Expressive Sibilant Retraction in North Norwegian: morpheme or ‘spoken gesture’?

Patrik Bye

doi:10.5334/gjgl.850

Abstract

North Norwegian has a contrast between /s/ and /ʂ/ that is neutralized in word-initial position before a consonant, and an optional process of Expressive Sibilant Retraction (ESR), which changes /s/ to [ʂ] in precisely the environment where the contrast is neutralized (Broch 1927). ESR appears ambiguous between a word formation process and a spoken gesture (Okrent 2002; Perlman et al. 2015). On the one hand, ESR exploits givens of phonological structure. On the other, treating it as a morphological process entails claiming that the spell-out of certain (“expressive”) morphemes may take place after phonological processes have applied, or that the realization of these morphemes takes precedence to phonological constraints. I argue that ESR is a communicative (i.e. non-linguistic, or post-linguistic) spoken gesture that nonetheless exploits the suspension of phonological generalizations in a way that directs attention to its iconic function. I describe the varied interpretations that ESR has depending on whether it indexes an action/event, object, or state/property, and propose that these share a common semantic core. This gesture-based account of ESR is offered as a possible model for “expressive phonology” (e.g. Diffloth 1979) in other languages.

Highlights

Expressive Sibilant Retraction (ESR) in North Norwegian changes an /s/ to the corresponding postalveolar fricative [ʂ] in certain pragmatic contexts
A similar expressive process has been described for the Urban East Norwegian (UEN) variety in the earlier literature by Larsen (1907) and Broch (1927)
The present study shows that the interpretations of ESR are constrained, and vary depending on whether they attach to actions/events, objects or states/properties

Summary

Introduction

Expressive Sibilant Retraction (ESR) in North Norwegian changes an /s/ to the corresponding postalveolar fricative [ʂ] in certain pragmatic contexts. A similar expressive process has been described for the Urban East Norwegian (UEN) variety in the earlier literature by Larsen (1907) and Broch (1927). As these researchers describe for UEN, ESR in North Norwegian may only apply where the phonological contrast between /s/ and /ʂ/ is otherwise neutralized. On the face of it, ESR resembles a morphological process that introduces, or perhaps reintroduces, a contrast between /s/ and /ʂ/ in word-initial position before a consonant This account would make ESR the source of a marginal contrast, since there is no lexical contrast between these sibilants in this environment.

Original text

States and properties: heightened engagement

Evaluations of states of affairs

Conclusions