Systemic contrast and Catalan rhotics

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20344222
AutoresJaye Padgett (University of California, Santa Cruz, autor de correspondencia)
Año2009
Volumen26
Número4
Fecha de publicación2009-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Linguistic Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0167-6318 • E-ISSN: 1613-3676
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/tlir.2009.016
OpenAlexW2031512438
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20
Referencias citadas28

this paper I take a new look at Catalan rhotics, arguing that we can achieve a better account of them if we explicitly acknowledge the role of contrast in their behavior. Specifically, the explanation calls on constraints requiring that contrast be maintained, on the one hand, and on constraints requiring that contrasts be perceptually distinct, on the other. The account is cast within Dispersion Theory (Flemming 1995, to appear), which is designed to express such notions. In approaching the Catalan facts in this way I follow Bradley (2001), who applies Dispersion Theory to Spanish rhotics. Some of the main conclusions we reach differ, all the same. A good deal of recent work argues that both neutralization avoidance and perceptual distinctiveness play important roles in shaping phonologies. (Besides the above, see N Chiosin and Padgett 2001, Sanders 2002, Padgett to appear-a,b, and Sanders in progress.) The theoretical framework of these works, Dispersion Theory, remains rather new, and this paper offers another case study. The appeal to contrast leads to a simpler and more explanatory account of Catalan (and Spanish) rhotics compared to previous ones. The analysis also illustrates how it is possible to incorporate more systematic phonetic detail into phonology, increasing our descriptive coverage, without predicting the overgeneration of contrast. This is possible because Dispersion Theory proposes constraints on the output that regulate contrast directly. Though the Catalan analysis would work reasonably well without this extra detail, the importance of phonetic detail to uncovering phonological generalizations in other languages is another emerging theme in recent phonology. (Besides the works cited, see Browman and Goldstein 1986 et seq., Steriade 1997, 2000a, 2001

Catalan · Epistemology · Linguistics · Markedness · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Perception · Phonology · Phonotactics · Theoretical linguistics · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence