Medial /nt/ Realizations in English: A Constraint-based Account

Abstract

This study provides an alternative analysis of word-medial /nt/ realizations in English within a constraint-based theory. First of all, we review Chung’s (2007, 2016) analyses. Chung (2007) tries to present a constraint-based account for the medial /nt/ realizations, and then Chung (2016) proposes the superfoot notion in analyzing English words like cóntemplàte. The superfoot of the word, however, does not occur after an unstressed syllable unlike that of lòllapalóoza, nor does it occur word-initially unlike potáto. In addition, his phonetic representations of /t/ in /nt/ sequences tend to be analyzed inconsistently in certain examples like cón[th]emplàte, cón[t]est, and cén[t]ral. With regard to aspiration, in particular, voiceless stops are usually assumed to be aspirated when a voice onset time (VOT) value is more than 40 ms. The segment [t] in cón[t]emplàte and cón[t]est cannot be deleted since it occurs in the morpheme-initial position. Based on this, we propose a new constraint Max-+C-IO. And thus, some phonetic realizations of the word-medial /nt/ can be treated without using any superfoot.