Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T06:04:11.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Positional faithfulness drives laxness alternations in Slovenian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2020

Michael Becker Open the ORCID record for Michael Becker [Opens in a new window]  and
Peter Jurgec
Michael Becker*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Peter Jurgec*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
*E-mail: michael@linguist.umass.edu, peter.jurgec@utoronto.ca.
*E-mail: michael@linguist.umass.edu, peter.jurgec@utoronto.ca.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We analyse the distribution of vowel laxness and stress alternations in Slovenian nouns (for example in the nominative and genitive forms of the masculine noun [ˈjɛzik ~ jeˈzika] ‘tongue’), showing that stress shifts away from mid lax vowels in initial syllables. A stress shift of this sort is predicted by positional faithfulness (Beckman 1997). We show that this prediction is correct, contra McCarthy (2007, 2010) and Jesney (2011). The productivity of the pattern is confirmed in a large-scale nonce-word task. Stress shift in Slovenian is a result of the markedness of mid lax vowels and, perhaps counterintuitively, faithfulness to laxness in initial stressed position.

Type
Articles
Information
Phonology , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , August 2020 , pp. 335 - 366
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

For their thoughtful comments and suggestions, we thank Christina Bethin, Maria Gouskova, Gaja Jarosz, Keren Rice, Adrian Stegovec, Matt Wolf, Draga Zec and the audiences of FASL 25 at Cornell and AMP 4 at the University of Southern California. We also thank Janko Petrovec for recording the stimuli and the anonymous participants in our studies who volunteered their time and effort. Finally, thanks to the Phonology reviewers and editors for their contributions towards improving this paper.

Online supplementary materials for this paper are available at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675720000160.

References

Anttila, Arto (2002). Morphologically conditioned phonological alternations. NLLT 20. 1–42.Google Scholar
Archangeli, Diana & Pulleyblank, Douglas (1994). Grounded phonology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Barnes, Jonathan (2006). Strength and weakness at the interface: positional neutralization in phonetics and phonology. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Barr, Dale J., Levy, Roger, Scheepers, Christoph & Tilly, Harry J. (2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language 68. 255–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bates, Douglas, Mächler, Martin, Bolker, Benjamin M. & Walker, Steven C. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software 67. 1–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Michael (2009). Phonological trends in the lexicon: the role of constraints. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Becker, Michael, Clemens, Lauren Eby & Nevins, Andrew (2017). Generalization of French and Portuguese plural alternations and initial syllable protection. NLLT 35. 299–345.Google Scholar
Becker, Michael & Gouskova, Maria (2016). Source-oriented generalizations as grammar inference in Russian vowel deletion. LI 47. 391–425.Google Scholar
Becker, Michael & Jurgec, Peter (2017). Interactions of tone and ATR in Slovenian. In Kehrein, Wolfgang, Köhnlein, Björn, Boersma, Paul & van Oostendorp, Marc (eds.) Segmental structure and tone. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 11–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Michael, Ketrez, Nihan & Nevins, Andrew (2011). The surfeit of the stimulus: analytic biases filter lexical statistics in Turkish laryngeal alternations. Lg 87. 84–125.Google Scholar
Becker, Michael & Levine, Jonathan (2020). Experigen: an online experiment platform. Available (August 2020) at https://github.com/tlozoot/experigen.Google Scholar
Becker, Michael, Nevins, Andrew & Levine, Jonathan (2012). Asymmetries in generalizing alternations to and from initial syllables. Lg 88. 231–268.Google Scholar
Beckman, Jill N. (1997). Positional faithfulness, positional neutralisation and Shona vowel harmony. Phonology 14. 1–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckman, Jill N. (1998). Positional faithfulness. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Berko, Jean (1958). The child's learning of English morphology. Word 14. 150–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumenfeld, Lev (2006). Constraints on phonological interactions. PhD dissertation, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul & Hayes, Bruce (2001). Empirical tests of the Gradual Learning Algorithm. LI 32. 45–86.Google Scholar
Casali, Roderick F. (1998). Resolving hiatus. New York & London: Garland.Google Scholar
Crosswhite, Katherine M. (2001). Vowel reduction in Optimality Theory. New York & London: Routledge.Google Scholar
de Lacy, Paul (2006). Markedness: reduction and preservation in phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Lacy, Paul (2007). The interaction of tone, sonority, and prosodic structure. In Lacy, Paul de (ed.) The Cambridge handbook of phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 281–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) (2013). The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. Available (August 2020) at http://wals.info.Google Scholar
Dybo, Vladimir A. (1981). Slavjanskaja akcentologija. Moscow: Akademija Nauk SSSR.Google Scholar
Ernestus, Mirjam & Harald Baayen, R. (2003). Predicting the unpredictable: interpreting neutralized segments in Dutch. Lg 79. 5–38.Google Scholar
Flack, Kathryn (2007). Templatic morphology and indexed markedness constraints. LI 38. 749–758.Google Scholar
Gelman, Andrew & Hill, Jennifer (2007). Data analysis using regression and multilevel/hierarchical models. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Giavazzi, Maria (2010). The phonetics of metrical prominence and its consequences for segmental phonology. PhD dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Goldwater, Sharon & Johnson, Mark (2003). Learning OT constraint rankings using a Maximum Entropy model. In Spenader, Jennifer, Eriksson, Anders & Dahl, Östen (eds.) Proceedings of the Stockholm Workshop on Variation within Optimality Theory. Stockholm: Stockholm University. 111–120.Google Scholar
Gouskova, Maria (2007). The reduplicative template in Tonkawa. Phonology 24. 367–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Marc L. (2000). A historical phonology of Slovene. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Hammond, Michael (1997). Vowel quantity and syllabification in English. Lg 73. 1–17.Google Scholar
Hayes, Bruce (2004). Phonological acquisition in Optimality Theory: the early stages. In Kager, René, Pater, Joe & Zonneveld, Wim (eds.) Constraints in phonological acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 158–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, Bruce (2017). Varieties of Noisy Harmony Grammar. In Karen Jesney, Charlie O'Hara, Caitlin Smith & Rachel Walker (eds.) Proceedings of the 2016 Meeting on Phonology. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/amp.v4i0.3997.Google Scholar
Hayes, Bruce & White, James (2013). Phonological naturalness and phonotactic learning. LI 44. 45–75.Google Scholar
Hayes, Bruce & Wilson, Colin (2008). A maximum entropy model of phonotactics and phonotactic learning. LI 39. 379–440.Google Scholar
Hayes, Bruce, Zuraw, Kie, Siptár, Péter & Londe, Zsuzsa (2009). Natural and unnatural constraints in Hungarian vowel harmony. Lg 85. 822–863.Google Scholar
Hume, Elizabeth, Seyfarth, Scott & Zhu, Yuhong (2019). Metathesis in language 2.0. Columbus: Ohio State University. https://metathesisinlanguage.osu.edu.Google Scholar
Inkelas, Sharon, Orhan Orgun, C. & Zoll, Cheryl (1996). Exceptions and static phonological patterns: cophonologies vs. prespecification. Ms, University of California, Berkeley & University of Iowa. Available as ROA-124 from the Rutgers Optimality Archive.Google Scholar
Inkelas, Sharon & Zoll, Cheryl (2007). Is grammar dependence real? A comparison between cophonological and indexed constraint approaches to morphologically conditioned phonology. Linguistics 45. 133–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, Junko & Mester, Armin (1995). The core-periphery structure of the lexicon and constraints on reranking. In Beckman, Jill N., Dickey, Laura Walsh & Urbanczyk, Suzanne (eds.) Papers in Optimality Theory. Amherst: GLSA. 181–209.Google Scholar
Jesney, Karen (2011). Positional faithfulness, non-locality, and the Harmonic Serialism solution. NELS 39. 429–440.Google Scholar
Jesney, Karen & Tessier, Anne-Michelle (2011). Biases in Harmonic Grammar: the road to restrictive learning. NLLT 29. 251–290.Google Scholar
Jurgec, Peter (2006). O nenaglašenih /e/ in /o/ v standardni slovenščini. [Unstressed /e/ and /o/ in Standard Slovene revisited.] Slavistična Revija 54. 173–185.Google Scholar
Jurgec, Peter (2007). Novejše besedje s stališča fonologije: primer slovenščine. [Neologisms in phonology: the case of Slovenian.] DSc dissertation, University of Ljubljana.Google Scholar
Jurgec, Peter (2010). Disjunctive lexical stratification. LI 41. 149–161.Google Scholar
Jurgec, Peter (2011). Slovenščina ima 9 samoglasnikov. [Slovenian has nine vowels.] Slavistična Revija 59. 243–268.Google Scholar
Jurgec, Peter (2016). Velar palatalization in Slovenian: local and long-distance interactions in a derived environment effect. Glossa 1(1):24. http://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jurgec, Peter (2019). Opacity in Šmartno Slovenian. Phonology 36. 265–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jurgec, Peter & Bjorkman, Bronwyn M. (2018). Indexation to stems and words. Phonology 35. 577–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jurgec, Peter & Schertz, Jessamyn (2020). Postalveolar co-occurrence restrictions in Slovenian. NLLT 38. 499–537.Google Scholar
Krämer, Martin (2009). The phonology of Italian. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Łubowicz, Anna (2005). Locality of conjunction. WCCFL 24. 254–262.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John J. (2007). Hidden generalizations: phonological opacity in Optimality Theory. Sheffield & Bristol, Conn.: Equinox.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John J. (2010). An introduction to Harmonic Serialism. Language and Linguistics Compass 4. 1001–1018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, John J. (2016). The theory and practice of Harmonic Serialism. In McCarthy, John J. & Pater, Joe (eds.) Harmonic Grammar and Harmonic Serialism. London: Equinox. 47–87.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John J. & Prince, Alan (1993). Prosodic morphology I: constraint interaction and satisfaction. Ms, University of Massachusetts, Amherst & Rutgers University. Available as ROA-482 from the Rutgers Optimality Archive.Google Scholar
McFadden, Thomas (2009). Structural case, locality and cyclicity. In Grohmann, Kleanthes K. (ed.) Explorations of Phase Theory: features and arguments. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 107–130.Google Scholar
McFadden, Thomas (2018). *ABA in stem-allomorphy and the emptiness of the nominative. Glossa 3(1):8. http://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mielke, Jeff (2007). PBase: a database of phonological patterns. Available (August 2020) at https://pbase.phon.chass.ncsu.edu.Google Scholar
Moore-Cantwell, Claire & Pater, Joe (2016). Gradient exceptionality in Maximum Entropy Grammar with lexically specific constraints. Catalan Journal of Linguistics 15. 53–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreton, Elliott, Smith, Jennifer L., Pertsova, Katya, Broad, Rachel & Prickett, Brandon (2017). Emergent positional privilege in novel English blends. Lg 93. 347–380.Google Scholar
Pater, Joe (2000). Non-uniformity in English secondary stress: the role of ranked and lexically specific constraints. Phonology 17. 237–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pater, Joe (2008). Gradual learning and convergence. LI 39. 334–345.Google Scholar
Pater, Joe (2009a). Morpheme-specific phonology: constraint indexation and inconsistency resolution. In Parker, Steve (ed.) Phonological argumentation: essays on evidence and motivation. London: Equinox. 123–154.Google Scholar
Pater, Joe (2009b). Weighted constraints in generative linguistics. Cognitive Science 33. 999–1035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team (2016). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://www.R-project.org/.Google Scholar
Rasin, Ezer (2017). The stress-encapsulation universal and phonological modularity. Ms, MIT. Available (August 2020) at http://www.mit.edu/~rasin/files/Rasin2017_StressEncapsulation20170924.pdf.Google Scholar
Rubach, Jerzy (2008). Prevocalic faithfulness. Phonology 25. 433–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shih, Shu-hao (2016). Sonority-driven stress does not exist. In Hansson, Gunnar Ólafur, Farris-Trimble, Ashley, McMullin, Kevin & Pulleyblank, Douglas (eds.) Supplemental proceedings of the 2015 Annual Meeting on Phonology. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/amp.v3i0.3666.Google Scholar
Shih, Shu-hao (2018). On the existence of sonority-driven stress in Gujarati. Phonology 35. 327–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shih, Shu-hao & de Lacy, Paul (2020). Evidence for sonority-driven stress. Catalan Journal of Linguistics 18. 9–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shih, Stephanie S. (2017). Constraint conjunction in weighted probabilistic grammar. Phonology 34. 243–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slioussar, Natalia & Samojlova, Maria (2015). Chastotnosti razlichnykh grammaticheskikh kharakteristik i okonchanii u sushchestvitel'nykh russkogo iazyka. [Frequencies of different grammatical features and inflectional affixes of Russian nouns: a database.] Available (August 2020) at http://www.slioussar.ru/freqdatabase.html.Google Scholar
Smith, Jennifer L. (2002). Phonological augmentation in prominent positions. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Smith, Jennifer L. (2011). Category-specific effects. In van Oostendorp, Marc, Ewen, Colin J., Hume, Elizabeth & Rice, Keren (eds.) The Blackwell companion to phonology. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. 2439–2463.Google Scholar
Smolensky, Paul (1997). Constraint interaction in generative grammar II: local conjunction or random rules in Universal Grammar. Paper presented at the Hopkins Optimality Theory Workshop 1997/University of Maryland Mayfest 1997.Google Scholar
Smolensky, Paul (2006). Optimality in phonology II: harmonic completeness, local constraint conjunction, and feature domain markedness. In Smolensky, Paul & Legendre, Géraldine (eds.) The harmonic mind: from neural computation to optimality-theoretic grammar. Vol. 2: Linguistic and philosophical implications. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 27–160.Google Scholar
Srebot-Rejec, Tatjana (1988). Word accent and vowel duration in Standard Slovene: an acoustic and linguistic investigation. Munich: Sagner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stang, Christian S. (1957). Slavonic accentuation. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Steriade, Donca (2009). The phonology of perceptibility effects: the P-map and its consequences for constraint organization. In Hanson, Kristin & Inkelas, Sharon (eds.) The nature of the word: studies in honor of Paul Kiparsky. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 151–179.Google Scholar
Tessier, Anne-Michelle (2007). Biases and stages in phonological acquisition. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Toporišič, Jože (2000). Slovenska slovnica. 4th edn. Maribor: Obzorja.Google Scholar
Toporišič, Jože (ed.) (2001). Slovenski pravopis. Ljubljana: SAZU.Google Scholar
Wilson, Colin (2006). Learning phonology with substantive bias: an experimental and computational study of velar palatalization. Cognitive Science 30. 945–982.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, Jie, Lai, Yuwen & Turnbull-Sailor, Craig (2006). Wug-testing the ‘tone circle’ in Taiwanese. WCCFL 25. 453–461.Google Scholar
Zuraw, Kie (2000). Patterned exceptions in phonology. PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Zymet, Jesse (2018). A crosslinguistic investigation of lexical propensity in variable phonological processes. Poster presented at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Becker and Jurgec supplementary material

Becker and Jurgec supplementary material

Download Becker and Jurgec supplementary material(File)
File 14.5 MB