Vocoids: In this collaborative work we examine several processes that front vocoids induce as
triggers. We start with a description of palatalization, using Standard Modern Greek and other Greek
dialects
as an empirical basis. We then introduce a new, so far undescribed type of palatalization, dubbed strengthened
palatalization. Despite its similarity to secondary
palatalization, we argue that it is a different
process because it is triggered by an unrealized high front /i/, unlike secondary palatalization, where
the
high vocoid gets to be realized alongside the preceding consonant as a secondary gesture. Furthermore, the
output of strengthened palatalization is different because it lacks the primary cue of secondary
palatalization, that is, F2 raising in VC sequences. Next, we examine glide hardening, a process
complementary
to palatalization because it is also triggered by a high front vocoid. However, in glide hardening the
glide
is maintained as a separate segment and is strengthened into a palatal fricative (or even a stop). By
focusing
on the triggers – rather than the outputs, we attain a unified account of both palatalization and glide
hardening as enhancement processes that aim at strengthening the phonetic cues of their targets for
reasons
of
perceptual salience.
Baltazani, M., E. Kainada, A. Revithiadou & N. Topintzi. 2016. Vocoid-driven processes:
Palatalization and glide hardening in Greek and its dialects. Glossa: A Journal of General
Linguistics
1, 1–28, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.108
Ancient Greek pitch accent: We extend Itô & Mester’s (2016) tone-based analysis of the recessive
pattern in Ancient Greek to enclitic constructions and the so-called σωτῆρα (sotera) words. The hub
of
Itô & Mester’s proposal is that recessive accentuation results from a tonal constellation that includes the
basic word melody, i.e. HL, and a word-final boundary tone L%
that is strictly confined to the last mora of
the word, e.g. oHiLkoL%s ‘house’. This analysis, however, cannot straightforwardly account for the
accentual behavior of enclitic structures, especially those in which the final syllable of the host –
presumably reserved for the L% – surfaces with a H tone, e.g. oHiLkoHs tinos ‘someone’s house’. Furthermore, it
cannot
explain the dubious accentual behavior of word-final consonant clusters, especially in relation to the
retraction of H in σωτῆρα-type words like kεHεryks ‘orator’, instead of
the
expected kεεHryLkL%s,
without postulating an additional stratum. We claim, however, that Itô & Mester’s analysis can be easily
sustained provided it is amended, first, with the notion of phonological adjunction (Itô & Mester
2007,
2009) that provides a more refined layering of phonological structure necessary for the prosodification of
certain enclitic patterns and, second, the premise that phonological representations are built of symbols
(e.g. segments, moras) that are numerically gradient (Smolensky & Goldrick 2016). Gradient
representations allow us to distinguish between moras with different degrees of strength and hence make
various tonal processes sensitive to such strength differences.
Revithiadou, A. 2018. Ancient Greek pitch accent: Extending tonal antepenultimacy to enclitics
and the σωτῆρα words. In Itô and Mester Festschrift, Bennett R., A. Brasoveanu, D. Buckley, N.
Kalivoda, S. Kawahara, G. McGuire & J. Padgett (eds.).
https://itomestercelebration.sites.ucsc.edu/festschrift
Glides: In collaborative work with George Markopoulos (Ph.D. candidate) and Polina Messinioti (MA
student), we shed light on a rather controversial issue of Greek phonology, namely, the exact nature of
glides
by investigating the formation of derived glides in a group of Greek dialects.
Revithiadou, A., G. Markopoulos & P. Messinioti. 2013. Gliding under Turbidity. Poster
presented at OCP11, Leiden University & Meertens Institute, Amsterdam-Leiden, January 22-25,
2014.
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