A PHONOLOGY OF ITALIAN IN A GENERATIVE GRAMMAR JANUA LINGUARUM STUDIA MEMORIAE NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA edenda curat C.H. VAN SCHOONEVELD INDIANA UNIVERSITY SERIES PRACTICA 93 1970 MOUTON THE HAGUE · PARIS A PHONOLOGY OF ITALIAN IN A GENERATIVE GRAMMAR by MARIO SALTARELLI 1970 MOUTON THE HAGUE · PARIS © Copyright 1970 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 77-95010 Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Printers, The Hague. PREFACE This book is a slightly altered version of my doctoral dissertation. The general aim is a description of the sound system of a variety of modern Italian within the framework of generative-transformational grammar. The writer's major thesis is the following: vowel length rather than stress is the 'linguistically significant' feature in Italian. Such a hypothesis stands in controversy with former structural descriptions, which in general uphold the converse. The content of the book is specifically directed to show that the primacy of length over stress is well supported on empirical as well as theoretical grounds. Phonetic and perceptual data is documented in classic works by Panconcelli-Calzia, Josselyn, Parmenter, and Porena. Generalizations analogous to those formulated here can be found more or less overtly stated in traditional descrip- tions from Bembo to Merlo. Of particular theoretical relevance are the specific generalizations that the proposed length hypothesis leads us to as regards major phonological phenomena like word and phrase stress, vowel and consonant length, rafforzamento, diphthongs, assimilation and ellipsis. Although the description is strictly synchronic, one can appreciate its diachronic implications by considering, for example, that / öiv+täd+e / is the underlying representation for cittd 'city' and / dik+t+o / for detto 'said'. It is important to note that the claims made in this analysis of Italian are independent of the particular notation used. They are however crucially positioned on the following guidelines. There is no explicit procedure at present for obtaining THE grammar of a language; any such grammar is a hypothesis about the language, subject to paradigmatic alternatives. The excellence of a meta- theory is measured best in terms of the 'linguistically significant' generalizations it leads us to. Montecatini MARIO SALTARELLI August, 1969 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations 9 1. Studies of Italian Pronunciation 11 2. Problems in Italian Phonology 21 2.1. Italian [ζ], [ε], [o], and Partial Complementation 21 2.2. Length or Stress? 26 2.3. Assimilation and Ellipsis 30 2.4. Constituent Stress 31 3. A Phonology of Italian 36 3.1. The Phonological System 36 3.2. Phonological Redundancy 45 3.2.1. Morpheme Structure Rules 47 3.3. Precyclic Rules 63 3.3.1. Inflection of Nouns 63 3.3.1.1. Inflection of Adjectives 66 3.3.2. Inflection of the Verb 67 3.3.3. Word Formation 74 3.3.4. Alternations 77 3.3.4.1. Palatalization 77 3.4. Phonological Cycle 78 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3.4.1. Glides 80 3.4.2. Constituent Stress 81 3.4.2.1. Primary Stress 81 3.4.3. 'Dittonghi Mobili' 83 3.4.4. Affrication 83 3.4.5. Ellipsis 84 3.4.5.1. Vowel Ellipsis 84 3.4.5.2. Consonant Ellipsis 85 3.4.6. Consonant Length and 'Rafforzamento' 86 3.4.7. Apocope 86 3.4.8. Glide Residue 87 3.4.9. Secondary Stress 87 3.4.10. Phrase Stress 88 3.4.11. Cyclic Convention Rules 89 3.5. Postcyclic Rules 89 Bibliography 93 ABBREVIATIONS Adj: adjective nsl: nasality AFF: affix O.L.: Old Latin C: consonant P: phonological C.: cycle Pf: prefix comp: compactness ph: phonetic ens: consonantality pi.: plural cnt: continuancy Plur.: plural dif: diffuseness p. pi.: past participle E: ending PREF: prefix env.: environment Prep.: preposition f.: feminine Pres.: present Fem: feminine Pst: past grv: gravity PS: primary stress Imperf.: imperfect S: sentence impf.: imperfect SF: suffix Ital.: Italian shp: sharpness L: liquid Sing.: singular Lat.: Latin SS: secondary stress Lex.: lexical (entry) strid: stridency Igt: length Subj.: subjunctive m.: masculine SUF: suffix Masc.: masculine tns: tenseness MS: morpheme structure TNS: tense n.: noun TV: thematic vowel N: noun, nasal V: vowel nas: nasality voc: vocality Neutral.: neutralizing voi: voice NP: noun phrase W, Χ, Υ, Z: string or segment