Lenition in Persian Phonological System Aliye Kambuziya1* Mahmoud Mobaraki2 1
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4. R-Influence on Vowels
4. R-influence on vowels Before you study this chapter, check whether you are familiar with the following terms: allophone, centring diphthong, complementary distribution, diphthong, distribution, foreignism, fricative, full vowel, GA, hiatus, homophone, Intrusive-R, labial, lax, letter-to-sound rule, Linking-R, low-starting diphthong, minimal pair, monophthong, morpheme, nasal, non-productive suffix, non-rhotic accent, phoneme, productive suffix, rhotic accent, R-dropping, RP, tense, triphthong This chapter mainly focuses on the behaviour of full vowels before an /r/, the phonological and letter-to-sound rules related to this behaviour and some further phenomena concerning vowels. As it is demonstrated in Chapter 2 the two main accent types of English, rhotic and non-rhotic accents, are most easily distinguished by whether an /r/ is pronounced in all positions or not. In General American, a rhotic accent, all /r/'s are pronounced while in Received Pronunciation, a non-rhotic variant, only prevocalic ones are. Besides this, these – and other – dialects may also be distinguished by the behaviour of stressed vowels before an /r/, briefly mentioned in the previous chapter. To remind the reader of the most important vowel classes that will be referred to we repeat one of the tables from Chapter 3 for convenience. Tense Lax Monophthongs i, u, 3 , e, , , , , , , 1, 2 Diphthongs and , , , , , , , , triphthongs , Chapter 4 Recall that we have come up with a few generalizations in Chapter 3, namely that all short vowels are lax, all diphthongs and triphthongs are tense, non- high long monophthongs are lax, except for //, which behaves in an ambiguous way: sometimes it is tense, in other cases it is lax. -
Lenition and Optimality Theory
Lenition and Optimality Theory (Proceedings of LSRL XXIV, Feb. 1994) Haike Jacobs French Department Nijmegen University/Free University Amsterdam 1. Introduction Since Kiparsky (1968) generative historical phonology has relied primarily on the following means in accounting for sound change: rule addition, rule simplification, rule loss and rule reordering. Given that the phonological rule as such no longer exists in the recently proposed framework of Optimality theory (cf. Prince and Smolensky 1993), the question arises how sound change can be accounted for in this theory. Prince and Smolensky (1993) contains mainly applications of the theory to non-segmental phonology (that is, stress and syllable structure), whereas the segmental phonology is only briefly (the segmental inventory of Yidiny) touched upon. In this paper, we will present and discuss an account of consonantal weakening processes within the framework of Optimality theory. We will concentrate on lenition in the historical phonology of French, but take into account synchronic allophonic lenition processes as well. This paper purports to demonstrate not only that segmental phonology can straightforwardly be dealt with in optimality theory, but, moreover, that an optimality-based account of lenition is not thwarted by the drawbacks of previous proposals. This paper is organized as follows. In section 2, we will present the main facts of lenition in the historical phonology of French. After that, section 3 briefly discusses previous analyses of this phenomenon, mainly concentrating on their problematic aspects. Section 4 considers the possibilities of accounting for lenition in Optimality theory. Finally, in section 5 the main results of the present paper are summarized. -
Phonological Processes
Phonological Processes Phonological processes are patterns of articulation that are developmentally appropriate in children learning to speak up until the ages listed below. PHONOLOGICAL PROCESS DESCRIPTION AGE ACQUIRED Initial Consonant Deletion Omitting first consonant (hat → at) Consonant Cluster Deletion Omitting both consonants of a consonant cluster (stop → op) 2 yrs. Reduplication Repeating syllables (water → wawa) Final Consonant Deletion Omitting a singleton consonant at the end of a word (nose → no) Unstressed Syllable Deletion Omitting a weak syllable (banana → nana) 3 yrs. Affrication Substituting an affricate for a nonaffricate (sheep → cheep) Stopping /f/ Substituting a stop for /f/ (fish → tish) Assimilation Changing a phoneme so it takes on a characteristic of another sound (bed → beb, yellow → lellow) 3 - 4 yrs. Velar Fronting Substituting a front sound for a back sound (cat → tat, gum → dum) Backing Substituting a back sound for a front sound (tap → cap) 4 - 5 yrs. Deaffrication Substituting an affricate with a continuant or stop (chip → sip) 4 yrs. Consonant Cluster Reduction (without /s/) Omitting one or more consonants in a sequence of consonants (grape → gape) Depalatalization of Final Singles Substituting a nonpalatal for a palatal sound at the end of a word (dish → dit) 4 - 6 yrs. Stopping of /s/ Substituting a stop sound for /s/ (sap → tap) 3 ½ - 5 yrs. Depalatalization of Initial Singles Substituting a nonpalatal for a palatal sound at the beginning of a word (shy → ty) Consonant Cluster Reduction (with /s/) Omitting one or more consonants in a sequence of consonants (step → tep) Alveolarization Substituting an alveolar for a nonalveolar sound (chew → too) 5 yrs. -
The Phonology, Phonetics, and Diachrony of Sturtevant's
Indo-European Linguistics 7 (2019) 241–307 brill.com/ieul The phonology, phonetics, and diachrony of Sturtevant’s Law Anthony D. Yates University of California, Los Angeles [email protected] Abstract This paper presents a systematic reassessment of Sturtevant’s Law (Sturtevant 1932), which governs the differing outcomes of Proto-Indo-European voiced and voice- less obstruents in Hittite (Anatolian). I argue that Sturtevant’s Law was a con- ditioned pre-Hittite sound change whereby (i) contrastively voiceless word-medial obstruents regularly underwent gemination (cf. Melchert 1994), but gemination was blocked for stops in pre-stop position; and (ii) the inherited [±voice] contrast was then lost, replaced by the [±long] opposition observed in Hittite (cf. Blevins 2004). I pro- vide empirical and typological support for this novel restriction, which is shown not only to account straightforwardly for data that is problematic under previous analy- ses, but also to be phonetically motivated, a natural consequence of the poorly cued durational contrast between voiceless and voiced stops in pre-stop environments. I develop an optimality-theoretic analysis of this gemination pattern in pre-Hittite, and discuss how this grammar gave rise to synchronic Hittite via “transphonologization” (Hyman 1976, 2013). Finally, it is argued that this analysis supports deriving the Hittite stop system from the Proto-Indo-European system as traditionally reconstructed with an opposition between voiceless, voiced, and breathy voiced stops (contra Kloekhorst 2016, Jäntti 2017). Keywords Hittite – Indo-European – diachronic phonology – language change – phonological typology © anthony d. yates, 2019 | doi:10.1163/22125892-00701006 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NCDownloaded4.0 License. -
Labialized Consonants in Iraqw Alain Ghio1 Maarten Mous2 and Didier Demolin3
Labialized consonants in Iraqw Alain Ghio1 Maarten Mous2 and Didier Demolin3, Aix-Marseille Univ. & CNRS UMR7309 – LPL1, Universiteit Leiden2, Laboratoire de phonétique et phonologie, CNRS-UMR 7018, Sorbonne nouvelle3 Iraqw a Cushitic language spoken in Tanzania has a set of labialized consonants /ŋw, kw, gw, qw ́, xw/ in its phonological inventory (Mous, 1993). This study makes a comparison between labial movements involved in the production of these consonants and compares them with the gestures of the bilabial nasal [m] and the labiovelar approximant [w]. Data were recorded combining acoustic, EGG and video data. The latter were taken by using simultaneous front and profile images, first at normal speed (25 fps) and then at high-speed (300 fps). Data were recorded with 4 women and 5 men. Results show that the labialized consonants [ŋw, kw, gw, qw ́, xw] are produced with a gesture different from the bilabial nasal and the labiovelar approximant that both involve some lip rounding and protrusion. The labialized consonants show a slow vertical opening movement of the lips with a very slight inter-lip rounding. Figure 1 compares lips positions immediately after the release of the different closures for [kw and qw ́] and in the middle of the gesture of [m] and [w]. Figure 1. Lips front and profile positions shortly after the closure release of [kw] and [qw ́] showing a small inter-lip rounding for [qw ́]. [w] and [m] show both lip rounding and protrusion. High-speed video confirms 2 different types of labial gestures. These findings sustain a claim made by Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) who suggested 2 possible types of labial gestures involved in the production of labial consonants. -
Lecture 5 Sound Change
An articulatory theory of sound change An articulatory theory of sound change Hypothesis: Most common initial motivation for sound change is the automation of production. Tokens reduced online, are perceived as reduced and represented in the exemplar cluster as reduced. Therefore we expect sound changes to reflect a decrease in gestural magnitude and an increase in gestural overlap. What are some ways to test the articulatory model? The theory makes predictions about what is a possible sound change. These predictions could be tested on a cross-linguistic database. Sound changes that take place in the languages of the world are very similar (Blevins 2004, Bateman 2000, Hajek 1997, Greenberg et al. 1978). We should consider both common and rare changes and try to explain both. Common and rare changes might have different characteristics. Among the properties we could look for are types of phonetic motivation, types of lexical diffusion, gradualness, conditioning environment and resulting segments. Common vs. rare sound change? We need a database that allows us to test hypotheses concerning what types of changes are common and what types are not. A database of sound changes? Most sound changes have occurred in undocumented periods so that we have no record of them. Even in cases with written records, the phonetic interpretation may be unclear. Only a small number of languages have historic records. So any sample of known sound changes would be biased towards those languages. A database of sound changes? Sound changes are known only for some languages of the world: Languages with written histories. Sound changes can be reconstructed by comparing related languages. -
Is Phonological Consonant Epenthesis Possible? a Series of Artificial Grammar Learning Experiments
Is Phonological Consonant Epenthesis Possible? A Series of Artificial Grammar Learning Experiments Rebecca L. Morley Abstract Consonant epenthesis is typically assumed to be part of the basic repertoire of phonological gram- mars. This implies that there exists some set of linguistic data that entails epenthesis as the best analy- sis. However, a series of artificial grammar learning experiments found no evidence that learners ever selected an epenthesis analysis. Instead, phonetic and morphological biases were revealed, along with individual variation in how learners generalized and regularized their input. These results, in combi- nation with previous work, suggest that synchronic consonant epenthesis may only emerge very rarely, from a gradual accumulation of changes over time. It is argued that the theoretical status of epenthesis must be reconsidered in light of these results, and that investigation of the sufficient learning conditions, and the diachronic developments necessary to produce those conditions, are of central importance to synchronic theory generally. 1 Introduction Epenthesis is defined as insertion of a segment that has no correspondent in the relevant lexical, or un- derlying, form. There are various types of epenthesis that can be defined in terms of either the insertion environment, the features of the epenthesized segment, or both. The focus of this paper is on consonant epenthesis and, more specifically, default consonant epenthesis that results in markedness reduction (e.g. Prince and Smolensky (1993/2004)). Consonant -
A Typology of Consonant Agreement As Correspondence
A TYPOLOGY OF CONSONANT AGREEMENT AS CORRESPONDENCE SHARON ROSE RACHEL WALKER University of California, San Diego University of Southern California This article presents a typology of consonant harmony or LONG DISTANCE CONSONANT AGREEMENT that is analyzed as arisingthroughcorrespondence relations between consonants rather than feature spreading. The model covers a range of agreement patterns (nasal, laryngeal, liquid, coronal, dorsal) and offers several advantages. Similarity of agreeing consonants is central to the typology and is incorporated directly into the constraints drivingcorrespondence. Agreementby correspon- dence without feature spreadingcaptures the neutrality of interveningsegments,which neither block nor undergo. Case studies of laryngeal agreement and nasal agreement are presented, demon- stratingthe model’s capacity to capture varyingdegreesof similarity crosslinguistically.* 1. INTRODUCTION. The action at a distance that is characteristic of CONSONANT HAR- MONIES stands as a pivotal problem to be addressed by phonological theory. Consider the nasal alternations in the Bantu language, Kikongo (Meinhof 1932, Dereau 1955, Webb 1965, Ao 1991, Odden 1994, Piggott 1996). In this language, the voiced stop in the suffix [-idi] in la is realized as [ini] in 1b when preceded by a nasal consonant at any distance in the stem constituent, consistingof root and suffixes. (1) a. m-[bud-idi]stem ‘I hit’ b. tu-[kun-ini]stem ‘we planted’ n-[suk-idi]stem ‘I washed’ tu-[nik-ini]stem ‘we ground’ In addition to the alternation in 1, there are no Kikongo roots containing a nasal followed by a voiced stop, confirmingthat nasal harmony or AGREEMENT, as we term it, also holds at the root level as a MORPHEME STRUCTURE CONSTRAINT (MSC). -
L Vocalisation As a Natural Phenomenon
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Essex Research Repository L Vocalisation as a Natural Phenomenon Wyn Johnson and David Britain Essex University [email protected] [email protected] 1. Introduction The sound /l/ is generally characterised in the literature as a coronal lateral approximant. This standard description holds that the sounds involves contact between the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge, but instead of the air being blocked at the sides of the tongue, it is also allowed to pass down the sides. In many (but not all) dialects of English /l/ has two allophones – clear /l/ ([l]), roughly as described, and dark, or velarised, /l/ ([…]) involving a secondary articulation – the retraction of the back of the tongue towards the velum. In dialects which exhibit this allophony, the clear /l/ occurs in syllable onsets and the dark /l/ in syllable rhymes (leaf [li˘f] vs. feel [fi˘…] and table [te˘b…]). The focus of this paper is the phenomenon of l-vocalisation, that is to say the vocalisation of dark /l/ in syllable rhymes 1. feel [fi˘w] table [te˘bu] but leaf [li˘f] 1 This process is widespread in the varieties of English spoken in the South-Eastern part of Britain (Bower 1973; Hardcastle & Barry 1989; Hudson and Holloway 1977; Meuter 2002, Przedlacka 2001; Spero 1996; Tollfree 1999, Trudgill 1986; Wells 1982) (indeed, it appears to be categorical in some varieties there) and which extends to many other dialects including American English (Ash 1982; Hubbell 1950; Pederson 2001); Australian English (Borowsky 2001, Borowsky and Horvath 1997, Horvath and Horvath 1997, 2001, 2002), New Zealand English (Bauer 1986, 1994; Horvath and Horvath 2001, 2002) and Falkland Island English (Sudbury 2001). -
The American Intrusive L
THE AMERICAN INTRUSIVE L BRYAN GICK University of British Columbia The well-known sandhi phenomenon known as intrusive r has been one of the longest-standing problems in English phonology. Recent work has brought to light a uniquely American contribution to this discussion: the intrusive l (as in draw[l]ing for drawing and bra[l] is for bra is in southern Pennsylvania, compared to draw[r]ing and bra[r] is, respectively, in British Received Pronunciation [RP]). In both instances of intrusion, a historically unattested liquid consonant (r or l) intervenes in the hiatus between a morpheme-final nonhigh vowel and a following vowel, either across or within words. Not surprisingly, this process interacts crucially with the well- known cases of /r/-vocalization (e.g., Kurath and McDavid 1961; Labov 1966; Labov, Yaeger, and Steiner 1972; Fowler 1986) and /l/-vocalization (e.g., Ash 1982a, 1982b), which have been identified as important markers of sociolinguistic stratification in New York City, Philadelphia, and else- where. However, previous discussion of the intrusive l (Gick 1999) has focused primarily on its phonological implications, with almost no attempt to describe its geographic, dialectal, and sociolinguistic context. This study marks such an attempt. In particular, it argues that the intrusive l is an instance of phonological change in progress. Descriptively, the intrusive l parallels the intrusive r in many respects. Intrusive r may be viewed simplistically as the extension by analogy of a historically attested final /r/ to words historically ending in a vowel (gener- ally this applies only to the set of non-glide-final vowels: /@, a, O/). -
Phonetic Factors Contributing to the Inception and Evolution of Sound Change
DOI: 10.17469/O2101AISV000002 DANIEL RECASENS Phonetic factors contributing to the inception and evolution of sound change This paper uses experimental evidence for showing that, depending on the case, sound changes may be triggered primarily by either articulatory variation (as for changes occurring through segmental weakening or strengthening) or by acoustic equivalence (as for vowel nasalization or for segmental substitutions involving syllable-final stops of different places of articulation). It also argues for a multiple evolutionary pathway in the case of specific sound changes such as dark /l/ elision or the palatalization of Latin /kt, ks/ in Romance.The role of word prominence in vowel assimilations and dissimilations and how sound changes originate in the individual are also looked into. In recent times more attention has been paid to how sound changes spread through the lexicon and the linguistic community (Labov, 1994; Phillips, 2006; Wang, 1969) than to the phonetic factors which contribute to the origin of sound change. Fortunately the situation is improving thanks to the pioneering work of Ohala (see section 1.2) and an increasing number of books and articles on this research topic (Solé, Recasens, 2012; Yu, 2013). This scenario is in clear contrast with the one existing during the last decades of the XIX century and the first decades of the XX century, as revealed by outstanding publications on the articulatory causes of sound change which appeared at that time (Grammont, 1933; Millardet, 1910; Rousselot, 1897-1901). One reason for the present lack of interest in the phonetic causes of sound change is to be sought in the special emphasis that structuralist and generative linguists have put into the study of synchronic phonology much to the exclusion of diachronic aspects and phonetic variation. -
Rhythmic Syncope and Opacity in Mojeño Trinitario
Phonological Data & Analysis Volume 1, Article 2: 1–25 (2019) pɗɑ https://doi.org/10.3765/pda.v1art2.2 Received 7 December 2017; revised 19 October 2018; accepted 29 January 2019. © 2019 Françoise Rose. Published by the Linguistic Society of America with permission of the author under a CC BY 3.0 license. Rhythmic syncope and opacity in Mojeño Trinitario Françoise Rose* Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – [email protected] This paper presents rhythmic syncope in Mojeño Trinitario, an Arawak language spoken in lowland Bolivia. In this language, every vowel that is in a weak prosodic position can syncopate. The syncope pattern of Mojeño Trinitario is remarkable for several reasons. First, it involves a regular, categorical and complete deletion rather than a statistical reduction of vowels. Second, it applies similarly to words with either of two stress patterns: iambic words, which make up the great majority of words, and trochaic ones, much less numerous. Third, a great variety of consonant sequences are the result of syncope, and syllabification applies again after syncope. Fourth, rhythmic syncope actually underapplies: almost half of the vowels that are in a position to syncopate are maintained, and vowel quality plays a statistical role in immunity to syncope. Fifth, due to a rich morphology and a set of complex phonotactic rules applying sequentially, syncope leads to extreme opacity. The data presented in this paper in a theory-neutral way contribute to the typology of rhythmic syncope. It will also be of interest to phonologists considering constraint-based vs. derivational models of phonology. Keywords: phonology; stress; prosody; rhythmic syncope; Mojeño (Arawak) 1 Introduction Mojeño is an Arawak language spoken in lowland Bolivia.