:l-ǐ:dô:h-a
DIST-1SG.B-wash.FL-PFT-DAT:PFT-AMB:PRS-IND
5-9-12-13-18-18:22-23
‘he goes around washing for me’ (PA1971)
• AMB+DAT:
(7) ga-wó:ni:his-ǐ:dô:l-eh-a
3SG.A-speak:PFT-AMB:PFT-DAT:PRS-IND
9-12-13-18-18:22-23
‘he is going around speaking for him’ (DF1975:319)
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
• Domain of accentuation (smallest) 15 slot repetitive
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23)
Domain of accentuation (smallest)
• With respect to two accentual phenomena in Cherokee, pre-
pronominal prefixes (PPP) in the positions 2 - 6 are outside of the
domain.
i. H3, a high tone assigned from certain pre-pronominal prefixes (§3.6.1),
• which is essentially an iambic accent (Uchihara 2013: Ch.13).
ii. Superhigh accent (and its high variant, H4), an accent assigned in certain
morphosyntactic constructions (§3.6.2),
• which is essentially a default-to-opposite trochaic accent.
• Which suggests that the domain of accent assignment in Cherokee
excludes the PPPs in positions 2 - 6.
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23)
3.6.1. Domain of H3 assignment (smallest)
• H3 (high tone from a PPP; Uchihara 2016: Ch.10)
• Certain pre-pronominal prefixes assign a high tone (H3) to the second syllable counting from the last PPP when the PPP is from the position 7
(8a),
• while the H3 is assigned to the third syllable counting from the last PPP when the PPP is from positions 2-6 (8b):
(8a) v:-hí:-gò:wáht-Ø-a

H3
ITER-2SG.A-see-PNC-IND
7-9-12-22-23
‘You just saw him’ (EJ, July 2011)
(8b) yi-giní:-gowht-ǐ:h-a

H3
IRR-1DU.IN.V-see:PRS-IND
2-9-12-22-23
‘He is not seeing you and me’ (EJ, July 2011)
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23)
3.6.1. Domain of H3 assignment (smallest)
• We can interpret this fact as:
• H3 is essentially a left-to-right iambic accent
• the PPPs in positions 2-6 are outside of the domain of the assignment of this accent
(extrametrical):

(9) yi-[giní:-gowht-ǐ:h-a]

H3
IRR-1DU.IN.V-see-PRS-IND
2-9-12-22-23
‘He is not seeing you and me’
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23)
3.6.2. Domain of Superhigh assignment (smallest)
• Superhigh accent
• Assigned in certain morphosyntactic constructions, such as nominalization (Cook 1979: 92, Lindsey 1985: 125)
• Assigned to the last non-final long vowel of the word (10)
• When there is no long vowel within the word, a high tone (H4) is assigned to the first short vowel of the word
(11)
• i.e. the superhigh accent is a default-to-opposite, unbounded trochaic accent (Hayes 1995:296-299).
(10) Ø-adayv̋:lat-vsg-i
3SG-be.in.view-IMPF-NOM/SH
9-12-22-23
‘TV’ (Feeling 1975: 8)
(11) á-ki-sd-i
3SG.A-swallow-INF-NOM/SH
9-12-22-23
‘pill’ (< thing to swallow) (Feeling 1975: 33)
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23)
3.6.2. Domain of Superhigh assignment (smallest)
• The PPPs in positions 2-6 cannot be assigned this high variant of the superhigh accent (H4), and thus H4 is
assigned to the next short vowel:
• That is, the PPPs in positions 2-6 are outside of the domain of Superhigh assignment.

(12) jigáhliha (*jígahliha)

ci-ka-lh-ih-a
2-9-12-22-23
REL-3SG.A-sleep-PRS-IND/SH
‘the one who is sleeping’(DJM, Aug 2012)
(13) yicháwasa (*yíchawasa)
yi-ca-hwa-s-a
2-9-12-22-23
IRR-2SG.B-buy-PFT-IND/SH
‘If you buy it’ (JRS, Aug 2012)
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 15 slot repetitive
• Deviations from biuniqueness (largest) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22)
Deviations from biuniqueness (largest)
• Morphemes outside of this domain do not show any (automatic)
allomorphy.
• Positions 16 (causative), 18 (dative), and 22 (ASP), in addition to
those discussed in layer 1, show complex allomorphy
• CAUS: -oht-, -iʔst-, -st-, etc. (cf. Mithun 1999)
• DAT: -hé:h-~ -ʔé:h-
• ASP: see the following slides
• In most cases the allomorph selection is not predictable from
phonological or morphological contexts.
 Class subclass # regular # irregular PRS IMPF PFT PNC INF

1 a 41 5 ih i:sk v:h Ø-a vht

3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) b 4 2 ih i:sk ahn Ø-a oht
Deviations from c 12 0 i7 i7sk a7n V7k-a o7t
biuniqueness (largest) 2 a 35 2 i7 i7sk 7 Ø-a i7st
• Aspect suffix allomorphy
(position 22) b 11 0 7 7sk 7 c-a 7st

c 10 0 a7 a7sk 7 Ø-a a7st

d 5 0 e7 e7sk e7 Ø-a e7t

e 6 0 i7 i7sk i:7s Ø-a i7st

3. Overview f 13 1 7 7sk 7s n-a 7st

of the 3 a 34 7 sk sk s h-i hist

Cherokee b 9 5 sk sk s Ø-a st

aspectual c 4 0 sk sk s s-a sy

suffixes d 6 0 sk sk s l-a st

e 9 0 sk sk h Ø-a st

f 6 4 sk sk hn n-a ht

g 3 0 sk sk hy hy-a st
 Class subclass # regular # irregular PRS IMPF PFT PNC INF

4 a.I 1 0 heh he:sk he:h hv:l-a heht

3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) a.ii 6 3 7eh 7e:sk 7e:h v:l-a 7eht
Deviations from b.i 4 0 heh he:sk he:hl hv:l-a heht
biuniqueness (largest) b.ii 3 1 7eh 7eh e:l v:l-a 7eht
• Aspect suffix allomorphy
(position 22) 5 a.i 21 16 hih hih (i)hl hk-i (i)st

a.ii 6 4 7ih 7ih (i)7l i7k-a i7st

b.i 2 2 hoh hoh ahl hk-a st

b.ii 2 4 7oh 7oh o7l ak-a a7st

3. Overview 6 a.i 2 2 hk hk hc hk-i st

of the a.ii 13 3 7k 7k 7c 7k-i st

Cherokee b.ii 7 0 7k 7k 7c 7k-i 7st

aspectual c.i 3 0 hk hk hc hk-i hist

suffixes c.ii 12 0 7k 7k 7c 7k-i 7ist

7 8 0 h :s :s - ht

8 3 0 hk hk ls :l-a hlist

9 4 0 eh e:h - - v:7st
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 15 slot repetitive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
• Domain of accentuation (largest) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23)
Domain of accentuation (largest)
• The PPPs in positions 5 (distributive) and 6 (cislocative) may or may
not be within the domain of accentuation, depending on their
allomorphy and whether they combine with other PPPs or not.
• The morphemes outside of this domain are never within the domain
of accentuation.
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22) 6 slot cislocative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 7 slot iterative
8 slot ‘negative’
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 14 slot duplicative
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 15 slot repetitive
16 slot causative (can be repeated)
• Interruptibility 17 slot completive
• Maximal ciscategorical selection 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
• Fixed order (largest) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 21 slot inceptive
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 22 slot aspectual
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 23 slot modal
24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23)

• Layer 9 is the domain of:

• Interruptibility
• Maximal ciscategorical selection
• Fixed order (largest)
• Interruptibility (Complex free forms)
• This domain cannot be interrupted by other elements.
• Maximal ciscategorical selection
• All elements outside of this span are transcategorial (Tallman 2020: 26).
• That is, position 1 (DP) and position 24 (enclitics) can occur either with nouns,
adjectives or verbs.
• Fixed order (largest)
• All elements outside of this do not have a fixed order.
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 15 slot repetitive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
• Nominalization 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22)
Nominalization
• When Cherokee verbs are nominalized (wheter with infinitive or imperfective stems), all the elements
between slots 1 and 22 are inherited, including an NP patient (14) or a pronominal agent (15):
(14) a. ajǐ:lá gő:tlvhdi b. (ajǐ:lá) go:hlv:ska
acǐ:la k-o:htlhv:-ht-i acǐ:la ak-o:htlhv:-sk-a
1 9-12-22-23 1 9-12-22-23
fire 3S G .A -make-IN F -N O M /S H fire 3S G .A -make-P R S -IN D
‘match’ (EJ2011) ‘He is making fire.’

(15) a. digu:kdi̋:sgi b. de:gú:kdǐ:sgó:ʔi

ti-k-uukoht-iísk-i tee-k-uukoht-iísk-óóʔi
5-9-12-22-23 5-9-12-22-23
D IS T -3S G .A -decide-IM P F -N O M /S H DIST-3SG.A-decide-IMPF-HAB
‘(He is) a judge.’ (JRS2012) ‘He is deciding it.’ (DF1975)
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13)
5 slot distributive
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22) 6 slot cislocative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 7 slot iterative
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17)
10 slot middle, reflexive
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 11 slot N, V
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 12 slot Verb root
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23)
15 slot repetitive
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22)
16 slot causative (can be repeated)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 17 slot completive
• Word-final apocope 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
• Syllabification 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
• h-Metathesis and Vowel Deletion
21 slot inceptive
• Maximal minimum free form 22 slot aspectual
• Minimal repeated subspan 23 slot modal
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
• Layer 11: Layer 9 + enclitics
• Layer 11 is a domain where five diagnostics converge:
• Word-final apocope (§3.11.1)
• Syllabification (§3.11.2)
• h-Metathesis and Vowel Deletion (§3.11.3)
• Maximal minimum free form (§3.11.4)
• Minimal repeated subspan (§3.11.5)
• This is the best candidate for the wordhood in Oklahoma Cherokee
(§4).
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.1. Word-final apocope
• Final vowels of Cherokee words are generally not pronounced (Word Final Deletion;
Bender & Harris 1947: 17; Feeling 1975: xii; Uchihara 2013: §2.3).
• gi:hl(i) ‘dog’; ű:tan(a) ‘(it is) big’
• However, when an enclitic is attached, the word-final vowels are obligatory, even for
speakers for whom deletion of the final vowels is the norm (Lindsey 1985: 139),
• gi:hlí=s ‘dog?’, ű:taná=s ‘is it big?’
• when this clitic has a final short vowel, this final vowel of the enclitics is deleted instead.
• hi:nâ:hláʔa=sk(ò) ‘Do you own it (AN)?’
• The presence of the underlying final vowel o of this clitic is evident when this clitic itself
is followed by another clitic.
• gawó:nihá=sgò:=hv ‘or is he speaking?’
• Thus, enclitics in the position 24 are within the domain of word final apocope (cf. Haag
1997, 1999).
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.2. Syllabification
• Syllabification
• following maximal syllable template (O = onset, R =
Rhyme, N = nucleus, C = coda, and V = vowel).

• Justification for syllabification (Uchihara 2016:

Ch. 3)
• Maximal Onset Principle (Selkirk 1982a,
Clements & Keyser 1983),
• Closed Syllable Shortening
• Native speaker judgments.
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.2. Syllabification
• Syllabification does not apply across Layer 11 (i.e. does not apply
between position 1 and the rest).
• In (18), the word-final n of the first word (which results from the
word-final apocope) does not constitute the onset of a syllable with
the initial vowel of the following verb.
(18) jí:.sdv:n à:.wa.du:.lí (*jí:.sdv:.nà:.wa.du:.lí)
cíístvvn(a) aw-atuul-í(h-a)
1 9-12-22-23
crawdad 1SG.B-want-PRS-IND
‘I want a crawdad’ (JRS2013)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.2. Syllabification
• Syllabification is in most cases indecisive whether clitics (position 24) form part of
its domain,
• since most of the clitics begin with a consonant, and forms a separate syllable on their own.
• However, Durbin Feeling’s transcription (he writes the tonal superscript after the
syllable boundary in his 1975 dictionary) suggests that he analyzes the
interrogative clitic =s as forming a syllable along with the preceding sequence ha:
(17) gạ2wo3nị2has3
ka-woó(ʔ)n-ih-a=s
9-12-22-23=24
3SG.A-speak-PRS-IND=Q
‘Is he speaking?’ (Pulte & Feeling 1975: 293)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.3. h-Metathesis and Vowel Deletion
• Motivated by the dispreference of a CVh sequence, and when such a sequence occurs, it is remedied by:
• deleting the vowel when h is followed by a plosive/affricate or by another vowel (‘Vowel Deletion’) as in (19),
• or ‘metathesizing’ V and h when h is followed by a resonant, as in (20) (‘h-Metathesis’).
Vowel Deletion/h-Metathesis No Vowel Deletion/h-Metathesis
(19) a. kdíha b. hvhda
k-(v)ht-íh-a h-vht-Ø-a
9-12-22-23 9-12-22-23
3S G .A -use-P R S -IN D 2S G .A -use-P C T -IN D
‘He is using it.’ (Feeling 1975: 142) ‘Use it!’ (ibid.)
(20) a. kanalu:sga b. hihnalǔ:hi
ka-hnaluu-sk-a hi-hnaluú-h-i
9-12-22-23 9-12-22-23
3S G .A -ascend-P R S -IN D 2S G .A -ascend-P C T -IN D
‘He is ascending.’ (Feeling 1975: 138) ‘Ascend!’ (ibid.)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.3. h-Metathesis and Vowel Deletion
• h-Metathesis or Vowel Deletion never applies across Layer 11 (i.e.
does not apply between position 1 and the rest).
• In (21), the sequence kwa + h satisfies the condition for Vowel
Deletion, but it is not applied, since the sequence strides over Layer
11:
(21) jí:sgwa hihye:lí:ʔa (*jí:skwihye:lí:ʔa)
cíískwa hi-hyeel-iíʔ-a
1 9-12-22-23
bird 2S G .A -imitate-P R S -IN D
‘You are imitating a bird.’ (EJ2011)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.3. h-Metathesis and Vowel Deletion
• Clitics fall in the domain of h-Metathesis and Vowel Deletion.
• The interrogative clitic =s(k)(o) satisfies the condition for Vowel Deletion when the preceding vowel is short,
• and there are a couple of instances where this preceding vowel is deleted.
(22 ) a. ǎysk b. aya
ay(a)=sk aya
7=10 7
1S G =Q 1S G
‘me?’ (JW1973) ‘I’ (Feeling 1975: 65)
(23) a. u:nv̌:ts b. u:nv̌:di
uunvv́d(i)=s uunvv́ti
7-10 7
milk=Q milk
‘milk?’ ‘milk’ (Holmes & Smith 1976)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.4. Maximal minimum free form
• The maximal form that can stand alone and cannot be separated.
• If one wishes to add elements beyond a 2–24 span, the resulting
utterance will no longer be a single free form.

(24) Joe Dan gv:wò:sě:hó

Jo Dan kv:kw-ooʔs-ě:h-óʔi
1 9-12-22-23
Joe Dan 3PL>1SG-say-IMPF-HAB
‘They call me Joe Dan’ (JG2020: XX)
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24)
3.11.5. Minimal repeated subspan
• Minimal repeated subspan:
• “the subspan of positions whose elements cannot be interpreted unless they are present in the
subspan itself. The elements of the positions in the subspan cannot be elided under co-
/subordination or the positions of the subspan cannot have wide scope over the repeated
subspans” (Tallman 2020: 30)
• Within the maximal repeated subspan (layer 12), only position 1 can be elided; for
instance, position 9 is coreferential but cannot be elided.
• thus, the minimal repeated subspan is 2-24:

(25) gi:hli ù:dlv́:gi gi:hli galihwó:gi=hnv́:

kiihli uu-htlvv-ʔk-i kiihli ka-lihwoo-ʔk-i=hnv́v́
1 9-12-22-23 1 9-12-22-23=24
dog 3S G .B -be.sick-P N C -IN D dog 3S G .A -die-P N C -IN D =and
‘A dog got sick and died’
3. Layers in Oklahoma Position Type Elements
Cherokee 1
2
zone
slot
DP{A,S,P}, PP, Adv
irrealis/relative
3 slot translocative
4 slot partitive
3.1. Layer 1 (4-13) 5 slot distributive
6 slot cislocative
3.2. Layer 2 (11-22)
7 slot iterative
3.3. Layer 3 (11-23) 8 slot ‘negative’
9 slot pronominal prefixes (Agent, Patient)
3.4. Layer 4 (9-23) 10 slot middle, reflexive
3.5. Layer 5 (2-17) 11 slot N, V
12 slot Verb root
3.6. Layer 6 (7-23) 13 slot aspectual (perfective, only when DERIV is present)
14 slot duplicative
3.7. Layer 7 (4-22) 15 slot repetitive
3.8. Layer 8 (5-23) 16 slot causative (can be repeated)
17 slot completive
3.9. Layer 9 (2-23) 18 zone dative, ambulative (variable order)
3.10. Layer 10 (1-22) 19 slot venitive
20 slot andative
3.11. Layer 11 (2-24) 21 slot inceptive
22 slot aspectual
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24) 23 slot modal
• Maximal repeated subspan 24 zone clitics (interrogative, categories TBA)
3.12. Layer 12 (1-24)
Maximal repeated subspan
• Maximal repeated subspan:
• “The subspan of positions whose elements can occur in each of the coordinated constituents
without reference to whether some of these elements can be elided or interpreted via widescope
of one element over the repeated subspans” (Tallman 2020: 30).
• In Oklahoma Cherokee, this subspan is coextensive with the positions 1-24:

(26) achű:ja gawó:niha agě:hyá=hno dě:káno:gíʔa

a-chű:ca ka-wooʔn-ih-a a-keéhya=hno tee-ka-hno:k-iʔ-a
[4-7]1 9-12-22-23 [4-7=10]1 5-9-12-22-23
3S G .A -boy 3S G .A -speak-P R S -IN D 3S G .A -girl=and DIST-3SG.A-sing-PRS-IND
‘A boy is speaking and a woman is singing.’ (Pulte & Feeling 1975: 343)
Organization
1. Introduction
2. Planar structure
3. Layers in Oklahoma Cherokee
4. Conclusion: defining ‘word’ in Cherokee
4. Defining word in Oklahoma Cherokee
• The data from Cherokee suggests first that the domains do not cluster in
one constituent structure but rather more than one constituent need to be
posited, as in other languages rich in morphology (Schiering et al. 2010;
Bickel & Zúñiga 2016).
• At the same time, one constituent (Layer 11) stands out among others
since more (five) diagnostics converge on this constituent.
• What is noteworthy about this constituent – which could be the principal
candidate for a ‘word’ in Oklahoma Cherokee – is the size of this domain:
• this domain could theoretically contain up to 23 morpheme slots.
• A comparison with other languages will confirm if the size of this domain is
indeed significantly larger than average
ᎢᏨᏯᎵᎡᎵᏥᏏ
• Speakers of Oklahoma Cherokee, especially: Durbin Feeling, Ed
Jumper, Junior Scraper, Ida Scraper, DJ McCarter, Anna Sixkiller,
David Crawler, and Dennis Sixkiller.
• Adam Tallman and Karin Michelson for discussing the topic with me;
• University at Buffalo, SUNY, Jacobs Fund (University of Washington)
and Phillips Grant (American Philosophical Society) for funding this
project.
• Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, UNAM for supporting me with
this project ;-)