Italian Raddoppiamento: Prosodic effects on length

Abstract

Traditionally, Italian Raddoppiamento refers to a lengthening process that targets word-initial consonants after a final stressed vowel. Unfortunately, most theoretical accounts of Raddoppiamento lack a solid phonetic foundation. We report an acoustic study, based on the data obtained from four Tuscan Italian native speakers, investigating both word-initial consonants and vowels in the Raddoppiamento environment. Further, we consider two different prosodic positions, C Raddoppiamento phrase-internally versus across an intonational phrase boundary, which, according to previous analyses (Nespor and Vogel, 1986), should prevent the lengthening from occurring. Finally, stressed and unstressed environments are tested. Thus, the quality and magnitude of Italian Raddoppiamento lengthening as a function of segmental identity, prosodic context, and stress is reported. The results show that consonantal lengthening takes place as expected in the traditional Raddoppiamento environment. On the other hand, word-initial vowels do not lengthen. Stress has an effect on word-final vowel length that is incompatible with previous theoretical accounts of Raddoppiamento. Finally, the presence of an intonational phrase boundary does not, as previously predicted, categorically block the process. Overall, this empirical evidence challenges previous accounts of Raddoppiamento and provides a systematic phonetic documentation of the phenomenon. [Work supported by NIH.]