Tundra Nenets consonant sandhi as coalescence

Abstract

Consonant cluster simplification in Tundra Nenets coexists with other consonantal alternations, such as fricative strengthening, lenition of stops, and a variety of NC-effects, which all apply within the same phrasal domain. These processes interact with each other, suggesting an opaque ordering within the same post-lexical domain and thus presenting a challenge not only for inherently parallel theories like classical Optimality Theory, but also for the cyclic derivational approaches such as Stratal OT. We analyze all instances of Tundra Nenets cluster simplification as coalescence and show that a variety of apparently opaque alternations accompanying cluster simplification can be seen as transparent on this account. We also argue that strengthening in consonant clusters is caused by an intermediate stage where coda obstruents lose their place and turn into a glottal stop.

Opaque distributional generalisations in Tundra Nenets

“…Certain Tundra Nenets coda processes involve mapping a consonant to a glottal stop. I analyse the glottal stop as a placeless consonant, as discussed above, and treat coda glottalisation as debuccalisation (see also McCarthy 2008, Kavitskaya & Staroverov 2010, Staroverov & Kavitskaya 2017). This analysis relies on the idea that place features are privative and can be deleted or inserted (Lombardi 2001), and are hence subject to M ax and D ep constraints.…”

“…As I argue in §4.4 below, postlexical cluster simplification should be treated as coalescence, which technically involves correspondence between two input segments and one output segment, and violates the constraint U niformity (see also Staroverov & Kavitskaya 2017). However, coalescence does not apply at the word level, not even in forms where two identical segments would coalesce, and hence all of their features could be preserved in the output.…”

“…I first briefly introduce some facts about Tundra Nenets codas. I spell out only the relevant details of the coda processes, since an extensive account of Tundra Nenets clusters would lead us too far afield (see Staroverov & Kavitskaya 2017 for a more detailed account). Tundra Nenets exhibits restrictions on codas which essentially require each syllable-final consonant to be placeless.…”

“…Consonant-cluster simplification (see §3.3) belongs exclusively to the postlexical level, and applies across phrase-medial word boundaries. Because of word-level coda debuccalisation, consonant clusters entering the postlexical level start with a glottal stop, and I follow Staroverov & Kavitskaya (2017) in analysing Tundra Nenets cluster simplification as a single-step coalescence mapping. Roughly speaking, sequences like |Ɂx| merge to produce a dorsal stop [k], thus preserving the manner of the first consonant and the place of the second.…”

“…/N/ stands for a nasal whose place cannot be determined; see alsoStaroverov & Kavitskaya (2017). The Leipzig glossing rules(Comrie et al 2015) are used for glosses, with the addition of AFF = affirmative and CONNEG = connegative.…”