1 Substantive Complexity
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Begus Gasper
Post-Nasal Devoicing and a Probabilistic Model of Phonological Typology Gašper Beguš [email protected] Abstract This paper addresses one of the most contested issues in phonology: the derivation of phonological typology. The phenomenon of post-nasal devoicing brings new insights into the standard typological discussion. This alternation — “unnatural” in the sense that it operates against a universal phonetic tendency — has been reported to exist both as a sound change and as synchronic phonological process. I bring together eight identified cases of post-nasal devoicing and point to common patterns among them. Based on these patterns, I argue that post-nasal devoicing does not derive from a single atypical sound change, but rather from a set of two or three separate sounds changes, each of which is natural and well- motivated. When these sound changes occur in combination, they give rise to apparent post-nasal devoicing. Evidence from both historical and dialectal data is brought to bear to create a model for explaining future instances of apparent unnatural alternations. By showing that sound change does not operate against universal phonetic tendency, I strengthen the empirical case for the generalization that any single instance of sound change is always phonetically motivated and natural, but that a combination of such sound changes can lead to unnatural alternations in a language’s synchronic grammar. Based on these findings, I propose a new probabilistic model for explaining phonological typology within the channel bias approach: on this model, unnatural alternations will always be rare, because the relative probability that a combination of sound changes will occur collectively is always smaller than the probability that a single sound change will occur. -
(1'9'6'8'""159-83 and in Later Publica- (1972 539
FINAL WEAKENING AND RELATED PHENOMENA1 Hans Henrich Hock University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1: Final devoicing (FD) 1.1. In generative phonology, it is a generally accepted doctrine that, since word-final devoicing (WFD) is a very common and natural phenomenon, the ob- verse phenomenon, namely word-final voicin~ should not be found in natural language. Compare for instance Postal 1968 184 ('in the context----'~ the rules always devoice rather than voice'), Stampe 1969 443-5 (final devoicing comes about as the result of a failure t~ suppress the (innate) process of final devoicing), Vennemann 1972 240-1 (final voicing, defined as a process increasing the complexity of affected segment~ 'does not occur.')o 1.2 One of the standard examples for WFD is that of German, cf. Bund Bunde [bUnt] [bUndeJ. However Vennemann (1'9'6'8'""159-83 and in later publica- tions) and, following him, Hooper (1972 539) and Hyman (1975 142) have convincingly demonstrated that in Ger- man, this process applies not only word-finally, but also syllable-finally, as in radle [ra·t$le]3 'go by bike' (in some varieties of German). The standard view thus must be modified so as to recognize at least one other process, namely syllable-final devoicing (SFD). (For a different eA""Planation of this phenomenon compare section 2.3 below.) 2· Final voicing (or tenseness neutralization) 2 1 A more important argument against the stan- dard view, however, is that, as anyone with any train- ing in Indo-European linguistics can readily tell, there is at least one 5roup, namely Italic, where there is evidence for the allegedly impossible final voicing, cf PIE *siyet > OLat. -
Reduction of Allomorphy and the Plural in Irish1
In: Ériu (36), 1985, 143-62. Reduction of allomorphy and the plural in Irish1 Raymond Hickey University of Bonn INTRODUCTION Throughout the development of Irish there has been, much as in English, a decline in the complexity of nominal morphology. Considerable case syncretism has taken place so that only three cases survive, the nominative the genitive with the semantically anomalous vocative. In the nominal system of Modern Irish the form of the genitive singular is decisive. It has been responsible for organizing the nouns into cases (Christian Brothers 1960, 57ff). These classes are themselves unsatisfactory, a fact noted quite early by Finck (1899, 160), later by Ó Cuív (1956, 86f.) and recently by Wigger (1973,61), particularly as they are based on orthographical considerations and do not contain a maximum degree of generalization concerning genitive formation. In Modern Irish nominal morphology the form of the negative is only half of the story, so to speak. The second half is the form of the nominative plural. With all but a few nouns ( such as monosyllables with palatalize for the genitive singular) the plural has only one form for both the nominative and genitive case. In all productive formations the plural is not diaform but uniform. But this single form is by no means the same for all declensions. To go by surface forms Irish has a very large number of plural formational types. Despite the plethora of manifestations, however, the number of basic plural types is reducible to two, as will be presently shown, with a very small number of unproductive plurals remaining as remnants of older declensional types. -
Gender in Irish Between Continuity and Change1
Gender in Irish between continuity and change1 Alessio S. Frenda Trinity College Dublin The gender system of Irish appears to have undergone a process of simplification: traditionally depending on both formal and semantic assignment rules, agreement in contemporary spoken Irish is still rather conservative within the noun phrase, but almost exclusively semantic anaphorically. Language contact and the resulting obsolescence seem to have had some influence on these developments: for instance, structures that have a functional counterpart in English seem more resilient than others. But language-internal developments, particularly the phonetic erosion and loss of word-final syllables, may have played an important role, too: similar developments have been observed in non-obsolescent languages like Dutch and French. In this article, I illustrate some specific aspects of the Irish situation with examples drawn from a corpus of spoken Irish and frame the simplification process in terms of structural convergence in the context of language contact. Keywords: Irish, grammatical gender, language change, language obsolescence, contact, convergence 1. Introduction In this article I present the findings of a comparison between two corpora of spoken Irish, representative, respectively, of a traditional Gaeltacht vari- 1 This research was funded by a Government of Ireland Exchange Scholarship and by an IRCHSS Postgraduate Scholarship. I am grateful to the following people for their com- ments on earlier drafts of this article: John Saeed, Brian Nolan, Gearóid Ó Donnchadha, Pauline Welby and two anonymous reviewers; thanks are also due to Eamonn Mullins for his assistance with the statistical analysis of the data. I take full responsibility for any errors or oversights. -
Exceptions to Rhotacism Kyle Gorman University of Pennsylvania Counterexamples to a Grammatical Rule Are of Interest Only If
Proceedings of CLS 48 (2012), 279-293 © Chicago Linguistic Society 2014. All rights reserved. 279 Exceptions to rhotacism* Kyle Gorman University of Pennsylvania Counterexamples to a grammatical rule are of interest only if they lead to the construction of a new grammar of even greater generality or if they show some underlying principle is fallacious or misformulated. (Chomsky & Halle 1968:ix) 1 Introduction With sporadic exceptions (Saussure 1877), intervocalic s merges with r in Old Latin. (1) The sound change: s > r = V V Earlier intervocalic s is found in archaic inscriptions (e.g., Lases for later Lares ‘local deities’; Baldi 2002:213f.) and implicated by comparative reconstruction (e.g., Latin flōrale ‘floral’ vs. Vestinian flusare; Watkins 1970). This change was actuated no later than the 4th century BCE, as indicated by Cicero’s comment that L. Papirius Crassus, consul in 336 BCE and dictator in 339 BCE, was the first of his line to spell his cōgnōmen as Papirius rather than the ancestral Papisius. Numerous s-r alternations in Classical Latin derive from this sound change. For instance, many nouns have nominative and vocative singulars ending in s, but an intervocalic r in the singular obliques and throughout the plural. (2) Paradigm of ‘honor’: nom. gen. dat. acc. abl. voc. sg. honōs honōris honōrī honōrem honōre honōs pl. honōrēs honōrum honōribus honōrēs honōribus honōrēs These s-r alternations—and their ultimate demise in late Latin (see §5)—are widely cited as examples of non-derived environment blocking and of intraparadig- matic leveling. Nearly all discussions of these alternations assume that the underly- ing representation of ‘honor’ is /hono:s/, so that the oblique r is the intervocalic allophone of /s/ (e.g., Albright 2005:19, Foley 1965:62, Gruber 2006:142, Hes- lin 1987:134, Kenstowicz 1996:377, Kiparsky In press, Klausenburger 1976:314, Matthews 1972:19, Roberts 2012:88, Touratier 1975:264, Watkins 1970:526). -
Theme 4. Old English Spelling. Old English Phonology Aims
Theme 4. Old English Spelling. Old English Phonology Aims: perceive phonetic irregularities between spelling and pronunciation; be able to account for major vowels and consonants changes that occurred in Old English Points for Discussion: Introduction 4. Consonants Changes in Old English 1. Spelling Irregularities 4.1. Voicing of fricatives in 2. The Phonetic Alphabet intervocal position 3. Vowel changes in Old 4.2. Palatalization of the English Sounds (cÂ, sc, cӡ) 3.1. Breaking (Fracture) 4.3. Assimilation before t 3.2. Palatal Mutation (i- 4.4. Loss of consonants in umlaut) certain positions 3.3. Diphthongization after 4.5. Metathesis of r Palatal Consonants 4.6. West Germanic 3.4. Back, or Velar Mutation gemination of consonants 3.5. Mutation before h. Conclusion 3.6. Contraction Key Terms to Know monophthongs Back/Velar Mutation diphthongs Mutation before h Assimilation Contraction Breaking (fracture) Voicing of Fricatives Palatalization Palatalization of j Palatal mutation (i- Assimilation before t umlaut) Gemination of Diphthongization Consonants Recommended Literature Obligatory David Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.– Cambridge, 1994.— PP. 16-19 Elly van Gelderen.A History of the English Language.- Amsterdam/ Philadelphia, 2006. -PP. 13-23 Valery V. Mykhailenko. Paradigmatics in the evolution of English. - Chernivtsi, - 1999. PP. 22-25; 30-35 T.A. Rastorguyeva. A History of English. - Moscow, 1983. - PP. 71- 92 L.Verba. History of the English language. - Vinnitsa, 2004. - PP. 30- 38 Additional: Аракин В. Д. История английского языка. - М., 1985. - C. 31-45 Introduction “The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it. -
Leaving the Dark to Find the Light: a Study of L1 English Acquisition of L2 Spanish /L
Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2013-03-18 Leaving the Dark to Find the Light: A Study of L1 English Acquisition of L2 Spanish /l/ Ariel Rebekah Bean Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Bean, Ariel Rebekah, "Leaving the Dark to Find the Light: A Study of L1 English Acquisition of L2 Spanish /l/" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 3415. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3415 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Leaving the Dark to Find the Light: A Study of L1 English Acquisition of L2 Spanish /l/ Ariel R. Bean A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Willis C. Fails, Chair Scott M. Alvord Rob A. Martinsen Department of Spanish and Portuguese Brigham Young University March 2013 Copyright © 2013 Ariel R. Bean All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Leaving the Dark to Find the Light: A Study of L1 English Acquisition of L2 Spanish /l/ Ariel R. Bean Department of Spanish and Portuguese, BYU Master of Arts Second language acquisition (SLA) research is rich in possibilities for examining language-specific phonetics and phonology in the cross-linguistic context of acquisition. However, much of the existing English-Spanish research focuses on the acquisition of voice onset time (VOT) of /p, t, k, b, d, ɡ/ or rhotics, or on acquisition in relation to factors such as task type, time abroad, and motivational intensity (e.g. -
A Typological Study of the Role of Syllable Contact in Romance Languages*
It is all downhill from here: a typological study of the role of Syllable Contact in Romance languages* 1 Introduction It is a well-known fact that there is a cross-linguistic preference to avoid coda-onset clusters with sonority rise, a tendency known as the Syllable Contact Law after the work by Murray & Vennemann (1983) and Vennemann (1988). This law has been adduced to explain certain diachronic changes (Hooper 1976, Murray & Vennemann 1983, Vennemann 1988, Ham 1998, Martínez-Gil 2003, Holt 2004, Wheeler 2007, among others), but also synchronic phenomena such as epenthesis and epenthesis positioning (Bonet & Mascaró 1997, Rose 2000, Gouskova 2001), consonant strengthening (Colina 1995, Shin 1997, Bonet & Mascaró 1997, Jiménez 1997, 1999, Davis & Shin 1999, Gouskova 2002, 2004), syncope blocking (Urbanczyk 1996, Miglio 1998, Gouskova 2002), word order and subtraction regulation in blend formation (Bat-El 1996), allomorph selection (Hargus 1997, 2007), metathesis (Gouskova 2001), and regressive manner assimilation (Shin 1997, Davis & Shin 1999, the author 2003 [2006], Wheeler 2005).1 The main purpose of this paper is to show that Syllable Contact is responsible for the application of an extensive set of processes drawn from Romance languages and to explore the nature and effects of this constraint within Optimality Theory (OT) on the basis of the analysis of these phenomena. The processes under examination are the following: a) regressive manner assimilation in some varieties of Catalan and in Languedocian Occitan, b) onset strengthening and epenthesis in Catalan, c) alveolar fricative rhotacism in Majorcan Catalan, dialects of Sardinian and dialects of Galician, d) alveolar fricative gliding in Languedocian Occitan, e) strategy selection in word-initial consonant clusters which violate the minimum sonority distance constraints in Catalan, and, finally, f) allomorph selection in Catalan and Spanish. -
Latin Rhotacism for Real
To appear in BLS 37; comments welcome ([email protected]) Latin Rhotacism for Real KYLE GORMAN University of Pennsylvania Introduction By regular sound change, Proto-Italic intervocalic *s became Old Latin [r]. (1) *s > Old Latin [r] / V V This change is thought to have gone to completion in the 4th century BCE (Sommer 1902:210, Safarewicz 1932:18), and in 312 BCE, censor Appius Caecus Claudius eliminated the hZi character (once used to spell intervocalic *s) from the Latin al- phabet. This *s is the source of s ∼ r patterns in classical Latin (e.g., honos¯ /honoris¯ ‘honor’ in the writings of Plautus, c. 200 BCE).1 It is generally thought that the sound change introduced a parallel synchronic rule of RHOTACISM (e.g., Foley 1965:62, Matthews 1972:19, Touratier 1975:264f., Klausenburger 1976:314, Kiparsky 1982:64f., Heslin 1987:134, Kenstowicz 1996:377). (2) RHOTACISM (to be rejected): s ! r / V V However, this description of the honos¯ /honoris¯ grammar merits reconsideration, as the s ∼ r pattern can in many cases derive from another independently-motivated rule (§1). Deriving these alternations in this way is a potential solution to the deca- dence of RHOTACISM (§2), and makes it possible to understand the later leveling of s ∼ r patterns (e.g., honor/honoris¯ in the writings of authors such as Apuleius, c. 180 CE) as a change in nom.sg. suffix allomorphy, an account which predicts the direction and scope of this leveling (§3). The final section concludes (§4). 1 This paper was inspired by a conversation with Elan Dresher and an unpublished manuscript by Charles Yang (Yang 2006). -
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. -
How to Get a Distinction in Junior Cycle Irish
presents Irish How to get a Distinction in Junior Cycle Irish by Áine R. Áine R. was a top student in her Irish class. Here, she shares some advice that she believes will help you achieve a Distinction in Junior Cycle Irish. The new Junior Cycle Irish course is specifically designed to test students of all levels – getting a distinction won’t be easy! The exam is split into two parts, Roinn A, the listening section, and Roinn B, the reading, composition, and literature section. The course also includes two CBAs and an Assessment Task. To get a distinction, you must achieve at least 270 marks out of the 300 total. This guide is designed to take you step-by-step through the Junior Cycle exam, giving you tips and tricks relevant to each question along the way. Contents Classroom Based Assessments & The Assessment Task 3 Final Assessment 5 Some Final tips 10 2 Classroom Based Assessments & The Assessment Task The Classroom Based Assessments (CBAs) do not count towards the final grade that appears on your Junior Certificate; however, they are graded and the result will appear on what is known as the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement. Based on the quality of each of your CBAs, you will be awarded a descriptor: Yet to meet expectations, In line with expectations, Above expectations, or Exceptional. There are two CBAs that must be completed: 1. Classroom Based Assessment 1 (The Collection of Texts): At the beginning of third year, you will begin to prepare your collection of texts. This is a small portfolio of some of your best work from second and third year. -
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