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Systematic Irregularity in Japanese Rendaku: How the grammar mediates patterned lexical exceptions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Eric Rosen
Eric Rosen*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
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Abstract

Exceptions to Japanese rendaku voicing that are independent of Lyman’s Law have usually been considered to be random and unsystematic. This article proposes that such exceptions are largely systematic and can be explained through lexical specification and Positional Markedness. Two main types of systematicity are examined: the clustering of blocking cases around particular lexical items, and a prosodic size effect, where “long” compounds, with at least one constituent exceeding two moras, will disable blocking under most conditions. Lexical clustering is explained through lexical specification of features under Combinatorial Underspecification while the prosodic size effect is seen as an expression of Positional Markedness. It is argued that only in long compounds is the morpheme boundary at the edge of a Prosodic Word, a prosodically strong position that more freely permits the marked [−sonorant, +voice] featural combination of rendaku voicing to occur.

Résumé

Résumé

Les exceptions au voisement du rendaku en japonais qui ne dépendent pas de la Loi de Lyman sont généralement considérées comme étant aléatoires et non systématiques. Cet article propose que ces exceptions sont pour la plupart systématiques et peuvent être expliquées par la spécification lexicale et le Marquage Positionnel. Deux grands types de systématicité sont examinés : un regroupement d’exceptions mettant en cause des items lexicaux particuliers, et un effet de la longueur prosodique, où les composés « longs », dont au moins un constituant excède deux mores, permettent le voisement dans la plupart des cas. Le regroupement lexical s’explique par la spécification lexicale des traits, suivant la Sous-spécification Combinatoire, alors que l’effet de la longueur prosodique est plutôt une expression du Marquage Positionnel. Il est argumenté que dans les composés longs la frontière de morphème se situe à la limite d’ un Mot Prosodique, ce qui constitue une position prosodiquement forte qui permet plus facilement la combinaison marquée de traits [−sonant, +voisé] du voisement du rendaku

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 48 , Issue 1-2 , June 2003 , pp. 1 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2003

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