«(Final) Nasalization as an Alternative to (Final) Devoicing: The Case of Vimeu Picard» (original) (raw)

The directionality of vowel elision in Picard

Papers from the Annual Meeting of the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association, 2000

This paper offers an analysis for the domain-sensitive process of Vowel Elision in Picard, whose directionality depends on the interaction of a variety of phonological, morphosyntactic and semantic factors. By adopting the framework of Optimality Theory, I propose an analysis in which constraints are decomposable into their domain-specific counterparts. The main advantage of such an approach to domain-driven phenomena is its intrinsic assumption that only one grammar (or constraint ranking) is responsible for domain-driven variation cross-linguistically. This paper is organized in the following way: in section 2, I introduce the relevant data upon which I will base my investigation. In section 3, I discuss the problems that the data would encounter if they were to be analyzed within a version of Optimality Theory that does not recognize the decomposition of domain-sensitive constraints. Finally, in section 4, I present viable solutions to the problems presented in the investigation. 2. THE DATA The data for this investigation come from the Picard variety spoken in the village of Nibas, located in the Picardie region in Northern France. Picard is a Gallo-Romance dialect spoken not only in the Picardie region in France, but also in NorthEastern Normandy and in some areas of Belgium. Observe in (01) that in the context of an underlying sequence of two contiguous vowels, that is, a vocalic hiatus, one of the two vowels undergoes deletion in Picard.

Correlation between Voicing and Nasalization of Japanese Obstruents

2017

In this paper I clarify how voicing and nasalization correlate with each other in Japanese obstruents in an effort to reconstruct the phonemic system of Old Japanese. Japanese obstruents are phonologically divided into two distinctive categories: seion (; lit. 'clear sound') and dakuon (; lit. 'muddy sound'). This phonological distinction is based on voicedness for the most part but also on nasality in some cases. The seion p, s, t, and k and the dakuon b, z, d, and g are respectively voiced and nasalized immediately after vowels in Modern Japanese dialects spoken in the Northeastern and Southwestern regions (Tōhoku and Kyūshū). Taking these geographic variations of sei-daku opposition into consideration , some researchers argue that both voicing of seion and nasalization of dakuon occur immediately after vowels in Old Japanese. According to this argument , there are two types of sei-daku opposition based on both voicedness and nasality in Old Japanese obstruents. In order to develop the theory about sei-daku opposition in Old Japanese, I elucidate the following two points concerning the geographic variations of sei-daku opposition. First, nasalization of b and/or z always implies that of d and g. Second, voicing of postvocalic seion and nasal-ization of postvocalic dakuon are lost more rapidly in p:b and s:z oppositions, in which seion are now basically voiceless fricatives, than in t:d and k:g oppositions, in which seion can be realized as voiced stops.

The phonetics of post-nasal voicing

1996

Abstract Many of the world's languages display a phonetic pattern whereby obstruents appear as voiced when following a nasal consonant. This article proposes a phonetic mechanism that favors postnasal voicing. The mechanism is based on two effects, which ...

On Nasals and Nasalization in Òko

2009

Several arguments have been put forward by some scholars regarding the source of nasalized vowels across languages. Greenberg (1966:509) posits that nasalized vowels derive from earlier states of oral vowels in proximity with nasal consonants. That is, a syllable-final sequence of an oral vowel followed by a nasal consonant, vN. According to Greenberg, the typical sequence of event from one point in the evolution of nasalized vowels to the final stage can be represented as: VN > V 7N > V 7. It then implies that an oral vowel assimilates the nasal feature of a syllable-final N and the latter (i.e. the N-coda) is deleted. Hyman (1972:171) and Williamson (1973:115) have a different view regarding the source of nasalized vowels. They note that some Benue-Kwa languages could historically have CNV sequence, meaning that the source of Kwa CV7 developed from a historic CNV. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion by supporting the claim that the source of nasalized vo...

Accounting for the instability of Palenquero voiced stops

Lingua, 2003

This paper presents an analysis of the patterns exhibited by Palenquero voiced stops, which reveals that there is a close connection between spirantization, prenasalization, flapping, and lateralization as they are articulatory maneuvers that a language may use to reduce the effort cost of implementing underlying voiced stops. Spirantization, prenasalization, and lateralization facilitate the production of voicing by allowing venting through one of the valves that separate the supraglottal cavity from the atmosphere. Flapping, on the other hand, yields this effect by reducing the temporal coordinates of the constriction target. The consequences that these articulatory adjustments have for the production of voicing are captured within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince, Alan, Smolensky, Paul, 1993. Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar. Ms., Technical Report No.2 of the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University) through a system of interacting constraints where Lazy, a principle that embodies the tendency to reduce articulatory effort Contrastiveness is an epiphenomenonas of constraint ranking. Rutgers Optimality Archive, 51-0295; Kirchner, Robert, 1998. An Effort-based Approach to Consonant Lenition. Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers Optimality Archive, 246-0898), rivals with Ident (Feature), the drive to preserve underlying feature specifications [University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers, 18 (1995) 249]. Central to this analysis is also the view that the sound component of a language may comprise several co-phonologies (Inkelas, Sharon, Orhan