JournalLing Undergraduate Linguistics Journal

Clipped Loanword Blends in Japanese

2026-05-04T18:25:55-04:00

Word-blending is a common and productive process that forms new words by combining components of multiple source words. Different from compounding, blending is defined by the shortening of one or more of the constituent words. This paper conducts a typological analysis of Japanese Clipped Loanword Blend (CLB), a process of word blending involving loanwords. By drawing on existing blendword literature and by investigating the semantics of lexical data, this paper establishes three descriptive categories of Japanese CLBs based on semantic meaning and pragmatic usage: true compounds, true blends, and complex clipped loanwords. Empirical investigation suggests that many blend-word data fall between these categories, possibly due to shifts in meaning and/or usage.

Deconstructing Queer Speech

2026-05-04T18:35:03-04:00

One of the fundamental observations of sociolinguistics is that separate social classes and groups form individual speech patterns. Taking this fact into account for queer communities, this article explores the features of speech associated with a so-called “gay-sounding speech”, specifically in the realm of phonetics and acoustics, and the place of this speech in relation to the wider 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Through a survey of the research literature, it considers different kinds of acoustic variation to investigate the widespread idea that “gay-sounding speech” is characterized by a feminization of speech, a view deemed controversial. The article provides evidence both for and against this claim.

Three Puzzles from Camsá Morphology

2026-05-04T18:38:28-04:00

Camsá (also spelled Kamsá, Kaments̈á, and Caments̈á), is a language isolate spoken in Colombia at a transition point between the Amazon lowlands and Andean highlands (O’Brien 2018:2). It is endangered and understudied, with an elderly speech community and no more than 10 published linguistic works (O’Brien 2018:23), with O’Brien (2018) representing the first reference grammar. Camsá has also been described as morphologically complex (O’Brien 2018:27). These qualities: genetically isolated, typologically transitional, understudied, and morphologically complex, all make further analysis of Camsá a potentially valuable contribution to our understanding of morphology. In this paper, we explore three puzzles present throughout the language. First, we explore an alternation in the forms of adjectives triggered by linear positioning with respect to their head nouns, and argue it represents an alternation between true noun-adjective structure building and noun-adjective compounding. Second, we describe a process within the verb that seems akin to noun incorporation or noun-verb compounding. Finally, we revisit a decomposition of the agreement system, arguing that the o vowel present in several prefixes is a separable morpheme; and suggest that, moreover, this morpheme is sensitive to the presence of an incorporated noun.

Nominal and Verbal Behavior in Pulaar Infinitives

2026-05-04T18:42:19-04:00

This study explores the nominal and verbal behavior of infinitive clauses in the Futa Tooro dialect of Pulaar. Pulaar infinitives have the distribution of nouns, in that they can appear in both the subject and object position of verbs and can be possessed by possessive constructions. These infinitives also vary in that sometimes they behave as full nominals that select for adjectival modifiers, and sometimes behave partially verbally, selecting for adverbial modifiers. As noted by Ba (2017), it appears that this variation correlates to whether the infinitive takes a determiner that agrees with the infinitive head in noun class. When there is a determiner agreeing with the infinitive head in noun class, the infinitive behaves fully nominally, however when this determiner is not present, the infinitive behaves partially verbally. Using the ideas laid out by Kratzer (1994) and expanded upon by Harley (2009), we show that this variance in nominal and verbal behavior can be explained by which point in the derivation the nominalizing infinitive head attaches. Harley identifies the verbalizing v^ohead to be inside of the agent introducing vP layer. If the infinitive head attaches below vP, the infinitive is never verbal at any point in the derivation and behaves fully nominally. If the infinitive head attaches above vP, however, the infinitive behaves partially verbally, as it is a verb at some point in the derivation.

Mandarin Rhotacization

2026-05-04T18:45:36-04:00

Rhotacization (erhua) is a salient phonological feature of Beijing Mandarin and a well-known marker of regional identity in China, especially among male speakers. However, the distribution of this feature among younger Mandarin speakers, notably in large cities, somewhat differs from the distribution described in previous studies . This study investigates the effects of region and gender on erhua usage among urban Mandarin speakers born in the 2000s, recruiting participants from Beijing and other major Chinese cities, evenly divided by gender. Through a quantitative comparison across groups and styles in performing reading tasks, the results show a robust regional effect: Beijing speakers use erhua at significantly higher rates than non-Beijing speakers. Beijing speakers also display substantially greater individual variation, likely reflecting the city’s sociolinguistic heterogeneity. In contrast, no statistically significant gender difference was found. However, descriptive patterns suggest that Beijing men may reduce rhotacization more sharply in formal contexts than women, indicating possible gendered style shifting. These findings highlight the continued importance of regional background in shaping erhua usage while suggesting a potential weakening of traditional gender-based differences among younger urban speakers.

Linguistic Change in a Bilingual Context

2026-05-04T18:49:33-04:00

This paper investigates the degree to which language contact may influence Catalan sound change in the absence of language shift by examining variables with potential contact-induced variants in the context of the highly bilingual Catalan-Spanish urban center of Barcelona that has undergone a recent reversal of language shift. The study identifies four variables, three which have been previously described in the literature as potential contact-induced linguistic changes, and one which is recognized as unaffiliated with language contact. These involve the potential merger of /ʎ/ and /j/, the affrication of /ʃ/, the devoicing of /ʒ/ and /z/, as well as the deletion of pre-consonantal /r/, in an attempt to determine whether these former changes, if they are present, are due to language internal or external factors, and whether their social distribution differs significantly from the latter change unaffiliated with language contact. Additionally, the study analyzes the factors of language attitude and use among bilingual speakers and whether these correlate with particular linguistic variants to determine whether linguistic changes observed are due to language contact. The sociolinguistic patterns of the merger, affrication, and devoicing suggest these are, at least partially, language contact-induced changes from below, while that of /r/ deletion affirms its status as a stable sociolinguistic variable. Language attitude is found to have no correlation with the variables studied, while language use is found to be highly predictive only of /z/ devoicing.

An Acoustic Analysis of Stress in the Na-Dene Languages of Ahtna and Dena’ina

2026-05-04T18:51:58-04:00

This study measures and analyzes the acoustic factors that contribute to the assignment of stress in non-tonal Na-Dene languages. Ahtna and Dena’ina are examined, and each language is represented by three archival audio recordings taken from the Alaskan Native Language Archive (ANLA). This paper studies the duration, intensity, and pitch of the vowel /a/ in stressed and unstressed environments. Through Praat and statistical analysis, a significant correlation is found between stress and duration where the token /a/ was longer in stressed environments compared to its unstressed counterparts. Pitch and intensity show no significant correlation to stress. This suggests that duration is the primary acoustic cue of stress placement in toneless Na-Dene languages.

Tonal Opposition in Northern and Southern Tutchone

2026-05-04T18:55:05-04:00

This paper examines tonal opposition in two closely related Athabaskan languages, Northern and Southern Tutchone, both spoken in the Yukon Territory and Alaska. Despite their shared linguistic roots, these languages exhibit contrasting tonal systems: Northern Tutchone uses high tone as the marked category, while Southern Tutchone favours low tone. The study investigates whether this tonal divergence originated from a common ancestral development or arose independently through different phonetic inputs. Drawing on comparative phonological analysis, this research explores various hypotheses regarding tonogenesis, including shared origin with diverging outcomes, asymmetric derivation, and independent development. The paper further discusses broader patterns of tonal opposition within the Athabaskan language family and explores similar cases in other language families, suggesting that tonogenesis can lead to the development of divergent tonal systems even in closely related languages. The findings highlight the complex processes involved in the emergence of tone as a contrastive feature, contributing to our understanding of historical phonology and tonogenesis in North American Indigenous Languages.

Land Acknowledgement

2026-05-04T13:00:25-04:00

Editorial Team

2026-05-04T18:05:57-04:00

2026-05-04T18:07:41-04:00

Foreword

2026-05-04T18:09:01-04:00