Elastic s+C and Left-moving Yod in the Evolution from ...

Tobias Scheer

Philippe Ségéral

Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, BCL

Saint-Germain-Village

Elastic s+C and Left-moving Yod in the Evolution from Latin to French

Going Romance

Paris 8

25-27 November 2020

Elastic s+C

• is a piece of the GGHF - Grande Grammaire Historique du Français

• is published independenty in Probus' upcoming special issue on Historical

Romance Linguistics (Scheer & Ségéral 2020)

Prévost, Sophie, Bernard Combettes,

Christiane Marchello-Nizia & Tobias Scheer

(éd.) 2020. Grande Grammaire Historique

du Français. Two Vols, about 2100 pages.

Berlin: de Gruyter.

• an object of wonder: Goad (2011, 2012) backed by a massive criminal record.

s+C, a phonological object of wonder

• ground rule:

if s+C complies with the predictions of your theory, you stand a good chance that

your theory is wrong.

• the s+C puzzle

• syllabic mystery

what is the syllabic identity of s+C?

• the singleton mystery

given that s has a peculiar behaviour when it is involved in s+C, why is it

perfectly regular when it occurs alone (i.e. before a vowel)?

• the segmental mystery

why is it only s and no other consonant or fricative that produces s+C

effects when occurring in a cluster?

• s+C is heterosyllabic (coda-onset) by default, i.e. whenever it can.

elastic s+C

• when s+C is in positional plight and for some reason cannot be

heterosyllabic, a repair occurs:

• s+C becomes non-heterosyllabic

• that is, s branches on the following empty nucleus

• elasticity: as soon as the positional plight is released, s+C springs back

into its natural coda-onset status.

O N O N| | |s C V

Left-moving yod

• Sources of left-moving yod in the development of French

• (Romance) palatalization k+i,e > j+ʦ

• metathesis C.j > j.C

left-moving yod

left-moving yod

• (Romance) palatalization k+i,e > j+ʦ

• preceding tonic vowel systematically checked: no diphthongization

• result undergoes intervocalic voicing: j+ʦ > j+ʣ

• the yod is in fact the product of depalatalization, rather than of palatalization: k+i,e

> [c] > ʧ > j+ʦ (depalatalization) [chap. 14 GGHF]

Romance palatalization: Vk+i,e > j+ʦpreceding the tonic vowel following the tonic vowel

Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glossk+i vicīnu veisin voisin neighbour –

°būcīna buisine kind of trumpetk+e placēre plaisir pleasure voce voiz voix voice

aucellu oisel oiseau bird pace paiz paix peacenocēre noisir nuire to harm cruce croiz croix crosstacēre taisir taire to keep quiet fac(e)re faire to dolūcēre luisir luire to gleam °coc(e)re cuire to cook°domnicella damoisele demoiselle damsel °noc(e)re nuire to harm

left-moving yod

• metathesis C.j > j.C

• for C = ʦ, r, s

• tj was assibilated to ʦj early on in Latin, so ʦj is the actual input to Proto-French

• preceding tonic vowel systematically checked: no diphthongization

• result undergoes intervocalic voicing: j.ʦ > j.ʣ, j.s > j.z

left-moving yod

metathesis: C.j > j.Cpreceding the tonic vowel following the tonic vowel

Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glosstj ratiōne raison reason mal(i)fatiu mauvais bad

pōtiōne poison poison palatiu palais palaceorātiōne oraison oration 3sg °mǐnūtǐat menuise to shapeotiōsu oisos oiseux idle cymatiu cimaise cymasatiōne saison season °latia laise ʻlargeurʼ widthbūteōne buison ʻbuseʼ buzzard °prōditia pröeise prouesse feat

sj bāsiāre baisier baiser to kiss art(e)mesia armoise mugwort°clausiōne cloison partition Ambrosiu Ambrois Ambroise first namema(n)siōne maison house °pūtinasiu punais stinkingfusiōne foison profusion Gr. tarchasiu tarchais ʻcarquoisʼ quivernausea noise quarrel Frk. °hasia haise ʻclôtureʼ fenceto(n)siōne toison fleece

rj °exclariāre esclairier éclairer to light paria paire pairvariola vairole vérole syphilis coriu cuir leather°fūriōne fuiron furet ferret rasōriu rasoir razor

fēria foire foire fair

left-moving yod

conclusion

• left-moving yod of both origins anchors as a coda

• diagnostic: the preceding tonic vowel is checked

• the consonant following coda yod undergoes intervocalic voicing: j.ʦ > j.ʣ, j.s > j.z

No super-heavy syllables

no super-heavy syllables

• super-heavy syllables are impossible

• syllables can have either a long vowel or a coda, but not both

• *CVVC, *CVCC

• ground rule governing the entire language in all developmental stages until OFr

no super-heavy syllables

• governs a (the) major event in the development of French: (spontaneous)

diphthongization

• affects all and only long vowels

• length is caused by tonic lengthening (Latin length is gone)

• like in (modern) Italian and may other languages, only vowels in open syllables

undergo tonic lengthening.

• thus, in order for a vowel to undergo diphthongization, it must be stressed and

occur in an open syllable

evolution of tonic vowels inopen syllables closed syllables

Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glossa mare mer sea carta charte charteri pira poire pear virga verge sticke feru fier proud herba erbe herbe grasso mola muele meule millstone porta porte dooru gula gueule gueule mouth surdu sourt sourd deaf

Left-moving yod lost if

preceded by a coda

Left-moving yod lost

• left-moving yod is lost if preceded by a coda

• because this would create a super-heavy syllable: one with two codas.

palatalizationyod is lost if preceded by a codaVC.k+i,e > VC.ʦ

coda Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glossgem. °baccīnu bacin bassin basinn ancilla ancele ‘servante’ servant prīncipe prince prince

°gincīva gencive gum cancellāre chanceler to staggerr mercēde merci thanks porcellu porcel pourceau swine

°cercēdula cercelle sarcelle teal 3sg °torc(e)t torst (il) tord to twist°arciōne arçon saddletree urceolu orzuel ‘bénitier’ stoup

l calce chals chaux lime falce fals faux scythedulce dols doux soft poll(i)ce pols, polz pouce thumb


metathesisyod is lost if preceded by a codaVC.Cj > VC.C

coda Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glossgem. °mattea mace masse mallet °bottia boce bosse bump

°matteūca maçüe massue club Frk. °blettjan blecier blesser to woundr °fortiāre forcier forcer to force scortea escorce écorce bark

°curtiāre acorcir accourcir to shorten martiu marz mars Marchl °altiāre haucier hausser to raise °exaltiāre essaucier exaucer to fulfil

Frk. °bultjo bouzon [ʦ] boujon big arrow Frk. °sultja souz [ʦ] ‘marinade’ marinaden cantiōne chançon chanson song infantia enfance childhood

linteolu linçuel linceul shroud crēdentia crëance créance debtp captiāre chacier chasser to hunt °corruptiāre corrocier courroucer to anger


• metathesis is really driven by syllable structure

• not just any preceding CC blocks yod

• only coda-onset clusters do

• metathesis applies over a branching onset TR

Trj > jTr

Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glossprj °cupriu cuivre copper –brj °ebriu ivre drunk ēbriācu ivraie ryegrasstrj arbitriu arvoire ‘illusion’ illusion repatriāre repairier repairer to repair

mat(e)riame mairien merrain stave °lutria loir(r)e loutre sea otter

Left-moving yod is a

floating palatal prime

A floating palatal prime

• where does yod land?

• there is no syllabic space available in the etymological structure where yod could

parachute.

• the syllabic space it lands on must therefore be epenthetic.


• intervocalic voicing after coda yod??

• recall:

• placēre > plaj.[ʣ]ir (> plai[z]ir) palatalization

• ratiōne > raj.[ʣ]on (> rai[z]on) metathesis

• how could the post-coda consonant in Vj.C undergo intervocalic voicing?

• intervocalic voicing necessarily occurs after the yod-producing process (palatalization,

metathesis): before this process

• either there is no yod (palatalization)

• or the C is not intervocalic because it is followed by yod (metathesis)


• phonologization of a "transitional" sound

• left-moving yod is a "son de transition" (‘transitional sound’): Straka (1979 [1965]:

322ff) and his followers ("yod implosif" ‘implosive yod’).

• Blondin (1975: 248 sqq.) says that at first this yod has no existence in the linear

chain (= not a phoneme) and later on is phonemecized ("phonématisation d’un y

catastasique" p. 248)

• this is the description in structuralist vocabulary of what today would be called a

floating palatal prime (or floating yod).


• under b.

left-moving yod is a floating palatal prime (I hereafter)

(transitional sound not integrated in the linear chain)

a. placēre b. °plaIʦēre c. °plaj.ʣirO N O N O N > O N O N O N > O N O N O N O N| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |pl a k ē r e pl a I ʦ ē r e pl a I ʣ i r

a. bāsiāre b. baIsāre c. baj.zierO N O N O N > O N O N > O N O N O N| | | | | | | | | | | | | |b a s I ā re b a I s ā re b a I z ie r

• under c.

epenthetic syllabic space is inserted (grey-shaded) and the floating I anchors (i.e. is

phonologized)

successful anchoring

palatalization

metathesis

• intervocalic voicing

occurs at stage b.

where the I floats and

the following

consonant is truly

intervocalic = stands

between two filled

nuclei.


• under b.

left-moving yod is a floating palatal prime (I hereafter)

(transitional sound not integrated in the linear chain)

• under c.

• epenthetic syllabic space is inserted (grey-shaded)

• the floating I cannot anchor since this would create a double coda (two empty

nuclei in a row in Strict CV)

a. mer.cēde b. °meIr.ʦēde c. *mej.r.ʦiO N O N O N O N > O N O N O N O N > * O N O N O N O N| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |m e r k ē d e m e I r ʦ ē d e m e I r ʦ i

unsuccessful anchoring

s+C

• s+C is a regular coda-onset cluster when occurring in intervocalic position:

• it systematically blocks the diphthongization of preceding stressed vowels

Lat. OFr. mod. glossi capistru chevestre chevêtre haltere testa teste tête heada °blastemiāre blastengier ‘blâmer’ to blameu musca mosche mouche flyo nostru nostre notre our

s+C

• s+C allows yod to anchor to its left

Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glosssk+i,e vascellu vaissel vaisseau vessel piscīna peissine piscine poolsk+(i,e) °nāsc(e)re naistre naître to be born pāsc(e)re paistre paître to graze

crēsc(e)re croistre croître to grow °parēsc(e)re pareistre paraître to appear

Lat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glossst+j angustia angoisse anxiety bestia bisse biche doe

ostiāriu uissier huissier usher pastiōne paisson grazingstr+j ostrea uistre huître oyster post(e)riōne poistron ‘cul’ bumsk+j ascia aisse aissette plate pisciōne poisson fish

musciōne moisson ‘moineau’ sparrow fascia faisse fasce strip of landss+j °bassiāre baissier baisser to lower messiōne moisson harvest

crassia craisse graisse fat °spissia espeisse ‘épaisseur’ thickness

palatalization

metathesis

Non-heterosyllabic s+C


• the puzzle

• s+C is heterosyllabic in V__V

• s+C is non-heterosyllabic in C__

• it cannot be heterosyllabic in C__ since this would make a double coda syllable.

what is the syllabic identity

of a non-heterosyllabic s+C?

C.sCV

• candidate syllabic identities

• given in Strict CV representations

• you can replace with your favourite representations, nothing hinges on that

• except for the winning item where s branches on the following nucleus.


O N O N O N O N O N O N O N| | | | | | | | | |T <= R V s C V s C V s C Vs <= C V

branching

onset

coda-

onset

contour

segment

branching

s

• branching onset: consensually, s+C never instantiates this structure (Goad 2011, 2012)

• coda-onset: precisely what we know is excluded.

• contour segment: impossible, see the following slide

• branching s is the only remaining possibility. Do you know of any other?

Non-heterosyllabic s+C is not a contour segment

• ss in an instance of s+C

• geminates block matathesis: °bottia > boce (mod. bosse ʻbumpʼ)

• but ss does not: °bassiāre > baissier (mod. baisser ʻto lowerʼ)

• when preceded by yod, ss is a non-heterosyllabic cluster, exactly like all other s+C

clusters: j.ssV

• ss is bipositional: like all other geminates it resists intervocalic voicing

• gutta > gote (mod. goutte ʻdropʼ), cippu > cep ʻvine stockʼ, etc.

• °bassiāre > baissier [s] (mod. baisser [s])

Non-heterosyllabic s+C is not a contour segment

• conclusion

• ss is both an s+C cluster and a geminate

• s+C in VC.sCV is a bipositional cluster and hence not a contour segment

• like all other s+C clusters, ss in VC.ssV is non-heterosyllabic, i.e. a non-

heterosyllabic geminate.

gvt gvt

O N O N1 O N2 O N O N > O N O N O N O N O N| | | | | | | | | | | | | |n a I s t <= r e b a I s s ie r

°nāsc(e)re > naistre (mod. naître) °bassiāre > baissier (mod. baisser)

s-branching on demand


• s+C preceded by a vowel = by a filled nucleus

(testa > teste)

• s+C preceded by a consonant = by an empty nucleus

(°nāsc(e)re > °naj.stre > naistre)

• ill-formed if s does not branch: two empty nuclei in a

row

• well-formed if s branches

gvt

O N O N O N| | | |V s C V

coda-onset

* O N O N O N| | | |C s C V

gvt

O N O N O N| | | |C s C V

s+C

• a last resort

• s branches iff the structure is otherwise ill-formed

• after a consonant this would be the case since

two empty nuclei would occur in a row

* O N O N O N| | | |C s C V

gvt



• s branches in order for the leftmost empty

nucleus to be goverend

• no pressure on s+C, no branching

s+C preceded by a filled nucleus: no pressure, no s-branching, regular coda cluster

s+C preceded by an empty nucleus:s-branching triggered

gvt gvt

O N O N O N O N O N O N| | | | | | | |V s C V C s C V

s+C effects

occur when s is

forced to

branch

elastic effect

• as soon as the pressure on s+C is relieved, it springs back to a heterosylabic cluster

°nās.c(e)re Lat. s = coda

°na.s.[c]ere palatalization 3rd century s = coda

°naj.stre depalatalization [c] > j+t 4th century s branches

°nai.stre diphthong formation aj > ai before OFr s branches

°nai.tre s-loss in coda position 13th century s = coda

gvt

O N O N O N| | | | |n a s k e

gvt

O N O N O N O N| | | | |n a I s t

O N O N O N O N| | | |n a I s t

O N O N O N O N| | | |n a I s t

As predicted:

s+C effect after C

no s+C effect after V

s+C effect in CsC, but not in VsCC

• in CCC, the middle C is lost, except if C2C3 make a good branching onset

CCC CTRCCC tem[p]tāre tenter implēre emplir

redem[p]tiōne raençon rançon umbra ombreFrk. °gun[d]fano gonfanon gonfalon ultra outre

CC(v)C gal[b](i)nu jalne jaune rump(e)re romprecar[d](i)ne charne carne °arb(o)re arbregur[g](i)te gort gord alt(e)ru altre autre


• when C2 = s,ʦ though, the middle consonant remains

CCC CC(v)CLat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. gloss

CsC obscūru oscur obscur obscure frax(i)nu fraisne frêne ashobstāre oster ôter take off max(i)mu maisme ‘en particulier’ in particularFrk. halsberg osberc haubert hauberk 3sg °torc(e)t tuerst (il) tord to twist

prox(i)mu proisme ‘proche’ close

CʦC grac(i)le graisle grêle skinnyac(i)nu aisne aine berry°fortiāre forcier forcer to forcesortiāriu sorcier sorcerer

• s+C effect when C2 = s,ʦ though, the middle consonant remains

CsC, CʦC

• but no s+C effect when s+C instantiates C1C2 : the middle consonant is lost like

everywhere else

CCC CC(v)CLat. OFr. mod. gloss Lat. OFr. mod. glossas[th]ma asme asthme asthma aes[t](i)māre esmer estimer to estimate

°blas[t](e)māre blasmer blâmer to blamehos[p](i)tāle ostel hôtel hotelsus[p](i)cāre soschier ‘présumer’ to presume

sCC

• this is predicted since, recall: s+C effects occur only when s is forced to branch

V__ no branching, no s+C effect

C__s+C effect because s branches

gvt gvt

O N O N O N O N O N O N O N| | | | | | | | |V s C C V C s C V


ʦ in CʦV

is really intervocalic…

ʦ in sʦV is really intervocalic: sts > ss

• mysterious evolution sʦ > ss

evolution expected:

• palatalization: sk+i,e > j.sʦ vascellu > °vajsʦellu > vaissel (mod. vaisseau

• metathesis: stj > °sʦj > j.sʦ angustia > °angojsʦe > angoisse ʻanxietyʼ

• another s+C effect: sʦ > ss

• ʦ > s occurs only after s

• has nothing to do with spontaneous deaffrication ʦ >

s that occurs in the 13th century: there is no trace of

ʦ in the above cases in OFr

• this is regular intervocalic spirantization (rīpa > rive etc.),

since the ʦ is intervocalic: it occurs between two

contentful nuclei.

gvt

O N O N O N O N O N| | | | | | |v a I s ʦ e l

ʦ in sʦV is really intervocalic: C.tsj

• °for.tiāre > °for.ʦjāre > forcier (mod. forcer "to force")

• metathesis blocked because of coda r that much we knew

• all "late" Cj clusters strengthen yod > ʧ

gvt

O N O N O N O N O N| | | | | | | |f o r ʦ j a r e

• CʦC is stable (grac(i)le > graisle (mod. grêle) that much we knew

• but look at the behaviour of yod in r.ʦj: it does not strengthen to ʧ - but it should

Lat. OFr. mod.sēpia seche seicherabia rageal(v)eu augelāneu lange ‘étoffe de laine’°sedi[c]u siege siègeextrāneu estrange étrange

• compare with burriōne > borjon (mod.bourgeon)

• metathesis blocked, hence same age

• middle C lost

• strengthening of r.j > r.ʤ

• yod in r.ʦj is post-consonantal, but not in strong

position: it is intervocalic. This is why it does not

strengthen

Elastic s+C

in synchronic analysis

and beyond French

predictions

• an s+C effect occurs when s branches on the following nucleus

• s does that when it is forced to

• after a consonant or rather, in terms of Strict CV, after

an empty nucleus

• in Strict CV, the beginning of the word identifies as en empty

CV unit (Lowenstamm 1999). Therefore #sC also occurs after

an empty nucleus

gvt


gvt

O N - O N O N# | | |

s C V

predictions

• are there s+C effects word-initially?

• all over the place, this is the very reason why s+C is "strange": it should not occur

in this position since it is of falling sonority

• typical pattern:

• in a language where initial clusters are restricted to #TR

• s+C behaves as a regular coda-onset cluster word-internally

• but does occur word-initially

• Southern French: ATR of mid vowels identifies s+C as heterosyllabic word-internally,

but s+C occurs word-initially.

predictions

a third situation where heterosyllabic s+C may be illegal

• VV__ after long vowels

• in languages where super-heavy syllables are prohibited (like in French) and

• s+C occurs after long vowels (impossible in French)

• s+C effect of this kind in Faifi Arabic (Alfaifi and Davis Ms)

• *VVCC

• but ok VVsC

• in Strict CV, long vowels need to be licensed by a following filled nucleus.

lic

O N O N O N O N| | | |V s C V

Conclusion

conclusion

• repairs

• when heterosyllabic s+C is illegal, different languages use different repairs

• s-branching is one of them

• epenthesis is another one

• within the s+C cluster: stone > sitone Cameroon Pidgin English

Fleischhacker (2005: 61)

• before the s+C cluster: Romance prosthesis sponsu > Fr. époux etc.

• back and forth

• Latin to early OFr. sponsus s-branching

• later OFr., MFr. espos prosthesis

• Mod. French sparadrap s-branching

elastic s+C

O N O N| | |s C V

s+C effects due to s branching on the following empty nucleus

• s alone, i.e. when followed by a V (rather than a C), is not any special because it

• cannot be in positional plight

• cannot branch on a following empty nucleus: there is none

• import

• relevant literature

Rizzolo and Barillot (2012), Sanoudaki (2007, 2010), Prince

(2016), Prince and Chiu (2016), Polgárdi (in press).

• our contribution

• s+C can have variable syllabic status in the same language depending on the

position in which it occurs.

• s+C effects are due to a repair that is a reaction on positional plight.

• s+C is heterosyllabic by default and springs back to that when positional plight is

relieved

elastic s+C

• there is a massive empirical record of s+C effects

• we haven't gone through all of it

• will this record be amenable to our definition of what an s+C effect is ?

s+C effect

occurs when a heterosyllabic parse is illegal and

s is forced to branch on the mepty nucleus to its right

Thank you for your attention

References

Alfaifi, Abdullah & Stuart Davis Ms (2019). On the Realization of Emphatic Fricatives in Faifi Arabic.

Blondin, Roland 1975. Fonction, structure et évolution phonétiques: Études synchroniques et diachroniques du

phonéticisme gallo-roman et français. Paris: Champion.

Fleischhacker, Heidi 2005. Similarity in Phonology: Evidence from Reduplication and Loan Adaptation. Ph.D dissertation,

UCLA.

Goad, Heather 2011. The Representation of sC Clusters. The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, edited by Marc van

Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth Hume & Keren Rice, 898-923. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Goad, Heather 2012. sC Clusters are (almost always) coda-initial. The Linguistic Review 29: 335-373.

Lowenstamm, Jean 1999. The beginning of the word. Phonologica 1996, edited by John Rennison & Klaus Kühnhammer,

153-166. La Hague: Holland Academic Graphics. WEB.

Polgárdi, Krisztina in press. The representation of sC-clusters: A Strict CV analysis. Glossa.

Prince, Typhanie 2016. Représentations syllabiques et segmentales dans l'acquisition du langage et dans l'aphasie. Les

séquences sC du français. Ph.D dissertaiton, Université de Nantes.

Prince, Typhanie & Faith Chiu 2016. sT clusters: solutions and further thoughts in a CVCV account. Paper presented at

Réseau Français de Phonologie, Nice, 30 June - 2 July.

Rizzolo, Olivier & Xavier Barillot 2012. Où s’accroche le [s] dans les groupes sC en français ? . Paper presented at 10è

rencontres du Réseau Français de Phonologie (RFP), Paris, 25-27 juin.

Sanoudaki, Eirini 2007. A CVCV model of consonant cluster acquisition: evidence from Greek. Ph.D dissertation, University

College London. WEB.

Sanoudaki, Eirini 2010. Towards a typology of word initial consonant clusters: evidence from the acquisition of Greek.

Journal of Greek Linguistics 10: 1-41. WEB.

Scheer, Tobias & Philippe Ségéral 2020. Elastic s+C and left-moving yod in the evolution from Latin to French. Probus 32.

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