Focus on the prefix: evidence for word-internal prosodic words

Phonology ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Wennerstrom
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
The Relationship

This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between focus and the prosodic word (ω) in English. Using focus as a diagnostic, I will support the position that prosodic structure is built on a separate plane from morphological structure and that certain phonological processes are conditioned by prosodic bracketing (Booij & Rubach 1984, 1987; Nespor & Vogel 1986; Halle & Vergnaud 1987; Cohn 1989; Zec & Inkelas 1990; Kang 1992; Booij & Lieber 1993; Raffelsiefen 1993). More specifically, the proposal is that semantic analysability, focus and ω status coincide in a predictable manner on prefixes.

Domain modelling in Optimality Theory: Morphophonological cyclicity vs. stepwise prosodic parsing

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-43
Author(s):  
KAROLINA BROŚ
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Input String ◽  
Domain Specificity ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Structure Building ◽  
Harmonic Serialism ◽  
Chilean Spanish ◽  
Insight Into

This paper examines opaque examples of phrase-level phonology taken from Chilean Spanish under the framework of Stratal Optimality Theory (OT) (Rubach 1997; Bermúdez-Otero 2003, 2019) and Harmonic Serialism (HS) (McCarthy 2008a, b, 2016). The data show an interesting double repair of the coda /s/ taking place at word edges. It is argued that Stratal OT is superior in modelling phonological processes that take place at the interface between morphology and phonology because it embraces cyclicity. Under this model, prosodic structure is built serially, level by level, and in accordance with the morphological structure of the input string. In this way, opacity at constituent edges can be solved. Stratal OT also provides insight into word-internal morphological structure and the domain-specificity of phonological processes. It is demonstrated that a distinction in this model is necessary between the word and the phrase levels, and between the stem and the word levels. As illustrated by the behaviour of Spanish nouns, affixation and the resultant alternations inform us about the domains to which both morphological and phonological processes should be assigned. Against this background, Harmonic Serialism embraces an apparently simpler recursive mechanism in which stepwise prosodic parsing can be incorporated. What is more, it offers insight into the nature of operations in OT, as well as into such problematic issues as structure building and directionality. Nevertheless, despite the model’s ability to solve various cases of opacity, the need to distinguish between two competing repairs makes HS fail when confronted with the Chilean data under examination.

scholarly journals Emergência de sândi consonântico em Português Europeu: uma abordagem prosódica

2017 ◽  
pp. 177-190
Author(s):  
Alexandra Malho ◽  
Susana Correia ◽  
Sónia Frota
Keyword(s):  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Word Position ◽  
Fricative Voicing ◽  
Phonological Phrase ◽  
The Relationship

In European Portuguese, the domain for sandhi phenomena is the intonational phrase. Unlike the intonational phrase, the phonological phrase has been shown to be only relevant for rhythm and prominence-related phenomena (Frota, 2000, 2014). Fricative voicing between words (casa[ʒb]rancas, casa[ʃp]retas) and ressylabification before vowel-initial words (casa[zɐ]marelas) occur within the intonational phrase. In this study, we considered spontaneous productions of a Portuguese child (Luma), aged 2;04-4;00, to examine the acquisition of external consonantal sandhi. The data show that sandhi production varies according to the segmental (C#C, C#V, CFric, CVib, CLat) and prosodic context (clitic, prosodic word, position in prosodic structure). The data further confirm that sandhi occurs within the intonational phrase, supporting the analysis proposed for the adult grammar. This study contributes to the understanding of the relationship between the acquisition of the prosodic structure and the acquisition of sandhi phenomena.

scholarly journals The prosodic word is not universal, but emergent

2010 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 657-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
RENÉ SCHIERING ◽  
BALTHASAR BICKEL ◽  
KRISTINE A. HILDEBRANDT
Keyword(s):  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
Phonological Rule ◽  
Actual Degree ◽  
Construction Type ◽  
Sound Patterns ◽  
Phonological Phrase ◽  
Frequent Reference ◽  
Phonological Rules

In Prosodic Phonology, domains for the application of phonological patterns are commonly modeled as a Prosodic Hierarchy. The theory predicts, among other things, that (i) prosodic domains cluster on a single universal set of domains (‘Clustering’), and (ii) no level of prosodic structure is skipped in the building of prosodic structure unless this is required by independently motivated higher ranking principles or constraints (‘Strict Succession’). In this paper, we demonstrate that if, as is standardly done, evidence is limited to lexically general phonological processes, some languages systematically violate the Strict Succession Prediction, evidencing no prosodic word domain, and some languages systematically violate the Clustering Prediction, evidencing more than one domain between the phonological phrase and the foot. We substantiate these claims by in-depth studies of phonological rule domains in Vietnamese (Austroasiatic) and Limbu (Sino-Tibetan). As an alternative to the Prosodic Hierarchy framework, we advocate a heuristic for cross-linguistic comparison in which prosodic domains are conceived of as language-particular, intrinsic and highly specific properties of individual phonological rules or constraints. This allows us to explore empirically the actual degree of variation to be encountered across prosodic systems. It turns out that the ‘word’ has no privileged or universal status in phonology, but only emerges through frequent reference of sound patterns to a given construction type in a given language.

The Medium and the Message

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Sandler
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
Special Stress ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Phonological Phrase ◽  
The Relationship

In natural communication, the medium through which language is transmitted plays an important and systematic role. Sentences are broken up rhythmically into chunks; certain elements receive special stress; and, in spoken language, intonational tunes are superimposed onto these chunks in particular ways — all resulting in an intricate system of prosody. Investigations of prosody in Israeli Sign Language demonstrate that sign languages have comparable prosodic systems to those of spoken languages, although the phonetic medium is completely different. Evidence for the prosodic word and for the phonological phrase in ISL is examined here within the context of the relationship between the medium and the message. New evidence is offered to support the claim that facial expression in sign languages corresponds to intonation in spoken languages, and the term “superarticulation” is coined to describe this system in sign languages. Interesting formaldiffer ences between the intonationaltunes of spoken language and the “superarticulatory arrays” of sign language are shown to offer a new perspective on the relation between the phonetic basis of language, its phonological organization, and its communicative content.

Armenian prosody in typology and diachrony

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica DeLisi
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Secondary Stress ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
Primary Stress ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
History Of ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Stress Patterns

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between typology and historical linguistics through a case study from the history of Armenian, where two different stress systems are found in the modern language. The first is a penult system with no associated secondary stress ([… σ́σ]ω). The other, the so-called hammock pattern, has primary stress on the final syllable and secondary stress on the initial syllable of the prosodic word ([σ̀ … σ́]ω). Although penult stress patterns are by far more typologically common than the hammock pattern in the world’s languages, I will argue that the hammock pattern must be reconstructed for the period of shared innovation, the Proto-Armenian period.

scholarly journals The new towns in the Agro Pontino: a literature review and critical bibliography

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 08003
Author(s):  
Emanuela Margione
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
New Towns ◽  
Reclamation Project ◽  
The Relationship

This literature review intends to focus on how the settlements system of the Agro Pontino, newly designed in a geographic area contiguous to the capital city and directly connected to the integral reclamation project elaborated by the agricultural economist Arrigo Serpieri starting from 1923, is narrated. The reclamation of the Agro Pontino is one of the most important territorial transformations carried out by Fascism under direct public control. Also, this case study is particularly significant due to the relationship between the capital city, Rome, as large urban centre, the new medium size cities, villages and the morphological structure of agricultural holdings, into a historical context where the concept of agricultural property is defined. Today we have an enormous number of books, paper and documents written in different historical period that can help us to understand the evolution of the Italian new towns but at the same time the large number of these materials can also make it difficult for understanding the project and its meaning through time. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to explain how to prepare a critical bibliography able to show the evolution of the reclamation project and the construction of new towns and the changing of its meaning over time. Also, thanks to this bibliography it’s possible to extract the main issues related to the Italian case study: the relationship between the existing landscape and the network of roads; the relationship between the plans for villages, towns and the architectural features of the new settlements, and finally, the role of public buildings as a system of public facilities promoting new behaviour patterns, and their bold modernist architecture symbolized the conquest of the land.

Deficits for Semantics and the Irregular Past Tense: A Causal Relationship?

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1159-1172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine K. Tyler ◽  
Emmanuel A. Stamatakis ◽  
Roy W. Jones ◽  
Peter Bright ◽  
Kadia Acres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Past Tense Form ◽  
Dementia Patients ◽  
Auditory Priming ◽  
Functional Mechanisms ◽  
The Relationship

The regular and irregular past tense has become a focus for recent debates about the structure of the language processing system, asking whether language functions are subserved by different neural and functional mechanisms or whether all processes can be accommodated within a single unified system. A critical claim of leading single mechanism accounts is that the relationship between an irregular stem and its past tense form is primarily semantic and not morphological in nature. This predicts an obligatory relationship between semantic performance and access to the irregular past tense, such that a semantic deficit necessarily leads to impairments on the irregulars. We tested this claim in a series of studies probing the comprehension and production of regular and irregular past tense forms in four semantic dementia patients, all of whom had profound semantic deficits. In two elicitation tasks and one auditory priming study, we found that three out of the four patients did not have a deficit for the irregular past tense, in spite of their semantic deficits. This argues against the view that the relationship between irregular past tense forms and their stems is primarily semantic, and more generally against the single system claim that morphological structure can be captured solely based on phonological and semantic relationships.

Words, nonwords, and phonological processes: Some comments on Gathercole, Willis, Emslie, and Baddeley

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Snowling ◽  
Shula Chiat ◽  
Charles Hulme
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
The Relationship

Gathercole, Willis, Emslie, and Baddeley (1991) present a reanalysis of some of their earlier data concerned with the relationship between nonword repetition and the development of vocabulary knowledge in young children. In the present article we outline some theoretical differences between ourselves and this group in the interpretation of nonword repetition and discuss how best these differences could be resolved.

The Foot is not an obligatory constituent of the Prosodic Hierarchy: “stress” in Turkish, French and child English

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Öner Özçelik
Keyword(s):  
Regular Word ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Opposite Edge ◽  
Early Child ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
Foot Structure ◽  
Edge Stress ◽  
Phonological Phrase

AbstractThis paper proposes that the presence/absence of the Foot is parametric; that is, contra much previous research (see e. g. Selkirk, Elisabeth (1995). Sentence prosody: intonation, stress and phrasing. In J. Goldsmith (ed.)The handbook of phonological theory. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 550–569., Vogel, Irene (2009). Universals of prosodic structure. In S. Scalise, E. Magni, & A. Bisetto (eds.)Universals of language today. Dordrecht: Springer. 59–82.), it is argued here that the Foot is not a universal constituent of the Prosodic Hierarchy; rather, some languages, such as Turkish and French, as well as early child languages, are footless. Several types of evidence are presented in support of this proposal, from both Turkish and French, as well as child English. A comparison of regular (word-final) and exceptional stress in Turkish reveals, for example, that regular “stress” is intonational prominence falling on the last syllable of prosodic words in the absence of foot structure. Both acoustic and formal evidence are presented in support of this proposal, as well as evidence from syntax-prosody interface. The paper also presents evidence for the footless status of French, which, unlike Turkish, is proposed to be completely footless. Several arguments are presented in support of this position, such as the fact that, in French, the domain of obligatory prominence is the Phonological Phrase (PPh), not the Prosodic Word (PWd); in a PPh consisting of several PWds, therefore, nonfinal PWds can surface without any kind of stress or prominence, suggesting that, at least for non-final PWds, one cannot assume stress or foot structure. Finally, the proposal is extended to additional languages, such as those demonstrating Default-to-Opposite Edge stress.

scholarly journals Metrical structure in Scottish Gaelic: tonal accent, glottalisation and overlength

Phonology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Alasdair Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Metrical Structure ◽  
Scottish Gaelic ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Foot Structure ◽  
Phonological Contrast ◽  
Diachronic Development ◽  
The Relationship

Scottish Gaelic displays a phonological contrast that is realised in different dialects by means of tonal accent, glottalisation or overlength. In line with existing analyses of similar oppositions in languages such as Swedish, Danish, Franconian and Estonian, I show that this contrast reflects a difference in metrical structure. Using the framework of Stratal Optimality Theory, I argue that this metrical contrast is derived, and results from faithfulness to foot structure that is built regularly at the stem level, but rendered opaque by subsequent phonological processes. Scottish Gaelic therefore represents an intermediate stage in the diachronic development of underlyingly contrastive metrical structure. This analysis successfully accounts for the complex properties of svarabhakti, a process of copy epenthesis that is intimately connected to the phonological contrast in question, and also sheds light upon the relationship between the oppositions of tonal accent, glottalisation and overlength found in various languages of northern Europe.

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