Chapter 4: The proposal
4.1 Glide epenthesis at the left edge of a constituent
4.1.1 Word-initial position
While cross-linguistically glides naturally arise in transitions from one vowel to the next, there are languages in which prevocalic glides may occur word-initially. The evidence for this claim was laid out in Chapter 2 with the data from dialectal Polish (i.e., the Podhale Goralian dialect, Kurpian Polish, and rural Polish – recall the discussion in section 2.2.1). It has also been said that in Kashubian, /j/ and /w/ are found word-initially, as indicated by the examples in (1) below.61 The glide /w/ is
60This chapter looks at the word-initial epenthesis in Kashubian, thus a Slavic language. The typological overview in Chapter 2 showed that in Germanic languages, glottal stops rather than glides are found word-initially before vowels. However, as has been shown in Chapter 3, the status of word-initial glottal stop epenthesis as an onset-driven process has been challenged in the literature (Blevins, 2008). Rather, it has been postulated that the emergence of the glottal stops may be explained phonetically.
Consequently, this chapter does not consider this phenomenon.
61The transcription of the words in (1) is proposed by the author of this dissertation.
122
found before the mid back vowel /ɔ/ (1a) and the high back unrounded/ʉ/ (1b).62, 63 The high front glide /j/ is found before the high front vowel /i/ and the mid front /ɛ/
(1c).64 An argument for the epenthetic nature of those glides appears if the examples are juxtaposed with their cognates from Polish, in which the glides are not found in the parallel positions. The data from Kashubian in (1) below are taken from Czaplicki (2020: 117‒118) (1a‒b), and Breza and Treder (1981: 70) (1c‒d).
(1) Kashubian: word-initial glide epenthesis
KASHUBIAN POLISH
SPELLING SURFACE FORM SPELLING SURFACE FORM GLOSS
a. òni [wɔɲi] oni [ɔɲi] ‘they’
òjc [wɔjts] ojciec [ɔjtɕɛts] ‘father’
òwca [wɔftsa] owca [ɔftsa] ‘sheep’
b. ùmarł [wʉmar] umarł [umarw] ‘he died’
ùrwało [wʉrvawɔ] urwało [urvawɔ] ‘(it) fell off’
c. jigła [jigwa] igła [igwa] ‘needle’
jimiã [jimja] imię [imjɛ] ‘name’
jic [jits] iść [iɕʨ] ‘go (inf.)’
d. jewanieliô [jɛvaɲɛljө] ewangelia [ɛvaŋgɛlja] ‘gospel’
Jewa [jɛva] Ewa [ɛva] ‘proper name’
The word-initial glides in Kashubian, which surface in the words in (1) above cannot be classified as transitional segments since no transition takes place – the words provided in (1) are pronounced as indicated in isolation, thus the glide occurs
word-62Czaplicki (2020: 119) observes that words that start with <ù> in spelling are realized with [wʉ] or [wɨ]. However, according to Czaplicki (2020: 118), the sound change is a result of /w/ prothesis before former */u/ and the subsequent fronting and loss of roundness. Consequently, the process may be historically viewed as insertion of /w/ before /u/.
63The data in (1a) for Kashubian illustrate the realization of the words in the south-eastern part of the Kashubia region. In the standard dialect, the words are realized with /ɛ/ rather than /ɔ/. However, the historical sound change was that from */ɔ/ to [wɔ] (see Czaplicki, 2020: 116-117) and consequently, I use the transcription [wɔ].
64According to Breza and Treder (1981: 70), some old borrowings show alternations such Jewa and Ewa
‘proper name’. Thus, the realization of these words may vary. However, epenthetic /j/ is used systematically before /i/. The unsystematic use of /j/ before /ɛ/ might indicate that while epenthesis before /ɛ/ was a historical process, it is no longer productive in modern Kashubian.
123
initially before a vowel and after a pause. Moreover, the cognate forms from Polish, in which no glide appears in the parallel context, suggest that in Kashubian the glides are the result of a prothesis. Since the word-initial glides do not play a role of transitional segments, they may be viewed as a result of an onset-driven insertion, which takes place to provide the word-initial syllable with an onset, thus satisfying the markedness requirement which favors syllables with onsets over onsetless ones.
On the theoretical side, the issue of prevocalic consonant epenthesis has been well captured by models such as Optimality Theory, as discussed in Chapter 3. In OT, the markedness requirement for syllables to have onsets is expressed by the constraint ONSET, which discriminates against onsetless syllables. To generate prevocalic consonant epenthesis, ONSET must be ranked higher than the anti-insertion faithfulness constraint DEP-IO, which governs the faithfulness of the input and the output. In addition, the optimality-theoretic account of Axininca Campa and dialectal Ukrainian in Chapter 3 showed that word-initial epenthesis requires an additional constraint, namely ALIGN-L, which militates against misalignments of the left edges of the prosodic categories, such as the syllable and the phonological word, or the morphological stem and the syllable. In languages that permit epenthesis word-initially (such as Kashubian), ONSET must dominate ALIGN-L and DEP-IO. The ranking, which derives the process in Kashubian, is provided in (2) below, and the tableau for the candidate /igwa/ follows in (3).
(2) Ranking for word-initial epenthesis ONSET >>ALIGN-L, DEP-IO
(3) Kashubian: tableau for /igwa/
/igwa/ ONSET ALIGN-L DEP-IO
a. jigwa * *
b. igwa *!
The tableau in (3) above shows that candidate (3a), which inserts a glide word-initially and violates ALIGN-L and DEP-IO, wins the evaluation, as candidate (3b) incurs a more costly violation of ONSET.
124
As shown in (1) above, in Kashubian, word-initial onsetless syllables are provided with an epenthetic glide. The discussion of the quality of the epenthetic segment in Chapter 2 showed that in the discussed Slavic and Germanic languages glides are commonly found intervocalically, while the word-initial syllable onset is often provided by a glottal stop. Thus, the data from Kashubian contradict this generalization – the word-initial syllable onset is provided with a glide. In OT terms, this can be accounted for by the appropriate ranking of the constraint *[cg], which bans glottal stops. The constraint has been used, for instance, by Rubach (2000) in his analyses of Colloquial Slovak, Bulgarian, and Polish (recall the discussion in Chapter 3). The proposed ranking for Kashubian is provided in (4) below, and the tableau which evaluates candidates with a word-initial epenthetic glide and a glottal stop follows in (5).
(4) Kashubian: ranking promoting word-initial glide insertion over glottal stop insertion
ONSET, *[cg] >> ALIGN-L, DEP-IO
(5)Kashubian: tableau for /igwa/
/igwa/ ONSET *[cg] ALIGN-L DEP-IO
a. jigwa * *
b. Ɂigwa *! * *
c. igwa *!
Candidate (5a) which inserts /j/ at the beginning of the word wins the evaluation despite violating ALIGN-L and DEP-IO, as candidate (5b) incurs a fatal violation of
*[cg]. The fully-faithful candidate (5c) fatally violates ONSET.
However, given that /j/ is a coronal sound, the analysis in (5) above is at odds with the segmental markedness already discussed in Chapter 3. According to the scale proposed, for instance, by de Lacy (2006), laryngeal segments, such as glottal stops, are less marked than coronals. Under this view, for candidate (5a) to win in the evaluation in (5), *[cg] needs to outrank *CORONAL, which is in conflict with the segmental markedness scale, according to which *CORONAL is ranked higher than
*LARYNGEAL. In addition, in Chapter 3, it has been shown that other analyses, such as
125
the prominence-based model proposed by Uffmann (2007) fall short of predicting glide epenthesis in the word-initial position. A way out of this conundrum may be found in analyses such as the one proposed by Rubach (2000: 285), who argues that in Slavic languages, epenthetic glides always come from spreading from the neighboring vowels. Under this view, output forms such as [jigwa] ‘needle’ have epenthetic glides which share root nodes with the vowels. The graphical representation in (6) below indicates that the epenthesis of /ʔ/ before /i/ results in adding a new root node (6a), while the epenthetic /j/ shares the root node with /i/
(6b).
(6) Kashubian: spreading of /j/ from /i/
X X X
a. /igwa/ Rt → *[ʔigwa] Rt Rt
X X X
b. /igwa/ Rt → [jigwa] Rt
In the parlance of OT, inserting glides that do not come from spreading is militated against by the high ranking of the constraint *RT ‘do not be a root node’. The analysis is based on Rubach’s (2000: 285‒286) account of spreading in colloquial Slovak. The ranking for Kashubian is provided in (7) and the evaluation of the input /igwa/
‘needle’ follows in (8). For expository purposes, the candidates in the tableaux are simplified. They represent only the relevant, word-initial syllables.
(7) Kashubian: ranking promoting glides which come from spreading
*RT, ONSET >> DEP
126 (8) Kashubian: tableau for /igwa/
/igwa/ *RT ONSET DEP
σ X X
Rt
a. i
* *
σ
X X
Rt Rt b. ʔ i
**! *
σ
X
Rt
c. i
* *!
Candidate (8a), that is, the one representing /jigwa/ wins the evaluation, as it does not add a new root node. The remaining candidates incur violations of *RT (8b; twice) and ONSET (8b).
The data from Kashubian in (1) above illustrate that the inserted glides are of two types, that is /w/ and /j/. The back glide /w/ surfaces before the back vowels /ɔ/ and /ʉ/ and the front glide /j/occurs before the high front vowel /i/ and the mid front vowel /ɛ/. Thus, the inserted glides agree in backness with the following vowel. As has been mentioned above, epenthetic glides are believed to come from spreading from the neighboring vowels. Under this view, output forms such as [jigwa] ‘needle’
have epenthetic glides which share root nodes with the vowels. The graphical representation in (9) below indicates that the epenthesis of /w/ before /i/ results in adding a new root node. The insertion of /j/, however, does not result in adding a new node. Rather, as has been shown in (9) above, the node is shared by the glide and the vowel.
127 (9) Kashubian: spreading /j/ from /i/
X X X
a. /igwa/ Rt → *[wigwa] Rt Rt
X X X
b. /igwa/ Rt → [jigwa] Rt
The OT account of glide insertion where /j/ is inserted before /i/ is parallel to the one presented in (8) above in that the evaluation promotes an epenthetic segment which results from spreading from the vowel. For convenience, the ranking is repeated in (10) and the evaluation of the input /igwa/ ‘needle’ follows in (11).
(10) Kashubian: ranking promoting glides which come from spreading
*RT, ONSET >> DEP
128 (11) Kashubian: tableau for /igwa/
/igwa/ *RT ONSET DEP
σ X X
Rt
a. i
* *
σ
X X
Rt Rt b. w i
**! *
σ X
Rt c. i
* *!
The tableau in (11) above shows that the candidate which inserts a new root node (11b), is eliminated in consequence of violating the constraint *RT twice. The evaluation is won by the candidate (11a) which does not insert a new root node but has a glide that comes from spreading from the root node of the vowel.
While the analysis proposed above accounts for word-initial /j/ insertion which comes from spreading from /i/, it fails to provide the explanation of /w/ insertion before the non-high /ɔ/ and the insertion of /j/ before the non-high /ɛ/. This is presented graphically in (12) below with the example of an insertion of /w/ before /ɔ/. Sharing a root node by /ɔ/ and the preceding segment results in the emergence of a non-syllabic /ɔ/. In terms of Feature Geometry, spreading from /ɔ/ to /w/ takes place at the level of the labial node. The node representing height needs to be separate, as /ɔ/ and /w/ do not agree in terms of height.
129 (12) Kashubian: no spreading from /ɔ/ to /w/
X X X
a. /ɔɲi/ Rt → *[jɔɲi] Rt Rt
X X X
b. /ɔɲi/ Rt → *[ɔ̯ɔɲi] Rt
As shown in (12) above, /j/ is spawned by the high front vowel /i/, as they share a root node. However, the analysis of spreading a glide from the mid back vowel /ɔ/
runs into difficulties as sharing a root node by the vowel and the glide results in an output form *[ɔ̯ɔɲi], as indicated in (12b). However, output forms such as [wɔɲi]
‘they’ show that in Kashubian the glide surfaces as [+back, +high], that is [w]. The insertion of /w/ before /ɔ/ requires adding a separate root node, which is militated against by the constraint *RT. However, the process may be accounted for if one uses level distinction, available, for instance, in Derivational Optimality Theory. As already mentioned in Chapter 3, the model of analysis proposed by DOT postulates a level distinction. In the DOT model, an output candidate which wins the evaluation at leveln
is an input to the evaluation at leveln+1. The proposed model of analysis of insertion of /w/ before /ɔ/ in Kashubian is two-fold, as two phonological operations take place.
First, a glide that is specified as [+back, ̶high] is spawned by the vowel /ɔ/ in order to satisfy the constraint ONSET. The resulting [+back, ̶high] glide does not incur a violation of *RT, as it does not add a new node. However, such non-high glides do not exist in Kashubian. In OT, the occurrence of such glides is penalised by the constraint proposed in (13).
(13) *MIDGLIDE
‘non-high glides are prohibited’.
At level 1, *MIDGLIDE must be ranked low in order to legitimate the epenthesis of the word-initial glide in /ɔ̯ɔɲi/ (enforced by ONSET), without adding a new root node.
At level 2, where the desired output form [wɔɲi] is arrived at, one needs to postulate
130
a constraint that penalizes the lack of identity of the inserted glides in terms of height in order to generate the desired form [wɔni] from the input /ɔ̯ɔɲi/. The latter is achievable with the IDENT(F) constraints family (McCarthy and Prince, 1995: 16).
(14) The IDENT(F) constraints family
‘Let α be a segment in S1 and β be any correspondent of α in S2.
If α is [Fγ] , then β is [Fγ]. (Correspondent segments are identical in feature F)’.
According to the formulation in (14), each featural disagreement between the segment in the input and the corresponding segment in the output (here a glide) results in a violation of an IDENT(F) constraint. For the present analysis, a constraint that is violated by the lack of identity in terms of height between /w/ and /ɔ̯/ is IDENT[high] (in the tableaux presented as ID[high]). On the other hand, Replacing /ɔ̯/
with a front glide /j/ results in violating IDENT[high] and IDENT[back] (ID[back] in the tableaux), as the two segments do not agree in terms of height and backness. The aforementioned constraints are relevant at level 2, where a lack of identity between the glides in the input and in the output is at stake. At level 1 the constraints do not play a role, as there is no glide in the input.
The ranking at level 1, where the insertion is driven by ONSET is provided in (15) below and the evaluation follows in (16).65
(15) Kashubian: ranking generating word-initial glide insertion (level 1) ONSET, *RT >> *MIDGLIDE >> IDENT[back], IDENT[high]
65Note that at level 1 features representing backness are omitted, as they are not relevant for the evaluation.
131 (16) Kashubian: level 1 tableau for /ɔɲi/
/ɔɲi/ ONSET *RT *MID
GLIDE
ID
[back]
ID
[high]
σ
X X
Rt
[ ̶high]
a. ɔ
* *
σ
X X
Rt Rt
[+high] [ ̶high]
b. w ɔ
**!
σ
X X
Rt Rt
[+high] [ ̶high]
c. j ɔ
**!
σ X
Rt [ ̶high]
d. ɔ
*! *
132
The evaluation in (16) above is won by candidate (16a) with a glide that comes from spreading. At level 1, candidates (16b) and (16c) are eliminated in the consequence of adding a new root node. The faithful candidate (16d) incurs a fatal violation of ONSET. The winning candidate in (16a) is thus the input to the evaluation at level 2.
In order to generate the desired output [wɔɲi], at level 2 the constraints need to be re-ranked. *MIDGLIDE, which prohibits the occurrence of non-high glides is undominated. The ranking at level 2 is given in (17) below and the evaluation follows in (18).
(17) Kashubian: ranking generating word-intial glide insertion (level 2)
*MIDGLIDE >> ONSET, *RT >> IDENT[back] >> IDENT[high]
133 (18) Kashubian: level 2 tableau for /ɔ̯ɔɲi/
/ɔ̯ɔɲi/ *MID
GLIDE
ONSET *RT ID
[back]
ID
[high]
σ
X X
Rt Rt
[+high]
[+back]
[ ̶high]
[+back]
a. w ɔ
** *
σ
X X
Rt
[ ̶high]
[+back]
b. ɔ
*! *
σ
X X
Rt Rt
[+high]
[ ̶back]
[ ̶high]
[+back]
c. j ɔ
** *! *
The evaluation at level 2 is won by candidate (18a), which inserts a separate root node, but by violating *RT (twice) and a low-ranked IDENT[high] fares better than candidate (18b), which violates the undominated *MIDGLIDE. The remaining candidate, that is, candidate (18c), is eliminated in consequence of violating
134
IDENT[high] and IDENT[back]. Note that a parallel, two-step analysis may be applied to epenthesis of a high front-glide /j/ before the mid back front vowel /ɛ/.
To summarize, it has been shown that in Kashubian, the word-initial glide insertion is motivated by the need for syllables to have onsets. The word-initial syllable onset is provided by spreading a glide from the vowel. On the theoretical side, the OT machinery proves well-equipped to account for this pattern. However, the instances of inserting /w/ before /ɔ/ and /j/ before /ɛ/ can be successfully analyzed if one assumes a derivational step, available, for instance, in DOT. While the prominence-based analysis of Czech in Chapter 3 indicated that the level distinction can be omitted, the account of word-initial glide epenthesis in Kashubian presented above provides an argument for level distinction.