Buizza, E and Plug, L (2012) Lenition, fortition and the status of plosive affriction: the case of the spontaneous RP English /t/. Phonology, 29 (1). 1 - 38. ISSN 0952-6757
Abstract
This paper reports on a phonetic and phonological study of /t/-affrication in spontaneous British English Received Pronunciation. The study is motivated by the uncertainty surrounding plosive affrication in the literature on lenition and fortition. We suggest that a decision as to the status of a given pattern involving affrication in terms of lenition or fortition should be based on thorough phonetic and phonological analysis. We present a phonetic and phonological account of /t/-affrication, which takes into consideration the temporal and spectral characteristics of the sounds involved, as well as their distribution across phonological environments. Crucially, we compare affricated instances of /t/ with aspirated and fricated ones in the same dataset ― the former arguably unmarked in this variety, the latter uncontroversially the result of lenition. We argue that the phonetic and phonological characteristics of /t/-affrication presented in this paper are consistent with an account in terms of fortition rather than lenition.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2012, Cambridge University Press. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Phonology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures & Societies (Leeds) > Linguistics & Phonetics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Nov 2013 17:21 |
Last Modified: | 15 Sep 2014 02:42 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0952675712000024 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/S0952675712000024 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:77060 |