The Phonology of Italian (The ^APhonology of the World's Languages)

This book provides an overview of the phonology of Italian. It covers the different levels of analysis from individual sounds up to the phrasal level. It focuses on the most widely dispersed features of the language reflecting its significant regional and social variation and its most prominent regionally restricted patterns. Martin Krämer provides a critical survey of the generative literature on Italian phonology. He reports on current debates in the field, considers their particular and general theoretical interest, and provides both syntheses and original analyses. His accounts of the main aspects and characteristics of Italian phonology are couched in the framework of Optimality Theory, but he keeps formal aspects and theory-internal matters to a minimum and separate from the presentation and description of the data. His exposition is thus fully accessible to students and researchers who are not familiar with or do not subscribe to the tenets of the theory. Individual chapters may thus serve as starting points for in-depth investigations into particular aspects of Italian phonology in whatever framework the reader chooses to employ. The Phonology of Italian is the first fully comprehensive account of its subject for many years. It will interest scholars and advanced students of Italian, Romance phonology, and phonology as a system. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Notation Conventions......Page 10 The International Phonetic Alphabet......Page 11 Abbreviations......Page 12 1.1 Approaching Italian......Page 14 1.2 A rationale......Page 16 1.3 An overview of this book......Page 18 1.4 Orthography......Page 21 2.1 Optimality Theory......Page 24 2.2 The parallel structures model of segmental representations......Page 30 3 AVERY BRIEF HISTORY OF ITALIAN PHONOLOGY......Page 35 3.1 Latin as a starting point......Page 36 3.2 Major developments on the way from Latin to Italian......Page 38 3.2.1 Changes in the consonantal system......Page 39 3.2.2 Changes in the vowel system......Page 43 3.2.3 Changes in prosodic organization......Page 46 3.3.1 Neogrammarian sound change......Page 48 3.3.2 Contrast innovation and fading-out of phonological processes......Page 49 3.3.3 Classical lexical diffusion......Page 52 3.3.5 Summary......Page 55 4 SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY......Page 57 4.1.1 Consonants......Page 58 4.1.2 Vowels......Page 63 4.2.1 Palatalization......Page 69 4.2.2 The status of glides: vowel-glide alternations......Page 97 4.2.3 Vowel neutralization......Page 112 4.3 A feature set for the Italian segment inventory......Page 137 5 SYLLABLE STRUCTURE......Page 140 5.1 Italian onset phonotactics......Page 141 5.2 The rhyme......Page 147 5.2.1 The size of the rhyme......Page 148 5.2.2 The coda condition......Page 150 5.3 Across syllable boundaries......Page 153 5.4 An OT analysis......Page 155 6.1 Overview......Page 169 6.2.1 Identifying the problem......Page 173 6.2.2 Nonce-word test method......Page 180 6.2.3 Results......Page 182 6.2.4 Analysis of nonce-word stress patterns......Page 190 6.2.5 Comments and further refinement......Page 198 6.3.1 Conflicting stress marks......Page 200 6.3.2 OT analysis of lexical stress......Page 203 6.4 Secondary stress......Page 207 6.5 The domain of stress......Page 210 7.1 The prosodic hierarchy......Page 216 7.2.1 Overview......Page 220 7.2.2 Formal analyses......Page 224 7.3.1 The different types of consonant doubling and their previous analyses......Page 232 7.3.2 An OT analysis of phonological consonant doubling......Page 238 7.4 Vowel deletion......Page 247 7.4.1 Deletion, syntactic structure, and speech rate......Page 248 7.4.2 A unified analysis of deletion......Page 256 7.5.1 Overview......Page 262 7.5.2 Phonological and syntactic phrasing......Page 265 7.5.3 Phrasal stress......Page 270 7.5.4 Phrasal stress, focus, and syntactic movement......Page 273 7.6 Conclusions on prosodic phonology......Page 276 References......Page 278 C......Page 292 F......Page 293 L......Page 294 P......Page 295 S......Page 296 W......Page 297 I......Page 298 Z......Page 299 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 9 Notation Conventions 10 The International Phonetic Alphabet 11 Abbreviations 12 1 INTRODUCTION 14 1.1 Approaching Italian 14 1.2 A rationale 16 1.3 An overview of this book 18 1.4 Orthography 21 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 24 2.1 Optimality Theory 24 2.2 The parallel structures model of segmental representations 30 3 AVERY BRIEF HISTORY OF ITALIAN PHONOLOGY 35 3.1 Latin as a starting point 36 3.2 Major developments on the way from Latin to Italian 38 3.2.1 Changes in the consonantal system 39 3.2.2 Changes in the vowel system 43 3.2.3 Changes in prosodic organization 46 3.3 Explaining historical change 48 3.3.1 Neogrammarian sound change 48 3.3.2 Contrast innovation and fading-out of phonological processes 49 3.3.3 Classical lexical diffusion 52 3.3.4 Rule inversion 55 3.3.5 Summary 55 4 SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY 57 4.1 The sound inventory 58 4.1.1 Consonants 58 4.1.2 Vowels 63 4.2 Segmental alternations 69 4.2.1 Palatalization 69 4.2.2 The status of glides: vowel-glide alternations 97 4.2.3 Vowel neutralization 112 4.3 A feature set for the Italian segment inventory 137 5 SYLLABLE STRUCTURE 140 5.1 Italian onset phonotactics 141 5.2 The rhyme 147 5.2.1 The size of the rhyme 148 5.2.2 The coda condition 150 5.3 Across syllable boundaries 153 5.4 An OT analysis 155 6 WORD STRESS 169 6.1 Overview 169 6.2 Default stress 173 6.2.1 Identifying the problem 173 6.2.2 Nonce-word test method 180 6.2.3 Results 182 6.2.4 Analysis of nonce-word stress patterns 190 6.2.5 Comments and further refinement 198 6.3 Lexical stress 200 6.3.1 Conflicting stress marks 200 6.3.2 OT analysis of lexical stress 203 6.4 Secondary stress 207 6.5 The domain of stress 210 7 PROSODIC PHONOLOGY 216 7.1 The prosodic hierarchy 216 7.2 Intervocalic s-voicing 220 7.2.1 Overview 220 7.2.2 Formal analyses 224 7.3 Raddoppiamento sintattico 232 7.3.1 The different types of consonant doubling and their previous analyses 232 7.3.2 An OT analysis of phonological consonant doubling 238 7.3.3 Summary 247 7.4 Vowel deletion 247 7.4.1 Deletion, syntactic structure, and speech rate 248 7.4.2 A unified analysis of deletion 256 7.5 Phrasal stress and focus: phonology and syntax in interaction 262 7.5.1 Overview 262 7.5.2 Phonological and syntactic phrasing 265 7.5.3 Phrasal stress 270 7.5.4 Phrasal stress, focus, and syntactic movement 273 7.6 Conclusions on prosodic phonology 276 References 278 Subject Index 292 A 292 B 292 C 292 D 293 E 293 F 293 G 294 H 294 I 294 L 294 M 295 N 295 O 295 P 295 Q 296 R 296 S 296 T 297 U 297 V 297 W 297 Index of Names 298 A 298 B 298 C 298 D 298 E 298 F 298 G 298 H 298 I 298 J 299 K 299 L 299 M 299 N 299 O 299 P 299 R 299 S 299 T 299 V 299 W 299 Z 299