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Direction of Assimilation in Child Consonant Harmony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Joe Pater  and
Adam Werle
Joe Pater
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Adam Werle
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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Abstract

In child language, consonants often assimilate in primary place of articulation across intervening vowels. In adult language, primary place assimilation occurs only between adjacent consonants. In both cases, the first consonant usually assimilates to the second. The standard analysis of directionality of local assimilation in Optimality Theory uses positional faithfulness to protect the second consonant. In this article, it is argued that directionality in child language assimilation is due not to positional faithfulness, but to a markedness constraint that specifies that a consonant preceding a dorsal must agree in place of articulation with it. Along with directionality, this constraint accounts for cases in which dorsals, but not labials, trigger assimilation, which occurs in Korean as well as in child language. Differences between the attested types of assimilation in adult and child language can be explained by differences in the activity of positional faithfulness in the two domains.

Résumé

Résumé

Dans le parler de l’enfant, l’assimilation consonantique du lieu principal d’articulation se produit souvent indépendamment de la présence d’une voyelle entre les consonnes. Chez les adultes, cette assimilation ne se produit qu’entre consonnes adjacentes. Dans les deux cas, la première s’assimile généralement à la deuxième. L’analyse standard de la directionnalité de l’assimilation locale dans la théorie de l’optimalité veut que la seconde consonne soit protégée par la « préservation positionnelle ». Dans cet article, il est proposé que la directionnalité dans l’assimilation chez les enfants ne relève pas de la préservation positionnelle, mais bien d’une contrainte de marque spécifiant qu’une consonne précédant une dorsale doit prendre son point d’articulation. De plus, cette contrainte rend compte des cas où les dorsales, mais non les labiales, causent l’assimilation, un phénomène observable tant en coréen que dans le langage des enfants. Certaines différences entre les types d’assimilation attestés chez les adultes et chez les enfants peuvent être expliquées par des différences dans l’effet de la préservation positionnelle dans chacune des populations.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 48 , Issue 3-4 , December 2003 , pp. 385 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2003

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