Weak Prepositions in Tortosan Catalan : alternation of Prepositions, Allomorphy or Phonological Process

In this paper, starting from a brief analysis of weak prepositions in Tortosan. I try to show that the preposition a is the only one appearing in adjunct and indirect object PPs. This forces us to account for the form [an] which this preposition takes in certain contexts: specifically when it is fol...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Clua, Esteve
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:1996
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:21213
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/21213
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Morphophonology
Prepositions
Catalan dialects
Morfofonologia
Preposicions
Dialectes Catalans
Descripción
Sumario:In this paper, starting from a brief analysis of weak prepositions in Tortosan. I try to show that the preposition a is the only one appearing in adjunct and indirect object PPs. This forces us to account for the form [an] which this preposition takes in certain contexts: specifically when it is followed by a vowel initial determiner or pronoun. After considering the alternative of accounting for the relation between the preposition a and the form [an] either in terms of prepositional allomorphy or in terms of epenthesis of the coronal nasal, I have chosen the latter option, since it allows us to explain similar processes affecting other prepositions (contra 'against', cap a 'towards' and per a 'for') and the privative prefix a. Optimal syllabification (CV syllable), which is a preferred but not obligatory condition in Catalan, would be, in its formulation as the Onset Principle, the trigger for this process of consonantic epenthesis, which essentially affects the domain [clitic+word] when the former is a determiner.