Foot, word and phrase constraints in first language acquisition of Spanish stress
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Conxita Lleó
Abstract
The present paper provides an analysis of stress acquisition in Spanish, within the framework of Optimality Theory, focusing on the earliest utterances by two monolingual Spanish children. The Spanish stress algorithm exhibits right-headedness both at word and phrase level. Leaving aside some peripheral cases which call for moraic trochees, we assume that the main core of the Spanish system relies on the syllabic trochee as the basic prosodic pattern. The children’s first twenty one-word utterances made up of trochaic patterns were phonetically analyzed for the values of amplitude, pitch, and duration. The same analysis was carried out for word combinations comprising two trochaic-shaped words, as well as for some multisyllabic words present in our corpus. All vowels were analyzed with Pitchworks. Our results show that Spanish children master the constraint hierarchy responsible for word and phrasal stress assignment from very early on; however, they may produce prominence in a non-standard fashion, because their command of the acoustic parameters responsible for an adult-like phonetic implementation is not yet under control. Moreover, they tend to overgeneralize the trochaic pattern to some iambic-shaped words. We suggest that all these phenomena are to be construed in terms of constraint ranking.
Abstract
The present paper provides an analysis of stress acquisition in Spanish, within the framework of Optimality Theory, focusing on the earliest utterances by two monolingual Spanish children. The Spanish stress algorithm exhibits right-headedness both at word and phrase level. Leaving aside some peripheral cases which call for moraic trochees, we assume that the main core of the Spanish system relies on the syllabic trochee as the basic prosodic pattern. The children’s first twenty one-word utterances made up of trochaic patterns were phonetically analyzed for the values of amplitude, pitch, and duration. The same analysis was carried out for word combinations comprising two trochaic-shaped words, as well as for some multisyllabic words present in our corpus. All vowels were analyzed with Pitchworks. Our results show that Spanish children master the constraint hierarchy responsible for word and phrasal stress assignment from very early on; however, they may produce prominence in a non-standard fashion, because their command of the acoustic parameters responsible for an adult-like phonetic implementation is not yet under control. Moreover, they tend to overgeneralize the trochaic pattern to some iambic-shaped words. We suggest that all these phenomena are to be construed in terms of constraint ranking.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
- Spanish complex onsets and the phonetics–phonology interface 15
- Phonological phrasing in Spanish 39
- Hiatus resolution and incomplete identity 62
- Depalatalization in Spanish revisited 74
- Upstepping vowel height 99
- The phonology of nasal consonants in five Spanish dialects 146
- Optimality-theoretic advances in our understanding of Spanish syllable structure 172
- Exceptional hiatuses in Spanish 205
- The Spanish stress window 239
- Morphological structure and phonological domains in Spanish denominal derivation 278
- Gender allomorphy and epenthesis in Spanish 312
- A paradigm account of Spanish number 339
- Prefix boundaries in Spanish varieties 358
- Optimality Theory and language change in Spanish 378
- Duration, voice, and dispersion in stop contrasts from Latin to Spanish 399
- The interaction between faithfulness constraints and sociolinguistic variation 424
- Sonority scales and syllable structure 447
- Foot, word and phrase constraints in first language acquisition of Spanish stress 470
- Acquistion of syllable structure in Spanish 497
- Constraint conflict in the acquisition of clusters in Spanish 525
- Subject index 549
- Index of constraints 559
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
- Spanish complex onsets and the phonetics–phonology interface 15
- Phonological phrasing in Spanish 39
- Hiatus resolution and incomplete identity 62
- Depalatalization in Spanish revisited 74
- Upstepping vowel height 99
- The phonology of nasal consonants in five Spanish dialects 146
- Optimality-theoretic advances in our understanding of Spanish syllable structure 172
- Exceptional hiatuses in Spanish 205
- The Spanish stress window 239
- Morphological structure and phonological domains in Spanish denominal derivation 278
- Gender allomorphy and epenthesis in Spanish 312
- A paradigm account of Spanish number 339
- Prefix boundaries in Spanish varieties 358
- Optimality Theory and language change in Spanish 378
- Duration, voice, and dispersion in stop contrasts from Latin to Spanish 399
- The interaction between faithfulness constraints and sociolinguistic variation 424
- Sonority scales and syllable structure 447
- Foot, word and phrase constraints in first language acquisition of Spanish stress 470
- Acquistion of syllable structure in Spanish 497
- Constraint conflict in the acquisition of clusters in Spanish 525
- Subject index 549
- Index of constraints 559
