Morphology and phonology of word-final vowel deletion in spoken Tuscan Italian
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Luigia Garrapa
Abstract
Italian elision consists in the optional deletion of the final vowel of a function word followed by a vowel-initial lexical word. The aim of the present study is to reach a better understanding of the interplay between phonology and morphology in Italian elision by analyzing a corpus of spoken Italian as well as by conducting an experimental study. The central claim is that two elision processes have to be distinguished, one that applies to determiners and is closer to categorical variation, to be analyzed in part as allomorphy, and another process that applies to pronouns and is closer to free variation. Italian elision is modeled in a simple optimality-theoretic constraint hierarchy: it is shown that the patterns of variation can be learned by the Gradual Learning Algorithm (Boersma & Hayes 2001), but only if two different grammars are learned for elision on determiners and on pronouns, respectively.
Abstract
Italian elision consists in the optional deletion of the final vowel of a function word followed by a vowel-initial lexical word. The aim of the present study is to reach a better understanding of the interplay between phonology and morphology in Italian elision by analyzing a corpus of spoken Italian as well as by conducting an experimental study. The central claim is that two elision processes have to be distinguished, one that applies to determiners and is closer to categorical variation, to be analyzed in part as allomorphy, and another process that applies to pronouns and is closer to free variation. Italian elision is modeled in a simple optimality-theoretic constraint hierarchy: it is shown that the patterns of variation can be learned by the Gradual Learning Algorithm (Boersma & Hayes 2001), but only if two different grammars are learned for elision on determiners and on pronouns, respectively.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
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Part 1. Language contact and bilingualism
- Subject pronoun expression in bilinguals of two null subject languages 9
- Where are hiatuses left? 23
- Loanword adaptation in the French of Spanish-speaking immigrants in Montréal 39
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Part 2. Phonology and interfaces
- Morphology and phonology of word-final vowel deletion in spoken Tuscan Italian 57
- Relativization, intonational phrases and rich left peripheries 73
- Stress domain effects in French phonology and phonological development 89
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Part 3. Syntax and morphophonology
- Syntactic realizations of plural in Romance and Germanic nominalizations 107
- The syntax of Spanish parecer and the status of little pro 125
- Two types of (apparently) ditransitive light verb constructions 139
- Modal ellipsis in French, Spanish and Italian 157
- Optional prepositions in Brazilian Portuguese 171
- An apparent ‘number case constraint’ in Romanian 185
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Part 4. Semantics and morphology
- Generic bare singulars in Brazilian Portuguese 203
- Aspect shift in stative verbs and their arguments 217
-
Part 5. Psycholinguistics
- Experimenting with wh -movement in Spanish 233
- How Spanish phonotactics informs psycholinuistic models of speech production 249
- Index 265
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part 1. Language contact and bilingualism
- Subject pronoun expression in bilinguals of two null subject languages 9
- Where are hiatuses left? 23
- Loanword adaptation in the French of Spanish-speaking immigrants in Montréal 39
-
Part 2. Phonology and interfaces
- Morphology and phonology of word-final vowel deletion in spoken Tuscan Italian 57
- Relativization, intonational phrases and rich left peripheries 73
- Stress domain effects in French phonology and phonological development 89
-
Part 3. Syntax and morphophonology
- Syntactic realizations of plural in Romance and Germanic nominalizations 107
- The syntax of Spanish parecer and the status of little pro 125
- Two types of (apparently) ditransitive light verb constructions 139
- Modal ellipsis in French, Spanish and Italian 157
- Optional prepositions in Brazilian Portuguese 171
- An apparent ‘number case constraint’ in Romanian 185
-
Part 4. Semantics and morphology
- Generic bare singulars in Brazilian Portuguese 203
- Aspect shift in stative verbs and their arguments 217
-
Part 5. Psycholinguistics
- Experimenting with wh -movement in Spanish 233
- How Spanish phonotactics informs psycholinuistic models of speech production 249
- Index 265
