Abstracts Language, Literature, and Linguistic

The Consonants of Gosiute

by Dirk Allen Elzinga

This dissertation is an analysis of the consonantal phonology of Gosiute, a member of the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages. The Numic languages are characterized by consonant alternations and distributional patterns which are rooted in patterns of phonetic naturalness. In this dissertation I provide an analysis of these patterns of distribution and alternation within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993). This dissertation accomplishes three things. First, it provides the most detailed treatment to date of the consonant system of a Numic language. Second, it demonstrates the efficacy of Grounding Theory (Archangeli and Pulleyblank 1994) in the analysis of the consonantal patterns under investigation. Third, it shows that Optimality Theory is up to the task of providing a framework for the analysis of large portions of the phonological system of a single language. Chapter 1 situates Gosiute within the Uto-Aztecan language family and provides an overview of the consonant alternations found Gosiute (known in the Uto-Aztecan literature as Spirantization, Gemination, Nasalization, and Aspiration). I provide an overview of Optimality Theory and the Grounding Hypothesis (Archangeli and Pulleyblank 1994) and outline the organization of the dissertation. In chapter 2, I discuss the distribution of continuancy and voicing in obstruents in Gosiute. Voiced obstruents occur intervocalically or following nasals, voiceless ones occur elsewhere. Likewise, continuants occur intervocalically while stops occur elsewhere. These simple facts, which underlie the system of Gosiute consonant gradation, are readily described and explained by positional grounding interacting with context-free grounding and faithfulness requirements. In chapter 3, I provide an introduction to the analysis of final features in Gosiute. I discuss the distributional properties of final features and examine Gemination in some detail. I show that there are arguments for considering final features to be full segments rather than floating features or "latent segments" (Zoll 1996). The argument for Gemination consists in the featural content of the final feature itself. I propose that Gemination consists of a root node specified [+consonantal] since its effects are restricted to consonants. In chapter 4 and 5, I give accounts of Nasalization and Aspiration in Gosiute. Like Gemination, I argue that these final features are best considered full segments rather than latent segments. The argument for segmental status of these final features comes from their interaction with the accusative suffix -a. Chapter 6 is an examination of coronal alternations in Gosiute. Coronal obstruents are found in distributional patterns which depend on the presence or absence of a preceding front vowel. In the pattern I call Fronting, alveolar stops alternate with dental stops – dental stops occur following front vowels, while alveolar stops occur elsewhere. In the pattern I call Palatalization, dental affricates alternate with palato-alveolar…