Florida State University Libraries Honors Theses The Division of Undergraduate Studies 2012 Palatals in Spanish and French: An Analysis Rachael Gray Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] Abstract (Palatal, Spanish, French) This thesis deals with palatals from Latin into Spanish and French. Specifically, it focuses on the diachronic history of each language with a focus on palatals. I also look at studies that have been conducted concerning palatals, and present a synchronic analysis of palatals in modern day Spanish and French. The final section of this paper focuses on my research design in second language acquisition of palatals for native French speakers learning Spanish. 2 THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES PALATALS IN SPANISH AND FRENCH: AN ANALYSIS BY: RACHAEL GRAY A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major Degree Awarded: 3 Spring, 2012 The members of the Defense Committee approve the thesis of Rachael Gray defended on March 21, 2012 _____________________________________ Professor Carolina Gonzaléz Thesis Director _______________________________________ Professor Gretchen Sunderman Committee Member _______________________________________ Professor Eric Coleman Outside Committee Member 4 Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 5 0. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 6 I. Diachronic Development of Romance Languages with a focus on palatals ........................... 9 1. From Latin to Old Spanish ...................................................................................................... 9 1A. Vowels ................................................................................................................................. 9 1a-2 Diphthongs .................................................................................................................... 12 1a-3 New Diphthongs in Spanish ............................................................................................. 13 1.B Consonants ......................................................................................................................... 14 1b-1 The development of the prepalatal order ...................................................................... 14 Geminates in the creation of the Spanish palatal order......................................................... 17 2. From Late Latin to Old French ................................................................................................. 17 2.A. Vowels in Late Latin to Old French...................................................................................... 17 2A-1. New diphthongs in Gallo-Roman ................................................................................... 18 2a-i. Short [e] and short [o] ................................................................................................... 18 2a-ii.Long [e:] ....................................................................................................................... 19 2a-iii. Long [o:] ..................................................................................................................... 19 2a-iv. The Vowel [a] ............................................................................................................. 19 2A-2 Loi de bartsch .............................................................................................................. 20 2B. Consonants ......................................................................................................................... 20 II. Palatal consonants in present day Spanish and French ......................................................... 23 II.A. Previous Studies ........................................................................................................... 23 II.B. Synchronic Analysis of Palatals in Spanish and French today ......................................... 25 II.B-1. Palatal Consonants in Present day Spanish .................................................................. 25 II B-2. Palatal Consonants in Present day French..................................................................... 29 III. Research Design................................................................................................................. 31 III B. Design Proposals in Perception and Production ............................................................. 31 Design for an experiment in perception ........................................................................................ 31 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 31 Control Group ........................................................................................................................... 32 Variables ................................................................................................................................... 32 5 Tasks ......................................................................................................................................... 33 First task ................................................................................................................................ 33 Second task ........................................................................................................................... 35 Design for an Experiment in Production ...................................................................................... 36 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 36 Control Group ........................................................................................................................... 36 Variables ................................................................................................................................... 37 Task ........................................................................................................................................... 37 Further research ........................................................................................................................ 39 Markedness ............................................................................................................................... 41 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 42 Works Cited .................................................................................................................................. 44 Acknowledgements I would like to thank first and foremost, Dr. Gonzalez for her support, and guidance throughout this long process. Her dedication to her students in their pursuit of higher education is truly remarkable. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Gretchen Sunderman and Dr. Eric Coleman without whom, I would not have been able to defend a thesis. Their advice has helped to advance clarity throughout my paper. I am immensely grateful to my fellow classmates. I would especially like to thank Anne Bailey and Christine Weissglass for sharing with me their knowledge of linguistics, which has been invaluable. They have been a constant source of encouragement. 6 0. Introduction My goal in this paper is to make a comprehensive overview of the evolution of palatals in Spanish and French from their earliest forms to present day, and to contribute to the study of second language acquisition. To do this, I have divided this paper into three parts. Part one addresses the diachronic history of Spanish and French from Latin, which focuses on the changes from Latin that occurred in Spanish and French. Part two focuses on a synchronic analysis of palatals in present day, and includes a brief section that describes a few language studies that have thus far been conducted. The third is a research design proposal for the acquisition of palatals for Native French speakers learning Spanish. Part one is sub-divided into two subsections titled “from Latin to Old Spanish” and “from Latin to Old French”. In this section, I have tried to only address those historical changes that are the most important, and the most relevant to palatals, as it would be quite lengthy, if I attempted to document every change that has occurred. I have included processes that have led to the creation of palatals in each language. Subsections in this part of the paper will address processes that had a large impact on the language throughout its evolution which include some broader linguistic phenomenon. The second part of the paper discusses palatal phonemes as they appear in Spanish and French today, with consideration of their allophonic counterparts and dialectal variation. This section also includes research pertaining to other language studies that have been conducted. Throughout my research I have attempted to target second language acquisition studies, and have found only one by Manuel Diaz-Campos (2004) which I will explore in part three. 7 The final section of this paper is the research design phase which will begin