Prosodic identity in copy epenthesis

Abstract

This paper focuses on languages that exhibit processes of copy epenthesis, specifically those where the similarity between a copy vowel and its host extends to prosodic or suprasegmental resemblance. We argue that copy vowels and their hosts strive for identity in all prosodic properties, and show that this drive for prosodic identity can cause misapplication in the assignment of properties such as stress, pitch, and length. To explain these effects, we argue that any successful analysis of copy epenthesis must involve a correspondence relation (following Kitto and de Lacy 1999). Our proposal successfully predicts the extant typology of prosodic identity effects in copy epenthesis; alternative analyses of copy epenthesis relying solely on featural spreading (e.g. Kawahara 2007) or gestural realignment (e.g. Hall 2003, 2006) do not naturally capture the effects discussed here.

Evidence for prosodic correspondence in the vowel alternations of Tgdaya Seediq

“…As addressed in Section 1, Seediq vowel matching is reminiscent of harmony and copy epenthesis (Stanton & Zukoff 2018). Both harmony and copy epenthesis have been the subject of extensive analytical work and can be treated as feature spreading in autosegmental accounts (e.g.…”

“…Seediq VOWEL MATCHING resembles vowel harmony as well as copy epenthesis, where the quality of an epenthetic vowel depends on the quality of a vocalic neighbor (Stanton & Zukoff 2018). However, traditional analyses for both harmony and copy epenthesis, such as autosegmental feature spreading (e.g.…”

“…The constraint I adopt was defined above in Section 2, but is given again in ( 25 This constraint sets up a correspondence relationship between prosodic units (stressed nuclei), but enforces identity of a segmental feature (vowel height) within these prosodic units. Similar constraint formulations, which set up correspondence and identity relations across both prosodic and segmental units, have been proposed in work such as Stanton & Zukoff (2018). 18 IDENT constraints typically reference feature specifications, as in (25).…”

Annotating Archival Recordings of Hocank (Winnebago)

“…Miner 1979 also describes epenthetic vowels as having a special secondary accent not found on lexical vowels, although he adds "I am not wholly convinced of the secondary accent…pending instrumental studies". The existence of this secondary accent has been cited as evidence that epenthetic vowels are subject to special prosodic constraints (Stanton & Zukoff 2018). However, the supporting instrumental studies are still pending 40 years later.…”

“…Vowel epenthesis interacts opaquely with several other morphological and phonological processes, including reduplication, ablaut, vowel nasalization, and accent placement. The challenge of analyzing and explaining these patterns has spurred a long line of theoretical literature, including among others Miner (1979Miner ( , 1981Miner ( , 1989Miner ( , 1993, Hale & White Eagle 1980, Hale 1985, Halle & Vernaud 1987, Steriade 1990, Alderete 1995, Hayes 1995, Heiberg 1995, Hall (2003, 2006, Broselow 2008, Davis & Baertsch (2011, 2012, and Stanton & Zukoff 2018. The data cited in phonological analyses comes primarily from three sources. Amelia Susman's 1943 dissertation, based on her fieldwork from the late 1930's, was the first to present extensive accentual data.…”