Subject: summary : c - insertion

some weeks ago i posted a query as to whether anyone knew examples of consonant insertion to separate impermissible vowel clusters , in which the choice of consonant was not conditioned by its surrounding vowels . thanks who all those who responded . their names and e-mail addresses appear with their edited remarks . i would welcome further comments on anything brought up in this summary . reason for the query : my query was prompted by work i ' ve been doing on the czech verb system in which , in certain forms from certain paradigms , a glide / j / appears that is not present in other forms . ( since most e-mail won't support czech diacritics , i ' ll spell all czech forms phonetically . an apostrophe after a consonant indicates its palatalization . ) typical of such verbs is the verb [ d ' elat ] " to do " : [ d ' ela : ] " he / she / it does " [ d ' elaji : ] " they do " [ d ' elaji : c ] active participle ( plural ) in old church slavonic and in russian , this / j / appears in all persons of the present tense in related paradigms ( e . g . , russian [ d ' elajet ] " to do " 3rd per . sing . ) and creates a vjv sequence , which historically contracted into a long vowel in czech ( e . g . , [ d ' ela : ] ) . in most current phonological accounts of west slavic languages , such as rubach ( 1993 ) , this / j / is considered to be present underlyingly , but then needs to be deleted in almost all forms of these verbs . this representation seemed too abstract to me , and when i considered czech phonotactic restrictions ( see charts in palkova ( 1994 ) ) from an autosegmental viewpoint , it occurred to me that the / j / ( where it does survive ) may simply be inserted to break up impermissible v clusters or to prevent formation of overlong syllable nuclei . the only sticking point in this was that / j / often appears between non-high vs or vs with which it shares no obvious features . as i found out from the responses and from searching i ' ve done since , the epenthesis of consonants between non-homorganic vowels is not as uncommon as one might assume . so far , the norm seems to be that cs inserted at morpheme boundaries will be glides ( even between non-high vs ) unless there is a relic consonant that has been retained , and sometimes analogically extended , in a given environment . in all cases i ' ve found where the inserted c is a relic , that c is coronal . more data would be greatly welcome . the responses : albert ortmann ( ortmann @ sapir . ling . uni-duesseldorf . de ) mentioned several examples : english intrusive / r / , french t-epenthesis in interrogative forms , dutch insertion of / j / and / v / between non-high vs morpheme internally ( e . g . , theater [ te : ' ( j ) a : t @ r ] ; zovals [ zo : ' ( v ) als ] " like , as if " ) , and swiss german insertion of / n / between certain hosts and clitics ( e . g . groesser wie-n - i " taller than - ep - i " ) . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = subj : vowel clusters from : spscob @ main . queen-margaret - college . ac . uk from : spscob @ main . queen-margaret - college . ac . uk x - from : spscob @ main . queen-margaret - college . ac . uk ( dr james m scobbie ) some people might think that / r / sandhi in english is of the type you are looking for , but really / r / is just the consonantal glide counterpart of non-high vowels , so it 's just like finding / j / near / i / or / w / near / u / . note , however , that to avoid inserting / r / in certain socially stigmatised environments , many speakers insert glottal stop : law [ ? ] and order instead of law [ r ] and order = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = subj : c - insertion from : seegmiller @ apollo . montclair . edu ( steve seegmiller ) karachay , a turkic language , has a clear case of a consonant appearing under certain circumstances involving what would otherwise be v - v sequences . the plural suffix is - le or - la ( depending on vowel harmony ) , so that at ' horse ' has the plural atla . however , if the plural suffix is itself followed by another suffix beginning with a vowel , an - r - appears : atlari " m ' my horses ' . ( the 1sg possessive suffix is - im / i " m / um / u " m ) . the - r - is clearly historical , since the karachay forms with - r - are similar to the ordinary turkish form . that is , the turkish forms corresponding to the karachay ones given above are at , atlar , atlari " m . the thing i do n't know is whether there is motivation for postulating this - r - in the underlying form of the plural suffix or not . there are some reasons to say yes and some to say no , so i ' m not sure . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = from : gladney @ vmd . cso . uiuc . edu i do n't have references , but here are three e examples i have noticed : freebie , sukie ( a diminutive of sue ) , and the l . a . lakers . best wishes , frank y . gladney . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = from : karlrein @ aol . com subj : intrusive glides i do n't know if this is what you are looking for , but portuguese has [ y ] s and [ w ] s that come between more open final and initial vowels . in some dialects ( continental and insular ) ' na agua ' is [ n ( schwa ) + y + agwa ] . when nasal vowels are on both sides , the [ y ] is nasal . in many varieties ( all ? ) ' no ano ' is [ nu + w + ( mid-central a ) nu ] . sorry about the lack of symbols . karl reinhardt , dept . of modern and classical languages , university of houston . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = from : ferry @ cimrs1 . mnhn . fr to : jpkirchner @ aol . com for glide insertion in eskimo language you can see : jorgen rischel , topics in west greenlandic phonology , akademisk forlag , copenhagen , 1974 . insertion of nasal velar or nasal uvular to prevent the fusion of two long vowels . best regards philippe mennecier , muse ' e de l ' homme , paris = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = subj : consonant insertion picard @ vax2 . concordia . ca ( marc picard ) i think you ' ll probably find find that most cases of consonant insertionare the result of analogy . in french , for example , what should be chante-il ' is he singing ' is actually chante - t-il , the epenthetic / t / having been introduced in all first conjugation verbs through the influence of a final 3 sg final / t / in the other conjugations , e . g . finit-il , fait-il , recoit-il , etc . also , because of final consonant deletion , words like abri 's helter ' and debit came to have an identical ending . however , because so many such forms alternated with morphologically complex words ending in / t / , some original vowel-final words acquired this consonant in composition so that , for example , abriter came to replace abrier ( which is still used in canadian french in the sense of ' to cover ' ) . you ' ll also find cases like clou ' nail ' with derived forms either with or without / t / , e . g . clouer ' to nail ' vs . cloute , clouterie , cloutier . although / t / is the 'd efault ' consonant , as it were , you ' ll also find cases like joli , jolie ' pretty ' yielding enjoliver ' to embellish ' ; you ' ll also find family names like joliet and jolivet . i ' m sure you can find out more about all this stuff in mildred pope 's from latin to modern french . marc picard = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ( in this one i have edited out those of mr . alvarez 's examples containing characters that did not survive transmission . he also included an extensive spanish outline of the guajiro language and people , which i ' ll make available to those who request it . jk ) subj : c - insertion in guajiro x - from : jalvar @ conicit . ve ( jose r . alvarez ) in guajiro , an arawakan language spoken in colombia and venezuela , all the six vowels show a contrast between short and long . long vowels ( written as double vowels in the practical orthography ) and diphthongs ( written as two vowels ) behave alike for the process of consonant insertion to be described shortly . whenever the situation arises where due to morphological concatenation we have a theme ( complex or monomorphemic ) ending with a long vowel and a suffix beginning with a long vowel , an epenthetic [ h ] ( written as j ) or [ w ] ( written as w ) is inserted to break up the impermissible vowel cluster . the choice of either [ h ] or [ w ] is simply a matter of dialect differences , [ h ] being preferred by the arribero speakers and [ w ] preferred by the abajero speakers . the insertion of [ h / w ] to break up vowel clusters applies with no conditioning by the surrounding vowels , that is , it is a general and very productive process . atpanaa + ee + chi - ) atpanaajeechi or atpanaaweechi " it will be rabbit " ke + kii + ee-shi - ) kekiijeeshi or kekiiweeshi " he wants to have a ( good ) head " a + ko ' ojoo + ee + shi - ) ako ' ojeeshi or ako ' oweeshi " he wants / wanted to embrace " contrary to what these few examples may lead one to suspect , this epenthesis in not conditioned by the presence of a long ee in the second half of the cluster . it is simply an accident of guajiro morphology that very common suffixes have this long vowel ( - ee future , - ee desiderative , - eema apparentative , etc . ) . however , only [ w ] is used in epenthesis in certain cases . this last case is particularly important in infinitive formation . a guajiro infinitive may end with one of the six long vowels aa ee ii oo uu uu [ this last vowel is / uu / with " umlaut " - - jk ] or with the sequence waa . this duality in infinitive formation is directly related with the phonological structure of the stem from which the infinitive is constructed : if the final syllable of the stem is light , that is , if it ends with a short vowel , then the final vowel is lengthened ; if the final syllable of the stem is heavy ( that is , if it ends with a long vowel or a diphthong ) , then - aa is suffixed , an epenthetic [ w ] being added . the infinitives ashakataa / a = shaka-ta - aa / ( 0 = get . off - tt-inf ) " to get off " y cheecheewaa / cheechee-aa / ( soft - inf ) " to be soft " illustrate this contrast . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = thanks again to all who responded . i 'd welcome more examples if anyone knows of any . james kirchner jpkirchner @ aol . com
