Haitian has optional regressive nasal assimilation in a vowel-nasal (VN) context: /fami/ [fãmi] ‘family’. It is found also in recent loan-words in contexts where the source lacks phonetic nasalization. This process systematically underapplies in VNs that correspond to vowel- rhotic-nasal (VRN) sequences in French: [ʃãm] chambre ‘room’ vs. [ʃam] charme ‘charm’. We claim that etymological VRN and VR# have a different synchronic description: VRNs have no R, but VR#s do. VRNs crucially contain an empty CV that disrupts the locality between the trigger/target of nasal assimilation, hence the counterfeeding: /ʃam/ = [ʃãm] ‘room’ vs. /ʃaCVm/ = [ʃam] / *[ʃãm] ‘charm’. According to this analysis, only VR#s have synchronic R: [tε] ‘land’ vs. [ã-teʀ-e] ‘to land’. VR# forms interact with the morphology in interesting ways. Haitian has a case of nonoptimizing phonologically conditioned allomorph selection (PCA), /-a/ after V and /-la/ after C: [lapli-a] ‘the rain’ vs. [ʃat-la] ‘the cat’. However, here VR# forms create opaque and nonoptimizing R-less forms: [tε-a] / *[tε-ʀa] ‘the land’ (cf. [ã-teʀ-e] ‘to land’). This is solved with underlying floating consonants and a prevocalic phonological condition on R. PCA selection is eliminated since the surface variants are generated phonologically from unique underlying forms.
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Spring 2024
April 04 2024
Nasal Assimilation Counterfeeding and Allomorphy in Haitian: Nothing Is Still Something!
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Mohamed Lahrouchi,
Mohamed Lahrouchi
CNRS – Université Paris 8, UMR 7023 – Structure Formelle du Langage, [email protected]
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Shanti Ulfsbjorninn
Shanti Ulfsbjorninn
Modern Languages and Basque Studies, University of Deusto, [email protected]
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Mohamed Lahrouchi
CNRS – Université Paris 8, UMR 7023 – Structure Formelle du Langage, [email protected]
Shanti Ulfsbjorninn
Modern Languages and Basque Studies, University of Deusto, [email protected]
Online ISSN: 1530-9150
Print ISSN: 0024-3892
© 2022 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2022
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Linguistic Inquiry (2024) 55 (2): 255–286.
Citation
Mohamed Lahrouchi, Shanti Ulfsbjorninn; Nasal Assimilation Counterfeeding and Allomorphy in Haitian: Nothing Is Still Something!. Linguistic Inquiry 2024; 55 (2): 255–286. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00469
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