<OT> New Posting: ROA-574

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ROA 574-0203

Systemic Contrast and Catalan Rhotics

Jaye Padgett <padgett@ucsc.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=574


Abstract:
Catalan has two contrasting rhotics: a tap and a trill. The two sounds

contrast only between vowels, with the distribution otherwise being predictable.
This paper argues for an account of them cast within Dispersion Theory
(Flemming 1995), calling on constraints requiring that contrast be maintained,
and on others requiring that contrasts be perceptually distinct. The appeal
to contrast leads to a simpler and more explanatory account of Catalan
rhotics compared to previous ones. The analysis also illustrates how it
is possible to incorporate more systematic phonetic detail into phonology
without predicting the overgeneration of contrast. This is possible because
Dispersion Theory proposes constraints on the output that regulate contrast
directly. The importance of phonetic detail to uncovering phonological
generalizations in other languages is another emerging theme in recent
phonology.

Keywords: Catalan, Spanish, rhotic, contrast, perceptual distance, dispersion
theory

Areas: Phonology

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=574