Catalan phonology
Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing so that fred ('cold', m. s.) is pronounced with [t] ([ˈfɾɛt], [ˈfɾət], [ˈfɾet]) while fredes ('cold', f.
[13][14][15] Table with minimal pairs: Voiced plosives (also called stops) become lenited to fricatives or approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants:[6] /b/ → [β], /d/ → [ð], /ɡ/ → [ɣ].
In Catalan and Balearic (not in Valencian), labial /b/ and /p/, and velar stops /ɡ/ and /k/ may be geminated in intervocalic position before /l/ (e.g. poble [ˈpɔbːlə] 'village, people', regla [ˈreɡːlə] 'rule').
[19][20] Intervocalic /d/ is dropped (particularly in participles) in regular speech in Valencian, with compensatory lengthening of vowel /a/; e.g. vesprada [vesˈpɾaː] ('afternoon').
[33] Everywhere else (including parts of Valencian, like its central dialect),[32] it has merged with historic /β/ so that [b] and [β] occur in complementary distribution.
[34] In Majorcan and Minorcan, /f/ undergoes total assimilation to a following consonant (just as stops do): buf gros [ˈbuɡ‿ˈɡɾɔs] ('large puff').
In careful speech, /n/ and /m/ may be geminated (e.g. innecessari [inːəsəˈsaɾi] (E) / [inːeseˈsaɾi] (W) 'unnecessary', emmagatzemar [əmːəɣəd͡zəˈma] (E) / [emːaɣa(d͡)zeˈma(ɾ)] (W) 'to store').
The articulatory features extend from a phonologically privileged position—the stressed syllable—to a weak position—an unstressed syllable—a perceptual asymmetry emphasized by the fact that the harmony trigger belongs to the radical while the assimilated segment is normally an inflectional affix.
However, in both the broadest and the narrowest versions, and even in the sporadic cases of two-way harmony that are presented here, the pattern of strong → weak extension remains constant.
The change involves the extension of the height feature again in the direction dictated by the strong → weak saliency relationship.
Similar closures are documented in various Western languages; among these, Tortosan stands out, where the phenomenon, quite variable and often limited to the elderly, presents the peculiarity that height does not only propagate from tonic vowels, but can also do so from unstressed ones (cfr.
In the last case, when the vowel of the pronoun is not strictly adjacent to the syllable that triggers the harmony, there is no assimilation; according to Morales (in prep.
), the lack of spread is related to the fact that groups of pronouns generate a secondary accent, which would protect the original quality of the vowel.
In Valencian from the south of Alicante, the harmony affects an intermediate layer between the main metrical foot and the clitic group: the prosodic word (PPr) (cfr.
In principle, these two trends should not be mutually exclusive; however, if the post-tonic sound is close-mid, the tonic mids are usually also realized as close, as shown by the plain words in example b), in which the levelling between the two vowels is almost universal.
In the variety analyzed by Cabré Castellví (2009) esdrúixol words (i.e. words with stressed on the antepenultimate syllable) are generally subject to the same restrictions and the presence of a close mid in post-tonic position implies the presence of close mids in tonic position a); the syllabic adjacency between the two vowels is key to harmony, since words like Sòcrates [ˈsɔkɾətes] or Hèrcules [ɛrkules] are usually presented without assimilation despite the presence of an unreduced post-tonic e. In the variety described by Bonet Alsina, Lloret-Romanyach & Mascaró Altimiras (2007), on the other hand, post-tonic vowels do not condition the realization of the tonic vowel in esdrúixols b).
[79] In general terms, two consecutive vowels diphthongize more frequently in Valencian, North Western Catalan and Alguerese.
[85] The dialectal distribution of compensatory diphthongization is almost entirely dependent on the dorsal stop (/k~c/) and the extent of consonant assimilation (whether or not it is extended to palatals).
However, in the case of Catalan, such a structure is fundamentally the one that has been proposed (e.g. in Mascaró Altimiras (1987)) to trigger vowel epenthesis in cases such as the followings:[87] Catalan denti-alveolar stops can fully assimilate to the following consonant, producing gemination; this is particularly evident before nasal and lateral consonants: e.g. setmana ('week'), cotna ('rind'), Betlem, rotllo ('roll').
[90] Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word (e.g. brúixola [ˈbɾuʃulə] (E) / [ˈbɾujʃola] (W) 'compass', càstig [ˈkastik] 'punishment', pallús [pəˈʎus] (E) / [paˈʎus] (W) 'fool').
[12] In Central Eastern (and North-Western Catalan), obstruents fail to surface word-finally when preceded by a homorganic consonant (e.g. /nt/ → [n̪]).
[97] Word-initial clusters from Graeco-Latin learned words tend to drop the first phoneme: gnom [ˈnom] ('gnome'), mnemotècnia [nəmuˈtɛŋniə] (E) / [nemoˈtɛŋnia] (W) ('mnemotechnical'), pneumàtic [nəwˈmatik] (E) / [newˈmatik] (W) ('pneumatic'), pseudònim [səwˈðɔnim] (E) / [sewˈðɔnim] (W) ('pseudonym'), pterodàctil [təɾuˈðaktil] (E) / [teɾoˈðaktil] (W) ('pterodactylus').
[98] Word-final obstruents are devoiced; however, they assimilate voicing of the following consonant, e.g. cuc de seda [ˈkuɡ‿də ˈsɛðə] (E) / [ˈkuɡ‿de ˈsɛða] (W) ('silkworm').
In regular and fast speech, stops often assimilate the place of articulation of the following consonant producing phonetic gemination: tot bé [ˈtod‿ˈbe] → [ˈtob‿ˈbe] ('all good').
