entière
Pouchet ou en ligne
2023-24
20 septembre .
Nofar Rimon (Harvard University)
The emergence of secondary stress in Hebrew N+N Constructions
(Avec Evan Gary Cohen and Eugenia Kosolapov, Tel Aviv University)
Theories of the inter-relations between syntactic structure and prosody were successful in explaining phenomena such as stress shift and ambiguity resolution (Cinque, 1993; Liberman & Prince, 1977; Selkirk, 2011). In this acoustic study of Modern Hebrew N+N constructions (compounds and construct states), we show that the syntax-to-prosody mapping suggested by Selkirk's (2011) Match Theory gives the wrong predictions regarding the stress pattern of these constructions. Our research compared the stress pattern of N+N constructions to that of N+A constructions using acoustic cues, and found that they shared the same prosodic structure regardless of the morpho-syntactic differences they exhibit. However, the first element of construct states was significantly the longest while that of compounds was significantly the shortest. Our study further found that secondary stress emerges in Hebrew at the phrase level, and that the stressed syllable of the first element of each of these constructions becomes secondarily stressed when it appears in a phrase. This is of particular interest since a previous acoustic study found that in isolated long words, Hebrew does not have secondary stress (Cohen et al., 2018).
04 octobre
Noam Faust (Université Paris 8, CNRS SFL)
The metrics of epenthetic [i], [ə] and [a] in Tiberian Hebrew
Tiberian Hebrew (TH; Khan 2020) is the pronunciation of the Hebrew language that is reflected in the most prominent orthography of the Hebrew Bible. In TH, the symbols interpreted as the vowels [ə], [i] alternate in the same syllabic nucleus: [ə] is found in open syllables, [i] in closed ones. The alternations are found in positions where the absence of a vowel would lead to phonotactically illicit structures, suggesting that these two vowels are epenthetic. In support of this view, when the nucleus of the same syllable can be syncopated without creating a phonotactic problem, it is. In addition, the same nuclei can be “colored” by gutturals to yield [ǎ] and [a] roughly where one would otherwise expect [ə] and [i]. In this talk, I provide a metrically-oriented account of these facts. I claim that [ə]s and [ǎ]s correspond to unparsed, realized empty nuclei, whereas [i]s and [a]s correspond to the same nuclei when they are parsed. I show two parallel applications of this basic idea. The first is conducted in mainstream moraic theory, based on the principle that [ə] and [ǎ] do not project a mora. The second, couched in the novel approach of Strict CV metrics (Faust & Ulfsbjorninn 2018), is shown to be especially adequate in expressing that principle. My hope is to discuss the two accounts with the participants of the atelier.
18 octobre
Alexandra Shikunova (HSE universtiy, Moscou)
The three faces of Kazym Khanty schwa
Kazym Khanty is one of the Northern dialects of Khanty — a minority Uralic language spoken in Northwestern Siberia. The vowel schwa can (a) be a stable non-alternating vowel; (b) alternate with zero; (c) act as an epenthetic vowel in contexts where an illicit cluster appears, e.g. in the Russian loanword škola ‘school’, which is pronounced as əškola in Kazym Khanty. Several analyses of the distribution of schwa have been proposed: one (Kozlov 2012) accounts for schwa-zero alternations by postulating two allomorphs for the alternating morphemes: a schwa-allomorph and a zero-allomorph; in order to derive the correct surface forms, it is also assumed that schwa can disappear in some phonological contexts, e.g. in homorganic clusters or next to sonorants. An optimality-theoretic analysis by Tyutyunnikova & Egorov (2023) supposes that two schwas exist: /ə/, which is stable, and /ə1/, which has to be deleted in the output, as ensured by the Del(ə1) constraint. /ə1/ can remain in the output, for example, if phonotactic constraints are violated otherwise.
I suggest an allomorphy-free account of the Khanty schwa that also does away with postulating several schwa segments with distinct behaviour. If two-tiered Strict CV representations are assumed, the same piece of melody can be represented in three different ways: associated, floating and epenthetic. I attempt to demonstrate that with the right representations, different patterns of schwa’s behaviour come for free.
1er novembre
Outi Bat-El (Tel Aviv University)
Acquisition of word-initial consonant clusters in Palestinian Arabic
15 novembre
Daniar Kasenov (Université HSE, Moscou)
Avoiding *ABA phonologically: case of Terek Kumyk
The talk presents a case of the plural affix -la(r)- in Terek Kumyk (<Turkic) that has a peculiar allomorph distribution: -lar- is found with nominative, locative, and ablative, while -la- is found with accusative, genitive and dative. Modelling the affix using contextual allomorphy runs into the problem that the distribution violates the case hierarchy of Caha (2009), Bárány (2021) (a.m.o.) — even the quite liberal Nom < {Acc, Gen, Dat} < {Loc, Abl} partial hierarchy. In the talk, I argue for an analysis that derives the distribution via interaction of underlying phonological representations, in the spirit of the research program summarized by Newell, Ulfsbjorninn (2021), and present some circumstantial independent evidence in favor of the proposed representations.
9 novembre à 10h heure de Paris.
Tobias Scheer (Université Côte d'Azur) et Göktuğ Börtlü (Selçuk University)
Soft g in Turkish: two types and x-slots
Turkish is known for having an item called soft g, represented as ğ in spelling. It comes in two varieties, ğ1 and ğ2. Synchronically, soft g is only relevant when occurring morpheme-finally, where it produces alternations when suffixes are added. ğ1 never appears on the surface as a segment or a feature, but betrays its existence by i) causing the preceding vowel to lengthen and ii) preventing suffix-initial consonants from being realized. ğ2 appears as k or zero: dilek - dile‑i - dilek‑ler “wish.Nom, Acc, pl”. Note that the language also has k-final roots where k is stable. We submit that the intricate alternations involving ğ1 and ğ2 may be reduced to regular phonology if representations are endowed with x-slots.
13 décembre
Gilbert Puech (Université Lyon 2)
Complex vowels in Maltese.CV/Ø phonology.
This talk is focused on complex vowels in Maltese. Complexity is not a primitive, rather it characterizes some types of configurations; cf. Van der Hulst & van de Weijer (2018). CV/Ø phonology is based on theoretical assumptions in the aftermaths of Dependency Phonology. On the upper tier, timing slots are occupied by monovalent element C for consonants, V for vowels, or left empty (Ø). Positions headed by C or V, or left empty, are strictly alternating (no *CC, *VV, or *ØØ). On the lower tier, monovalent elements I, U and/or A are attached to upper positions.
In standard Maltese there are five simplex vowels [ɪ, ɛ, ɔ, a, ʊ], and four complex vowels [ɪ, ɪʸ, ɪe̞, ʊʷ, aː]. Complex vowels are phonological expressions composed of a simplex vowel linked to an empty position. The empty position expresses a glide (if colored by a I, U, or A) or length. Phonological representation and phonetic implementation are carefully investigated. Phonological /aː/ interprets different morpho-phonological configurations, in particular the fusion of a weak guttural glide with a contiguous root nucleus. I also examine the representation of intervocalic geminate glides, e.g. tajjeb ‘good’, whose first component functions as off-glide of the initial vowel and the second functions as onset in the second syllable.
24 Janvier
Alireza jaferian (Université Paris 8, CNR SFL)
Glottal deletion in Farsi
In colloquial Farsi, /ʔ/ and /h/ tend to delete in all non-word-initial positions. Word-internally, their deletion leads to the lengthening of the preceding vowel. In this talk, I will go through the existing descriptions and analyses of the phenomenon. To the best of my knowledge, these overlook glottal deletion in post-consonantal position (C._), as in /tan.hɑ/ à [ta:nɑ] “lonely”. I will then propose a CVCV analysis, showing that lateral relations fail to explain glottal deletion in C._ position, unless if we suppose an unattested intermediate metathesis, i.e. C.G à G.C, where G stands for glottal. Adding an Obligatory Initial Onset parameter seems the only solution to save the account. As I will discuss at length, my analysis has two major advantages over the existing ones:
(1) It takes all cases of glottal deletion into account, including those in C._ position.
(2) It explains the absence of compensatory lengthening when the deleted glottal is word-final.
Furthermore, it helps in revising the syllable typology of Farsi, which in fact includes surface syllables with empty onsets.
7 février
Xiaoliang Luo (Université Paris 7, CNRS HTL)
Réconciliation aux frontières : l’approche générative de la phonologie diachronique du chinois dans les années 1970-1980
Les travaux récents en histoire de la phonologie chinoise (Luo 2015 ; 2023) montrent une opposition méthodologique et sociologique entre synchronie et diachronie depuis la réception des courants occidentaux en Chine au xxe siècle. La méthode comparative s’intéresse exclusivement à la diachronie, accordant peu de prestige aux études synchroniques ; les courants phonologiques, dans un renouvellement permanent, allant du structuralisme américain au post-générativisme, traitent exclusivement des phénomènes synchroniques du chinois.
Aux frontières de ces deux domaines, il existe, marginalement, une série d’articles sur la phonologie diachronique du chinois dans le cadre génératif dans les années 1970-1980, qui témoigne d’un effort de réconciliation.
Dans cette présentation, nous situons cette tentative dans ses contextes théorique et empirique et essaierons de comprendre les défis posés par les particularités de la phonologie chinoise, l’absence de répercussions de ces travaux, ainsi que les possibilités qu’ils ont ouvertes.
28 février
Ora Matushansky (Université Paris 8, CNRS SFL)
Stem-final default in Russian variable stress
Abstract: Russian lexical stress is generally argued (Garde 1968a, b, 1998, Halle 1973, Zaliznjak 1985, Melvold 1989, etc.) to appear on the leftmost underlyingly accented syllable and in the absence of such, on the leftmost available syllable. Variable stress in declensional or conjugational paradigms serves therefore as a diagnostic for an unaccented stem and is expected to alternate between the leftmost syllable and the suffix (e.g., bɨlá, bɨ́l, bɨ́lo, bɨ́li ‘was.F/M/N/PL’ or borodá, bórodu ‘beard.NOM/ACC’), where an accented suffix results in final stress. In contrast to this received wisdom I will provide examples where within the same paradigm suffixal stress with an accented suffix alternates with stem-final stress with an unaccented one (e.g., žestoká, žestók, žestóko, žestóki ‘cruel.F/M/N/PL’), linking it to the well-known phenomenon of Russian lexically conditioned retraction.
6 mars
Haike Jacobs (Radbout Universiteit) speak about
L’abrègement iambique en latin et dans le développement de la théorie prosodique
Dans le développement des théories phonologiques de l’accent (la phonologie métrique) l’abrègement iambique du latin préclassique est de loin le processus phonologique qui a le plus souvent été invoqué pour motiver des modifications théoriques. Mester (1994) s’en est servi pour motiver le trochée moraïque et pour exclure un trochée impair consistant d’une syllabe lourde et d’une syllabe légère (HL). Prince et Smolensky (1993) l’ont invoqué pour motiver leur théorie de l’Optimalité et McCarthy e.a (2016) pour justifier une approche sérielle de l’Optimalité. Dans cette communication nous allons brièvement résumer ces analyses et ensuite examiner comment l’abrègement fonctionnait dans le latin de Plaute.
20 mars
Amel Chergui (Université Paris 8, CNRS SFL)
De l’intégrité des géminées en kabyle
Les verbes biconsonantiques en sémitique présentent toujours un rangement QaT(a)T, jamais Q(a)QaT. McCarthy (1981) dérive ce fait par l’association de gauche à droite de la racine au gabarit. Mais en kabyle (de Bouira), parmi les verbes sans voyelle pleine, les verbes à deux consonnes donnent toujours QQəT, jamais QTəT ou QəTT. J’explique cette asymétrie comme résultant d’une distinction structurelle générale entre les verbes sémitiques et les verbes amazighs (kabyles) : en amazigh, les voyelles du verbe n’appartiennent pas à un morphème mélodique distinct. Contrairement à QaTaT en sémitique, QTəT en amazigh serait donc une transgression du principe de l’intégrité des géminées (Guerssel 1976). Ensuite, à l’aide de la structure des géminées dans l’approche du CV strict (Lowenstamm 1996, Scheer 2004) et de l’analyse de Bendjaballah (2004), je discute les point suivants:
1. Les verbes à trois consonnes identiques QəTTəT;
2. Une exception avec la form QəTT;
3. L’existence du rangement QvTT parmi les verbes à voyelles pleine et un cas intrigant d'épenthèse par harmonie qu'ils présentent.
10 avril
Lora Litvinova (CNRS LLACAN)
“Phonetic realizations of downstep in Kugama”
This talk will present an analysis of downstep in Kugama, an Adamawa language of Nigeria. The Kugama tone system consists of three contrastive level tones: High (H), Mid (M), and Low (L). Additionally, Kugama has floating ᴸ tones, which are always preceded by an H tone. Phonologically, floating ᴸ tones cause (non-automatic) downstep of the following tone. During my talk, I will demonstrate two phonetic realizations of downstep that are accompanied either by raising the linked H tone to the left of the floating ᴸ with additional lowering of the following tone (H, M or L), or by lowering the H tone that follows the floating ᴸ.
17 avril
Kate Mooney (University of Maryland)
Visible and Invisible Reordering
In the typology of epenthesis, some inserted sounds are phonologically invisible: Their outcome is inert with respect to other phonology, and so other phonological alternations proceed as if no insertion has taken place (Michelson 1989, Hagstrom 1997, Hall 2003, 2006). In this talk, I discuss a parallel asymmetry in the typology of visible and invisible reordering patterns. I observe that when reordering is phonologically visible, the alternation is always partially conditioned by the morphology. When invisible, the reordering alternation may be fully general, but its outcome is phonetically gradient and the sounds do not fully reorder. The result is that complete reordering only ever occurs in morphologically-conditioned phonology. I then discuss some possible consequences this has for phonological representations and the architecture of grammar.
24 avril
Johanna Benz (University of Pennsylvania)
French verbs and the grain of morpho-phonological analysis
Morpho-phonological rules are perhaps the least-loved component of Distributed Morphology, and have drawn criticism over the last thirty years which repeats three main concerns: That morpho-phonological rules are a technical trick to fix something the theory has nothing interesting to say about; that such rules are too powerful, in principle capable of rewriting any string as any other string; and, finally, that they are non-modular, violating a strict division between syntax and phonology. Within and outside of DM, this has frequently led to the conclusion that many phenomena that involve morphologically conditioned alternation should be handled as (weak) suppletion. Based on a case study of French verb root alternations, I offer a series of arguments for the position that morpho-phonological rules are an insightful analysis of this putative `weak suppletion’ phenomenon, showcasing in particular the importance of considering the specific rules in the context of both the morphological decomposition and regular phonology of the language in question.
15 mai
Pius W Akumbu (LLACAN - CNRS INaLCO - EPHE)
Reconstructing a Grassfields Bantu nominal prefix low tone: Evidence from associative constructions
2022-23
21 septembre
Noam Faust (Université Paris 8/ CNRS SFL)
Les radicaux à Cj/Cw finales du croissant / Noam Faust (avec Tobias Scheer)
Saint-Pierre-le-Bost (23600) est une commune au centre-nord du croissant linguistique, dont le parler local est en voie de disparition. Des données ont été relevées sur le terrain cette dernière année. Cette discussion concerne l’analyse des verbes dont le radical finit par [Cj/Cw] (Quint 2021), p.ex. [kopj-a] « copie-inf », [kəlw-a] « cloue-inf ». Ces verbes montrent une terminaison [e] au présent indicatif singulier, p.ex. [kopje] « copie.ind.sg » ou [kəlwe] « cloue.ind.sg » , alors que d’autres verbes du même groupe ne portent pas cette terminaison, p.ex. [sot] « saute.ind.sg ». Les radicaux finissant par [Vj] ne portent pas non plus cette terminaison : [fuj] « fouille.ind.sg ». Je présenterai une analyse de ces faits, élaborée avec Tobias Scheer, qui fait deux propositions. Premièrement, la terminaison [e] est en réalité un suffixe /-ə/ qui subit une fortition, suite à une interdiction *ə#. Deuxièmement, les radicaux en question ne finissent pas par des séquences /Cj,Cw/ au niveau sous-jacent, mais par une séquence voyelle-glissante homoorganique : /kopij-ə/ => [kopje], /kluw-e/ => [kəlwe]. J’espère pouvoir discuter avec les participants de l’atelier les avantages et les inconvénients des cette analyse, notamment la variation entre [e] et [ə] dans les formes du future telles que [kopje-ʁ-e ~ kopjə-ʁ-e] « copie-fut-1sg » (mais toujurs [e] avec la glissante [w]).
5 octobre
Holly Kennard (Oxford University)
Perspectives on Breton stress: usage, phonology and the prosodic word
Abstract: In this talk I examine data on Breton stress from two groups of speakers: older, "traditional" speakers who grew up speaking the language as children, and younger, "new" speakers who have acquired the language through means other than intergenerational transmission. Breton is an endangered language, and a large proportion of its speakers are elderly, but language revitalisation efforts have led to a growing number of younger speakers, many of whom have acquired the language through immersion schooling. As these younger speakers are French native speakers, various claims have been made regarding the level of influence from French that can be observed in their Breton, and stress is no exception to this. Here, I report my findings regarding Breton stress patterns in speakers of different ages and backgrounds, and use these to undertake a metrical analysis of Breton stress. This requires discussion of the role vowel and consonant length play in Breton phonology, since vowel length interacts with stress. I then discuss another stress-related phenomenon: the apparent shifting of stress from monosyllabic content words to a preceding function word. As this appears only patchily in my data, I undertook an investigation into its use and disappearance in some varieties of Breton. In my analysis, I assume that the function word is a proclitic which forms a single prosodic word with the word that follows; this prosodic word then receives stress in the normal way. Finally, I examine compounds, where stress appears to fall on the head, regardless of whether the compound is left- or right-headed. Again, however, it seems this is due to the formation of prosodic words, and thus stress patterns in compounds are entirely regular.
12 octobre
Maksymilian Dąbkowski (University of Berkeley)
Two grammars of A'ingae glottalization: A case for Cophonologies by Phase
This paper describes and analyzes phonological processes pertinent to the glottal stop in A’ingae (or Cofán, ISO 639-3: con). The operations which the glottal stops undergo and trigger reveal an interaction of two morphophonological parameters: stratum and stress dominance. First, verbal suffixes are organized in two morphophonological domains, or strata. Within the inner domain, glottal stops are a facultative feature of the metrical foot and preferably right-aligned with it. In the outer domain, glottal stops do not have any effects on stress. Second, some verbal suffixes delete stress (i. e. they are dominant). Dominance is unpredictable and independent of the suffix’s morphophonological domain, but dominance and the phonological domain interact in a non-trivial way: Only inner dominant suffixes delete glottalization. To account for the A’ingae data, I adopt Cophonologies by Phase (Sande, Jenks, and Inkelas, 2020), which (i) models phonological stratification while (ii) allowing for morpheme-specific phonological idiosyncrasies which (iii) interact with the phonological grammar of their stratum. Stress deletion triggered by the dominant suffixes is modeled with AntiFaithfulness (Alderete, 1999, 2001). Antifaithfulness to a metrical foot entails antifaithfulness to its features (glottalization). This captures the fact that only the inner dominant suffixes delete glottal stops.
26 octobre
Fabian Zuk (Université Lyon III, CNRS CEL)
From System Collapse to Redistribution. Early Romance Vowels from a Synchronic Perspective.
Abstract : The transformation of the Latin vowel system (three diphthongs, au, ae, oe and five monophthongs in both long and short varieties ĭ, ī, ĕ, ē, ŏ, ō, ŭ, ū, ă, ā) into that of proto-Romance (/aʊ, i, e, ɛ, a, ɔ, o, u/) through the transphonologization of quantity contrasts onto new qualitative ones is among the best-known sound changes of Romance historical linguistics. In the last decade, this classic case study has undergone radical reinterpretation as Romance phonologists (Loporcaro 2015, Schane 2005, etc.), historical linguists, and Latin sociolinguists have attempted to ground this change in synchronically observable phonological phenomena and phonetic variation. Still, parts of the change have hitherto gone unexplained. Why for example do short /ĕ/ et /ŏ/ endure in Romance as distinct vowel phonemes /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, while short /ĭ/ and /ŭ/ are eliminated, and when eliminated why does their treatment vary according to dialect? Furthermore, why do /ā/ and /ă/ seemingly merge without any qualitative differentiation?
Employing Element Theory (Backley 2011, Harris & Lindsey 1995) in which vowel representation have varying degrees of complexity, we demonstrate that the traditional “collapse” of the Latin vowel system is better understood as latent phonetic realities being picked up by the phonology leading to a redistribution of contrasts, with representationally simpler/weaker vowels |I|, |U|, |A| being banned from stressed syllables whilst at the same time becoming the only vowels licensed in non-initial unstressed syllables. Ultimately the reorganisation of the late Latin vowel system can be explained by heightened prominence alignment and a move towards a word-language like prosody. The synchronic study of Early Medieval Gallo-Romance both confirms the Labovian-type peripheralization of stressed vowels (cf. Leppänen & Alho 2018) and the lenition of unstressed vowels through contrast reduction (cf. Crosswhite 2004).
9 novembre
Claudia Parfene (Leipzig University) & Shanti Ulfsbjorninn (University of Deusto)
Unexpected Masculine Allomorphs and Variable Agreement Mismatches in Spanish: Separating out syntactic and phonological contributing factors
Separating out syntactic and phonological contributing factors
The definite article of Spanish is unexpectedly masculine before feminine nouns that begin with stressed á: [el água] (Plank 1984; Zwicky 1985; Posner 1985; Harris 1987). Some previous analyses have attempted to treat el as a feminine allomorphic form, though this runs into various problems: Firstly, exceptions: [la ábil ágila] ‘the adept eagle’ & [la áne] ‘the Ane’, [la árabe] ‘arabian’, [la áustria] ‘Austria’ (Herce 2020). Secondly, and more problematically, there is considerable variation in mismatches of agreement with heads and modifiers in the DP: todo el agua fria, todo el puto agua, un hambre tremendo, el abil aguila. This kind of data has been taken to mean that el allomorphy is no longer synchronically active in Spanish (Herce 2020), or that the nouns that trigger agreement mismatches are hermaphroditic, and the pattern is created purely by analogy to stored examples of past experience: el agua (M-F), agua fria (F-F) (Eddington & Hualde 2008). We will propose instead to disentangle the syntactic and phonological contributions to the complex variation by focusing on the areas of linguistic invariance and awareness of the sociolinguistic situation. We identify two different syntactic grammars of agreement, one for the Standard and one for ‘Broad’ Northern Peninsular Spanish. Additionally, there is a phonological rule that derives el from la in a manner consistent with Faust et al. (2018), and this occurs only when Det + á-nouns are linearly adjacent. Taken together these factors create all and only the agreement mismatches that are observed in the data, both for Standard and Broad varieties, excluding impossible mismatches such as: *todo la puta agua, *toda el puto agua, *toda la agua, *toda el agua frio (and many more).
23 novembre
Ioana Chitoran (Université Paris Cité, Clillac-ARP) Caroline Crouch (UC Santa Barbara and Rice University) et Argyro Katsika (UC Santa Barbara)
Time and space in the Georgian syllable
The syllable has an internal organization, which rests on an onset–coda asymmetry. For complex syllables the asymmetry is immediately evident in typological preferences, with complex onsets being more common cross-linguistically than complex codas. The spatial organization of a complex onset falls from the sonority principle (Kiparsky, 1981; Clements, 1990; Parker 2011), an abstract property of speech sounds, with robust explanatory power, which corresponds roughly to an order of increasingly more open constrictions in the vocal tract, reaching the maximum opening of the nucleus vowel. In our study, we are interested in the sonority shape as well as the local timing of the segments involved: how do the dimensions of time and space interact in explaining the syllable? We consider two approaches to the syllable: the principle of sonority for the spatial organization, and the coupled oscillator model of the syllable (Nam & Saltzman, 2003; Nam et al., 2009) within Articulatory Phonology (Browman & Goldstein, 1988; 1989), for its temporal organization. As a case study, we focus on Georgian, a language with a large diversity of complex onsets, that crucially includes sonority-conforming as well as non-conforming onsets. We show that Georgian presents challenges to both accounts, and we discuss theoretical implications.
Browman, C. P., & Goldstein, L. (1988). Some notes on syllable structure in articulatory phonology. Phonetica, 45(2-4), 140-155
Browman, C. P., & Goldstein, L. (1989). Articulatory gestures as phonological units. Phonology, 6(2), 201-251 Clements, G. N. (1990) – The role of the sonority cycle in core syllabification. In J. Kingston and M. Beckman (Eds.) Laboratory Phonology 1. Between the grammar and physics of speech. Cambridge University Press. 283-333
Kiparsky, P. (1981) – Remarks on the metrical structure of the syllable. Phonologica, 3, Vienna 1980. 245-256
Nam, H., & Saltzman, E. (2003). A competitive, coupled oscillator model of syllable structure. In Proceedings of the 15th international congress of phonetic sciences, 2253-2256
Nam, H., Goldstein, L., & Saltzman, E. (2009). Self-organization of syllable structure: A coupled oscillator model. Approaches to phonological complexity, 16, 299-328
Parker, S. (2011). Sonority. In The Blackwell companion to phonology, 1-25
7 Décembre
Ziv Plotnik (Université de Tel Aviv)
Domari complex onsets and affixation
Jerusalem Domari has an interesting distribution of complex onsets. Lexical items only have word initial complex onsets, while word medial complex onsets only appear as a result of affixation. In this paper I provide an optimality theoretic analysis of the complex onsets, and show that the guiding principle in their behavior is segmental contiguity, with no effects of sonority. Additionally, through a limited but invariable morphophonological process of syllable reduction, I show that Domari affixes provide evidence supporting the framework of stratal OT.
1 février
Alessandro Jaker (University of Toronto) parler de
Tetsǫ́t'ıné Prefix Vowel Length: Evidence for Systematic Underspecification
Tetsǫ́t'ıné is a Dene (Athapaskan) language spoken in Canada's Northwest Territories. In Tetsǫ́t'ıné prefixes, all long vowels are the result of intervocalic consonant deletion, though not all cases of intervocalic consonant deletion result in a long vowel. In this presentation I will examine three progressively more complex cases involving intervocalic consonant deletion and the resulting surface vowel length.
Tetsǫ́t'ıné vowel length, like other areas of Dene phonology, is considerably complex. In the previous Dene linguistics literature, this type of complexity has been dealt with through morphological conditioning. All of the cases I will examine in this presentation are cases that seem to suggest morphological conditioning, but I will show that morphological conditioning is not required if we use certain independently motivated representational mechanisms (metrical phonology, feature geometry, level ordering). For ease of exposition, the analysis will be presented in rule-based Lexical Phonology, though I will briefly discuss a possible Stratal OT version of the proposal.
15 février
Samuel Akinbo (University of Minnesota) parler de
Grammaticalised sound symbolism in Naijá, aka Nigerian Pidgin
This work focuses on the complete reduplication of verbs which derives a form that can function as a noun or verb in Naijá. Regardless of the inherent tone of the verb, the first half of the reduplication bears L tone on all its tone-bearing units (TBU) and the second half bears H tone on all its TBU. The meaning of the derived nominal or verbal forms involves irregular habituation or repetition. Faraclas (1984) attributes the tonal alternation to final lowering of tone and the stress of the verbs’ English sources. His analysis of the reduplication suggests morphological doubling. Contrary to the analysis in Faraclas (1984), my account in this work is that the reduplication contains two morphophonological components, namely a fixed L-H tone melody and RED, which is a phonologically empty morpheme. The tonal and segmental properties of the base-reduplicant relations are considered to be the effect of lexical categorisation and tone alignment. Within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky, 2004), I will account for the tonal and segmental properties of the base and reduplicant using distinct and interacting constraints. I will argue that the morphological properties of the reduplicative in Naijá are consistent with two widely attested patterns of sound symbolism, namely the association of reduplication with the notion of iteration (Hinton et al., 1994; Voeltz and Kilian-Hatz, 2001) and the association of phonological disharmony (e.g., tone polarity and vowel disharmony) with the notions of irregularity (Dingemanse, 2011; Ibarretxe-Antuñano, 2017). Comparing the meaning and tones of the reduplicative pattern in Naijá to those of ideophones in the substrate languages and across languages, I will argue that the L-H tone melody of the reduplicative patterns involves a grammaticalisation of lexical tendency in ideophones. The form-meaning association of the reduplicative pattern in Naijá does not only challenge the longstanding view that form-meaning mapping is completely arbitrary (Hockett, 1960; De Saussure, 1974) but presents morphophonemic evidence in support of the emerging view that form-meaning association involves both arbitrariness and non-arbitrariness (Hauser et al., 2002; Dingemanse et al., 2015). Other implications this pattern will be discussed.
1er mars
Gilbert Puech (Université de Lyon) parler de
THE MALTESE GUTTURAL GLIDE
Maltese inherited six guttural consonants from Arabic: postvelar /q, χ, ɣ/, pharyngeal /ħ, ʕ/, and glottal approximant /h/. In (pre)modern Maltese sonorants /ɣ/ and /ʕ/ were fused and eventually lost, as well as /h/. Brame (1972) claimed that the child coming to the language-learning situation is still capable of inducing /ʕ/ (represented by digraph għ) on the basis of phonetics alone. Phonology would thus implement synchronic reversal of diachrony. For Comrie (1986) morpho-phonology now points in the direction of morphological rather than phonological solutions. This paper traces the transitional stages of status and realization of gutturals from pre-modern to contemporary Maltese. The focus is on the phonological interpretation of għ in position of radical consonant in morpho-prosodic templates. Paradigms are first built on the analogy of alternations in the conjugation of canonical C1VC2VC3-stems; however, if G (guttural-glide) occupies the 1st/2nd consonantal position, it is 'incorporated’ to an adjacent vowel; it is then realized as optionally pharyngealized in pre-modern Maltese, and presently as variably long or diphthongized. If G is the right edge of the Radical (3rd consonantal position), it is fortified to /ħ/, replaced by /y/ or silenced. I claim that a phonological approach based on the inclusion of a guttural glide faithfully interprets the data in contemporary Maltese. Glides are linked to a color: |I| for /y/, |U| for /w/, and |A| for G; they occupy a slot which being neither C nor V is represented as Ø, i.e. empty. On phonetic grounds, glides surface as ‘vocalic’ (second part of a falling diphthong, or full vowel), or as ‘consonantal’; G then occurs as a voiceless guttural fricative, not as an approximant as /y/ or /w/. In some configurations għ appears to be intervocalic, as in Comrie’s example ġiegħel 'force'. In this and similar cases, G is silent and vowels are fused with complex compensatory effects on their quality and length.
15 mars
Mathilde Hutin (Université Catholique de Louvain, F.R.S.-FNRS, Belgique)
Strength and weakness in phonological representations: A formal account of lenition
Travail commun avec Mélanie Lancien (Swiss National Science Foundation, Switzerland)
Lenition in diachrony can be defined as a “gradation towards loss” (Gurevitch 2011:9) that is syllabically conditioned (Ségéral & Scheer 2008), resulting in a hierarchy ordering phonemes from the “strongest” (i.e., furthest away from deletion) to the weakest (i.e., closest to deletion) (Hock 1991, Bauer 2008). Since “sound change is drawn from a pool of synchronic variation” (Ohala 1989), we contend that sound change takes its source in the competition of several representations in the phonology of native speakers, which brings us to propose several representations (that one might call “phonetic” representations) for one and the same phoneme. By comparing the competing representations and scaling their relative strength, we hope to shed some light on the relative strength and weakness of the components of the representations.
To that extent, we analyze the realization of /R/ in Quebec French, a language that displays no less than 9 allophones for this phoneme. Since these allophones are perceived differently (as sociolinguistic variables), we suggest that they are all part of the phonology, where they compete with each other. The observation of the distribution of 58k tokens as a function of their syllabic position indicates the following lenition path for /R/ in Quebec French: {r / ɾ } ; ʀ → ꭕ → ʁ → ɹ → ɚ.
In our talk, we wish to propose representations for these 6 variants (apical taps and trills are merged here for technical reasons), compare them, and conclude on broader principles regarding strength and weakness in phonological representations. We wish to use the Atelier de Phonologie as a discussion area where each can challenge these proposals, bring additional data to light or raise further questions.
22 mars
Andrew Lamont (University College London) parler de
Optimality Theory is not computable
This talk presents a result on the complexity of Optimality Theory (OT), a constraint-based generative framework used primarily to model phonological mappings. I demonstrate that the framework is in general not computable; i.e., it is impossible to write an algorithm to determine the output of an arbitrary OT grammar on an arbitrary input. The formal result draws only on independently attested mechanisms developed to model phonological mappings and does not rely on unusual representations or assumptions.
05 avril
Razieh Shojaei (Université de Leipzig)
Lexical accent typology as gradience and threshold effects
Many lexical accent systems show degrees of dominance where more than two accentual morphemes enter an accent competition that cannot be driven by a single parameter 'Leftmost/Rightmost' or 'outermost'. Such systems pose challenges for existing accounts of lexical accent competition, most of which only allow for a binary distinction between accentual and non-accentual morphemes. I will show that Gradient Harmonic Grammar (Legendre et al., 1990; Smolensky and Goldrick, 2016) derives all accent patterns from two general mechanisms: (i)
competition between gradiently active phonological elements (e.g. H-tones, moras, feet), and (ii) morphemes different thresholds for accent realisation. This claim is illustrated with the case studies of Japanese, Choguita Rarámuri (Uto-Aztecan), and A’ingae (an Amazonian isolate).
19 avril
Alireza Jaferian (Université Paris 8)
A CVCV Account of Farsi Consonant Clusters
In colloquial Iranian Persian, a.k.a. Farsi, biconsonantal clusters are not subject to systematic restrictions in non-initial position. Triconsonantal clusters are tolerated word-finally and morpheme-internally, while they are broadly attested word-internally when the syllable boundary coincides with a morpheme boundary. On the other hand, in initial position, restrictions are rigorous: consonant clusters and vowels are banned.
In this talk, I will present data supporting the lack of a sonority hierarchy between consonants in Farsi. In Strict CV terms, thus, no Infrasegmental Government can hold. I will show that the syllable structure of Farsi follows from Strict CV representations. Both word-initial restrictions are due to the presence of a licensed initial CV site at the left-edge of the word, absorbing the governing force of the initial Nucleus. Morpheme-final word-internal clusters are parametrically licensed, as are word-final CCs. Clusters of three consonants involving morpheme boundary are thus licit.
3 mai
Xiaoliang Luo (Université Paris Cité, Histoire des Théories Linguistiques, UMR7597)
Mandarin final 3rd tone in disyllabic structures
Mandarin Chinese has four lexical tones, the third one (T3) is commonly called “falling-rising” tone, with separate low and high parts, noted as [L.H] by Yip (2002). This tone is involved in two phenomena: the T3 sandhi, namely two adjacent T3s turning the first one into T2 (Chao 1968; Dell 1973; Yip 1980ab; Yip 2002; Duanmu 2007); and incomplete tone, giving partial realization [L] when T3 is followed by another tone.
However, T3 in the final syllable can be fully realized as [L.H], or partially as [L]. In some cases, both are accepted, but there are some morphosyntactic constraints. Duanmu (2007: 238) claims in a production test that in disyllables, VO structure favors the production of final full T3 [L.H], while Modifier-Noun structure tends to reduce it to partial [L]. Duanmu then imputes this observation to the stress issue. The limit of Duanmu’s account is that he only considers VO and MN structures (but see Arcodia & Basciano 2021 for all possible Mandarin morphological structures) and he roughly gives VO and MN disyllables two different metrical structures without any motivation.
In this presentation, I will argue that perception prevails over production and will test with a corpus including not only (subdivided) VO and MN structures, but also coordinate compounds, Verb-Complement, Adv.-Adj. and Numeral-Cl. ones, A native speaker of Mandarin has been asked to answer if T3’s full and partial realizations are accepted or unaccepted (without emphasis). I will then give a formal account of all the disyllabic structures in the corpus.
2021-22
28 sept
Outi Bat-El (Université de Tel Aviv)
Nature (& Nurture) in Language Acquisition: Evidence from Early Hebrew Speech
Regardless of the diversity in theoretical orientation, most linguists agree that children are born with a mechanism that allows them to acquire their native language(s) when exposed to sufficient input. Most linguists also agree that this mechanism is experience-dependent. However, there has been a heated debate as to whether this mechanism is entirely experience-dependent (Tomasello 2000), with statistical learning being prominent mechanism (Saffran et al. 1996), or if it includes some experience-independent universal principles (Chomsky 1965). In syntax, this is a debate between the cognitivists (usage-based linguistics, cognitive linguistics, functional linguistics) and the nativists (generative linguistics), respectively. In phonology, the dichotomy is more subtle because universal principles are often phonetically grounded and could therefore be learnt via experience. Moreover, the predictions of universal principles often coincide with distributional frequency, which facilitates language development.
In my talk, I will contribute to this debate using data from longitudinal studies of Hebrew-acquiring children. I will provide evidence for the emergence of two universal constraints during early speech: trochee (“feet are trochaic”) and weigh-by-Position (“codas are moraic”). Crucially, these two constraints (proposed in Hayes 1989, 1995), are weakly grounded in perceptual and/or articulatory capabilities, if at all, and are not supported by distributional frequency. Therefore, the children do not have a source for the required experience for learning these constraints. The children cannot gain experience with respect to Trochee because stress in Hebrew is mostly final (iambic foot) on the word level and with rising pitch at the intonational unit. Likewise, there is no source for weigh-by-position because CV and CVC syllables in Hebrew behave alike with respect to stress and there is no evidence for moraic codas.
If time permits, I will present data from two twin boys, whose experience is identical but, nevertheless, some aspects of their phonological development is different.
The conclusion is therefore that language acquisition is not entirely experience-dependent (nurture), and universal principles do play a role (nature). What we need to ask is: (a) what are the conditions for the emergence of universal principles and (b) how do nature and nurture interact.
13 Octobre
Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho (Université Paris 8, CNRS SFL )
The paradox of Portuguese /Vr/-syllables: Evidence for structure-based sonority
Assuming that Portuguese is a weight-sensitive language (see Carvalho 1989 and Wetzels 2007 for EP and BP respectively), /Vr/-syllables show a paradoxical behaviour in EP:
· on the one hand, pretonic /Vr/-syllables undergo vowel reduction, like light syllables (/V(s)/-syllables): cf. for instance c[ɐ]rtola 'top hat', v[ə]rter 'pourinf', m[u]rder 'biteinf';
· on the other hand, final /Vr/-syllables generally attract stress while avoiding vowel reduction when they don’t, like heavy syllables (/Vv, Vl, VN/-syllables): açúc[a]r 'sugar', cadáv[ɛ]r 'corpse', Vít[ɔ]r 'Victor', márt[i]r 'martyr'.
Why? Intuitively, some kind of compensatory process seems to be at the source of the full vowels in açúc[a]r, cadáv[ɛ]r etc., which alternate with açúc[ɐ]r[ə]s, cadáv[ə]r[ə]s in the plural. However, such a process is not satisfactorily explained by means of standard accounts.
I will show how the paradoxical behaviour of EP /Vr/-syllables is straightforwardly accounted for by Carvalho's (2017) theory of phonological representations, according to which sonority and thus liquids are based on structure, not on features.
27 octobre
Noam FAUST (Université de Paris 8, CNRS SFL)
[n̩]s and outs of syllabic consonants in Yiddish
There are two potentially syllabic consonants in Yiddish, /l/ and /n/, and there is an interesting interplay between these and the vowel [ə]. If a verbal base ends in [n̩], then before V-initial suffixes this syllabic consonant alternates with [ən]: efn̩, efən-ən, *efnən ‘open’. But this is not the case with /l/: farejdl̩ zix, farejdl-ən zix, *farejdəl-ən zix ‘act refined’. In the adjectival inflection, in contrast, both [n̩]-final and [l̩]-final bases alternate with [ən, əl]: ofn̩, ofən-əm ‘open (pred., MSG.OBL)’, ejdl̩, ejdəl-ən ‘refined (pred., MSG.OBL)’.
This paper provides a formal account of the interplay between syllabic consonants and schwa insertion. The account, couched within the theory of Strict CV (Lowenstamm 1996, Scheer 2004), puts forth the representational principle of Nuclear Attraction, according to which potentially-syllabic consonants must always be associated to a nucleus. Two aspects of the proposal are novel. First, the nucleus to which the potentially syllabic consonant is associated may be realized as a full vowel - even in a sequence [na] the [n] is represented as associated to the following nucleus. Second, a sonorant associated to an empty nucleus can force the latter’s realization through epenthesis, if it cannot realize that nucleus by itself.
After I present the analysis of the Yiddish facts, I show how the same analysis can shed light on two other data sets: initial clusters in Modern Hebrew and [ə]~[C̩] alternation in Koalib.
10 novembre
Francesc TORRES-TAMARIT (Université de Paris 8, CNRS SFL)
Stress-dependent harmony in Asturian and harmony in situ
This paper provides new evidence for stress-dependent harmony as feature affixation from Felechosa Asturian (Arias 1992). In this Romance variety, the masculine singular count suffix is realized as [-o] or [-u]. It is realized as [-o] when the stressed root vowel is an underlying mid vowel that raises to high in this morphological context (e.g. [ˈniɣɾ-o] 'black-m.sg.count' cf. [ˈneɣɾ-o] 'black-mass'). It is however realized as [-u] when the stressed root vowel is underlyingly /a/ and raises to [e] (e.g. [ˈbleŋk-u] 'white-m.sg.count' cf. [ˈblaŋk-o] 'white-mass'). We propose that the phonological exponent of the masculine singular count morpheme contains both the segment /-o/ and the floating features [+high] and [-low]. We further claim that cases like [ˈbleŋk-u] instantiate occurrences of harmony in situ, whereby the floating feature [-low] docks onto the stressed root vowel in accordance with the preference for floating features to be realized on metrically prominent positions, and vacuously onto the suffix, but the floating feature [+high] only docks onto the suffix with which it is affiliated, which therefore surfaces as [-u]. Realizing the two floating features on the root vowel would result in fell-swoop raising, which is banned in Asturian (e.g. *[ˈbliŋk-o]). Finally, we discuss the state of the art of stress-dependent harmony in Asturian.
Reference:
Arias, Álvaro. 1992. Metafonía en Felechosa (Ayer): caltenimientu de la inflesión ensin /-u/ final. Lletres Asturianes 46:7-21.
24 novembre
Iris Kamil (Université de Vienne)
Akkadian Pluractionals in Old-Babylonian Letters
The talk will focus on Akkadian pluractional formation found in Old Babylonian letters, the issues of its analyses and possible solutions, as well as the implications of a new analysis for the reconstruction of Proto-Semitic. The nature of the Akkadian -tan- stems, characterised by the pluractionalising -tan- infix inserted between the first and second root radicals is the subject of discussion. Both its morphological composition, as well as its semantics have not yet been satisfactorily studied. Furthermore, many translations provided in dictionaries and grammars are contradictory and inconsistent. As such, the infix may denote either an iterative, frequentative, habitual, continuous, or distributive meaning, yet it is not yet clear which roots derive which meaning. Strikingly, it appears to bear strong connections to the medialising -t- morpheme, from which it is likely derived.
Thus, I suggest a dissection of the morpheme into two parts: ta- and -n, whereby ta- is equivalent to the pan-Semitic t-morpheme, only merged directly with the root, as opposed to later at voice level. As for the rarely overt -n, various analyses are possible, for instance ease-of-pronunciation, or the form being a historical remnant, which just like mimation and nunation is later dropped in Akkadian.
Spark for the discussion of the tan-morpheme and its implications is the need for better and more accurate reconstruction methods in Proto-Semitic, a problem which will be addressed, too. I suggest a new path for Proto-Semitic reconstruction within the framework of Distributed Morphology, which would allow not only a more appropriate analysis for single morphemes, but also their diachronic treatment.
8 décembre,
Paula Mendes (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
An overview of the Segmental and Suprasegmental Phonology of Nambikwara do Campo (Southern Nambikwara)
This presentation summarizes the results of my doctoral research as described in the PhD dissertation entitled ‘The Segmental and Suprasegmental Phonology of Nambikwara do Campo (Southern Nambikwara)’, defended in 2020. The Nambikwara do Campo is an endangered Indigenous language spoken in Mato Grosso, Brazil. It is in the Nambikwara do Sul (Southern Nambikwara) branch of the Nambikwara language family, one of the 41 surviving linguistic families in Brazil. Nambikwara do Campo is a phonologically complex language with an intricate phonetic-phonological interface which has many phonological processes that interact with different aspects of the grammar. To provide its first description, the study made use of a corpus comprised of approximately 100 hours of recordings collected in situ by the author in 2017. Regarding the segmental phonology, Nambikwara do Campo has 13 consonants and 18 vowels (including oral, nasal, creaky voice, and nasal creaky voice vowels). The language's syllable is (C)V(C)(C) and permits up to three positions in the rime. The phonological processes attested in Nambikwara do Campo include assimilation, deletion, epenthesis, palatalization, consonantal coalescence, strengthening, aspiration, pre-oralization of the nasal coda, lengthening, and reduplication. The stress of the language is predictable in roots and is lexical in grammatical morphemes, and the language’s stress system is sensitive to syllable weight. Regarding the tonal system, the language has two phonological level tones, a high one and a low one, which can combine in the same syllable and form rising and falling contour tones. The prosodic system is mixed, combining stress and lexical tones. Considering the theoretical perspective, the phonological (and grammatical) description work is based, initially, on distributional linguistic techniques and, subsequently, on the theoretical framework provided by the non-linear phonological theories. Other studies about the languages of the Nambikwara family were also taken into account.
2 février
Péter Szigetvári, (Eötvös Loránd University)
Are there diphthongs in English?
A number of assumptions about the vowel system of English have emerged in the last century (and before), but some of these assumptions are ignored in mainstream views. Accepting them and considering some changes that English underwent in the past decades, I show that the complete vowel system of English can be reduced to six vowels, [i e a ə o u]. This simple system describes a significant set of phonological phenomena concerning vowels more adequately than some other competitors.
In this view
1. all vowels may occur stressed (even “schwa”), but a subset of vowels selected by universal principles may also occur unstressed (if stressed position allows more possibilities than unstressed position, why should some vowel be excluded from stressed position?)
2. some phonotactic constraints gain a simple explanation, eg
a. why stressed short vowels do not occur before glides, while both long and unstressed vowels do
b. why some FLEECE/GOOSE+schwa sequences may, while others may systematically not be monophthongized (eg *idea, secure* vs *area, jaguar*)
c. why FLEECE, FACE, GOOSE, GOAT tend not to occur before [r], and FLEECE, FACE, PRICE, CHOICE before coda [l]
d. why we experience what looks like fortition (HAPPY tensing) in unstressed position, etc
3. the three groups of vowels occurring (i) only preconsonantally, (ii) also word finally, and (iii) also prevocalically are categorized uniformly.
16 février
Edoardo Cavirani (KU Leuven)
Turbid strict CV: Silent lateral actors in Arabic
In strict CV, a direct relation holds between representational complexity and lateral strength, as only melodically filled nuclei can discharge government and licensing. In the configurations in which this relation cannot be maintained, lateral actorship is granted by a systemic parameter, or results from a special representational configuration, as the Infrasegmental Government domain, or the doubly-associated melodic primes reproducing the effect of Magic Licensing. In this paper, I provide a normalisation of lateral actorship by showing that its correlation with complexity can be maintained without resorting to parameters or special configurations. The builds on the hypothesis that representational complexity does not necessarily correspond to some phonetic event: a non-empty nucleus can be unpronounced, without this impinging on its lateral
actorship. Turbidity Theory provides the formal tools for distinguishing between empty and unpronounced nuclei. This follows from splitting the association between melodic and prosodic units into two independent relations - projection and pronunciation. Empty nuclei lack melodic content, whereas unpronounced nuclei only lack the pronunciation relation. In this talk, I show that this approach allows us to elegantly account for glide mutation in Classic Arabic, and the behaviour of inflectional markers spell-out in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Time permitting, I will also show that this approach allows for a refinement of our understanding of the so-called yers, as well as for a better formalization of the doubly-associated melodic primes reproducing the effect of Magic Licensing.
2 mars
Gean Damulakis (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) & Andrew Nevins (University Collège London)
An Orthographic Twist to The Oprah Effect
Jurgec (2014) demonstrates the Oprah Effect, whereby loanwords show a non-native segmental adaptation (e.g. English retroflex r being used in Dutch) until they undergo morphological derivation, at which point they revert to a native adaptation (e.g. the Standard Dutch rhotic). We present a twist on this effect with [ʌ]-containing English loanwords into Brazilian Portuguese, e.g. surf, bug, crush: under morphological derivation, they adapt an orthographically-based mapping (e.g. Hamann & Colombo 2017), that while unfaithful to the acoustics of the source language, provides a more natural derived form.
9 mars février
Charles Vancaeyzeele (Université de Tours)
Epenthèse à l’interface entre phonologie et morphologie en mohawk
23 mars
Karolina Broś (University of Warsaw)
Sound change in the making – phonetics versus phonology
Sound change in progress necessarily involves variation. This includes, among others, intra-dialectal and intra-speaker variability in the surface representations of the underlying forms. The question is what factors influence this variability and how to disentangle the phonetics from the phonology in the processes involved. In this talk I will show several analyses of a large corpus of fieldwork and experimental data from the Spanish spoken on Gran Canaria. I will discuss inter- and intra-speaker variation in the realization of underlying consonants and point to: 1) gradient phonetic changes, 2) systematic differences in pronunciation dependent on the social setting, 3) systematic differences in pronunciation dependent on the phonological conditioning, and 4) process interactions leading to several cases of opacity in the dialect. I will try to demonstrate that the use of large databases of naturally produced data helps to elucidate the differences between gradient phonetic changes and phonological effects in lenition, and the role optionality plays in opaque interactions.
6 avril
Doris Muecke (Universität zu Köln)
Law of the Instrument - Phonetic Measures and Phonological Theory
We relate language as a cognitive system to observations of the physical world (Pierrehumbert, Beckman & Ladd 2000). To assess a phonological theory, we often compare abstract predictions to continuous phonetic observations. This can be complicated, however, because it requires a theoretical model that maps from phonological representations to articulatory and/or acoustic observations (Mücke, Hermes & Tilsen 2020). In this talk we are concerned with the question of how phonetic observations are interpreted in relation to phonological theories. More specifically, we discuss the problem of overinterpretation of phonetic measures (Maslow 1966) by investigating the case of prosodic prominence in German. We present acoustic and articulatory results from an analysis of 19 phonetic variables conducted on a dataset that comprises the opposition of unaccented and accented, as well as different focus types with the nuclear accent on the same syllable (Roessig, Winter & Mücke, in print). The variables include different subsystems such as intonation and supralaryngeal articulation, intensity, voice quality and durational properties. We test the relative importance of different measures to better understand the phonetic space of focus marking and we will related the results to the question of errors in interpretation of phonetic data in phonological analyses when using „stereotyped" measures.
20 avril
Haike Jacobs (Radboud University)
Les mores expriment la longueur, mais pas le poids syllabique: la métathèse laryngale en cayuga, la dégémination en chugach alutiiq et l’accent en wolof.
Exprimer le poids syllabique à l’aide de mores pose deux problèmes théoriques. D’une part il y a des langues, comme le wolof, qui ont des voyelles longues et des géminées (toutes les deux des syllabes bimoraïques), mais où uniquement les voyelles longues et non pas les géminées comptent comme syllabes lourdes pour l’accentuation. D’autre part, il y a des langues où les syllabes fermées comptent comme légères pour l’accentuation et où une consonne en coda n’a pas de more, mais où ces mêmes syllabes fermées comptent toutefois comme lourdes pour des modifications segmentales (métathèse laryngale en cayuga et dégémination en chugach alutiiq).
Nous allons montrer que ni une approche basée sur règles ayant recours à un modèle moraïque à deux niveaux (un niveau temporel et un niveau accentuel) (Hayes 1995) ni une approche parallèle (OT classique Prince et Smolensky 1993) sont capables d’exprimer le fait que la métathèse laryngale et la dégémination sont des modifications qui font de syllabes inaccentuées de syllabes légères. Adoptant le sérialisme harmonique (McCarthy 2016), nous allons proposer une solution unifiée qui permet à la fois d’exprimer directement le lien entre métathèse, dégémination et l’accent et de décrire l’accentuation du wolof.
4 mai
Peter Guekguezian (University of Rochester)
Stems Across Languages
Cross-linguistically, the Stem is a robust, coherent linguistic object. Stems display a cluster of several properties: they form a word-internal prosodic domain, an island for irregular phonological operations, and a locus for paradigmatic alternations. However, these properties do not always cluster in Stems of a given language. This talk looks at Stems in several unrelated languages--Muskogee, Yokuts, and Armenian--and different ways Stem properties can cluster. It also explores the role of phases or cycles in accounting for both the properties of the Stem and the fact that Stems typically do not display all of these properties in a single language.
2020-21
09 sep
Francesc Torres-Tamarit (SFL, CNRS & Université Paris 8)
Typological aspects of contrastive vowel length in Romance
By way of comparative historical reconstruction and cross-dialect synchronic descriptions, Loporcaro (2015) arrives at establishing that contrastive vowel length (CVL) in Northern Romance in stressed syllables is metrically-governed, and that its distribution is implicational. The presence of CVL in proparoxytones implies CVL in paroxytones, but not the other way around. Likewise, the presence of CVL in paroxytones implies CVL in oxytones, but not
vice versa. The same distribution is found for derived (non-contrastive) vowel length as a result of a process of open syllable lengthening, and also for stress-dependent gemination. Building on Loporcaro (2015), in this talk I will
show that by combining internally layered (ternary) feet with uneven trochees, an OT, foot-based analysis of the distribution of CVL in Northern Romance is not only descriptively adequate, but increases explanatory power because it avoids both over- and under-generation problems, as opposed to
analytical alternatives that exclude layered feet (but use instead final extrametricality as in Jacobs 2019). The theoretical contribution of this investigation is to give additional support for minimal layering of feet, an issue that has recently received attention in the literature on metrical theory.
23 sep
Noam Faust (SFL, CNRS & Université Paris 8) and Shanti Ulfsbjorninn (University of Deusto)
Prosodically-driven harmony in Strict CV: a Celto-Semitic case
In Barra Gaelic (BG; Boseh de Jong 1997), stress (underlined) is generally word-initial and correlates with a high tone [aHran] ‘bread’. A harmonic (or “copy”) epenthetic vowel is inserted in the environment /#(C)VC1_C2(…)/, where C1 is any sonorant and C1 and C2 are hetero-organic: e.g. /t̪ɔrɣ/ => [t̪ɔrɔHɣ] ‘fishing line’. As shown in the transcription, this epenthetic vowel is doubly interesting: i. it carries the high tone despite being peninitial, and ii. it is as stressed as the initial vowel.
In Modern Hebrew (MH), stress is generally final: [mufsak] ‘begin.pass.prtc’. A harmonic process transforms [a] to [e] before a word-final unstressed sequence [eC]: [mufsek-et] ‘begin.pass.prtc-fm’. The unstressed [e] must be analyzed as epenthetic/weak. Like BG peninitial epenthesis, the MH case is typologically strange: the weak, unstressed vowel triggers harmony on the lexical stressed one.
We propose a Strict CV account of both patterns that highlights their similarities. In both languages, a prosodic domain must be edge-aligned (to the left in BG, to the right in MH). When epenthesis obliges the aligned domain to span two V-slots, two effects follow. First, its non-aligned edge must also be marked: this is done by H in BG and by stress in MH. Second, the span of two V-slots must be signaled by harmony.
07 oct
Eva Zimmermann (Leipzig Universität)
Phonological exceptions result from gradient constraint violations: An argument for Gradient Symbolic Representations
The assumption of Gradient Symbolic Representations that phonological elements can have different degrees of activity (Smolensky and Goldrick, 2016; Rosen, 2016; Zimmermann, 2018, 2019) allows a unified explanation for the typology of phonological exceptions.
Exceptional (non)triggers and (non)undergoers of otherwise regular phonological processes are predicted from gradient constraint violations: The activation of a phonological element in an underlying morpheme representation determines 1) how much the element is preserved by faithfulness constraints and 2) how much it is penalized by markedness constraints. I argue that this simple mechanism predicts the attested typology of phonological exceptions.
In this talk, I argue that the predictions made by the GSR account are empirically more adequate than the ones made by alternative approaches to exceptionality based on autosegmental defectivity (Lieber, 1987; Tranel, 1996; Zoll, 1996) or lexically indexed constraints (Pater, 2006; Flack, 2007; Mahanta, 2012).
21 oct
Benjamin Storme (UNiversité de Lausanne) parler de
Not only size matters: limits to the Law of Three Consonants in French phonology
Grammont’s Law of Three Consonants (LTC) states that French schwa is obligatorily pronounced in any CC_C sequence to avoid three-consonant clusters. Although schwa presence has been shown to be sensitive not only to cluster size but also to the nature of consonants in post-lexical phonology, the LTC is still considered as accurate to describe schwa-zero alternations in lexical phonology. The paper uses judgment data from French speakers in France and Switzerland to compare the behavior of schwa in derived words (lexical phonology) and inflected words (post-lexical phonology). The results show that schwa-zero alternations are conditioned not only by cluster size but also by cluster type in lexical phonology. Moreover, the same phonotactic asymmetries among consonant clusters are found in lexical and post-lexical phonologies. The data therefore support a weaker version of the lexical-phonology hypothesis than what is usually assumed for French. Lexical and post-lexical phonologies do not require different phonotactic constraints but only different weights for the same constraints.
4 nov
Noa Handelsman (Tel Aviv Universtiy)
Category-specific phonology in the acquisition of Hebrew
In Hebrew, noun-stems and verb-stems are prosodically restricted – they are usually disyllabic with final codas. These prosodic restrictions are identical for nouns and verbs such that they may be indistinguishable; for example, kaˈtav means both ‘a reporter’ and ‘to write 3.msc.sg.pst’. The contrast between nouns and verbs emerges with the morphological paradigm, as nouns and verbs employ different suffixes and different morpho-phonology (Bat-El 2008). However, these morpho-phonological means to distinguish between nouns and verbs are not available during early speech, when children produce stem-like forms without overt morphological structure (Levy 1980, Armon-Lotem & Berman 2003, Adam & Bat-El 2009).
The talk will address the contrast between nouns and verbs in children’s productions during this morphology-free period, when nouns and verbs are produced without the morphology that allows distinguishing between them. The question addressed is whether children make an overt distinction between nouns and verbs during this period, and if so, how.
To address this question, the spontaneous productions of 3 Hebrew-acquiring children were examined with reference to the development of the lexicon, the phonology (codas and number of syllables) and the morphology (suffixes). The findings suggest that during the period when the productions are morphology-free, children use their own phonological strategy to distinguish between nouns and verbs. This is a case of Category Specific Phonology, often found in adults’ systems, whereby nouns and verbs adhere to different phonological patterns and thus different phonological grammars (McCarthy & Prince 1995, Smith 1997, Antilla 2002, Bat-El 2008).
18 novembre
Mathilde Hutin (Université Paris-Saclay)
Lenition and fortition of stops at word-edges in Romance languages:
A study of voicing alternations in French, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian
[slides]
Mathilde Hutin1, Yaru Wu1,2, Adèle Jatteau3, Ioana Vasilescu1, Lori Lamel1, Martine Adda-Decker1,2
1 Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, LIMSI, Bât. 507, rue du Belvédère, 91405 Orsay, France
2 Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, CNRS, UMR 7018, LPP, 19 rue des Bernardins, 75005 Paris, France
3 Université de Lille, CNRS, UMR 8163, STL, Lille, France
{mathilde.hutin, yaru.wu, ioana.vasilescu, lori.lamel, martine.adda} [at] limsi.fr, adele.jatteau [at] univ-lille.fr
Lenition is a well-known phenomenon defined as a process whereby a consonant is “weakened”: “a segment X is said to be weaker than a segment Y if Y goes through an X stage on its way to zero” (Venneman in Hyman 2008). A refined definition (Szigetvári 2008) distinguishes between “consonantic” lenition, where consonants become more consonant-like when they lose place or laryngeal specifications (ex. s → h → 0), and “vocalic” lenition, where consonants become more vowel-like when they move up the sonority scale (ex. t → ɾ). On the other hand, fortition appears to be the reverse of vocalic lenition exclusively, i.e. a movement down the sonority scale (ex. j → dʒ) while an equivalent of “consonantic fortition” (at least regarding place) does not appear to be on record. The present study will thus focus on vocalic lenition and fortition. More precisely, studies on Romance languages (Carvalho 2008) show that changes concerning the laryngeal feature are instances of such phenomena (ex. Lat. vita → m. fr. vidə → Fr. vie). Following Ohala (1989), the present study is based on the idea that historical processes such as voicing and devoicing are pre-conditioned by synchronic variation. We will thus present an in-depth exploration of voicing alternations in word-initial and word-final position in 5 Romance languages (mostly French and Romanian but also Spanish, Portuguese and Italian) using large-scale corpora (ca. 1000 hours of speech) and automatic alignment. The aims are to investigate (i) whether the languages under survey here display voicing alternations that can be considered lenition and fortition, i.e. that are conditioned by positional factors instead of representative of adjacency effects (Ségéral & Scheer 2008), (ii) on a subsidiary note, whether in connected speech the consonants at word-edges follow the generalizations drawn from word-internal regularities (Ségéral & Scheer 2008), and finally (iii) whether these voicing alternations can be considered as ongoing changes in these languages, i.e. are starting a phonologization process (Hyman 2008).
2 décembre
Ollie Sayeed (University of Pennsylvanya)
f vs θ
The categories [f] and [θ] show an asymmetrical relationship both synchronically and diachronically: [θ] is rarer than [f] typologically (UPSID; Maddieson 1981), [θ] has more variable acoustic cues than [f] (McGuire and Babel 2012), [θ] is more confusable for [f] than [f] is for [θ] (Miller and Nicely 1955), [θ] > [f] is common diachronically while [f] > [θ] is rare or unattested (Honeybone 2016), and [θ] is synchronically more volatile across dialects than [f] (Kjellmer 1995). But why? In this talk, I give preliminary results from a series of studies on [f] and [θ] aimed at teasing apart two explanations: one based on phonological markedness, and one based on asymmetric acoustic distribution.
16 décembre
Noam Faust (Université Paris 8, CNRS SFL) and Nicola Lampitelli (Université de Tours, CNRS LLL) parler de
The transparent conspiracy of gutturals and low vowels
Graphic problems prevent the expoition of the abstract.
20 janvier
Françoise Rose (Dynamique Du Langage, CNRS/Université de Lyon)
A contribution to the typology of syncope: rhythmic and differential syncope in Mojeño Trinitario
[slides]
Rhythmic syncope, a process deleting the vowels in weak metrical positions is a perfect illustration of the role of the metrical parse in stress placement and phonology in general. Differential syncope, a process by which low-sonority vowels may be banned from syllable nuclei or strong foot branches, and high-sonority vowels banned from weak foot branches, illustrates the role of sonority in prosody. In Mojeño Trinitario, an Arawak language of Bolivia, a metrical analysis provides crucial insight into a rhythmic syncope process that is amenable to neither a strictly phonological, lexical or morphological analysis. However, rhythmic syncope underapplies with sonorous vowels, some of which are lexically-determined as transparent to syncope. Mojeño Trinitario therefore shows a rare case of a hybrid type of syncope, where the application of rhythmic syncope is constrained by the sonority scale.
10 février
Claudia Pons-Moll (Universitat de Barcelona)
Prosodically-driven morpheme non-realization in the Minorcan Catalan DP as evidence for left-edge Strong Start
[handout]
[abstract]
17 février
Daniel Asherov (MIT)
A problem for frequency-based approaches to segmenthood from Hebrew affricates
(joint work with Christopher Minwoo Yang, MIT)
[slides]
The ‘segment’ is typically taken to be a fundamental notion in linguistic analysis, yet there is often disagreement about the definition of a segment, and the correct analysis of individual sound sequences as segments or non-segments (Trubetzkoy 1939). For example, a sequence of sounds like [ts] may constitute a single affricate consonant [t͡s] or two adjacent consonants [t] and [s]. Similarly, a sequence of sounds like [mb] may be understood by speakers as a single prenasalized stop [mb] or as two adjacent consonants [m] and [b].
There have been recent attempts to predict which sound sequences would be mapped into a single segment in a given language based on their relative frequency in that language (Gouskova & Stanton 2020). This approach has been successful in predicting segment-like behavior in affricates and prenasalized stops in a variety of languages. For example, it predicts that speakers of Hebrew would learn [ts] as a segment-sized unit, but not speakers of English. This aligns with the traditional analyses of the segmental inventory of the two languages.
In this talk we offer an empirical test of the frequency-based approach based on the phonological patterning of Hebrew (potential) affricates. Hebrew has one very frequent potential affricate (ts), and two infrequent potential affricates which entered the language through loanwords (tʃ,dʒ). The frequency-based model, which is sensitive to this asymmetry, predicts that speakers of Hebrew would learn [ts] as a segment, but would perceive [tʃ] and [dʒ] as sequences of segments. We will assess this prediction using some diagnostics for segmenthood made available by independent Hebrew phenomena. We will find that all three potential affricates do behave as single segments in Hebrew, contra the expectations of a frequency-based approach to segmenthood.
03 mars
Category-specific phonology in Dutch: Evidence against optimal paradigms
Marijke De Belder (University Oldenburg)
[slides]
In this talk I discuss that Dutch nouns and Dutch verbs have different syllable structures. I present the results of an experiment that shows that this knowledge is part of the native speaker's phonology. I show that the overall pattern in the language could be understood as a side-effect of verbal inflectional requirements: syllables in a verbal syntactic context need to be able to accommodate an extra consonantal position that realises the inflection. Nouns do not have this need in Dutch, as nominal inflection can always be realised as a syllable on its own.
One can imagine several ways in which category-specific phonological rules may become part of the speaker’s phonology (and may subsequently be reflected in the lexicon over time). For example, the category-specific phonological rules may be acquired via analogy and statistics: speakers may avoid marked inflected forms, the child notices the gap and learns that polysyllabic morphologically simplex verbs are statistically rare and formulates a verb-specific markedness rule against them. Now, the Optimal Paradigms Approach (McCarthy 2001, 2005, Cable 2004) formulates a very specific strategy: the native speaker evaluates candidates for insertion not as single forms, but rather as entire paradigms. Given that the Dutch verbal paradigm has a higher potential of imposing markedness than the nominal one, verbal bases could end up being more restricted.
I provide experimental evidence against the Optimal Paradigms approach, with its claim that the phonology evaluates entire paradigms rather than single forms. I further discuss the theoretical consequences for our understanding of the PF-syntax interface and for morphosyntax.
17 mars
16th century French final schwa: from variation to diachrony, an OT account.
Timothée Premat (Université Paris 8 / SFL)
Final schwa in considered to be an epenthetic vowel in Standard Contemporary French. This was not always the case: in Old French (8th – 14th centuries), final schwa was a vowel present in both the underlying representation and the surface form. Manuals and grammars of French phonetic/phonological diachrony converge to say that final schwa in the UR begins to be deleted during the Middle French period (14th – 16th centuries), starting by hiatus contexts : ə → Ø / V__# (= contraction, like in amie /ami.ə/ realized [ãmi]) (GGHF, p. 477, §384). The 16th century turns out to be a period of great changes. It saw the trend that started with contraction spread to other contexts and develop into the general apocope of final schwa. Accordingly, the distribution of final schwas in surface representations became independent of its possible existence underlyingly.
This talk begins with data from the testimony of numerous 16th century grammarians and from metrical habits (versification). Generalizations are then provided about final schwa contraction/apocope and elision. Finally, an Optimality Theoretic analysis is put forth that covers both synchronic variation (diastratic/stylistic and diatopic) and diachronic evolution.
We model final schwa behavior in the 16th century using only three constraints (Max, *Hiatus and *Schwa) and three grammatical mechanisms. These are: i. Local Constraints Conjunction (LCC, Green 1993 ; Smolensky 1993); ii. Locus Specification (applied to LCC: Łubowicz 2005); and iii. Partial Ranking (Antilla 1997). We also show that partial ranking accounts not only for synchronic variation, but also for how diachronic evolution can emerge from synchronic variation. The account therefore sheds light on how final schwa in French became an epenthetic vowel. We close with an extrapolation regarding the emergence of the fully epenthetic final schwa of contemporary French.
31 mars
L’apophonie et les dynamiques de changement dans le système verbal de l’arabe égyptien (le parler du Caire)
Radwa Fathi (LLING/ Université de Nantes) parler de
Dans cette présentation, je vais faire une proposition concernant la vocalisation des verbes à la Forme I de l’arabe du Caire. Je vais soutenir que le système est le même que celui de l’arabe classique : les alternances perfectif/imperfectif sont gérées par un système apophonique. Le développement de mon argumentation est présenté comme si les corpus des deux langues étaient d’une stabilité comparable. Mais, ma proposition doit confronter une réalité. Cette réalité est liée à une différence fondamentale : pour des raisons évidentes le corpus de l’arabe classique ne « bouge » plus ; le corpus de l’arabe du Caire, par contre, met en évidence des dynamiques de changement continu. La question que je poserai donc est la suivante : est-ce que ces changements expriment un éloignement ou même une décadence du système apophonique ? Ou au contraire ‘est-ce que ces changements sont pilotés par l’apophonie ?’
L’une des manifestations de l’évolution constante de l’arabe du Caire est la présence de formes alternatives pour la vocalisation des verbes : dans un nombre important de cas, un même verbe peut être réalisé avec différentes vocalisations, FaʕaL ou FuʕuL, FiʕiL ou FaʕaL, FiʕiL ou FaʕaL ou FuʕuL. La même chose est vraie des imperfectifs : yi-FʕaL ou yu-FʕuL, yi-FʕiL ou yi-FʕaL, etc. Il est vrai qu’on trouve le même phénomène en arabe classique mais dans une beaucoup moins grande mesure. Dans le cas de l’arabe du Caire, on peut parler de prolifération.
Dans cette présentation, je vais développer trois idées : 1) Que les doublets (ou triplets) en question ne sont pas distribués de façon anarchique. 2) Que les membres des doublets (ou triplets) ne sont pas sur un pieds d’égalité. Par exemple, lorsqu’un verbe d’une même racine peut être réalisé comme FiʕiL ou comme FaʕaL, l’une des deux formes est sur le point de l’emporter sur l’autre. Autrement dit, l’existence de tels doublets ne représente qu’un stade transitoire dans une évolution dont la direction peut être détectée. En particulier, je mettrai en lumière les raisons pour lesquelles FiʕiL est le grand gagnant là où il est en compétition avec d’autres formes. 3) Que le système apophonique est précisément le moteur de cette évolution.
14 avril
Focus marking by Spanish monolingual and heritage speakers
Maria del Mar Vanrell Bosch (Universitat de les Illes Balears)
(joint work with Ingo Feldhausen, Université de Lorraine & ATILF-CNRS)
In this paper, we shed new light on the question of how narrow information and contrastive focus is prosodically and syntactically realized by monolingual (MS) and heritage (HS) speakers of Castilian Spanish (CS). Research on the syntax-prosody interface in the expression of focus by HS is relatively new (see van Rijswijk et al. 2017ab, Kim 2018, Leal et al. 2018). We, thus, add to this body of research by presenting the insights of a production test conducted with 12 Spanish MS and HS (with German as their dominant language). The theoretically oriented literature suggests that information focus must be realized rightmost, whereas stress shift (and other strategies such as clefting or fronting) are possible only for contrastive focus (Zubizarreta 1998). By contrast, experimentally oriented studies suggest that stress shift can be used for both focus types (Muntendam 2009, Gabriel 2010, Leal et al. 2018, among others). However, this apparent discrepancy can often be reduced to diatopic differences (as proposed in Feldhausen & Vanrell 2015). German-Spanish bilinguals are an interesting test case since whereas stress shift is an undisputed strategy to mark focus in German (Uhmann 1991, Féry 1993), it has often been described as dispreferred by Castilian Spanish speakers (Zubizarreta 1998, Vanrell & Fernández-Soriano 2018). Based on data from a production test designed to elicit different focus readings (narrow informational and contrastive focus on the subject and (in)direct objects), the study reveals that whereas HS realize both types of focus almost always by stress shift (L+H*), MS, in turn, distinguish information from contrastive focus through different strategies (e.g., clefting, p-movement, fronting). In the talk we will discuss whether this and other differences between MS and HS can be attributed to the influence of German or whether they rather correspond to default strategies of HS.
6 mai
The phonological status of French schwa (again)
Marie-Hélène Côté (Université de Lausanne)
The phonological status of the French schwa has been a matter of debate for decades. In this talk I take up this issue again, considering its definition, its surface realization, its representation, and its relationship to /œ/ and /ø/. I adopt a comparative perspective between different varieties of French, combining experimental and corpus data. I argue in particular that schwa is absent from the phonemic vowel inventory of northern varieties of French. While the epenthetic status of morpheme-final schwa is now largely accepted in these varieties, I also argue that morpheme-internal schwa should not be treated as distinct from /œ/ and/or /ø/ (depending on the variety), the phonetic differences observed between ‘schwa’ and [œ] and/or [ø] being predictable from the prosodic context, morphology and analogy. In addition, I consider the specific behavior of final schwa in Quebec French, which is largely restricted to a small class of words, unlike in other northern varieties of French.
