Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T00:51:31.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Minimalism and French /ʀ/: Phonological representations in phonetically based phonology*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

ERIC RUSSELL WEBB
ERIC RUSSELL WEBB*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
*
Address for correspondence: Eric Russell Webb, 108 Sproul Hall, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the phonological structure of French rhotics and their treatment in a production grammar. Assuming emergent featural specification, it is argued that the underlying representation of /ʀ/ contains only values for sonorance, continuance and place of articulation. Grammatical analysis is undertaken in an Optimality Theoretic framework, where evaluation highlights the effect of effort reduction and perceptual augmentation on /ʀ/, also demonstrating that more richly specified segments are unaffected by these constraints. The proposal is shown to be compatible with antecedent analyses and data from regional forms and registers.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 87 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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.)

Footnotes

*

I am grateful to three anonymous referees for suggestions in making this paper more coherent. Thanks also to B. Tranel and B. Bullock for useful comments on earlier versions of this work. It goes without saying that all remaining shortcomings are my own.

References

REFERENCES

Anttila, A. (1997). Deriving Variation from Grammar. In: Hinskens, F., van Hout, R. and Wetzels, W. L. (eds.), Variation, Change and Phonological Theory. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 35–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anttila, A. (2002). Variation in Phonological Theory. In: Chambers, J. K., Trudgill, P. and Schilling-Estes, N. (eds.), The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 206–243.Google Scholar
Archangeli, D. (1988). Aspects of Underspecification Theory. Phonology, 5: 183–207.Google Scholar
Auger, J. (2001). Phonological variation and Optimality Theory: Evidence from word-internal vowel epenthesis in Vimeu Picard. Language Variation and Change, 13: 253–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baetens Beardsmore, H. (1971). Le français régional de Bruxelles. Brussels: Presses de l'Université.Google Scholar
Baggioni, D. and de Robillard, D. (1990). Ile Maurice: Une francophonie paradoxale. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Bauer, L. (1988). What is lenition? Linguistics, 24: 381–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bibeau, G. (1975). Introduction à la phonologie générative du français. Montreal: Didier.Google Scholar
Boersma, P. (1997). How we learn variation, optimality, and probability. Proceedings of the Institute of Phonetic Sciences, 21: 43–58.Google Scholar
Boersma, P. (1998). Functional Phonology: formalizing the interactions between articulatory and perceptual drives. The Hague: LOT/Holland Academic Graphics.Google Scholar
Boersma, P. and Hayes, B. (2001). Empirical tests of the gradual learning algorithm. Linguistic Inquiry, 32.1: 45–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourciez, E. and Bourciez, P.. (1974). Phonétique française: Etude historique. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Bradley, T. and Delforge, M. (2006). Systemic contrast and the diachrony of Spanish sibilant voicing. In: Arteaga, D. and Gess, R. (eds.), Historical Romance Linguistics: Retrospectives and Perspectives. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 19–52.Google Scholar
Brousseau, A.-M. and Nikiema, E. (2001). Phonologie et morphologie du français. St. Laurent: Fides.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. and Halle, M. (1968). The Sound Pattern of English. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Clements, G. N. (1985). The geometry of phonological features. Phonology Yearbook, 2: 225–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clements, G. N. (1990). The role of the sonority cycle in core syllabification. In: Kingston, J. and Beckman, M. E. (eds.), Papers in Laboratory Phonology I: Between the Grammar and Physics of Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 283–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clements, G. N. and Hume, E. (1995). The internal organization of speech sounds. In: Goldsmith, J. A. (ed.), the Handbook of Phonological Theory. London: Blackwell, pp. 245–306.Google Scholar
Cohn, A. (1995). Privativity, underspecification, and consequences for an adequate theory of phonetic implementation. Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory, 10: 39–65.Google Scholar
Colantoni, L. and Steele, J. (2005). Liquid asymmetries in French and Spanish. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 24: 1–14.Google Scholar
Colantoni, L. and Steele, J. (2007). Acquiring /ʁ/ in context. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 29: 381–406.Google Scholar
Côté, M.-H. (1997). Phonetic salience and the OCP in Coda Cluster Reduction. Proceedings of the Chicago Linguistic Society: the Main Session, 33: 57–71.Google Scholar
Côté, M.-H. (2000). Consonant cluster phonotactics: a Perceptual approach. PhD Dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.Google Scholar
Côté, M.-H. (2004). Consonant cluster simplification in Quebec French. PROBUS, 16: 151–201.Google Scholar
Delattre, P. (1966). A contribution to the history of ‘R Grasseyé.’ In: Delattre, P. (ed.), Studies in French and Comparative Phonetics. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 206–207.Google Scholar
Delattre, P. (1971). Pharyngeal features in the consonants of Arabic, German, Spanish, French, and American English. Phonetica, 23: 129–155.Google Scholar
Delgutte, B. (1997). Auditory neural processing of speech. In: Hardcastle, W. J. and Laver, J. (eds.), The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences. London: Blackwell, 507–538.Google Scholar
Dell, F. (1980). Generative phonology and French phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dumont, P. (1979). La situation du français au Sénégal. In: Valdman, A. (ed.), Le français hors de France. Paris: Champion, pp. 363–381.Google Scholar
Dunn, M. (1993). The phonetics and phonology of geminate consonants: a production study. PhD Dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
Duponchel, L. (1979). Le français en Côte d'Ivoire, au Dahomey et au Togo. In: Valdman, A. (ed.), Le français hors de France. Paris: Champion, pp. 383–417.Google Scholar
Edwards, M. (1973). The acquisition of liquids. Ohio State University Working Papers in Linguistics, 15:1–54.Google Scholar
Espinosa, J. A. C. (2004). Meaningful variability: a sociolinguistically-grounded approach to variation in optimality theory. International Journal of English Studies 4.2: 165–184.Google Scholar
Fougeron, C. and Smith, C. (1993). Illustrations of the IPA – French. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23.2: 73–76.Google Scholar
Gess, R. (2003). On re-ranking and explanatory adequacy in a constraint-based theory of phonological change. In: Holt, D. E. (ed.), Optimality Theory and Language Change. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 67–90.Google Scholar
Gess, R. (2004). Phonetics, phonology and phonological change in Optimality Theory: another look at the reduction of three-consonant sequences in Late Latin. PROBUS, 16: 21–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giauque, G. (1976). An early example of uvular r. Beiträge zur Germanisch-Romanisch Sprachforschung, 3: 39–45.Google Scholar
Goad, H. and Rose, Y. 2004. Input elaboration, head faithfulness, and evidence for representation in the acquisition of left-edge clusters in West Germanic. In: Kager, R., Pater, J. and Zonneveld, W. (eds.), Constraints in Phonological Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 109–157.Google Scholar
Grootaerts, L. (1953). Het Nederlands substraat van het Brussels-Frans klanksysteem. Nieuwe Taalgids, 46: 38–41.Google Scholar
Hale, M. and Reiss, C. (1998). Formal and empirical arguments concerning phonological acquisition. Linguistic Inquiry, 29.4: 656–683.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, T. A. (1992). Syllable structure and syllable related processes in German. Tübingen: Max Niemayer.Google Scholar
Hall, T. A. (2000). Phonologie: eine Einführung. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hayes, B. (2000). Gradient well-formedness in optimality theory. In: Dekkers, J., van der Leeuw, F., and van de Weijer, J. (eds.), Optimality Theory: Phonology, Syntax, and Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 88–120.Google Scholar
Hayes, B. (2004). Phonetically driven phonology: The role of optimality theory and inductive grounding. In: McCarthy, J. J. (ed.), Optimality Theory in Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 343–364.Google Scholar
Hayes, B, Kirchner, R. and Steriade, D. (2004). Phonetically Based Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Highfield, A. (1979). The French Dialect of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Ann Arbor: Karoma.Google Scholar
Hirose, H. (1997). Investigating the physiology of laryngeal structures. In: Hardcastle, W. J. and Laver, J. (eds.), The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences. London: Blackwell, pp. 116–135.Google Scholar
Itô, J., Mester, A. and Padgett, J. (1995). Licensing and underspecification in optimality theory. Linguistic Inquiry, 26.4: 571–613.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. (1939). Observations sur le classement phonologique des consonnes, Proceedings if the Third International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (Ghent) 31–41.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R., Fant, G. and Halle, M. (1952). Preliminaries to speech analysis: the distinctive features and their correlates. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jessen, M. and Ringen, C. (2002). Laryngeal features in German. Phonology, 19: 189–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kehoe, M and Hilaire-Debove, G. (2004). The structure of branching onsets and rising diphthongs: Evidence from the acquisition of French. Proceedings of the Boston University Conference on Language Development, 28.1: 282–293.Google Scholar
Kirchner, R. (1998). An Effort Based Approach to Consonant Lenition. PhD Dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar
Kirchner, R. (2004). Consonant lenition. In: Hayes, B., Steriade, D. and Kirchner, R. (eds.), Phonetically Based Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 313–345.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. and Maddieson, I. (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Laeufer, C. (1992). Patterns of voicing-conditioned vowel duration in French and English. Journal of Phonetics, 20: 411–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledegen, G. and Bordal, G. (2005). PFC sur le terrain réunionnais: un paysage linguistique diversifié. Presentation at Phonological Variation: the Case of French, Tromso University, August 2005.Google Scholar
Lindblom, B. (1990). Explaining phonetic variation: A sketch of the H&H theory. In: Hardcastle, W. J. and Marchal, A. (eds.), Speech Production and Speech Modelling. Dordrecht: Kluwer, pp. 403–439.Google Scholar
Lindblom, B. (2006). Rejecting the phonetics/phonology split. Theoretical Linguistics, 23.2: 237–243.Google Scholar
Lindau, M. (1985). The story of /r/. In: Fromkin, V. A. (ed.), Phonetic Linguistics: Essays in Honor of Peter Ladefoged. Orlando: Academic Press, pp. 157–168.Google Scholar
Lozachmeur, J.-C. (1976). Contribution à l'étude de l'évolution de R. Revue de linguistique romane, 40: 311.320.Google Scholar
Maddieson, I. (1997). Phonetic universals. In: Hardcastle, W. and Laver, J. (eds.), The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences. London: Blackwell, pp. 619–639.Google Scholar
Manessy, G. (1984). Le français en Afrique noire: tel qu'on le parle, tel qu'on le dit. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
McMahon, A. (2000). The emergence of the optimal? Optimality theory and sound change. The Linguistic Review, 17: 231–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMahon, A. (2007). Who's afraid of the Vowel Shift Rule? Language Sciences, 29: 341–359.Google Scholar
Mielke, J. (2004). The Emergence of Distinctive Features. PhD Dissertation, The Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Myers, J. (1999). Lexical Phonology and the Lexicon. MS – Rutgers Optimality Archives.Google Scholar
Oostendorp, M. van. (2001). The phonology of postvocalic /r/ in Brabant Dutch and Limburg Dutch. In: van de Velde, H. and van Hout, R. (eds.), R-actics: Sociolinguistic, phonetic and phonological characteristics of /ʀ/. Brussels: Presses de l'Université, pp. 113–122.Google Scholar
Prince, A. and Smolensky, P. (1993). Optimality theory: constraint interaction in generative grammar. Technical Report 2 of the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Reenen, P. van. (1994). Driemaal /r/ in Nederlandse dialecten. Taal en Tongval, themanummer 7: 54–72.Google Scholar
Reiss, C. (2000). Optimality theory from a cognitive science perspective. The Linguistic Review, 17: 191–201.Google Scholar
Renaud, P. (1979). Le français au Cameroun. In: Valdman, A. (ed.), Le français hors de France. Paris: Champion, pp. 419–439.Google Scholar
Rialland, A. (1986). Schwa et syllabes en français. In: Wetzels, L. and Sezer, E. (eds.), Studies in Compensatory Lengthening. Dordrecht: Foris, pp. 187–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, Yvan. (2000). Headedness and Prosodic Licensing in the L1 Acquisition of Phonology. Ph.D. Dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Rose, Yvan. (2003). Place specification and segmental distribution in the acquisition of word-final consonant syllabification. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 48.3–4: 409–435.Google Scholar
Russell Webb, E. (2002). The Relational /ʀ/: Three Case Studies in Rhotic Integrity and Variation. PhD Dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Russell Webb, E. (2004a). Explanatory adequacy in phonology: a deductive approach to /ʀ/. Linguistica Atlantica, 25: 77–94.Google Scholar
Russell Webb, E. (2004b). Voice alternation as passive lenition: /ʁ/ in French. Linguistik Online, 18.1: 127–148.Google Scholar
Sankoff, G. and Blondeau, H. (2007). Language change across the lifespan: /r/ in Montreal French. Language, 83.3: 560–588.Google Scholar
Smith, J. (2002). Phonological augmentation in prominent positions. PhD Dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Smith, J. (2004). Making constraints positional: toward a compositional model of CON. Lingua, 114: 1433–1464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stemberger, K. (1991). Radical underspecification in language production. Phonology, 8: 73–112.Google Scholar
Steriade, D. (1997). Phonetics in phonology: the case of laryngeal neutralization. MS, UCLA.Google Scholar
Steriade, D. (2001). The phonology of perceptibility effects: the P-map and its consequences for constraint organization. MS, UCLA.Google Scholar
Stevens, K. (1998). Acoustic Phonetics. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Straka, G. (1965). Contribution à l'histoire de la consonne R en français. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 66.3: 572–606.Google Scholar
Thomas, A. (1986). La variation phonétique: cas du franco-ontarien. Montréal: Didier.Google Scholar
Tousignant, C., Sankoff, D. and Santerre, L. (1989). New results on Montreal French /r/. In: Fasold, R. and Schiffrin, D. (eds.), Language Change and Variation. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 85–94.Google Scholar
Tranel, B. (1987). The Sounds of French: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tranel, B. forthcoming. Les sons du français.Google Scholar
Velde, H. van de. (1994). 60 jaar (r)evolutie in het Standaard-Nederlands. Taal en Tongval, themanummer 7: 22–42.Google Scholar
Walker, D. C. (1984). The Pronunciation of Canadian French. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar
Walker, D. C. (2001). French Sound Structure. Calgary: University of Calgary Press.Google Scholar
Walsh Dickey, L. (1997). The Phonology of Liquids. PhD Dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Walter, H. (1977). La phonologie du français. Paris: PUF.Google Scholar
Weijer, J. van de. (1995). Continuancy in liquids and obstruents. Lingua, 96: 45–61.Google Scholar
Westbury, J. and Keating, P. (1986). On the naturalness of stop consonant voicing. Journal of Linguistics 22: 145–166.Google Scholar
Widdison, . (1997). Variability in lingual vibrants: changes in the story of /r/. Language and Communication, 17.3: 187–193.Google Scholar
Wiese, R. (2001). The phonology of /r/. In: Hall, T. A. (ed.), Distinctive Feature Theory. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 335–368.Google Scholar
Wright, R. (1996). Consonant clusters and cue preservation in Tsou. Ph.D. Dissertation, UCLA.Google Scholar
Wright, R. (2001). Perceptual cues in contrast maintenance. In: Hume, E. and Johnson, K. (eds.), The role of speech perception phenomena in phonology. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 251–277.Google Scholar
Wright, R. (2004). A review of perceptual cues and cue robustness. In: Hayes, B., Kirchner, R. and Steriade, D. (eds), Phonetically Based Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 34–57.Google Scholar