- Email: [email protected]
Empty consonants and other CV-tier effects in Aranese Gascon
Lmgua
86 (1992) 177-188.
North-Holland
Empty consonants Aranese Gascon
Received
April
In this paper. number possesses bctwecn
support
both word-initial tautomorphemic to eliminate
September
for the existence
of facts in the phonology
and word-final to the CV-tier.
the CV-tier
effects in
1991
and independence
of the Aranese
of the CV-tier
dialect of Gascon.
empty consonants,
and heteromorphemic
dll%erence in the linkage proposals
and other CV-tier
1991; revised version
strong
177
affricates
from a
and that it also makes a distinction
which should
These facts have special
from phonological
is derived
It is shown that this language be captured
significance
in terms of a
in view of recent
representations.
1. Introduction
The introduction of the skeleton or CV-tier in phonological representations constituted a great advance in our understanding of numerous phonological processes in a great number of languages (cf. McCarthy 1979, Clements and Keyser 1983, among others). More recently, however, it has been claimed by several authors that many of the facts that the CV-tier allowed us to capture receive a better explanation in a framework where, instead of the CV-tier, a mora tier is proposed (cf. Hayes 1989, McCarthy and Prince 1990). Since moraic representations, in addition, allow us to explain facts that are hard to account for in CV-representations, the argument is made that the CV-tier should be eliminated in favor of the mora-tier. Without denying the virtues of moraic representations in the analysis of compensatory lengthening and other processes, 1 believe that its adoption should not represent the simultaneous abandonment of the CV-tier. The CVtier allows us to capture certain phenomena that are difficult to explain without this level or representation, such as ‘empty C-effects’ and distinctions
0024.3X41~92.$05.00
(:\ 1992 -
Elsevier Science Publishers
B.V. All rights reserved
178
between
J.I.
Hualde
true geminates
/
Empty
consonants
or complex
and olher CV-tier
segments
qfki.~
and mere sequences.
These facts
do not find an easy explanation in a model without a CV-tier. In this paper, I will present evidence from various processes in a single language that require reference to the CV-tier. The language analyzed in this paper is Aranese, a Gascon dialect. I will show that this language presents two independent phenomena that’ fequire the postulation of empty C-slots word-initially and word-finally. An analysis in terms of free or ‘floating’ moras would not be appropriate, since the empty segments that must be postulated are not moraic. In addition, the language makes a distinction between tautomorphemic and heteromorphemic affricates that is best explained by appealing to differences involving the CV-tier. When considered together, the different facts concerning a single language that are examined in this paper offer strong support for the reality of the CV-tier and its importance in the phonological make-up of Aranese. Before examining the data, a few words must be said about the language. The language studied in this paper, Aranese, is a Gascon dialect which is spoken in the Aran Valley, within the political boundaries of Spanish Catalonia. This is the only Gascon dialect spoken in Spanish territory. Among all Occitan varieties, Aranese is without a doubt one of the most vital. At present, the language enjoys an official status and is used in education and in some publications. This is to be compared with the situation of almost total lack of official support that the Occitan language has in France. Generally speaking, all children of Aranese parents speak the language. Given the peculiar geographical situation of the Aran Valley, the great majority of Aranese speakers are also fluent in Spanish and Catalan. Many of them also know French. (For details about the sociolinguistic situation in the Aran Valley, see Climent 1986, Sans 1989a.)
2. Word-initial empty consonants A characteristic trait of Gascon is the historical change from Latin [fl to [h]. In presenting this feature, Gascon differs from the other Occitan dialects, and, on the other hand, shows a common evolution with Spanish. The change took place in more phonological environments in Gascon than in Spanish. Whereas in Spanish the change [fJ > [h] was limited to the initial prevocalic position, in Gascon it also took place before consonants and glides and in word-internal position (cf. Rohlfs 1970: 145-149). Some Aranese examples
J. I. H&de
illustrating this historical representation): l (I) Latin Emina farina fame(m) fagu(m) fastidiare frigidu(m) fenestra focu( m) festa filiu(m) cofia *af%re confessare
179
/ Empry consonants and other CV-tier effects
change
are given in (1) (examples
in orthographic
Aranese hemna haria hame hai hastiar hered hiistra huec hesta hilh coha ahialar coheissar
‘woman’ ‘flour’ ‘hunger’ ‘beech tree’ ‘to bore’ ‘cold’ ‘window’ ‘fire’ ‘holiday’ ‘son’ ‘hair-net’ ‘to sharpen’ ‘to confess’
In most of Aran the aspiration was lost at a later stage, completing the volution [fl > [h] > 0 that we also find in Castilian Spanish.z The aspiration is only maintained in some words in the village of Canejan, next to the French border. In the examples in (1) the h is, thus, purely an orthographic convention with only etymological value. And yet, in spite of the fact that [h] is never pronounced, one could say that initial /h/ has not disappeared completely. Many items that historically had an /h/ still have a special behavior with respect to a certain assimilation process which sets them apart from vowel-initial words. This is somewhat reminiscent of the equally silent ‘h-aspire’ phenomenon in French. In Aranese, as in other Gascon varieties, a stop in a coda assimilates in all features to another following stop in an onset and often also to a following nasal or lateral or nonsibilant fricative: (2) cap b&c cap talher 1 Much of the Aranese gratitude to my Aranese
[kabbjsk] [kattaLC]
‘no forest’ ‘no shop’
data in this paper come from my own fieldwork. I want to express my informant, Frederic Vergt-s. Coromines (1990), Morales (1990), Barnils
( 1914) and Condb ( 1916). as well as Aranese pedagogical materials containing vocabulary lists, such as Sans (1989b) and Generalitat de Catalunya (1984), have also been used for examples and information. All Aranese examples are given in the recently adopted normalized orthography. 2 The diachronic phonology of Aranese is studied in Coromines (1976, 1990).
180
J. I. Huuldr i Empty consonants and other CV-tier
cap cap cap set set set set eth eth eth eth eth pot pot pot
dia casa gat boques cases gats fiulets pant vedeth gat libe nhac pan beroi tocat
[kaddia] [kakkiza] [kaggat] [sSbbukes] [&kkrizes] [sCggLts] * [saTiwl&s] [eppjnl [ebbed&t] [eggatl [elliBe] Le.&k1 [pjppanl [pjbbemj] [pjttukat]
cfft~t.v
‘no day’ ‘no house’ ‘no cat’ ‘seven mouths’ ‘seven houses’ ‘seven cats’ ‘seven whistles’ ‘the bridge’ ‘the calf ‘the cat’ ‘the book’ ‘the bite’ ‘little bread’ ‘little pretty’ ‘little touched’
This assimilation process is not limited to Aranese, but, rather, is a panGascon phenomenon. The following examples are from Rohlf (1970: 16X) and are given in the orthography employed by this author, which is based on French spelling conventions. All the examples illustrate the assimilation of the final consonant of the singular masculine article /et/: (3) ep pe ec castet em mur en nebout el li eb bi eb dio eg gat
[PPI
Ml [mm1 inn1 [I II Dbl WI kg1
‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ?he
foot’ castle’ wall’ nephew’ flax’ wine’ day’ cat’
In Gascon dialects that preserve the [h] sound, there is also assimilation with [h]-initial words, but in the opposite direction. It is [h] that assimilates to a preceding coda stop in all features. The examples are from Rohlfs (1970: 1677169): (4) et hia et hour et houec
et tia et tour et touec
‘the prairie’ ‘the oven’ ‘the fire’
J. I. Hualde / Empr! consonunls and other CV-tier tffticts
et haure
et taure
trop hauto
trop pauto
Following geometry.
(5)
Clements
(1985)
181
‘the smith’ ‘too tall, fem.’
Sagey
(1986)
and
much
work
on
feature
will
a.
R SL P
b.
/O\ 0
R 0
L
O\ 0
L
0
R = root, L = laryngeal, SL = supralaryngeal, P = place I will claim that the complete assimilation process illustrated in the examples in (2) is not a unitary operation, but, rather, results from three spreading operations involving the laryngeal node, the supralaryngeal node and the place node, respectively. Evidence for the independence of these three operations is given by the fact that it is possible to have assimilation both in voice and in place features without having assimilation in supralaryngeal manner features. Assimilation in laryngeal and place features without affecting the supralaryngeal manner features takes place in sequences where a stop precedes a sibilant fricative. A stop in a coda will assimilate only in voice and place to a following sibilant, giving rise to an affricate. This is shown in the examples in (6): (6) cap servici cap zero
[katserf3isi] [kadz&u]
‘no service’ ‘no zero’
cap shisclet
[katSiskltt] [kadijk]
cap jot pot jot pot soent
‘no creak’ ‘no game’ ‘little game’ ‘little frequent’
[pjdijk] [pjtsuen]
Before a rhotic, a final stop also assimilates in voice and in place, but not in manner. These same results are also often obtained before a nasal or lateral, where assimilation in manner is only optional: (7) cap pot cap cap eth
rason roi lac net nas
[kadrazun] [pjdFjj] [kadlak] [kidnet] [ednas]
‘no reason’ ‘little red’ ‘no lake’ ‘no night’ ‘the nose’
These resulting forms must be produced by leftward spreading of the laryngeal node (which results in voice assimilation) and of the place node (which results in place assimilation):
(8)
7
;:
,““_\,,O 0,
0
\
0..
\ \
,
0
,
_\ “0
R SL L
\ ‘.O
P
These must clearly be two independent operations, since there is no node that dominates voice and place features without also dominating the supralaryngeal manner features. In the case of stop-stop sequences such as those in (2) above, all three nodes of the onset consonant spread leftward to the coda position. The defective segment /h/ only has one node to spread, the laryngeal node. The leftward spreading of this node will result in the devoicing of a preceding word-final consonant. This operation is vacuous because all word-final stops are devoiced by an independent rule of final devoicing. What happens in stop-/h/ sequences is that there is also assimilation in supralaryngeal features but in the opposite direction, since /h/ has no supralaryngeal features to spread. In sequences where initial /h/ is preceded by a stop, there is rightward
J. I. H&de
1 Empty consonants and other CV-tier efects
183
spreading of the supralaryngeal node of the stop onto the position occupied by the /h/. This results in a geminate group with the features of the first segment:
P
0
As mentioned, in almost all of the Aranese territory, the [h] sound has been lost. Those words which have aspiration in other Gascon varieties are pronounced without this sound. Nevertheless, even though a laryngeal fricative is no longer a segment in the surface inventory of Aranese, some items that historically contained initial /h/, and which now are simply vowel-initial, trigger the same assimilation process that [h] triggers in other dialects. Consider the examples in (9). The article eth /et/, whose final consonant assimilates to a following consonant, as was shown in the examples in (2) appears as [er] before most vowel-initial words: (10) eth amic eth audeth eth ome
[eramik] [erawdht] [erjme]
‘the friend’ ‘the bird’ ‘the man’
The alternation between final [t] and intervocalic [r] is very common in the language. It corresponds to the historical result of Latin geminate ill/ in this environment. Some items that present this alternation in morphological contexts are, for instance, bPth/bPra ‘some m/f, vedtithlved&a ‘calf m/f, aquethlaquera ‘that m/f. With a few words which on the surface appear to start with a vowel, we find gemination of the final /t/ of the definite article, instead of the rhotacism triggered by the vast majority of vowel-initial words. These exceptional words historically had initial aspiration : (11) hum [ym] ‘smoke’ hilh [X] ‘son’ hitge [idie] ‘liver’
eth hum [ettym] ‘the smoke’ eth hilh [ettik] ‘the son’ eth hitge [ettidie] ‘the liver’
Items such as these must be lexically differentiated from regular vowelinitial words, since they behave differently in the phonological context illustrated in (lO)(l 1). To explain the exceptional behavior of these words I will propose that they contain an initial empty consonant-slot in their lexical representation. This empty C-slot may receive features preceding consonant, which will produce a geminate: (12)
v c ILe t
by spreading
from a
,CVC II ym
In this analysis the formation of a geminate consonant in groups such as those in (I 1) receives a natural explanation. One might alternatively simply give some abstract lexical feature to these items to account for their exceptional behavior. But that would not explain why gemination takes place with these seemingly vowel-initial words. On the other hand, the postulated presence of an initial empty C-slot explains not only why the /t/ of the article fails to become [r] before these words, but also why it geminates. There is thus quite solid evidence to argue that in some lexical items a historical /h/ has not been completely lost, but remains as an empty consonant. In the following section, I will examine more evidence for empty consonants in the Aranese lexicon.
3. Word-final
empty consonants
Aranese has a rule of velarization in examples such as those in (I :
affecting
final in/, which can be observed
(I 3) coishin
Wsl sason
one thing,
J. 1. Huulde / Empiy con.wnun~~ and orher CV-iier efecrs
1x5
limited to the word-final context and to the position before a velar consonant. In addition, it can be demonstrated that [n] derives from the phoneme /n; because word-final [n] appears as [n] when it ceases to be word-final by morphological concatenation. That is, there are alternations such as coishi[n] ‘cushion’/coi&i[n]ercl ‘pillow (case)‘, saso[g] ‘season’/saso[n]er ‘seasonal’, etc. There is thus a rule that changes underlying /n/ into [r~] in final position: (14) /n/-velarization:
n + n / _]
Nevertheless, and in spite of the existence of a rule velarizing final coronal nasals, we do find some words which present a coronal nasal in word-final position. These exceptions to /n/-velarization require an explanation. In most cases when a coronal nasal appears word-finally, morphophonological alternations show that the nasal is followed by a corona1 stop in underlying representation. These nasals are thus not underlyingly word-final. These items constitute a rather large group. Some examples of masculine/feminine pairs that show that there is a /t/ after the nasal which is deleted in word-final position are given in (15) (in the feminine an ending /-a/ is added to the masculine) ( I 5) masculine
feminine
comet-cant [kumefsan] abitant [abitan]
comercanta [kumefsanta] abitanta [aBitanta]
pinent [pinen] sabent [saDen]
pinenta sabenta
[pinenta] [sal3enta]
‘merchant’ ‘inhabitant’ ‘hanging’ ‘wise’
The very productive process of diminutive formation by affixation of /-et/ also shows that these words end in it/; e.g.: comeqwztet [kumei%antCt] ‘little merchant’. The word-final /t/ is deleted by a general rule that simplifies final clusters where a stop is preceded by a (necessarily hornorganic) nasal. This rule applies also to delete other stops besides the coronal stop, as can be seen in examples such as camp [kam] ‘field’ (cf. campet [kampet] ‘little field’) or hlunc [blan] ‘white, m’ (cf. hlanca [blanka] ‘white, f’). The presence of an underlying following stop protects the coronal nasal from the effects of the velarization rule. There are words in which a final corona1 also fails to velarize even though no consonant ever surfaces after the nasal in morphologically derived contexts:
186
J.I.Hualde / Empty
(16) bren [bren] an [an] varan [baran] pregon [prexjhn] redon [featin] ardon [af&m] joen [diuen]
consonants and other CV-tier effects
brenet [brenet] anet [anet] varanet [baranet]
‘bran/little ‘year/little ‘halo/little
pregona [prextina] redona [rebuna] ardona [aStina] joena [diuena]
‘deep m/f ‘round m/f ‘round m/f ‘young m/f
bran’ year’ halo’
The fact that in the conventional spelling these words do not have a final t after the nasal is a good indication that indeed this consonant does not show up in morphologically related words. Why, then, should these words fail to undergo velarization? We could simply assume that these words, which form a small group, are simply marked in the lexicon as exceptions to the velarization rule by means of a diacritic [-rule 141. However, there seems to be a more attractive solution. Given the observed fact that a following consonant will prevent nasal velarization from applying, for which items ending in /nt/ provide strong evidence, it seems reasonable to assume that the items in (16) too present a consonant after the nasal. The difference between words such as those in (15) and those in (16) is that the former present a final full consonant, a it/, whereas the latter have a final empty consonant. This empty consonant blocks the velarization of the nasal to its left, since the velarization rule only affects strictly word-final coronal nasals. This is thus a second context in the Aranese lexicon where the positing of empty consonants derives the correct results in a rather straightforward manner. This constitutes direct evidence for the postulation of a CV-tier which is independent of the feature matrices of segments. In the next section, I will present a third argument for the CV-tier in Aranese from the behavior of different types of geminates.
4. True and false affricates As noted in Morales (1990), all word-final affricates do not present the same behavior in Aranese. There is a crucial distinction between tautomorphemic and heteromorphemic affricates. Morpheme-internal word-final affricates assimilate in all features to a following stop. In this, these segments present the same behavior that was shown in (2) for stops. Thus from detz [dets] ‘ten’ we obtain detz ponts [deppuns] ‘ten bridges’, with complete assimilation of the affricate to the following consonant. On the other hand,
when a final affricate is the result of adding the plural morpheme /s/ to an item ending in it/, as in gcrts [gits] ‘cats’ or fruts [frjits] ‘fruits’, this heteromorphemic affricate does not assimilate to a following consonant. The only change that is possible in these sequences is the simplification of the affricate by loss of its occlusive element: guts polits [gitspulits], [gispulits] ‘pretty cats’, *[g8ppulits]. This difference in behavior between ‘true’, morpheme-internal affricates and ‘false’ affricates can be adequately captured by means of the CV-tier. True affricates present a single feature matrix linked to a single Cslot. Phonetic affricates that arise by morpheme concatenation, on the other hand, are sequences of two Cs. In (17a) a morpheme-internal affricate is represented and in (17b) a heteromorphemic affricate: (17) a. c
b. CC
I
II
ts
t s
True affricates assimilate obstruents. Heteromorphemic undergo this rule.
in the same fashion as other noncontinuant affricates, being sequences of segments, cannot
5. Conclusion In this paper, arguments for the CV-tier have been developed from three independent sets of phonological facts in Aranese. It has been claimed that the language possesses both word-initial and word-final empty consonants and that it also makes a distinction between two types of affricates that finds a straightforward
explanation
by means
of the CV-tier.
References Barnils,
Pere.
Clements.
I9 14. Notes sobre I’arank.
George
N., 1985. The geometry
I, 48-56.
Butlleti de Dialectologia
Catalana
of phonological
Phonology Yearbook 2, 225-
features.
252. Clement% George N. and Samuel J. Keyser, 1983. CV Phonology: A generative theory of the syllable. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Climent. Teresa, 1986. Realitat de Sociolinguistica Catalana. Condb,
J.. 1916. Vocabulari
linguistica
arank.
a la Val d’Aran.
Butlleti de Dialectologia
Barcelona: Catalana
Publications 3, l-27.
de I’lnstitut
J.I. H&de
188
Coromines,
Joan,
Barcelona:
1976. Introduccio
a l’estudi de I’aranes.
In: Entre dos Ilenguatges,
Vol. 2, 5-28.
Curial.
Coromines.
Joan,
el gas&.
1990. El parlar
Barcelona:
Generalitat Hayes.
/ Empry consonon~s and other CV-lier effecrs
de la Vail d’Aran:
Curia1 Editions
de Catalunya,
1983. Libre de lectura.
Bruce. 1989. Compensatory
Gramdtica.
diccionari
i estudis lexicals sobre
Catalanes.
lengthening
Lleida:
Dilagro.
in moraic
phonology.
in Romance.
In: Carl
Linguistic
Inquiry
20. 2533
306. Hualde,
Jose I., 1989. Delinking
(eds.), Studies in Romance Lass, Roger,
1976. English
Cambridge McCarthy,
University John,
processes
linguistics.
Amsterdam:
phonological
theory:
Benjamins,
Synchronic
Kirschner,
Janet
DeCesaris
177-194.
and diachronic
studies.
Cambridge:
Press.
1979. Formal
problems
in Semitic phonology
and morphology.
Ph.D.
disserta-
tion, MIT. McCarthy, broken Morales,
John and Alan S. Prince, plural.
Natural
Alfonso,
Champaign,
Language
1990. Descripcihn
1990. Foot and word in prosodic and Linguistic fonologica
Theory
morphology:
del am&s.
University
Elizabeth,
Ph.D. Sans,
Jo&p
Sans, Jo&p vocabulari Steriade,
1986. The representation
dissertation,
Ilerdencs,
of Illinois,
Urbana-
IL, ms.
Rohlfs. Gerhard. 1970. Le Gascon: Etudes de philologie pyrenienne, Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie 85. Tubingen: Max Niemeyer. Sagey,
The Arabic
8, 2099284.
Lois,
of features
and
relations
2nd ed. Beihefte in nonlinear
zur
phonology.
MIT. (1989a).
Sociolingiiistica
der
aranes
ena
Val
d’Aran.
lnstitut
d’Estudis
Lleida, ms. Lois. 1989b. Aportacion basic. ICE Autonoma,
Donca.
1987. Locality
ara didactica
fonetica
e ortografica
der aranes
Lleida, ms.
conditions
and feature
geometry.
NELS
17. 595-617.
per miei de
86 (1992) 177-188.
North-Holland
Empty consonants Aranese Gascon
Received
April
In this paper. number possesses bctwecn
support
both word-initial tautomorphemic to eliminate
September
for the existence
of facts in the phonology
and word-final to the CV-tier.
the CV-tier
effects in
1991
and independence
of the Aranese
of the CV-tier
dialect of Gascon.
empty consonants,
and heteromorphemic
dll%erence in the linkage proposals
and other CV-tier
1991; revised version
strong
177
affricates
from a
and that it also makes a distinction
which should
These facts have special
from phonological
is derived
It is shown that this language be captured
significance
in terms of a
in view of recent
representations.
1. Introduction
The introduction of the skeleton or CV-tier in phonological representations constituted a great advance in our understanding of numerous phonological processes in a great number of languages (cf. McCarthy 1979, Clements and Keyser 1983, among others). More recently, however, it has been claimed by several authors that many of the facts that the CV-tier allowed us to capture receive a better explanation in a framework where, instead of the CV-tier, a mora tier is proposed (cf. Hayes 1989, McCarthy and Prince 1990). Since moraic representations, in addition, allow us to explain facts that are hard to account for in CV-representations, the argument is made that the CV-tier should be eliminated in favor of the mora-tier. Without denying the virtues of moraic representations in the analysis of compensatory lengthening and other processes, 1 believe that its adoption should not represent the simultaneous abandonment of the CV-tier. The CVtier allows us to capture certain phenomena that are difficult to explain without this level or representation, such as ‘empty C-effects’ and distinctions
0024.3X41~92.$05.00
(:\ 1992 -
Elsevier Science Publishers
B.V. All rights reserved
178
between
J.I.
Hualde
true geminates
/
Empty
consonants
or complex
and olher CV-tier
segments
qfki.~
and mere sequences.
These facts
do not find an easy explanation in a model without a CV-tier. In this paper, I will present evidence from various processes in a single language that require reference to the CV-tier. The language analyzed in this paper is Aranese, a Gascon dialect. I will show that this language presents two independent phenomena that’ fequire the postulation of empty C-slots word-initially and word-finally. An analysis in terms of free or ‘floating’ moras would not be appropriate, since the empty segments that must be postulated are not moraic. In addition, the language makes a distinction between tautomorphemic and heteromorphemic affricates that is best explained by appealing to differences involving the CV-tier. When considered together, the different facts concerning a single language that are examined in this paper offer strong support for the reality of the CV-tier and its importance in the phonological make-up of Aranese. Before examining the data, a few words must be said about the language. The language studied in this paper, Aranese, is a Gascon dialect which is spoken in the Aran Valley, within the political boundaries of Spanish Catalonia. This is the only Gascon dialect spoken in Spanish territory. Among all Occitan varieties, Aranese is without a doubt one of the most vital. At present, the language enjoys an official status and is used in education and in some publications. This is to be compared with the situation of almost total lack of official support that the Occitan language has in France. Generally speaking, all children of Aranese parents speak the language. Given the peculiar geographical situation of the Aran Valley, the great majority of Aranese speakers are also fluent in Spanish and Catalan. Many of them also know French. (For details about the sociolinguistic situation in the Aran Valley, see Climent 1986, Sans 1989a.)
2. Word-initial empty consonants A characteristic trait of Gascon is the historical change from Latin [fl to [h]. In presenting this feature, Gascon differs from the other Occitan dialects, and, on the other hand, shows a common evolution with Spanish. The change took place in more phonological environments in Gascon than in Spanish. Whereas in Spanish the change [fJ > [h] was limited to the initial prevocalic position, in Gascon it also took place before consonants and glides and in word-internal position (cf. Rohlfs 1970: 145-149). Some Aranese examples
J. I. H&de
illustrating this historical representation): l (I) Latin Emina farina fame(m) fagu(m) fastidiare frigidu(m) fenestra focu( m) festa filiu(m) cofia *af%re confessare
179
/ Empry consonants and other CV-tier effects
change
are given in (1) (examples
in orthographic
Aranese hemna haria hame hai hastiar hered hiistra huec hesta hilh coha ahialar coheissar
‘woman’ ‘flour’ ‘hunger’ ‘beech tree’ ‘to bore’ ‘cold’ ‘window’ ‘fire’ ‘holiday’ ‘son’ ‘hair-net’ ‘to sharpen’ ‘to confess’
In most of Aran the aspiration was lost at a later stage, completing the volution [fl > [h] > 0 that we also find in Castilian Spanish.z The aspiration is only maintained in some words in the village of Canejan, next to the French border. In the examples in (1) the h is, thus, purely an orthographic convention with only etymological value. And yet, in spite of the fact that [h] is never pronounced, one could say that initial /h/ has not disappeared completely. Many items that historically had an /h/ still have a special behavior with respect to a certain assimilation process which sets them apart from vowel-initial words. This is somewhat reminiscent of the equally silent ‘h-aspire’ phenomenon in French. In Aranese, as in other Gascon varieties, a stop in a coda assimilates in all features to another following stop in an onset and often also to a following nasal or lateral or nonsibilant fricative: (2) cap b&c cap talher 1 Much of the Aranese gratitude to my Aranese
[kabbjsk] [kattaLC]
‘no forest’ ‘no shop’
data in this paper come from my own fieldwork. I want to express my informant, Frederic Vergt-s. Coromines (1990), Morales (1990), Barnils
( 1914) and Condb ( 1916). as well as Aranese pedagogical materials containing vocabulary lists, such as Sans (1989b) and Generalitat de Catalunya (1984), have also been used for examples and information. All Aranese examples are given in the recently adopted normalized orthography. 2 The diachronic phonology of Aranese is studied in Coromines (1976, 1990).
180
J. I. Huuldr i Empty consonants and other CV-tier
cap cap cap set set set set eth eth eth eth eth pot pot pot
dia casa gat boques cases gats fiulets pant vedeth gat libe nhac pan beroi tocat
[kaddia] [kakkiza] [kaggat] [sSbbukes] [&kkrizes] [sCggLts] * [saTiwl&s] [eppjnl [ebbed&t] [eggatl [elliBe] Le.&k1 [pjppanl [pjbbemj] [pjttukat]
cfft~t.v
‘no day’ ‘no house’ ‘no cat’ ‘seven mouths’ ‘seven houses’ ‘seven cats’ ‘seven whistles’ ‘the bridge’ ‘the calf ‘the cat’ ‘the book’ ‘the bite’ ‘little bread’ ‘little pretty’ ‘little touched’
This assimilation process is not limited to Aranese, but, rather, is a panGascon phenomenon. The following examples are from Rohlf (1970: 16X) and are given in the orthography employed by this author, which is based on French spelling conventions. All the examples illustrate the assimilation of the final consonant of the singular masculine article /et/: (3) ep pe ec castet em mur en nebout el li eb bi eb dio eg gat
[PPI
Ml [mm1 inn1 [I II Dbl WI kg1
‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ‘the ?he
foot’ castle’ wall’ nephew’ flax’ wine’ day’ cat’
In Gascon dialects that preserve the [h] sound, there is also assimilation with [h]-initial words, but in the opposite direction. It is [h] that assimilates to a preceding coda stop in all features. The examples are from Rohlfs (1970: 1677169): (4) et hia et hour et houec
et tia et tour et touec
‘the prairie’ ‘the oven’ ‘the fire’
J. I. Hualde / Empr! consonunls and other CV-tier tffticts
et haure
et taure
trop hauto
trop pauto
Following geometry.
(5)
Clements
(1985)
181
‘the smith’ ‘too tall, fem.’
Sagey
(1986)
and
much
work
on
feature
will
a.
R SL P
b.
/O\ 0
R 0
L
O\ 0
L
0
R = root, L = laryngeal, SL = supralaryngeal, P = place I will claim that the complete assimilation process illustrated in the examples in (2) is not a unitary operation, but, rather, results from three spreading operations involving the laryngeal node, the supralaryngeal node and the place node, respectively. Evidence for the independence of these three operations is given by the fact that it is possible to have assimilation both in voice and in place features without having assimilation in supralaryngeal manner features. Assimilation in laryngeal and place features without affecting the supralaryngeal manner features takes place in sequences where a stop precedes a sibilant fricative. A stop in a coda will assimilate only in voice and place to a following sibilant, giving rise to an affricate. This is shown in the examples in (6): (6) cap servici cap zero
[katserf3isi] [kadz&u]
‘no service’ ‘no zero’
cap shisclet
[katSiskltt] [kadijk]
cap jot pot jot pot soent
‘no creak’ ‘no game’ ‘little game’ ‘little frequent’
[pjdijk] [pjtsuen]
Before a rhotic, a final stop also assimilates in voice and in place, but not in manner. These same results are also often obtained before a nasal or lateral, where assimilation in manner is only optional: (7) cap pot cap cap eth
rason roi lac net nas
[kadrazun] [pjdFjj] [kadlak] [kidnet] [ednas]
‘no reason’ ‘little red’ ‘no lake’ ‘no night’ ‘the nose’
These resulting forms must be produced by leftward spreading of the laryngeal node (which results in voice assimilation) and of the place node (which results in place assimilation):
(8)
7
;:
,““_\,,O 0,
0
\
0..
\ \
,
0
,
_\ “0
R SL L
\ ‘.O
P
These must clearly be two independent operations, since there is no node that dominates voice and place features without also dominating the supralaryngeal manner features. In the case of stop-stop sequences such as those in (2) above, all three nodes of the onset consonant spread leftward to the coda position. The defective segment /h/ only has one node to spread, the laryngeal node. The leftward spreading of this node will result in the devoicing of a preceding word-final consonant. This operation is vacuous because all word-final stops are devoiced by an independent rule of final devoicing. What happens in stop-/h/ sequences is that there is also assimilation in supralaryngeal features but in the opposite direction, since /h/ has no supralaryngeal features to spread. In sequences where initial /h/ is preceded by a stop, there is rightward
J. I. H&de
1 Empty consonants and other CV-tier efects
183
spreading of the supralaryngeal node of the stop onto the position occupied by the /h/. This results in a geminate group with the features of the first segment:
P
0
As mentioned, in almost all of the Aranese territory, the [h] sound has been lost. Those words which have aspiration in other Gascon varieties are pronounced without this sound. Nevertheless, even though a laryngeal fricative is no longer a segment in the surface inventory of Aranese, some items that historically contained initial /h/, and which now are simply vowel-initial, trigger the same assimilation process that [h] triggers in other dialects. Consider the examples in (9). The article eth /et/, whose final consonant assimilates to a following consonant, as was shown in the examples in (2) appears as [er] before most vowel-initial words: (10) eth amic eth audeth eth ome
[eramik] [erawdht] [erjme]
‘the friend’ ‘the bird’ ‘the man’
The alternation between final [t] and intervocalic [r] is very common in the language. It corresponds to the historical result of Latin geminate ill/ in this environment. Some items that present this alternation in morphological contexts are, for instance, bPth/bPra ‘some m/f, vedtithlved&a ‘calf m/f, aquethlaquera ‘that m/f. With a few words which on the surface appear to start with a vowel, we find gemination of the final /t/ of the definite article, instead of the rhotacism triggered by the vast majority of vowel-initial words. These exceptional words historically had initial aspiration : (11) hum [ym] ‘smoke’ hilh [X] ‘son’ hitge [idie] ‘liver’
eth hum [ettym] ‘the smoke’ eth hilh [ettik] ‘the son’ eth hitge [ettidie] ‘the liver’
Items such as these must be lexically differentiated from regular vowelinitial words, since they behave differently in the phonological context illustrated in (lO)(l 1). To explain the exceptional behavior of these words I will propose that they contain an initial empty consonant-slot in their lexical representation. This empty C-slot may receive features preceding consonant, which will produce a geminate: (12)
v c ILe t
by spreading
from a
,CVC II ym
In this analysis the formation of a geminate consonant in groups such as those in (I 1) receives a natural explanation. One might alternatively simply give some abstract lexical feature to these items to account for their exceptional behavior. But that would not explain why gemination takes place with these seemingly vowel-initial words. On the other hand, the postulated presence of an initial empty C-slot explains not only why the /t/ of the article fails to become [r] before these words, but also why it geminates. There is thus quite solid evidence to argue that in some lexical items a historical /h/ has not been completely lost, but remains as an empty consonant. In the following section, I will examine more evidence for empty consonants in the Aranese lexicon.
3. Word-final
empty consonants
Aranese has a rule of velarization in examples such as those in (I :
affecting
final in/, which can be observed
(I 3) coishin
Wsl sason
one thing,
J. 1. Huulde / Empiy con.wnun~~ and orher CV-iier efecrs
1x5
limited to the word-final context and to the position before a velar consonant. In addition, it can be demonstrated that [n] derives from the phoneme /n; because word-final [n] appears as [n] when it ceases to be word-final by morphological concatenation. That is, there are alternations such as coishi[n] ‘cushion’/coi&i[n]ercl ‘pillow (case)‘, saso[g] ‘season’/saso[n]er ‘seasonal’, etc. There is thus a rule that changes underlying /n/ into [r~] in final position: (14) /n/-velarization:
n + n / _]
Nevertheless, and in spite of the existence of a rule velarizing final coronal nasals, we do find some words which present a coronal nasal in word-final position. These exceptions to /n/-velarization require an explanation. In most cases when a coronal nasal appears word-finally, morphophonological alternations show that the nasal is followed by a corona1 stop in underlying representation. These nasals are thus not underlyingly word-final. These items constitute a rather large group. Some examples of masculine/feminine pairs that show that there is a /t/ after the nasal which is deleted in word-final position are given in (15) (in the feminine an ending /-a/ is added to the masculine) ( I 5) masculine
feminine
comet-cant [kumefsan] abitant [abitan]
comercanta [kumefsanta] abitanta [aBitanta]
pinent [pinen] sabent [saDen]
pinenta sabenta
[pinenta] [sal3enta]
‘merchant’ ‘inhabitant’ ‘hanging’ ‘wise’
The very productive process of diminutive formation by affixation of /-et/ also shows that these words end in it/; e.g.: comeqwztet [kumei%antCt] ‘little merchant’. The word-final /t/ is deleted by a general rule that simplifies final clusters where a stop is preceded by a (necessarily hornorganic) nasal. This rule applies also to delete other stops besides the coronal stop, as can be seen in examples such as camp [kam] ‘field’ (cf. campet [kampet] ‘little field’) or hlunc [blan] ‘white, m’ (cf. hlanca [blanka] ‘white, f’). The presence of an underlying following stop protects the coronal nasal from the effects of the velarization rule. There are words in which a final corona1 also fails to velarize even though no consonant ever surfaces after the nasal in morphologically derived contexts:
186
J.I.Hualde / Empty
(16) bren [bren] an [an] varan [baran] pregon [prexjhn] redon [featin] ardon [af&m] joen [diuen]
consonants and other CV-tier effects
brenet [brenet] anet [anet] varanet [baranet]
‘bran/little ‘year/little ‘halo/little
pregona [prextina] redona [rebuna] ardona [aStina] joena [diuena]
‘deep m/f ‘round m/f ‘round m/f ‘young m/f
bran’ year’ halo’
The fact that in the conventional spelling these words do not have a final t after the nasal is a good indication that indeed this consonant does not show up in morphologically related words. Why, then, should these words fail to undergo velarization? We could simply assume that these words, which form a small group, are simply marked in the lexicon as exceptions to the velarization rule by means of a diacritic [-rule 141. However, there seems to be a more attractive solution. Given the observed fact that a following consonant will prevent nasal velarization from applying, for which items ending in /nt/ provide strong evidence, it seems reasonable to assume that the items in (16) too present a consonant after the nasal. The difference between words such as those in (15) and those in (16) is that the former present a final full consonant, a it/, whereas the latter have a final empty consonant. This empty consonant blocks the velarization of the nasal to its left, since the velarization rule only affects strictly word-final coronal nasals. This is thus a second context in the Aranese lexicon where the positing of empty consonants derives the correct results in a rather straightforward manner. This constitutes direct evidence for the postulation of a CV-tier which is independent of the feature matrices of segments. In the next section, I will present a third argument for the CV-tier in Aranese from the behavior of different types of geminates.
4. True and false affricates As noted in Morales (1990), all word-final affricates do not present the same behavior in Aranese. There is a crucial distinction between tautomorphemic and heteromorphemic affricates. Morpheme-internal word-final affricates assimilate in all features to a following stop. In this, these segments present the same behavior that was shown in (2) for stops. Thus from detz [dets] ‘ten’ we obtain detz ponts [deppuns] ‘ten bridges’, with complete assimilation of the affricate to the following consonant. On the other hand,
when a final affricate is the result of adding the plural morpheme /s/ to an item ending in it/, as in gcrts [gits] ‘cats’ or fruts [frjits] ‘fruits’, this heteromorphemic affricate does not assimilate to a following consonant. The only change that is possible in these sequences is the simplification of the affricate by loss of its occlusive element: guts polits [gitspulits], [gispulits] ‘pretty cats’, *[g8ppulits]. This difference in behavior between ‘true’, morpheme-internal affricates and ‘false’ affricates can be adequately captured by means of the CV-tier. True affricates present a single feature matrix linked to a single Cslot. Phonetic affricates that arise by morpheme concatenation, on the other hand, are sequences of two Cs. In (17a) a morpheme-internal affricate is represented and in (17b) a heteromorphemic affricate: (17) a. c
b. CC
I
II
ts
t s
True affricates assimilate obstruents. Heteromorphemic undergo this rule.
in the same fashion as other noncontinuant affricates, being sequences of segments, cannot
5. Conclusion In this paper, arguments for the CV-tier have been developed from three independent sets of phonological facts in Aranese. It has been claimed that the language possesses both word-initial and word-final empty consonants and that it also makes a distinction between two types of affricates that finds a straightforward
explanation
by means
of the CV-tier.
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