Hiatus Resolution Research Articles

Hiatus Resolution Strategies in a Southern Nigerian English Accent

Hiatus Resolution Strategies in a Southern Nigerian English Accent

Hiatus resolution and linguistic diversity in Australian English.

Vowel hiatus is typically resolved in Australian English through complementary strategies of liaison (j-gliding/w-gliding/linking-r) and glottalisation. Previous work suggests a change in progress towards increased use of glottalisation as an optimal hiatus-breaker, which creates syntagmatic contrast between adjacent vowels, particularly when the right-edge vowel is strong (i.e.at the foot boundary). Liaison continues to be used when right-edge vowels are weak, but glottalisation as a hiatus resolution strategy in general appears to be increasing and may be more common in speakers from non-English speaking backgrounds raising the question of whether exposure to linguistic diversity could be driving the change. We examine hiatus resolution in speakers from neighbourhoods that vary according to levels of language diversity. We elicited gliding and linking-r hiatus contexts to determine how prosodic strength of flanking vowels and speakers' exposure to linguistic diversity affect hiatus resolution. Results confirm that glottalisation occurs most frequently with strong right-edge vowels, and gliding/linking-r are more likely with weak right-edge vowels. However, strategies differ between gliding and linking-r contexts, suggesting differing implementation mechanisms. In addition, speakers from ethnolinguistically diverse areas produce increased glottalisation in all contexts supporting the idea that change to the hiatus resolution system may be driven by language contact.

Vowel hiatus resolution strategies in the Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga languages: a micro-variation analysis

Guthrie classifies Lungu as M14, Mambwe as M15 and Namwanga as M22. Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga (LuMaNa) have been characterised as emanating from a language called Fipa. The purpose of this article is to account for similarities and microvariations in the LuMaNa languages by examining the strategies evident in the manner that vowel hiatus is resolved. Using micro-variation linguistic theory, particularly in Bantu languages, and insights from studies on hiatus resolution in Bantu languages, the article identifies and presents the various morphophonological processes used in the three languages to resolve the VV [vowel, vowel] sequences. The article concludes that vowel elision and glide formation are the preferred hiatus resolution strategies, and that these strategies are largely applied similarly in the LuMaNa languages. In particular, Lungu and Mambwe are so similar that they might as well be regarded as the same language. Namwanga shows minor variations in some aspects of vowel hiatus resolution from the other two languages, but not wide enough to be considered mutually unintelligible.

Vowel hiatus resolution in Koine Greek

Abstract The spellings -ις, -ιν instead of -ιος, -ιον are a characteristic feature of Koine Greek. The circumstances in which they arose have constituted a vexed question. Their presence in Egyptian Greek documentary papyri from III BC to VIII AD stands out. Nowadays it is possible, thanks to new digital tools, to access all the regularized spellings in modern editions. Analysis and typological comparison allow us to rethink the hypotheses put forward in previous studies. In particular, it is useful not to study these spellings independently of the spellings -oῦ, -ῶ(ι) instead of -ίου, -ίω(ι). The graphic omission of ⟨o⟩ in some forms and of ⟨ι⟩ in others reflects different results of a vowel hiatus resolution process in sequences of increasing sonority [i.V(C)]. This process is gradient and different allophones could be represented by the same spelling. Of the possible factors for the omission of ⟨o⟩ or ⟨ι⟩, the word accent distribution is the basic cause determining the final form. However, as usually happens in processes of vowel hiatus resolution in other languages, other internal or external factors may also have influenced the results. Due to this gradience in the process and the distinction of glides of different types, the effect of V1 (converted into a glide) on the previous consonant could be different from what has been documented in [Cj] groups in other stages of Greek.

Idiosyncratic Hiatus Resolution: An Argument for Gradient Harmonic Grammar

This paper discusses implications for generative theories of phonological idiosyncrasy, based on two vowel reduction patterns exhibited in Palauan. First, the process involves multiple degrees of idiosyncrasy; in cases of stress shift, vowels may surface faithfully, reduce to some unpredictable degree, or delete entirely. Second, the process involves unpredictability with respect to the patterning of tautomorphemic vowels with respect to hiatus resolution. We show that Palauan vowel reduction and hiatus resolution receive a parsimonious analysis in Gradient Harmonic Grammar (Smolensky & Goldrick 2016), a weighted constraint system in which individual segments and features are specified for non-integer degrees of activity (i.e. presence) in input forms. By proposing that vowels in Palauan may be specified for distinct input activity values, we are able to capture the idiosyncratic patterning of individual vowels within these two processes.

Some remarks onh-anticipation in Ancient Greek

AbstractThis paper investigates the phonological tendency of Ancient Greek to anticipate word-internal aspiration to a word-initial segment (vowel, voiceless stop, or /w/). Special attention is paid to the relationship of this tendency with hiatus resolution. A close look at the philological data shows that several processes ofh-anticipation should be distinguished: in particular, various kinds of perceptually-driven leftward migration of aspiration (sporadically lexicalized) must be kept apart from a later synchronic rule that movedhto the new onset when two syllabic nuclei coalesced. The hypothesis that the latter phenomenon could accompany not only vowel coalescence but other types of hiatus resolution as well, including elision and glide-formation, may provide explanation for some hitherto obscure cases. The results of this study also have implications for the theoretical discussion of sporadicity in sound change, as they could provide further evidence for the controversial category of phonetically-conditioned sound change with probabilistic conditioning.

Optimality Theoretical Approach in Resolving Vocalic Hiatus in Tiv Language

This paper investigates vocalic hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv language. Hiatus is a phonological phenomenon whereby two vowel sounds occur in adjacent syllables with no intervening consonant. It is a dispreferred configuration in many languages but when it inevitably occurs, it is resolved through some of these strategies: epenthesis, vowel assimilation, vowel elision, secondary articulation, vowel coalescence, glide formation and diphthongization. Though there are other hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv, for want of time and space, this paper examines the most common ones: vowel assimilation and vowel elision, as hiatus resolution/repair strategies in Tiv, through the lenses of the Optimality Theory. It adopts a descriptive and analytical research design. The intuitive phonological ability of the researcher and oral interview through purposive sampling were used for eliciting data. Data were presented and analysed in tables. The study establishes the occurrence of vowel hiatus in Tiv. It demonstrates that vocalic hiatus is dispreferred in Tiv as it is in many other languages of the world. The study has shown that Tiv utilises inter-alia vowel assimilation and vowel elision to resolve vowel hiatus. The resolution is meant to ease articulation of Tiv words. Well-formedness of vowel configurations in Tiv was found to be constraint based in which case optimality of a candidate that undergoes repairs through either vowel assimilation or elision is determined by the ranking of the universal constraints that interact in the selection of candidates.

Phonological and Morphological Influences on Vowel Hiatus Resolution in Rutooro

When the morphology of a language creates instances of successive vowels, these cases of vowel hiatus are often resolved or repaired. This paper presents a wide variety of instances where vowel hiatus is created within verbs in Rutooro, a Ugandan Bantu language. It is shown that five different strategies are employed to resolve vowel hiatus: deletion, gliding, diphthongisation, epenthesis, and lexical allomorphy. While some of these processes are largely phonological, there are a number of morphological factors which also play a role in determining which of the various strategies are employed. All of these are explored and discussed.

Morphology-phonology interplay in lexical stress assignment: Ichishkiin Sɨnwit

AbstractThis paper presents a novel analysis of the stress system of Ichishkiin Sɨnwit (Sahaptian). Ichishkiin Sɨnwit has been previously analyzed as a unique example of a stress system requiring a ranking of the Affix Faithfulness constraints over the Root Faithfulness constraints. I argue, however, that such idiosyncratic stress mechanisms are not necessary. Instead, I propose that accent assignment iscyclic: Underlying accent in the outermost derivational layer within the relevant domain wins. A central role in this analysis belongs to (i) the underlying specification of morphemes for accent, and to (ii) morpho-prosodic domains. The current proposal additionally offers an insight into the role of morpho-prosodic domains in the hiatus resolution strategies.

Affrication of Voiced Labials (/B, V/) in Changana

This article describes and analyses the frication of the voiced labial
 consonants (/b/ and /v/) in Changana, a Bantu language (S53, in Guthrie’s
 1967-1971 classification). In the light of the autosegmental phonology (Leben
 1973, 1978, 2006; 1973, Goldsmith 1976, 2004; Odden 1986) combined with
 the Feature Geometry theory, the article discusses phonological processes
 that turn voiced labials into labial-alveolar affricate [bz]. In this study, we
 assume that the process of hiatus resolution by gliding is the trigger of the
 alteration under analysis. That is, when derivative suffixes with low vowel
 (/a/) and the high front vowel (/i/) in the initial position are attached to
 words with rounded vowels (/o, u/) in final position in some morphological
 processes such as diminutivisation and locativisation, the results are
 undesirable sequences (hiatus). In order to resolve such hiatus, a series
 of phonological processes such as the turning of the rounded vowel in the
 word final position into labial-velar glide allowing the adjacency of voiced
 labials with labial glide which violates the Obligatory Contour Principle
 (OCP) takes place. The present study analyses the OCP using empirical
 Changana data collected both in the fieldwork supplemented by data from
 other sources including bibliographical and introspective data. The article
 is organised as follows. Firstly, it discusses the theoretical framework;
 secondly it analyses the Hiatus Resolution in Changana; thirdly, it analyses
 the data and lastly, it presents the main conclusions of the study.

Resolving hiatus in Tonga

The study investigates hiatus contexts and hiatus resolution strategies in Zimbabwean Tonga. Data for this research were collected through intuition because one of the researchers is a native speaker of Tonga. The data were verified by other native speakers of Tonga. The analysis is couched within generative CV Phonology model (Clements & Keyser, 1983). The study establishes that Tonga does not allow vowel hiatus and when it occurs it is resolved by vowel deletion, secondary articulation, glide formation, glide epenthesis and vowel coalescence.These strategies do not operate haphazardly but they are motivated by different morphosyntactic and phonological environments. The study also found out that compensatory lengthening accompanies each strategy in well-defined morphosyntactic and phonological contexts. Morphosyntactically, it accompanies other hiatus resolution strategies in the verbal domain and infinitive verbs. Phonologically, compensatory lengthening accompanies other strategies when V1 is either /u/ or/i/. The major contribution of this research is typological because it adds to the Bantu literature as to how Tonga language resolves hiatus. Tonga is unique in the sense that it uses accompanying compensatory lengthening. Compensatory lengthening in Tonga occurs only in the verbal domain when V1 is either /u/or/i/.

Consonant Insertion in Iyinno: A Critique

Unlike vowel insertion (epenthesis), consonant insertion is a rare occurrence in languages. It is against this backdrop that this study examines the occurrence of consonant insertion in Ì̩yí̩nnó̩ as claimed by Ibikunle (2008:122). He (Ibikunle 2008:122) claimed that, there is an insertion of voiced bilabial nasal [m] between two nouns while combining them to form new words. This paper shows that, the voiced bilabial nasal [m] found between two nouns in the lect is not the case of consonant insertion but rather, an associative morpheme (a genitive marker) [mὲ] which has lost its vocalic anchor as a result of hiatus resolution across morpheme boundary. Also, our study reveals that, after [mέ] has lost its vocalic anchor, the nasal feature of [m] got transferred to the (oral) V1 of the second noun across morpheme boundary.

Consonant Insertion in Iyinno: A Critique

Unlike vowel insertion (epenthesis), consonant insertion is a rare occurrence in languages. It is against this backdrop that this study examines the occurrence of consonant insertion in Ì̩yí̩nnó̩ as claimed by Ibikunle (2008:122). He (Ibikunle 2008:122) claimed that, there is an insertion of voiced bilabial nasal [m] between two nouns while combining them to form new words. This paper shows that, the voiced bilabial nasal [m] found between two nouns in the lect is not the case of consonant insertion but rather, an associative morpheme (a genitive marker) [mὲ] which has lost its vocalic anchor as a result of hiatus resolution across morpheme boundary. Also, our study reveals that, after [mέ] has lost its vocalic anchor, the nasal feature of [m] got transferred to the (oral) V1 of the second noun across morpheme boundary.

Vowel Hiatus Resolution Processes as Delimiters of Prosodic Domains in Kisa

In a language, certain phenomena are sensitive to specific prosodic domains. In a model of morphology syntax phonology interaction in which morphological and syntactic structure projects phonological domains belonging to a set hierarchy, each phonological process refers to a specific level of that hierarchy. Therefore, describing a phonological process generally requires specifying the domain within which it applies. In Kisa, a Bantu language spoken in Western Kenya, a sequence of two vowels with different qualities is unacceptable. The ill-formed sequence is repaired through at least one of the vowel processes: gliding, coalescence, raising, assimilation and deletion. These vowel processes involve vowels occurring at different morphological and syntactic boundaries and apply within different prosodic domains in Kisa. Using a qualitative descriptive design and basing on data generated by the author as a native speaker of Kisa, this study identifies and describes the boundaries at which and the prosodic domains in which the vowel processes stated above apply. The findings show that unacceptable vowel sequences occur both at morphological and syntactic boundaries in Kisa. The strategies used to repair the unwanted vowel sequences at each boundary differ depending on the combining vowels. Further, the findings of the study show that the vowel processes attested in the language apply in different domains.

Hiatus Resolution Mechanisms in Old English

Old English has several strategies of hiatus resolution, which have received a lot of at- tention in different theoretical approaches. This article discusses these strategies from a constraint-based approach within Optimality Theory. The analysis relies mainly on the solutions proposed by Opalińska (2002; 2004; 2006), and reveals the hierarchy of preference between 4 strategies of hiatus resolution: contraction, diphthongisation, gliding, and glide insertion. It is shown that all mechanisms are a result of the interaction of differ- ent constraints. The article reveals that diphthongisation is the most optimal mechanism, whereas contraction occupies the last position due to the violation of weight preservation principle. The goal of this article is to advance Opalińska’s solution by demonstrating that the preference for a given hiatus resolution strategy results from the fact which particular subset of constraints is needed to activate this strategy.

Hiatus Resolution Mechanisms in Old English

Old English has several strategies of hiatus resolution, which have received a lot of at- tention in different theoretical approaches. This article discusses these strategies from a constraint-based approach within Optimality Theory. The analysis relies mainly on the solutions proposed by Opalińska (2002; 2004; 2006), and reveals the hierarchy of preference between 4 strategies of hiatus resolution: contraction, diphthongisation, gliding, and glide insertion. It is shown that all mechanisms are a result of the interaction of differ- ent constraints. The article reveals that diphthongisation is the most optimal mechanism, whereas contraction occupies the last position due to the violation of weight preservation principle. The goal of this article is to advance Opalińska’s solution by demonstrating that the preference for a given hiatus resolution strategy results from the fact which particular subset of constraints is needed to activate this strategy.

The disambiguating effects of phonological exceptions in grammar

This paper explores the analytical and typological consequences of lexically-indexed constraints in Optimality Theory; namely, that the introduction of an indexed constraint by an exception can force the determination of otherwise unspecified rankings in the grammar. This “disambiguating” effect makes two important predictions. First, the typology of exceptional blocking is more complex than has been traditionally assumed: in addition to typical non-undergoing (=faithfulness-obeying) exceptions, exceptions that block a regular repair but undergo an alternative instead (referred to here as “walljumping” exceptions) are also predicted to exist. Second, the forced determination effect means that the existence of an exception determines the possibility or impossibility of other exceptional and regular patterns in the grammar. Using two exceptions to the hiatus resolution conspiracy in Mushunguli (Somali Chizigula, ISO [xma]) as a test case, I show that these predictions hold true, and demonstrate that indexed constraints allow for a unified analysis of hiatus resolution in the language. This result builds upon and strengthens prior observations made by Ito & Mester (1995) regarding the behavior of stratal faithfulness constraints, and supports a view of exceptions as clarifying and reifying agents within the grammar.

Hiatus resolution in Persian: The case of [ɟ]-epenthesis

Abstract This paper analyses the case of hiatus resolution in the /e-i/ and /e-ɑ/ environments in tetrasyllabic words in Persian, within an Optimality-theoretic framework. Hiatus is avoided in Persian by the insertion of an epenthetic consonant which varies considerably depending on the morpho-phonemic environment in which hiatus occurs. It is argued that the insertion of [ɟ] as a hiatus-resolving consonant in Persian is historically driven. We follow Naderi and van Oostendorp (2011) in assuming that the hiatus-resolving [ɟ] is actually a latent segment at the end of bases ending in /e/ – in some words as a relic from the Middle (Pahlavi) Persian and in others as a matter of analogy – surfacing only in certain morpho-phonemic contexts. We argue that the two hiatus-resolving consonants realised in an /e-i/ environment in Persian – i.e., the phonetically-driven [ʔ] and the historically-driven [ɟ] – are in complementary distribution depending on the grammatical class of the output word. Within an OT framewor...

An Optimality Analysis of Hiatus Resolution Strategies in Olusuba

An Optimality Analysis of Hiatus Resolution Strategies in Olusuba Walter Ochieng Sande, Dr. Emily Ayieta Ondondo, Prof. Francis Owino Rew Abstract Vowel hiatus is a prohibited configuration of vowels in many languages of the world. This study is established to examine strategies used to resolve vowel hiatus in Olusuba, a Bantu language spoken in parts of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT). The work describes two vowel processes used as hiatus resolution strategies in Olusuba. Well-formedness of data obtained in this study are analysed using OT. The theory explains how constraints interact to optimise the output in this language. Using descriptive analytic research design and following the available data obtained from native speakers of Olusuba, this paper provides two vowel processes used as strategies in resolving a sequence of dissimilar vowels in the language under study. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijlc.v7n1a4

English Vowel Hiatus and Consonant Epenthesis

Vowel hiatus arises when two vowels are locally adjacent but heterosyllabified within words or across word boundaries. In English, as well-described, vowel clash is resolved by two strategies; glide insertion and glottal stop insertion. In fact, these sounds are not underlyingly present but added for ease of articulation in casual or fast speech. Following sonority-driven prominence scale in V1-V2 sequences, the least marked glides are the most favored to fix vowel hiatus. Which glide is adopted is closely related to the feature of the first vowel; for a palatal /j/-glide, V1 is a high front vowel, for a labio-velar /w/-glide, a high back vowel and for a central liquid /r/-glide, also called the intrusive r, a non-high vowel, i.e. homorganic. Furthermore, provided that V2 gets stressed, a laryngeal plosive also fills an empty onset even though it is the most marked at the point of vowel hiatus. These hiatus resolution strategies are well-couched into Optimality Theory(OT) (Prince and Smolensky, 1993/2004; McCarthy and Prince, 1995) where Dep[F] type constraints ranked over the sonority-driven markedness constraints determine the glide j/w-epenthesis the best and the intrusive r the second-best if the former is banned. Glottal stop addition is also employed as a rescue strategy to remove vowel clash when glides are all blocked, i.e. before V2 bearing stress.