A Constraint-Based Approach of Vowel Epenthesis in Greek Child Speech
Abstract
This study investigates vowel epenthesis in Greek and aims to answer how this process facilitates language acquisition. More specifically, properties of vowel epenthesis are examined, such as the position and quality of the epenthetic vowel as well as whether it is affected by the stress system of the ambient language. Our findings are based on spontaneous speech collected from three Greek-speaking children aged 1;6.26 - 2;10.9 years old. An inserted vowel is observed at the end of monosyllabic and disyllabic loanwords so as to license a consonant that is not permitted in coda position by resyllabifying it to onset position in the new syllable. It additionally creates trochaic rhythm, which is the default stress pattern in Greek. This is especially shown from disyllabic loanwords and non-loanwords with iambic stress, which changes into trochaic with the addition of the new syllable. Further, only [+anterior] vowels are inserted due to them being always adjacent to a [CORONAL] consonant with which they share the same distinctive feature of place, namely, [+anterior]. The children’s data are analyzed according to Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993), in which the ranking of specific constraints can explain and interpret the properties of epenthesis.
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References
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Beckman, N., J. (2004). On the status of CODACOND in phonology. International Journal of English Studies, 4(2), 105-134. https://revistas.um.es/ijes/article/view/48001
Bernhardt, H., B., & Stemberger, P., J. (1998). Handbook of Phonological Development: From the Perspective of Constraint-based Nonlinear Phonology. San Diego: Academic Press.
Boudaoud, M., & Cardoso, W. (2009). Vocalic [e] epenthesis and variation in Farsi-English interlanguage speech. Concordia Working Papers in Applied Linguistics 2, 1-34.
Broselow, E. (2008). Stress-epenthesis interactions. In B. Vaux & A. Nevins (Eds.), Rules, Constraints, and Phonological Phenomena (pp. 121-148). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.7282/T3PC30C5
Demuth, K. (1995). Markedness and the development of prosodic structure. In J. N. Beckman (Ed.), Proceedings of NELS 25(2) (pp. 13-25). Amherst, MA: GLSA, University of Massachusetts. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/nels/vol25/iss2/3
Demuth, K., & Fee, J., E. (1995). Minimal prosodic words in early phonological development. [Master’s thesis, Brown University and Dalhousie University].
Demuth, K., Culbertson, J., & Alter, J. (2006). Word-minimality, epenthesis and coda licensing in the early acquisition of English. Language and Speech, 49(2), 137-174. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309060490020201
Fikkert, P. (1994). On the acquisition of prosodic structure. [Doctoral dissertation, Dordrecht: HIL].
Fleischhacker, H. (2002). Cluster-dependent epenthesis asymmetries. UCLA Papers in Phonology 5, 71-116.
Gnanadesikan, E., A. (2004). Markedness and faithfulness constraints in child phonology. In R. Kager, J. Pater & W. Zonneveld (Eds.), Constraints in Phonological Acquisition (pp. 73-108). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486418.004
Hayes, B. (1982). Extrametricality and English stress. Linguistic Inquiry, 13(2), 227-276. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4178274
Itô, J. (1989). A prosodic theory of epenthesis. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 7(2), 217-259. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138077
Itô, J., & Mester, R., A. (1995). Japanese Phonology. In A. J. Goldsmith (Ed.), The Handbook of Phonological Theory (pp. 817-838). Oxford: Blackwell.
Kappa, I. (1998). On the acquisition of prosodic structure: Evidence from Modern Greek. Paper presented at the 3rd Biannual Phonology Workshop. Utrecht.
Kappa, I. (2000). On the acquisition of fricatives in Modern Greek. In K. Nicolaidis & M. Mattheoudakis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (pp. 197-205). Thessaloniki: University Studio Press. https://doi.org/10.26262/istal.v13i0.6578
Kappa, I. (2002). On the acquisition of syllabic structure in Greek. Journal of Greek Linguistics, 3(1), 1-52. https://doi.org/10.1075/jgl.3.03kap
Kappa, I. (2009). On the acquisition of liquids in Modern Greek: A developmental account. In M. Stavrou-Sifaki, D. Papadopoulou & M. Theodoropoulou (Eds.), Studies in Greek Linguistics, Proceedings of the 29th Annual Meeting of the Department of Linguistics (pp. 478-485). Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Kappa, I. (2014). Epenthetic consonants in the (western) Cretan dialect. In G. Kotzoglou, K. Nikolou, E. Karantzola, K. Frantzi, I. Galantomos, M. Georgalidou, . . . & E. Vlachou (Eds.), Selected Papers of the 11th International Conference on Greek Linguistics (pp. 674-688). Rhodes: University of the Aegean.
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Kitto, C., & Lacy, de P. (1999). Correspondence and epenthetic quality. In C. Kitto & C. Smallwood (Eds.), Proceedings of AFLA VI (pp. 181-200). Ontario: University of Toronto. https://doi.org/10.7282/T3G15XWH
Lombardi, L. (2002). Coronal epenthesis and markedness. Phonology, 19(2), 219-251. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675702004323
Malikouti-Drachman, A. (2001). Greek phonology: A contemporary perspective. Journal of Greek Linguistics, 2(1), 187-243. https://doi.org/10.1075/jgl.2.08mal
Malikouti-Drachman, A., & Drachman, G. (1988). Greek clitics and lexical phonology. In W. U. Dressler, H. C. Luschützky, O. E. Pfeiffer & J. R. Rennison (Eds.), Phonologica 1988: Proceedings of the 6th International Phonology Meeting (pp. 197-206). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McCarthy, J., J., & Prince, A. (1995). Faithfulness and reduplicative identity. In J. N. Beckman, S. Urbanczyk & L. W. Dickey (Eds.), Papers in Optimality Theory, University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers 18 (pp. 249-384). Amherst, MA: GLSA.
Midtlyng, P. (2005). Washo morphophonology: Hiatus resolution at the edges -or- let them be vowels. In L. Harper & C. Jany (Eds.), Proceedings from the Eighth Workshop on American Indigenous Languages (pp. 50-62). Santa Barbara: University of California.
Oberly, S. (2008). An optimality-theoretic analysis of Naʋajo sibilant harmony. Coyote Papers 16: Working Papers in Linguistics, 35-53. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/126386
Pater, J. (1997). Minimal violation and phonological development. Language Acquisition, 6(3), 201-253. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327817la0603_2
Poulidakis, A. (2022). Consonant epenthesis in Greek child speech: A phonological perspective. Open Journal for Studies in Linguistics, 5(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsl.0501.01001p
Prince, A., & Smolensky, P. (1993). Optimality theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. [Master’s thesis, Rutgers University, New Brunswick and University of Colorado Boulder].
Selkirk, O., E. (1981). On the nature of phonological representation. In T. Myers, J. Laver & J. M. Anderson (Eds.), The Cognitive Representation of Speech: Advances in Psychology 7 (pp. 379-388). Amsterdam: North Holland.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)60213-7
Singh, R. (1985). Prosodic adaptation in interphonology. Lingua, 67(4), 269-282.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(85)90001-4
Slobin, I., D. (1973). Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In C. A. Ferguson & D. I. Slobin (Eds.), Studies of Child Language Development (pp. 175-208). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Smith, L., J. (2002). Phonological augmentation in prominent positions. [Doctoral dissertation, Amherst: University of Massachusetts.] https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3056278
Stemberger, P., J. (1996). Syllable structure in English, with emphasis on codas. In B. H. Bernhardt, J. Gilbert & D. Ingram (Eds.), Proceedings of the UBC International Conference on Phonological Acquisition (pp. 62-75). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.
Tzakosta, M. (1999). The acquisition of prosodic structure in Greek (in Greek). [Master’s thesis, Rethymno: University of Crete.] https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4728.5605
Tzakosta, M. (2002). The acquisition of clitics in Greek: A phonological perspective. In B. Agbayani, P. Koskinen & V. Samiian (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Western Conference on Linguistics 14 (pp. 306 - 321). FRESNO: California State University.
Tzakosta, M. (2003). Deletion and insertion: Two pathways towards optimality. In E. Athanasopoulou-Mela (Ed.), Selected Papers from the 15th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (pp. 259-271). Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. https://doi.org/10.26262/istal.v15i0.5686
Tzakosta, M., & Kappa, I. (2008). Syllable types in child Greek: A developmental account. In A. Gavarró & M. J. Freitas (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Development: Proceedings of Gala 2007 (pp. 467-471). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00097
Alber, B., & Plag, I. (2001). Epenthesis, deletion and the emergence of the optimal syllable in creole: The case of Sranan. Lingua, 111(11), 811-840.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-3841(00)00051-6
Alderete, J. (1999). Head dependence in stress-epenthesis interaction. In B. Hermans & M. van Oostendorp (Eds.), The Derivational Residue in Phonological Optimality Theory (pp. 29-50). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/la.28.03ald
Beckman, N., J. (2004). On the status of CODACOND in phonology. International Journal of English Studies, 4(2), 105-134. https://revistas.um.es/ijes/article/view/48001
Bernhardt, H., B., & Stemberger, P., J. (1998). Handbook of Phonological Development: From the Perspective of Constraint-based Nonlinear Phonology. San Diego: Academic Press.
Boudaoud, M., & Cardoso, W. (2009). Vocalic [e] epenthesis and variation in Farsi-English interlanguage speech. Concordia Working Papers in Applied Linguistics 2, 1-34.
Broselow, E. (2008). Stress-epenthesis interactions. In B. Vaux & A. Nevins (Eds.), Rules, Constraints, and Phonological Phenomena (pp. 121-148). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.7282/T3PC30C5
Demuth, K. (1995). Markedness and the development of prosodic structure. In J. N. Beckman (Ed.), Proceedings of NELS 25(2) (pp. 13-25). Amherst, MA: GLSA, University of Massachusetts. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/nels/vol25/iss2/3
Demuth, K., & Fee, J., E. (1995). Minimal prosodic words in early phonological development. [Master’s thesis, Brown University and Dalhousie University].
Demuth, K., Culbertson, J., & Alter, J. (2006). Word-minimality, epenthesis and coda licensing in the early acquisition of English. Language and Speech, 49(2), 137-174. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309060490020201
Fikkert, P. (1994). On the acquisition of prosodic structure. [Doctoral dissertation, Dordrecht: HIL].
Fleischhacker, H. (2002). Cluster-dependent epenthesis asymmetries. UCLA Papers in Phonology 5, 71-116.
Gnanadesikan, E., A. (2004). Markedness and faithfulness constraints in child phonology. In R. Kager, J. Pater & W. Zonneveld (Eds.), Constraints in Phonological Acquisition (pp. 73-108). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486418.004
Hayes, B. (1982). Extrametricality and English stress. Linguistic Inquiry, 13(2), 227-276. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4178274
Itô, J. (1989). A prosodic theory of epenthesis. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 7(2), 217-259. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138077
Itô, J., & Mester, R., A. (1995). Japanese Phonology. In A. J. Goldsmith (Ed.), The Handbook of Phonological Theory (pp. 817-838). Oxford: Blackwell.
Kappa, I. (1998). On the acquisition of prosodic structure: Evidence from Modern Greek. Paper presented at the 3rd Biannual Phonology Workshop. Utrecht.
Kappa, I. (2000). On the acquisition of fricatives in Modern Greek. In K. Nicolaidis & M. Mattheoudakis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (pp. 197-205). Thessaloniki: University Studio Press. https://doi.org/10.26262/istal.v13i0.6578
Kappa, I. (2002). On the acquisition of syllabic structure in Greek. Journal of Greek Linguistics, 3(1), 1-52. https://doi.org/10.1075/jgl.3.03kap
Kappa, I. (2009). On the acquisition of liquids in Modern Greek: A developmental account. In M. Stavrou-Sifaki, D. Papadopoulou & M. Theodoropoulou (Eds.), Studies in Greek Linguistics, Proceedings of the 29th Annual Meeting of the Department of Linguistics (pp. 478-485). Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Kappa, I. (2014). Epenthetic consonants in the (western) Cretan dialect. In G. Kotzoglou, K. Nikolou, E. Karantzola, K. Frantzi, I. Galantomos, M. Georgalidou, . . . & E. Vlachou (Eds.), Selected Papers of the 11th International Conference on Greek Linguistics (pp. 674-688). Rhodes: University of the Aegean.
Kappa, I. (to appear). Phonology: Introduction to Fundamental Notions (in Greek). Athens: Beta Publications.
Kitto, C., & Lacy, de P. (1999). Correspondence and epenthetic quality. In C. Kitto & C. Smallwood (Eds.), Proceedings of AFLA VI (pp. 181-200). Ontario: University of Toronto. https://doi.org/10.7282/T3G15XWH
Lombardi, L. (2002). Coronal epenthesis and markedness. Phonology, 19(2), 219-251. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675702004323
Malikouti-Drachman, A. (2001). Greek phonology: A contemporary perspective. Journal of Greek Linguistics, 2(1), 187-243. https://doi.org/10.1075/jgl.2.08mal
Malikouti-Drachman, A., & Drachman, G. (1988). Greek clitics and lexical phonology. In W. U. Dressler, H. C. Luschützky, O. E. Pfeiffer & J. R. Rennison (Eds.), Phonologica 1988: Proceedings of the 6th International Phonology Meeting (pp. 197-206). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McCarthy, J., J., & Prince, A. (1995). Faithfulness and reduplicative identity. In J. N. Beckman, S. Urbanczyk & L. W. Dickey (Eds.), Papers in Optimality Theory, University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers 18 (pp. 249-384). Amherst, MA: GLSA.
Midtlyng, P. (2005). Washo morphophonology: Hiatus resolution at the edges -or- let them be vowels. In L. Harper & C. Jany (Eds.), Proceedings from the Eighth Workshop on American Indigenous Languages (pp. 50-62). Santa Barbara: University of California.
Oberly, S. (2008). An optimality-theoretic analysis of Naʋajo sibilant harmony. Coyote Papers 16: Working Papers in Linguistics, 35-53. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/126386
Pater, J. (1997). Minimal violation and phonological development. Language Acquisition, 6(3), 201-253. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327817la0603_2
Poulidakis, A. (2022). Consonant epenthesis in Greek child speech: A phonological perspective. Open Journal for Studies in Linguistics, 5(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsl.0501.01001p
Prince, A., & Smolensky, P. (1993). Optimality theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. [Master’s thesis, Rutgers University, New Brunswick and University of Colorado Boulder].
Selkirk, O., E. (1981). On the nature of phonological representation. In T. Myers, J. Laver & J. M. Anderson (Eds.), The Cognitive Representation of Speech: Advances in Psychology 7 (pp. 379-388). Amsterdam: North Holland.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)60213-7
Singh, R. (1985). Prosodic adaptation in interphonology. Lingua, 67(4), 269-282.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(85)90001-4
Slobin, I., D. (1973). Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In C. A. Ferguson & D. I. Slobin (Eds.), Studies of Child Language Development (pp. 175-208). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Smith, L., J. (2002). Phonological augmentation in prominent positions. [Doctoral dissertation, Amherst: University of Massachusetts.] https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3056278
Stemberger, P., J. (1996). Syllable structure in English, with emphasis on codas. In B. H. Bernhardt, J. Gilbert & D. Ingram (Eds.), Proceedings of the UBC International Conference on Phonological Acquisition (pp. 62-75). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.
Tzakosta, M. (1999). The acquisition of prosodic structure in Greek (in Greek). [Master’s thesis, Rethymno: University of Crete.] https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4728.5605
Tzakosta, M. (2002). The acquisition of clitics in Greek: A phonological perspective. In B. Agbayani, P. Koskinen & V. Samiian (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Western Conference on Linguistics 14 (pp. 306 - 321). FRESNO: California State University.
Tzakosta, M. (2003). Deletion and insertion: Two pathways towards optimality. In E. Athanasopoulou-Mela (Ed.), Selected Papers from the 15th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (pp. 259-271). Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. https://doi.org/10.26262/istal.v15i0.5686
Tzakosta, M., & Kappa, I. (2008). Syllable types in child Greek: A developmental account. In A. Gavarró & M. J. Freitas (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Development: Proceedings of Gala 2007 (pp. 467-471). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Published
2024-07-31
How to Cite
POULIDAKIS, Anastasios.
A Constraint-Based Approach of Vowel Epenthesis in Greek Child Speech.
e-Journal of Linguistics, [S.l.], v. 18, n. 2, p. 169--179, july 2024.
ISSN 2442-7586.
Available at: <https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol/article/view/108147>. Date accessed: 17 nov. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2024.v18.i02.p02.
Section
Articles
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