Linguistics Terms Flashcards
Rhotacism (rotacismo)
a. Loss of phonemic contrast between syllable-final /r/ and /l/. In Latin America this phenomenon is found basically in the Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela); e.g.: mejor [me.’hol] ‘better’
i. Rhotacism, lateralization
This process occurred in the change from Latin sequences [min] to Spanish [mbr]. César Gutiérrez proposes that it hapened before syncope.
FEMINAM > hembra
LEGUMINEN > legumbre
HOMINEN > homne > homre > hombre
Usualmente, según historiadores, siguió el proceso de síncopa, disimilación de nasales, y epéntesis.
Por el proceso de disimilación, se añadió con la nasal labial en [r] originando en [mr].
Competencia comunicativa
Hymes
Sociolingüístico
Actuación: o Usar bien las formas en el contexto adecuado
conlleva saber no solamente el código lingüístico, sino también cómo usarlo de una manera apropiada a la situación dada—abarca todo lo que un hablante tiene que saber para poder comunicarse bien de una manera apropiada dentro de una comunidad de habla
La competencia gramatical
se refiere al nivel de dominio que el estudiante tiene sobre la gramática de la L2. Incluye el conocimiento del vocabulario, la pronunciación, la ortografía, la formación de palabras y la estructura de frases.
Assimilation
a phoneme is modified in one or more features in such a way that the phoneme becomes more similar to a neighboring phoneme Anticipatory assimilation: [k] led to [tS] –> [ts] CINQUE, CESTA, because of the front vowel after it. In areas where it was not followed by a front vowel, it remains unchanged: CAPANNA –> cabaña
Progressive or “lag” assimilation
The modification of phonemes under the influence of a preceding phoneme. With the sequence /mb/, the second phoneme is modified to /mm/, and later simplified to a single /m/. PALUMBA –> paloma
Mutual assimilation
Two adjacent phonemes each change to merge in a pronunciation that is intermediate. /AU/ –> /o/ in CAUSA –> cosa; AUDIRE –> oír
Dissimilation
Relates to the articulatory difficulty of coordinating the articulatory movement to repeat a phoneme, which often leads to the phoneme’s replacement or elimination. AUGUSTU –> agosto (elimination of the first occurrence)
ROBORE –> roble (replacement)
ARATRU–> arado (elimination of second occurrence)
Epenthesis
The insertion of a phoneme to facilitate the articulation between two different phonemes, (typically /b/ or /d/)
HUMERU –> hombro
INGENRARE–> engendrar
NOTE: Syncope eliminates the intertonic vowel first
Metathesis
The re-ordering of phonemes to facilitate articulation within a word GENERU-->yerno PRAESEPE--> pesebre PARABLA (O.S.)--> palabra PERIGLO (O.S.)-->peligro
Phonemic split
Infrequent in the history of Spanish; likely only occurred with the phonemes /h/ and /f/. The phoneme /h/, spelt f in Latin, had an allophone [ʍ]–a voiceless labiovelar fricative– in front of the glide [w], producing fuente, fuerte [ʍwente]. Thus, there was the distinction between fablar [hablar] and fuente [ʍwente]–and there may have even been a third allophone, (which I will return to later. ) The introduction of borrowings from other languages and Latin, introduced the idea of using [f + full-vowel]. As a result, the Latin FORMA was incorporated into Spanish as [‘forma], or Occitan faisan was included as [‘faisan]. The distinction arose between [h] and [f]: horma and forma, for example. The ultimate loss of /h/ in some varieties of Spanish does not affect the split mentioned here. (p. 37, Penny)
Phonemic merger
This is the neutralization of originally distinct phonemes so that they no longer form a contrast in the same position. This happened most clearly with the phoneme O. Sp. /b/, spelt b and /β/, spelt v. Spelling evidence suggests the two were neutralized when they occurred in consonant clusters; the spellings alba and alva alternate, as do enbiar and enviar. Word-initial position was neutralized as well, and n the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, intervocalic position was also neutralized. The merger is complete by the time Golden Age literature rolls around, as can be seen in the literature. The merger is therefore complete.
Analogy
The process by which related words become more alike in form, ‘related’ referring to either meaning or function.. Examples include suegra and nuera (from SOCRUS and NURUS), and diestro and siniestro (from DEXTRU and SINISTRU).
Learned/cultismos
Borrowed from Latin via writing: fábula (from FABULA) or regular (from REGULARIS). These words do not undergo the same changes as popular words, and retain a lot of features of the original Latin, only suffering moderate modifications to allow them to fit the patterns of Spanish.
Popular/vulgarismos
Words that have a continuous oral history, undergoing all the processes of modification to be expected in Spanish. Examples include FABULARI > hablar
REGULA > reja (ploughshare)
Semi-learned/semicultismos
Words that, although they have been transmitted orally from Latin, have been remodelled during the medieval period from influence from Latin as read aloud in the church or in law courts. Examples include cruz (which should have an “o” if it followed the regular pattern of Spanish vowel change), infierno (in which, although dipthongizatio occurs, there shouldn’t be -NF-; typically, that mergers via assimilation into ff); or octubre (which could have been ochubre, but, based on the influence of read aloud OCTOBER, stayed the same with /kt/.)
Doublets (dobletes)
Cases of double transmission of words–they often show a semantic difference in meaning, with the vulgarism showing a new meaning while the learned one retains the Latin meaning. Ex. is delgado vs. delicado (from DELICATUS) or artejo vs. artículo (from ARTICULUM)
Pitch
Musical frequency of a sound; tends to be higher in the accented syllable
Energy (stress)
The loudness of a phoneme, usually produced with more muscular force (stress) than the surrounding phonemes
Duration
Length of a phoneme
Pitch-accent
The relative heights of musical notes indicate where the accent lies (used to exist in Latin), since energy was uniform and duration couldn’t have been a factor, since length was one of the features of the vowel system.
Stress-accent
Characteristic of Romance languages (including Spanish) and even English. The accented syllable is mainly signaled by energy, a.k.a. stress. For this reason, very few syllables that use a hiatus have survived in Spanish–the few exceptions include dîa, mía, and vía. Since hiatus require the equal energetic strength which was not easy to produce in O.Sp., many originally hiatus words changed into single-vowel words or ended up as a glide.
Metaphony
Vowel-raising in anticipation of following, higher vowel phonemes (typically a high vowel or a glide.) The highest tonic vowels /i/ and /u/ were exempt from this process.The glide sometimes happens early on in the process, meaning the vowel palatizes with a consonant and loses its identity early on (this happened with the [j] + /k/ or /t// as in LENTEU > lienzo or FORTIA > fuerza. Spoken Latin /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ lost their identities and eventually went through the regular process of dipthongization typically experienced by these vowels.
Typically processes of metaphony (when a higher vowel follows the stressed vowel):
/e/ is raised to /i/ VENDĒMIA > vendimia
/ɛ/ is raised to /e/ MATERIA > madera
/a/ is raised to /e/ AREA > era
/ɔ/ is raised to /o/ FOLIA > hoja
/o/ is raised to /u/ *CUNEA > cuña
Glides + metaphony, according to the vowel
/a/
1. glide within the same syllable YES metaphony
Examples: CANTAVI > [kan.tai] > canté;
AREA > [aira] > era
BASIU > [baiso] > beso
SAPIAM > [saipam] > sepa
LACTE > [laite] > leche
MATAXA > [mataisia] > madexa > madeja
2. onset of next syllable contains the glide NO metaphony
Examples: LABIU > labio
FLACCIDU > [flattsio] > llacio > lacio (limp, lank)
3. after a [dj] or [gj] NO metaphony
4. after a [lj]
ALIU > ajo
5. concerned vowel is followed by [ɲ] NO metaphony
ARANEA > araña
/ɛ/
1. glide within the same syllable YES metaphony
Examples:
MATERIA > [matɛira] >madera
CERESIA > [ke’ɾɛisa] > O.Sp. ceresa, M.Sp. cereza (cherry)
DIRECTU > [de’ɾɛito] > derecho (law, straight)
LECTU > [‘lɛito] > lecho (bed)
INTÉGRU > [en’tɛiɾo] > entero (whole)
2. The following subject contains a glide from an earlier hiatus (typically a /e/ or an /i/)–YES metaphony
Examples:
SUPERBIA > soberbia (pride, vainglory), NERVIU > nervio (nerve; strength); PRAEMIU > premio (award, prize);
3. followed by a [dj] –YES metaphony
SEDEAT > {sej̆a] > sea
4. The vowel is followed by a [ʎ] (from earlier [lj]) or [kj] or [gj]–YES metaphony
SPECULU > [es’pɛʎo] > espejo (mirror) (but VECLU > (CL VETULU) > [βɛʎo] > viejo)
5. The vowel is followed by a ɲ–YES metaphony
INGENIU > O. Sp. engeño (‘siege engine’–although this specific example should be discarded, as it is semi-learned)
/ɔ/
1. The vowel is followed immediately by [i̯], by definition in the same syllable–YES metaphony.
Examples: OCTO > [ɔi̯to] > ocho (eight); NOCTE > [nɔi̯te] > noche (night); COXU > [kɔi̯so] > OSp. coxo > M.Sp. cojo (lame)
2. The onset of the following syllable contains a glide [j] followed by another phoneme–YES metaphony
Examples: OSTREA > ɔstria> later ostra
NOVIU > novio
3. After a [dj]/ j–YES metaphony
PODIU > [pɔ palatalization of dj to dz to y o] poyo ‘stone bench’
HODIE > [hɔ, palatization of dj], syncope of ‘e’] hoy ‘today’
4. The vowel is followed by a [ʎ] (from earlier [lj]) or [kj] or [gj]–YES metaphony
Examples:
FOLIA > [‘fɔʎa] > hoja; COLLIGIS > [kɔllees} > [kɔlljes] > [kɔʎes] > coges ‘you grasp’; OCULU > [ɔʎo] > ojo ‘eye’
5. Vowel is followed by a ɲ–NO metaphony
Examples:
SOMNIU > sueño ‘dream’ (unless this form is simply an semantically extended form of SOMNU, “sueño”, I sleep)
/e/
1. The vowel is followed immediately by [i̯], by definition in the same syllable–NO metaphony.
ESTRICTU > [estreito] > estrecho, CERVESIA > [kerβeisa. > cervesa (O. Sp.), cerveza (M. Sp.); PIGNORA > [pɾeina] > prenda
2. The onset of the following syllable contains a glide [j] followed by another phoneme–YES metaphony
VENDEMIA > vendimia ‘wine harvest’
LIMPIDU > lempeo > limpio ‘clean’
SEPIA > jibia ‘cuttlefish’
VITREU > βedrjo > vidrio
3. After a [dj]/ j–NO metaphony
CORRIGIA > [ko’ɾej̆a] > correa
VIDEAT > [βej̆a] >vea
4. The vowel is followed by a [ʎ] (from earlier [lj]) or [kj] or [gj]–NO metaphony
CILIA > ceja; CONSILIU > consejo; APICULA > [aβeʎa]> abeja; TEGULA > [teʎa] > teja
5. Vowel is followed by a ɲ–NO metaphony
LIGNA > leña
/o/
1. The vowel is followed immediately by [i̯], by definition in the same syllable–YES metaphony
LUCTA > [loi̯ta] > lucha
MULTU >[mou̯to} > [moi̯to] > mucho
AUSCULTAT > [as’kou̯tat] > [as’koi̯tat} > escucha
VULTURE > [βou̯ture} > [βoi̯ture} > [βoi̯tre} > buitre
IMPULSAT > empou̯sat > empoi̯sat > empuja
2. The onset of the following syllable contains a glide [j] followed by another phoneme–YES metaphony
Examples:
RUBEU > [ruβjo] > rubio
PLUVIA > [pʎoβja] > lluvia
5. Vowel is followed by a ɲ–YES metaphony
CUNEU > cuño; PUGNU > puño
Metaphony by final Ī
Infrequent, but did exist in Spanish:
/ɛ/ to /e/ VENI > ven! (come)
/e/ to /i/ VĒNĪ > vine ( I came); FĒCĪ > hice (I did); MIHĪ > mi, TIBĪ> ti