The Licensing and Interpretation of Coronality: A New Approach By Dominic Rubin Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, London, 2001. ProQuest Number: 10752650 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10752650 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract This thesis presents a new approach to the behavior of coronal segments. It examines seven aspects of coronal uniqueness: (i) the interaction of coronal consonants with front vowels, (ii) the confinement of liquids to coronal Place, (iii) the preference of “weak” syllabic sites for coronal Place, the processes of (iv) palatalization and (v) coronalization of coronal and non-coronal consonants by palatal glides and front vowels, (vi) the confinement of consonant harmony processes to consonants of coronal Place, and finally, (vii) the frequency and subplace richness of the coronal Place. It is argued that this range of behavior can be given a unified analysis if coronality is represented by the Government Phonological element [I], Further, this element is argued to be the head of a Resonance Phrase in an element-geometric tree which is divided into a Resonance, Manner and Laryngeal Phrase. The headship of [I] gives this element greater powers to license other (Place, Manner and Laryngeal) elements, so deriving the behavior noted. This is contrasted with approaches which underspecify coronal Place, or try to capture coronal anomalies by recourse to phonetic context. The headship or dependency of elements drives element combinations, and thus derives the structure of phonemic inventories. This is traced to functional underpinnings, drawing on phonetic theories which argue for the optimality of segments based on the acoustically integrative effects of the articulations by which they are executed. The interpretation of [I] is thus investigated in some detail. At the level of segment generation, therefore, it is argued that there are formal and functional constraints operating. Finally, the distribution of coronal segments in the word is looked at in a broad range of typologically diverse languages. This is modeled using the above tools, in conjunction with a Government Phonology approach to syllabic structure and licensing. Contents Abstract......................................... i Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................ii Chapter 1 Introductory matters 1.1 Coronality ................................................. ...................................................................... 1 1.2 Government Phonology ............... 4 Chapter 2 The element-theoretic modelling of coronalization, palatalization and laminality 2.1 Assumptions about Place elements ............................................... 8 2.2 Theories of headedness and element combination ......................................................... 9 2.3 Front vowel-coronal consonant interaction .................................................................13 2.3.1 Fefe-Bamilike vowelreduplication .................................................................14 2.3.2 Front vowel-coronal consonant interaction in other languages ...................16 2.4 Palatalization and coronalization ................................................................................. 19 2.5 Solving the conundrum using [I] in head and non-head role ......................................22 2.6 Differences in the process of palatalization .................................................................24 2.7 The relationship between morphology, phonology and morphophonology ...............29 2.8 The phonetic interpretation of [I] in head and non-head role ..................................... 32 2.9 Laminality....................... ............................................................................................. 38 2.10 Australian and Malayalam .........................................................................................41 2.10.1 Australian .................................................................................................... 41 2.10.2 Malayalam................................................................................................... 47 2.11 Conclusion ..................................................................... 52 Chapter 3 Generating inventories: Obstruents 3.1 The structure of inventories .......................................................................................... 53 3.2 Element licensing ...........................................................................................................59 3.3 Natural heads and derived, or moved, heads ...............................................................60 3.4 Coronality and the special relationship with Manner ................................................. 62 3.5 An element-geometric modelling of affricates ............................................................66 3.5.1 Analysis of Rennison 1998 ...........................................................................66 3.5.2 The licensing and interpretation of affricate structure .................................68 3.6 Coronality, stridency and more manner-place relations .................................... 70 3.7 Palatalization and coronalization processes and internal segment structure .............. 78 3.8 Labial palatalization (coronalization) in Zulu .............................................................. 84 3.8.1 The basics....................................................................................................... 84 3.8.2 Further manner-place interactions in Zulu palatalization ............................90 3.8.3 Brief comment on the Zulu lateral ................................................................95 3.9 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................96 Chapter 4 Liquids and their incorporation into inventories 4.1 Walsh Dickey 1997 on laterals.......................................... 99 4.2 Subplace distinctions among laterals .............................................................. 103 4.3 Rhotics: peculiar segments ................................................................................ 104 4.3.1 The phonetic diversity of rhotics ................................................................104 4.3.2 Rhotics: their phonological paucity ............................................................. 110 4.4 A preliminary structure for rhotics ......................................................................... ...112 4.4.1 Variable phonetic interpretation of rhotic structure .....................................113 4.4.2. Phonemic distinctions among rhotics ................................................... ....116 4.5 Coronal uniqueness again ............................................................................................118 4.6 Dispensing with a [liquid] feature ............................................................................... 121 4.6.1 Liquids: word-initial prohibition ..................................................................122 4.6.2 Liquid dissimilation: the case of Latin ........................... 124 4.7 The place of liquids in inventories .............................................................................. 128 4.8 Comparing the present generation of inventories with other approaches ..................132 Chapter 5 Coronal anomalies across the word 5.1 English and coronal anomalies ........................................................................... 137 5.2 Modeling the coda-onset coronal anomalies using element geometry ............... 144 5.3 The nature of the coda ..................................................................................................148 5.4 Modeling more coda-onset coronal asymmetries ............................ 150 5.5 Subsegmental government in superheavy rhymes ......................................................151 5.6 Coda-licensing: final matters .......................................................................................154 5.7 The integration of paradigmatic and syntagmatic representations ............................ 155 5.8 Branching onsets: defining s-government within the onset ....................................... 159 5.9 Rice 1996’s default variability - the coronal-velar relationship ................................ 165 5.10 Velarity and coronality in Polish, Cologne German and Vietnamese ..................... 167 5.10.1 Polish........................................................................................................... 167 5.10.2 German ........................................................................................................172 5.10.3 Vietnamese ..........................................................................................175