Fenno-Swedish Quantity: Contrast in Stratal OT
BibTeX
@MISC{Abstract_fenno-swedishquantity:,
author = {Paul Kiparsky Abstract},
title = {Fenno-Swedish Quantity: Contrast in Stratal OT},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
Compared to more familiar varieties of Swedish, the dialects spoken in Finland have rather diverse syllable structures. The distribution of distinctive syllable weight is determined by grammatical factors, and by varying effects of final consonant weightlessness. In turn it constrains several gemination processes which create derived superheavy syllables, in an unexpected way which provides evidence for an anti-neutralization constraint. Stratal OT, which integrates OT with Lexical Phonology, sheds light on these complex quantity systems. 1 The weight of stressed syllables 1.1 Light stressed syllables 1 The bimoraic minimum: Sweden vs. Finland. In most Swedish dialects of Sweden (here referred to as West Swedish for short), stressed syllables are minimally bimoraic: they must contain at least a long vowel (-VV-) or a closed syllable (-VC-). 2 Words like (1a) are therefore impossible. Because word-final consonants are weightless (“extrametrical”) in Swedish, the two-mora minimum also excludes monosyllabic words with-VC rhymes (see (1b)): (1) a. *[ro], *[ro.da], *[ro.a], *[no.gra] b. *[ro(d)] The Swedish dialects of Finland present a more varied picture. Only parts of Åland have the two-mora minimum (e.g. Brändö and Kumlinge in the northeastern part of the island, Sundberg 1993:131 ff.). All other Fenno-Swedish dialects allow light (i.e. monomoraic) stressed syllables as a distinctive syllable type: (2) [daga], [dagar] ‘days’, [viku] ‘week’, [veliN] ‘gruel’, [suvel] ‘food eaten with bread, sowl’, [somar] ‘summer’, [stygu] ‘hut’, [päron] ‘potato(es)’, [hakon] ‘the chin’, [hole] ‘the hole’, [segla] ‘to sail’, [tala] ‘to talk’, [sita] ‘to sit’, [myky] 3 ‘much’, [stad0gari] ‘steadier’, [snidit] ‘askew’, [Ùyvu] ‘twenty’ Fenno-Swedish, then, has a lexical contrast between stressed CV, CVC, and CVV syllables: 4 (3) a. [baka] ‘bake ’ (99), [baaket] ‘after ’ (adv.) (114), [bakkan] ‘the hill ’ (114) b. [vaten] ‘water ’ (102), [maaten] ‘the food’, [natten] ‘the night ’ (70) c. [betär] ‘better ’ (51), [fleetor] ‘braids ’ (43), [tvettar] ‘washes ’ (51) Even though stressed CV syllables are allowed, words of the form CV are categorically excluded in all the dialects (except for function words, on which see below). 5 As for words of the form CVC, the dialects are divided. Most allow them: 6
Keyphrases
stratal ot fenno-swedish quantity two-mora minimum swedish dialect cvv syllable long vowel stressed syllable somar summer diverse syllable structure cv syllable ron potato food eaten vaten water sweden v snidit askew anti-neutralization constraint br nd monosyllabic word with-vc rhyme west swedish grammatical factor function word word-final consonant familiar variety viku week unexpected way complex quantity system stad0gari steadier varied picture closed syllable distinctive syllable weight form cv fenno-swedish dialect several gemination process northeastern part distinctive syllable type lexical phonology final consonant weightlessness superheavy syllable bet better form cvc lexical contrast fleetor braid dagar day tvettar wash bimoraic minimum
