Abstract
Post-tonic synope in English (Received Pronunciation) optionally deletes a schwa between a stressed and an unstressed vowel (gén(e)ral), but it cannot apply if the vowel following the schwa is stressed (gén*(e)ràte), or if no vowel follows (hápp*(e)n). Syncope is thus triggered by a metrical lapse of unstressed vowels. In addition, short stressed vowels cannot occur in an open syllable in English (Stress-to-Weight), except when preceding a single consonant and a vowel. Hammond (1997a) analyses such seemingly open stressed syllables in words likegén(e)ralas closed by a virtual geminate. I argue that post-tonic syncope can be understood as another means of satisfying the Stress-to-Weight requirement, closing the stressed syllable in a different way, at the same time avoiding a metrical lapse. In addition, surprisingly, English post-tonic syncope is sensitive to the quality of the flanking consonants: the consonant following the alternating vowel must be a sonorant which is more sonorous than the consonant preceding it (dél*(i)cate, cól*(o)ny). These are the same conditions as those applying to syllabic consonant formation, which can be regarded as a stage preceding syncope, explaining the melodic restrictions. I analyse the interplay of different forces in Stratal Optimality Theory, employing Government Phonological representations.
Highlights
In this paper, I analyse post-tonic syncope in English (Received Pronunciation, RP) in a Loose CV framework, a recent version of Government Phonology
Examining the distribution of English short stressed vowels, we find that they cannot stand before a vowel or word
They cannot occur in syllable-final position, except when they are followed by a single consonant and a vowel, as in cíty
Summary
I analyse post-tonic syncope in English (Received Pronunciation, RP) in a Loose CV framework, a recent version of Government Phonology (see Lowenstamm 1996; Polgárdi 1998, 2002). A curious feature of English post-tonic syncope is that it is sensitive to the quality of the flanking consonants: the consonant following the alternating vowel must be a sonorant which is more sonorous than the consonant preceding the schwa (i.e. no syncope is possible in words like dél*(i)cate or cól*(o)ny) These are the same conditions as those applying to syllabic consonant formation, which can be regarded as a stage preceding syncope, which explains the melodic restrictions. I employ Government Phonological representations, combined with constraint interaction in the framework of Stratal Optimality Theory (Bermúdez-Otero 2012) Optionality of both syncope and syllabic consonant formation is captured by the theory of Partially Ordered Grammars (Anttila 2007).
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