in French
in French
Abstract
The rhotic or "r-like sound" of Standard European French is
a segment varying in manner, both degree of aperture and voice quality. This
paper presents a broadly functional analysis of /
/
voicing within an Optimality Theoretic framework, accounting for instances of
voice assimilation, neutralization and apparent free variation. Autosegmental
analysis of // voice alternation is critiqued
based on its inability to account for voice patterns. A lenition-based approach,
taking into account active and passive voicing mechanisms, is proposed, from
which alternations between voiced and voiceless //
are seen as the result of principled phonological processes involving effort
avoidance and reduction. This analysis supports a representation of //
that is unspecified for active glottal control; essentially, the output or surface
instantiation of // derives from its
phonological environment, as constrained by universal principles of effort reduction
or avoidance. These principles are articulated in grounded constraints LAZY(glot),
targeting glottal or laryngeal effort. Other issues raised include the integration
of phonetic principles in phonological explanation, the justification for input
or underlying representations of variant phonemes and the heuristic capabilities
of proposed constraints. A concluding section comprises a discussion of the
data and the conception of voice as a phonological category.