Depalatalization in Spanish revisited

Lloret, María-Rosa; Mascaró, Joan

doi:10.1075/la.99.05llo

Cited by 7 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…As previously mentioned, the existence of a depalatalization process as the explanation for the data in section 1.1 has been a matter of debate in Spanish phonology for more than three decades with prominent studies in favor (Contreras 1977, Harris 1983, Lloret & Mascaró 2006 and against (Pensado 1977, Harris 1999. Contreras (1977) argues that the data in (1)- (3) can be explained through a series of depalatalization rules whereby a palatal nasal or lateral is converted into an alveolar at the end of a word or when followed by a consonant (4a) and (4b).…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The contrast between bello 'beautiful' and beldad 'beauty', for instance, shows that when in the coda, the palatal [ʎ] is realized as alveolar [l]. Whether or not the connection can be clearly made between morphologically related words is also a matter of debate (see Harris, 1999 andLloret &Mascaró, 2006 for differing opinions).…”

Section: The Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The existence, or not, of a process of depalatalization of nasals and laterals in Spanish has been long debated in phonology (Contreras, 1977;Harris, 1983;Pensado, 1997;Harris, 1999;Bermúdez-Otero 2006;Lloret & Mascaró, 2006;Eddington 2012). Harris, who originally favored the idea of depalatalization in Spanish, admittedly argued against such a process in his latter work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the discussion did not end with this remark. Lloret & Mascaró (2006) provide an analysis under Optimality Theory that argues in favor of depalatalization. Starting from Lloret & Mascaró's analysis (2006), this paper expands the analysis to consider diachronic data and the role of the underlying representation in language change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alternations such as these led phonologists to propose a rule of depalatalization that turns an underlying palatal nasal or lateral into a coronal (Contreras 1977;Harris 1983). More recently, within an optimality-theoretic framework and on the basis of loan word evidence, Lloret and Mascaró (2006) argue again in favor of an active process of depalatalization in the phonology of Modern Spanish. Taking the proposal of Lloret and Mascaró as its point of departure, this paper expands the discussion on depalatalization to consider diachronic data, the role of the underlying representation and the perception grammar, in particular regarding loanword phonology.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spanish ‘depalatalization’: the synchronic, diachronic and perception perspectives

Bessett

Colina²

2017

Borealis

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ABSTRACT. Spanish has a restriction on palatal nasals and laterals in the coda so that they are normally realized as dental or alveolar coronals. In the onset position, the palatal point of articulation is retained, bello (be. [ʎ]o) 'beautiful-masc. ', beldad (be[l].dad) 'beauty'; doña (do.[ɲ]a) 'Madam', don (do[n]) 'Mister'. Alternations such as these led phonologists to propose a rule of depalatalization that turns an underlying palatal nasal or lateral into a coronal (Contreras 1977;Harris 1983). More recently, within an optimality-theoretic framework and on the basis of loan word evidence, Lloret and Mascaró (2006) argue again in favor of an active process of depalatalization in the phonology of Modern Spanish. Taking the proposal of Lloret and Mascaró as its point of departure, this paper expands the discussion on depalatalization to consider diachronic data, the role of the underlying representation and the perception grammar, in particular regarding loanword phonology. Historical data support depalatalization as an active phenomenon in Old Spanish and Medieval Spanish; yet the morphophonological alternations cannot be considered active/productive synchronically. Unlike previous serial models of phonology, an OT framework allows for the incorporation of diachronic data into the analysis, through constraints, constraint re-ranking and Lexicon Optimization, thus explaining how the current situation came about and shedding light on apparent synchronic alternations. OT also provides a formalization of the role of the underlying representation in diachronic change and in synchronic loanword evidence, in connection with the perception grammar, thus providing support for depalatalization as an active phonotactic restriction in Spanish.Keywords: depalatalization, coda neutralization, nasals, laterals, optimality theory, loan words, language change RESUMEN. El español posee una restricción acerca de la presencia de palatales nasales y laterales, de manera que normalmente emergen como coronales dentales o alveolares. En la posición de ataque, el punto de articulación palatal se retiene - bello (be.[ʎ]o), beldad (be[l].dad); doña (do.[ɲ]a), don (do[n]). Tales alternancias llevaron a los fonólogos a proponer una regla de despalatalización que convierte una palatal nasal o lateral subyacente en una coronal (Contreras 1977;Harris 1983). Más recientemente, dentro del marco de la teoría de la optimidad, Lloret y Mascaró (2006) también argumentan, mediante datos de préstamos, a favor de un proceso activo de despalatalización en la fonología del español actual. Partiendo de la propuesta de Lloret y Mascaró, este artículo expande la discusión sobre la despalatalización para considerar datos diacrónicos, el papel de las representaciones subyacentes y la gramática de la percepción, en particular en lo que toca a la fonología de los préstamos. Los datos históricos apoyan la despalatalización como un fenó-meno activo en español antiguo y medieval; no obstante, las alternancias morfofonológicas no pueden considerarse activas o p...

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Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: The Datamentioning

confidence: 99%