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A note on the phonology and phonetics of CR , RC , and SC consonant clusters in Italian
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Kenstowicz, Michael J. |
| Copyright Year | 2017 |
| Abstract | Previous generative research on Italian phonology starting with Vogel (1982) and Chierchia (1986) has proposed that intervocalic consonant clusters are parsed into contrasting tautovs. heterosyllabic categories based on several factors: phonotactic restrictions on word-initial consonant sequences, syllable weight as reflected in the distribution of stress and the length of a preceding tonic vowel, the distribution of prenominal allomorphs of various determiners, and the application of syntactic gemination (radoppiamento sintattico). Based on these criteria, clusters of rising sonority (in particular stop plus liquid) fall into the tautosyllabic category while falling sonority clusters composed of a sonorant plus obstruent are heterosyllabic. Clusters composed of /s/ plus a stop display mixed behavior but generally pattern with the heterosyllabic group. In her 2004 UCLA Ph.D. dissertation, Kristie McCrary investigated corpus-external reflexes of these cluster distinctions with a psycholinguistic test of word division and measurements of the phonetic duration of segments (both consonants and vowels). Her results support some aspects of the traditional phonological analysis but call into question others. In this squib we summarize the literature supporting the traditional distinction among these clusters and then review McCrary’s results. An important finding in McCrary’s study was that stops in VCV and VCRV contexts (R = a liquid) were significantly shorter than stops in VRCV contexts. She observed that these contexts align with the distribution of geminates in Italian and proposed that singleton stops are significantly shorter in the VCV and VCRV contexts in order to enhance their paradigmatic contrast with geminates. We review this finding and then explore two consequences. First, we look at the distribution of the lenition found in the Tuscan dialects known as the gorgia toscana and see that it targets the shorter stops. Second, we introduce data from a pilot study of Brazilian Portuguese, which has phonotactic restrictions similar to Italian but crucially lacks the systematic contrast of singleton vs. geminates. The prediction is that the duration of the stops in these contexts should not differ systematically in the way reported for Tuscan. This prediction is confirmed. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://lingphil.mit.edu/papers/kenstowicz/linguistic_travels.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
