Crypto-Variation in Italian Velar Palatalisation
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Martin Krämer
Abstract
In this paper, I present new data from a nonce-word test that give us further insight into the synchronic status of the phonological process of velar palatalisation in Standard Italian. Velar palatalisation applies in the plural forms of some nouns and in some it does not. When confronted with novel words and the task to produce plural forms speakers split into two groups, those that apply palatalisation to all new forms and those that do not apply the process. The conclusion drawn from these results is that a uniform but ambiguous surface pattern is analysed in different ways by individual speakers, hence, showing crypto-variation. The results give evidence supporting Pater’s (2006) proposal that exceptional application of a process is due to lexical indexation of markedness constraints and exceptional underapplication is due to lexical indexation of faithfulness constraints in Optimality Theory.
Abstract
In this paper, I present new data from a nonce-word test that give us further insight into the synchronic status of the phonological process of velar palatalisation in Standard Italian. Velar palatalisation applies in the plural forms of some nouns and in some it does not. When confronted with novel words and the task to produce plural forms speakers split into two groups, those that apply palatalisation to all new forms and those that do not apply the process. The conclusion drawn from these results is that a uniform but ambiguous surface pattern is analysed in different ways by individual speakers, hence, showing crypto-variation. The results give evidence supporting Pater’s (2006) proposal that exceptional application of a process is due to lexical indexation of markedness constraints and exceptional underapplication is due to lexical indexation of faithfulness constraints in Optimality Theory.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Null Expletives and Case: The View from Romance 1
- On the Existence of Null Complementizers in Old French 19
- On the Lack of Transparency Effects in French 37
- On the Syllabification of Prevocalic /w/ in Judeo-Spanish 51
- Word Order and Minimalism 69
- The Status of Old French Clitics in the 12th Century 89
- Towards a Unified Account of Positive and Negative Polarity: Evidence from Romanian 105
- Correlativization and Degree Quantification in Spanish 121
- Imperfect Variation and Class Marking in the Old Spanish Third Conjugation 143
- Licensing Negative Fragments and the Interpretation of Comparison 157
- Developing I-Language in L1 and L2 173
- Crypto-Variation in Italian Velar Palatalisation 193
- Antisymmetry and the Typology of Relative Clauses: Morphological Evidence from Romance 209
- Romance Paths as Cognate Complements: A Lexical-Syntactic Account 227
- Discriminating Pitch Accent Alignment in Spanish 243
- Proscriptions…Gaps…and Something in Between: An Experimental Examination of Spanish Phonotactics 261
- Romanian Palatalization: The Role of Place of Articulation in Perception 277
- Putting in Order the Spanish DP 291
- The Domain of Palatalization in Romanian 307
- Rhotic Metathesis Asymmetries in Romance: Formalizing the Effects of Articulation and Perception on Sound Change 321
- The Left Edge in the Spanish Clausal Structure 339
- Index 359
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Null Expletives and Case: The View from Romance 1
- On the Existence of Null Complementizers in Old French 19
- On the Lack of Transparency Effects in French 37
- On the Syllabification of Prevocalic /w/ in Judeo-Spanish 51
- Word Order and Minimalism 69
- The Status of Old French Clitics in the 12th Century 89
- Towards a Unified Account of Positive and Negative Polarity: Evidence from Romanian 105
- Correlativization and Degree Quantification in Spanish 121
- Imperfect Variation and Class Marking in the Old Spanish Third Conjugation 143
- Licensing Negative Fragments and the Interpretation of Comparison 157
- Developing I-Language in L1 and L2 173
- Crypto-Variation in Italian Velar Palatalisation 193
- Antisymmetry and the Typology of Relative Clauses: Morphological Evidence from Romance 209
- Romance Paths as Cognate Complements: A Lexical-Syntactic Account 227
- Discriminating Pitch Accent Alignment in Spanish 243
- Proscriptions…Gaps…and Something in Between: An Experimental Examination of Spanish Phonotactics 261
- Romanian Palatalization: The Role of Place of Articulation in Perception 277
- Putting in Order the Spanish DP 291
- The Domain of Palatalization in Romanian 307
- Rhotic Metathesis Asymmetries in Romance: Formalizing the Effects of Articulation and Perception on Sound Change 321
- The Left Edge in the Spanish Clausal Structure 339
- Index 359
