The Phonology of Norwegian

by Kristoffersen, Gjert

• ISBN13: 9780198237655
• ISBN10: 0198237650
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

A the end of the fourteenth century, Norway, having previously been an independent kingdom, became by conquest a province of Denmark and remained so for three centuries. In1814, as part of the fall-out from the Napoleonic wars, the country became a largely independent nation within the monarchy of Sweden. By this time, however, Danish had become the language of government, commerce, and education, as well as of the middle and upper classes. Nationalistic Norwegians sought to reestablish native identity by creating and promulgating a new language based partly on rural dialects and partly on Old Norse. The upper and middle classes sought to retain a form of Norwegian close to Danish that would be intelligible to themselves and to their neighbours in Sweden and Denmark. The controversy has gone on ever since. One result is that the standard dictionaries of Norwegian ignore pronunciation, for no version can be counted as 'received'. Another is that there has been considerable variety and change in Norwegian over the last 180 years, all of which is well documented. In this pioneering account of Norwegian phonology, Gjert Kristoffersen mines the evidence to present an original analysis of the ways in which the sounds and meanings of competing languages change and evolve. The book is written within the framework of generative phonology, making use of insights derived from Optimality Theory. Its main, and successful, purpose is to present the phonological system of Norwegian clearly and concisely.

Author Biography

Gjert Kristoffersen is Professor of Nordic Languages at the University of Bergen, and was from 1984-1988 the Editor at the Norwegian University Press.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Symbols	xiv
Map	xvi
Introduction	1	(12)
Geographical and typological remarks	1	(1)
A language with two written norms	2	(4)
A language without an officially recognized spoken norm	6	(2)
The system to be described in this book	8	(2)
Earlier accounts of Norwegian phonology	10	(1)
Transcription conventions	11	(1)
Prosody	11	(1)
Vowels	11	(1)
Consonants	12	(1)
Overview	12	(1)
Segments: Inventory and Feature Specifications	13	(28)
Phoneme inventory and phonetic realization	13	(13)
Vowels and diphthongs	13	(8)
Consonants	21	(5)
Feature geometry	26	(7)
Introduction	26	(1)
The Root node	27	(1)
The Laryngeal node	28	(1)
The Oral Cavity node	29	(1)
The Place node	29	(2)
Underspecification	31	(2)
Phonological segment structure	33	(8)
Vowels	33	(4)
Consonants	37	(4)
Phonotactic Constraints	41	(28)
The structure of the lexicon	41	(5)
Word structure	41	(1)
Roots	42	(1)
Non-cohering affixes	43	(1)
Cohering affixes	44	(2)
Phonotactic structure	46	(23)
The relationship between sequential constraints and syllabic constraints	46	(3)
Prevocalic sequencing of consonants	49	(4)
Single postvocalic consonants in monovocalic roots	53	(1)
Postvocalic sequencing of two consonants in monovocalic roots	54	(8)
Clusters of three or more postvocalic consonants	62	(3)
Bivocalic roots	65	(4)
Word Phonology	69	(44)
Lexical phonology	69	(3)
Co-occurrence constraints on laryngeal features	72	(15)
Theory	72	(2)
Surface distribution of aspiration and voice in simplex words	74	(2)
Alternations	76	(4)
Analysis	80	(7)
The phonology of coronals	87	(18)
Distribution	88	(1)
The Retroflex Rule: postlexical or cyclic?	89	(1)
The distribution of the retroflex flap	90	(1)
Assumptions about underlying representations	91	(1)
The underlying representation of the retroflex flap	92	(4)
The Retroflex Rule	96	(4)
The interaction between the Retroflex Rule and [post]-linking	100	(2)
/sl/-sequences	102	(3)
E-lowering	105	(4)
Simplification of three-consonant clusters	109	(2)
Some minor alternation patterns	111	(2)
Umlaut	111	(1)
Palatalization of dorsal stops	112	(1)
Syllable Structure	113	(27)
Introduction	113	(9)
The Prosodic Hierarchy	113	(1)
Syllabic constituents	114	(2)
Moraic structure and the representation of quantity	116	(4)
The Sonority Hierarchy, Sonority Sequencing and the Core Syllabification Principle	120	(2)
Structural properties of UEN syllables	122	(9)
Boundaries	122	(4)
Nuclei	126	(1)
Onsets	127	(2)
Codas	129	(1)
Appendices	130	(1)
Core syllabification	131	(6)
The lexical input	131	(1)
Nuclei	132	(2)
Onsets	134	(1)
Codas	135	(1)
Summary	136	(1)
Language-specific syllabification rules	137	(3)
Patch-up rules	137	(1)
Glide formation	138	(1)
Deviant syllable types conditioned by morphology	139	(1)
Stress Assignment in Simple Words	140	(28)
Introduction	140	(2)
Foot structure and foot assignment	140	(1)
How many stress levels?	140	(1)
Phonetic correlates of stress	141	(1)
Earlier accounts of Norwegian word stress	142	(2)
The traditional view	142	(1)
SPE-based analyses	142	(2)
Theoretical assumptions	144	(3)
Metrical Theory	144	(1)
Syllable weight	145	(1)
Foot structure	146	(1)
Foot parsing	146	(1)
Extraprosodicity	147	(1)
Main stress assignment	147	(15)
To what degree is stress assignment rule-governed in UEN?	148	(1)
Native simplex words	148	(1)
Names	148	(1)
Simplex loan words	149	(6)
Vowel length in closed, final syllables	155	(2)
How is poststress quantity assigned?	157	(1)
The Main Stress Rule	158	(2)
Mora Insertion and Mora Linking	160	(2)
A short comparison with Rice (1999)	162	(1)
Initial prominence	162	(4)
Weak secondary stress in simplex words	162	(3)
Initial primary stress	165	(1)
Conclusion	166	(2)
Cyclic Stress Assignment	168	(33)
Level ordering in Lexical Phonology	168	(2)
Cyclic application of the main stress rule	170	(11)
Classification of affixes	170	(1)
Cyclic stress assignment	171	(1)
Stressed cyclic suffixes	172	(2)
Prestressing cyclic suffixes	174	(4)
Prestressing, non-cohering suffixes	178	(2)
Prefixes	180	(1)
Compund stress	181	(19)
Non-cohering affixes	182	(1)
The prosodic word	182	(2)
Primary stress in compounds	184	(2)
Non-native prosodic compounds	186	(1)
Formal compounds	187	(1)
Is compound stress assignment cyclic or non-cyclic?	188	(6)
Compound stress assignment is cyclic: the case of the derivational suffix-inne	194	(2)
Extraprosodic, non-cohering suffixes	196	(3)
Tier conflation	199	(1)
Summary	200	(1)
Cyclic Syllabification	201	(32)
Introduction	201	(2)
Continuous syllabification	201	(1)
Cyclic resyllabification	202	(1)
Mora Insertion and cyclic syllabification	203	(12)
At what point in the derivation does Mora Insertion apply?	203	(5)
Closed syllable shortening in VC-final stems	208	(4)
Vowel shortening in vowel-final stems	212	(2)
Shortening in stems ending in a coronal stop	214	(1)
Summary	215	(1)
Syllabification of sonorants	215	(9)
Which sonorants may be syllabic?	216	(1)
Late syllabification or resyllabification?	216	(2)
Syllabic and non-syllabic sonorant suffixes	218	(1)
The distribution of syllabic sonorants	219	(3)
Analysis	222	(2)
Sonority-driven resyllabification	224	(9)
Nucleus adjustment in sequences of vowel plus syllabic sonorant	224	(3)
Cyclic desyllabification of sonorants	227	(6)
Tonal Accents	233	(41)
Introduction	233	(8)
A terminological note	233	(1)
Geographical overview	234	(1)
Historical background	235	(1)
Phonetic realization: the basic patterns	236	(3)
Earlier literature	239	(1)
The Accent Phrase	239	(2)
Phonological and phonetic representation	241	(12)
The tone bearing units of East Norwegian: moras or syllables?	241	(5)
Functional decomposition of the accentual melodies	246	(1)
Poststress tonal structure	247	(3)
The `word tones'	250	(3)
Distribution in underlying forms	253	(5)
Accent distribution in monovocalic roots	254	(1)
Bivocalic roots with penultimate stress	255	(1)
Longer roots with penultimate or antepenultimate stress	256	(1)
H-linking	257	(1)
Accent assignment governed by morphology	258	(5)
Tonally specified and tonally neutral suffixes	258	(5)
Exceptions	263	(1)
Accent distribution in compounds	263	(7)
Data	263	(2)
Analysis	265	(2)
Particle compounds	267	(2)
Some minor patterns and exceptions	269	(1)
Other rules	270	(4)
Delinking rules	270	(2)
Tone in simplex words with vernacular initial primary stress	272	(2)
Intonation and Rhythm	274	(25)
The relationship between tonal accent and intonation	274	(1)
The accent phrase	275	(4)
Accent Phrase formation	275	(1)
L-insertion	276	(1)
Are the accentual melodies pitch accents?	277	(1)
The right-edge H%	278	(1)
Higher order constituents: the Trondheim Model	279	(7)
Two degrees of phrasal prominence: focal and non-focal APs	279	(3)
Stress, accent and rhythm	282	(1)
The relationship between intonation, syntax and information structure	283	(1)
Declination: Prefocal and postfocal APs	284	(1)
AP-external syllables	284	(2)
Postlexical accent shift	286	(6)
H-delinking after for	287	(1)
Stress shift and H-insertion in particle groups	288	(2)
Accent shift as marker of emotional involvement	290	(2)
Summary	292	(1)
Other intonational patterns	292	(1)
The `No big deal' intonation	292	(1)
The `calling contour'	293	(1)
Rhythm	293	(6)
The representation of linguistic rhythm	293	(1)
Evidence for rhythmic structure	294	(3)
A Norwegian Rhythm Rule	297	(1)
The syllabic trochee as a prosodic template	298	(1)
Postlexical Segmental Phonology	299	(41)
The postlexical level	299	(3)
The lexical/postlexical divide and the prosodic hierarchy	300	(1)
Syntactic and lexical constraints: P1 versus P2 rules	301	(1)
Phonetic implementation rules	301	(1)
Prosodic constituency beyond the lexicon	302	(8)
A prosodic hierarchy derived from morpho-syntactic structure	302	(1)
A prosodic hierarchy based on prominence relations and pragmatics	303	(2)
Can the hierarchies be related?	305	(5)
Post-lexical coronal phonology	310	(9)
Resyllabification of r	310	(1)
/r/-deletion	311	(4)
The Retroflex Rule	315	(2)
[ap]-spreading from non-rhotic apicals	317	(2)
Nasal Place Assimilation	319	(8)
Assimilation between Place nodes	319	(8)
Assimilation within Place nodes	327	(1)
The realization of unstressed word-final empty vowels	327	(4)
Empty Vowel Truncation	328	(1)
Homorganic Trapping	329	(2)
Clitics	331	(8)
Clitic types	331	(1)
The place of clitics in the prosodic hierarchy	332	(1)
Pronominal clitics	333	(2)
The negative clitic /-ke/	335	(3)
Directionality of incorporation: Proclisis or enclisis?	338	(1)
Conclusion	339	(1)
Orthographic Conventions	340	(8)
Underlying orthographic principles	340	(1)
The alphabet	341	(1)
Prosodic features	341	(2)
Quantity and stress	341	(2)
Tonal accents	343	(1)
Vowels	343	(2)
Consonants	345	(2)
Silent consonants	345	(1)
Consonant clusters corresponding to one speech sound	346	(1)
Diacritics	347	(1)
References	348	(13)
Index	361