Laurentian French laxing harmony and the Activity Principle Daniel - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Laurentian French laxing harmony and the Activity Principle Daniel Currie Hall Saint Mary’s University OCP 14 • Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf • 21 Februar(y) 2017

Overview A strong version of the Activity Principle (Dresher 2015, 2016) predicts that redundant features should not be phonologically active. Laurentian French appears to counterexemplify this: allophonic laxing of high vowels feeds a process of laxing harmony (Walker 1984; Poliquin 2006). However, an understanding of the French vowel system as a whole shows that its scope. the [ ± tense] contrast can plausibly be analyzed as including the high vowels in

Successive Division Algorithm (SDA) (1) a. Begin with no feature specifications: assume all sounds are allophones of a single undifgerentiated phoneme. b. If the set is found to consist of more than one contrasting member, select a feature and divide the set into as many subsets as the feature allows for. c. Repeat step (b) in each subset: keep dividing up the inventory into sets, applying successive features in turn, until every set has only one member. (Dresher 2009: 16)

Two hierarchies for French high vowels (2) u y i round back (adapted from Burstynsky 1968: 11) u y back i round a. [ ± round] ≫ [ ± back] b. [ ± back] ≫ [ ± round] + + − − + + − −

Assibilation of /t/ and /d/ before /i/ and /y/ (3) a. j’ai dit [ ʒ e dz i] b. du pain ɛ ] c. petit [p( ə ) ts i] d. têtu [t ɛts y] (Burstynsky 1968: 13) [ dz yp ˜

Figure 1: Vowel contrasts in French ø • œ • ɔ ɑ • i• • y e• ORAL • ɛ • • NASAL ɑ • ɔ • o • u • a• œ ɛ • ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

No laxing in fjnal open syllables (4) a. béni [beni] b. début [deby] c. dégoût [degu] d. cru [k ʁ y] (Poliquin 2006: 6)

(5) a. élite [el ɪ t] b. annule [an y l] c. égoutte [eg ʊ t] d. arbuste [a ʁ .b y st] (Poliquin 2006: 6) Laxing in fjnal syllables closed by a C other than /v z ʒ ʁ /

(6) a. église [egli ː z] b. Vésuve [vezy ː v] c. écluse [ekly ː z] d. sourd [su ːʁ ] (Walker 1984: 56; Poliquin 2006: 102) Final syllable closed by /v z ʒ ʁ /

Optional laxing in closed non-fjnal syllables (7) a. mystère b. binerie c. bustier d. soûlerie e. moucheté (Poliquin 2006: 26) [m ɪ s.t ɛːʁ ] ∼ [mis.t ɛːʁ ] [b ɪ n. ʁ i] ∼ [bin. ʁ i] [b y s. ts je] ∼ [bys. ts je] [s ʊ l. ʁ i] ∼ [sul. ʁ i] [m ʊʃ .te] ∼ [mu ʃ .te]

No laxing in open non-fjnal syllables d. culotte [ku.te] f. coûter ɔ ] e. bouton [ky.l ɔ t] [ ʒ y.m ɛ l] (8) c. jumelles ɔ ] b. guidons [mi.t ɛ n] a. mitaine (Poliquin 2006: 7) [gi.d ˜ [bu.t ˜

No laxing in non-fjnal syllables closed by voiced fricatives (9) a. Israël [iz. ʁ a. ɛ l] b. fuselage [fyz.la ːʒ ] c. ouzbèque [uz.b ɛ k] (Poliquin 2006: 177)

Harmonic laxing in non-fjnal open syllables (10) a. minute [m ɪ .n y t] b. pourrite [p ʊ . ʁɪ t] c. stupide [s ts y .p ɪ d] d. choucroute [ ʃʊ .k ʁʊ t] (Poliquin 2006: 7)

hirsute (11) [i ʁ .s y t] (Poliquin 2006: 177) No harmonic laxing before tautosyllabic /v z ʒ ʁ /

Words with three high vowels [l ɪ .mu.z ɪ n] [ dzɪ .s ɪ .m y l] [ dzɪ .si.m y l] [ dz i.s ɪ .m y l] [ dz i.si.m y l] d. dissimule [ ɪ .l y .m ɪ n] [ ɪ .ly.m ɪ n] [i.l y .m ɪ n] [i.ly.m ɪ n] c. illumine [l ɪ .m ʊ .z ɪ n] [li.m ʊ .z ɪ n] (12) [li.mu.z ɪ n] b. limousine [ ʒ y . ʁɪ . dzɪ k] [ ʒ y . ʁ i. dzɪ k] [ ʒ y. ʁɪ . dzɪ k] [ ʒ y. ʁ i. dzɪ k] a. juridique ITERATIVE INITIAL ONLY PENULT ONLY NO HARMONY (Poliquin 2006: 58–59)

Table 1: Cross-classifjcation of parameters NON-ITERATIVE ITERATIVE PENULT [ ʒ y. ʁɪ . dzɪ k] [ ʒ y . ʁɪ . dzɪ k] [i.le. ʒɪ . tsɪ m] [i.le. ʒɪ . tsɪ m] INITIAL [ ʒ y . ʁ i. dzɪ k] [ ʒ y . ʁɪ . dzɪ k] [ ɪ .le. ʒ i. tsɪ m] [ ɪ .le. ʒ i. tsɪ m] (Poliquin 2006)

Optional dissimilatory laxing (13) a. midi b. fini c. chimie d. Zoulou (Poliquin 2006: 97) [m ɪ . dz i] ∼ [mi. dz i] [f ɪ .ni] ∼ [fi.ni] [ ʃɪ .mi] ∼ [ ʃ i.mi] [z ʊ .lu] ∼ [zu.lu]

No dissimilatory laxing of non-identical vowels (14) a. Julie [ ʒ y.li] b. hibou [i.bu] c. ciguë [si.gy] d. poulie [pu.li] (Poliquin 2006: 131)

Opaque interaction of harmony and tensing (15) a. piqûre [p ɪ .ky ːʁ ] b. russise [ ʁ y .si ː z] c. humour [ y .mu ːʁ ] d. poussive [p ʊ .si ː v] (Poliquin 2006: 107–108)

Table 2: Derivation of russise Tensing [ ʁ y .si ː z] . S.F ʁ y .si ː z Lengthening ʁ y .siz ʁ y .s ɪ z U.R. Harmony ʁ y.s ɪ z Closed-Syllable Laxing ʁ y.siz Syllabification / ʁ ysiz/ (adapted from Poliquin 2006: 109)

Tense high vowels in English loanwords [b ʊ m] [ ʁʊ t] route [sut] d. suit [f ɪ n] fine [ ʤ in] c. jeans boum (16) [bum] b. boom [m ɪ n] mine [min] a. mean NATIVE ANALOGUE LOANWORD (Walker 1984: 59)

Tense–lax contrasts in the mid vowels (17) a. fée [fe] fait [f ɛ ] b. jeûne [ ʒ øn] seul [sœl] c. rôle [ ʁ ol] colle [k ɔ l] (Walker 1984: 23)

Contrasting non-fjnal tense and lax mid vowels (18) a. beauté [bote] [bo] b. botté [b ɔ te] [b ɔ t] (Walker 1984: 22–23) < beau < botte

Figure 2: Contrasts in the French vowel system o ɑ ɔ œ ɛ ɔ a i ɑ ø e œ ɛ w ɥ j u y (adapted from Jakobson & Lotz 1949: 157) ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

(Walker 1984: 78) (19) [ta.b ɑ ] tabac [ta.ba. ʒ i] f. tabagie [se.n ɑ ] sénat [se.na.tœ ːʁ ] e. sénateur [t ɑ ] tas ɑ .t ɑ .se] d. entasser OPEN FINAL OPEN NON-FINAL [pl ɑ ] plat [plat] c. plate [b ɑ ] bas [b ɑ s] b. basse [ ʃɑ ] chat [ ʃ at] a. chatte OPEN FINAL CLOSED FINAL Neutralization of the / ɑ /–/a/ contrast in open fjnal syllables [ ˜

Figure 3: Proposed feature hierarchy for French vowels ø ɔ nasal ɛ round back ɑ low u y i round back o œ e ɛ tense low a round round back œ ɔ low ɑ high back + − + + − − ˜ + + + − − − ˜ + + + − − − ˜ ˜ + + + − − − + + − −

Ordering binary [±low] and [±ATR] ATR / ɛ / /e/ /a/ ATR low ɔ } a ɑ } low {i y e ø o u} ATR (20) / ɛ / /e/ /a/ (St-Amand 2012: 69) low low a ɑ } ɔ } ATR {i y e ø o u} a. [ ± low] ≫ [ ± ATR] b. [ ± ATR] ≫ [ ± low] + + − − {a ˜ + + − − { ɛ ˜ ɛ œ ˜ œ ɔ ˜ {a ˜ { ɛ ˜ ɛ œ ˜ œ ɔ ˜ + + − − + + − − − −

Coalescence of /a/ and /e/ with specifjcations as in Fig. 3 (21) /a/ /e/ [ ɛ ] + → − nasal − nasal − nasal − tense + tense ✘ − tense ✘✘✘✘ + low − low − low ✘ ✘✘✘ − high ( − high) − back − back − round − round

Conclusions phonologically active on high vowels without abandoning the Activity Principle: Poliquin’s (2006) account of harmony does not require a non-contrastive feature to be phonologically active. The hierarchy is also consistent with attested patterns of assibilation (Burstynsky 1968) and coalescence (St-Amand 2012). Incorporating Jakobson & Lotz’s (1949) proposal that the / ɑ /–/a/ opposition is a tense–lax contrast removes St-Amand’s (2012) objection to binary features. The contrastive hierarchy in Fig. 3 makes it possible to say that [ ± tense] is

References Jakobson, Roman & John Lotz (1949). Notes on the French phonemic pattern. Word 5:2 . Walker, Douglas C. (1984). The pronunciation of Canadian French . Ottawa: University of dissertation, University of Toronto. St-Amand, Anne-Bridget (2012). Hiatus and hiatus resolution in Québécois French . PhD Harvard University. Poliquin, Gabriel Christophe (2006). Canadian French vowel harmony . PhD dissertation, 151–158. Annual Review of Linguistics 2 . 53–73. Burstynsky, Edward N. (1968). Quelques observations de phonologie générative appliquées Dresher, B. Elan (2016). Contrast in phonology, 1867–1967: History and development. Linguistic Variation 15:1 . 1–40. Dresher, B. Elan (2015). The motivation for contrastive feature hierarchies in phonology. University Press. Dresher, B. Elan (2009). The contrastive hierarchy in phonology . Cambridge: Cambridge français canadien , volume 1 of Studia Phonetica . Montréal: Marcel Didier, 9–17. au français canadien. In Pierre R. Léon (ed.) Recherches sur la structure phonique du Ottawa Press.