Lexicon against Naturalness: Unnatural Gradient Phonotactic Restrictions in Tarma Quechua

Abstract

It has been shown in separate studies that phonological grammar can operate probabilistically and in phonetically unnatural directions. This paper examines whether phonological grammar can be both probabilistic and unnatural at the same time. We create a new corpus of Tarma Quechua vocabulary (based both on published and unpublished data), and argue that the unnatural probabilistic phonotactic trends in the Tarma Quechua lexicon are statistically significant and show clear signs of productivity, with evidence from loanword phonology and from morphophonological alternations. We also perform an acoustic analysis of existing recordings to confirm the phonetic status of the the unnatural gradient restriction. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a fully unnatural gradient phonotactic restriction on segmental structure. The existence of unnatural probabilistic phonology has broad theoretical consequences because it requires probabilistic approaches to phonology to derive unnatural patterns. While weighted constraint approaches are more powerful than non-probabilistic approaches, we argue that models without unnatural constraints are not sufficient for deriving Tarma Quechua data. We propose a new framework for evaluating phonological analyses using the goodness of fit measurement. This quantitative evaluation approach supports analyses with some, but not all unnatural constraints. We argue that the proposed approach can serve for evaluating other models and approaches.

The blurring history of intervocalic devoicing

“…If, on the other hand, unnatural developments can only arise via a combination of a specific set of sound changes, their rarity may then be simply due to the compounded low probability of a sequence of specific changes (Beguš, 2020). Despite their infrequency, unmotivated and unnatural developments do exist (e. g. Beguš, 2020Beguš, , 2022Beguš et al, 2022;Blevins, Egurtzegi, and Ullrich, 2020;Coetzee and Pretorius, 2010;Dąbkowski, 2023;Dąbkowski and Beguš, 2024;Hyman, 2001;Merrill, 2023). They are rare-we maintain-because their diachronic precursors are specific (Beguš, 2019).…”

“…Our findings are consistent with the evolutionary phonology program, which accounts for phonological alternations as phonologizations of articulatorily or perceptually motivated sound changes (Blevins, 2004(Blevins, , 2007(Blevins, , 2008(Blevins, , 2013Blevins, Egurtzegi, and Ullrich, 2020;Hyman, 1976;Ohala, 1981Ohala, , 1983). More specifically, the complex diachrony of intervocalic devoicing provides evidence for the blurring process framework, which holds that unnatural developments require a specific combination of at least three sound changes (Beguš, 2018(Beguš, , 2019(Beguš, , 2020(Beguš, , 2022Beguš et al, 2022;Dąbkowski and Beguš, 2024). 2015b).…”

Complex diachronies of final nasalization in Austronesian and Dakota

“…We maintain that while phonetically unnatural phonological processes (e.g. Coetzee & Pretorius 2010;Hyman 2001;Beguš et al 2022;Dąbkowski 2023;Beguš & Dąbkowski 2023;Merrill 2015) may arise via a set of sound changes or analogical extension, regular sound changes are always phonetically motivated.…”

“…In addition, we have also proposed a new explanation for the development of unnatural final voicing in Lakota.Our findings bear on the division of labor and the role of phonetic naturalness in diachrony and synchrony. While unnatural phonological processes are attested (e.g Hyman 2001;Coetzee & Pretorius 2010;Merrill 2015;Beguš 2020;2022;Beguš et al 2022;Beguš & Dąbkowski 2023;.…”