Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T14:56:27.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Phonology of Epenthetic Segments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Glyne L. Piggott  and
Rajendra Singh
Glyne L. Piggott
Affiliation:
McGill University
Rajendra Singh
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the occurrence of epenthetic vowels and consonants can be attributed to certain properties of syllable structure and some universal principles of syllabification interacting with (phonotactic) constraints, some of which are universal, others language-specific. The analysis of epenthesis proposed here is an elaboration and refinement of earlier proposals by Singh (1980, 1981a, 1981b, 1981c) and Piggott (1981). We believe that this analysis provides an explanation of the phenomenon of epenthesis. The paper is organized in the following way. In Section 1, we identify the phenomenon of epenthesis and summarize the difficulties in capturing generalizations about it within a framework which treats phonological representations as linear sequences of elements. In Section 2, we outline our conception of syllable structure and examine some of the consequences and implications of our assumptions. Section 3 contains an elaboration of the principles of syllabification that underlie our account of epenthesis. In Section 4, we indicate what we think we have managed to explain and point out some of the significance of the explanation provided. Finally, in Section 5, we try to link our work to some long-held views about the relationship of rules to constraints.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , Winter 1985 , pp. 415 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1985

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

Bazylko, Stephen 1981 Le statut de [ə] dans le système phonématique du français contemporain et quelques questions connexes. La linguistique 17:91–101.Google Scholar
Beames, J. 1872 A Comparative Grammar of Indo-Aryan Languages. Delhi: Motilal. [Asian edition, 1958.]Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam, and Halle, Morris 1968 The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Clements, George, and Keyser, Samuel 1981 A Three-Tiered Theory of the Syllable. Unpublished ms. MIT.Google Scholar
Daniels, J. W. 1972 Assimilation in Russian Consonant Clusters. Papers in Linguistics 5:366–381.Google Scholar
Dresher, Elan 1978 Old English and the Theory of Phonology. Ph.D dissertation, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Halle, Morris, and Vergnaud, Jean-Roger 1978 Metrical Structure in Phonology. Unpublished ms. MIT.Google Scholar
Harris, James 1983 Syllable Structure and Stress in Spanish. Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 8. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hayes, Bruce 1981 A Metrical Theory of Stress Rules. Ph.D. dissertation. MIT. [Revised version distributed by Indiana University Linguistics Club.]Google Scholar
Hooper, Joan B. 1976 An Introduction to Natural Generative Phonology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jones, Charles 1976 Some Constraints in Medial Consonant Clusters. Language 52:121–130.Google Scholar
Kaye, Jonathan 1983 On the Syllable Structure of Certain West African Languages. Unpublished ms. Université du Québec à Montréal.Google Scholar
Kaye, Jonathan, and Lowenstamm, Jean 1981a Syllable Structure and Markedness Theory. In Theory of Markedness in Generative Grammar. Belletti, A., Brandi, L. and Rizzi, L., eds. Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore.Google Scholar
Kaye, Jonathan, and Lowenstamm, Jean 1981b De la syllabicité. Unpublished ms. Université du Québec à Montréal.Google Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael, and Kisseberth, Charles 1971 Unmarked Bleeding Orders. In Studies in Generative Phonology. Kisseberth, C., ed. Edmonton: Linguistic Research Inc.Google Scholar
Kenstowicz, Michael, and Kisseberth, Charles 1977 Topics in Phonological Theory. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul 1979 Metrical Structure Assignment is Cyclic. Linguistic Inquiry 10:421–442.Google Scholar
Kisseberth, Charles 1970 On the Functional Unity of Phonological Rules. Linguistic Inquiry 1:291–306.Google Scholar
Klausenburger, Jürgen 1980 Three Tiers of Morpho (phono)logy. Papers in Romance 2:143–147.Google Scholar
Liberman, M., and Prince, Alan S. 1977 On Stress and Linguistic Rules. Linguistic Inquiry 8:249–336.Google Scholar
Lowenstamm, Jean, and Kaye, Jonathan 1983 Compensatory Lengthening in Tiberian Hebrew. Unpublished ms. Université du Québec à Montréal.Google Scholar
MacCarthy, J. 1979 On Stress and Syllabification. Linguistic Inquiry 10:443–466.Google Scholar
Morin, Yves-Charles 1982 Some Recent Developments in the French Verb Morphology. Unpublished ms. Université de Montréal.Google Scholar
Pesetsky, D. 1979 Menomini Quantity. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 1:115–139.Google Scholar
Piggott, Glynn L. 1981 On the Status of Rules of Insertion and Deletion. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association.Google Scholar
Postal, Paul 1968 Aspects of Phonological Theory. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Reighard, John 1975 Latin Syncope: The History of a Variable Rule. Ph.D dissertation, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Rubach, Jerzy 1977 Changes of Consonants in English and Polish. Wroclaw: Polska Akademia Nauk.Google Scholar
Safir, Kenneth 1979 Metrical Structure in Capanahua. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 1:95–114.Google Scholar
Schane, Sanford 1972 Natural Rules in Phonology. In Linguistic Change and Generative Theory. Stockwell, Robert and Macaulay, Ronald, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Selkirk, Elizabeth 1981 Epenthesis and Degenerate Syllables in Cairene Arabic. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 3:209–232.Google Scholar
Singh, Rajendra 1980 Old French Epenthesis and Syllabic Structure. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 25:226–230.Google Scholar
Singh, Rajendra 1981a Free at Last. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association.Google Scholar
Singh, Rajendra 1981b The English Negative Prefix in-. Recherches linguistiques à Montréal 17:139–143.Google Scholar
Singh, Rajendra 1981c The English Plural. Recherches linguistiques à Montréal 17:145–148.Google Scholar
Singh, Rajendra 1983 On Allegro Rules. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association.Google Scholar
Singh, Rajendra 1985 Well-formedness Conditions and Phonological Theory. In Phonologica 1984. Dressler, Wolfgang, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (In press).Google Scholar
Sommerstein, Alan 1977 Modern Phonology. London: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Walker, Douglas C. 1978 Epenthesis in Old French. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 23:66–83.Google Scholar
Walker, Douglas C. 1981 Old French Epenthesis Revisited. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 26:78–84.Google Scholar