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Largonji des Loucherbems: An Optimality-Theoretic analysis of a 19th century French

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2018

Avery Ozburn  and
Murray Schellenberg
Avery Ozburn*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
Murray Schellenberg
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
avery.ozburn@alumni.ubc.ca
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Abstract

This paper provides a novel Optimality Theoretic analysis of the 19th century French secret language Largonji. While Largonji is a reversal game, we show that it is a type not previously described, in which the first onset that is not an /l/ reverses, even if it is not at an edge. Thus, traditional approaches to reversal games, such as cross-anchoring, do not work for Largonji. However, our account does not require direct reference to onsets. Instead, it is based on preservation of moraic structure, combined with alignment of a Largonji-specific prefix. Though suprasegmental faithfulness has been noted previously in language games, the present account implements it in Optimality Theory for the first time. Further, in analyzing the Largonji affix as a prefix that is sometimes realized as an infix, we suggest that Largonji provides additional evidence that language games can reflect cross-linguistic patterns not present in the base language.

Résumé

Cet article propose une nouvelle analyse d'un langage secret français du 19e siècle, le largonji. Bien que le largonji soit un jeu d'inversion, nous démontrons qu'il s'agit d'un type de jeu qui n'a pas été décrit auparavant, dans lequel la première attaque qui n′est pas un /l/ sera inversée, même si ce n'est pas au bord du mot. Ainsi, les analyses traditionnelles pour les jeux d′inversion, comme le « cross-anchoring », ne fonctionnent pas pour le largonji. Cependant, notre analyse n′a pas besoin de faire une référence directe aux attaques; elle se fonde, plutôt, sur la préservation de la structure moraïque, en combinaison avec l′alignement d′un préfixe spécifique au largonji. Bien que la fidélité suprasegmentale avait déjà été signalée dans les langages secrets, notre analyse l'applique pour la première fois dans la théorie d′optimalité. De plus, en analysant l′affixe du largonji comme un préfixe (parfois réalisé comme infixe), nous suggérons que le largonji apporte de nouveaux éléments de preuve que les jeux de mots peuvent refléter des mécanismes linguistiques qui sont absents de la langue de base.

Keywords

secret languageLargonjiOptimality Theorymoraic structureonsetslangage secretLargonjithéorie de l′optimalitéstructure moraiqueattaques
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 509 - 537
Copyright
© Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2018 

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Footnotes

We would like to acknowledge Douglas Pulleyblank and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and suggestions; any errors are our own.

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