Hiatus Resolution

Goal: This handout reviews and exemplifies the idea of homogeneity of target/heterogeneity of process. The empirical material is drawn from hiatus resolution in various languages.

#Homogeneity of target/heterogeneity of process.

$A single output configuration can be obtained in different ways between languages or sometimes within a language. Within-language target homogeneity is sometimes called a conspiracy (Kisseberth 1970).

#Relevance to phonological theory.

$Constraints describe output configurations; they are silent about how those configurations are obtained.

$A rule is a Apackage@ describing an input configuration and something to be done to it. Rules are silent about output configurations.

$So: Compelling examples of homogeneity of target/heterogeneity of process tend to support constraint-based over rule-based theories.

[$Question: Could one somehow combine the theories? How and why?]

#Hiatus avoidance

$Hiatus  occurrence of two vowels across syllable boundary in surface structure: ...V][V... Easy to remember, because as pronounced in many European languages, the word hiatus contains an instance of hiatus: [(h)i.a.tus].

$Many languages avoid hiatus (and no language requires it). That is, many languages enforce the following constraint:

No-Hiatus

*...V][V...

[$Ultimately I'll argue that the constraint No-Hiatus is too specific, and that there's actually a more general constraint *[V... that prohibits all V-initial (called Aonsetless@) syllables whatsoever.]

#Exercise

$Before turning the page, think of as many ways of resolving hiatus as you can. Be specific!

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#Vowel Deletion

(1) Yoruba (Casali 1997, Pulleyblank 1988)

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Underlying / Surface
ra gd 'buy bananas' / rgd
lo a 'use cloth' / la

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See Casali for many, many other examples and discussion of conditions under which V1 vs. V2 deletes.

(2) Rio Grande Valley Spanish (Hutchinson 1974)

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Orthography / Transcription / Orthography / Transcription
a.
lo odio / lóðyo / le hechas / léas
mi hijo / míxo / tu uniforme / tunifórme
era asi / érasí
b.
se hinca / síka / como uvitas / komuítas
c.
esta hija / estíxa / la iglesia / lilésya
la ultima / lúltima / casa humilde / kasumílde
paga Evita / paeíta / niña orgullosa

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#Glide Formation

(3) Rio Grande Valley Spanish (continued)

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Orthography / Transcription / Orthography / Transcription
mi ultima / myúltima / tu hijo / twíxo
mi hebra / myéra / tu epoca / twépoka
mi obra / myóra / su Homero / swoméro
mi arbol / myárol / tengo hipo / tegwípo
pague ocho / payóo / como Eva / komwéa
porque aveces / porkyaéses / lo habla / lwála
me urge / myúrxe / tu alma / twálma

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#Consonant Epenthesis

(4) Dutch (Booij 1995)

a. V1 is mid or high: insert homorganic glide

bioscoop[bijskop]cinema=

zee+en[zejn]seas=

Boaz[bos]Boaz=

b. V1 is low and V2 is stressed: insert 

paella[palja]paella=

aorta[arta]aorta=

c. But if V2 is unstressed: hiatus is unresolved

chaos[xá.s]chaos=

farao[fára.o]Pharaoh=

(5) Axíninca Campa (Arawakan, Peru) (McCarthy and Prince 1993b, Payne 1981)

a. C-Epenthesis with ordinary suffixation:

/i-N-koma-i/i.ko.ma.ti he will paddle=

/i-N-koma-ako-aa-i-ro/i.ko.ma.ta.ko.taa.ti.ro he will paddle for it again=

b. But incomplete copying with suffixing reduplication:

kawosi-kawosibathe=

vs.osakina-sakinawrite= *osakina-osakina, *osakina-tosakina

(6) Boston English

a.

The spar is broken.(spa = hot tub)

He put the tunar away.(tuna = tuna fish)

The boat=ll yawr a little.(yaw = tip from side to side)

I sawr Ed yesterday.(saw = past of see)

sawring wood(saw = cut wood)

withdrawral, withdrawring(withdraw = remove, pull out)

The baahring of sheep(baah = noise that sheep make)

She likes rumbaring and sambaring.(rumba, samba = Latin American dances)

subpoenaring witnesses(subpoena = compel to appear before a court)

b. Compare:

Busy_ as a bee.

Delay_ at your own risk.

Don=t deny_ it!

Peru, Indiana.

Clinton=ll veto_ it for sure.

Don=t allow_ anyone in.

A boy_ and a girl.

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c. What about r deletion? What are its conditions?

The spaseems to be broken.(spar = part of a sailing ship)

The spar is broken.

The spar is broken.(spa = hot tub)

The spa seems to be broken.

He put the tune down.(tuner = part of a stereo system)

He put the tuner away.

He put the tunar away.(tuna = tuna fish)

You'e somewhat older.(you=re = you are)

You=re a little older.

The boat tends to yawr a little(yaw = tip from side to side)

The boat tends to yaw somewhat.

#Infixation

(7) Timugon Murut (McCarthy and Prince 1993a, 1994, Prentice 1971)

a. Consonant-Initial Words

SimpleReduplicated

bulud bubuludhill/ridge=

limo lil.mofive/about five=

b. Vowel-Initial Words

ulampoy ulalampoyno gloss provided

abalan ababalanbathes/often bathes=

References

Booij, Geert (1995). The phonology of Dutch. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Casali, Roderic (1997). Vowel elision in hiatus contexts: Which vowel goes? Lg73. 493-533.

Hutchinson, Sandra Pinkerton (1974). Spanish vowel sandhi. In A. Bruck, R. Fox and M. La Galy (eds.) Papers from the Parasession on Natural Phonology. Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistic Society. 184-327.

Kisseberth, Charles (1970). On the functional unity of phonological rules. LI1. 291-306.

McCarthy, John, and Alan Prince (1993a). Generalized Alignment. In G. Booij and J. v. Marle (eds.) Yearbook of Morphology. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 79-153.

McCarthy, John, and Alan Prince (1993b). Prosodic Morphology I: Constraint Interaction and Satisfaction, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Rutgers University. Report RUCCS TR-3. [To appear, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.]

McCarthy, John, and Alan Prince (1994). The emergence of the unmarked: Optimality in prosodic morphology. In M. Gonzàlez (ed.) Proceedings of NELS 24. Amherst, MA: GLSA. 333-379.

Payne, David L. (1981). The Phonology and Morphology of Axininca Campa: The Summer Institute of Linguistics and University of Texas at Arlington.

Prentice, D. J. (1971). The Murut Languages of Sabah. Canberra: Australian National University.

Pulleyblank, Douglas (1988). Vocalic underspecification in Yoruba. LI19. 233-270.

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