Harmonic Grammar and Harmonic Serialism - John J. McCarthy
10. Compensatory and Opaque Vowel Lengthening in Harmonic Serialism
Harmonic Grammar and Harmonic Serialism - John J. McCarthy
Francese Josep Torres-Tamarit [+]
L’Université Paris 8
Description
This paper argues on the basis of compensatory lengthening and opaque vowel lengthening in favor of Harmonic Serialism. It is shown that Harmonic Serialism derives classic compensatory lengthening if two independently motivated proposals about the gradual nature of GEN are assumed. Namely, that syllabification is built serially in harmonically improving steps and that deletion of a coda consonant is a two-step process. These theoretical assumptions are extended to account for an opaque interaction between vowel lengthening and word-final obstruent devoicing in Friulian, as well as a more complex opaque interaction in Alsatian French between vowel lengthening and syllable-final obstruent devoicing, vowel epenthesis, and resyllabification. The paper demonstrates that Harmonic Serialism is able to accommodate particular cases of counterbleeding opacity in which syllabification is involved, and gives additional support to two hypotheses about the gradual nature of GEN: serial syllabification and deletion as a two-step process.