On the Analysis of Aspirated Weak Syllables in English

Stuart Davis, Department of Linguistics, Indiana University

This talk concerns the analysis of aspirated weak (stressless) syllables in American English that is exemplified by the 3rd syllables in such words as "Mediterranean", "abracadabra" and "lollapalooza".

The following questions will be adressed:

a. Is the voiceless stop in words like Mediterranean really aspirated?

b. If it is, is it exceptional or does it reflect a regular pattern? (Jensen 2000, Pater 2000 vs. Steriade 2000)

c. If the aspiration on the /t/ in Mediterranean reflects a regular pattern, how is the 3rd syllable footed, if at all? Would there be other evidence for the footing?

d. How would this be captured in an OT analysis?

e. Does paradigm uniformity play a role? Does this account for the difference observed by both Withgott (1982) and Steriade (2000) between the unaspirated /t/ in the third syllable of 'capitalistic' vs. the aspirated /t/ in the third syllable of 'militaristic' (where the lack of aspiration in 'capitalistic' seems to reflect the lack of aspiration on the /t/ in 'capital' and the aspiration on the /t/ in 'militaristic' seems to reflect the aspiration on the /t/ in 'milithary')?


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Last modified: Sun Nov 4 21:34:47 PST 2001