Chapter 1 the Welsh Mutation System
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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. -
The Phonetics-Phonology Interface in Romance Languages José Ignacio Hualde, Ioana Chitoran
Surface sound and underlying structure : The phonetics-phonology interface in Romance languages José Ignacio Hualde, Ioana Chitoran To cite this version: José Ignacio Hualde, Ioana Chitoran. Surface sound and underlying structure : The phonetics- phonology interface in Romance languages. S. Fischer and C. Gabriel. Manual of grammatical interfaces in Romance, 10, Mouton de Gruyter, pp.23-40, 2016, Manuals of Romance Linguistics, 978-3-11-031186-0. hal-01226122 HAL Id: hal-01226122 https://hal-univ-paris.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01226122 Submitted on 24 Dec 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Manual of Grammatical Interfaces in Romance MRL 10 Brought to you by | Université de Paris Mathematiques-Recherche Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 11/1/16 3:56 PM Manuals of Romance Linguistics Manuels de linguistique romane Manuali di linguistica romanza Manuales de lingüística románica Edited by Günter Holtus and Fernando Sánchez Miret Volume 10 Brought to you by | Université de Paris Mathematiques-Recherche Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 11/1/16 3:56 PM Manual of Grammatical Interfaces in Romance Edited by Susann Fischer and Christoph Gabriel Brought to you by | Université de Paris Mathematiques-Recherche Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 11/1/16 3:56 PM ISBN 978-3-11-031178-5 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-031186-0 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-039483-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. -
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. -
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. -
Chapter X Positional Factors in Lenition and Fortition
Chapter X Positional factors in Lenition and Fortition 1. Introduction This chapter sets out to identify the bearing that the linear position of a segment may have on its lenition or fortition.1 We take for granted the defi- nition of lenition that has been provided in chapter XXX (Szigetvári): Put- ting aside stress-related lenition (see chapter XXX de Lacy-Bye), the refer- ence to the position of a segment in the linear string is another way of identifying syllabic causality. Something is a lenition iff the effect ob- served is triggered by the specific syllabic status of the segment at hand. The melodic environment thus is irrelevant, and no melodic prime is trans- mitted between segments. Lenition thereby contrasts with the other family of processes that is found in phonology, i.e. adjacency effects. Adjacency may be defined physically (e.g. palatalisation of a consonant by a following vowel) or in more abstract terms (e.g. vowel harmony): in any event, as- similations will transmit a melodic prime from one segment to another, and only a melodically defined subset of items will qualify as a trigger. Posi- tional factors, on the other hand, are unheard of in assimilatory processes: there is no palatalisation that demands, say, "palatalise velars before front vowels, but only in word-initial position". Based on an empirical record that we have tried to make as cross- linguistically relevant as possible, the purpose of this chapter is to establish appropriate empirical generalisations. These are then designed to serve as the input to theories of lenition: here are the challenges, this is what any theory needs to be able to explain. -
Lenition in Persian Phonological System Aliye Kambuziya1* Mahmoud Mobaraki2 1
Lenition in Persian Phonological System Aliye Kambuziya1* Mahmoud Mobaraki2 1. Associate Professor, Linguistics Department, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran 2. Ph.D. Student, Linguistics Department, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran * E-mail of the corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract This study deals with lenition processes according to the theoretical framework of generative phonology to answer the cited questions: How phonological processes are applied in Persian phonological system as lenition? In other words, how do the data support the application of lenition processes in Persian? In which contexts do lenition processes apply in Persian? Synthetic process typology of phonological processes is investigated according to the phonological pattern of Persian; finally the most frequent lenition processes are selected. To see how these processes are applied in Persian as lenition, Standard Persian and six dialects out of twenty five dialects which show these processes are selected. The data are gathered in field study. Then, each of the lenition processes is probed on the Persian varieties to find the alternatives and underlying forms which are important to decide how the lenition processes are applied; and to find the positions in which lenition processes take place. The collected data support the lenition processes in Persian. The data show that the lenition processes tend to occur in postvocalic, intervocalic and final positions; and the final position has the highest frequency for lenition processes to occur. This support Kenstowichz‟s idea that mentions word final is the typical position for lenition. Keywords: lenition processes, generative phonology, synthetic process typology, Persian phonological system 1.Introduction 1.1The Current Approaches to Lenition In traditional approach, the typology of phonological processes is dualistic. -
Consonant Mutations in Conceptual Evolution of Noldorin/Sindarin Phonology
CONSONANT MUTATIONS IN CONCEPTUAL EVOLUTION OF NOLDORIN/SINDARIN PHONOLOGY by Ryszard Derdzinski ABSTRACT: Consonant mutations were characteristic for all stages of conceptual evolution of J.R.R. Tolkien's Welsh-sounding language which evolved from early Goldogrin to Sindarin. In my essay I want to compare the consonant mutations in Welsh and the consonant mutations in early stages of conceptual evolution of Welsh-sounding language of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. KEYWORDS: soft mutation (lenition), hard mutation ('stop mutation'), nasal mutation, phonetic and grammatical mutation, Goldogrin, Noldorin, Sindarin INTRODUCTION In 1955 in his letter to the Houghton Mifflin Co. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote: The 'Sindarin', a Grey-elven language, is in fact constructed deliberately to resemble Welsh phonologically and to have a relation to High-elven (i.e. Quenya ) similar to that existing between British (properly so-called, sc. the Celtic languages spoken in this island at the time of the Roman Invasion) and Latin.1 His special interest in - and true love of – Cymraeg2 began in Tolkien's childhood in early 1900s when for the first time he saw Welsh place-names on the coal-trucks near his home in Moseley, then odd and curious to the boy, but also very beautiful and mysterious.3 Celtic-sounding language of Tolkien's legendarium emerged in the very beginnings of his sub- creation.4 Around 1914 to 1917 young Tolkien began to devise two related, though unlike languages which were called Goldogrin and Qenya. "Gnome-speech and Elfin of the Eldar", as he wrote in the Book of Lost Tales (I, 48),5 were constructed to resemble two real languages: Welsh and Finnish.6 Tolkien's legendarium – stories from the Book of Lost Tales – were meant to provide a historical context for newly devised languages. -
Asymmetries and Generalizations in the Repair of Early French Minimally-Rising Syllable-Contact Clusters Francisco Antonio Montaño, Lehman College (CUNY)
Asymmetries and generalizations in the repair of early French minimally-rising syllable-contact clusters Francisco Antonio Montaño, Lehman College (CUNY) The Gallo-Romance (GR) (5th-10th c.) reflexes of Late Latin syncope (Pope 1952; Dumas 1993; Hartkemeyer 2000) provide a unique perspective into the interaction of sonority and phonotactic markedness constraints with faithfulness constraints within the phonology. With the deletion of a pre-tonic or post-tonic short vowel in GR syncopated forms, the preservation, modification, and loss of stranded consonants and neighboring segments occurring in unique clustering permutations reveal a range of repairs on resulting syllable-contact clusters (SCCs). While falling-sonority (manica > manche 'sleeve') and sufficiently-rising obstruent-liquid clusters (tabula > table 'table') unsurprisingly resyllabify without issue into either licit hetero- (SCC) or tautosyllabic (onset) clusters, preserving all consonantal material in the syncopated output, minimally-rising clusters whose final segment is a sonorant undergo diverse repairs to escape eventual total loss, attested only for SCCs containing obstruent codas via gemination then degemination, in avoidance of obstruent-obstruent SCCs (radi[ts]ina > ra[ts]ine 'root', debita > dette > dete 'debt'). Minimally-rising clusters (obstruent-nasal, sibilant-liquid, nasal-liquid), unharmonic both as heterosyllabic clusters due to rising sonority and as onset clusters due to an excessively shallow rise in sonority, undergo a range of phonological repairs including assibilation (platanu > pla[ð]ne > plasne 'plane tree'), rhotacization (ordine > ordre 'order'), and stop epenthesis (cisera > cisdre 'cider'; cumulum > comble 'peak'; camera > chambre 'room'; molere > moldre 'grind.INF' but cf. /rl/ without epenthesis, e.g. merula > merle 'blackbird', evidencing its falling sonority), in order to conform to licensing requirements within the syllable and phonological word (Montaño 2017). -
Developments of the Lateral in Occitan Dialects and Their Romance and Cross-Linguistic Context Daniela Müller
Developments of the lateral in occitan dialects and their romance and cross-linguistic context Daniela Müller To cite this version: Daniela Müller. Developments of the lateral in occitan dialects and their romance and cross- linguistic context. Linguistics. Université Toulouse le Mirail - Toulouse II, 2011. English. NNT : 2011TOU20122. tel-00674530 HAL Id: tel-00674530 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00674530 Submitted on 27 Feb 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. en vue de l’obtention du DOCTORATDEL’UNIVERSITÉDETOULOUSE délivré par l’université de toulouse 2 - le mirail discipline: sciences du langage zur erlangung der doktorwürde DERNEUPHILOLOGISCHENFAKULTÄT DERRUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITÄTHEIDELBERG présentée et soutenue par vorgelegt von DANIELAMÜLLER DEVELOPMENTS OF THE LATERAL IN OCCITAN DIALECTS ANDTHEIRROMANCEANDCROSS-LINGUISTICCONTEXT JURY Jonathan Harrington (Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) Francesc Xavier Lamuela (Catedràtic, Universitat de Girona) Jean-Léonard Léonard (Maître de conférences HDR, Paris -
Fortition and Lenition Processes
Lenguas Modemas 23 (1996), 181-190 Universidad de Chile NATIVE LANGUAGE INTERIERENCE AND THE, SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN ENGLISH: FORTITION AND LENITION PROCESSES Bnnrse Cn¡r-e.-Fr,on¿s Universidad del Zulia The data presented in this paper on the pronunciation of the syllable structure in English by Spanish speakers corroborate one of üe main issues raised against the original formulation of the Contrastive Ana.lysis Hypothesis: con- sonant sounds which seem to be similar in two phonetic systems can in fact be more difficult to acquire than sounds and sequences of sounds which are different. In other words, interference from NL to TL can actually be greater when items to be learned are more simila¡ to existing items. In light of this deficiency, a revised version of the original CAH has been suggested that defines the subset of errors which are caused by transfer a¡d which would predictjust what sorts of native language-target language differences will cause lang-uage learne¡s to make errors. A possible step towards a revision of the CAH requires an investigation of the sorts of errors which can be shown to result from native language interference. Such an investigation should include a systematic exploration of the error in question, that is, not only detecüng the errors caused by native language transfer but also understanding the fundamental principles of the phonological processes involved both in the NL and TL. Transfer of native language rules and patterns to the pronunciation patterns of the speech of second language learners has been an issue of concern in second language acquisition. -
UC Berkeley Phonlab Annual Report
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report Title Turbulence & Phonology Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4kp306rx Journal UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report, 4(4) ISSN 2768-5047 Authors Ohala, John J Solé, Maria-Josep Publication Date 2008 DOI 10.5070/P74kp306rx eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report (2008) Turbulence & Phonology John J. Ohala* & Maria-Josep Solé # *Department of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley [email protected] #Department of English, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain [email protected] In this paper we aim to provide an account of some of the phonological patterns involving turbulent sounds, summarizing material we have published previously and results from other investigators. In addition, we explore the ways in which sounds pattern, combine, and evolve in language and how these patterns can be derived from a few physical and perceptual principles which are independent from language itself (Lindblom 1984, 1990a) and which can be empirically verified (Ohala and Jaeger 1986). This approach should be contrasted with that of mainstream phonological theory (i.e., phonological theory within generative linguistics) which primarily considers sound structure as motivated by ‘formal’ principles or constraints that are specific to language, rather than relevant to other physical or cognitive domains. For this reason, the title of this paper is meant to be ambiguous. The primary sense of it refers to sound patterns in languages involving sounds with turbulence, e.g., fricatives and stops bursts, but a secondary meaning is the metaphorical turbulence in the practice of phonology over the past several decades.