<OT> New Posting: ROA-907

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 907-0307

Syncope and apocope in the history of Catalan: an Optimality Theory Approach

Max Wheeler <m.w.wheeler at sussex.ac.uk>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=907


Abstract:
Syncope and apocope of post-tonic vowels in the early, pre-literary,
period of the language made a major contribution to the
characteristic phonological structure of the Catalan lexicon. The
process eliminated the majority of cases of the post-tonic central
vowel ([É™]) deriving from /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ of Vulgar Latin, and
thereby vastly reduced the number of syllables in lexical entries.
For example, the process converted almost all masculine paroxytones
to oxytones, and almost all proparoxytones to paroxytone. Most
scholars have regarded syncope and apocope as independent changes,
overlooking the fact that from this perspective both processes
should be able to apply, provided syllable constraints permit. In
fact, no more than one post-tonic vowel is deleted in any word. I
suggest that syncope and apocope of post-tonic vowels both reflect
two preferences that overcame faithfulness to the syllabic and
prosodic structures inherited from late Latin. The first was a
preference for trochaic over dactylic feet (reflected here in the
constraint HEAD FOOT-RIGHT); the second was the preference not to
realize the least distinct vowel of the inventory /É™/ (reflected in
the constraint *SCHWA). The effect of these two preferences
(constraints) was countered by a faithfulness constraint (MAX
PROSODIC HEAD) that favoured retaining a vowel that in the inherited
form had been the head of a foot, namely the vowel of the final
syllable of proparoxytone words. All the constraints favouring
syncope were subject to prosodic constraints governing the
distribution into coda and/or onset of a sequence of consonants that
might result from the elimination of an internal post-tonic vowel;
these constraints are the sonority sequencing constraint SONSEQ, the
Syllable Contact Law (SYLCON), and the Minimum Sonority Distance
constraint. Dominated by HEAD FOOT-RIGHT, the faithfulness and
syllable structure constraints could not require the retention of
two post-tonic central vowels. In certain contexts where
Proto-Catalan had had two post-tonic central vowels, the result --
apocope or syncope -- is not completely general. While several
interpreta tions accounting for 'irregularity' are proposed, there
is insufficient data (absence of texts of the period of most
interest, and lack of suitable relevant lexical examples to
establish precise phonological conditions) to allow all of the
details to be satisfactorily resolved.

Comments: English version of book chapter to appear in Catalan
Keywords: Catalan, syncope, apocope, phonological change
Areas: Phonology, Historical Linguistics
Type: Manuscript

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=907