5. Vowel epenthesis and creole syllable structure

2008 ◽  
pp. 123-152
Author(s):  
Christian Uffmann
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis

scholarly journals Sonority Sequencing Principle in Sabzevari Persian: A Constraint-Based Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 434-465
Author(s):  
Mufleh Salem M. Alqahtani
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Consonant Clusters ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Repair Strategy ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Northeast Iran

AbstractThis study sheds light on the relationship between the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) and syllable structure in Sabzevari, a Persian vernacular spoken in the Sabzevar area of Northeast Iran. Optimality Theory (OT), as a constraint-based approach, is utilized to scrutinize sonority violation and its repair strategies. The results suggest that obedience to the SSP is mandatory in Sabzevari, as shown through the treatment of word-final clusters in Standard Persian words which violate the SSP. These consonant clusters are avoided in Sabzevari by two phonological processes: vowel epenthesis and metathesis. Vowel epenthesis is motivated by final consonant clusters of the forms /fricative+coronal nasal/, /plosive+bilabial nasal/, /fricative+bilabial nasal/, /plosive+rhotic/, /fricative+rhotic/, and /plosive+lateral/. Metathesis, as another repair strategy for sonority sequencing violations, occurs when dealing with final consonant clusters of the forms /plosive+fricative/and / fricative+lateral/.

scholarly journals Medial Tri-Consonantal Clusters in UrbanJordanian Arabic

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-56
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis

This study investigates syllable structure andsyllabification patterns in Urban JordanianArabic. The focus falls on the case ofmorphologically derived medial tri-consonantalclusters. Such constructions involve theconcatenation of a CVCC syllable with a -CVsuffix. We argue that morphologically-derivedmedial tri-consonantal clusters in UJA areresolved when two consonants share a single morathrough the process of adjunction-to-mora (Broselow,1992; Broselowet al. 1995, 1997). Thisargument challenges Kiparsky’s (2003) typologywhich maintains that VC-dialects, towhich the dialect of UJA belongs, deal with suchclusters by means of syllable-unaffiliated morascalled semisyllables lexically and bymeans of vowel epenthesis post-lexically.Contrary to this, we argue that CVCC syllablesare bimoraic under a mora-sharing analysis whichthen allows -CCC- clusters to surface withinCVCC.CV syllables without the need to resort tosemisyllables. Keywords: syllable structure, tri-consonantal clusters,mora-sharing, semisyllable, Urban JordanianArabic.

scholarly journals Vowel-consonant metathesis in Nivaĉle

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-307
Author(s):  
Analía Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Theoretical Interpretation ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Empirical Coverage

AbstractVowel-consonant metathesis is observed in a variety of contexts throughout the Nivaĉle (Mataguayan) grammar. It occurs in both verbal and nominal domains, characteristically resulting from the affixation of a consonant-initial suffix to a consonant-final stem. This paper provides an optimality theoretic account for vowel-consonant metathesis and vowel epenthesis in Nivaĉle. It is demonstrated that metathesis responds to phonological requirements; specifically, it serves to avoid marked structures in the language: complex codas, derived complex onsets, and bad syllable contacts. The prosodic analysis of syllable structure constraints aims to provide broad empirical coverage, as well as a coherent and integrated theoretical interpretation.

Unexpected obstruent loss in initial obstruent–sonorant clusters: an apparent example from Basque

Phonology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-522
Author(s):  
Juliette Blevins ◽  
Ander Egurtzegi
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Apparent Loss ◽  
Show Evidence

The apparent loss of initial obstruents in Basque borrowings from Romance (e.g.laru≪ Lat.claru) is striking. While Proto-Basque is generally reconstructed as lacking initial clusters, the expected repair in loans, based on typology, phonology and phonetics, is copy-vowel epenthesis, not obstruent loss. Indeed, there is evidence for a vowel-copy process in Basque in other loans with obstruent–sonorant clusters (e.g.gurutze≪ Lat.cruce). We suggest that initial obstruent loss before /l/ but not /r/ is related to Romance developments. In the Romance varieties in contact with Basque, /fl pl bl kl gl/ all show evidence of neutralisation to /ʎ/ word-initially. We hypothesise that obstruent loss in words like Basquelarureflects influence from local Romance languages at a time when Basque lacked /ʎ/. In contrast, vowel copy conforming to Basque syllable structure was the norm in Romance loanwords with clusters not affected by this process.

Hittite vowel epenthesis and the sonority hierarchy

Diachronica ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-299
Author(s):  
Darya Kavitskaya
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis

Summary This study examines the distribution of non-etymological vowels in Hittite and shows that non-etymological a is used in contexts where syllabification problems are not expected, suggesting that a is purely orthographic and brought on only by the practices of the cuneiform writing system. Non-etymological i is used in clusters which cannot be syllabified to obey the sonority hierarchy. Therefore, i is linguistically real and epenthetic. The paper argues that the distribution of these vowels is thus predictable and depends solely on the constraints on syllable structure and the sonority hierarchy. Résumé Cette étude examine la distribution des voyelles non étymologiques en Hittite et montre que le /a/ non étymologique est utilisé dans les contextes où aucun problème de syllabation n’est attendu. Ceci suggère que ce /a/ est purement orthographique et qu’il résulte du système d’écriture cunéiforme. La voyelle non étymologique /i/ est utilisée dans les groupes consonantiques qui ne peuvent pas être syllabés à cause de la hiérarchie de sonorité. Ce /i/ est donc réellement phonologique et épenthétique. Cet article supporte l’idée que la distribution de ces deux voyelles est prévisible et dépend seulement des contraintes de structure syllabique et de la hiérarchie de sonorité. Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Distribution nicht-etymologischer Vokale im Hethitischen und zeigt, daß nicht-etymologisches a in Kontexten vorgefunden wird, in denen keine Silbifizierungsprobleme zu erwarten wären. Dies deutet auf einen rein orthographischen Charakter des a hin, dessen Ursprung in der Keilschrift liegt. Nicht-etymologisches i hingegen wird in Konsonantenfolgen verwendet, die nicht im Einklang mit der Sonoritätshierarchie silbifiziert werden können. i muß daher als linguistisch real sowie als epenthetisch im eigentlichen Sinne eingestuft werden. Es wird gezeigt, daß die Erscheinung dieser Vokale systematisch ist und allein auf der Basis von Silbenregeln und der Sonoritätshierarchie ermittelt werden kann.

scholarly journals Excrescent vowels in Lamkang prefix sequences

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-213
Author(s):  
Mary Burke ◽  
Shobhana Chelliah ◽  
Melissa Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Short Duration ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Short Vowel ◽  
Vowel Epenthesis ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Epenthetic Vowel

AbstractLamkang is a Trans-Himalayan language spoken in the Chandel District of Manipur, India by under 10,000 ethnically Naga people. Due to a complex person indexation system in Lamkang clauses, multiple prefixes with the shape C- are attached to a verb stem creating lexemes with the shape CCCCVC. To make such forms pronounceable, speakers insert super-short vowel-like segments between the C- prefixes. Combining acoustic analysis with speakers’ intuitions about syllable structure, we examine the nature of these segments, arguing that an accurate phonetic description of Lamkang vowels must include these super-short vowels, as well as long and short vowels, which are phonemically distinct. We call these super-short vowels excrescent, following the terminology discussed in Hall (2011. Vowel epenthesis. In Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth V. Hume & Keren Rice (eds.), The blackwell companion to phonology, 1576–1596. Oxford: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0067: 1584). The excrescent vowel is a type of epenthetic vowel, sometimes also called “intrusive”, and is typified by its short duration and centralized quality distinct from lexical vowels. It is unstressed and has the phonetic effect of helping to transition between consonants. We show that the excrescent vowels in Lamkang have formant structures that barely resemble the characteristic formant profiles of the short and long vowels. While excrescent vowels are not contrastive, they are phonologically relevant because they have just enough sonority to form nuclei of CiVCii syllables where Cii is often ambisyllabic with the following syllable. The Lamkang data show that while any language-specific phonotactic constraints must reference the syllable, what constitutes a syllable must include the possibility of excrescent vowels as nuclei.

Simple metathesis in loanword phonology: the Arabic-Romance language contact

2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
pp. 1049-1084
Author(s):  
Yvonne Kiegel-Keicher
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Romance Language ◽  
Syllable Weight ◽  
Systematic Process ◽  
Loanword Phonology

AbstractSimple metathesis can be found in numerous Ibero-Romance arabisms compared with their Andalusi Arabic etyma. The analysis of a corpus of Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan arabisms illustrates its effects on syllable structure and syllable weight. It can be shown that Arabic-Romance simple metathesis constitutes a motivated structural change that provides for typologically unmarked syllable weight relations within the word. After the resyllabification it entails the involved unstressed syllables no longer excede the stressed syllable in weight. However, it is not an obligatory, systematic process, but merely an optional tendency, which corresponds to the universal tendency expressed by the Weight Law.

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