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5 - Structure of the Syllable

from Part Two - Phonetics and Phonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2022

By
Giovanna Marotta
Edited by
Adam Ledgeway  and
Martin Maiden
Adam Ledgeway
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Martin Maiden
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

In this chapter, the syllable structure of Romance languages is addressed, focusing on properties shared by all varieties as well as some specific aspects of individual varieties. The syllable template adopted is hierachical and binary, with crucial recognition of the rhyme as an intermediate constituent. The fate of vowel quantity is discussed within a framework that takes the concepts of variation and multilingualism are primary, whilst making reference to current historical sociolinguistics. In addition to the main phonological processes sensitive to syllable structure, the prosodic categories of stress and timing are also briefly illustrated. The notion of proto-Romance is criticized as not corresponding to any historically documented linguistic reality nor to a uniform system, but only to an artificially reconstructed schema. In a classification of the Romance languages, taking into account the more dynamic force of the northern Romance varieties, it is argued that a vertical axis (i.e., North–South) is better than the traditional horizontal East–West axis.

Keywords

syllableprosodyproto-Romancephonological processestiming
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Romance Linguistics , pp. 183 - 208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Selected References

Blevins, J. (1995). ‘The syllable in phonological theory’. In Goldsmith, J. (ed.), The Handbook of Phonological Theory. Cambridge: Blackwell, 206–44.Google Scholar
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Dauer, R. (1983). ‘Stress-timing and syllable-timing reanalyzed’, Journal of Phonetics 11: 51–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giannini, S. and Marotta, G. (1989), Fra grammatica e pragmatica. La geminazione consonantica in latino. Pisa: Giardini.Google Scholar
Hayes, B. (1995). Metrical Stress Theory. Principles and Case Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ledgeway, A. (2016a). ‘Italian, Tuscan, and Corsican’. In Ledgeway, A. and Maiden, M. (eds), The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 206–27.Google Scholar
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Loporcaro, M. (2011a). ‘Syllable, segments e prosody’. In Maiden, M., Smith, J. C., and Ledgeway, A. (eds), The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages. Vol 1. Structures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 50–108.Google Scholar
Marotta, G. (1999b). ‘The Latin syllable’. In Hulst, H. van der and Ritter, N. A. (eds), The Syllable. View and Facts. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 285–310.Google Scholar
Marotta, G. (2008). ‘Lenition in Tuscan Italian (gorgia toscana)’. In Brandão de Carvalho, J., Scheer, T., and Ségéral, P. (eds), Lenition and Fortition. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 235–72.Google Scholar
Marotta, G. (2012). ‘Piedi metrici e sillabe orfane nella prosodia dell’italiano’. In Schafroth, E. and Selig, M. (eds), Testo e ritmi. Zum Rhythmus in der italienischen Sprache. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 89–103.Google Scholar
Schmid, S. (2016). ‘Segmental phonology’. In Ledgeway, A. and Maiden, M. (eds), The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 471–83.Google Scholar

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