V-to-V assimilation in trisyllabic words in French
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Christopher Carignan
Abstract
We investigate the extent of regressive vowel-to-vowel assimilation in trisyllabic words in French. Sixty existing words were inserted in a carrier sentence, each containing /a/ in word-initial unstressed position, and /a/ or /i/ in word-medial unstressed and word-final stressed positions. Acoustic measurements taken at the midpoint of vowels showed that /a/ in word-initial position was less fronted and more open than /a/ in word-medial position when the vowels were followed by a final front vowel. The degree of fronting of /a/ word-initially was greater when the vowel was followed by a front vowel in both medial and final positions. These results suggest that vowel-to-vowel assimilation in trisyllabic words in French is a gradient and local effect of the final front stressed vowel on the vowel immediately adjacent to it. Key words: anticipatory assimilation; Vowel Harmony; gradience; phonetics; phonology
Abstract
We investigate the extent of regressive vowel-to-vowel assimilation in trisyllabic words in French. Sixty existing words were inserted in a carrier sentence, each containing /a/ in word-initial unstressed position, and /a/ or /i/ in word-medial unstressed and word-final stressed positions. Acoustic measurements taken at the midpoint of vowels showed that /a/ in word-initial position was less fronted and more open than /a/ in word-medial position when the vowels were followed by a final front vowel. The degree of fronting of /a/ word-initially was greater when the vowel was followed by a front vowel in both medial and final positions. These results suggest that vowel-to-vowel assimilation in trisyllabic words in French is a gradient and local effect of the final front stressed vowel on the vowel immediately adjacent to it. Key words: anticipatory assimilation; Vowel Harmony; gradience; phonetics; phonology
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Editors’ introduction 1
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Part I. Phonetics/Phonology
- Correcting the record on Dominican [s]-hypercorrection 15
- V-to-V assimilation in trisyllabic words in French 25
- The production and provenance of palatal nasals in Portuguese and Spanish 43
- Lenition and phonemic contrast in Majorcan Catalan 63
- Alveolar laterals in Majorcan Spanish 81
- Units of speech production in Italian 95
- Pitch polarity in Palenquero 111
- Word-minimality and sound change in Hispano-Romance 129
- Multiple opacity in Eastern Regional French 153
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Part II. Syntax
- Syntactic variation in Colombian Spanish 169
- Anaphoricity, logophoricity and intensification 187
- More on the clitic combination puzzle 203
- The Spanish dative alternation revisited 217
- Romanian genderless pronouns and parasitic gaps 231
- To agree or not to agree 249
- Variation in subject expression in Western Romance 267
- A phase-based analysis of Old French genitive constructions 285
- V2 loss in Old French and Old Occitan 301
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Part III. Morphology, and interfaces
- The loss and survival of inflectional morphology 323
- Allomorphy in pre-clitic imperatives in Formenteran Catalan 337
- Preverbal vowels in wh-questions and declarative sentences in Northern Italian Piacentine dialects 353
- Pitch accent, focus, and the interpretation of non- wh exclamatives in French 369
- Detours along the perfect path 387
- Grammaticalization of commencer/cominciare “to begin” in French and Italian 405
- Index of subjects, terms and languages 423
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonetics/Phonology
- Correcting the record on Dominican [s]-hypercorrection 15
- V-to-V assimilation in trisyllabic words in French 25
- The production and provenance of palatal nasals in Portuguese and Spanish 43
- Lenition and phonemic contrast in Majorcan Catalan 63
- Alveolar laterals in Majorcan Spanish 81
- Units of speech production in Italian 95
- Pitch polarity in Palenquero 111
- Word-minimality and sound change in Hispano-Romance 129
- Multiple opacity in Eastern Regional French 153
-
Part II. Syntax
- Syntactic variation in Colombian Spanish 169
- Anaphoricity, logophoricity and intensification 187
- More on the clitic combination puzzle 203
- The Spanish dative alternation revisited 217
- Romanian genderless pronouns and parasitic gaps 231
- To agree or not to agree 249
- Variation in subject expression in Western Romance 267
- A phase-based analysis of Old French genitive constructions 285
- V2 loss in Old French and Old Occitan 301
-
Part III. Morphology, and interfaces
- The loss and survival of inflectional morphology 323
- Allomorphy in pre-clitic imperatives in Formenteran Catalan 337
- Preverbal vowels in wh-questions and declarative sentences in Northern Italian Piacentine dialects 353
- Pitch accent, focus, and the interpretation of non- wh exclamatives in French 369
- Detours along the perfect path 387
- Grammaticalization of commencer/cominciare “to begin” in French and Italian 405
- Index of subjects, terms and languages 423
