Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 11. Catalan nativization patterns in the light of weighted scalar constraints
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Chapter 11. Catalan nativization patterns in the light of weighted scalar constraints

  • Claudia Pons-Moll and Francesc Torres-Tamarit
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Abstract

In this paper we analyze, from an experimental and formal perspective, the interaction and the implicational relationships between vowel reduction and word-final nasal deletion in Catalan loanwords. We present the results of both a production and a perception test carried out with 31 young speakers from the Barcelona area. Loanwords susceptible to undergoing both nasal deletion and vowel reduction display different patterns, which, according to the tests, show different degrees of likeliness. The most common pattern is underapplication of both processes, followed closely by underapplication of nasal deletion alone and at a large distance by the application of both processes. Finally, underapplication of vowel reduction and application of nasal deletion is unattested in the production test and obtains a very low score in the perception test, that is, it is a very unlikely nativization pattern. The typology of possible nativizations and the implicational relationships between the processes under scrutiny are analyzed in the framework of Harmonic Grammar under Weighted Scalar Constraints, following recent proposals by Hsu & Jesney (2017, 2018).

Abstract

In this paper we analyze, from an experimental and formal perspective, the interaction and the implicational relationships between vowel reduction and word-final nasal deletion in Catalan loanwords. We present the results of both a production and a perception test carried out with 31 young speakers from the Barcelona area. Loanwords susceptible to undergoing both nasal deletion and vowel reduction display different patterns, which, according to the tests, show different degrees of likeliness. The most common pattern is underapplication of both processes, followed closely by underapplication of nasal deletion alone and at a large distance by the application of both processes. Finally, underapplication of vowel reduction and application of nasal deletion is unattested in the production test and obtains a very low score in the perception test, that is, it is a very unlikely nativization pattern. The typology of possible nativizations and the implicational relationships between the processes under scrutiny are analyzed in the framework of Harmonic Grammar under Weighted Scalar Constraints, following recent proposals by Hsu & Jesney (2017, 2018).

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