STYLISTIC VARIATION IN SPANISH PHONOLOGY
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate
School of the Ohio State University
By
Richard E. Morris, M.A.
*****
The Ohio State University
1998
Dissertation Committee:
Approved by
Professor Fernando Martínez-Gil, Adviser
Professor Wayne J. Redenbarger
Professor Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach
______________________________
Adviser
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
ABSTRACT
This dissertation is an investigation of phonological variation occurring as a
function of stylistic choice in Spanish.
The main variable processes include glide
formation, vowel coalescence, vowel deletion, nasal and lateral place assimilation, nasal
neutralization, continuancy assimilation, obstruent devoicing, voicing assimilation, and
aspiration. Optimality Theory (OT) is the theoretical framework.
Previous generative work on phonological variation in Spanish and other
languages has been couched in discussions of “optional” or “variable” rules. More
recently, a principle of “floating” constraints (FCs) has been applied to explain interspeaker variation. The present study develops the FC theory of variation and applies it
systematically to the analysis of stylistic data from several dialects of Spanish. It is
argued that stylistic variation in Spanish - and indeed in all languages - is the result of
variable dominance relations among ranked universal constraints. The primary advantage
of the FC model is its ability to account for all speech processes, variable as well as
categorical, within a single framework.
Under this model, constraints fall into two broadly-defined constraint families,
MARKEDNESS and FAITHFULNESS. Data from a variety of Spanish dialects are given to
show that when FAITHFULNESS constraints outrank MARKEDNESS constraints, maximally
distinctive (careful speech) forms are optimized. When the reverse is true, maximally
economical (casual speech) forms are optimized. Forms associated with intermediate
speech styles are allowed by the interleaving of FAITHFULNESS and MARKEDNESS
constraints, and often represent a “compromise” between careful and casual style.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are many individuals I would like to thank for their contribution to this
finished dissertation.
First, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation
committee for their support throughout the long process. My adviser Dr. Fernando
Martínez-Gil was a valuable critic; he always knew the challenging questions to keep me
focused and thinking. Thanks also to Dr. Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach for his input and also
for agreeing to serve on my committee on fairly short notice. I would like to give special
thanks to Dr. Wayne Redenbarger, who taught me almost everything I know about Latin,
morphology, and lexical phonology. He always enjoyed a good debate, even if there was
no whiteboard handy, and even if we often disagreed. I will truly miss these impromptu
discussions.
I would like to thank Dr. Christiane Laeufer, whose love for all types of linguistics
was infectious and inspired me to persevere while I was a Master’s student in French
linguistics, and who has always had time to chat with me about topics of mutual interest.
I was honored to have her on my candidacy examination committee in 1996. I owe
thanks also to Dr. Terrell Morgan, whose vast knowledge of Spanish dialects and
dialectology as well as phonology has been a resource for me many times over the past
four years. Thanks also for advising me in academic matters at various stages. Thank
you Dr. Jan Macián for doing your best to keep me employed - at least partially - as a
departmental lecturer while I finished this dissertation. These acknowledgments would
be incomplete without a special thanks to Dr. Judith Rusciolelli at Middle Tennessee
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State University, who entrusted me with a job offer while this dissertation was still in
progress.
My greatest thanks of all go to my parents Robert and Beverly Morris, without
whose support - tangible and intangible - this dissertation simply would not have been
possible.
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VITA
May 13, 1968 .....................................Born - Rapid City, South Dakota, USA
1990....................................................B.A. French, German, Cornell College, Iowa
1990 - 1992 ........................................Graduate Teaching Associate
Department of French and Italian
The Ohio State University
1992....................................................M.A. French linguistics, The Ohio State University
1993....................................................Instructor of French
Columbus State Community College, Ohio
1995, 1996..........................................Research Assistant
The Ohio State University
1997....................................................Instructor of English as a Second Language
Capital University, Ohio
1994 - 1997 ........................................Graduate Teaching Associate
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
The Ohio State University
PUBLICATIONS
Published translations
1.
On French-language Tunisian literature, (translation of Tahar Bekri), Research in
African Literatures 23:2, 177-182, (1992).
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2.
“Poetic idiom among the Akyé of Côte d’Ivoire: the agnanda-nou, (translation of
Agnès Monnet), Research in African Literatures 24:2. 108-116, (1993).
FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Field: Spanish and Portuguese
Minor Field: Spanish phonology and morphology, Romance linguistics
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Abstract.................. ............................................................................................................. ii
Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii
Vita...................... .................................................................................................................v
Chapters:
1.
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
2.
Variability in language .................................................................................1
Speed and style...........................................................................................10
1.2.1 Optional and variable rules ............................................................10
1.2.2 Gestural overlap and gestural reduction.........................................20
1.2.3 Fast speech and control ..................................................................22
The Theoretical framework: Optimality Theory ........................................28
1.3.1 Preview of OT constraints .............................................................28
1.3.2 FAITHFULNESS vs. MARKEDNESS .................................................30
1.3.3 Colina (1995) .................................................................................31
1.3.4 Partial ranking theories of variation ...............................................33
1.3.5 Constraining FCs? Some acquisitional evidence ..........................38
1.3.6 Probabilistic prediction in the FC theory .......................................41
Distinctive feature structure .......................................................................43
Preliminary conclusions and organization of the study .............................45
FEATURAL, SEGMENTAL, AND MORAIC FAITHFULNESS .......................47
IN SYLLABLE MERGER
2.1
2.2
Syllable merger ..........................................................................................47
2.1.1 Previous treatments of syllable merger ..........................................48
2.1.2 Experimental evidence for mid glide raising .................................53
2.1.3 Preliminaries to an OT analysis .....................................................57
2.1.4 MAX-µ and MAX-µ-WI .................................................................60
2.1.5 The Data .........................................................................................62
2.1.6 An OT account ...............................................................................66
Stressed syllable merger.............................................................................72
2.2.1 The Data .........................................................................................79
2.2.2 An OT account ...............................................................................83
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2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
3.
CONSONANT ASSIMILATION, NEUTRALIZATION ...................................134
AND ASPIRATION
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
4.
Vowel deletion in Chicano Spanish ...........................................................92
2.3.1 Rule ordering and rule persistence .................................................94
2.3.2 An OT account ...............................................................................98
2.3.3 More about Chicano: the OCP .....................................................104
Identical (long) vowels.............................................................................109
2.4.1 Structure fusion in V1V1 sequences ..............................................109
2.4.2 The Effect of stress on V1V1 sequences .......................................112
2.4.3 An OT account .............................................................................115
Vowel super-sequences ............................................................................122
2.5.1 Sonority conditions on super-sequences ......................................123
2.5.2 An OT account .............................................................................125
Summary ..................................................................................................132
Place assimilation.....................................................................................135
3.1.1 Feature spreading .........................................................................138
3.1.2 The Spreading imperative ............................................................146
3.1.3 LICENSE-PLACE and consonant release ........................................150
3.1.4 Assimilation and overlap: some articulatory considerations .......152
3.1.5 An OT account .............................................................................155
Nasal neutralization, place faithfulness, and assimilation .......................166
3.2.1 Constraints on nasal place ............................................................172
3.2.2 An OT account .............................................................................176
Voicing assimilation, continuancy assimilation, and devoicing ..............186
3.3.1 Voicing assimilation ....................................................................186
3.3.2 Continuancy assimilation .............................................................189
3.3.3 Devoicing .....................................................................................196
3.3.4 Constraining the coda ..................................................................198
3.3.5 An OT account .............................................................................203
3.3.5.1 Type 1 ...........................................................................206
3.3.5.2 Type 2 ...........................................................................210
3.3.5.3 Type 3 ...........................................................................212
Aspiration .................................................................................................216
3.4.1 Some aspiration varieties .............................................................220
3.4.2 Which feature gets left? ...............................................................221
3.4.3 An OT account .............................................................................224
Summary ..................................................................................................237
CONCLUDING REMARKS ...............................................................................241
Bibliography.....................................................................................................................250
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