Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T12:27:33.116Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Place Specification and Segmental Distribution in the Acquisition of Word-Final Consonant Syllabification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Yvan Rose
Yvan Rose*
Affiliation:
Memorial University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article focusses on data from two first language learners of Québec French, Clara and Théo. In both corpora, all word-final consonants are acquired before word-medial codas, except Clara’s [ʁ], which is acquired at the same time as medial codas. The behaviour of Clara’s [ʁ] is explained through the hypothesis that it is analysed by the child as placeless and that, in the unmarked case, place-specified consonants are syllabified word-finally as onsets, while placeless consonants are syllabified as codas. Supporting cross-linguistic evidence is provided from adult languages and from the acquisition of Japanese. Finally, data on the acquisition of Spanish are discussed. Based on distributional evidence, it is suggested that these learners of Spanish posit a coda syllabification for the word-final, place-specified coronal consonants of their language. These data support the view that default options are overridden when positive evidence steers the learner toward more marked options.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article est basé sur les données de Clara et Théo, deux apprenants du français québécois, langue première. Dans ces deux corpus, les consonnes finales sont acquises avant les codas en milieu de mot, sauf le [ʁ] de Clara, acquis en même temps que ces codas. Il est proposé que le [ʁ] de Clara est dépourvu de lieu d’articulation et que, par défaut, les consonnes finales avec lieu d’articulation sont syllabées en attaque, tandis que les consonnes sans articulateur sont syllabées en coda. Cette analyse est motivée indépendamment à partir de langues adultes et de données sur l’acquisition du japonais. Finalement, des données sur l’acquisition de l’espagnol sont discutées, lesquelles suggèrent, sur la base d’indices distributionnels, que les apprenants de l’espagnol syllabent les consonnes coronales finales en coda. Ces données appuient l’hypothèse selon laquelle les options de défaut sont supplantées lorsque des indices positifs amènent l’apprenant à sélectionner des options plus marquées.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 48 , Issue 3-4 , December 2003 , pp. 409 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akinlabi, Akinbiyi. 1993. Underspecification and the phonology of Yoruba /r/. Linguistic Inquiry 24:139–160.Google Scholar
Avery, J. Peter. 1996. The representation of voicing contrasts. Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Béland, Renée, Paradis, Carole, and Bois, Monique. 1993. Constraints and repairs in aphasic speech: A group study. In Canadian Journal of Linguistics 38: Constraint-based theories in multilinear phonology, ed. Paradis, Carole and LaCharité, Dartene, 279–302.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, Barbara H., and Stemberger, Joseph P.. 1998. Handbook of phonological development from the perspective of constraint-based nonlinear phonology. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Blevins, Juliette. 1995. The syllable in phonological theory. In The handbook of phonological theory, ed. Goldsmith, John A., 206–244. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bloch, Bernard. 1950. Studies in Colloquial Japanese IV: Phonemics. Language 26:86–125.Google Scholar
Casagrande, Jean. 1984. The sound system of French. Washington: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Charette, Monik. 1991. Conditions on phonological government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Fikkert, Paula. 1994. On the acquisition of prosodic structure. Dordrecht: ICG Printing.Google Scholar
Fikkert, Paula, and Freitas, Maria João. 1999. On reconstructing input representations: Crosslinguistic evidence from the acquisition of onset clusters. Paper delivered at the VIIIth International IASCL Conference, San Sebastian.Google Scholar
Freitas, Maria João. 1997. Aquisição da estrutura silábica do Português Europeu. Doctoral dissertation, University of Lisbon.Google Scholar
Freitas, Maria João, and Rodrigues, Celeste. 2003. On the nature of sC-clusters in European Portuguese. Ms., University of Lisbon.Google Scholar
Ghini, Mirco. 2002. Asymmetries in the phonology of Miogliola. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Gnanadesikan, Amalia E. In press. Markedness and faithfulness constraints in child phonology. In Constraints in phonological acquisition, ed. Kager, René, Pater, Joe, and Zonneveld, Wim. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goad, Heather. 2002. Markedness and right-edge syllabification: Parallels across populations. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 47:151–186.Google Scholar
Goad, Heather, and Brannen, Kathleen. 2003. Phonetic evidence for phonological structure in syllabification. In The phonological spectrum, Vol. 2, ed. van de Weijer, Jeroen, van Heuven, Vincent, and van der Hulst, Harry, 3–30. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Goad, Heather, and Rose, Yvan. In press. Input elaboration, head faithfulness and evidence for representation in the acquisition of left-edge clusters in West Germanic. In Constraints in phonological acquisition, ed. Kager, René, Pater, Joe, and Zonneveld, Wim. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, T. Alan. 1992. Syllable structure and syllable related processes in German. Tubingen: Niemeyer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, James W. 1983. Syllable structure and stress in Spanish: A non-linear analysis. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Harris, John. 1994. English sound structure. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Harris, John. 1997. Licensing inheritance: An integrated theory of neutralisation. Phonology 14:315–370.Google Scholar
Huffman, Marie, and Krakow, Rena, eds. 1993. Nasals, nasalization and the velum. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Itô, Junko. 1986. Syllable theory in prosodic phonology. Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. [Published in 1988, New York: Garland.]Google Scholar
Kaye, Jonathan. 1990. ‘Coda’ licensing. Phonology 7:301–330.Google Scholar
Kaye, Jonathan, Lowenstamm, Jean, and Vergnaud, Jean-Roger. 1990. Constituent structure and government in phonology. Phonology 7:193–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kehoe, Margaret, and Lieo, Conxita. 2003. The acquisition of syllable types in monolingual and bilingual German and Spanish children. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, ed. Beachley, Barbara, Brown, Amanda, and Conlin, Fran, 402–413. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, Peter, and Maddieson, Ian. 1996. The sounds of the world’s languages. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Levelt, Clara C., Schiller, Niels O., and Levelt, Willem J.. 2000. The acquisition of syllable types. Language Acquisition 8:237–264.Google Scholar
Mester, Ralph Armin, and Itô, Junko. 1989. Feature predictability and underspecification: Palatal prosody in Japanese mimetics. Language 65:258–293.Google Scholar
Mithun, Marianne, and Basri, Hasan. 1986. The phonology of Selayarese. Oceanic Linguistics 25:210–254.Google Scholar
Ota, Mitsuhiko. 1999. Phonological theory and the acquisition of prosodic structure: Evidence from child Japanese. Doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University.Google Scholar
Paradis, Carole, and Prunet, Jean-François, eds. 1991. The special status of coronals: Internal and external evidence. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Piggott, Glyne L. 1999. At the right edge of words. The Linguistic Review 16:143–185.Google Scholar
Prince, Alan, and Smolensky, Paul. 1993. Optimality Theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. Ms., Rutgers University and University of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Rice, Keren. 1992. On deriving sonority: A structural account of sonority relationship. Phonology 9:61–99.Google Scholar
Rice, Keren. 1996. Default variability: The coronal-velar relationship. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 14:493–543.Google Scholar
Rose, Sharon. 1997. Theoretical issues in comparative Ethio-Semitic phonology and morphology. Doctoral dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Rose, Yvan. 1995. Minimalité, préservation et tolérance dans les emprunts français en kinyarwanda. M.A. thesis, Université Laval.Google Scholar
Rose, Yvan. 2000. Headedness and prosodic licensing in the LI acquisition of phonology. Doctoral dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Rose, Yvan. 2003. ChildPhon: A database solution for the study of child phonology. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, ed. Beachley, Barbara, Brown, Amanda, and Conlin, Fran, 674–685. Somerville, Mass.: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Sapir, J. David. 1965. A grammar of Diola-Fogny, a language spoken in the Basse-Casamance region of Senegal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Neilson V. 1973. The acquisition of phonology: A case study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Trigo, Loren. 1988. On the phonological derivation and behavior of nasal glides. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Walsh Dickey, Laura. 1997. The phonology of liquids. Doctoral dissertation, Universityyn of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar