<OT> New Posting: ROA-586

[Rutgers Optimality Archive]

ROA 586-0303

Against an ONSET Analsyis of Hiatus Resolution

Marianne Borroff <mlborroff@aol.com>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=586


Abstract:
In Yatzachi Zapotec (YZ), spoken in southeastern Mexico, onsetless
syllables are allowed initially, but not word internally. In derived vowel
sequences, hiatus is repaired through coalescence or diphthongization.  
Interestingly, sequences of vowel-glottal stop-vowel behave much the same
as VV sequences, as shown in (1).  The similar patterning of Zapotec VV
and V?V sequences suggests that they be subsumed under the same analysis.


(1) a. zetSa + o? --> zetSao?  -diphthongization
b. tSSagna? + o? --> tSSagnao-  -diphthongization

c. zetSa + a? --> zetSa?  -coalescence
d. tSSagna? + a? --> tSSagnaa-  -coalescence

This data is problematic for analyses claiming that hiatus resolution is
motivated by the need for every syllable to have an onset.  While an ONSET
approach can handle the VV sequences, it cannot motivate repair of V?V,
which does not violate ONSET.


I propose that hiatus resolution may occur independently of ONSET.  The
approach taken here is inspired by the framework of gestural phonology. In
this framework, the phonological specifications of a segment are seen as
instructions to the articulators regarding a specific target gesture
associated with that segment.  Speech involves the temporal coordination
of the physical gestures comprising the utterance. Crucial is Gafos
(2001)'s notion of the coordination of gestures, and the claim that this
temporal coordination between gestures is constrained by gestural
coordination constraints, which state the optimal coordination of gestural
landmarks.


We can state the problem thus; faithful realization of input hiatus
results in the gestures of two vowels being adjacent or overlapping.
During the transition from one vowel to the next, gestures are made that
do not reflect any underlying phonological specification; they are merely
consequences of the physical system. During this period, acoustic cues are
produced that the hearer must ignore to correctly perceive the speech
stream; if he does not, he may incorrectly interpret the cues as being the
result of an underlying gestural target. This situation is surely
undesirable; by allowing gestures that are not part of the phonological
specification of the word to be perceived, we increase ambiguity.  I
propose that hiatus resolution is the result of a gestural coordination
constraint demanding that the gestural targets of every input sequence of
vowels be aligned with a consonantal target such that the consonant
overlaps the transitional gestures, henceforth VCV-COORD.


This approach handles the YZ data better than ONSET analyses because it
not only applies to VV contexts, but can also extend to V?V contexts;
glottal stop is not specified for an oral place target, and cannot satisfy
VCV-COORD. Moreover, I show that this analysis also explains puzzling data
from Yucatec Maya (YM) and Axeninca Campa (AC), which exhibit vowel
spreading across glottals and position dependent repair of ONSET
violations, respectively. In the case of YM, this data is easily
explained; spreading results in a single gesture across the glottal
closure, consequently no longer violating VCV-COORD.  Positional
differences in repair of ONSET violations are handled by teasing apart two
motivations for repair; ONSET and VCV-COORD.  When VCV-COORD outranks
ONSET only word medial onsetless syllables will be repaired.


(For Abstract, S= voiceless alveo-palatal fricative, ?= glottal stop. 
For document SIL IPA fonts are used.)

Keywords: Hiatus Resolution, Yatzachi Zapotec, ONSET, Gestures, Yucatec
Maya, Axeninca Campa

Areas: Phonology, Phonetics

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=586