Mohamed Lahrouchi | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research (original) (raw)

Articles by Mohamed Lahrouchi

Cognition, 2024

Vowelless words are exceptionally typologically rare, though they are found in some languages, su... more Vowelless words are exceptionally typologically rare, though they are found in some languages, such as Tashlhiyt (e.g., fkt ‘give it’). The current study tests whether lexicons containing tri-segmental (CCC) vowelless words are more difficult to acquire than lexicons not containing vowelless words by adult English speakers from brief auditory exposure. The role of acoustic-phonetic form on learning these typologically rare word forms is also explored: In Experiment 1, participants were trained on words produced in either only Clear speech or Casual speech productions of words; Experiment 2 trained participants on lexical items produced in both speech styles. Listeners were able to learn both vowelless and voweled lexicons equally well when speaking style was consistent for participants, but learning was lower for vowelless lexicons when training consisted of variable acoustic-phonetic forms. In both experiments, responses to a post-training wordlikeness ratings task containing novel items revealed that exposure to a vowelless lexicon leads participants to accept new vowelless words as acceptable lexical forms. These results demonstrate that one of the typologically rarest types of lexical forms - words without vowels - can be rapidly acquired by naive adult listeners. Yet, acoustic-phonetic variation modulates learning.

Nature - Scientific Reports, 2024

Tashlhiyt is a low-resource language with respect to acoustic databases, language corpora, and sp... more Tashlhiyt is a low-resource language with respect to acoustic databases, language corpora, and speech technology tools, such as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems. This study investigates whether a method of cross-language re-use of ASR is viable for Tashlhiyt from an existing commercially-available system built for Arabic. The source and target language in this case have similar phonological inventories, but Tashlhiyt permits typologically rare phonological patterns, including vowelless words, while Arabic does not. We find systematic disparities in ASR transfer performance (measuring as word error rate (WER) and Levenshtein distance) for Tashlhiyt across word forms and speaking style variation. Overall, performance was worse for casual speaking modes across the board. In clear speech, performance was lower for vowelless than for voweled words. These results highlight systematic speaking mode and phonotactic disparities in cross-language ASR transfer. They also indicate that linguistically-informed approaches to ASR re-use can provide more effective ways to adapt existing speech technology tools for low resource languages, especially when they contain typologically rare structures. The study can also speak to issues of linguistic disparities in ASR and speech technology more broadly. It can also contribute to understanding the extent to which machines are similar or, different from, humans in mapping the acoustic signal to discrete linguistic representations.

Glossa : a journal of general linguistics, 2024

Clear speech is a type of listener-oriented, intelligibility-enhancing mode of speaking. It has b... more Clear speech is a type of listener-oriented, intelligibility-enhancing mode of speaking. It has been shown to enhance the perceptibility of many different types of phonological contrasts, cross-linguistically. An open question is whether all phonological contrasts are enhanced to an equivalent extent in clear speech. In the current study, we ask whether rarer phonological patterns receive less of a clear speech intelligibility boost, relative to more common phoneme contrasts. Tashlhiyt Berber is an Afroasiatic language spoken in Morocco. Tashlhiyt has been well studied for having typologically uncommon phonotactic properties. This study examines the effect of clear speech on the discrimination of rarer lexical contrasts in Tashlhiyt Berber. We predict that the more typologically uncommon contrasts (e.g., word pairs containing complex and geminate initial onsets) will have a smaller increase in perceptibility from casual to clear speech than more common contrasts (e.g., singleton contrasts). Furthermore, native and naive listeners’ (here, American English speakers) discrimination of these contrasts across speech styles is also compared. Cross-language perception of clear speech provides a window to understanding the phonetic bases for cross-linguistic typological patterns.

Brill's Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics, 2022

In Tashlhiyt Berber nouns, grammatical gender is usually expressed on both edges of the noun by t... more In Tashlhiyt Berber nouns, grammatical gender is usually expressed on both edges of the noun by the segment /t/. However, at the right edge, there is another, more minor pattern: many grammatically feminine nouns end in a vowel. The regular realization involves a final /t/ associated to a suffixal CV unit. Vowel-final feminine nouns are derived when a final stem vowel is associated to the V position of the suffix, blocking the association of the /t/. This right-edge effect is a mirror-image of Bendjaballah’s (2011) analysis of the left-edge inflection of vowel-initial stems. The distribution of gender marking in loans provides further supports to our analysis.

The Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 2022

Tashlhiyt Berber is known for having typologically unusual word-initial phonological contrasts, s... more Tashlhiyt Berber is known for having typologically unusual word-initial phonological contrasts, specifically word-initial singleton-geminate minimal pairs (e.g., sin vs. ssin) and sequences of consonants that violate the sonority sequencing principle (e.g., non-rising sonority sequences: fsin). The current study investigates the role of a listener-oriented speaking style on the perceptual enhancement of these rarer phonological contrasts. It examines the perception of word-initial singleton, geminate, and complex onsets in Tashlhiyt Berber across clear and fast speaking styles by native and naive listeners. While clear speech boosts the discriminability of pairs containing singleton-initial words for both listener groups, only native listeners performed better in discriminating between initial singleton-geminate contrasts in clear speech. Clear speech did not improve perception for lexical contrasts containing a non-rising-sonority consonant cluster for either listener group. These results are discussed in terms of how clear speech can inform phonological typology and the role of phonetic enhancement in language-universal vs. language-specific speech perception.

Radical: a Journal of Phonology , 2022

This paper, mainly devoted to the French hypocoristic formations, offers a Strict CV account for ... more This paper, mainly devoted to the French hypocoristic formations, offers a Strict CV account for word minimality. It argues that the shape of the truncated forms can be analyzed without appeal to any prosodic hierarchy. The template that the truncated forms use minimally consists of two CV units, which correspond to the minimal domain where Proper Government applies, hence the Minimal Word. In line with previous studies, prosodic weight is viewed as function of the number of vocalic positions each form contains. Moreover, it is claimed that complex onsets may contribute to weight, provided that their second consonant contains a closure element: obstruent+lateral behaves as a genuine cluster which enclose a metrically-active V position, while obstruent+rhotic forms one single segment. In support of the proposed analysis, a brief account for the structure of Tashlhiyt Berber hypocoristics is provided.

Linguistic Inquiry, 2024

Haitian presents a case of optional regressive nasal assimilation: /fami/ [fãmi] ‘family’. Vowels... more Haitian presents a case of optional regressive nasal assimilation: /fami/ [fãmi] ‘family’. Vowels may optionally become nasal preceding a nasal consonant (VN). Curiously, this process systematically underapplies in the VN sequences corresponding to Vowel-Rhotic-Nasal sequences in French (VRN): [ʃãm] chambre ‘room’ vs. [ʃam] charme ‘charm’. Haitian is also famous for its non-optimizing phonologically conditioned allomorph selection, handled in previous analyses as an anti-markedness effect (Klein 2003) or as a morphologically specified vocabulary insertion (Bonet, Lloret, and Mascaró 2007): [tɛ-a] ‘the land’ vs. [ʃat-la] ‘the cat’. The Strict CV reanalysis of Haitian proposed here simplifies the phonological analysis of the language by eliminating both the counterfeeding and the allomorphy. In our analysis, etymological VRN and VR# have a different synchronic description; VRNs contain no underlying R, though VR#s do. Although VRNs have no underlying rhotic, they crucially do contain an empty CV. This empty syllable structure disrupts the locality between the nasal assimilation’s trigger and its target, generating the counterfeeding: /ʃam/ = [ʃãm] ‘room’ vs. /ʃaCVm/ = [ʃam] *[ʃãm] ‘charm’. On this view, the counterfeeding receives exactly the same explanation as the blocking in words like /palVmis/ [palmis] *[pãlmis] ‘palm tree’. This accounts for the counterfeeding. Turning to the allomorphy, only VR#s present synchronic R-zero alternations: [tɛ] ‘land’ vs. [ãteʀe] ‘to bury’. This synchronic alternation is explained as a contextual phonological condition on R (it must be prevocalic) and the underlying shape of the definite article (it begins with a floating consonant). The interplay between these factors generates the surface phenomenon without any allomorphy at all. Instead, it proposes a phonological solution for the surface variation in articles based on a single underlying form (see Nikiema 1999).

Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 2020

This article examines the adaptation of the French rhotic in Berber. In loanwords borrowed from F... more This article examines the adaptation of the French rhotic in Berber. In loanwords borrowed from French, the uvular fricative is systematically interpreted as a coronal tap, despite the fact that Berber has phonemic /ʁ/ and /χ/. It is argued that this phenomenon is determined by phonological rather than phonetic factors. It is shown that Tashlhiyt Berber speakers, including monolinguals, are able to identify the French r as a sonorant, based on their native phonology, where many co-occurrence restrictions are analyzed in terms of sonority-sensitive dependency relations between the most sonorous segment and its neighboring segments.

Cognition, Représentation, Langage, 2018

This article provides new evidence for the head-complement hypothesis in Tashlhiyt verbal roots. ... more This article provides new evidence for the head-complement hypothesis in Tashlhiyt verbal roots. Originally proposed to account for the distribution of consonants in triliteral roots and their behaviour towards gemination in the imperfective stem (Lahrouchi 2009, 2010), the head-complement hypothesis holds that roots containing an obstruant-sonorant sequence display a binary branching structure, where the obstruant is the head and the sonorant its complement. The complexity condition, which refers to the number of elements each segment contains, is used here to explain why the obstruents qualify for the head position in the root. In cases where complexity does not work, element geometry is mobilized to show that consonants headed by |ʔ| or |h| are stronger than other consonants.

International Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 2018

This paper outlines some of the main phonological and morphological features that Moroccan Arabic... more This paper outlines some of the main phonological and morphological features that Moroccan Arabic has developed in contact with Amazigh. Based on previous work, it is argued that Moroccan Arabic has lost the Classical Arabic short vowels and has developed a short central vowel, used break up illicit consonant clusters. It is shown that the distribution of this schwa-like vowel is better analysed within a strict CV model where ungoverned empty vocalic positions surface at the phonetic level. In the same vein, it is proposed that the Classical Arabic short [u] is kept in Moroccan Arabic as a labial feature when it occurs in the vicinity of a labial, velar or uvular consonant. Sibilant harmony is another feature that Moroccan Arabic shares with Amazigh. It is analysed as a long distance process which occurs within a specific domain, consisting of the stem template, plus an empty initial CV. This empty site allows for the Moroccan Arabic definite article and the Amazigh causative prefix to harmonize with the stem sibilant. The influence of Amazigh on Moroccan Arabic is also visible at the morphological level. We discuss the behaviour of the circumfix /ta…-t/, which Moroccan Arabic borrowed as an unanalysed complex, used to form abstract and profession nouns.

Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 2018

The goal of this study is to provide cross-linguistic data on the acquisition of phonetic complex... more The goal of this study is to provide cross-linguistic data on the acquisition of phonetic complexity among children acquiring four different languages: Tunisian Arabic, Tashlhiyt Berber, English, and French. Using an adaptation of Jakielski’s (2000) Index of Phonetic Complexity (IPC), we carried out an analysis to assess phonetic complexity of children’s early vocabulary in the four languages. Four different samples from each language were analyzed: 50 words selected from an adult dictionary of each language, 50 words from child-directed speech, 50 words targeted by the child, and the child’s actual pronunciations of those 50 words. Globally, we hypothesized that children’s early productions would be shaped by universal articulatory constraints, but also by the language they are exposed to, depending on its phonological complexity. Our findings show that Arabic displays higher degrees of complexity compared to Berber, English and French, and that children acquiring Arabic target and produce more complex words than children learning Berber, English and French.

Canadian Journal of linguistics, 2018

Strong similarities observed between babbling and first words suggest a universal foundation of w... more Strong similarities observed between babbling and first words suggest a universal foundation of word production in children. The aim of this work was to evaluate the role of biomechanical constraints on babbling and first words production in two children acquiring Tashlhiyt, a Berber language spoken in Morocco. When considering isolated sounds and syllable types, our data provided evidence for a universal basis for early vocal patterns. The subjects produced more stops, more coronals and labials, vowels preferentially belonging to the lower left part of the vowel space, and open syllables. However, they only partially confirmed the existence of the preferred CV combinations generally observed in the early production of children learning various languages. The comparison between babbling and first words revealed a linguistic con- tinuity between the two periods but also some increasing complexity and diversification in the words, which can be explained by an increase of articulatory capacities.

Asinag, 2018

Cet article présente des arguments empiriques et théoriques en faveur de la racine consonantique ... more Cet article présente des arguments empiriques et théoriques en faveur de la racine consonantique en amazighe. D'abord, nous montrons dans deux variétés de langages secrets que les locuteurs sont capables d'isoler dans les mots-source tachelhit des consonnes exclusivement radicales et les transforment ensuite par diverses opérations morphologiques incluant l'affixation, la gémination et la réduplication. Ensuite, nous examinons deux processus phonologiques productifs, à savoir la dissimilation de labialité des préfixes du réciproque et du nom d'agent et l'harmonie d'antériorité du préfixe causatif. Ces processus sont conditionnés par la nature des consonnes de la racine, à l'exclusion de tout autre matériel vocalique ou affixal. Abstract This article offers supporting evidence for the central role of the consonantal root in the Amazigh (Berber) morphophonology. The first piece of evidence is provided with two varieties of secret languages in Tashlhiyt, namely Taqjmit and Tagnawt. It is argued that the consonantal root along with the template are the basic units underlying morphological operations in these languages. Speakers are able to extract from the input forms only root consonants, and then disguise them by means of various operations, including affixation, gemination and reduplication. Further evidence in favour of the consonantal root is provided with labial dissilation and sibilant harmony. It is shown that the reciprocal and the agentive prefixes undergo labial dissimilation only when the root contains a labial consonant. No other labial segment, be it vocalic or affixal, triggers this process. Likewise, the causative prefix matches anteriority specifications of the sibilants contained within the root.

Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, Mar 5, 2018

In many Berber varieties, causative and reciprocal verbs are built by means of monoconsonantal pr... more In many Berber varieties, causative and reciprocal verbs are built by means of monoconsonantal prefixes attached to a stem. These prefixes are realized as single or geminated depending on the properties of the stem. In this paper, it is argued that an initial templatic site is responsible for the length variation of the prefixes. Under specific licensing conditions, the initial site hosts the causative and the reciprocal prefixes by means of two distinct operations, namely movement and spreading. Moreover, complex combinations of those prefixes (causative + reciprocal, reciprocal + causative) feed apparently unrelated phenomena of selective harmony and dissimilation. They are argued to follow directly from the use of the initial site as part of the verb domain. Handled in syntactic structure, the initial site further allows accounting for the cooccurrence restrictions that the causative and the imperfective markers undergo: it is proposed that the causative takes precedence over the imperfective because it is generated lower in the structure under the vP. The same reasoning holds for the incompatibility of imperfective gemination with the reciprocal marker. It is precisely this type of restrictions that strictly phonological analyses fail to address.

Papers in Historical Phonology, Nov 30, 2016

We discuss the grammatical conditions that can be imposed between segmental content (features) an... more We discuss the grammatical conditions that can be imposed between segmental content (features) and syllable structure (positions) and how a representational preference can influence diachronic development. The discussion centers on the co-distribution of two properties: occlusivity and bipositionality. The first is the phonological feature that induces occlusivity and reduces amplitude (|ʔ| that we will refer to as Edge(*)), the second is the autosegmental structural property of belonging to multiple positions (C.C). Edge(*) and bipositionality have a universal affinity but they are not reducible to each other. Instead, the inherent diachronic tendency to preserve Edge(*) in bipositional structures becomes grammaticalised through licensing conditions that dictate the alignment of the two properties. This can be expressed bidirectionally forming two major language types. Type A has the condition stated from the featural perspective (Edge(*) must be found in C.C). While, Type B comes from the other direction (C.C must contain Edge(*)). Crucially, the same structure is diachronically stable: (Edge(*)-C.C). What varies is the distribution of those properties elsewhere (given the direction of licensing condition). Type A excludes Edge(*) from {#__,V_V}, while Type B excludes C.Cs without Edge(*). Although there is variation on this point, there is a UG component, because there are no anti-Type A/B languages where Edge(*) repels bipositionality.

Morphology, Aug 3, 2016

In Moroccan Arabic, like in many other Afroasiatic languages, certain nouns may have more than on... more In Moroccan Arabic, like in many other Afroasiatic languages, certain nouns may have more than one plural form. For instance, tʕəsʕwera ‘photo’ has plurals tʕsʕawər and tʕəsʕwerat. However, their diminutive systematically resorts to –at suffixation in the plural. The aim of this study is twofold. First, it presents an interface approach which aims to determine the structural location of number and capture the empirical contrast between broken and sound plurals. It is argued that the sound plurals are associated with the standard Num projection, whereas the broken plurals are associated lower in the structure with the n projection. Second, it provides a templatic analysis of the diminutive formation, showing that the diminutive and the internal plural markers compete for the same templatic position. External evidence for the analysis is drawn from the phenomenon of emphasis spread. The nP is presented as the maximal domain of emphasis spread in nouns.

Lingua, 2013

One of the puzzling aspects of the Berber languages is the nature of the construct state and the ... more One of the puzzling aspects of the Berber languages is the nature of the construct state and the cooccurrence restrictions it undergoes with certain grammatical morphemes. In particular, the reason why the construct state marker w- never occurs with the gender marker t- remains unclear, despite of several studies mostly syntactic. This paper argues that the construct state marker w- and the feminine marker t- compete for the same templatic position. Within the standard DP projection, it is proposed that a templatic CV site hosts gender t- under the nP. When raised to D, this site has no C position available for the construct state w-, yielding forms where only the feminine marker is realized. The same reasoning holds in the causative imperfective formations. The association of the causative prefix with the templatic site under the vP explains the absence of aspect markers in the verb. Extended to the case of Classical Arabic verb conjugation, the competition hypothesis allows us to explain why reflexive n- never cooccurs with medial consonant gemination; though semantically viable, nkassara ‘it shuttered’ is ruled out because reflexive n-, generated lower in the structure than intensive gemination, fills the only C position provided by the derivational CV. The advocated analysis has implications for the way syntax, morphology and phonology interact: templates are indeed argued to mediate the interaction between components of Grammar. Handled in syntactic structure, templates allow unifying standard phonological, morphological and syntactic accounts of the cooccurrence restrictions examined in this paper.

Linguistic Inquiry, 2010

This paper examines the internal structure of triconsonantal roots in Tashlhiyt Berber. It is pr... more This paper examines the internal structure of triconsonantal roots in
Tashlhiyt Berber. It is proposed that these roots have a binary-branching head complement structure, built upon the sonorant and the segment immediately to its left. Evidence for this structure is provided by the imperfective formation. It is argued that only roots that display such a structure undergo gemination in the imperfective. This allows us to account for a number of forms that are traditionally ascribed to lexical idiosyncrasy, including verbs that are made entirely of obstruents and those where the only sonorant is in the initial position.

Studies in African Linguistics , 2008

Tashlhiyt Berber uses, among other processes, gemination to form the imperfective. Most accounts ... more Tashlhiyt Berber uses, among other processes, gemination to form the imperfective. Most accounts of this phenomenon make reference to syllabic or prosodic structure. In this paper, I diverge from this trend, claiming that imperfective gemination is better analyzed as a templatic- based phenomenon resulting from morphological activity at the skeletal tier. I will argue for the use in the imperfective of a fixed-shape template over which consonant gemination is realized. Moreover, I will show that tri-, bi- and monoconsonantal verbs share the same template. The sur- face irregularity that bi- and monoconsonantal verbs display is viewed as the consequence of the identification of templatic positions.

Cognition, 2024

Nature - Scientific Reports, 2024

Glossa : a journal of general linguistics, 2024

Brill's Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics, 2022

The Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 2022

Radical: a Journal of Phonology , 2022

Linguistic Inquiry, 2024

Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 2020

Cognition, Représentation, Langage, 2018

International Journal of Arabic Linguistics, 2018

Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 2018

Canadian Journal of linguistics, 2018

Asinag, 2018

Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, Mar 5, 2018

Papers in Historical Phonology, Nov 30, 2016

Morphology, Aug 3, 2016

Lingua, 2013

Linguistic Inquiry, 2010

Studies in African Linguistics , 2008

The Handbook of Berber Linguistics, 2024

Berber languages present a wealth of intricate phonological alternations involving glides and hig... more Berber languages present a wealth of intricate phonological alternations involving glides and high vowels, some of which still resist standard phonological analyses. Glides typically appear in the immediate vicinity of a vowel, in complementary distribution with the corresponding high vowels: e.g. Tashlhiyt Berber gru ‘pick up’ vs agraw ‘assembly’, bri ‘crush’ vs abraj ‘crushed seeds’. Based on this kind of observations, standard theories analyse glides and high vowels as phonetic reflexes of the same underlying segments. The problem arises with the corresponding dative forms grujas ‘pick to him’ and brijas ‘crush seeds to him’. Followed by a vowel-initial morpheme –as, U and I should normally surface as glides, leading to *grwas and *brjas. The key to understanding this paradox lies, we argue, in the morpho-syntactic structure of dative formations. We show that vP corresponds to a phase where U and I are spelled-out as high vowels before the enclitic –as is added. The resulting hiatus is then resolved by means of j-epenthesis, leading to grujas and brijas. External evidence for the hypothesis that non-alternating high vowels and the dative enclitic reside in distinct syntactic domains is drawn from emphasis spread. We show that the projections of category-forming heads, including vP and nP, are the maximal domain of emphasis spread in Tashlhiyt Berber.

Language Acquisition at the Interfaces: Proceedings of GALA 2015, 2017

This paper presents preliminary results of a longitudinal study that focuses on the developmental... more This paper presents preliminary results of a longitudinal study that focuses on the developmental trajectory of speech production capacities in two Berber children acquiring Tashlhiyt from the babbling period to the emergence of early grammar. Very few studies, if any, are devoted to the Berber language acquisition, and Tashlhiyt, the variety spoken in South-west Morocco, presents very interesting phonetic and phonological characteristics to study in a developmental perspective. Probably the most salient characteristic is the use of complex consonants clusters, resulting in a highly marked syllable structure where any segment, even a voiceless obstruent, may occur in the nucleus position. Another feature, which deserves to be studied relates to consonant length. Tashlhiyt Berber contrasts singleton and geminated consonants in various contexts, including word-initial, medial and final positions.

The Routledge Handbook of African Linguistics, 2018

The vowel system of the Maghrebi Arabic dialects (MA) contains three peripheral vowels /i, a, u/ ... more The vowel system of the Maghrebi Arabic dialects (MA) contains three peripheral vowels /i, a, u/ and one short central vowel, often referred to as schwa. A comparison between Classical Arabic (CA) and MA clearly shows that the latter lost length contrast in the vowels. In a number of items shared by these languages, there is a regular change whereby the long vowels of CA correspond to short vowels in MA, whereas short vowels in CA disappear in MA, resulting in consonant clusters often simplified by means of schwa epenthesis (e.g. CA raːsala / MA rasəl ‘correspond’, CA kataba / MA ktəb ‘write’). The same situation arises in Berber. Apart from Tashlhiyt which allows utterances without any vocalic segment, all Berber varieties use schwa to break up complex consonant clusters. This observation is of paramount importance for it shows that the distribution of schwa is largely predictable. It also suggests that the loss of vowel length in MA results from the influence of Berber. This paper discusses ə/ø alternations in Berber and MA, in connection with syllable structure. It reviews previous analyses of the phenomenon and provides a principled account of the distribution of epenthetic vowels. Tashlhiyt Berber will be analyzed as having a highly marked syllable structure. Any segment in this language, even a voiceless obstruent, can occur in the nucleus position.

The Form of Structure, the Structure of Form: Essays in honor of Jean Lowenstamm -Language Faculty and Beyond, 2014

In this paper, we focus on plural nouns in two Afroasiatic languages: Moroccan Arabic and Djibout... more In this paper, we focus on plural nouns in two Afroasiatic languages: Moroccan Arabic and Djibouti Somali. Within a syntactic approach to word formation, we show that not all plurals are located in the same syntactic position. In Moroccan Arabic, one plural results from the merger of a root with the head n, whereas the other realizes a feature on the number head. In a similar way, Somali displays two suffixal plurals, which realize two distinct syntactic structures. One suffix is associated to numP and behaves as a regular plural suffix; in contrast, the other suffix is analyzed as a bound root that selects for xPs (nP or numP) containing the feminine gender.

L'une des propriétés saillantes des langues afroasiatiques est l'abondance dans leur lexique de r... more L'une des propriétés saillantes des langues afroasiatiques est l'abondance dans leur lexique de racines triconsonantiques 1 . La majorité de ces racines est issue, selon certains linguistes (cf., de racines biconsonantiques 2 . Elles contiennent, en outre, des segments spécifiques qu'Ibn Jinni (-1002) appelle, dans le cas de l'arabe classique, Al moutlaqaat 3 . A ce triconsonantisme prédominant s'ajoutent des contraintes sur le type de segments que la racine peut contenir : une racine ne peut pas, par exemple, contenir des consonnes homorganiques (cf. Greenberg 1950). Le berbère et le sémitique, et plus particulièrement l'arabe classique, convergent sur ces points. Ils divergent, en revanche, sur la nature des segments et leur position dans la racine. Tandis qu'en arabe classique une racine triconsonantique peut n'être composée que d'obstruantes sourdes (exemples : kSf « découvrir », kfs « être bancal », ksf « être ou devenir noir »), en berbère une racine bien constituée contient au moins une sonante. De surcroît, la position de cette sonante Je remercie pour leurs commentaires et discussions Jean Lowenstamm, Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho, Cédric Patin et les participants au GDR phonologie 2004. Il est bien évident que je demeure le seul responsable des erreurs que peut contenir ce travail. 1 M. Cohen (1947, p. 58) : « Les racines du sémitique ont été étudiées de près par les linguistes. On sait qu'elles sont en très grande majorité composées de trois consonnes ; on les nomme trilitères. ». Voir aussi D. Cohen (1972, 1988). 2 Pour une approche différente, cf. entre autres M. Cohen (1947). 3 Il s'agit des consonnes suivantes qui sont majoritairement des sonantes : / l r n m b f/. Les obstruantes /b, f/ résulteraient d'un changement phonétique bien connu en sémitique par lequel m > b > p/f (cf. Moscati et al. 1964, p. 24).

The Form of Structure, the Structure of Form, 2014

John Benjamins

This volume brings together articles by some major figures in various linguistics domains — phono... more This volume brings together articles by some major figures in various linguistics domains — phonology, morphology and syntax — aiming at explaining the form of linguistic items by exploring the structures that underlie them.The book is divided in 5 parts: vowels, syllables, templates, syntax-morphology interface and Afro-Asiatic languages. Specific topics are the internal structure of vowels and its relation to harmony; the logic of recurrent vocalic patterns; syllabic prominence; the interaction of syllabic and templatic structure and segmental realization; the innateness of templates and paradigms; the limits of phonology; and various morpho-syntactic implications on phonological form.The volume renders homage to Jean Lowenstamm’s work, by underlining the importance of seeking structural and intermodular insight in the study of linguistic form.

21th Meeting of the French Phonology Network (RFP), 2024

Morpholophonological analysis of gemination in the Imperfective stem in Tashlhiyt Berber, with su... more Morpholophonological analysis of gemination in the Imperfective stem in Tashlhiyt Berber, with supporting evidence from perception and rhyme priming;

Old World Conference in Phonology 19, 2022

A great deal of research has been devoted to hypocoristic (nickname) formations over the last fiv... more A great deal of research has been devoted to hypocoristic (nickname) formations over the last five decades. One of the main aspects which has attracted the attention of researchers in phonological theory relates to the truncation process targeting the base form. Proponents of the prosodic hypothesis (McCarthy & Prince 1986 et seq., Nespor & Vogel 1986, Selkirk 1981) argue that this process obeys a minimality condition, which is defined in terms of the authentic units of prosody (μ, σ, Ft, ω): A well-formed prosodic word must contain at least one binary foot, either at the syllabic or moraic level, depending on the language (see among others Mester 1990 on Japanese, Plenat 1982, 1999 and Nelson 1998 on French, Colina 1996, Piñeros 2000, Plénat 2003 and Torres-Tamarit 2021 on Spanish). This presentation combines the strict CV approach to syllable structure (Lowenstamm 1996) with the Word Minimality hypothesis. It argues that French and Berber hypocoristics are formed by means of a fixed-shape template which consists of two CV units. It further shows that onsets of the type OR (where =obstruent) are monopositional, as opposed to those of the type OL which are bipositional. The occlusion element |ʔ| present in /l/ but not in /r/ requires the consonant to be associated to its own C-slot.

We aim to promote the theory of Melody-to-Structure Licensing Constraints (MLSC) as an analysis o... more We aim to promote the theory of Melody-to-Structure Licensing Constraints (MLSC) as an analysis of segment to syllable structure interaction and propose that English has a natural class of headed-H (aspirates and strident fricatives vs. the rest including plain stops and fricatives) . This collapses *sib-sib and *s+aspirate. We propose that English has an MSLC banning branching/bipositionality of headed H. Then we address the counterexamples to the generalization, arguing that they are derived. Our MSLC is located at the underlying 'lexical' level. Which is why this MSLC is still active in productive allomorph selection.

Journée LGIDF (Langues et Grammaires en Ile-de-France), 2018

Le système verbal de l’arabe et de l’amazighe présente des phénomènes morpho-phonologiques intrig... more Le système verbal de l’arabe et de l’amazighe présente des phénomènes morpho-phonologiques intriguant, qui brouillent l’organisation des paradigmes de conjugaison. Par exemple, l’expression des traits phi engendre au niveau phonologique des alternances vocaliques variées, localement déterminés dans des gabarits pré-spécifiés. Cette communication portera sur la réalisation des traits de personne, en lien avec ceux du genre et du nombre. En arabe marocain, les formes verbales au prétérit, exceptées 3msg, 1pl et 3pl, présentent un /t/ comme exposant de personne (2, 1) ou de genre (3f). Elles diffèrent, en revanche, sur la nature des voyelles associées à cette consonne. Nous analysons la marque de personne au moyen de deux traits binaires [±participant] et [±addressee]. Ils sont réalisés sous forme d’un espace gabaritique et/ou d’un contenu mélodique. Nous montrerons, en outre, que les alternances vocaliques des marqueurs flexionnels suivent un chemin apophonique régulier : ø > i > a > u > u (Guerssel & Lowentamm 1996). La marque de personne mobilise au singulier les trois premières étapes de ce chemin (ø > i > a). Les verbes faibles suivent le même raisonnement, à la seule différence que leur consonne radicale manquante est réalisée comme [i] ou [a].
Les verbes faibles en amazighe se comportent de la même façon, sauf ceux de type rmi ‘être fatigué’ qui gardent leur voyelle finale inchangée. Quant aux verbes forts, ils ne manifestent aucune alternance apophonique, à l’inverse de l’arabe marocain.

We present preliminary results of a longitudinal study that focuses on the developmental trajecto... more We present preliminary results of a longitudinal study that focuses on the developmental trajectory of speech production capacities in two Berber children acquiring Tashlhiyt from the babbling period to the emergence of early grammar. Very few studies, if any, are devoted to the Berber language acquisition, and Tashlhiyt, the variety spoken in South-west Morocco, presents very interesting phonetic and phonological characteristics to study in a developmental perspective.

Many studies have been devoted to rhotic consonants, which aimed to establish a unity in their ph... more Many studies have been devoted to rhotic consonants, which aimed to establish a unity in their phonological behaviour, despite their high phonetic variability. In many languages, these consonants behave as a class whose phonological properties often revolved around the same set of features (see Hall 1997, Walsh Dickey 1997, Wiese 2001, 2011, among others). In this paper, we examine the adaptation of the French rhotic in Arabic and Berber. In loanwords borrowed from French, the uvular variant [ʁ] is systematically interpreted as a coronal tap, although Arabic and Berber have phonemic /ɣ/ and /r/ (e.g. bureau [byʁo] > [biru] ‘office’, train [tχɛ̃] > [træn] ‘train’, rasoir [ʁazwaʁ] > [razwar] ‘shaver’). Two hypotheses will be considered in this respect: One which claims that the adaptation of loanwords is done by bilinguals who have access to the underlying form of the French rhotic (Paradis & LaCharité 2001), and the other which posits that the selection of the coronal tap at the expense of the velar fricative is determined by their featural makeup. One problem which might arise with the former hypothesis lies in forms adapted by uneducated people, arrived in France in the early 70s, who interpret the French uvular systematically as a coronal (e.g. [ʁ]ouen > [ruwa] ‘city name’, met[χ]o > [metˤro] ‘subway’, a[ʁ]genteuil > [arʒantæj] ‘city name’, place voltai[ʁ] > [blɑsˤbuntir]).
Within an element-based approach, we examine the melodic content of the coronal rhotic as opposed to the velar. Various phonological processes will be discussed in this respect, including r-deletion, /l/ change into [r] and spirantization (/q/ > [ɣ]). These phenomena will prove interesting in determining the content of rhotics in Berber and Moroccan Arabic: /l/ change into [r] and /r/ deletion will be shown to follow the same lenition path, which consists in deleting one element in each segment: removing the closure element from the Tarifit Berber /l/ leads to [r] (e.g. /ul/ > [ur] ‘heart’, /xlf/ > [xrəf] ‘replace’), while deleting the coronal element |R| from /r/ (and probably also the |A| element) results in compensatory vowel lengthening (e.g. /argaz/ > [aːjaz] ‘man’).

In this paper, it is argued that the expression of person can be captured in terms of a set of se... more In this paper, it is argued that the expression of person can be captured in terms of a set of semantic features whose exponents follow a unique phonological path.

Haitian, a French-lexicon based Creole (HC), has a phonemic nasal vowel contrast (e.g. [bɑ̃k] ‘ba... more Haitian, a French-lexicon based Creole (HC), has a phonemic nasal vowel contrast (e.g. [bɑ̃k] ‘bank’ / [bak] ‘tub’). It has also developed a regressive optional nasal harmony whereby an oral vowel is nasalized when immediately followed by a nasal consonant (e.g. [fɑ̃mi] ‘family’). Any segment intervening between the vowel and the nasal consonant blocks nasalization: /kalm/ *[kɑ̃lm] 'calm'. Curiously, this harmony interacts with another process: coda R-deletion ([tɛ] terre ‘ground’ (with no accompanied compensatory lengthening cf. [kɑː] ‘car’)). Consequently, in accordance with nasalization, chambre ‘room’ surfaces as [ʃɑ̃m], while charme ‘charm’ surfaces as [ʃam] without either R or nasalization where we could have expected: [ʃɑ̃m]. Our solution is the following, in Haitian R must be licensed by being in a pre-vocalic environment. In the creolisation, any R in a pre-consonantal context was unlicensed, but what followed was merely the deletion of the segment (R), not its syllabic structure (CV). Following Scheer (2012), in V[R]N forms such as [lam] 'tear', we propose that the remnant of R, an empty CV, disrupts the locality between the target of nasalization (a vowel) and its trigger (a nasal): [la-CV-m]. This empty CV blocks harmony just as the /l/ does in [kalm] 'calm' (as shown in 2). The implication of this analysis is a representational solution to the counterfeeding analysis (deletion blocks harmony).

Quelques contrastes pertinents pour l'acquisition du Français Langue Seconde par des locuteurs du... more Quelques contrastes pertinents pour l'acquisition du Français Langue Seconde par des locuteurs du berbère.

The purpose of this project is twofold. First, it aims to provide supporting evidence for the roo... more The purpose of this project is twofold. First, it aims to provide supporting evidence for the root as an abstract unit of morphological analysis. Second, it explores the place and the role of the root in accounting for certain phonological processes, in light of recent works at the interface between phonology and syntax (see Marvin 2002, Marantz 2001, 2007, Pigott & Newell 2006, Samuels 2010 and Scheer 2011, among others). Within a phasal (cyclic) approach to derivation, the root along with its category-defining heads will be argued to form the domain of application of various phonological processes including epenthesis, spreading and harmony. Traditional phonological opacity and sandhi phenomena will be analysed at the interface between phonology and morphosyntax. In Berber for instance, standard phonological approaches fail to explain how glide-high vowel alternation (u/w) occurs in words like gru ‘pick up!’ / agraw ‘assembly’ but not in gru-j-as ‘pick to him’ where the vowel u remains unchanged. Assuming that glides typically appear in the immediate vicinity of a vowel, in complementary distribution with the corresponding high vowels, hence the forms agraw / gru, how is the dative form grujas ‘pick to him’ derived? Followed by a vowel-initial morpheme –as, the final U should normally surface as a glide, leading to the form *grwas. Instead, a glide j is inserted between the vowels u and a in order to avoid hiatus.
Another facet of this project focuses on the structure of templates. I seek to determine how and when templates, as fully-fledged morphemes, interact with roots. Templates commonly refer to sequences of consonantal and vocalic positions ordered in a fixed way and designed to convey specific grammatical information.
The project also includes psycholinguistic study of roots in Berber. The aim is to test the psychological reality of consonantal roots and their role in the mental lexicon. In line with recent studies on Semitic (see Deutsch, Frost & Forster 1998 on Hebrew, Boudelaa & Marslen-Wilson 2001 on Arabic, Ussishkin et al. 2010 on Maltese), we plan to conduct auditory priming experiments in order to determine whether the consonantal root yields any morphological priming effect.

Workshop on prefixes vs. suffixes in Tashlhiyt Berber nouns, 2022

This presentation is about gender inflection in Tashlhiyt Berber nouns. it asks why the feminine ... more This presentation is about gender inflection in Tashlhiyt Berber nouns. it asks why the feminine marker is prefixed and suffixed to the noun stem. A morphophonological account is proposed.

This paper deals with the segmental composition of the triconsonantal roots in Tashlhiyt Berber a... more This paper deals with the segmental composition of the triconsonantal roots in Tashlhiyt Berber and the constraints they undergo. Unlike Classical Arabic, Tashlhiyt Berber does not tolerate voiceless roots. Each root contains at least one sonorant most often preceded by an obstruent. Moreover, if a root contains two sonorants then the second one is more sonorous. Based on these structural and distributional constraints, it is proposed that all triconsonantal roots are basically binary in that only two segments of the root undergo phonological constraints. Moreover, it is suggested that these roots display a binary-branching head-complement structure. Thereafter, evidence from the Imperfective formation show that Tashlhiyt Berber Morphology is sensitive to the segmental composition of the roots.

Manchester Phonology Meeting, 2019

1 Aims • Promote the theory of Melody-to-Structure Licensing Constraints (MLSC) as an analysis of... more 1 Aims • Promote the theory of Melody-to-Structure Licensing Constraints (MLSC) as an analysis of segment to syllable structure interaction. • Propose that English has a natural class of headed-H: aspirates and strident fricatives vs. the rest including plain (and phonetically voiced) stops and fricatives. This collapses *sib-sib and *s+aspirate. • Propose that English has an MSLC banning branching/bipositionality of headed H. • Address the counterexamples to the generalisation. They are derived. Our MSLC is located at the underlying 'lexical' level. Which is why this MSLC is still active in productive allomorph selection. • Outcome: Dispute the underlying affricate status of tr in Current British English. 2 English: replacing fortis and lenis with headed-|H| 2.1 Ban on fortis-fortis? Szigetvári (2017, to appear) proposes a new theory of obstruent-obstruent clusters. He separates obstruents into two classes: (1) Lenis non-fortis (v, z, b, d, g, ʤ…, n, m, l, r) Fortis voiceless |H| (f, s, p, t, k, ʧ…) He then effectively claims that English has a restriction on the branching of the element |H|. Obstruent clusters can contain at most a single fortis consonant (for the reasoning and arguments see ibid.). This correctly rules out *st h but it forces a highly unconventional reanalysis of voiceless-voiceless obstruent clusters. He states that one of the pair of voiceless obstruents (that he takes to be fortis-fortis) should be lenis.

Conférence Université Mohammed 5, Rabat, 2019

This paper examines the adaptation of the French rhotic in Berber. In loanwords borrowed from (“S... more This paper examines the adaptation of the French rhotic in Berber. In loanwords borrowed from (“Standard”) French, the uvular fricative is systematically interpreted as a coronal tap, despite the fact that Berber has phonemic /ɣ/ and /x/: e.g. byʁo > biru ‘office’, sɛʁʒɑ̃ > ʃarʒan ‘sergeant’, tχɛ̃ > træn ‘train’.
Two hypotheses are discussed: One which claims that the adaptation of loanwords is done by bilinguals who have access to the underlying representation of the French rhotic (Paradis & LaCharité 2001), and the other which argues that loanwords adaptation is governed by phonetic (perceptual) cues (Peperkamp et al. 2008, Bakst & Katz 2014, Peperkamp 2015). Under the phonetic hypothesis, Berber speakers should have mapped the French rhotic onto the closest sound in their language, namely the velar fricative /ɣ/ or /x/. As to the analysis advocated by Paradis & LaCharité, one wonders how monolingual uneducated people, who arrived in France in the early 1970s, interpret the French uvular systematically as a coronal although they don’t have access to the phonology of the source language (e.g. [ʁ]ouen > [ruwa] ‘city name’, met[ʁ]o > [metˤro] ‘subway’, a[ʁ]genteuil > [arʒantæj] ‘city name’, place voltai[ʁ]e > [blɑsˤbuntir]).
This paper aims at demonstrating that the adaptation of the French rhotic in Berber is a phonologically driven process. Taking Paradis & LaCharité (2001) as a starting point, it is argued that the selection of the coronal tap at the expense of the velar fricative is due to its phonotactics. Berber speakers identify the French r as a sonorant, which patterns with l in complex onsets. This is further supported by the hypothesis put fourth in Lahrouchi (2010), according to which the obstruent-sonorant cluster is active in the Berber phonology, despite the absence of complex onsets in the language (Ridouane et al. 2014, Lahrouchi 2018).

Phonological Theory Agora, 2019

This paper addresses the question of the evolution k → t and g → d from Latin to (Old) French. Br... more This paper addresses the question of the evolution k → t and g → d from Latin to (Old) French. Briefly stated, k,g become t,d when followed by a front (syncopated) vowel <i,e> plus a rhotic consonant , and preceded by a consonant (e.g. Lat. vinc(e)re > OFr. veintre). Of particular interest is the case of k which is expected to become ʦ (→ s) in the vicinity of a front vowel. The reason why k does not undergo palatalization in forms like vintre lies in the phonotactics of (Old) French. This language disallows any occurrence of sibilant+rhotic, although it complies with the sonority profile of a branching onset. Stated informally within the Government Phonology framework, this means that a sibilant cannot license a rhotic consonant in French. The loss of the front vowel in forms like vincere results in an illicit *ʦr or *sr, which is reinterpreted as tr, leading to veintre.

Études et documents berbères, Jan 23, 2010

International audienceno abstrac

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Brill’s Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics

Old World Conference in Phonology, Jan 27, 2015

This paper presents preliminary results of a longitudinal study that focuses on the developmental... more This paper presents preliminary results of a longitudinal study that focuses on the developmental trajectory of speech production capacities in two Berber children acquiring Tashlhiyt from the babbling period to the emergence of early grammar. There are very few studies on Berber language acquisition, and Tashlhiyt, the variety spoken in South-west Morocco, presents very interesting phonetic and phonological characteristics to study in a developmental perspective. For instance, unusual complex consonant clusters are very common in the language, which challenges classical approaches to syllable structure.

This paper examines the internal structure of triconsonantal roots in Tashlhiyt Berber. It is pro... more This paper examines the internal structure of triconsonantal roots in Tashlhiyt Berber. It is proposed that these roots have a binary-branching head complement structure, built upon the sonorant and the segment immediately to its left. Evidence for this structure is provided by the imperfective formation. It is argued that only roots that display such a structure undergo gemination in the imperfective. This allows us to account for a number of forms that are traditionally ascribed to lexical idiosyncrasy, including verbs that are made entirely of obstruents and those where the only sonorant is in the initial position.

The Routledge Handbook of African Linguistics, 2018

I et U sont traites comme des objets phonologiques qui se realisent en glides au voisinage immedi... more I et U sont traites comme des objets phonologiques qui se realisent en glides au voisinage immediat d'une voyelle et en voyelles hautes ailleurs. Pour illustrer cela, il suffit de comparer en berbere gru "ramasse !" a agraw "assemblee" et bri "concasse !" a abraj "action de concasser". En ajoutant aux memes verbes le pronom datif a initiale vocalique as, on s'attendrait a ce que I et U apparaissent comme glides. Au lieu de cela, on obtient grujas "ramasse-lui !" et brijas "concasse-lui !". Pour expliquer ce cas d'opacite phonologique sans avoir a distinguer differentes phonologies a differents niveaux, ni avoir recours a des objets pseudo-phonologiques tels les diacritiques, nous proposerons, a la lumiere des developpements recents en phonologie et a l'interface syntaxe - phonologie, que U et I se realisent en glides dans agraw et abraj parce que pris dans le meme domaine syntaxique que la voyelle a adjacent...

Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes, 2010

Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique, 2018

The goal of this study is to provide crosslinguistic data on the acquisition of phonetic complexi... more The goal of this study is to provide crosslinguistic data on the acquisition of phonetic complexity among children acquiring four different languages: Tunisian Arabic, Tashlhiyt Berber, English, and French. Using an adaptation of Jakielski's (2000) Index of Phonetic Complexity (IPC), we carried out an analysis to assess phonetic complexity of children's early vocabulary in the four languages. Four different samples from each language were analyzed: 50 words selected from an adult dictionary of each language, 50 words from child-directed speech, 50 words targeted by the child, and the child's actual pronunciations of those 50 words. Globally, we hypothesized that children's early productions would be shaped by universal articulatory constraints, but also by the language they are exposed to, depending on its phonological complexity. Our findings show that Arabic displays higher degrees of complexity compared to Berber, English and French, and that children acquiring Ar...

Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique, 2018

Strong similarities observed between babbling and first words suggest a universal foundation of w... more Strong similarities observed between babbling and first words suggest a universal foundation of word production in children. The aim of this work was to evaluate the role of biomechanical constraints on babbling and first words production in two children acquiring Tashlhiyt, a Berber language spoken in Morocco. When considering isolated sounds and syllable types, our data provided evidence for a universal basis for early vocal patterns. The subjects produced more stops, more coronals and labials, vowels preferentially belonging to the lower left part of the vowel space, and open syllables. However, they only partially confirmed the existence of the preferred CV combinations generally observed in the early production of children learning various languages. The comparison between babbling and first words revealed a linguistic continuity between the two periods but also some increasing complexity and diversification in the words, which can be explained by an increase of articulatory ca...

Papers in Historical Phonology, 2016