[lingtalks] UCLA Friday Colloquium: Rachel Walker

[Karma Dolma]

Friday, March 9
UCLA
11:00-12:50
Public Policy 2270
Colloquium

==================

Phonetics and phonology of coronal harmony: The case of Kinyarwanda Rachel
Walker University of Southern California

This talk addresses theoretical issues surrounding coronal harmony with an
instrumental movement tracking study of Kinyarwanda. Retroflex harmony in
Kinyarwanda causes alveolar [s, z] to become retroflex when preceding a
retroflex fricative within a stem. Intervening coronal stops, affricates,
and palatals block coronal harmony, but non-coronal consonants are reported
to be transparent. This harmony system bears on a debate in phonology. Some
researchers have proposed a Feature Extension approach, in which coronal
harmony extends a continuous tongue tip-blade feature (or gesture) with the
result that the feature is present during "transparent" segments, but
without perceptible effect (e.g. Flemming 1995, Ní Chiosáin & Padgett 1997,
Gafos 1996). Under an alternative Agreement by Correspondence approach,
harmony causes the tip-blade feature to occur in a harmonizing consonant but
does not cause it to be present during intervening segments (e.g. Hansson
2001, Rose & Walker 2004). Kinematic data on the production of consonants in
Kinyarwanda were collected using electromagnetic articulography. The mean
angle for receivers placed on the tongue tip and blade were calculated over
the consonant intervals. Mean angle reliably distinguished alveolar and
retroflex fricatives, with alveolars showing a lower tip relative to blade.
Several issues were explored involving the status of target consonants,
blockers, and transparent segments. A matter of particular note is that in
contexts where non-coronal consonants are perceived as transparent, their
mean tip-blade angle was significantly different from contexts where harmony
did not occur. 
Furthermore, mean angle during transparent [m] showed no significant
difference from mean angle during retroflex fricatives, suggesting that the
tip-blade angle is sustained systematically during transparent consonants
but without perceptible effect. This supports the Feature Extension approach
for coronal harmony in Kinyarwanda. A formal treatment of Kinyarwanda's
harmony is developed and cross-linguistic issues are addressed. Implications
for the diagnostics for the formal mechanisms driving coronal harmony are
discussed.

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