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Vocalic Feature Spreading Processes in Sardinian Varieties We Present A Vocalic feature spreading processes in Sardinian varieties Francesc Torres-Tamarit1, Kathrin Linke1;2, Maria del Mar Vanrell3 1Meertens Institute (The Netherlands); 2Leiden University (The Netherlands); 3Universidad Aut´onomade Madrid (Spain) We present a new account of vocalic feature spreading processes in Sardinian varieties, namely metaphony and copy-vowel epenthesis. Our Optimality Theory (OT) analysis makes use of privative features, which solves an apparent opaque interaction regarding metaphony. This representational account also explains the differing patterns of copy- vowel epenthesis found in those varieties. Problem & data. At the surface level, all Sardinian varieties present a seven vowel system ([i, e, E, a, O, o, u]) in stressed position. In unstressed word-final position, Campi- danese provides a reduced system of three vowels ([i, a, u]), as opposed to Logudorese (& Nuorese), which show a five vowel system ([i, E, a, O, u]). The presence of the mid tense vowels [e, o] in stressed position is always the result of metaphony. The mid lax vowels /E, O/ raise to the mid tense vowels [e, o] when followed by the high vowel suffixes [-i, -u] (see 1). (1) Right-to-left metaphony in Campidanese masc.sg.[-u] fem.sg.[-a] gloss "no.u "nO.a `new' ni."eã.ãu ni."Eã.ãa `black' In Campidanese, cases of underapplication of metaphony are found (see 2), where mid lax vowels fail to raise preceding high vowel suffixes. It is relevant to observe that the corresponding suffixes in Logudorese (& Nuorese) are not high. (2) Underapplication of metaphony in Campidanese Campidanese Nuorese gloss "kO.Ru "kO.RO `heart.masc.sg.' "mE.Ki "mE.lE `honey.masc.sg.' The second relevant process is copy-vowel epenthesis, which applies after word-final con- sonants (see 3a) and after stressed word-final vowels (see 3b). Whereas in Nuorese the word-final vowel is fully copied, in Campidanese the copy can be partial in accordance with the reduced vowel system in word-final position. This leads to additional cases of underapplication of metaphony in Campidanese, where word-final high vowels, in these cases epenthetic vowels, do not cause raising of preceding mid lax vowels. (3) Word-final copy-vowel epenthesis (Bolognesi 1998; Jones 1988; Prieto et al. 2010- 2014) a. after consonant Campidanese Logudorese gloss ses "sE.zi "sE.zE `you are' cantat "kan.ta.ta "kan.ta.ta `(s)he sings' tempus/os "tEm.pu.zu "tEm.pO.zO `time.masc.pl.' letamen la."Da.mi.ni lE."ta.mE.nE `manure.masc.sg.' b. after stressed vowel (Bolognesi 1998) Campidanese gloss caf`e kaf."fE.i ‘coffee’ gat`o gat."tO.u `gateau (French)' These two types of underapplication of metaphony present a general problem for OT. Analysis. Our analysis of the Campidanian data is based on monovalent features with the surface specifications given in (4). The other varieties receive a similar account. (4) Surface vowel specifications in Campidanese i fCor, High, (ATR)g u fLab, High, (ATR)g e fCor, ATRg o fLab, ATRg E fCorg O fLabg a fLowg Monovalent features allow for the distinction between two sets of suffixes which differ in their underlying specification for fATRg, although they surface identically in this variety as [i, u] due to vowel reduction. The underlying representations of these suffixes are given in (5). fHighg is optional given Richness of the Base. Place is not shown in (5). (5) Metaphonizing suffixes Non-metaphonizing suffixes /fATR, (High)g/ ! [fATR, Highg]/f(High)g/ ! [fHighg] First, in all unstressed word-final vowel suffixes, the optional feature fHighg is inserted to comply with vowel reduction. This is due to the following ranking: *E,O*e,oDep(High), *i,u. This leads to neutralization of the two sets of suffixes in (5) on the surface. Second, if fATRg is present underlyingly, metaphony applies as the result of terminal fATRg-spreading, which is triggered by satisfying the markedness constraint Agree(ATR), which dominates DepLink. Additionally, fATRg can neither be deleted nor delinked due to top-ranked Max(ATR) and MaxLink. On the other hand, if fATRg is not present un- derlyingly, inserting fATRg is prohibited by top-ranked Dep(ATR). Faithfulness to fATRg is thus paramount, and has a twofold function: to preserve the feature when it is present underlyingly, and to block the insertion of it when it is not present underlyingly. There- fore, what seems to be a case of underapplication naturally follows from the architecture of representations in monovalent feature theory. If binary features were assumed, the OT ranking responsible for vowel reduction would force all suffix vowels to be specified for [+ATR], which is the structural environment for metaphony. Because of that, the very same OT grammar could not prevent the overall application of metaphony, and therefore could not account for the cases in (2). Last, the markedness constraints responsible for word-final copy-vowel epenthesis are No-Coda and Trochee, which outrank Dep(V). As a consequence, a word-final vo- calic node is epenthesized. This position gains its feature specifications by spreading all available features from the preceding lexical vowel. The difference between the surfacing vowels in Campidanese and Logudorese (& Nuorese) relies on the additional insertion or non-insertion of fHighg as the result of having or not having vowel reduction. Conclusion. Our analysis, built on previous ideas found in Bolognesi (1998) and Frigeni (2002), shows that it is crucial to use monovalent features to circumvent the stated opacity problem. Whereas Frigeni (2002) claims two separate vowel inventories for stems and desinences, our account discards the notion of a non-unified underlying vowel inventory for a given language. To support our analysis, newly collected data will be presented from the IARI. References Bolognesi, R. (1998). The phonology of Campidanian Sardinian. Univ. of Amsterdam: HIL. Frigeni, C. (2002). Metaphony in Campidanian Sardinian: A domain-based analysis. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 20:63{91. Jones, M. (1988). Sardinian. In M. Harris & N. Vincent (eds.), The Romance Languages. New York: Oxford University Press. Prieto, P., et al. (Coords.) (2010-2014). Interactive Atlas of Romance Intonation (IARI). Web page: http://prosodia.upf.edu/iari/.
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