[lingtalks] TODAY: Armin Mester (Linguistics Colloquium)

[Klinton Bicknell]

TODAY at 2pm, Armin Mester (UC Santa Cruz; http://people.ucsc.edu/~mester/ 
  ) will give a colloquium in the UCSD Linguistics Department, in AP&M  
4301.

:: Abstract ::

Gemination and the prosody of loanwords in Japanese
In Japanese loanwords from English, obstruents that occupy coda  
position (or are ambisyllabic) in the source language sometimes appear  
geminated, sometimes not:

cap      > kyap.pu         BUT     captain > kya.pu.ten

bat       > bat.to                        butter   > ba.taa

listen     > ris.sun                       listener  > ri.su.naa

tax        > tak.ku.su                   tact       > ta.ku.to

frog      > fu.rog.gu                    log        > ro.gu

Predicting when gemination occurs, and when not, is a well-known  
problem, and no simple solution based on properties of the English  
inputs has emerged. This talk has two main goals: (i) To account for  
both newly established and well-known generalizations regarding  
obstruent gemination in Japanese loanwords. (ii) To demonstrate the  
extent to which loanword formation is constrained by the native  
(Yamato and Sino-Japanese) phonology.

-- 

For further information about the Linguistics department colloquia
series, including the schedule of future events, please visit http://ling.ucsd.edu/events/colloquia.html 
  .