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Bogus clusters and lenition in Tuscan Italian

Implications for the theory of sonority

Abstract

It is widely believed that syllabification is determined by a sonority-driven algorithm like the Sonority Sequencing Principle (Selkirk 1984; Clements 1990, Vaux and Wolfe 2009). In this study, I evaluate this claim in light of Tuscan Italian. Using three phonological diagnostics, it will be possible to split the consonant clusters (CCs) of Tuscan into three types: Branching onset, Coda-Onset and Bogus clusters. Metrical lengthening and Gorgia Toscana filter out Branching onsets leaving behind Coda-onset and Bogus clusters as remnants. Elsewhere, the process known as Epenthesis (in non-standard dialects) filters out the Bogus clusters instead leaving Branching onsets and Coda-Onset clusters as the remnant. Comparing the two sets of remnants allows for the extraction of the Coda-Onset set. Using a Sonority Differential analysis (Parker 2011), it becomes evident (process by process) that sonority is not the primary (or a preferable) mechanism in determining these sets. In seeking an alternative analysis, Gorgia Toscana will be presented in some detail along with its implications for sonority. Gorgia underapplies in Bogus clusters. I will provide a suggestive sketch for a competing representational solution based on Strict CV (in particular Lowenstamm 2003 and Brun-Trigaud & Scheer 2010). Informed in part by Interlude Theory (Steriade 2008), it offers an alternative account for the lenition facts: compressible CCs (Branching onsets) are equivalent to a singleton stop, while non-compressible clusters (Coda-Onset and Bogus clusters) are equivalent to geminates. Unlike sonority based analyses, the phonological definition of the clusters offered here has a clear relationship with the phonological processes that they undergo.

Abstract

It is widely believed that syllabification is determined by a sonority-driven algorithm like the Sonority Sequencing Principle (Selkirk 1984; Clements 1990, Vaux and Wolfe 2009). In this study, I evaluate this claim in light of Tuscan Italian. Using three phonological diagnostics, it will be possible to split the consonant clusters (CCs) of Tuscan into three types: Branching onset, Coda-Onset and Bogus clusters. Metrical lengthening and Gorgia Toscana filter out Branching onsets leaving behind Coda-onset and Bogus clusters as remnants. Elsewhere, the process known as Epenthesis (in non-standard dialects) filters out the Bogus clusters instead leaving Branching onsets and Coda-Onset clusters as the remnant. Comparing the two sets of remnants allows for the extraction of the Coda-Onset set. Using a Sonority Differential analysis (Parker 2011), it becomes evident (process by process) that sonority is not the primary (or a preferable) mechanism in determining these sets. In seeking an alternative analysis, Gorgia Toscana will be presented in some detail along with its implications for sonority. Gorgia underapplies in Bogus clusters. I will provide a suggestive sketch for a competing representational solution based on Strict CV (in particular Lowenstamm 2003 and Brun-Trigaud & Scheer 2010). Informed in part by Interlude Theory (Steriade 2008), it offers an alternative account for the lenition facts: compressible CCs (Branching onsets) are equivalent to a singleton stop, while non-compressible clusters (Coda-Onset and Bogus clusters) are equivalent to geminates. Unlike sonority based analyses, the phonological definition of the clusters offered here has a clear relationship with the phonological processes that they undergo.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Prelude, theme and riffs vii
  4. English /au/ 1
  5. The internal TR clusters of Acadian French 17
  6. Hocus bogus? 33
  7. A unifying explanation of the Great Vowel Shift, Canadian Raising and Southern Monophthonging 63
  8. Deconstructing tongue root harmony systems 73
  9. Underlying representations and Bantu segmental phonology 101
  10. Uniqueness in element signatures 117
  11. Charting the vowel space 133
  12. The relative salience of consonant nasality and true obstruent voicing 145
  13. Asymmetric variation 163
  14. The beginning of the word 189
  15. On the diachronic origin of Nivkh height restrictions 201
  16. Segmental loss and phonological representation 215
  17. The phonology of handshape distribution in Maxakalí sign 231
  18. English stress is binary and lexical 263
  19. Bogus clusters and lenition in Tuscan Italian 277
  20. The prosodic status of glides in Anaañ reduplication 297
  21. Index 321
Sonic Signatures
This chapter is in the book Sonic Signatures
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.14.c16

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Prelude, theme and riffs vii
  4. English /au/ 1
  5. The internal TR clusters of Acadian French 17
  6. Hocus bogus? 33
  7. A unifying explanation of the Great Vowel Shift, Canadian Raising and Southern Monophthonging 63
  8. Deconstructing tongue root harmony systems 73
  9. Underlying representations and Bantu segmental phonology 101
  10. Uniqueness in element signatures 117
  11. Charting the vowel space 133
  12. The relative salience of consonant nasality and true obstruent voicing 145
  13. Asymmetric variation 163
  14. The beginning of the word 189
  15. On the diachronic origin of Nivkh height restrictions 201
  16. Segmental loss and phonological representation 215
  17. The phonology of handshape distribution in Maxakalí sign 231
  18. English stress is binary and lexical 263
  19. Bogus clusters and lenition in Tuscan Italian 277
  20. The prosodic status of glides in Anaañ reduplication 297
  21. Index 321
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