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Ditidaht Vowel Alternations and Prosody

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Adam Werle
Adam Werle*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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Abstract

Among the Southern Wakashan languages, Ditidaht has patterns of short vowel epenthesis and deletion that are unusually complex. It is shown that the surface presence or absence of short vowels is determined not by their underlying presence or absence, but by how segments are parsed by prosodic constituents. An optimality theoretic analysis is developed, according to which vowel alternations result from the low ranking of faithfulness constraints (Max/V and Dep/V) relative to constraints on the forms of syllables, feet, and prosodic words. Vowel presence creates ideal iambic feet, makes prosodic words minimally disyllabic, and ensures that adducted consonants (those that involve adducting the vocal folds for glottalization or voicing) are vowel-adjacent. Vowel absence ensures that prosodic words end in consonants, and eliminates unfooted syllables. An additional finding is that all adducted consonants must be postvocalic.

Résumé

Résumé

Parmi les langues wakashannes du sud, le ditidaht présente des processus d’épenthèse et d’effacement de voyelles courtes qui sont particulièrement complexes. Il est ici démontré que la présence ou l’absence en surface de voyelles courtes est régie non pas par leur présence ou absence sous-jacente, mais par les computations prosodiques des segments de mots. Une analyse formulée dans la théorie de l’optimalité est développée, selon laquelle les alternances vocaliques résultent du rangement bas des contraintes de préservation (Max/V et Dep/V) relativement aux contraintes sur la forme des syllabes, des pieds et des mots prosodiques. La présence d’une voyelle crée un pied iambique idéal, rendant les mots prosodiques minimalement dissyllabiques et assurant que les consonnes adductives (celles qui impliquent l’adduction des cordes vocales pour la glottalisation ou le voisement) soient adjacentes à une voyelle. L’absence d’une voyelle permet qu’un mot prosodique se termine avec une consonne et qu’ainsi, chaque syllabe appartienne à un pied. Une constatation additionnelle est que les consonnes adductives doivent être postvocaliques.

Type
Part II: Phonetic and Phonological Properties
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 52 , Issue 1-2: Southern Wakashan Languages , July 2007 , pp. 71 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2007

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