Patterning of laxing spreading in Quebec French

Quebec French laxing is a rather well-known phonological process, starting from the tense vowels [i], [y], and [u] being rendered lax in some closed syllables. This process can also trigger laxing of high vowels in preceding syllables as well, though the nature of this process remains a source of de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2024-03, Vol.155 (3_Supplement), p.A168-A168
Main Author: Aigner-Therrien, Philippe
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Quebec French laxing is a rather well-known phonological process, starting from the tense vowels [i], [y], and [u] being rendered lax in some closed syllables. This process can also trigger laxing of high vowels in preceding syllables as well, though the nature of this process remains a source of debate, whether it is a spreading process or vowel harmony. In addition to the nature of the process itself, the patterning that occurs for the laxing spreading is one that has been long discussed, particularly when it comes to words with more than two syllables. Poliquin (2006) lists three different possible patterns that the laxing may take. The goal of this thesis was to not only confirm the presence of the spreading patterns found in Poliquin(2006), but also to determine to what degree they occur within native speakers of Quebec French. While the results seem to confirm the presence of laxing spreading, the frequency at which they occur seems to be rather low and vary not only from speaker to speaker, but also within the same speaker.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/10.0027192