El tractament de les formes nominals 'invariables' quant a nombre

The starting claim of this paper is that it is not accidental that in Catalan, as in Spanish, invariable nominals regarding number end in the same form as the regular plural marker, i.e., s, and thus any analysis willing to explain these words has to take this fact into account. Under this assumption, different proposals are evaluated: the existence of a `zero'-plural morph, the blocking of s (plural marker)-insertion, the deletion of s-plural marker, the ambimorphic interpretation of -s+s, the unspecified blocking of one of the two ss, and the deletion of the s-stem. The latter analysis is favoured, except for compounds whose second element is already plural, in which case the ambimorphic analysis is preferred

La sufixació apreciativa del català: creacions lèxiques i implicacions morfològiques

La situació de la derivació apreciativa dins la morfologia és excepcional, perquè la informació limitada que contenen, en general, les gramàtiques i els diccionaris sobre els apreciatius així com l’ús habitual d’aquestes formes en contextos familiars i informals fan que la creativitat dels parlants no es vegi limitada per normatives i que, per tant, aflorin solucions imaginatives, que, tot i la variació existent, segueixen uns condicionaments gramaticals clars. L’objectiu d’aquest treball és aportar noves dades en aquest camp a partir de formes recollides en corpus tradicionals i per internet, amb una doble finalitat: d’una banda, aprofundir en les particularitats morfològiques de la sufixació apreciativa del català, amb especial interès per les de les categories que la bibliografia sovint ignora (és a dir, els apreciatius que no deriven de noms, adjectius o verbs); i, de l’altra, demostrar que les restriccions distribucionals que presenten els apreciatius amb relació a les terminacions que admeten tant les formes tradicionals com les noves creacions lèxiques permeten redefinir quines marques flexives nominals reals té el català

Moras or Skeletal Units? A Question of Parametric Variation

Una de les qüestions que més s'han discutit recentment en fonologia és si les representacions fonològiques han d'incloure com a primitius mores o unitats de l'esquelet. L'objectiu d'aquest treball és demostrar que aquests dos elements no són mútuament exclusius, ja que existeixen processos fonològics que han de fer referència a ambdós per poder donar compte de tots els fets d'una llengua. De fet, aquesta dicotomia sorgí erròniament en confrontar la teoria moraica de Hayes (1989) amb la resta de teories de l'estructura sil·làbica. Ara bé, si tenim en compte que ni podem prescindir de l'esquelet ni la quantitat sil·làbica és fonològicament rellevant en totes les llengües, podrem establir un nou ordre de primitius fonològics que no es presenti com a representació de teories prosòdiques alternatives sinó que posi de manifest la variació paramètrica que les llengües presenten entre llengües d'estructura moraica i llengües d'estructura sil·làbica.One major issue that is being addressed in recent phonological research is whether the phonological representation has to recognize the existence of moras or skeletai units as primitives. The present paper argues that both approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive, since there exists the possibility that some phonological processes have to refer to both phonologicai entities in order to account for all the facts of a language. In fact, tbis dichotomy wrongly appeared by facing Hayes' (1989) moraic theory with other theories of syllable structure. However, if one takes into amunt that neither the skeleton can be disregarded nor syllable weight is always a phonological variable, a new ordering of phonological primitives can be suggested, which does not cmespond to altemative prosodic theories but reflects the parametric variation that languages show between moraic and syllablic structure

Vocalic adjustments under Positional Markedness in Catalan and other Romance languages

While in a wide range of phonological theories preservation under prominence is a well noticed effect, there are few explanations for the accumulation of prominent properties in a particular position. Both tendencies, however, as well as their interaction, are particularly suited to formal expression within Optimality Theory. The aim of this paper is to show that the word-initial position is a site of vowel preservation (Positional Faithfulness) and a point of attraction of salient features (Positional Markedness). The focus is on the less familiar effect of get-together prominent elements in order to shed new light on several vocalic adjustments that have been unsatisfactorily explained in the traditional literature of Romance languages.While in a wide range of phonological theories preservation under prominence is a well noticed effect, there are few explanations for the accumulation of prominent properties in a particular position. Both tendencies, however, as well as their interaction, are particularly suited to formal expression within Optimality Theory. The aim of this paper is to show that the word-initial position is a site of vowel preservation (Positional Faithfulness) and a point of attraction of salient features (Positional Markedness). The focus is on the less familiar effect of get-together prominent elements in order to shed new light on several vocalic adjustments that have been unsatisfactorily explained in the traditional literature of Romance languages

Prominence and centralization: a two-way contrast between lexical and epenthetic non-labial high vowels in Algherese Catalan

Algherese Catalan has the peculiarity of presenting an inserted [i] vowel across words in order to avoid certain consonant codas. In this study, we compare five acoustic features of this epenthetic segment (i.e., duration, intensity, and the three first formants) with those of lexical /i/ vowels, both stressed and unstressed. The results indicate that the three vowels present differences only with respect to duration, F2 and, to a lesser extent, F3. The second formant values decline progressively from the lexical stressed vowels to the inserted unstressed segments, with lexical unstressed segments at an intermediate point. This gradation mirrors the relative prominence of each vowel. The differences in F2 between lexical stressed and unstressed vowels can be attributed to the shorter duration of the later segments. Lexical unstressed and inserted vowels, however, have an equivalent duration, challenging the idea that inserted vowels are more centralized due to their shorter duration. All in all, the data point to a double contrast: first, between lexical stressed and unstressed segments and, second, between unstressed segment

Prominencia y centralización: un doble contraste entre vocales altas no labiales léxicas y epentéticas en el catalán de L’Alguer

Algherese Catalan has the peculiarity of presenting an inserted [] vowel acrosswords in order to avoid certain consonant codas. In this study, we compare fiveacoustic features of this epenthetic segment (i.e., duration, intensity, and the three first formants) with those of lexical /i/ vowels, both stressed and unstressed. The results indicate that the three vowels present differences only with respect to duration, F2 and, to a lesser extent, F3. The second formant values decline progressively from the lexical stressed vowels to the inserted unstressed segments, with lexical unstressed segments at an intermediate point. This gradation mirrors the relative prominence of each vowel. The differences in F2 between lexical stressed and unstressed vowels can be attributed to the shorter duration of the later segments. Lexical unstressed and inserted vowels, however, have an equivalent duration, challenging the idea that inserted vowels are more centralized due to their shorter duration. All in all, the data point to a double contrast: first, between lexical stressed and unstressed segments and, second, between unstressed segments.El catalán de L’Alguer presenta la peculiaridad de insertar una vocal [] entrepalabras con el objetivo de evitar ciertas codas consonánticas. En este estudio,comparamos cinco rasgos acústicos de las vocales epentéticas (duración, intensidad y los tres primeros formantes) con los de las vocales /i/ léxicas, tónicas y átonas. Los resultados indican que las tres vocales solo difieren con respecto a duración, F2 y, en menor grado, F3. Los valores del segundo formante descienden desde las vocales léxicas tónicas hasta las vocales insertadas, con las vocales léxicas átonas en un punto intermedio, una escala que reproduce el grado de prominencia relativa de cada vocal. Las diferencias de F2 entre las vocales léxicas tónicas y átonas se pueden atribuir a la menor duración de estas últimas. En cambio, las vocales átonas léxicas y epentéticas tienen una duración equivalente, lo que cuestiona la idea de que la mayor centralización de las vocales insertadas se deba a su menor duración. En conjunto, los datos apuntan a un doble contraste: por un lado, entre las vocalesléxicas átonas y las vocales léxicas tónicas y, por otro, entre las vocales átonasléxicas y las vocales insertadas