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Part of
Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2018: Selected papers from 'Going Romance' 32, Utrecht
Edited by Sergio Baauw, Frank Drijkoningen and Luisa Meroni
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 357] 2021
► pp. 205–224

Chapter 11
Catalan nativization patterns in the light of weighted scalar constraints

| Universitat de Barcelona
| CNRS, Paris 8

In this paper we analyze, from an experimental and formal perspective, the interaction and the implicational relationships between vowel reduction and word-final nasal deletion in Catalan loanwords. We present the results of both a production and a perception test carried out with 31 young speakers from the Barcelona area. Loanwords susceptible to undergoing both nasal deletion and vowel reduction display different patterns, which, according to the tests, show different degrees of likeliness. The most common pattern is underapplication of both processes, followed closely by underapplication of nasal deletion alone and at a large distance by the application of both processes. Finally, underapplication of vowel reduction and application of nasal deletion is unattested in the production test and obtains a very low score in the perception test, that is, it is a very unlikely nativization pattern. The typology of possible nativizations and the implicational relationships between the processes under scrutiny are analyzed in the framework of Harmonic Grammar under Weighted Scalar Constraints, following recent proposals by Hsu & Jesney (2017, 2018).

Keywords: loanwords, nativization patterns, implicational relationships, harmonic grammar, weighted scalar constraints, Catalan
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data
    • 2.1Word-final -n deletion and vowel reduction in Eastern Catalan
    • 2.2Underapplication of ND and VR in loanwords
    • 2.3Interaction of ND and VR in the same loanword
  • 3.Experimental surveys
    • 3.1Picture-naming production test
    • 3.2Judgment test
  • 4.Analysis with weighted scalar constraints
    • 4.1Harmonic grammar: A brief overview
    • 4.2Weighted scalar constraints applied to strata
    • 4.3Analysis of the interaction between ND and VR
  • 5.Alternative analyses
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 17 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.357.11pon
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