Marc van Oostendorp
Schwa in phonological theory

Tuesday

Vowel deletion and vowel epenthesis in French

Some basic facts of French schwa:

• Typology by Noske (1993)

  Type A: Prevocalic schwa deletion

  l'homme	/l@#Om/	[lOm]	'the man', 'mankind'
  autre amie	/otR+@#ami+@/	[otRami]	'other friend'
  le mari	/l@#mari/	[l@mari]	'the husband'
  autre amie	/otR+@#ami+@/	[otRami]	'other friend'

  Type B: Postvocalic schwa deletion

  entendue	/ãtãdy+@/	[ãtãdy]	'heard' (fem.)
  jolie	/ZOli+@/	[Zoli+@]	'pretty' (fem.)
  risée	/Rise+@/	[Rise]	'laughed at'
  plate	/plat+@/	[plat]	'flat' (fem.)
  jalouse	/Zaluz+@/	[Zaluz+@]	'jealous' (femc.)
  comprise	/kõpriz+@/	[kõpriz]	'understood' (fem.)
  plat	/plat/	[pla]	'flat' (masc.)
  jaloux	/Zaluz/	[Zalu]	'jealous' (masc.)
  compris	/kõpriz/	[kõpri]	'understood' (masc.)

  Type C: schwa deletion in a 'two sided open syllable'

  tu devenais 'you became'	[ty.d@.v@.nE]
  	[ty.d@v.nE]
  	[tyd.v@.nE]
  Henri devrait partir 'Henri would have to leave'	[ã.ri.d@.vRE.paR.tiR]
  	[ã.rid.vRE.paR.tiR]
  Jacques devrait partir 'Jacques would have to leave'	[Zak.d@.vRE.paR.tiR]

  Type D: Schwa epenthesis in the environment CC] __ [CC

  un contact pénible	[õ&etilde;kõtakt(@)penibl]	'a painful contact'
  un index formidable	[õ&etilde;n&Etilde;dEks(@)fORmidabl]	'a terrific index'
  schwa/chva	[Sva]
  cheva	[S@va]

  Type E: Schwa deletion in phrase-initial syllables

  revenez (demain)	[r@v@ne]~[rv@ne]	'demain'
  te fais (pas de bil)	[t@fE]~[tfE]	'don't worry'

  Type F: Schwa deletion in phrase-final syllables

  je vois l'autre	[Z@vwalotR]	'I see the other'
  voilà mon oncle	[vwalamõnõkl]	'there is my uncle'
  la terre est plate	[latErEplat]	'the earth is flat'
  la route est longue	[laRutElõg]	'the road is long'

• Charette (1991) (differences with Noske)

  Ad C: Compounds

  'The word-final schwa of the first term of a compound is never manifested when it is preceded by a singel consonant.'

  pique-nique	'picnic'
  casse-noix	'nutcracker'
  passe-partout	'master'
  coupe-papier	'paper knife'

  'The situation is different, however, when in this context schwa is preceded ny two consonants. In this case the manifestation of schwa varies. It seems that what determined its presence or absence is the number of phonetically expressed syllables the second member of the compound contains.'

  porte-clefs	'keyring'
  garde-fou	'railing'
  porte-manteau	'coat rack'
  garde-manger	'meat safe'

  Ad C/D: '[In Parisian French] the manifestation of a word-final schwa preceded by two consonants varies depending on what follows. The pattern attested in compounds is also observed in sequences such as noun-adjective and verb-adverb. [...] On the other hand, in my dialect of Quebec French th[is] pattern of alternation [...] does not occur.'

  Parisian French

  arme blanche	'white arm'
  il parle bas	'he speaks softly'
  arme turquoise	'turquoise arm'
  il parle trop bas	'he speaks too softly'

  Quebec French

  arme blanche	'white arm'
  il parle bas	'he speaks softly'
  arme turquoise	'turquoise arm'
  il parle trop bas	'he speaks too softly'

  Ad C/E: No schwa deletion before h aspiré

  mets le dessus	[mEl@dsy]	'put it on!'
  retourne la	[rturnla]	'return it!'
  mets le dehors	[mEl@d@Or]	'put it outside!'
  rehausse la	[r@osla]	'raise it again!'

  Ad C/E: 'There is also a strong tendency to pronounce a schwa occurring in the initial syllable when it is followed by a consonant cluster.'

  secrétaire	'secretary'
  regret	'regret'
  degre	'degree'

  Ad C/E: 'Along the same lines, the behaviour of a word-internal schwa followed by a sequence consonant-glide varies While it may be omitted in Parisian French, there is a strong tendency for it to be realized in Quebec French.'

  cimetière	'cemetery'
  depuis	'since'

  Ad D: instances of alternation word-internally (derivational suffixes, -ment, -rie, lais, -ron, -ton, -té, -let, -voir)

  fortement	[fOrt@mã]	'strongly'
  brusquement	[brysk@mã]	'abruptness'
  lentement	[lãtmã]	'slowly'
  sagement	[saZmã]	'sinsibly'

  Ad E: schwa deletion only in bisyllabic words with nonbranching onset:

  Bisyllabic words only:

  petit gars	[ptiga]	'young boy'
  cheval	[Sfal]	'horse'
  petitesse	[ptiga]	'young boy'
  chevalier	[S@valje]	'knight'

  Nonbranching onset:

  frelon	[fr@lõ]	'hornet'
  crevasse	[kr@vas]	'fissure'
  premier	[pr@mje]	'br@bi'

• Property of schwa not directly connected to deletion or epenthesis: schwa alternates with [E] in the following contexts (Dell 1973):
  • when schwa is the final phonetically expressed segment of a word ([paqu[E]t])
  • when schwa phonetically occurs in a word-internal or word-final closed syllable

  frelon	[fr@lõ]	'hornet'
  crevasse	[kr@vas]	'fissure'
  premier	[pr@mje]	'first'

Charette (1991)

Basic assumptions: no insertion, no deletion, only interpretation: schwa is the phonetic realisation of an empty nuclear position under certain specific circumstances, viz. if it is not properly governed. As a matter of course, this summary only gives an analysis of some of the properties discussed in Charette.

PROPER GOVERNMENT:
A nuclear segment A is properly governed by a nuclear segment B, if B has phonetic content and A immediately precedes B.

Noskes type C is the key case:

O	R	O	R	O	R
|	N	|	N	|	N
|	|	|	|	|	|
l	ã	t	v0	m	ã

O	R	O	R	O	R
|	N	|	N	|	N
|	|	|	|	|	|
d	v0	v	v0	n	i	r

In the latter case, it is predicted that the form comes out as [d@vnir]. According to Noske, we also have the possibilities [dv@nir] and [d@v@nir]; in particular the latter form is problematic.

Type C/E: C] __ [CC

CONDITION ON PROPER GOVERNMENT
PG does not apply across a government domain.

O	R	O		R
|	N	|	\	N
|	|	|	\	|
s	v0	k	r	E	(t)

Paris French:

O	R	O	R	O		R
|	N	|	N	|		N
|	|	|	|	|	/	|
s	i	m	v0	t	i	E	r

Quebec French:

O	R	O	R	O		R
|	N	|	N	|	\	N
|	|	|	|	|	\	|
s	i	m	v0	t	i	E	r

Type D: License to govern.

GOVERNMENT LICENSING
Non-nuclear heads that are not followed by a nuclear head with phonological content licenser cannot govern.

O	R		O	R	O	R
|	N	\	|	N	|	N
|	|	\	|	|	|	|
p	a	r	v	v0	n	i	r

This word has to be pronounced as [parv@nir]

O		R	O	R
|	\	N	|	N
|	\	|	|	|
b	r	v0	b	i	s

This word has to be pronounced as [br@bi].

Type F: Word (phrase) final deletion

LICENSING OF WORD-FINAL EMPTY NUCLEI
A word-final empty nucleus is licensed.

R	O		R
N	|	\	N
|	|	\	|
o	t	\	v0

Advantages and problems

Some interesting aspects:

• provides a unified account of many data of several (or at least two) dialects of French
• uses only fairly general principles
• solves problem of rule inversion in an interesting way
• 'empty nuclei' are very similar to schwa nuclei

Problems:

• sensitivity to style (formal styles cannot be explained at all)
• generalisations about syllable structure are somewhat implicit
• stable schwa
• different types of schwa