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Government-Licensing and Consonant Cluster Simplification in Quebec French

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Emmanuel Nikièma
Emmanuel Nikièma*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

This article is a reanalysis of cluster simplification in Quebec French (QF) in terms of government-licensing, a condition which requires non-nuclear governing heads to be licensed by a following vowel. It is suggested, contra Côté (1997, 1998), that simplification is triggered by a structural constraint rather than a constraint on sonority. It is shown that in QF, simplification does not apply to word internal clusters such as appartement and vendredi because the following vowel is realized, but applies to forms like table and casque, and converts them into [tab] and [kas] respectively at the surface level due to the lack of a final vowel. However, cluster reduction does not apply to final clusters such as barbe, gorge, and solde in which the first member is a liquid. To account for why simplification applies in one case and not in the other, it is suggested that the two types of final clusters differ with respect to syllabification: liquids are within branching nuclei, whereas the first member of other clusters is within a branching rhyme. The case of word-final cluster simplification attested in Haitian Creole is also examined.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article est une réanalyse de la réduction des groupes consonantiques en finale de mot en français québécois. Les formes comme table et casque se réduisent respectivement en [tab] et [kas] en forme de surface, alors que celles comme appartement, garderie et vendredi ne subissent pas la réduction. Contrairement à Côté (1997, 1998) qui rend compte de la simplification en termes de contrainte d’adjacence sur le degré de sonorité des consonnes, il est montré, sur la base des faits du tangalé où le même phénomène est attesté en position médiane, que le problème est de nature structurale. Nous expliquons la réduction par la G-légitimation (government-licensing), une condition qui requiert qu’en québécois, tout comme en haïtien, les consonnes impliquées dans une relation de gouvernement soient légitimées par une voyelle. Toutefois, les mots du type barbe, gorge et solde ne sont pas soumis à la simplification. Pour expliquer cette différence de comportement, il est proposé que les liquides sont dans le noyau et non pas en position rimale (coda).

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , December 1999 , pp. 327 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1999

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