A SYNCHRONIC STUDY OF

DENTAL CONSONANTS PRECEDING YOD I N FRENCH

AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR A DIACHRONIC ANALYSIS

Evelyn B. Kutzner

A THESIS SUBMITTED I N PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS

i n t h e Department

0 f

Languages L i t e r a t u r e s and L i n g u i s t i c s

Evelyn B. Kutzner 1982

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

May 1982

A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . T h i s t h e s i s may n o t b e reproduced i n whole o r i n p a r t , by photocopy

o r o t h e r means, w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n o f t h e a u t h o r .

PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE

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my t h e s i s o r d i s s e r t a t i o n ( t h e t i t l e of which is shown below) t o users

of t he Simon P rase r Univers i ty L ib ra ry , and t o make p a r t i a l o r s i n g l e

copies only for such u s e r s o r i n response t o a reques t from the l i b r a r y

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without my w r i t t e n permission.

T i t l e of Thesi,s /D i s se r t a t i on :

A synchronic study of dental consonants preceding yod in French

and its implications for a diachronic analysis.

Author : -'eY--- ( s i g n a t u r e )

Evelyn Beatrice Kutzner

(name)

e / r ~ --- -- - C: (da te

APPROVAL

Name : Evelyn Beatrice Kutzner

Degree: Master of Arts

Title of Thesis: A Synchronic Study of Dental Consonants Preceding Yod in French and its Implications for a Diachronic Analysis

Examining Commit tee :

Chairperson: Thomas Perry

1 Phyllis Wrenn Senior Supervisor

- - ~arricia Shaw External Examiner Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics University of British Columbia

Date Approved: May 20, 1 9 8 2

ABSTRACT

iii

The purpose of t h i s t h e s i s i s t o examine t h e phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s

of d e n t a l consonants preceding yod i n contemporary French and t o

propose an a n a l y s i s t h a t w i l l a l s o s a t i s f a c t o r i l y account f o r t h e

evo lu t ion of t hese same sequences from L a t i n t o modern French.

I n Chapter One, t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n s of consonants i n t h e h i s t o r y

of French a r e d i scussed , and a d e f i n i t i o n of t h e process e s t a b l i s h e d .

J u s t i f i c a t i o n is given f o r t h e l i m i t a t i o n of t h e contemporary d a t a

t o phonological d e n t a l consonants preceding yod. Chapter Two v a l i d a t e s

t h e corpus, methodology and d a t a analysed, and shows t h a t t h e

phenomena t o be d iscussed occur i n t he contemporary language

independent of s t y l i s t i c o r geographical f a c t o r s . I n Chapter Three,

t h e phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s of t h e consonants a r e examined w i t h r e s p e c t

t o phonet ic environment, p o s i t i o n r e l a t i v e t o t h e rhythmic group

accent and p o s s i b i l i t y of i n d i v i d u a l v a r i a t i o n . Chapter Four compares

contemporary pronuncia t ion t o a t t e s t e d h i s t o r i c a l changes. Based on

t h e r e s u l t s of t h e s tudy of contemporary d a t a , a r e - ana lys i s of t h e

evo lu t ion of t h e sequences -dj- and -lj- from L a t i n t o modern ~ r e l i c h

is then proposed.

It i s argued t h a t t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of I t / , / d l , Is/, / z / , and

I n / is r e l a t e d t o a r t i c u l a t o r y energy, def ined a s embracing bo th

t h e inhe ren t f o r c e of t h e consonant and t h e energy of a p a r t i c u l a r

r e a l i s a t i o n . The i d i o s y n c r a t i c weakening bu t non-pa la t a l i s a t ion of

/1/ ( t h e consonant wi th t h e lowest i n h e r e n t a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e ) i s

explained i n terms of r e s y l l a b i f i c a t i o n which r e s u l t s i n t h e l a t e r a l

be ing assigned phone t i ca l ly t o t h e preceding s y l l a b l e - f i n a l pos i t i on .

The conclusion i s drawn t h a t modern a r t i c u l a t o r y tendencies

p a r a l l e l t h e e a r l y s t a g e s of phonet ic change. While t h e subsequent

e v o l u t i o n of French was cha rac t e r i zed by a per iod of a r t i c u l a t o r y

weakness, dur ing which t h e &was l o s t , t h e degree of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n

i n t h e contemporary language r e f l e c t s t h e presence of cons iderable

a r t i c u l a t o r y energy and t h e maintenance of t h e p a l a t a l environment.

On t h e b a s i s of t h i s conclusion i t i s f u r t h e r argued, t h a t t h e

r e s y l l a b i f i c a t i o n a n a l y s i s proposed f o r contemporary / l j / can be

app l i ed t o t h e h i s t o r i c a l d a t a , y i e l d i n g t h e c o r r e c t modern forms

wh i l e a t t h e same time e l imina t ing problems inhe ren t i n t h e

t r a d i t i o n a l a n a l y s i s of t h e evo lu t ion of L a t i n -1j-.

I wish t o thank D r . P. Wrenn and D r . B. B a r t l e t t f o r t h e i r

guidance and encouragement, n o t on ly dur ing t h e p repa ra t ion of

t h i s t h e s i s , b u t throughout my s t u d i e s a t Simon F rase r . I would

a l s o l i k e t o exp res s my a p p r e c i a t i o n t o t h e Externa l Examiner,

D r . P. Shaw of U.B.C. f o r h e r c o n s t r u c t i v e comments. A s p e c i a l

no te of thanks t o M r . T. Furumoto f o r h i s a s s i s t a n c e i n t h e

t e c h n i c a l a s p e c t s of t h i s r e sea rch .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ................................................ ABSTRACT ................................................ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................ TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................

.......................................... LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES ......................................... 1 . INTRODUCTION .........................................

.............................. 1.1 P a l a t a l i s a t i o n d e f i n e d

1 . 2 P a l a t a l i s a t i o n i n t h e h i s t o r y of French ............. 1 .3 Def in ing t h e scope o f t h e r e s e a r c h .................

2 . METHOD OF RESEARCH ..................................

2.1 Corpus and method of a n a l y s i s ....................... 2.2 V a l i d a t i o n o f d a t a ..................................

........ 2.2.1 Comparison of French and Canadian speech

.... 2.2.2 Comparison o f p repared and unprepared speech

2.2.3 Weakening of yod ................................

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iii

v

v i

v i i i

i x

1

................................. 3 . ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

...................................... 3 . 1 Pa la ta l i sa t ion

3 . 1 . 1 Fricat ives / s / and / z / .......................... 3 .1 .2 Occlusives /t/ and /d/ .......................... 3 . 1 . 3 Nasal /n/ .......................................

........................ 3 .2 Weakening of the l a t e r a l / I /

4 . COMPARISON OF CONTEMPORARY PRONUNCIATION AND

HISTORICAL CHANGES. ...................................

4 . 1 Occlusives .......................................... 4 . 2 Fr ica t ives .......................................... 4 . 3 Nasal ...............................................

............................................. 4 . 4 Lateral

5 . CONCLUSION ...........................................

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................

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v i i i

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1 Frequency of occurrence of each phonet ic 1 3

r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant preceding

yod

Table 2 French speakers: Frequency of occurrence of each 1 5

phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant

preceding yod

Table 3 Canadian speakers: Frequency of occurrence 16

of each phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l

consonant preceding yod

Table 4 Group A (Prepared speech) : Frequency of ' 18

occurrence of each phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n

of a d e n t a l consonant preceding yod

Table 5 Group B (Unprepared speech): Frequency of 1 9

occurrence of each phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n

of a d e n t a l consonant preceding yod

Table 6 Frequency of weakening of yod a f t e r

d e n t a l consonants

Table 7 Frequency of occurrence of each phonet ic 34

r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant preceding

a f u l l y r e a l i s e d yod

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig . 1

Fig. 2

F ig . 3

F ig . 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

F ig . 7

F ig . 8

F ig . 9

F ig . 1 0

Fig. 11

Fig . 12

F ig . 13

Sound spectrogram of p r o v i n c i a l e s i n

s e s in format ions p r o v i n c i a l e s

Sound spectrogram of p r o v i n c i a l e s i n

ques t i ons m6dicales p r o v i n c i a l e s

Sound spectrogram of [ s] i n a s sez

Sound spectrogram of [ I ] i n cha l eu r

Sound spectrogram of [ - s 1 i n c l ima t i s a t i o n

Sound spectrogram of [ z ] i n f a i s a i t

Sound spectrogram of [3] i n f r a g i l i t g

Sound spectrogram of [ - s ] i n a l l u s i o n

Schematic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n

of [ s ] and [ J ]

Schematic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n

of [ t 1 i n t ype , t u and t a s - - Schematic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n

of [ d 1 i n d i t , du and dame - - Schematic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n

Schematic r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n

of [ I j l , [ (a) I (a) l and [ j l

Page

28

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 P a l a t a l i s a t i o n def ined

One of t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c developments i n t h e evo lu t ion of t h e

French language i s t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of consonants. P a l a t a l i s a t i o n

i s u s u a l l y def ined a s a displacement of t h e po in t of a r t i c u l a t i o n

of a consonant, towards t h e hard p a l a t e :

"Modif ica t ion s u b i e pa r un phonzme dont l ' a r t i c u l a t i o n s e t rouve r epor t ce dans l a rggion du p a l a i s d u r , a i n s i par l e mouvement q u i rapproche du p a l a i s l a p a r t i e mcdiane de l a langue. . .'I

(J. Marouzeau, 1969, p . 165.)

11 Lorsqu'une consonne , pa r exemple [ t /d 1, occ lus ive d e n t a l e , dgplace son p o i n t d ' a r t i c u l a t i o n , (dans l e ca s par un reculement) v e r s l e mi l i eu du p a l a i s , c ' es t -2-d i re " l e c e n t r e d e l a v o c t e pa l a t ine" , c o m e l e d i t Rousselot , ou encore v e r s l a p a r t i e l a p l u s voGt6e du plafond bucca l , on d i t q u ' i l y a a r t i c u l a t i o n palatal is i5e."

(R. ~ha rbonneau , 1955, p. 6)

Based on evidence from palatograms and radiographs, G. S t r aka

(1965b) a l s o inc ludes i n h i s d e f i n i t i o n a r e fe rence t o t h e increased

contac t between t h e tongue and t h e roof of t h e mouth t h a t occurs

when a consonant i s p a l a t a l i s e d :

I1 mouvement d1616vat ion d e l a p a r t i e c e n t r a l e du dos d e l a langue ... e t about issement 2 une a r t i c u l a t i o n p l u s ferme que n 1 6 t a i t c e l l e d ' o 3 l e changement est p a r t i . "

P a l a t a l i s a t i o n i s usua l ly a condit ioned change (D.N.S. Bhat,

1978), t h e p a l a t a l i s i n g environment o f t e n , though n o t always, a

f r o n t vowel o r p a l a t a l semi-vowel.

1 .2 P a l a t a l i s a t i o n i n t h e h i s t o r y of French

I n t h e course of t h e i r evo lu t ion , French f r o n t vowels a r e known

t o have had a p a l a t a l i s i n g i n f l u e n c e on v e l a r consonants , a s t h e

fol lowing examples from L a t i n , compared t o t h e i r French d e r i v a t i v e s ,

show:

c i v i t a t e > c i t 6 [ s i t e ]

mercede > merci [ m e ~ s i 1

a r g i l l a > a r g i l e [ a ~ ? i l ]

g e l a r e > g e l e r [ p l e 3

gamba > jambe [ p b I

However, bo th -k- and -g- remained i n t a c t when followed by a back

vowel :

cub i tu > coude [ k u d l

r anco re > rancoeur [ R C ~ R ]

a n g u s t i a > angoisse [ Cgwas]

gobione > goujon [gu33]

e With t h e r educ t ion of C l a s s i c a l L a t i n h i a t u s , s h o r t -i-

d

and -5- b e f o r e vowels became t h e p a l a t a l g l i d e yod (i.e. FOR-TI-A >

f o r - t j a ) which, i n t u r n , exe r t ed a p a l a t a l i s i n g i n f l u e n c e on t h e

3

preceding consonant. This i n f l u e n c e was n o t r e s t r i c t e d t o v e l a r s ,

b u t was extended a l s o t o d e n t a l and l a b i a l consonants:

Velar : k j + s fac?a > f a c e [ f a s l

g j + 3 ~ ~ o r ~ i u s > Georges [ 3 3 ~ 3 ]

3 Dental : f j+ s f o r t i a > f o r c e [ f3RsI

d j + 3 drurnu > j ou r [ ~ u R ]

d+ 3 c e r gu > c i e r g e [ s ~ E R ~ ]

n j + P vinga > vigne [ v ~ P ]

1..

Labia l : p j + I a p i a > ache [ d' 1

b j + 3 t i b g a > t i g e [ t i 3 l .)

v j + 3 s a l v i a > sauge [ so3 1

m j + 3 vindemza > vendange [vCdE3]

The sequence f + j d id not e x i s t i n n a t i v e L a t i n words: "Le

cas d e f + y s e r encon t r e seulement dans des mots d ' o r i g i n e

GtrangZre, cofea (germ. kupphja) , ... emprunt6s a s sez ta rd . . . "

(E. & J. Bourciez, 1967, p. 177, i n which t h e symbol -y-

r e p r e s e n t s t h e p a l a t a l g l i d e yod).

Only modern French [ s ] r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e s i m p l i f i c a t i o n of

geminate -ss- and [ z ] r e s u l t i n g from t h e vo ic ing of L a t i n -s-

show no t r a c e of t h e in f luence of yod:

. s s j + s b a s s i a r e > b a i s s e r [bese]

s j + z nausza > n o i s e [ nwaz]

However, i t i s gene ra l ly accepted (P. Fouch6, 1966; E. & J. Bourciez,

4

1967, e t c . ) t h a t t hese consonants were p a l a t a l i s e d a t an e a r l y s t a g e ,

b u t r e v e r t e d t o a d e n t a l a r t i c u l a t i o n fol lowing t h e l o s s of & and,

consequent ly, i t s p a l a t a l i s i n g in f luence .

S i m i l a r l y , L a t i n -1- i s be l i eved t o have f i r s t p a l a t a l i s e d when

i t preceded -' yod becoming t h e p a l a t a l l a t e r a l [ A ] which l a t e r

reduced t o t h e g l i d e [ j ] i n French (P. Fouch6, 1966; E. & J. Bourciez,

1967, e t c . ) :

l j + j pa lga > p a i l l e [ p a j ]

f o l z a > f e u i l l e [ f c e j ]

No L a t i n consonant was exempt, then , from t h e i n f l u e n c e of a

fo l lowing - yod. What course t h e evo lu t ion took, however, depended

upon o t h e r f a c t o r s , such a s :

a ) t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence i n t h e word:

e.g. i n i t i a l l y d j + 3 diurnu > j ou r [ ~ u R ]

4

i n t e r v o c a l i c a l l y d j + 0 r a d i u > r a i [ R E ]

b) t h e n a t u r e of t h e preceding segment - vowel o r consonant: Y

e.g. a f t e r a vowel t j + z r a t i o n e > r a i s o n [ R E Z ~ ]

* a f t e r a consonant t j + s f o r t i a > f o r c e [ ~ D R S ]

A g lance a t t h e s e c t i o n s devoted t o t h e evo lu t ion of t h e sequence.

Consonant + Yod i n e i t h e r P. Fouchg (1966) o r E. & J. Bourciez (1967)

w i l l s u f f i c e t o unde r l ine t h e complexity of t h e problem.

It is g e n e r a l l y thought (M.K. Pope, 1952; P. Fouch6, 1966;

H. Bonnard, 1975, e t c . ) t h a t t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of consonants ,

occurred i n la te L a t i n , i f n o t e a r l i e r (Fix. NSve d e Mgvergnies, 1976)

and t h a t i t was q u i t e ex t ens ive i n t h e e a r l y c e n t u r i e s of t h e

C h r i s t i a n e r a . P. Fouch6 (1966, pp. 908, 911) sugges ts t h a t i n t h e

f i r s t c e n t u r i e s A.D. t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of L a t i n d e n t a l consonants

be fo re yod was medio-dorsal a l v e o p a l a t a l , wh i l e G. S t r aka (1965b,

p. 118) c la ims t h a t Gallo-Roman had an e n t i r e s e r i e s of p a l a t a l

consonants.

This pe r iod of i n t e n s e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n was followed by a per iod

of d e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , l a s t i n g from t h e end of t h e f o u r t h century t o

t h e t w e l f t h century accord ing t o G. tia aka ( i b i d . , p. 151) , a f t e r

which only t h e n a s a l [ p ] r e t a i n e d i t s p a l a t a l a r t i c u l a t i o n . Spe l l i ngs

such a s gui 'ere f o r gu'ere sugges t t h a t t h e r e was then a second

per iod of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n i n French. F. Carton (1974) p l aces t h e

beginning of t h i s second wave of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n i n t h e s i x t e e n t h

century (p. 154) , wh i l e A . Ewert (1943) claims i t began i n t h e

seventeenth century (p. 88 ) . However, i n a s tudy of pronuncia t ion

i n t h e t ime of P h i l i p p e l e B e 1 (1268-1314), K. ~ i c h a & s o n (1960)

d i s c u s s e s evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n and concludes t h a t " l a

deuxi'eme p a l a t a l i s a t i o n f r a n c a i s e a p p a r a i t donc, non pas au XVIIe

s i s c l e , mais au moins v e r s l a f i n du XIIIe . . ." (p. 289).

G. S t r a k a (1965b) s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e twen t i e th cen tu ry .has seen

t h e end of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n i n French:

t I On s'est f 6 l i c i t 6 d ' a v o i r a r r Z t 6 l a tendance p a l a t a l i s a n t e p a r l ' i n f l u e n c e de 116co le e t par c e l l e des grammairiens, des o r t h o 6 p i s t e s e t de tous ceux q u i , depu i s d e s g6nZrat ions n ' ava i en t ce s s6 de l a blzmer."

(p* 150)

On t h e o t h e r hand, o t h e r s c la im t h a t pal at^

i n t h e contemporary language:

6

ill occurs

"The p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of k and g b e f o r e e , i, 2, is a t t e s t e d from t h e e n d of t h e seventeenEh cen tu ry and p e r s i s t s t o t h e p re sen t day i n popular speech, a s does a l s o t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of - 1 and - n by a fo l lowing i."

(A. Ewert, 1943, p. 88)

"Dans [ l e p a r l e r popu la i r e ] de P a r i s et d e d i v e r s e s r6gions de l ' anc i enne m6tropole, l a tendance 2 p a l a t a l i s e r , notamment l e s v g l a i r e s , e s t a u s s i r e s t 6 e v ivante ."

(J.-D. Gendron, 1966, p. 132) 1 I ... t o u t e s l e s p a l a t a l i s a t i o n s canadiennes, f o r t e s ou f a i b l e s ... r ep r6sen ten t une s imple con t inua t ion d e v i e i l l e s tendances a r t i c u l a t o i r e s . ' P l u s pouss6es pour l e s v g l a i r e s que pour l e s a lvgo-denta les , e t pour c e s d e r n i P r e s , p l u s devant l e s semi-consonnes que devant l e s v o y e l l e s an tGr ieures ..., e l l e s s e s o n t conserv6es. . .dans l e p a r l e r popu la i r e du Canada."

( I b i d . , p . 131-132)

1 . 3 Def in ing t h e scope of t h e r e s e a r c h

The purpose of t h i s s tudy i s t o de te rmine t o what e x t e n t t h e r e

i s evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of consonants i n contemporary French

and t o a t t empt an a n a l y s i s of t h e f a c t o r s cond i t i on ing t h i s . p r o c e s s .

The r e s u l t s of t h e a n a l y s i s of contemporary d a t a a r e t hen compared

t o p a s t a t tempts t o account f o r t h e h i s t o r i c a l e v o l u t i o n of

consonants i n a p a l a t a l i s i n g environment.

Other phenomena of t w e n t i e t h century p ronunc ia t ion appear t o

p a r a l l e l h i s t o r i c a l changes, f o r example:

Aphaeresis :

Syncope :

Weakening of i n t e r v o c a l i c consonants:

S i m p l i f i c a t i o n of consonant c l u s t e r s :

Contemporary H i s t o r i c a l

peut-Ztre > p t z t r * d i r e c t u > d r o i t

vo i l i i v ' l 2 * inde-usque > j usqu '2

gymna~tiques>~ymn'iques* mansionaticu>m6nage

a p p 6 t i t > a p p ' t i t * cub i tu > coude

madame > Mame * nuda > nue

t u l u i d i s > t u i (d)i** v i t a > v i e

donne-moi > (d)omoi ** carm(i)na > charme

accent > a s s e n t * l a x a r e > l a i s s e r

(* H. F r e i , 1929, pp. 124-127)

(** H. Bauche, 1928, p. 48)

Re fe r r ing t o J. Rousselot (1924), H. Bauche (1928) and

F. Brunot & Ch. Bruneau (1938), E.F. Haden (1938) s t a t e s :

" Impl i c i t i n t h e s e books is t h e theory t h a t , considered a s pu re ly phys io log ica l phenomena, modern a r t i c u l a t i o n s i n French r e f l e c t t endencies which have cha rac t e r i zed t h e language a t an e a r l i e r d a t e , i f n o t throughout its h i s to ry . "

(P* 3)

A s tudy of contemporary p a l a t a l i s a t i o n and an examination of

t h e mechanisms by which t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of a consonant i s a l t e r e d

may l e a d t o a b e t t e r unders tanding of how t h e same phenomena

occurred i n t h e e a r l y h i s t o r y of French, f o r "...we must look a t

t h e p r e s e n t i n order t o a s c e r t a i n t h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s of t h e past ."

((2.-J.N. Bai ley , 1974, p. 13)

To examine a l l consonants i n every environment t h a t could

e x e r t a p a l a t a l i s i n g in f luence would c o n s t i t u t e an ex tens ive s tudy ,

beyond t h e scope of a work of t h i s na tu re . The d a t a t o be considered

w i l l t h e r e f o r e be l imi t ed i n two ways:

(1) Only t h e sequence Consonant + Yod w i l l be cons idered ,

Although h i s t o r i c a l l y a fo l lowing f r o n t ' v o w e l has a l t e r e d t h e po in t

of a r t i c u l a t i o n of a v e l a r consonant (camera > chambre [ J B ~ R ]

i ngen iu > engin [63E]), i t appears t o have had no e f f e c t on o t h e r

consonants ( t abu la > t a b l e [ t a b l 1; c e r v i s i a > c e r v o i s e [ s ~ ~ v w a z ] ) . The rounded p a l a t a l g l i d e [ 4 ] , wh i l e a p o t e n t i a l p a l a t a l i s i n g

i n f l u e n c e i n modem French, was no t n a t i v e t o L a t i n , appearing f o r

t h e f i r s t t ime only i n t h e Middle Ages (approximately t h e t w e l f t h

cen tu ry , according t o H. Bonnard, 1975, p. 25). This prec ludes t h e

p o s s i b i l i t y of comparing contemporary pronuncia t ion t o e a r l y

h i s t o r i c a l development.

On t h e o the r hand, t h e unrounded p a l a t a l g l i d e yod was found

i n post-consonantal p o s i t i o n i n L a t i n , a s t h e r e s u l t of the .

r e d u c t i o n of h i a t u s , and i s known t o have exe r t ed cons iderable

i n f l u e n c e on t h e preceding consonant i n t h e e a r l y evo lu t ion of

French. The pronunciat ion of a consonant followed by yod i n t h e

contemporary language can then be compared t o t h e h i s t o r i c a l

development of t h a t consonant i n t h e same phonet ic environment.

9

(2) Only phonological d e n t a l consonants (phone t i ca l ly apico-

d e n t a l o r apico-alveo-dental) w i l l b e cons idered , i .e. I t / , / d l , / s ly

/ z / , I n / , and /I/. I n t h e evo lu t ion of t h e language each consonant

i n t h i s s e r i e s has been a f f e c t e d by a fo l lowing yod, a l though t h e --

medio-dorsal a l v e o p a l a t a l a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e f r i c a t i v e s [ s ] ( < L a t i n

-ss-) and [ z ] ( < L a t i n -s-) r eve r t ed t o d e n t a l a f t e r t h e l o s s of t h e

yod (P. FouchG, 1966, p . 917). - The evo lu t ion of t h e remaining L a t i n d e n t a l consonants p l u s

yod (P. FouchG, 1966; E. & J.

out l i n e d below:

-t- po,stconsonantal t j + s

i n t e r v o c a l i c

-d- i n i t i a l

a f t e r C o the r t han -n-

a f t e r -n-

i n t e r v o c a l i c

-n- a f t e r -m-

o therwise

-1-

Bourciez, 1967, e t c . ) i s b r i e f l y .

f o r t i a > f o r c e [ f 3 ~ ~ ]

r a t i o n e > r a i s o n [ R E Z ~ 1

d iurnu > j ou r [ ~ u R ]

hordeu > orge [ D R ~ ]

Burgundia > Bourgogne [ b u ~ g a p ]

gaudia > j o i e [ p a 1

somniare > songer [ s33e 1

v i n e a > vigne [ v i d

s o l i u > s e u i l C ~ j l

The h i s t o r i c a l e v o l u t i o n of t h e d e n t a l s t h e r e f o r e shows t h a t

each member of t h i s s e r i e s of consonants i s s u s c e p t i b l e , i n some

way and i n c e r t a i n c o n t e x t s , t o t h e i n f l u e n c e of a fo l lowing @.

F u r t h e r , t h e d e n t a l s e r i e s i s t h e only one t h a t inc ludes an

example of each manner of a r t i c u l a t i o n p e r t i n e n t i n contemporary

French - occ lus ive , both v o i c e l e s s and voiced ( t , d ) ; f r i c a t i v e ,

aga in bo th v o i c e l e s s and voiced ( s , z ) ; n a s a l ( n ) ; and l i q u i d (1) .

A s t h e s e consonants a r e a l l a r t i c u l a t e d i n t h e same reg ion , i t i s

p o s s i b l e t o observe t o what e x t e n t t h e manner of a r t i c u l a t i o n and

t h e presence o r absence of vo ic ing (of occ lus ives and f r i c a t i v e s )

a r e r e l e v a n t i n t he a r t i c u l a t i o n of the 'consonant followed by yod.

Since no t a l l consonants a r e p a l a t a l i s e d i n a p o t e n t i a l l y

p a l a t a l i s i n g environment i n contemporary French, t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n

t h a t does occur must be a s u r f a c e f e a t u r e . Therefore , t h e

mechanisms by which consonants a r e p a l a t a l i s e d can b e s t be examined

by an experimental s tudy of conc re t e d a t a .

2. METHOD OF RESEARCH

2.1 Corpus and method of a n a l y s i s

The corpus i s des igned t o i nc lude examples of speech from a

l a r g e number of s u b j e c t s i n o rde r t o minimize t h e e f f e c t of i d io -

s y n c r a t i c c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . It c o n s i s t s of 6$ hours of spoken French.

Of t h i s , 94 minutes r e p r e s e n t tape-recorded in t e rv i ews from French

r a d i o (1977, 1978); 206 minutes were recorded from Radio Canada,

CBUF-FM (1981), i nc lud ing in t e rv i ews , news r e p o r t s and panel

d i scuss ions ; two p e r s o n a l i n t e rv i ews , each 45 minutes long, were

recorded i n Vancouver (1981) w i th n a t i v e French speakers (both

women) who now r e s i d e i n Vancouver. The corpus inc ludes samples of

speech from a t o t a l o f 54 n a t i v e French informants - 23 Canadian

(18 men, 5 women) and 31 French (20 men, 11 women). With a few

except ions (e.g. t h e two women now l i v i n g i n Vancouver, a professor

of Theology in te rv iewed on Radio Canada, e t c . ) no informat ion i s

a v a i l a b l e on t h e age , s o c i a l s t a t u s o r educa t iona l background of

t h e speakers . However, t h e l a r g e number of informants reduces t h e

r i s k t h a t d i f f e r e n c e s i n pronuncia t ion r e s u l t i n g from t h e s e f a c t d r s

might s i g n i f i c a n t l y a f f e c t t h e o v e r a l l observa t ions .

From a w r i t t e n t r a n s c r i p t of t h e recorded in t e rv i ews , a l l

occurrences of a phonologica l d e n t a l consonant followed by yod

were noted . A t o t a l o f 1 ,712 examples was found. The perce ived

phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of each sequence was then noted. The phonet ic

symbols and d i a c r i t i c a l marks used a r e t h o s e o u t l i n e d i n

P r i n c i p l e s of t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Phonet ic Assoc ia t ion (1964), where

t h e l i n k i n g mark under a sequence of two consonants r e p r e s e n t s an

a f f r i c a t e (e.g. [tc/s]), t h e s i g n (,) under a consonant i n d i c a t e s

vo ic ing (e.g. [$I), and t h e s i g n ( - ) under a symbol i n d i c a t e s a

r e t r a c t e d v a r i e t y of t h a t consonant. That i s , [ s ] - r e p r e s e n t s a

r e a l i s a t i o n of t h e v o i c e l e s s f r i c a t i v e Is/ t h a t i s a r t i c u l a t e d

behind t h e alveo-dental r eg ion where [ s l ' i s a r t i c u l a t e d , y e t no t

a s f a r back a s a lveo -pa la t a l [l]. I n a d d i t i o n , a r a i s e d symbol

I (e.g. [ 1) i s used h e r e t o r e p r e s e n t a weakened a r t i c u l a t i o n of

t h e segment. I n t h i s ca se , i t i s p r e s e n t i n t h e pronuncia t ion , b u t

n o t a s f u l l y r e a l i s e d as [ I ] would be. That i s , wh i l e a segment may

b e f u l l y manifested phone t i ca l ly o r n o t r e a l i s e d , between t h e two

t h e r e appear t o be degrees of phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n , r ep re sen ted

h e r e a s a weakened a r t i c u l a t i o n .

The number of occurrences of each d i f f e r e n t phonet ic

r e a l i s a t i o n of each consonant was t a b u l a t e d and c a l c u l a t e d a s a

percentage of t h e t o t a l number o f examples of t h a t consonant. For

example, /t/ was perceived as t h e a f f r i c a t e [ t s ] i n 6 1 cases , e

r ep re sen t ing 35.5% of t h e t o t a l occur rences (173) of t h e sequence

/ t j / . (See Table 1 )

TABLE 1

Frequency of occurrence of each phonetic r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant preceding yod

Totalnumber Phonetic Number of Percentage of Phoneme of examples r e a l i s a t i o n examples t o t a l examples

/t / 173 [ t 1 9 0 52.0%

2.2 Va l ida t ion of d a t a

2.2.1 Comparison of French and Canadian speech

Because t h e corpus analysed h e r e i nc ludes samples of speech

from both French and Canadian informants , some of t h e t r ends observed

may r e p r e s e n t r e g i o n a l pronuncia t ion . The r e s u l t s ob ta ined should - t h e r e f o r e be considered s e p a r a t e l y f o r each group, and compared.

(See Tables 2 and 3)

Although a comparison of t h e t ab l e s ' r e v e a l s minor d i f f e r e n c e s

i n t h e degree t o which each d i f f e r e n t r e a l i s a t i o n i s observable i n

t h e two groups, t h e only s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e i s i n t h e occurrence

of [ t s ] [t!] and [ d z ] & [d3], which a r e more f r equen t i n Canadian w i/ w d

speech. This i s not s u r p r i s i n g , a s t h e s e a s s i b i l a t e d d e n t a l s t o p s

a r e considered c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of Canadian speech (E.F. Haden, 1941;

R. Charbonneau, 1955; J -D. Gendron, 1966; A. Hu l l , 1966, e t c . ) . What

i s important h e r e i s t h a t t h i s a s s i b i l a t i o n is a l s o p re sen t t o some

degree i n French speech. A l l of t h e processes t o be analysed h e r e - p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , a s s i b i l a t i o n , and weakening ( s e e Chapter 3 f o r

d e t a i l e d d e s c r i p t i o n s of t h e s e processes) - a r e then seen t o be

phenomena of t h e contemporary language, whether Canadian o r French.

2.2.2 Comparison of prepared and unprepared speech

A s s t a t e d p rev ious ly , t h e corpus c o n s i s t s e s s e n t i a l l y of

i n t e rv i ews , some recorded on t a p e from r a d i o t ransmiss ions and two

conducted i n person. There a r e a l s o s e v e r a l examples of news r e p o r t s

TABLE 2

French speakers: frequency of occurrence of each phonetic realisation of a dental consonant preceding yod

Total number Phonetic Phoneme of examples realisation

/t / 98 [ t l It,]

Number of examples

7 4

1

18

5

Percentage of total examples

16

TABLE 3

Canadian speakers: frequency of occurrence of each phonetic r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant preceding -&

Tota l number Phonetic Number of Percentage of Phoneme of examples r e a l i s a t i o n examples t o t a l examples

and o t h e r r e p o r t s from r a d i o t ransmiss ions which appear t o b e read

from prepared m a t e r i a l . The corpus , t hen , i nc ludes samples of

va r ious s t y l e s of speech, some more formal than o t h e r s , which may

a f f e c t pronuncia t ion . While t h e r e is no sys t ema t i c way of d i v i d i n g

t h e d a t a i n t o ' f o r m a l and informal speech, a d i v i s i o n can b e made

between speech t h a t i s "prepared" ( i . e . r ead ings , prepared r e p o r t s ,

and t h e i n t e r v e n t i o n s of i n t e rv i ewers ) and speech t h a t might b e

considered r e l a t i v e l y "unprepared1' ( i . e ; t h a t of i n t e r v i e w e e s ) .

I1 Unpreparedw h e r e cannot be equated wi th "spontaneous", a s a n

in te rv iewee on t h e r a d i o presumably has some p r i o r knowledge of t h e

n a t u r e of t h e ques t ions he w i l l b e asked. However, t h e h e s i t a t i o n s ,

co r r ec t ions and rephras ing ev ident i n i n t e rv i ewees ' speech sugges t

t h a t t h e i r r e p l i e s a r e n o t a s formal ly prepared a s a r e t h e

in t e rv i ewers ' ques t ions . Only t h e speech of t h e two informants

interviewed i n person can b e considered r e l a t i v e l y spontaneous, a s

they d i d no t know t h e t o p i c s of d i scuss ion i n advance..However, a l l .

informants were aware t h a t t h e i r speech was be ing recorded and i t

must be assumed t h a t , i n t h i s s i t u a t i o n , a person would normally

b e more a t t e n t i v e t o grammatical s t r u c t u r e and p ronunc ia t ion than

he would b e i n everyday conversa t ion .

The d a t a were, t h e r e f o r e , d iv ided i n t o two groups, based on

d i s t r i b u t i o n i n prepared (Group A) o r unprepared ( ~ r o u p B) speech,

determined by t h e c r i t e r i a o u t l i n e d above, (See Tables 4 and 5)

TABLE 4

Group A (prepared speech) : frequency of occurrence of each phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant preceding yod

T o t a l number Phonet ic Number of percentage of Phoneme of examples r e a l i s a t i o n examples t o t a l examples

(20 informants - 11 Canadian and 9 French)

TABLE 5

Group B (unprepared speech): f requency of occurrence of each phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant preceding yod -

Tota l number Phonet ic Number of Percentage of Phoneme of examples r e a l i s a t i o n examples t o t a l examples

( 3 4 informants - 1 2 Canadian and 22 French)

A comparison of t h e two t a b l e s r e v e a l s t h a t t h e only s i g n i f i c a n t

d i f f e r e n c e s occur i n t h e phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s of a ) occ lus ives ,

and b) t h e voiced f r i c a t i v e / z / .

The percentage of a s s i b i l a t i o n of occ lus ives i s g r e a t e r f o r

Group B , where [ t s ] and [ t j ] r e p r e s e n t 54.9% of t h e occurrences of u CI

/ t / and [ d z ] and [ d ~ ] 52.3% of t h e occurrences of / d l , a s opposed V

t o 36.6% and 26.5% r e s p e c t i v e l y f o r Group A. This d i f f e r e n c e cannot

be a t t r i b u t e d t o t he number of Canadian 'speakers i n t h e g r o u p s , ' a s

they r e p r e s e n t only 35% of Group B b u t 55% of Group A. With t h i s

composition of t h e two groups, one would expect t h e r e s u l t s t o be

reversed . While t h e r e i s no means of determining exact ly.why t h e r e

is cons iderably l e s s a s s i b i l a t i o n i n Group A , one p o s s i b l e

exp lana t ion l i e s i n t h e f a c t t h a t , by d e f i n i t i o n , t%is group

c o n s i s t s of p ro fe s s iona l r a d i o announcers and r e p o r t e r s .

The a s s i b i l a t i o n of I t / and / d l i n Canadian speech i s o f t e n

c r i t i c i z e d . For example, Charles Bruneau r e f e r r e d t o t h i s

a s s i b i l a t i o n a s "ce dgfaut" , "mauvais langage" and " l a p l u s

dGsagr6able de t o u t e s ( f a u t e s ) pour l ' o r e i l l e f r a n s a i s e " (Causeries

prononcges aux pos t e s du rGseau f r a n f a i s d e l a Socigtg Radfo-Canada,

Montrgal , Va l ique t t e , 1939-40, p. 18 , a s quoted i n R , Charbonneau,

1955, p. 3 ) . J-D. Gendron (1966) noted an e f f o r t on t h e p a r t of

some of h i s Canadian informants t o avoid t h i s supposedly undes i r ab le

pronuncia t ion :

11 En o u t r e , l e degrG d ' a s s i b i l a t i o n v a r i e s e l o n l e s s u j e t s , s e l o n q u ' i l s s e s o n t hab i tugs 5 l a prononcia t ion soignGe, cherchant 2 at tGnuer c e "dGfaut" ou q u ' i l s s e l a i s s e n t a l l e r 5 l e u r prononcia t ion n a t u r e l l e . "

It i s t h e r e f o r e p o s s i b l e , a l though u n v e r i f i a b l e , t h a t t h e

smal le r percentage of a s s i b i l a t e d occ lus ives i n t h e speech of Group A

r e s u l t s , a t l e a s t i n p a r t , from a t tempts of p ro fe s s iona l r a d i o

announcers i n Canada t o e l i m i n a t e a s s i b i l a t e d r e a l i s a t i o n s of d e n t a l

phonemes from t h e i r speech.

The only o t h e r appa ren t ly s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e t o be noted

i n Tables 4 and 5 i s t h e g r e a t e r frequency of [f] and [ 3 ] i n

Group A (21.4%, compared t o 8.3% f o r Group B ) . However, of t h e 11

examples of [ z ] - r epo r t ed i n Table 4 , s i x a r e from t h e speech of one

informant , a s i s t h e one example of 131. A g r e a t e r frequency of t h e

phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s [ z ] - and [ T ] f o r t h e phoneme / z / , t hen , cannot

i n any way be considered c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of t h i s group a s a whole.

Thus, wh i l e t h e percentages d i f f e r cons iderably between t h e two

groups, no r e a l s i g n i f i c a n c e can be a t t ached t o t h i s d i f f e r e n c e .

The only s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between t h e two groups, t h e n ,

is i n t h e frequency of a s s i b i l a t e d r e a l i s a t i o n s of / t / and Id / .

However, i t i s no t c l e a r whether t h i s i s a f a c t o r of t h e cond i t i ons

of t h e in t e rv i ews i n ques t ion ( i . e . degree of advance reparation)

or whether i t r e s u l t s from t h e s t a t u s of t h e members of one group

a s p r o f e s s i o n a l speakers .

2.2.3 Weakening of yod

Table 1 rep resen t s t h e phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of a l l d e n t a l

consonants preceding a phonologica l&. The g l i d e , however, i s

not always f u l l y manifested phone t i ca l ly . I n some cases t h e

consonant remains unaf fec ted bu t t h e yod i s u n r e a l i s e d (&mission

[em i s3]) o r i s weakly a r t i c u l a t e d ( p r o v i n c i a l e [ p R o v ~ s j a l I).

(See Table 6, below).

TABLE 6

Frequency of weakening of yod a f t e r d e n t a l consonants

A f t e r : T o t a l examples Examples of % of t o t a l of sequence C j weakening examples

173 4 2.3%

133 4 3.0

T o t a l 1,712 119 6.9%

I n 119 (or 6.9%) of t h e examples of /Cj/, t hen , t h e r e i s

evidence of a weakening of yod. That i s , wh i l e t h e consonant i s

c l e a r l y pronounced, t h e g l i d e i s ba re ly aud ib l e o r , i n some c a s e s ,

n o t a t a l l pe rce ivab le . Although t h i s occurs i n a r e l a t i v e l y sma l l

percentage of t h e examples s t u d i e d , t h e s e examples come from t h e

speech of 30 of t h e 54 informants ( i . e . 6 3 % j , i n d i c a t i n g t h a t t h i s

phenomenon i s n o t i d i o s y n c r a t i c .

While i t i s e s s e n t i a l l y t h e consonants t h a t a r e under s tudy ,

t h e weakening of t h e g l i d e i s of i n t e r e s t h e r e , f o r when - yod i s

un rea l i s ed o r no t f u l l y manifested p h o n e t i c a l l y , i t s p o t e n t i a l

p a l a t a l i s i n g in f luence on t h e preceding consonant i s e l imina ted , o r

a t l e a s t reduced.

Environment

This weakening of t h e g l i d e does not appear t o be r e l a t e d t o

i t s phonet ic environment. The weakening occurs a f t e r a l l of t h e

consonants s tud ied :

a f t e r : e * g * - [ t 1 ques t ion [ kastJ3 ] m a t i a r e [mat j e n 1

[ d l Dieu [ d j # l q u o t i d i e m e [ kst V s i d j e n ]

[ s ] commission [ ksmi sJ3] soc i6 tE [ sos je t e I [ kamis31

[ z ] dixieme [ d i zJ am ] p l u s i e u r s

[ n ] opinion [ op inJ3 ] manisre

.i [ I 1 e s c a l i e r [ es ka l ' e l a m l l i o r a t i o n [ amel s n a s j ~ ]

While t h e d e n t a l consonants a r e t h e only ones s tud ied i n

d e t a i l , t h i s same weakening was observed a f t e r o t h e r consonants,

such a s :

[ b l b i e n

F u r t h e r , t h e r e a r e examples of yod weakening be fo re a l l of

t h e vowels t h a t occur i n t h e sequence /c~v/:

e.g. [ e l sociGt6 [ sos je t e I m i l l i e r s [ m i l J e ]

[&I deuxisme [ dcez 'ern I es sen t i e l l emen t [ E S ~ S j e l m d ]

j [ a 1 soc ia l i sme [sos a I i sg] s u p e r f i c i a l i t 6 .

Dieu [dJ$]

[ e l p l u s i e u r s [ I yzJo?~]

j [ o 1 n a t i o n a l i s 6 [ nas ona l i ze ]

J [ 3 1 amEliorat ion [ ame l snasJ J] p e r f ectionnement

[ E] canadien [ ka nad j E ] [ pcnfcksjsnmd]

[ & I sc i ence [ sJds 1

[J ] Gmission [emisJ3] opin ion [ op i n j 3 I [emis51

The above evidence i n d i c a t e s t h a t t h e weakening of yod i s not - p h o n e t i c a l l y condit ioned, e i t h e r by t h e preceding consonant o r by

t h e fo l lowing vowel.

In a d d i t i o n , t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence / c ~ v / i n t h e word

does n o t appear t o b e r e l e v a n t . ( I n t h i s work t h e term - word i s used

t o mean an independent l e x i c a l item t h a t , a s f a r as French i s

concerned, has s p e c i f i c phonologica l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , b u t wi thout

implying any f u r t h e r t h e o r e t i c a l o r a n a l y t i c a l s t a t u s . ) Examples

of t h i s weakening a r e found i n bo th f i n a l (e.g. m a t i s r e [mat 'en];

j conserva t ion [ k3saavasJ3]) and non-f i n a l ( e . g . s o c i Q t 6 [ s o s eta];

j es sen t i e l l emen t [ e s d s e lmd]) s y l l a b l e s , a s w e l l a s i n t h e i n i t i a l

s y l l a b l e of a compound word ( s c i e n c e - f i c t i o n [ s J k f i ksJ3]) . I f

t hese forms occurred i n i s o l a t i o n t h e t o n i c accent would f a l l on

the f i n a l vowel (P. LGon, 1976, p . 15) . It is c l e a r , t h e r e f o r e ,

t h a t t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence /CJV/ i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e

accen tab le vowel i s n o t a cond i t i on ing f a c t o r .

While t h e f i n a l vowel i n any independent l e x i c a l form i s

accen tab le , i n speech t h i s vowel i s n o t normally accented u n l e s s

i t i s t h e f i n a l vowel i n t h e rhythmic group:

"Groupe rythmique. C'esf un groupe de mots q u i r ep r6sen te une id6e. . .Les mots perdent l e u r i n d i v i d u a l i t 6 dans l e groupe rythmique, c a r l ' a c c e n t d e mot d i s p a r a T t pour s e r e p o r t e r 2 l a f i n du groupe rythmique."

( Ib id . , p . 17)

When t h i s weakening of - yod occurs i n a word-final s y l l a b l e ,

t hus followed by an a c c e n t a b l e vowel, t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e word i n

t h e rhythmic group, and hence i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e accented vowel,

does n o t appear t o b e r e l e v a n t . There a r e examples i n both non-f ina l

p o s i t i o n :

par p l u s i e u r s g e s t e s [ P ~ Y Z ~ O ~ ~ I

dans l a s t a t i o n o r b i t a l e

l a fCdCration des commissions s c o l a i r e s [ f e d e ~ a s j 3 1

[ k m i s J 5 ]

and f i n a l p o s i t i o n :

d e r n i s r e p a r t i e d e 1'Cmission [ernis51

t e rminer n o t r e Cmission

"La Vie Quotidienne"

The weakening a l s o occurs i n a s en tence - f ina l s y l l a b l e :

d e r n i s r e p a r t i e d e n o t r e 6mission . [ e m i s j ~ ]

a l o r s i l s f o n t p l u s d ' a t t e n t i o n . [ a t 5sJ5 ]

and i n t h e f i n a l s y l l a b l e of t h e u t t e r a n c e :

en f i n dlGmission. ( fol lowed by music) [emisJ3]

The p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence / C ~ V / i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e rhythmic

group a c c e n t , then , i s n o t r e l e v a n t t o t h e weakening.

From t h e above evidence i t can be concluded t h a t no sys t ema t i c

r e l a t i o n s h i p can be e s t a b l i s h e d between t h e weakening of & i n

t h e sequence / C j V / and e i t h e r phonet ic environment o r t h e p o s i t i o n

of t h e sequence r e l a t i v e t o an accen tab le o r accented vowel. Two

o t h e r f a c t o r s , however, appear t o b e r e l a t e d t o t h i s weakening.

F a c t o r s c o n t r i b u t i n g t o t h e weakening of yod

The f i r s t f a c t o r i s t h e r e p e t i t i o n of t h e same word o r phrase

i n t h e d i scour se . For example, du r ing h i s i n t r o d u c t i o n t o t h e program

" ~ a Vie Quotidienne", on t h r e e s e p a r a t e occas ions , t h e announcer

r epea t s t h e word 6mission t h r e e , fou r and f i v e t imes. I n a l l c a s e s ,

i n t h e f i rs t two occurrences t h e sequence / s j3 / i s f u l l y r e a l i s e d

phone t i ca l ly , t h e weakening of & appearing only i n subsequent

occurrences of t h e word. S i m i l a r l y , dur ing a d i scuss ion of school

board e l e c t i o n s , i n which t h e term commission(s) s c o l a i r e ( s ) is

repeated seven times by one informant , t h e / j / of cornmission(s)

is always weakly a r t i c u l a t e d , t o t h e p o i n t of d i sappear ing a l t o g e t h e r

i n one of t h e examples. This same phenomenon i s observable i n t h e

speech of an informant who o f t e n uses J ' a i l ' impress ion que. . . t o

i n t roduce a s ta tement . The /j/ of impression is f r equen t ly l e s s

f u l l y r e a l i s e d phone t i ca l ly t han t h e / j / of o t h e r / s j ~ / sequences.

Thus, a l though t h e r e p e t i t i o n of a word does no t n e c e s s a r i l y

condi t ion t h e weakening of - yod i n / C j V / , t h e & i s f r e q u e n t l y

weakened i n o f t e n repea ted words o r phrases .

The second f a c t o r which should be considered is t h e speaking

r a t e . Sound spectrograms ob'tained w i t h t h e Sona-graph 6061B of t h e

Kay E l e c t r i c Co. ( s ee F i g s . 1 and 2) i l l u s t r a t e t h e e f f e c t of

changes i n t h e r a t e of speech.

Fig. 1

F i g . 2

Fig . 1(A) shows a spectrogram wi th narrow f i l t e r ( a narrow

band spectrogram) of t h e word p r o v i n c i a l e s ( i n s e s informations

p rov inc i a l e s ) and Fig . 1(B) a spectrogram wi th contour d i s p l a y of

t h e same word. Fig. 2 shows s i m i l a r spectrograms of t h e word

p r o v i n c i a l e s ( i n ques t ions mEdicales p rov inc i a l e s ) pronounced by

t h e same speaker .

It i s c l e a r t h a t F ig . 2 r e p r e s e n t s f a s t e r speech than does

Fig. 1. It can a l s o b e seen t h a t t h e s p e c t r a l segment corresponding

t o t h e g l i d e [ j ] i s of s h o r t e r du ra t ion i n t h e second example

than i n t h e f i r s t .

I n o rde r t o examine t h i s i n g r e a t e r d e t a i l , t h e fol lowing

measurements were taken. Rhythmic groups conta in ing t h e sequence

/ C j V / were s e l e c t e d and timed w i t h a stop-watch measuring cen t i -

seconds. Because of t h e d i f f i c u l t y i n ob ta in ing an accu ra t e t ime

measurement, each group was measured f i v e t imes and the average

recorded. The number of phonemes c o n s t i t u t i n g t h e group w a s

counted and t h i s number was then d iv ided by t h e elapsed time i n

seconds, y i e l d i n g a f i g u r e r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e number of phonemes per

second f o r t h a t group. For i n s t a n c e , t h e average time recorded f o r

t h e pronuncia t ion of t h e group en d6but dlEmission (12 phonemes)

was 0.65 seconds, i n d i c a t i n g a r a t e of 1210.65 o r 18.46 phonemes

per second. A d e f i n i t e p a t t e r n emerges from t h e comparison of t h e

r a t e of phonemes per second f o r groups i n which t h e yod appears t o

be weakened wi th t h a t f o r groups i n which the -& i s f u l l y

r e a l i s e d phone t i ca l ly :

Informant

P.P.

C . S .

Inf ormant

M.D.

It can b e seen t h a t when t h e speech r a t e i s slower t h e g l i d e

i s f u l l y r e a l i s e d p h o n e t i c a l l y . For each speaker t h e weakening of

yod co inc ides wi th a f a s t e r r a t e of speech. This , along wi th t h e -

evidence provided by t h e s p e c t r o g r a m , sugges ts t h a t t h e weakening

of yod i s a phenomenon of r a p i d speech.

I n r a p i d speech t h e d u r a t i o n of a l l segments should be diminfshed.

That i t i s t h e g l i d e , and n o t t h e preceding consonant, t h a t i s

weakened may be due t o t h e f a c t t h a t t h e g l i d e i s t h e second segment

i n t h e s y l l a b l e . (A d e f i n i t i o n of t h e s y l l a b l e w i l l no t be at tempted

i n t h i s work. The s tandard phonologica l s ta tements about t h e

s y l l a b l e s t r u c t u r e of French (e.g. C. Lyche, 1979) a r e accepted.

That i s , t h e s y l l a b l e i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y analysed a s having

c e r t a i n canonica l forms, of which t h e most f requent i s CV (open

s y l l a b l e ) . A Consonant-Glide sequence i s gene ra l ly analysed a s

c o n s t i t u t i n g t h e onse t of a s y l l a b l e (M. Grevisse , 1964; C . Lyche,

1979, e t c . ) . Thus, i n p r i n c i p l e , i n a l l examples s t u d i e d , t h e

d e n t a l consonant i s i n s y l l a b l e - i n i t i a l p o s i t i o n . )

With ev idence from radiocinematography P . Simon (1967) has

shown t h a t when a consonant c l u s t e r (e .g . lc& K, &) i s i n s y l l a b l e -

i n i t i a l p o s i t i o n , t h e a r t i c u l a t o r y con tac t of t h e f i r s t consonant

i s u s u a l l y maintained longer than t h a t of t h e second. This could

he lp t o account f o r t h e f a c t t h a t i n r ap id speech t h e s y l l a b l e -

i n i t i a l consonant i s maintained wh i l e t h e fo l lowing g l i d e tends t o

weaken. Th i s phenomenon would have t o be i n v e s t i g a t e d f u r t h e r

be fo re any c l a im could be made about t h e process by which t h e

a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e g l i d e weakens. However, what is of i n t e r e s t

h e r e i s n o t t h e weakening o f .yod pe r s e , b u t t h e e f f e c t t h a t i t has

on t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e preceding consonant.

E f f e c t of t h e weakening of yod on t h e d a t a

Two d i f f e r e n t processes a r e observable i n t h i s corpus. I n some

cases - yod i s weakened (and i t s p a l a t a l i s i n g in f luence t h e r e f o r e

e l imina ted o r l e s sened) and t h e preceding consonant remains unaffected.

On t h e o t h e r hand, i f t h e g l i d e i s f u l l y r e a l i s e d p h o n e t i c a l l y t h e

p a l a t a l i s i n g environment remains and t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e preceding

consonant i s , i n some cases , aud ib ly modif ied. When t h e i n s t a n c e s i n

which t h e - yod i s not f u l l y r e a l i s e d a r e sub t r ac t ed from t h e t o t a l

number of examples s t u d i e d , t h e percentage of ca ses i n which t h e a r t i c -

u l a t i o n of t h e consonant i s modified i s increased.(See Table 7)

TABLE 7

Frequency of occurrence of each phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of a d e n t a l consonant preceding a f u l l y r e a l i s e d yod

( c f . Table 1, p. 13 - a l l occurrences of - d e n t a l consonants preceding phonologica l - yod)

T o t a l number Phone t i c Number of Percentage of Phoneme of examples r e a l i s a t i o n examples t o t a l examples

3. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

3.1 P a l a t a l i s a t i o n

3.1.1 F r i c a t i v e s /s/ and / z /

Of t h e 932 occurrences of / s j / ( s e e Table 7 ) , some degree of

mod i f i ca t ion of t h e /s/ i s observable i n 220 cases (or 23.6% of t h e

t o t a l ) . I n 43 of t h e s e (or 4.6% o f t h e t o t a l ) , t h e consonant i s

perceived n o t a s t h e d e n t a l f r i c a t i v e [sl b u t ' r a t h e r as a lveopa la t a l

[ J ] . I n t h e ma jo r i t y of cases (177 o r 19.0% of t h e t o t a l ) however,

t h e modified consonant appears t o be a sound which is n e i t h e r [ s ]

nor [ J ] , b u t i s a r e t r a c t e d a r t i c u l a t i o n of [ s ] . This in te rmedia te

sound i s t r a n s c r i b e d a s [ s ] . - Of t h e 115 occurrences of / z j / , 17 (o r

14.8% of t h e t o t a l ) a r e perce ived a s [ z ] , - t h e voiced equ iva l en t of

[ s ] , - w h i l e on ly one example (0.9X of t h e t o t a l ) appears t o b e

pronounced [ 3 ] . It should b e noted t h a t j u s t a s t h e symbols [ s ] & [ z ] ,

[ J ] & [ 3 ] each r ep resen t a c e r t a i n range of a r t i c u l a t i o n s t h a t a r e

i n t e r p r e t e d a s d e n t a l / a l v e o l a r and a l v e o p a l a t a l f r i c a t i v e s

r e s p e c t i v e l y , s o a l s o [ s ] - and [ z ] - r e p r e s e n t a range of i n t e rmed ia t e

sounds. Sound spectrograms ( s e e F igs . 3 t o 8 ) c l e a r l y show how [ - S ]

and [ z ] - d i f f e r from both [ s ] and [ z ] , [ J ] and [ 3 ] r e s p e c t i v e l y .

I n each case , (A) shows a spectrogram wi th narrow f i l t e r (a

narrow band spectrogram) and (B) a contour d i s p l a y of t h e same

segment.

F i g . 3

F i g . 4

F i g . 5

F i g . 6

F i g . 7

F i g . 8

Figs . 3 , 4 and 5 a r e a l l from t h e speech of one informant , and

Figs . 6 , 7 , and 8 from t h e speech of another . They r e p r e s e n t t h e

fol lowing sounds:

F ig . 3 [s l

F ig . 4 [ S ]

F ig . 5 [sl

Fig . 6 [ z l

F ig . 7 [?)I

F ig . 8 [rl

i n a s s e z

i n cha l eu r

i n c l i m a t i s a t i o n

i n f a i s a i t

i n f r a g i l i t 6

i n a l l u s i o n

An examination of t h e spectrograms r e v e a l s t h e fo l lowing

d i f f e r e n c e s :

Figs . 3 and 6 show a concen t r a t ion of energy i n t h e h i g h e r

f requencies (approximately 3,000 - 8,000 cps) which i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c

of [ s ] and [ z ] .

F igs . 4 and 7 show a concen t r a t ion of energy i n t h e middle

f requencies (approximately 2,000 - 7,000 cps) which i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c

of [ I ] and 131.

F igs . 5 and 8 r ep resen t t h e i n t e r m e d i a t e sounds [ s ] - and [ z ] , - wi th

t h e concen t r a t ion of energy i n lower f r equenc ie s than i n F igs . 3 & 6,

y e t not a s low a s i n F igs . 4 & 7 ( i . e . approximately 2,500 - 8,000 cps) .

That the realisations [s] - and [I] are both examples of the same phenomenon is seen in a comparison of their phonetic environments. Both

occur after the following segments:

[ i ] condition, - mission - condition, - conditionnement -

[el spccial, - messieurs - prGciosit6 -

[ E ] expression, - professionnel - .pression, impression - - ,

[a ] interprgtation, - aviation - accumulation, audacieuse - -

[y] parution, - solution - institution, diminution - -

[a] moneeur

[o] notion, devotion - -

intention, przvention - -

monsieur -

association -

abstention -/

[ k] introspection, - rsaction - action, abstraction - - Similarly, they both occur in non-final or final syllables of

the word :

(non-f inal)

(final)

a [sl international

association -

mentionner -

impression -

monsieur -

[[I

f onc t ionner - prGciosit6 - conditionnement

conviction

moneeur

audacieuse

They a l s o bo th occur i n non-f inal and f i n a l s y l l a b l e s of t h e rhythmic

group :

rs1

(non-f inal) une gmission - s p g c i a l e monsieur - Alain David

d e l a product ion - l o c a l e l a p re s s ion - d e l ' e a u

monsieur - Ryan l ' a s s o c i a t i o n - canadienne 5

( f i n a l ) mesdames, mesdemoiselles, c ' e s t s a ferme conv ic t ion - messieurs -

e n t r e les peuples e t d e s tupeur e t d e c o n s t e r n a d o n l e s na t ions -

l e u r d e r n i s r e p a r u g o n l ' e s s e n t i e l d e son a c t i o n -

Fur the r , a g iven word can b e pronounced, i n t h e same s y n t a c t i c

p o s i t i o n and by t h e same speaker , w i t h e i t h e r [ s ] - o r [ I]: e.g. (LB) monsieur Stevens [mad@]

monsieur Ala in David h a J ' j @ l

l e conditionnement moderne [ k3d i s j a m & ] - l e conditionnement moderne [k3d i J j am&]

(PT) des s o l u t i o n s p l u s o r i g i n a l e s [ so 1 yz j3 1

les s o l u t i o n s techniques [ s o l y ~ j ~ l

It would appear , t hen , t h a t [ s ] - and [I] r ep re sen t a s p e c t s of t h e

same phenomenon. However, a s t h e r e i s only one example of / z / being

r e a l i s e d a s [3], t h e d a t a i t s e l f o f f e r s no evidence f o r making a

s i m i l a r c laim f o r [ z ] - and [3]. Never the less , from a n a r t i c u l a t o r y

p o i n t of view, [s] and [I], [I] and [ 3 ] a r e a l l phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s

of t h e phonemes /s/ and /z/ r e s p e c t i v e l y , r e a l i s a t i o n s t h a t a r e more

p a l a t a l - l i k e than t h e expected [ s ] and [ z ] . For t h i s reason , t h e

process by which /s/ i s r e a l i s e d a s e i t h e r [?I o r [ S ] and t h a t by which

/ z / i s r e a l i s e d a s e i t h e r [ z ] - o r [3] can be termed p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , t h e

only d i f f e r e n c e between [s] - and [ J ] ( o r [ z ] - and [3]) being i n t h e

degree of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , which i s g r e a t e r f o r t h e l a t t e r . While both

phonemes /s/ and /z/ a r e s u b j e c t t o p a l a t a l i s a t i o n when they occur

be fo re - yod, i t appears t h a t t h i s p a l a t a l i s a t i o n is a ) more f r equen t ,

and b) ev ident t o a g r e a t e r degree f o r /s/ than f o r / z / .

Environment

Although t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n could l o g i c a l l y be a t t r5bu ted t o t h e

in f luence of t h e fol lowing p a l a t a l g l i d e , / j / , such p a l a t a l i s a t i o n is

pe rce ivab le i n only 23.6% of t h e examples of /sj/ and 15.7% of t h e

examples of / z j / . It i s p o s s i b l e , t h e r e f o r e , t h a t t h e r e i s some o t h e r

condi t ion ing f a c t o r .

This f a c t o r does not appear t o be t h e segment preceding /s/ o r / z /

a s f o r a l l environments i n which t h e p a l a t a l i s e d a r t i c u l a t i o n s of t h e

consonants a r e found, t h e r e a r e a l s o numerous examples of [ s ] and, [ z ] :

A•’ ter : [ z l [21/[51

[ i l dzc i s ibn , - s ix isme - d i v i s i o n , - t616vis ion - [ Y ] p l u s i e u r s , - c o n f u g o n p l u s i e u r s , - a l l u s i o n -

[ a 1 o c c a g o n , t r o i s i s m e - occasion -

C s I [ ~ I / C l I

[ I ] p o s i t i o n , - i n i t i a l - cond i t i on , - miss ion -

[I] s u p e r f i c i e l l e - t r a d i t i o n n e l -

[ e l mess ieurs , - s p s c i a l i s t e - mess ieurs , - s p g c i a l - [ & 1 p r e s s i o n , - s e s s i o n - pres s ion , - pro fes s ionne l -

[a 1 n a t i o n a l , - opgra t ion - a v i a t i o n , - audacieuse -

[ Y ] s o l u t i o n - s o l u t i o n , - p a r u t i o n -

[ a ] monsieur - monceur

[o l dsvo t ion , - soc iaux - dsvot ion , - no t ion -

[a1 . sociGt6, - ni5gociant - a s s o c i a t i o n -

[a] t e n s i o n , - e s s e n t i e l - i n t e n t i o n , - a b s t e n t i o n -

[ k l a c t i o n , - product ion - a c t i o n , - a b s t r a c c o n

Nor can t h e d i f f e r e n t phonet ic man i f e s t a t ions [ S l , [ s l , [ l l b e

a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence / s j ~ / i n t h e independent

l e x i c a l form, a s a l l t h r e e appear i n both non-f inal ( i . e .unaccentable)

and f i n a l ( i . e . a ccen tab le ) s y l l a b l e s :

Csl [sl/C 1 I (non-f i n a l ) d i c t i o n n a i r e - i n t e r n a t i o n a l -

i n i t i a t i v e -

sociGt6 - . a s s o g a t i o n

( f i n a l ) e s s e n t i e l - spi5cial -

imperfec t ion - convic t ion -

audacieuse -

47 Although i t is c l e a r t h a t [s] - and [ S I can appear i n a non-f ina l

s y l l a b l e , t h i s occurs i n on ly 27 of t h e 220 examples of p a l a t a l i s e d Is/.

The v a s t m a j o r i t y of t h e examples (193) a r e i n word-final pos i t i on .

A t f i r s t g lance i t would appear t h a t t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of / z / is

r e l a t e d t o t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence /zjV/ i n t h e word, a s a l l

examples of [ z ] - and [ 3 ] occur i n word-f inal s y l l a b l e s (occasion,

p l u s i e u r s , v i s i o n , t 616v i s ion , e t c . ) . However, of t h e 115 in s t ances

of / z j ~ / , on ly t h r e e ( a l l w i t h no evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n ) a r e i n

non-f ina l s y l l a b l e s ( i . e . two examples of deuxismement, one of

occasionnel lement) . With so few examples of / z j v / i n non-f inal p o s i t i o n

no s i g n i f i c a n c e can be a t t ached t o t h e r e s t r i c t i o n of t h e p a l a t a l i s e d

a r t i c u l a t i o n of / z / t o word- f ina l s y l l a b l e s .

While i n most cases t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of /s/ and /z / occurs i n

word-f inal s y l l a b l e s , t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e word i n t h e rhythmic group

does not appear r e l e v a n t , a s t h e s e examples a r e found i n both f i n a l

and non-f ina l p o s i t i o n s i n t h e group, a s a r e examples of [ s ] and [z]:

non-f i n a l f i n a l

/s/ [ s ]:la c o l l e c t i o n - pennanente du gouvernement p rov inc i a l - commission s c o l a i r e - J e vous remercie , messieurs . - s u b s t a n t i e l l e s augmen- 6111 . . .p ar une populat ion - t a t i o n s T e s a l a i r e

[ s ]/[ 1: l a product ion l o c a l e - - l ' e s s e n t i e l d e son a c t i o n - monsieur - Ryan de l e u r d e r n i z r e pa ru t ion -

l a p r e s s i o n - d e l ' e a u c ' e s t sa ferme convic t ion . -

non-f i n a l f i n a l

/ z / [z] : 5 l ' occas ion - d e l a il y e n a u r a un t r o i s i s m e - r6union .... l e s p r6v i s ions - du temps de ne p rendre aucune

d 6 c i s i o n -

il y a p l u s i e u r s - annzes Ga f o u r n i t quand mgme l ' o c c a s i o n

[L]/[ 31: B d i s t a n c e de p l u s i e u r s - . . .bonne conclus ion . - ann6es

une bonne d i v i s i o n de pas d e r a d i o n i d e n o t r e conversa'tion t616v i s ion -

B l ' occas ion d'une pour r a p p e l e r 2i t o u t e a u d i e n c e ~ o n t i f i c a l e occa&on que. . .

The p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of d e n t a l f r i c a t i v e s , t hen , i s condit ioned

n e i t h e r by t h e phonet ic environment nor by t h e s y n t a c t i c p o s i t i o n

of t h e s y l l a b l e , and [s] and [ j] , [z] and [ 31 cannot b e considered

condi t ioned v a r i a n t s of /s/ and /z/ r e s p e c t i v e l y .

Nor can [ - s] and [ I], [ z ] - and [3] b e cons idered merely

i n d i v i d u a l v a r i a n t s of t h e phonemes /s/ and / z / , f o r t h e

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of /s/ i s found i n t h e speech of 3 4 . o f t h e 54

speakers (63%) and t h a t of / z / i n t h e speech of 8 o f t h e 38 speakers

(21%) f o r whom t h e r e a r e examples of / z / . I n a d d i t i o n , f o r none

of t h e s e people i s t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n c o n s i s t e n t . That i s , f o r a l l

t hose who pronounce [ s ] - o r [I] , [ z ] - o r [3], t h e r e a r e a l s o examples

of [ s ] and [ z ] , o f t e n i n t h e same word: -

e .g . (JL) dzvotion - w i t h [ s ] o r [ s ] -

(JM) 6mission - w i t h [ s ] o r [ s ] -

(LB) monsieur - wi th [ s ] o r [ - s 1 o r [ 1

(RL) occasion - w i t h [ z ] o r [ - z ]

(MB) occasion - w i t h [ z ] o r [ z ] -

(PG) p l u s i e u r s - wi th [ z ] o r [I]

While t h e number of examples of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n v a r i e s

according t o t h e i n d i v i d u a l , ranging from 0 t o 86% f o r /s/ and from

0 t o 66% f o r / z / , no speaker s y s t e m a t i c a l l y p a l a t a l i s e s a l l d e n t a l

f r i c a t i v e s be fo re yod. F u r t h e r , t h e r e i s no c o r r e l a t i o n between t h e

number of examples of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n o f ' / s / and of / z / f o r any

given speaker . For i n s t a n c e , f o r one speaker (CS) 65% of t h e

v o i c e l e s s f r i c a t i v e s a r e p a l a t a l i s e d b u t none of t h e vo iced , wh i l e

f o r another (RL), 29% of t h e voiced f r i c a t i v e s a r e p a l a t a l i s e d ,

y e t none of t h e v o i c e l e s s . S ince a s i g n i f i c a n t number of speakers

p a l a t a l i s e t h e d e n t a l f r i c a t i v e s , b u t none do s o i n any r e g u l a r ,

sys t ema t i c way, t h e p a l a t a l i s e d consonants a r e t h e r e f o r e n o t

i n d i v i d u a l v a r i a n t s of /s/ and / z / .

I n an examination of a l l t h e d a t a , c e r t a i n t endenc ie s become

evident . F i r s t , t h e v o i c e l e s s f r i c a t i v e appears more s u s c e p t i b l e t o

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n than does t h e voiced. While 23.6% of t h e examples of

/s/ a r e p a l a t a l i s e d , only 15.7% of t hose of / z / a r e . F u r t h e r , wh i l e

63% of t h e speakers sometimes p a l a t a l i s e /s/ i n t h e sequence / s j / ,

only 21% of t h o s e f o r whom t h e r e a r e examples of / z j / e v e r

p a l a t a l i s e t h e voiced f r i c a t i v e . Also, whi le t h e r e a r e 43 i n s t a n c e s

of [ I ] ( o r 4.6% of t h e examples of / s j / ) , t h e r e i s b u t one

example (0.9% of t h e t o t a l examples) of i t s voiced homologue [3] .

A s [ I ] and [ 3 ] are more p a l a t a l - l i k e than [?I and [ - z ] , t h e r e i s

t h e r e f o r e not only a g r e a t e r f requency of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of Is/ than

of / z / b u t a l s o evidence of a g r e a t e r degree of t h i s p a l a t a l i s a t i o n ,

Secondly, p a l a t a l i s a t i o n occurs more f r e q u e n t l y i n t h e f i n a l ,

r a t h e r t han a non-f inal , s y l l a b l e of t h e word. It has a l r eady been

seen t h a t no r e a l s i g n i f i c a n c e can be a t t ached t o t h i s i n t h e case

of /zjV/, where only t h r e e of t h e 115 examples of t h e sequence a r e

i n non-f inal p o s i t i o n ; however, f o r / s jv / , t h e f r i c a t i v e /s/ i s

p a l a t a l i s e d i n 193 of t h e 765 examples i n f i n a l p o s i t i o n (o r 25.2%)

b u t i n only 27 of t h e 167 examples i n non-f inal p o s i t i o n ( o r 16.2%).

F i n a l l y , p a l a t a l i s a t i o n appears t o b e more ' l i ke ly when t h e

f r i c a t i v e i s preceded by a [ + h i ] segment. While 93 of t h e 254

examples (or 36.6%) of /sj / a f t e r a [ + h i ] segment show some degree

of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , only 127 of t h e 675 in s t ances (or 18.8%) of /sj/

a f t e r a [ - h i ] segment a r e p a l a t a l i s e d . S i m i l a r l y , f o r /zj/, t h e

f i g u r e s a r e 14/63 (or 22.2%) preceded by a [ + h i ] segment and 4/52

(o r 7.7%) fol lowing a [ -h i ] segment.

These, however, a r e only t endenc ie s . While t h e vo ice l e s snes s

of t h e f r i c a t i v e , i ts p o s i t i o n i n a word-f inal s y l l a b l e and t h e

presence of a [ + h i ] segment preceding t h e f r i c a t i v e a l l s eek t o

favor p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , IIO one f a c t o r no r any combination of t h e

t h r e e can be shown t o be an a b s o l u t e condi t ion ing f a c t o r .

A r t i c u l a t o r y Energy

I n t h e d i scuss ion so f a r no s i n g l e f a c t o r , nor any combination

of f a c t o r s , has been discovered t h a t can s a t i s f a c t o r i l y account f o r

a l l t h e ca ses i n which p a l a t a l i s a t i o n occurs . A t t h i s p o i n t , i t

would be poss ib le t o conclude t h a t [ s], [z] & [ J ] and [ z ] , [A] & [3]

a r e a l l f r e e v a r i a n t s of the phonemes /s/ and / z / r e spec t ive ly , when

these phonemes precede /j/. However, i t i s poss ib le t h a t the re is

some f a c t o r , o t h e r than t h e following p a l a t a l g l i d e , t h a t

condi t ions t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n .

A schematic r ep resen ta t ion of the a r t i c u l a t i o n of den ta l

f r i c a t i v e s (see Fig. 9 below), based on palatograms from G. Straka

(1965a, p. 3 8 ) , shows t h a t t h e point of a r t i c u l a t i o n is not t h e

only f e a t u r e t h a t d i f f e r e n t i a t e s [ s ] and [ z ] from [ J I and [ 33:

[ s l [zl Fig. 9

For the l a t t e r t h e r e i s a l s o a g r e a t e r contac t between t h e

c e n t r a l p a r t of the tongue and t h e roof of the mouth. T h i s

corresponds t o the e f f e c t of an inc rease i n a r t i c u l a t o r y energy

noted by Straka (1963): "...que l a langue s '6lPve davantage v e r s

. l a voiite p a l a t i n e e t q u ' e l l e s ' appl ique p lus intimement cont re

e l l e . " (p. 36) . It must be noted t h a t S t r aka uses t h e terms

6ne rg ie ( o r f o r c e o r e f f o r t ) a r t i c u l a t o i r e t o r e f e r only t o t h e

a r t i c u l a t o r y movements of t h e tongue, jaw and l i p s ( " l ' e f f o r t du

mouvement a r t i c u l a t o i r e " , i b i d . , p. 63 ) , r a t h e r t han t o t h e o v e r a l l

energy r equ i r ed t o produce a sound:

1 I ... c e t t e Gnergie muscula i re employge pour l a mise en p l a c e , a i n s i que pour l a t enue e t l a d6 ten te des organes a r t i c u l a t o i r e s . . . "

. ( i b i d . , p . 63)

"L16nergie dont nous avons s u i v i l e s e f f e t s s u r l a product ion des sons du langage e s t l lGne rg ie du mouvement a r t i c u l a t o i r e ; c ' e s t l a f o r c e avec l a q u e l l e l e s muscles d e l a langue e t du m a x i l l a i r e s e c o n t r a c t e n t en w e d e m e t t r e en p l ace ces organes pour l ' a r t i c u l a t i o n voulue."

( i b i d . , p. 60)

S t r a k a ' s s tudy of t h e e f f e c t of changes i n a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e

a l s o shows t h a t wi th an i n c r e a s e i n energy t h e a r e a of con tac t

between t h e tongue and t h e roof of t h e mouth not only is g r e a t e r

bu t a l s o , i n t h e case of d e n t a l consonants , extends f u r t h e r back

than when t h e same consonant i s pronounced wi th l e s s energy

( i b i d . , p. 38) . A s t h i s i s p r e c i s e l y what occurs when /s/ i s

r e a l i s e d as [ - s ] o r [ J], and / z / as [ z ] o r [ 31, it appears t h a t -

v a r i a t i o n s i n a r t i c u l a t o r y energy could account f o r t h e d i f f e r e n t

phonet ic man i f e s t a t ions noted i n t h e d a t a , t h e p a l a t a l i s e d consonants

corresponding t o a more e n e r g e t i c pronunciat ion.

Extens ive research i n t o t h e p h y s i c a l a spec t s of a r t i c u l a t o r y .

energy has been conducted by J. Rousselot (1924), R. S t e t s o n (1951),

A. Mal6cot (1955, 1977a) and o t h e r s , us ing such parameters a s a r e a

of c o n t a c t and mechanical p re s su re between a r t i c u l a t o r s . However,

t h e s e methods of examining t h e degree of a r t i c u l a t o r y energy cannot

be app l i ed t o recorded m a t e r i a l . Thus, t h e r e can b e no d i r e c t

evidence of a g iven sequence of phones be ing pronounced wi th g r e a t e r

energy than another sequence.

However, A. Malgcot (1977a) exper imenta l ly t e s t e d t h e claim

put f o r t h by P. D e l a t t r e (1941) t h a t an i n v e r s e r e l a t i o n s h i p e x i s t s

between t h e d u r a t i o n of a vowel and t h e . a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e of t h e

fo l lowing consonant. While MalGcot does no t d e f i n e p r e c i s e l y what he

means by f o r c e d ' a r t i c u l a t i o n i n t h i s s tudy , he i n d i c a t e s i n a

previous a r t i c l e (1955) t h a t he i s adopting K.L. P i k e ' s d e f i n i t i o n :

I1 F o r t i s a r t i c u l a t i o n e n t a i l s s t r o n g , t e n s e movements . . . re lat ive t o

a norm assumed f o r a l l sounds...weak a r t i c u l a t i o n i s lenis ."(1943,

p. 128) . This sugges ts t h a t Malgcot u ses t h e term i n t h e same sense

a s G. S t r a k a . That i s , u n l i k e P. D e l a t t r e (1941) who de f ines t h e

f o r c e d ' a r t i c u l a t i o n of a consonant a s " l a somme d lGnerg ie ngcessa i r e

pour f o u r n i r l a t o t a l i t g des e f f o r t s muscula i res q u i prennent p a r t

2 1 '6miss ion d'une consonne. . . e x p i r a t i o n , t e n s i o n , tenue , d g t e n t e ,

c o n t r a c t i o n , p re s s ion , rapprochement, Gloignement, resser rement ,

occ lus ion , e t c . " ( p . 221), bo th S t r aka and Mal6cot u s e t h e term t o

r e f e r t o t h e movements of t h e a r t i c u l a t o r s . Mal6cot based h i s s tudy ,

which was confined t o t h e comparison of consonants t h a t a r e

i n h e r e n t l y f o r t i s o r l e n i s , on measurements of t h e a r e a of con tac t

. and mechanical p re s su re between t h e two a r t i c u l a t o r s , t h e a i r

p re s su re behind t h e p o i n t of a r t i c u l a t i o n and t h e d u r a t i o n of t h e

consonant (both voiced and v o i c e l e s s i n t h e same c o n t e x t ) , a s w e l l

a s p a i r - t e s t s given t o n a t f v e speake r s w i th no knowledge of phonet ics .

He determined t h a t , a l l o t h e r cond i t i ons be ing equal , a v o i c e l e s s

consonant r e q u i r e s more a r t i c u l a t o r y energy than does i t s voiced

homologue. MalGcot a l s o found t h a t t h e d u r a t i o n of a vowel v a r i e s

i n v e r s e l y wi th t h e f o r c e of a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e fol lowing consonant.

I f MalGcot and S t r aka u s e t h e term a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e i n t h e same

sense , a s they appear t o do, t hen i t should fo l low t h a t t h e more

e n e r g e t i c a l l y any consonant (voiced o r v o i c e l e s s ) i s a r t i c u l a t e d ,

t h e s h o r t e r t h e preceding vowel w i l l be .

With t h e a i d of spectrograms taken from t h e d a t a , i t i s

p o s s i b l e t o measure t h e d u r a t i o n of t h e vowel preceding any of t h e

consonants under s tudy , t h u s o b t a i n i n g i n d i r e c t evidence of t h e

degree of a r t i c u l a t o r y energy of t h e consonant. The du ra t ion of a

vowel, however, is a f f e c t e d by f a c t o r s o t h e r than t h e a r t i c u l a t o r y

energy of a fo l lowing consonant. A s G. S t r aka (1963) has noted ,

open vowels a r e i n h e r e n t l y l o n g e r t han c losed vowels. I n add i t i on ,

t h e more r ap id t h e speech t h e s h o r t e r a l l segments w i l l be. I n

o rde r t o minimize t h e e f f e c t of t h e second v a r i a b l e , t h e du ra t ion

of both t h e consonant - in q u e s t i o n and t h e preceding vowel was

measured and t h e f i g u r e s compared. Given t h e amount of d a t a

s t u d i e d , i t was no t f e a s i b l e t o measure every /vsj / o r / v z j /

sequence t h i s way; a set of examples i nc lud ing IS], [s] and [S] was t h e r e f o r e chosen a t random. The d u r a t i o n of t h e consonant i n

ques t ion and of t h e preceding vowel was measured i n m i l l i m e t e r s ,

and t h e n converted t o cent i seconds , based on t h e f a c t t h a t a

spectrogram of 2.4 seconds (240 c s ) of speech measures 310 mm. The

r e s u l t s ob ta ined a r e noted below:

c l i m a t i s a t i o n

r E f r i g e r a t i o n

v r a i e s c i ence

p r o v i n c i a l e

p r o v i n c i a l e

c l i m a t i s a t i o n

a s s o c i a t i o n

a s s o c i a t i o n

a s s o c i a t i o n

a s s o c i a t i o n ,

mess ieurs

cond i t i ons

Dura t ion ( i n c s . ) o f : v - Csl rsI/CSJ

7 ,o 5.4

6.2 5.4

11; 6 8 .5

12.4 10.8

11.6 8 .5

3.9 6 , 2

4.6 11 .6

6.2 19.4

3 . 1 10 .8

3.9 11.6

6.2 7.7

3.9 7.0

3.9 4 . 6

s o l u t i o n CYI 5.4 7 . 7 .

It can be seen t h a t , no m a t t e r what t h e vowel, where no

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n occurs t h e vowel i s longe r thafi t h e fo l lowing

consonant , whereas i n ca ses where t h e consonant is p a l a t a l i s e d

t h e vowel is s h o r t e r , corresponding t o a more e n e r g e t i c a r t i c u l a t i o n

of t h e consonant. The p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of d e n t a l f r i c a t i v e s observed

i n t h i s d a t a , then , appears t o b e due t o a combination of two

f a c t o r s - t h e i n f luence of t h e fo l lowing p a l a t a l g l i d e and an

i n c r e a s e i n a r t i c u l a t o r y energy.

3.1.2 Occlusives I t / and /d /

Of t h e 169 examples of / t j / and 129 examples of / d j / s t u d i e d ,

t h e r e is evidence of a s s i b i l a t i o n , t h e development of a s i b i l a n t

r e l e a s e , of t h e occ lus ive i n 48.5% of t h e former and 40.3% of t h e

l a t t e r . This is found n o t on ly i n t h e speech of Canadians, where t h e

phenomenon has been w e l l documented . (E.F. Haden, 1941; R. Charbonneau,

1955; J-D. Gendron, 1966; A. Hu l l , 1966, e t c . ) bu t a l s o i n t h a t of

n a t i v e speakers from France. Although t h i s a s s i b i l a t i o n i s known t o

be f requent i n Canadian French b e f o r e a h igh f r o n t vowel o r g l i d e ,

i n t h i s d a t a i t appears t h a t a fo l lowing / j / i s no t a s u f f i c i e n t

condi t ion ing f a c t o r , a s i n some cases t h e r e i s no evidence of

a s s i b i l a t i o n be fo re t h e p a l a t a l g l i d e .

Environment

The segment preceding t h e occ lus ive does no t appear t o b e

r e l e v a n t , a s both a s s i b i l a t e d and non-ass ib i la ted r e a l i s a t i o n s of

/ t / and /d/ appear i n s i m i l a r o r i d e n t i c a l phonet ic environments,

a s t h e fol lowing s e t of examples shows:

Af t e r :

[ i 1 quo t i d - i enne

[Y] s t u d i o , - g t u d i a n t - [el imm6diat - , p g d i a t r i e - [ a 1 rad io , - canadien - [ & I dispendieux - [31 mondial -

s t u d i o , 6 t u g e r -

r a d i o , canadien - - mendier, i ncend ie r - - mondiale -

A f t e r : I t 1 ami t i6 , f r u i t i e r - - chrg t ienne , - mgtier - sept isme - ci5tiSre - mat i s r e , - moit ig - e n t i e r , - c h a n t i e r -

v o l o n t i e r s , f r o n t i z r e - - ch r i s t i an i sme , - ques t ion -

c h r g t i e n

s ep - ti'erne , l a i t ier - Gauthier , - c 6 t i S r e -

e n t i s r e , - c h a n t i e r - con t i end ra , - f r o n t i s r e - ques t i o n -

appar t iendront - , q u a r t i e r - a p p a r t i e n t - , q u a r t i e r - .

Only one of t h e examples of [ t s ] ( con t i end ra ) i s found i n a w

non-f ina l s y l l a b l e of t h e word, a l though t h i s has no r e a l s i g n i f i c a n c e

a s t h e r e a r e only two in s t ances of / t j / i n t h i s p o s i t i o n (cont iendra

and c h r i s t i a n i s m e ) . However, t h e r e a r e 15 examples of / d j / i n a

non-f ina l s y l l a b l e , of which only two (d i a logue and quotidiennement)

a r e a s s i b i l a t e d .

The examples of a s s i b i l a t e d occ lus ives i n word-final s y l l a b l e s

occur i n bo th f i n a l and non-f inal s y l l a b l e s of t h e rhythmic group:

non-f i n a l f i n a l

[ t s ] c e t t e question-12 - remises en q u e s g o n u

d e s h i s t o i r e s de fGt s d e f o r G t , d e c h a n t i e r s . -

l e s q u e s t i m s - d e l a r g u s s i t 2 moi t i6 - prgse rva t ion

[GI l e s Canagens f r a n s a i s son t r a v a i l quo t id i en -

d e Radio Canada - dans un f u t u r i m g d i a t -

du v e r b e "mendier" -

It appears , then , t h a t n e i t h e r t h e preceding segment nor t h e

p o s i t i o n of t h e s y l l a b l e i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e rhythmic group accen t

can s a t i s f a c t o r i l y provide 'an environment f o r a s s i b i l a t i o n of d e n t a l

occ lus ives . I n a d d i t i o n , wh i l e i t i s t r u e t h a t many Canadians

c o n s i s t e n t l y a s s i b i l a t e / t / and Id / be fo re yod, not a l l do, For

some, a s w e l l a s f o r some informants from France, t h e r e a r e examples

of both [ t ] and [ t s ] , o r [ d l and [ d z ] i n t h e same environment: eC V

e.g. Canadian: (MB) i n t e rmgd ia i r e w i th [ d ] o r [ t z ]

(RL) canadien w i t h [ d l o r [ d z ] 4

French : (MD) ques t i on w i t h [ t ] o r [ t s ] - (CS) canadien w i t h [ d l o r [ d z ]

. . u

F u r t h e r , informants who have a s s i b i l a t e d I t / i n t h e i r speech do

not n e c e s s a r i l y have a s s i b i l a t e d I d / , and v i c e versa :

e.g. ( J D ) mo i t i6 [mwats je ] Y

canadien [ kanad j E ]

(RL) a m i t i s [ a m i t j e ] canadien [ ka nadzjE 1 Y

(CS) f r o n t i s r e [ f ~ J t s j e ~ ] Y mondial [mJd j a I ]

The a s s i b i l a t e d r e a l i s a t i o n s of I t / and / d l a r e n o t , then ,

i n d i v i d u a l v a r i a n t s .

It appears t h a t t h e r e i s no sys t ema t i c r e l a t i o n s h i p between t h i s

a s s i b i l a t i o n and environment, p o s i t i on r e l a t i v e t o t h e

rhythmic group accen t , o r i n d i v i d u a l o r r e g i o n a l pronunciat ion.

However, j u s t a s i n t h e c a s e of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of t h e f r i c a t i v e s ,

c e r t a i n tendencies can b e observed wi th regard t o a s s i b i l a t i o n .

F i r s t , t h e v o i c e l e s s occ lus ive appears s l i g h t l y more s u s c e p t i b l e

t o a s s i b i l a t i o n than does t h e voiced , as 48.5% of t h e former a r e

p e r c e p t i b l y a s s i b i l a t e d whi le only 40.3% of t h e l a t t e r a r e . Secondly,

whi le t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e s y l l a b l e i n t he word is n o t , s t r i c t l y

speaking , a cond i t i on ing f a c t o r , i t appears t h a t a s s i b i l a t i o n i s

more l i k e l y t o cccur i n a word-f inal s y l l a b l e than i n a non-f ina l

s y l l a b l e . O f t h e 17 examples of / t j / and / d j / i n a non-f i n a l

s y l l a b l e only 3 (or 17.6%) a r e r e a l i s e d as [ t s ] o r [dz] r e s p e c t i v e l y , 2 51

whereas 131 of t h e 281 examples (o r 46.6%) i n a word-f inal s y l l a b l e

a r e a s s i b i l a t e d .

I t is i n t e r e s t i n g t o n o t e t h a t t h e s e tendencies correspond t o

two of t h e t h r e e observed i n t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of f r i c a t i v e s .

F u r t h e r , t h e d a t a o f f e r some evidence t h a t t h e f r i c a t i v e r e l e a s e i s

i t s e l f being p a l a t a l i s e d . Of t h e 82 a s s i b i l a t e d r e a l i s a t i o n s of I t / ,

21 ( o r 25.6%) a r e perceived a s [ t f 1 (e .g, ques t ion , g e s t i o n ) u

and 3 of t h e 52 ( o r 5.8X) a s s i b i l a t e d r e a l i s a t i o n s of / d / a r e

perce ived a s [ d 3 1 ( e .g. immZdiat, Dieu) . Like a s s i b i l a t i o n , t h i s .4

-- p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of t h e s i b i l a n t r e l e a s e is more f requent i n t h e case

of t h e v o i c e l e s s consonant than t h e voiced. This occurs i n t h e

speech of both French and Canadian informants .

A s s i b i l a t i o n i n Canadian French

Extensive r e sea rch i n t o t h e a s s i b i l a t i o n of /t/ and / d / ' i n

Canadian French has been done by RenG Charbonneau (19551, who

concludes t h a t whi le a s s i b i l a t i o n is a common phenomenon, t h e r e is

no evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of t h e occ lus ives . However, schematic

r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s of t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of / t / and /d / (F igs . 10 and l l ) ,

based on palatograms (Charbonneau, 1955, p. 136-138) i n d i c a t e t h a t

when I t / and / d l occur be fo re h igh f r o n t vowels (where Charbonneau

f i n d s evidence of a s s i b i l a t i o n bu t no t p a l a t a l i s a t i o n ) , t h e r e i s a

g r e a t e r con tac t between t h e tongue and t h e roof of t h e mouth than

when t h e same consonant occurs be fo re a non-high vowel

l o a [ t i p 1 type 10c E t a ] - t a s

Fig. 1 0

l l c [ dam 1 - dame

F ig . 11

Comparing these with a schematic r ep resen ta t ion (see Fig. 12

below) of what Charbonneau (1955, p. 139) terms p a l a t a l i s a t i o n

(which does not appear t o be cons i s t en t with h i s d e f i n i t i o n of t h e

term, a s quoted on page I ) , i t is c l e a r t h a t while t h e r e i s some

tendency t o p a l a t a l i s e , t h e a r e a of contac t between t h e tongue and

t h e roof of t h e mouth is not s u f f i c i e n t l y g r e a t t o correspond with

h i s schemata of the term.

Fig. 12

There is , never the less , evidence of some degree of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n

of t h e occlus ives i n h i s d a t a . It appears, then, t h a t t h e

a s s i b i l a t i o n a t t e s t e d i n Canadian French coincides with a t l e a s t

some degree of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of the occlus jve .

Ar t i cu la to ry Energy

G. Straka (1965b) a t t r i b u t e s some of the h i s t o r i c a l a s s i b i l a t i o n

of occlus ives i n the ~omance languages t o a decrease i n a r t i c u l a t o r y

energy, r e s u l t i n g i n d e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n and a progressive detachment

of t h e tongue from the roof of t h e mouth.

However, h e claims t h a t a s s i b i l a t i o n can a l s o b e t h e product

of an i n c r e a s e i n a r t i c u l a t o r y energy:

' 1 O r , il s e peut qu'une p a l a t a l e t r S s Gnergique s o i t s u i v i e d 'une dEtente prolongge produisant un b r u i t s i f f l a n t ou chuin tan t e t que l a r g a l i s a t i o n d'une a f f r i q u g e s o i t a i n s i une consgquence, non pas d 'un a f f a ib l i s semen t d e l ' occ lus ion mais d'une grande f o r c e a r t i c u l a t o i r e . "

It is t h i s second explana t ion t h a t he p r e f e r s i n account ing

f o r t h e a s s i b i l a t i o n of -t- b e f o r e y o d i n Vulgar L a t i n , a s " e l l e

permet a u s s i d e comprendre l a r a p i d i t c avec l a q u e l l e l e groupe

Q, dEpassant l e s t a d e p a l a t a l (ou p a l a t a l i s g ) a a b o u t i 2 un 2'

( i b i d . , p. 134-135, where G i s t h e v o i c e l e s s a l v e o l a r a f f r i c a t e

and y t h e p a l a t a l g l i d e - yod.)

It appears t h a t t h i s is a l s o t h e explana t ion t h a t would b e s t

account f o r t h e phenomenon a s observed i n t h i s d a t a , as t h e r e i s

some evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of t h e f r i c a t i v e r e l e a s e , i n d i c a t i n g

an i n c r e a s e i n energy. It would no t b e p o s s i b l e t o a t t r i b u t e t h e

a s s i b i l a t i o n t o a decrease i n a r t i c u l a t o r y energy and t h e

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n t o an i n c r e a s e f o r , i n S t r a k a ' s words "ce s o n t deux

tendances physiologiques c o n t r a d i c t o i r e s , e t q u i ne s o n t , p a r

consGquent , jamais simultan6es." ( i b i d . , p. 135)

3.1.3 Nasal 11-11

Of t h e 105 examples of I n / , on ly 5 (or 4.8%) a r e perce ived as

t h e p a l a t a l n a s a l [ p ] r a t h e r t han t h e sequence [ n j ] . Thi s i nc ludes

two examples of inggnieur , two of op in ion and one of harmonieuse,

found i n t h e speech of t h r e e informants .

Environment

It can b e seen t h a t t h e preceding segment does no t appear t o

cond i t i on t h i s p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of I n / , a s f o r environments i n which

[-I] occurs , [ n j ] i s a l s o found:

Af te r :

[ i ] opin ion [ op i -151 opin ion [ o p i n j 3 1

j a r d i n i e r [ 3aRd i n j e ]

[ e l ing6nieur [E3em~] (no o t h e r examples 0 f

[ a ] inggnieur [ E - i ; a p ~ ] t h e s e sequences)

[ 3 ] harmonieuse [a~rnap$z ] p ig tonn ik re [ p j e t a n j ~ ~ ]

donniez [ dan je ]

The only observa t ion t h a t can b e made about t h e phonet ic

environment i s t h a t i n t h i s corpus t h e p a l a t a l a r t i c u l a t i o n 1-11

occurs a f t e r a vowel, b u t n o t a f t e r a consonant (e.g. d e r n i e r is

pronounced [ d e ~ n j e ] ) . Nor i s t h e p a l a t a l i s e d a r t i c u l a t i o n of / n j / an. i n d i v i d u a l

v a r i a n t . For each informant who pronounces [-I] t h e r e a r e a l s o

examples of [ n j 1: -

(LB) inggnieur [ E-i;e~nx ] manisre [ r n a n j e ~ ]

(AD) opin ion [ o p i 6 ] Barnier [ b a ~ n j e ]

(GL) harmonieuse [a~rn3p$z] d e r n i e r [ d e ~ n j e ]

It can b e seen t h a t a l l f i v e examples of [ p ] occur i n a word-

f i n a l s y l l a b l e . I n fou r ca ses t h i s is a l s o t h e f i n a l s y l l a b l e i n

t h e rhythmic group:

i .e. dont l e t r i b u n a l e s t l ' op in ion ( s i c )

c e r t a i n s courants d 'opinion q u i ... une c ro i s sance harmonieuse

vous Etes i nggn ieu r , vous, monsieur;..

However, i n one example ( . . . inggnieur responsable d e l a recherche. ..)

[ p ] occurs i n a s y l l a b l e t h a t is not f i n a l .

The p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of /n / , t h e r e f o r e , cannot b e accounted f o r

by t h e phone t i c environment nor by i t s p o s i t i o n i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e

r h y t b i c group s t r e s s . I n a d d i t i o n , i t i s no t an i n d i v i d u a l v a r i a n t .

While no conclus ions can b e drawn from t h e examination of. only f i v e

examples, t h e obse rva t ions noted he re appear t o be c o n s i s t e n t wi th

t h e r e s u l t s of a s tudy conducted by Jean-Denis Gendron (1966).

C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e p a l a t a l i s e d n a s a l

I n h i s exper imenta l a n a l y s i s of t h e speech of 19 n a t i v e informants

Gendron found t h a t / n j / was r e a l i s e d occas iona l ly a s [ p ] by only

t h r e e people , and then only i n w o r d - i n i t i a l o r i n t e r v o c a l i c pos i t i on .

However, he a l s o found t h a t on ly f o u r informants c o n s i s t e n t l y

r e a l i s e d t h e ' sequence- / n j / as [ n j 1. Based on evidence provided by

palatograms, h e discov2red t h a t t h e most f requent phonet ic

r e a l i s a t i o n of / n j / was [ n ' j 1, where [ n'] r e p r e s e n t s a p a l a t a l i s e d ,

bu t n o t p a l a t a l , n a s a l .

He desc r ibes t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h i s [ n ' ] a s fo l lows:

11 ... l ' occ lus ion s e f a i t c o n t r e l e renflement des a lvdo le s (rdgion pos t a lvGola i r e , chez les s u j e t s Y.R. e t G.G.) ou c o n t r e l e s a lvGoles ( s u j e t J . ) , t a n d i s que l a p o i n t e d e l a langue touche encore chez l e s uns l e bord i n t e r n e des i n c i s i v e s supdr ieures ( s u j e t J . ) , mais peut dGj3 s ' i n f l d c h i r chez d ' a u t r e s d e r r i s r e l e s i n c i s i v e s i n f d r i e u r e s ( s u j e t s Y.R. e t G.G.). A ins i , chez Y.R. e t G . G . , on s e t rouve en prdsence d'un 5 p a l a t a l , mais son l i e u d ' a r t i c u l a t i o n e s t p l u s a n t g r i e u r que c e l u i d k n g normal; ... L ' a r t i c u l a t i o n d e J . e s t B mi-chemin e n t r e l e n a l v z o d e n t a l . e t l e g p a l a t a l ; La consonne e s t e n t r a i n de deveni r p a l a t a l e en ce sens que l ' o c c l u s i o n s l G l a r g i t , mais l a p o i n t e d e l a langue p a r t i c i p e t o u j o u r s 2 l a product ion de l l o c c l u s i o n e t n e repose pas encore i n e r t e d e r r i P r e l e s i n c i s i v e s i n f s r i e u r e s . "

Gendron concludes t h a t "on s e t rouve en prdsence d e deux a r t i c u l a t i o n s

succes s ives en vo ie d 'dvolu t ion , q u i tendent 2 s e confondre en

une seu le ." ( I b i d . , p. 113)

It would be very d i f f i c u l t t o pe rce ive t h e d i f f e r e n c e between

[ - n j 1, t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n Gendron d k s c r i b e s a s [ n ' j 1, and [ n j 1. It i s

t h e r e f o r e p o s s i b l e t h a t many of t h e / n j / sequences perceived a s [ n j ]

i n t h i s d a t a a r e a c t u a l l y a r t i c u l a t e d as [ n j ] ; - however, t h e r e i s no

means of confirming t h i s . It i s n e v e r t h e l e s s c e r t a i n t h a t i n f i v e

i n s t a n c e s t h e sequence / n j / i s i n d i s p u t a b l y pronounced as [PI .

I n t h e same s tudy , Gendron compared a palatogram of t h e p a l a t a l

r e a l i s a t i o n of / n j / ( i . e . [ j -~] , which h e t r a n s c r i b e s as [ nl ) t o one U

of t h e phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n of t h e phonological p a l a t a l n a s a l /p/

and found t h a t :

(I Dgapr'es l e palatogramme d e l a r 6 a l i s a t i o n p a l a t a l e de ny dans p a n i e r ..., l e l i e u d e c e t t e a r t i c u l a t i o n e s t l e mEme que c e l u i d e g dans agneau...; c e palatogramme r e f l s t e une pronclnciation r e l a t i vemen t gnergique, p l u s Gnergique que dans agneau, mais c e t t e d i f f 6 r e n c e m i s e 5 p a r t , l e s deux a r t i c u l a t i o n s s o n t

( I b i d . , p. 114)

A r t i c u l a t o r y Energy

It appears t h a t t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of / n / , l i k e t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n

of t h e f r i c a t i v e s , can be l i nked t o a r t i c u l a t o r y energy. I n t h e

d i s c u s s i o n of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of phonological /s/ and /z/. (Sec t ion

3.1.1) and t h a t of t h e [ s ] and [ z ] produced by t h e a s s i b i l a t i o n of

o c c l u s i v e s (Sect ion 3.1.2) , i t was noted t h a t i n b o t h c a s e s t h e

v o i c e l e s s consonant i s more s u s c e p t i b l e t o t h i s mod i f i ca t ion than

is t h e voiced , and t h a t t h e r e is , t h e r e f o r e , a d i r e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p

between t h e inhe ren t f o r c e of a consonant and t h e degree of

p e r c e i v a b l e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n .

In t h e s tudy previous ly c i t e d (p. 53 ), A. Maldcot (1977a)

has shown t h a t [ n ] r e q u i r e s even l e s s a r t i c u l a t o r y energy than

voiced d e n t a l obs t ruen t s . It appears , then , t h a t t h e r e l a t i v e l y

smal l percentage of examples of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n i n t h e sequence /nj/

i s r e l a t e d t o t h e low inhe ren t a r t i c u l a t o r y energy of t h e n a s a l .

3.2 Weakening of t h e l a t e r a l /I/

Unlike t h e o the r d e n t a l consonants , /I/ does n o t appear t o be

p a l a t a l i s e d when i t precedes /j/. I n t h e 143 occurrences of / l j / ,

t h e r e a r e no examples of an aud ib ly p a l a t a l i s e d l a t e r a l . There a r e ,

I however, 16 examples of [ j 1, where t h e /I/ i s no t f u l l y manifested

phone t i ca l ly and 5 examples of [ j], where t h e l a t e r a l is n o t

r e a l i s e d a t a l l . Together t h e s e 21 examples r ep re sen t 14.7% of t h e

t o t a l number of occurrences of t h e sequence, i n which t h e r e i s some

degree of weakening of t h e l a t e r a l , wh i l e t h e g l i d e is apparent ly

unaf fec ted .

Not included i n t hese f i g u r e s a r e occurrences of t h e express ion - ,

il y a which i s f r equen t ly pronounced [ i j a 1 o r [ j a I, not on ly i n

t h i s p a r t i c u l a r corpus, b u t a l s o i n s t anda rd contemporary ~ r e n c h .

This t r u n c a t i o n of t h e /I/ i n t h e pronoun, however, i s u s u a l l y

considered a morphological phenomenon ( s e e A. ~ o u g a r e f f & P. Card ina l ,

1980, f o r example), a s t h e /I/ of t h e t h i r d person s u b j e c t pronoun,

and of o t h e r pronouns, is o f t e n d e l e t e d i n o t h e r phonet ic

environments:

e.g. J e l a changeais [ 3a : f&3e ] ( I b i d . , p. 91)

E( l1e) v i e n t , 5 v i e n t pas

Ez ont . . . Iz on t

(H. F r e i , 1929, p . 126)

I v i e n t , e t c . (H. Bauche, 1928, p. 109)

The d i scuss ion of t h e weakening of /l/ is , t h e r e f o r e , l imi t ed h e r e

t o cases where i t is c l e a r l y a phonological , and n o t a morphological,

problem.

Environment

While t h i s weakening occurs most f r equen t ly a f t e r high vowels,

e.g. a f t e r :

[ i l m i l l i o n I

[ m i j 3 1 o r [ m i j z ]

c o n c i l i a t i o n I

[ k3s i j a s j 3 ]

[ Y ] I

pa r t icu l i s rernent [ p a ~ t i ky j e ~ m b ]

p a r t i c u l i e r I [ p a ~ t i ky j e ]

C u l I par t i cu l i s r emen t [ p a ~ t i ku j e ]

t h e r e a r e a l s o two examples of a preceding mid or low vowel:

[ a ] i n s t a l l i e z [ k t a j e ]

r e l i 6 La1 I

[ ~ a j e l

However, t h e r e a r e a l s o examples of [ I j ] i n a l l these same

environments :

Afte r :

[ i l m i l l i o n [ m i l j 3 1

f a m i l i e r [ fami l j e ]

[ Y ] p a r t i c u l i e r [ p a ~ t i k y l j e ]

r6guliDrement [ ~ e g y l j e ~ m d ]

[ u I p a r t i c u l i s r e m e n t [ p a ~ t i ku I j € ~ r n & ]

[ a 1 v o i l i e r [vwa l j e ]

e s c a l i e r [eskal j e ]

[ a ] a t e l i e r [ a t a l j e ]

This sugges ts t h a t t h e r e i s no sys temat ic r e l a t i o n s h i p between t h e

weakening of /I/ and t h e q u a l i t y of t h e preceding vowel.

Fu r the r , t h e weakening of t h e l a t e r a l cannot be considered an

i n d i v i d u a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c , a s it i s found i n t h e speech of 11 of t h e

40 informants (o r 27.5%) f o r whom t h e r e a r e examples of / l j / . I n

t h e speech of t h e s e 11 informants , f o r a l l t h o s e f o r whom,there i s

more than one example of / l j / , t h e r e a r e a l s o i n s t a n c e s of a f u l l y

r e a l i s e d [l] i n a s i m i l a r o r i d e n t i c a l phonet ic environment:

e.g . (MB) p a r t i c u l i e r I [ p a ~ t _ s i ky l j e ] o r [ p a ~ t s i w ky j e ]

(PP) m i l l i o n I [ m i l j 3 ] o r [ m i j 3 ]

(AP) m i l l i o n I [ m i l j 5 1 o r [ m i j 5 ] o r [ m i j 3 ]

(RL) a eu l i e u [ay l j 2 1

The weakened 111 and t h e f u l l y r e a l i s e d /I/ occur i n both -

non-f inal and f i n a l s y l l a b l e s of t h e word:

non-f inal : p a r t i c u l i s r e m e n t - par t icu l iSrement -

c o n c i l i a t i o n - r6guliSrement -

f i n a l : m i l l i o n m i l l i o n - - p a r t i c u g e r f a m i l i a l e s -

a s w e l l a s i n both non-f inal and f i n a l p o s i t i o n i n t h e rhythmic

group :

[ ' j l o r l j l

non-f i n a l : s i x m i l l i o n s - d e campeurs

un a u t r e rgseau r e l i 6 - 2 Tglgnet

au m i l i e u de l a v i l l e -

f i n a l : il en r e s t e envi ron s i x m i l l i o n s . -

2 t i t r e p a r t i c u g e r

en p a r t i c u g e r

non-f i n a l : deux m i G o n s p o i n t deux

f i n a l :

au l i e u d e c o n s t r u i r e . . . - un m i l i e u o u v r i e r -

des m i l l i o n s e t des m i l l i o n s -

l e s a l l o c a t i o n s f a m i l i a l e s -

It is c l e a r , t hen , t h a t n e i t h e r t h e phonet ic environment nor

t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence / l j / r e l a t i v e t o t h e rhythmic group

accent can account for the weakening of /1/ in 14.7% of the examples

studied. However, certain tendencies can be observed, That is, this

weakening is most prevalent after a h i g h vowel, and is more frequent

in a word-final syllable (111 examples) than in non-final position

(6 examples). As these correspond to two of the factors that have

been seen to favor palatalisation of other dental consonants

(Section 3.1), it appears that the problem here is two-fold. First,

there is no audible palatalisation even in environments which

appear to favor the palatalisation of dentals. Secondly, there is

evidence of a weakening of the lateral before yod, a phenomenon

which does not occur with other dental consonants in this position.

Influence of yod

Although no palatalisation of /1/ has been perceived in this

data, it is possible that the articulation of the lateral is

influenced by t he presence of a following ~ o d , but not sufficiently

for the modification to be audible ( c f . discussion of [ nj I, p.65 ).

Indeed, schematic representations of the articulation of [ I 1, [ j ]

and [ I j ] (see Fig. 13 a ,b ,c) based on palatograms in E.F. Haden ,

(1938, pp. 80, 84, 85) all taken from the same speaker, show that

the articulation of the sequence [ l j ] differs only slightly from

the combination of [ I ] and [ j ] , each pronounced separately.

Fig . 13

It can be seen t h a t when [ I ] is followed by t h e p a l a t a l g l i d e

( f i g . 1 3 a ) , t h e con tac t between t h e apex of t h e tongue and t h e roof

of t h e mouth i s g r e a t e r than when [ I ] i s i n t e r v o c a l i c ( f i g . 13b) .

In f i g . 107 t h i s increased con tac t does not r ep re sen t p a r t of t h e

a r t i c u l a t i o n of [ j 1, a s a comparison wi th f i g . 13c shows. The

a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e [ I ] t hen , a l though modified by t h e fol lowing

p a l a t a l g l i d e , is not s u f f i c i e n t l y a l t e r e d a s t o b e perceived a s

a p a l a t a l i s e d l a t e r a l . I n f a c t , Haden t r a n s c r i b e s t h i s a r t i c u l a t i o n

a s [ I j ] r a t h e r than [A].

consonant is p a l a t a l i s e d is d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d t o t h e inhe ren t

a r t i c u l a t o r y energy of t h a t consonant, t h e o rde r being:

Voiceless consonants ( t h e g r e a t e s t i nhe ren t a r t i c u l a t o r y energy

and t h e l a r g e s t percentage of pe rce ivab le

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n )

Voiced consonants

Nasals ( t h e l e a s t i nhe ren t a r t i c u l a t o r y energy

and t h e sma l l e s t percentage of perce ivqble

A. Malgcot (1955) has shown t h a t :

81 ... d e t a i l e d c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s of consonants a s t o t h e i r f o r c e of a r t i c u l a t i o n p l aces t h e n a s a l s and l i q u i d s a t t h e extreme l e n i s end of t h e s c a l e , a f t e r t h e s t o p s and f r i c a t i v e s . "

(P* 36)

7 4

It has been noted ( see p . 62) t h a t t h e r e i s very l i t t l e

evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n s f t h e n a s a l I n / . The l a c k of any aud ib l e

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of t h e l i q u i d /I/, t h e d e n t a l consonant w i t h t h e

lowest i n h e r e n t a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e , t hen conforms t o t h i s p a t t e r n .

Fac to r s con t r ibu t ing t o t h e weakening of /I/

Not only does t h e /1/ not p a l a t a l i s e , bu t i t a l s o weakens,

o r d i sappea r s i n some cases . A s i t h a s a l r e a d y been noted t h a t

t h e weakening of @ coinc ides w i t h f a s t speech (p. 3 2 ) , i t would

seem p laus ib l e . t h a t t h e r a t e of speech may a l s o be a f a c t o r i n t he

weakening of 111. To examine t h i s , rhythmic groups conta in ing t h e

sequence / l j / were i s o l a t e d , timed and t h e r a t e of speech i n phonemes

per second ca l cu la t ed . The r e s u l t s a r e noted below:

[j-1 [ ' j l [ Ijl

15.86 20.25

14.06 17.07

20.00 20.41

17.09 18.61

17.05 17.24

23.64 20.00

20.21 17.04

12.60 27.50

18.26 20.00

(average r a t e of speech f o r examples i n which t h e r e

i s evidence of t h e weakening of yod i s 23.15 phonemes

per second)

A comparison of t h e r a p i d i t y of speech i n which /I/ is

weakened w i t h t h a t i n which 111 i s f u l l y r e a l i s e d phone t i ca l ly

i n d i c a t e s t h a t t h e r e i s no r e l a t i o n s h i p between t h e weakening of /1/

and t h e r a t e of speech. There must, t h e r e f o r e , be some o t h e r

explana t ion f o r t h i s phenomenon.

S y l l a b i f i c a t i o n of [ I j ]

I n t h e speech of informants f o r whom t h e r e a r e examples of / l j /

I r e a l i s e d a s j ] o r [ j] t h e r e i s a l s o evidence of an u n r e a l i s e d o r

p a r t i a l l y r e a l i s e d /I/ i n o t h e r phonet ic environments:

e.g. [ ' I 6 talement I [ e t a mB1

f aci lement I

[ f a s i mB]

fl quelque [ keka]

g a r exemple [ pa ~ € g z B p 1

m u l t i p l e s [my1 t i PI

ind ispensable [Ed i spBsab]

The tendency f o r a s y l l a b l e - f i n a l /I/ t o be e l imina ted i n

modern French ( a s i s t h e c a s e i n t h e above examples) has a l r e a d y

been documented (H. Bauche, 1928; H. F r e i , 1929; A. Mar t ine t &

H. Walter , 1974, who c i t e , f o r example, quelques-uns [ kekzE]) . ,

For some informants , then , t h e l a t e r a l i n t h e sequence / l j /

behaves a s though i t i s i n s y l l a b l e - f i n a l p o s i t i o n and n o t s y l l a b l e -

i n i t i a l a s i s gene ra l ly accepted. L. Warnant, 1970, f o r example,

g ives t h e s y l l a b i f i c a t i o n of 'mil l ion and amgl iora t ion a s m i - l j 3

and a-me-l ja-~a-sj3. However, i t appears t h a t , f o r a t least ' some

7 6

informants , a s y l l a b l e boundary occurs between t h e l a t e r a l and t h e

g l i d e when t h e sequence / l j / i s post-vocal ic i n words l i k e m i l l i o n ,

favor ing t h e weakening of t h e l a t e r a l . While not a l l l a t e r a l s

weaken when t h e sequence / l j / i s post-vocal ic , i t i s t r u e t h a t when

/ l j / i s preceded by a consonant t h e r e i s no evidence of t h i s

weakening. That i s , where i t i s l i k e l y t h a t the s y l l a b l e boundary

precedes [ I ] , placing the sequence [ l j ] i n s y l l a b l e - i n i t i a l pos i t ion ,

t h e [ I ] c o n s i s t e n t l y remains i n t a c t :

e . g . p a r l i e z [ p a ~ l j e ]

come l i e n [ kaml j E ]

I avoi r l i e u [ a v w a ~ l j$], compared with a eu l i e u [ a y j#]

A consonant p lus - yod forms an acceptable s y l l a b l e - i n i t i a l

sequence i n French and occurs i n word- in i t i a l ( therefore s y l l a b l e -

i n i t i a l ) p o s i t i o n i n words such a s p i e d , t i e n s , kiosque, b i e n , Dieu,

f i 'evre, vieux, sc ience , --- n i s c e , l i o r i , r i e n , e t c . However, i n modern

French t h e r e i s evidence of a tendency t o sepa ra te a l i q u i d and yod

i n t h i s p o s i t i o n . While sc ience , p i e d , e t c . have only one acceptable

(monosyllabic) pronunciat ion, words l i k e r i e r , r i o n s , and l i e r , l i o n s

d i s s y l l a b i c - [ ~ i je], [ ~ i j3], [ I i je], [ I i js"]. (M.H. Gertner , 1972;

C. Lyche, 1979). Whether t h e monosyllabic forms a r e der ived by a

g l i d i n g r u l e (C. Lyche, 1979, p.321) o r by a high-vowel e l i s i o n

r u l e (D. Gaatone, 1976, p . 325) is no t r e l evan t t o t h i s d i scuss ion .

The f a c t is t h a t t h e two pronuncia t ions a r e poss ib le i f t h e segment

preceding t h e g l i d e i s a l i q u i d , b u t n o t i f i t i s an o b s t r u e n t , a s

t h e ve rb forms s c i e r , s c i o n s appear t o have only one accep tab le

pronunciat ion- monosyllabic [ s je] and [ sJ3 1.

I n a d d i t i o n , d i e r e s i s , t h e d i s s o c i a t i o n of a diphthong i n t o

two v o c a l i c e lements , a process which can r e s u l t i n t h e e l imina t ion

of a s y l l a b l e - i n i t i a l Consonant-Glide sequence, occurs more f r equen t ly

i f t h e g l i d e fo l lows a l i q u i d :

11 It i s a l r eady c l e a r t h a t t h e phonet ic environment t o a c e r t a i n e x t e n t cond i t i ons t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of having d i e r e s i s . D i e r e s i s i s more l i k e l y t o occur i f t h e preceding consonant i s - r o r t o a l e s s e r degree 1: J e r i a i s 'I laughed ' , j e d g l i a i s 'I u n t i e d '7'

(C. Lyche, 1979, p.. 320)

It appears t h a t , whi le Consonant + Glide is an accep tab le

s y l l a b l e - i n i t i a l sequence, t h e conca tena t ion of a l i q u i d and a

g l i d e i s somehow l e s s accep tab le than o t h e r Consonant-Glide

combinations.

The weakening of t h e /I/ i n t h i s d a t a , then , could r e s u l t from

a r e a n a l y s i s of t h e phonet ic s y l l a b l e and t h e i n s e r t i o n of a

s y l l a b l e boundary between t h e l a t e r a l and t h e g l i d e .

Open s y l l a b l e s a r e more f r equen t i n French than c losed .

s y l l a b l e s . P. D e l a t t r e (1951) s t a t e s t h a t " l a s y l l a b a t i o n ouve r t e

e s t un des c a r a c t s r e s dominants du phongtisme f r a n ~ a i s . " (p. 19)

This r e a n a l y s i s , which c r e a t e s a c losed s y l l a b l e ( e .g . [ m i I $ j5]) ,

then appears t o b e an anomaly. However, t h e evidence h e r e i n d i c a t e s

t h a t t h i s s y l l a b l e - f i n a l [ I ] i s then weakened o r un rea l i s ed . The

s y l l a b l e s of t h e phonet ic sequence which r e s u l t s a r e not only open,

b u t of t h e form $CV$, t h e favored s y l l a b l e s t r u c t u r e ( i . e . [ m i $ j J ] ) .

4 . COMPARISON OF CONTEMPORARY PRONUNCIATION

AND HISTORICAL CHANGES

I f , as E.F. Haden (1938) s t a t e s , t h e p h y s i o l o g i c a l phenomena

of modern pronuncia t ion r e f l e c t a r t i c u l a t o r y t endenc ie s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c

of t h e e v o l u t i o n of t h e language, then t h e preceding a n a l y s i s of

contemporary d a t a may have some explana tory va lue f o r h i s t o r i c a l

f a c t s . I n t h i s s e c t i o n , then , t h e contemporary r e a l i s a t i o n s of t h e

sequence d e n t a l consonant p l u s & a r e compared w i t h p a s t a t tempts t o

account f o r t h e evolu t ion of t h e s e same sequences from L a t i n t o

modern French.

The d e n t a l consonants considered h e r e a l s o e x i s t e d i n L a t i n , wi th

t h e excep t ion of /z / (F. Brunot, 1966, p . 62; E. & J. Bourc iez , 1967,

p. 120) . A f t e r t h e reduct ion of h i a t u s , which i s thought t o have been

completed by t h e end of t h e Republican pe r iod , i n t h e f i r s t cen tury

B.C. (accord ing t o H. Bonnard, 1975, p . 1 2 ) , t h e f i v e d e n t a l

consonants occurred be fo re yod:

e.g. f o r t i a > f o r t j a

w

diurnu > d ju rnu

nausza > n a u s j a

vinga > v i n j a

f i l r a > f i l j a

4 .1 Occlusives

I n contemporary French, bo th v o i c e l e s s and voiced occ lus ives a r e

undergoing s i m i l a r changes. That i s , both show a tendency t o a s s i b i l a t e ,

a s [t2] and [$ ] r e s p e c t i v e l y , a l though t h i s i s more f requent wi th

/ t / than wi th / d l . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e r e i s evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n

of t h e s i b i l a n t r e l e a s e , t h e a • ’ f r i c a t e be ing r e a l i s e d a s [ t J 1 o r [d?], 0 0

again more f requent wi th t h e v o i c e l e s s consonant than wi th t h e voiced.

Both t h e a s s i b i l a t i o n and t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , a s w e l l a s t h e d i f f e r e n c e

i n t h e frequency of t h e s e p roces ses can be d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d t o

a r t i c u l a t o r y energy.

H i s t o r i c a l l y , t h e v o i c e l e s s and voiced occ lus ives underwent very

d i f f e r e n t evo lu t ions . The sequence -tj- r e s u l t e d i n [ s ] i n modern

.)

French ( f o r t i a > f o r c e ) , except i n i n t e r v o c a l i c p o s i t i o n , where i t

r e s u l t e d i n [ z ] ( r a t i o n e > r a i s o n ) . The s t a g e s of t h i s evo lu t ion

t h a t have been proposed (e.g. P. Fouchg, 1966, pp. 908-910, 912, 922;

E. & J. Bourciez, 1967, p. 155; H. Bonnard, 1975, p. 38) a r e :

t j - L j -3 .u %(intervocal ic) - dzJ r/

- cz - z

pos tconsonanta l ) - - t s j - ts - s w u

I n t h i s corpus, t h e r e 'are examples of / t j / r e a l i s e d a s [ t . j I ,

[ t s j 1 and [ ~ J J 1, t h i s l a s t r e a l i s a t i o n occurr ing on ly a f t e r [s] . A s 4 .d

evidence from palatograms i n d i c a t e s t h e co-occurrence of t h e a s s i b i l a t i o n

of / t / and a t l e a s t some p a l a t a l i s a t i o n ( see p . 6 1 ) , what i s perceived

a s an a f f r i c a t e , [ y, i n contemporary French is i n f a c t comparable

t o t h e proposed h i s t o r i c a l s t a g e -ts-. I f t h e phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s - 4

found i n modern French a r e r ep re sen ted schemat i ca l ly , i n d i c a t i n g

degrees of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , t h e r e s u l t is:

- t i e n s , mo i t i6 , q u a r t i e r ) - t s j (e .g. v

t' <- t J j (only a f t e r [ s ] , e .$. ques t ion , ges t ion ) .J

The c u r r e n t r e a l i s a t i o n s correspond t o t h e e a r l y h i s t o r i c a l

changes, up t o t h e po in t where t h e preceding segment (vowel o r

consonant) became a f a c t o r i n t h e evo lu t ion of t h e a f f r i c a t e .

H i s t o r i c a l l y , t h e changes a f t e r t h i s po in t co inc ide wi th a per iod .

cha rac t e r i s ed by a genera l weakness of a r t i c u l a t i o n (approximately

t h e f o u r t h t o t h e twe l f th cen tu ry , according t o G. S t r aka , 1964,

p . 77), dur ing which v o i c e l e s s consonants i n i n t e r v o c a l i c p o s i t i o n

weakened and voiced , and both a f f r i c a t e s -ts- and -dz- underwent no - - " u

f u r t h e r p a l a t a l i s a t i o n . When t h e - yod weakened and became phone t i ca l ly

u n r e a l i s e d , t h e p a l a t a l environment was no longer and t h e

a f f r i c a t e s were f ron ted , then l a t e r reduced t o -s- and -2-.

I n modern French, however, t h e r e appears t o be no d e c l i n e i n

a r t i c u l a t o r y energy. S t r aka (1963) s t a t e s t h a t "en f r a n s a i s ... l ' e f f o r t

du mouvement a r t i c u l a t o i r e , a u s s i b i e n voca l ique que consonantique,

e s t . . .consid6rable ." (p. 63) I n a d d i t i o n , t h e r e i s no evidence of

a weakening of [ ts 1 ( e i t h e r by vo ic ing o r by r educ t ion t o [ r 1) and

t h e fo l lowing - yod remains i n t a c t . On t h e o t h e r hand, t h e r e i s some

evidence of f u r t h e r p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of t h e a f f r i c a t e , which is

sometimes r e a l i s e d a s [ t J ] when t h e preceding segment is [ s ] . While J -

t he h i s t o r i c a l changes, t hen , co inc ide wi th a per iod of s t r e n g t h of

a r t i c u l a t i o n followed by one of weakness of a r t i c u l a t i o n (during

which t h e p a l a t a l environment was l o s t ) , t h e phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s

observed i n contemporary French r e f l e c t t he maintenance of

cons iderable a r t i c u l a t o r y energy and t h e cont inuing presence of t h e

p a l a t a l g l i d e .

While i n contemporary French t h e voiced occ lus ive undergoes

a s s i b i l a t i o n and p a l a t a l i s a t i o n s i m i l a r t o t h e v o i c e l e s s , t h e La t in

sequence -dj- evolved q u i t e - d i f f e r e n t l y from -tj-. I n word - in i t i a l

p o s i t i o n o r a f t e r a consonant o t h e r than -n- i t r e s u l t e d i n modern

French [3] (diurnu > j ou r ; hordzu > orge ) . I n i n t e r v o c a l i c p o s i t i o n

o r a f t e r -n-, t h e -d- d i sappeared , leav ing only yod, which combined

a, .4

with t h e preceding segment (gaudia > j o i e ; Burgundia > Bourgogne).

he s t a g e s t h a t have been proposed t o account f o r t h i s evo lu t ion

(e.g. M.K. Pope, 1952, p. 261; E. & J. Bourciez, 1967, p. 156) a r e

a s fo l lows:

( I n i t i a l o r a f t e r a consonant

o t h e r than -n-)

( I n t e r v o c a l i c o r a f t e r -n-) ,: d j - j

The d i f f e r e n c e s between t h e evo lu t ion of -dj- and t h a t of -tj-

a r e t hen accounted f o r by t h e fol lowing:

(1) A t an e a r l y s t a g e no -dj- sequences remained a f t e r a

vowel o r -n-, wh i l e -tj- s t i l l e x i s t e d i n t h i s pos i t i on .

(2) The a f f r i c a t e -d3- r e s u l t e d from t h e conson i f i ca t ion of u

yod, no t t h e a s s i b i l a t i o n of t h e o c c l u s i v e , a s was t h e

c a s e wi th -tsj- ( c t j ) . v

I n a d d i t i o n , whi le -dj- was no t uncommon i n word - in i t i a l

p o s i t i o n i n L a t i n , i t appears t h a t -tj- was. I n C. Lewis & C. Shor t /

J

(1962) i n i t i a l -t- followed by -i- o r -;- i n h i a t u s occurs i n only

t h r e e words. One is t h e name of a town ( T ~ u s ) , ano the r a Greek loan _

word ( t l a r a ) and the t h i r d a d e r i v a t i v e of t r a r a ( t i a r a t u s ) , of which

only one example has been found, none of t h e s e words being t h e etymon

of a modern French word.

a n a l y s i s of t h e h i s t o r i c a l d a t a poses t h r e e problems:

Why d id t h e voiced occ lus ive d isappear a f t e r a vowel o r

-n- whi le t h e v o i c e l e s s remained i n t a c t ?

Why d i d -d- d i sappea r a f t e r only one consonant, -n-, b u t

remain a f t e r o t h e r s , inc luding t h e d e n t a l -r-?

Why was i t t h e g l i d e t h a t was a f f e c t e d i n t h e remaining

-dj- sequences, bu t t h e occ lus ive i n t h e sequence - t j -?

While i t is usua l ly s t a t e d t h a t t h e -d- remained a f t e r consonants

o t h e r t h a n -n- (E. & J. Bourciez, 1967, p.156, f o r example), manuals

of h i s t o r i c a l phonet ics g i v e examples of pos tconsonanta l -dj- a f t e r

-n- and -r- a lone , and none a f t e r o the r consonants. Thus, i n e f f e c t ,

t h e -d- was l o s t a f t e r -n- b u t r e t a ined a f t e r -r-.

A comparison of t h e evo lu t ion of t h e sequence -dj- t o t h a t of

-j- revea l s t h e f a c t t h a t , i n a l l p o s i t i o n s , t h e same sound r e s u l t s

i n modern French:

L a t i n -dj-

I n i t i a l : d j + 3 d iu rnu * j ou r [ ~ u R ]

(in)d&usque '> jusqu12 [3uska ]

In te rvoca l i c : d j -+ @ badiu b a i [ b e ]

" gaudia > j o i e [ p a 1

After -n-: n d j +JI ~ u r ~ u n d i a Bourgogne [ buagsP]

U

verecundia > vergogne [ v E R ~ ~ ~ ]

A f t e r - r - : d j + 3 hordE?u > orge [ 3 ~ 3 1

v i r ( i ) d i a r u > verger [ v e q e 1

L a t i n -j-

I n i t i a l : j + 3 jungere > j o indre [ 3 w g d ~ a ]

j a c e t > g i t t-31 1

In te rvoca l i c : j -+ @ ma j o r > maire [ ~ E R ]

r a j a > r a i e [ R E ]

After -n-: n j -+ P v i n e a vigne [ v i ~ l

montanea > montagne [m3t ~ J I ]

After -r-: j - ' 3 c e r e u ' > c i e r g e [ S ~ E R ~ ]

b u r r i o n e > bourgeon [ b u ~ 3 3 ]

There are, i n f a c t , two d i f f e r e n t e v o l u t i o n s a t t e s t e d f o r t h e

e

L a t i n sequence -rj-. I n some cases t h e yod was dropped (e.g. a r e a >

U

a i r e ; c o r i u c u i r ) wh i l e i n o t h e r s ( see above) i t w a s consoni f ied ,

producing t h e p r e p a l a t a l [3]. P. FouchG (1966) c i t e s Old French

chamoire and chamorge, bo th r e s u l t i n g from t h e e v o l u t i o n of L a t i n

*carnoria (p. 936). While FouchG, E. & J. Bourciez (1967) and

H. Bonnard (1975) a l l mention both p o s s i b l e e v o l u t i o n s , no explana t ion

of why t h i s occurred i s o f f e r e d . everth he less, what i s important h e r e

i s t h a t , a t l e a s t i n some cases , a p a l a t a l g l i d e fo l lowing L a t i n -r-

r e s u l t e d i n modern French [3].

The s i m i l a r i t i e s i n t h e evo lu t ion of L a t i n -dj- and -j- could

i n d i c a t e t h a t a t an e a r l y s t a g e -dj-, i n a l l p o s i t i o n s , was reduced

t o -j-. This a n a l y s i s would e l i m i n a t e problems (B) and (C) noted

e a r l i e r (p. 8 3 ) , t h e only remaining ques t ion be ing why t h i s occurred

wi th only t h e voiced o c c l u s i v e -d- and no t t h e v o i c e l e s s -t-.

The same phenomenon seems t o have occurred w i t h -k- and -g-,

t h e only o the r p a i r of L a t i n l i n g u a l o c c l u s i v e s . Below i s a

comparison of -kj- and -gj- i n i n i t i a l , i n t e r v o c a l i c and postconson-

a n t a l pos i t i ons :

L a t i n -kj-

I n i t i a l : (no examples)

I n t e r v o c a l i c : k j + s f a c i a > f a c e [ f a s l u

p e l l i c i a > p e l i s s e [pal i s ]

.a

Postconsonantal : k j -( s Franc ia > France [ f ~ g s ]

a rc ione > a r son [ a ~ s 3 1

L a t i n -gj-

I n i t i a l : g j -+ 3 E o r g i u s > Georges [ P R ~ ]

.0

Postconsonantal : g j -r 3 G e o r e u s > . Georges [ 3 3 ~ 3 ]

Again, t h e evo lu t ion of t h e sequence voiced occ lus ive p l u s -&

p a r a l l e l s t h a t of yod a lone , whereas t h e sequence of v o i c e l e s s

occ lus ive p l u s yod - does n o t . I f , a t a very e a r l y s t a g e , t h e voiced

l i n g u a l occ lus ives weakened and were l o s t b e f o r e - yod, then a t t h e

time when -tj- and -kj- were p a l a t a l i s e d and a f f r i c a t e d , t h e r e would

have been no remaining voiced sequences -dj- o r -gj-. What remained

of t h e s e would have been only p a l a t a l -j- which, when conson i f i ed ,

became [3] . No comparison of t h e evo lu t ion of -tj- and -dj- o r of

-kj- and -gj- could then b e contemplated.

This i s , i n f a c t , similar t o t h e ana lyses o f f e red by H. Bonnard

(1975, p. 38) and G. S t r a k a (1964, p . 41 ) , who sugges t t ha t . -d - and

-g- f i r s t a s s imi l a t ed t o &, c r e a t i n g t h e geminate -jj- which then

consonif ied t o -d-, - t hen -d3-, o r was s i m p l i f i e d t o -j- i n i n t e r -

v o c a l i c pos i t i on . A . Maniet (1964), however, c laims t h a t n o t o n l y

i n t e r v o c a l i c a l l y b u t a l s o i n i n i t i a l p o s i t i o n t h e group -dj- w a s

s i m p l i f i e d t o -j- a t a very e a r l y d a t e , c i t i n g t h e s p e l l i n g I o u i s

f o r Diouis i n Varro , De Lingua La t ina 5, 66 (p . 179) . While t h e r e i s no d i r e c t evidence t o show t h a t i n a l l p o s i t i o n s

voiced l i n g u a l occ lus ives were dropped b e f o r e yod whi le t h e i r - .

v o i c e l e s s homologues were r e t a i n e d , t h i s a n a l y s i s w i l l s a t i s f a c t o r i l y

account f o r t h e modern French forms and a t t h e same time exp la in t h e

very d i f f e r e n t evolu t ions of L a t i n -kj- and -gj-, -tj- and -dj- t o

modern French..

I n contemporary French, both / d j / and / t j / e x i s t i n similar

p o s i t i o n s ( i . e . i n i t i a l l y : t i e n s , d i e u , and media l ly : mg t i e r , mgdium) -- and i t has been seen t h a t t h e p a l a t a l i s i n g in f luence of tlie g l i d e

a f f e c t s bo th voiced and v o i c e l e s s o c c l u s i v e s i n a s i m i l a r manner.

The contemporary phonet ic man i f e s t a t ions of bo th sequences p a r a l l e l

t h e e a r l y s t a g e s of t h e h i s t o r i c a l e v o l u t i o n of -tj- dur ing a

period of increased a r t i c u l a t o r y energy, and i n some cases show even

more p a l a t a l i s a t i o n than is h i s t o r i c a l l y a t t e s t e d .

4.2 F r i c a t i v e s

The evo lu t ion of L a t i n -sj- and -ssj.- r e s u l t e d i n [ z ] and [ s ]

r e s p e c t i v e l y i n modern French:

e.g. s j + z nausga > n o i s e [ nwaz]

b a s l a r e > b a i s e r [beze l

J

ssj -' s S (u)ess iones > Soissons [ swas51

V messlone > moisson Emwas51

It i s gene ra l ly accepted (M.K. Pope, 1952; P. Fouch6, 1966;

E. & J. Bourciez, 1967; H. Bonnard, 1975) t h a t i n t h e e a r l y s t a g e s

t h e f r i c a t i v e was p a l a t a l i s e d . L a t e r , when t h e yod was l o s t , t h e -

a r t i c u l a t i o n of -s- and -2- was f ron ted and they became d e n t a l s . - -

The proposed s t a g e s of t h e evo lu t ion a r e t hus :

s j - zj-z-J-z

ssj - ssj - sj - s - -

The phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s of /sj/ and / z j / observed i n t h i s

corpus a r e a s fol lows:

s j - sj - jj

z j - z j - 3j* (*one example only)

Some of t h e contemporary r e a l i s a t i o n s correspond t o t h e e a r l y

s t a g e s of t h e h i s t o r i c a l evo lu t ion , wh i l e [ f j ] and [3j] show a

g r e a t e r degree of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n than i s h i s t o r i c a l l y a t t e s t e d . I n

t h e evo lu t ion from L a t i n t o French, a f t e r t h e s t a g e of -g- and -ssj- -

t h e changes which occurred ( s o n o r i s a t i o n , s i m p l i f i c a t i o n of geminates

and l o s s of yod) correspond t o a per iod c h a r a c t e r i s e d by a r t i c u l a t o r y

weakness (G. S t r aka , 1964). The ~ a l a t a l i s a t i o n appears t o have been

h a l t e d a t t h e s t a g e 2, z; wi th t h e subsequent l o s s of t he p a l a t a l

environment, t h e f r i c a t i v e s r eve r t ed t o a d e n t a l a r t i c u l a t i o n . I n

contemporary French, however, t h e f r i c a t i v e s i n t h e sequences / s j /

and / z j / , pronounced e n e r g e t i c a l l y , a r e sometimes s u f f i c i e n t l y

p a l a t a l i s e d t o be perceived a s [ J ] and 131, r e f l e c t i n g t h e maintenance

of t h e p a l a t a l environment.

4 . 3 Nasal

H i s t o r i c a l l y , t h e evo lu t ion of L a t i n -nj- r e s u l t e d i n ' t h e p a l a t a l

n a s a l [JI 1 i n modern French:

e.g. vinGa > vigne [ v i d

montanga montagne [mst a p ]

r s e n l o r e > se igneur [SEW]

The s t a g e s of t h e evo lu t ion proposed by P. Fouchg (1966, pp. 908, 915,

919) are:

I n t h e p a l a t a l environment t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of -n- became-f i r s t alveo-

p a l a t a l ( i . e . [ - n]) then p a l a t a l ( i . e . [ p]) . Af te r t h e l o s s of t h e !

$allowing - yod t h e n a s a l r e t a i n e d i t s p h l a t a l a r t i c u l a t i o n . This

sugges ts t h a t , preceding yod, t h e n a s a l was p a l a t a l i s e d t o a g r e a t e r

degree than were t h e f r i c a t i v e s -s- and -2- and t h e a f f r i c a t e s -5s-

and -52- r e s u l t i n g from t h e a s s i b i l a t i o n of occ lus ives .

G . S t r a k a (1964) c la ims t h a t "les p a l a t a l i s a t i o n s consonant iques

... sont . . .des changements condi t ionnges par l a f o r c e a r t i c u l a t o i r e . "

(p. 73) Evidence from contemporary d a t a has shown t h a t t h e degree

of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n appears t o be d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d t o t h e i n h e r e n t

f o r c e of a consonant. S ince [ n ] r e q u i r e s l e s s a r t i c u l a t o r y energy

than o c c l u s i v e s o r f r i c a t i v e s (A. Mal6cot, 1955, p. 36) , Fouchg's

account of t h e e v o l u t i o n of - s - , -2-, -t_s-, -dz- on one hand and V

-n- on t h e o t h e r c o n s t i t u t e s an anomaly. /

E. & J. Bourciez (1967), however, s t a t e t h a t "dans l e groupe

3 l e s deux GlGments s e s o n t combings, e t il en rGsul te l e . s o n YJ

(n moui l l6 , . .) " (p. 196, where -J- r e p r e s e n t s - yod) This c la im is

supported by t h e a n a l y s i s of contemporary d a t a . I n t h i s corpus only

[ n j ] and [JI], and no t [ p j ] a r e found a s phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s of / n j / ,

sugges t ing t h a t t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n [ p ] r e s u l t s from t h e combination

of t h e n a s a l and t h e g l i d e , r a t h e r t han from t h e p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of

t h e n a s a l . J-D. Gendron (1966) observes t h e pronuncia t ion [ ~ j 1,

i n d i c a t i n g t h a t i n t h e p a l a t a l environment t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e

n a s a l i s sometimes r e t r a c t e d ; however, h e a l s o observes t h a t . / n j / can

b e r e a l i s e d a s [ p ] b u t n o t [ p j ] .

Applying t h e f i n d i n g s of contemporary ana lyses t o t h e h i s t o r i c a l I

d a t a , t hen , suppor t s t h e c la im made by E. & J. Bourciez (1967) t h a t

[ p ] r e s u l t e d from t h e combination of -n- and -j-, thereby e l i m i n a t i n g

' the problem of t h e g r e a t e r p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of -n- than of d e n t a l

occ lus ives and f r i c a t i v e s impl ied by Fouchg's a n a l y s i s .

4.4 L a t e r a l

The L a t i n sequence -1j- has been reduced t o [ j ] i n modern

French :

e.g. fil:a > ' f i l l e [ f i j ]

pa lga > p a i l l e [ p a j ] ..I

s o l i u > s e u i l [scej]

However, i t is gene ra l ly accepted (P. Fouch6, 1966; E. & J.

Bourciez, 1967, e t c . ) t h a t t h i s does n o t ' r e s u l t from simply t h e l o s s

of -I-. Rather , t he evo lu t ion i s thought t o have proceeded through

t h e s t a g e of a p a l a t a l l a t e r a l , which l a t e r was reduced t o [j].

The - yod t h a t remains, then , i s n o t t h e o r i g i n a l -j-, b u t t h e r e s u l t

o f t h e s i m p l i f i c a t i o n of [ A ] .

1-j - A j - A - j Thus, a l though t h e modern p ronunc ia t ion of m i l l i o n a s [ m i j5] appears

4

s i m i l a r t o t h e h i s t o r i c a l change of f i l i a t o f i l l e , t h e a n a l y s i s

p rev ious ly suggested f o r t h e weakening of /I/ i n contemporary

French does no t correspond t o t h e accepted evo lu t ion of t h e sequence

-1j- i n f i l i a .

Seve ra l problems, however, a r i s e from t h e t r a d i t i o n a l a n a l y s i s

of L a t i n -1j-:

(1) Why d i d t h e l a t e r a l r e t a i n i t s p a l a t a l p ronuncia t ion whi le

o t h e r p a l a t a l i s e d d e n t a l consonants r eve r t ed t o a d e n t a l

a r t i c u l a t i o n (P. Fouch6, 1966, p. 917)?

(2) Why was p a l a t a l [ A ] reduced t o a g l i d e wh i l e [ p ] remained

a p a l a t a l consonant?

(3 ) I n some cases t h e vowel preceding L a t i n -1j- evolved a s i t

would i n an open s y l l a b l e , b u t i n o t h e r s t h e e v o l u t i o n

sugges t s t h a t t h e s y l l a b l e was c losed .

A s a n example of t h i s t h i r d problem, t o n i c -5- diphthongized

i n open s y l l a b l e s (n&u > neuf) b u t no t i n c losed s y l l a b l e s (mgrte.

mort) (E. & J. Bourciez, 1967, p . 83-85). .Preceding -1j-, t o n i c -6-

diphthongized ( s 6 l i u > s e u i l ) ( I b i d . , p. 86) i n d i c a t i n g t h a t t h e

s y l l a b l e was open.

On t h e o t h e r hand, tonic -a- b e f o r e -1j- remained i n t a c t (pa l ea >

p a i l l e ) ( I b i d . , p. 6 l ) , a s i t d i d i n c losed s y l l a b l e s (vacca > vache)

( I b i d . , p. 57). I n open s y l l a b l e s , accented -a- i n L a t i n r e s u l t e d

i n [ E ] i n modern French (sapa > s s v e ) ( Ib id . , p. 55) . S i m i l a r l y ,

V

i n i t i a l -e- (4- o r -e-), which evolved t o [ a ] i n open s y l l a b l e s

( f e n e s t r a > f e n g t r e ) b u t [&I i n c losed s y l l a b l e s (mercede > merci )

( Ib id . , p . 107) r e s u l t e d i n modern French [&I be fo re t h e sequence

-1j- (meliore > mei l l eu r ) ( I b i d . , p . 110) . E. & J. Bourciez (1967) t r e a t t h i s problem by cons ide r ing t h e

evo lu t ion of each vowel s e p a r a t e l y :

11 Lorsque l'q accentud est s u i v i d 'un yod q u i s e - -

combine avec un - 1 pour l e m o u i l l e r (groupes 9, s, &I, l a

diphthongaison a normalement j ou6. "

(P. 86)

11 Lorsque l ' a - accentu6 est s u i v i e d'un yod q u i se combine

avec une a u t r e consonne (groupes z, ou 2, z...)..., il en r s s u l t e

une en t r ave devant l a q u e l l e a reste i n t a c t . .." . - (P* 61)

If Lorsque l ' e - i n i t i a l e s t devant - 1 ou n m o u i l l 6 s par un - yod,

1 ou 9 ( 6 c r i t s ill, ign ) f o m e n t en t r ave . . . I1

Y

(P* 110)

P . Fouch6 (1966), on t h e o t h e r hand., p o s i t s t h e development of

an a n t i c i p a t o r y &, which s e r v e s t o c l o s e t h e preceding s y l l a b l e :

I' . . . l e groupe &j, par exemple, e s t devenu j3j . I1 (p. 916)

However, t h e r e s y l l a b i f i c a t i o n of t h e sequence /I j / suggested

f o r t h e contemporary d a t a can a l s o b e appl ied t o t h e h i s t o r i c a l

d a t a and y i e l d t h e c o r r e c t modern forms. I f -1- and -j- were

separa ted by a s y l l a b l e boundary i n words such as t h e fo l lowing , t h e

preceding s y l l a b l e would be c l o s e d , prevent ing:

a ) t h e "supposed French d iphthongiza t ion" of t o n i c -a-

(H. Bonnard , 1975, p . 1 5 ) , which r e s u l t e d i n modern French [ & ] (mare >

mer) :

e.g. pa lga > p a i l l e [ p a j ]

muralga > m u r a i l l e [ m y ~ a j ]

a 1 ?u a i l I [ a j I

m e d ( i ) a l i a > m a i l l e [ma j 1

The d e r i v a t i o n of p a i l l e , f o r example, would then be as fo l lows:

p a $ l j a > p a l $ j a > pa$ j ($1 > p a j

b) t h e r educ t ion of i n i t i a l -e- t o [ a ] (ven i r e > v e n i r ) :

e .g. me l io re > mei l l eu r [mejce~]

.I

c ) t h e d iphthongiza t ion of t o n i c -:- ( < i , e ) which r e s u l t e d

i n modern French [wa](pilu > p o i l e ) :

J

e.g. consi l ium > c o n s e i l [ k3se j ]

Words i n which -1j- is preceded by i n i t i a l -a- ( t a l i a r e *

t a i l l e r ) o r i n i t i a l o r t o n i c -i- ( f i l i a > f i l l e ) o f f e r no evidence

e i t h e r f o r o r aga ins t t h i s a n a l y s i s , f o r t h e s y l l a b i f i c a t i o n does

not a f f e c t t h e evolu t ion of t h e s e vowels (E. & J. Bourciez, 1967,

pp. 102, 111, 81).

V

However, a preceding -;- o r -e- was diphthongized, i n d i c a t i n g

t h a t -1- was not s y l l a b l e - f i n a l a t t h e t ime of t h e Panroman

d iphthongiza t ion t h a t a f f e c t e d t h e s e open vowels (msla > meule;

pGde > p ied ) :

e.g. f ; l L > f e u i l l e [ foej 1

s a i u > s e u i l [scej ]

d g l h > d e u i l [dcej]

This d iphthongiza t ion was t h e f i r s t t o a f f e c t t h e vowels, t h a t

of c losed vowels -$- and -0- and of t o n i c -a- no t occu r r ing u n t i l a t

l e a s t two c e n t u r i e s l a t e r , a s i s a l s o t h e case wi th t h e r educ t ion of

i n i t i a l -e-TO [ a ] (H, Bonnard, 1975, p. 1 5 ) . I f t h e s y l l a b i • ’ i c a t i o n . -

of -1j- had changed, a s it appea r s t o b e doing now, from $15 t o 3,

some t i m e a f t e r t he Panroman d iph thong iza t ion and be fo re t h e o the r

v o c a l i c changes d iscussed , t h e e v o l u t i o n of a l l forms c i t e d can be

accounted f o r .

Although i t appears t h a t even i n La t in t h i s -1- was p a l a t a l :

"There were two d i s t i n c t v a r i e t i e s of 1: (1) P a l a t a l 1,. . . made wi th t h e t i p of t h e tongue touching t h e t e e t h o r t h e f r o n t p a r t of t h e p a l a t e : i t was sounded when 1 was i n i t i a l o r doubled o r be fo re a p a l a t a l vowel - ( e i y. ..) ---

(R.G. Kent, 1932, p . 59)

whether t h i s s y l l a b l e - f i n a l -1- were p a l a t a l i s e d o r no t would

have no e f f e c t on i t s fur th 'er e v o l u t i o n . The yod remaining i n

modem French would be a r e s u l t , t hen , no t of t h e l o s s of L a t i n - yod

and subsequent weakening of t h e l a t e r a l t o a g l i d e , b u t r a t h e r of t h e

l o s s of -1- i n s y l l a b l e - f i n a l (weak) p o s i t i o n and t h e r e t e n t i o n of

s y l l a b l e - i n i t i a l - yod.

Th i s a n a l y s i s e l imina te s t h e t h r e e problems a s s o c i a t e d wi th t h e

t r a d i t i o n a l t reatment of L a t i n -1j- a s :

(1) The ques t ion of why t h e l o s s of a fol lowing - yod a f f e c t e d

t h e a r t i c u l a t i o n of o the r p a l a t a l i s e d d e n t a l consonants b u t n o t t h a t

of t h e l a t e r a l no longer e x i s t s , f o r t h e g l i d e would no t be l o s t I

a f t e r -I-, a s i t was i n s y l l a b l e - i n i t i a l ( s t rong) p o s i t i o n .

(2) The reduct ion of t h e p a l a t a l l a t e r a l cannot b e con t r a s t ed

wi th t h e r e t e n t i o n of t h e p a l a t a l ' n a s a l , a s t h e l a t e r a l was no t B

s i m p l i f i e d t o [j] bu t r a t h e r was l o s t e n t i r e l y , due t o i t s s y l l a b l e -

f i n a l p o s i t i o n .

(3) Plac ing t h e r e s y l l a b i f i c a t i o n of t h e sequence -1j- a f t e r

t h e Panroman d iphthongiza t ion of -;- and -:- and b e f o r e t h e o t h e r

changes a f f e c t i n g vowels i n open s y l l a b l e s accounts , i n a l l c a ses ,

f o r t h e e v o l u t i o n of t h e preceding vowel wi thout r ecour se t o a n

a n t i c i p a t o r y & a n d t h e u n l i k e l y phonet'ic sequence -j?j-.

With t h e except ion of t h e p a l a t a l q u a l i t y of t h e e a r l y French -1-

(which r e f l e c t s t he a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e L a t i n -I-, n o t s p e c i f i c a l l y

t h e i n f l u e n c e of t h e - yod formed by t h e r educ t ion of h ia tus . ) , t h e

h i s t o r i c a l evo lu t ion of t h e sequence -1j- and t h e tendency i n

contemporary pronuncia t ion a r e seen t o b e p a r a l l e l .

5. CONCLUSION

Of t h e 1,712 occurrences of a d e n t a l consonant + y o d i n t h e

corpus, t h e p a l a t a l g l i d e is p h o n e t i c a l l y u n r e a l i s e d o r on ly

p a r t i a l l y manifested i n 119 cases . I n t h e remaining 1,593 examples

some, though n o t a l l , consonants a r e aud ib ly p a l a t a l i s e d when

followed by a phone t i ca l ly r e a l i s e d yod. Spectrograms were taken ,

however, of on ly a sma l l percentage of t h e examples analysed. I f

t h i s process were repea ted f o r every sequence of consonant + @, i t

may we l l r e v e a l t h a t i n a l l cases t h e consonant i s inf luenced by t h e

p a l a t a l g l i d e , b u t n o t always s u f f i c i e n t l y f o r t h e modific.ation t o

be audib le .

The consonants I t / , / d l , I s / , / z / and /n / a r e a l l s u b j e c t t o

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n . I n t h e case of t h e o c c l u s i v e s , a s s i b i l a t i o n ( t h e

phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s [t$ and [dz ] ) i s shown t o co inc ide wi th some V

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , evidenced by a r e t r a c t i o n of t h e po in t of a r t i c u l a t i o n

and increased con tac t between t h e tongue and t h e roof of t h e mouth.

I n add i t i on , t h e f r i c a t i v e r e l e a s e is sometimes p a l a t a l i s e d so t h a t

/ t / and / d l can b e r e a l i s e d phone t i ca l ly as [t!] and [ d 3 ] u V

r e spec t ive ly . The f r i c a t i v e s /s/ and /z/ a r e sometimes r e a l i s e d as

a l v e o p a l a t a l [ 1 and [ 3 1 r e spec t i;ely,; however, i n most examples

where t h e s e consonants a r e aud ib ly modi f ied , they a r e perceived

a s [s] - and [ z ] - r e s p e c t i v e l y , t h e s e symbols r ep re sen t ing a r e t r a c t e d

I

a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e d e n t a l consonant. I n t h i s corpus t h e sequence

/ n j / i s r e a l i s e d a s t h e p a l a t a l n a s a l [ j ~ ] i n only f i v e cases . I n

t h e remaining examples of t h e sequence no p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of t h e n a s a l

i s aud ib l e . However, based on evidence from palatograms, J-D. Gendron

(1966) observes t h a t /n/ i s most f r e q u e n t l y r e a l i s e d a s [ - n] when

followed by t h e p a l a t a l g l i d e . While such a modi f ica t ion of t h e

n a s a l may occur i n t h i s d a t a , i t i s n o t audib le . A l l d e n t a l

consonants, then , except t h e l a t e r a l /I/; a r e observably p a l a t a l i s e d

i n a t l e a s t some cases .

A comparison of t he frequency of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n i n Canadian

French and c o n t i n e n t a l French r e v e a l s no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s

except i n t h e c a s e of a s s i b i l a t i o n . This p roces s , u s u a l l y considered

c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of Canadian speech, is a l s o found i n French speech,

a l though much l e s s f r equen t ly .

I n a comparison of speech which could b e considered r e l a t i v e l y

unprepared w i t h t h a t which could b e termed prepared, aga in t h e only

s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e is i n t h e frequency of a s s i b i l a t i o n , which

i s g r e a t e r i n t h e former. Th i s , however, cannot be accounted f o r by

t h e frequency of a s s i b i l a t i o n i n Canadian French, a s t h e r e is l e s s

a s s i b i l a t i o n i n t h e group which has t h e g r e a t e r percentage of

Canadian informants . This phenomenon may r e s u l t from a n a t t empt

on t h e p a r t o f Canadian r a d i o announcers to 'avoid t h e p ronunc ia t ion

[ t s ] and [dz] , which has f r e q u e n t l y been c r i t i c i z e d i n Canadian Y W

speech. This,*however, would b e a s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c problem and t h e

ques t ion remains open.

When p a l a t a l i s a t i o n occurs , i t cannot b e accounted f o r by

phonet ic environment nor by t h e p o s i t i o n of t h e sequence / ~ j /

r e l a t i v e t o t h e accentab le s y l l a b l e i n t h e word o r t h e rhythmic

group accen t . Fu r the r , i t does n o t r e s u l t from ind iv idua l o r r eg iona l

v a r i a t i o n s . The d i f f e r e n t phonet ic r e a l i s a t i o n s of t h e f i v e phonemes

could then be considered f r e e v a r i a n t s . \

However, t h e frequency wi th which p a l a t a l i s a t i o n occurs i s

d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d t o t h e inhe ren t a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e of t h e consonant

i n ques t ion . That i s , v o i c e l e s s consonants a r e t h e most f r equen t ly

a f f e c t e d , followed i n order by voiced consonants and n a s a l s . This

corresponds t o t h e l i s t of consonants , i n descending o rde r of

i n h e r e n t a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e e s t a b l i s h e d by A. MalGcot (1977a).

F u r t h e r , i t has been shown by MalGcot i n t h e same s tudy , t h a t t h e

d u r a t i o n of a vowel v a r i e s i n v e r s e l y w i t h t h e a r t i c u l a t o r y energy

of t h e fo l lowing consonant. Measurements of t h e du ra t ion of t h e

vowel preceding t h e sequence / ~ j / r e v e a l t h a t a given vowel i s .

s h o r t e r b e f o r e an aud ib ly p a l a t a l i s e d consonant than i t i s b e f o r e

a non-pa la ta l i sed r e a l i s a t i o n of t h e same consonant. This i n d i c a t e s

t h a t , a t l e a s t i n t h e cases where measurements were taken , p a l a t a l -

i s a t i o n co inc ides wi th a more e n e r g e t i c a r t i c u l a t i o n of t h e

consonant, The p a l a t a l i s a t i o n of d e n t a l consonants preceding - yod,

then , a p p e a r s f to b e d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d t o both t h e i n h e r e n t a r t i c u l a t o r y

f o r c e of t h e consonant and t h e a r t i c u l a t o r y energy of a p a r t i c u l a r

r e a l i s a t i o n of t h e sequence,

Only /1/ shows no evidence of p a l a t a l i s a t i o n when i t precedes

yod. A s l i q u i d s a r e a t t he lower end of t h e s c a l e of i n h e r e n t -

a r t i c u l a t o r y f o r c e (A. Malgcot, 1955) , t h i s l a c k of a u d i b l e

p a l a t a l i s a t i o n corresponds w i t h t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p e s t a b l i s h e d

between p a l a t a l i s a t i o n , a n d i n h e r e n t a r t i c u l a t o r y energy. I n a d d i t i o n ,

t h e /1/ is sometimes phone t i ca l ly u n r e a l i s e d o r only p a r t i a l l y

manifested. Th i s i s accounted f o r by a r e s y l l a b i f i c a t i o n of t h e

sequence / l j / , p l ac ing the l a t e r a l i n s y l l a b l e - f i n a l p o s i t i o n ,

c l o s i n g t h e preceding s y l l a b l e . The weakening of / l / ,observed i n

t h i s corpus i s then c o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h e t runca t ion of s y l l a b l e -

f i n a l /I/ as noted by H. Bauche ( l928) , H. F r e i (1929) and A. Mar t ine t

& H. Walter (1974).

When t h e tendencies observed i n contemporary p ronunc ia t ion a r e

compared w i t h t h e gene ra l ly accepted h i s t o r i c a l development of t h e

same sequences from La t in t o modern French, t h e processes a r e seen

t o be v e r y s i m i l a r . There a r e , however, some d i f f e r e n c e s which r e s u l t

from:

(1) t h e l o s s of pos tconsonanta l &, and consequent ly t h e

p a l a t a l i n f l u e n c e , i n t h e h i s t o r i c a l evo lu t ion , bu t i t s maintenance

i n contemporary pronuncia t ion .

(2) a period characterised by a weakness of articulation, as

defined by G. Straka (1964) in the history of French, which does

not appear to be paralleled in the contemporary language.

(3) lack of consistency in the traditional analyses of the

historical data, specifically in the treatment of Latin -dj- and -1j-.

In both cases, based on the tendencies observed in contemporary

pronunciation, the historical facts can be analysed in a way that

eliminates many of the problems while still accounting for the modern

forms.

The suggested evolution of Latin -1j-, in particular, eliminates

the necessity of positing an anticipatory yod to account for the

behavior of the preceding vowel. This anticipatory yod is an integral

part of the traditional analysis of postvocalic sequences of

Consonant + - yod. If the evolution of words containing -lj- can be

accounted for without recourse to this mechanism (which supposedly

produced such phonetic sequences as jlj , 33-j , jpj, jppj , jd_zj, jzj , w

jssj), then it will be worthwhile to re-examine the evolution of

all -Cj- sequences with a view to eliminating altogether the concept

of an anticipatory yod.

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