Publications

The present paper aims to provide the first analysis of Ukrainian phonotactics and morphonotactics, compare them qualitatively and quantitatively, and explain the difference between these two perspectives. Further, the paper explores the morphological complexity of consonant clusters in the Ukrainian language. The research is limited to consonant clusters in word-initial position compared to earlier studies in other Slavic languages, namely Russian and Polish. With respect to markedness, two hypotheses were tested, suggesting that morphonotactic clusters are expected to be less preferred than phonotactic, and that cluster preferability is directly proportional to frequency. Additionally, there have been discussed predictions of clusters' preferability derived from the Net Auditory Distance principle. Link.

Lexical frequency effects in word recognition are considered a reliable index of how compounds are accessed (Amenta & Crepaldi, 2012) – either via their constituents – door and bell (Taft, 2004) or as a whole word (Giraudo & Grainger, 2001) doorbell or via both these processes occurring in parallel (Baayen & Schreuder, 2000). If compounds are initially decomposed, behavioral data (e.g. response times, RTs) will be modulated by the frequency of individual morphemes. However, if compounds are recognized via full form, no morpheme frequency effects are expected. Past research has suggested that the nature of compounds’ lexical access might be modulated by phonological qualities of consonantal clusters across morpheme boundaries, as specified by the Net Auditory Distance (NAD) (Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, 2014). Lijewska et al. (2016) tested advanced learners of English as L2 in a (visual) lexical decision task and found that L2 learners appear to be sensitive to the qualities of word-medial clusters in compounds. Learners’ RTs to compounds with preferred word-medial clusters (according to NAD) were statistically significantly modulated by full form frequency but not by morpheme frequency. Whereas compounds with dispreferred clusters (according to NAD) showed no full form frequency effects but marginally significant morpheme frequency effects. However, it is unclear to what extent the participants of that study activated the phonological representations of the stimuli during a visual task. Consequently, the present paper is a replication of that research with a group of Polish speakers of English as L2 in the auditory lexical decision task. The participants are presented with the same 248 items but as auditory stimuli and asked to decide if these constitute English words or not. We expect a confirmation of the role of NAD in lexical access in the auditory modality. The observed frequency patterns will be discussed in the context of models of compound processing.

Full book available at: https://austriaca.at/8714-1inhalt?frames=yes

‘German phonotactic vs. morphonotactic obstruent clusters: a corpus linguistic analysis’ by Wolfgang U. Dressler and Alona Kononenko-Szoszkiewicz presents a corpusbased study of the obstruent clusters in German. In particular, the paper investigates the distribution, in terms of type and token frequency, of triple consonant clusters (excluding glides) containing two obstruents. The study is framed within the NAD (Net Auditory Distance) model, a net reflection of the difference between adjacent segments in terms of the manner and place of articulation (Dziubalska-Koáaczyk 2002). One main result discussed by the authors is that, according to NAD predictions, (at least triple) morphonotactic clusters are preferred over phonotactic clusters for German word-¿nal position, which supports the Strong Morphonotactic Hypothesis (SMH, as described above). This must be compared with psycholinguistic evidence, as reported in the chapter by SommerLolei et al. (below). The typological characterization of the German language with regard to the word-¿nal and word-initial obstruent clusters, in contrast to Slavic and other Indo-European languages, is also discussed at the end of the paper. Link.

We study first language acquisition of Croatian morphonotactic vs. phonotactic word-initial consonant clusters. Morphonotactic clusters cross a morpheme boundary, such as /sl/ in s+ložiti 'to arrange', whereas phonotactic clusters occur within a morpheme, as in slad+o+led 'ice-cream'. With a new method we show that, similarly to equally morphology-rich Polish and Lithuanian, the three investigated Croatian children acquire morphonotactic clusters earlier than homophonous phonotactic clusters. We also study preferences of double and triple word-initial consonant clusters via the concept of Net Auditory Distance (NAD), never before used for Croatian, with partially unexpected results. When dealing for the first time in studies of (mor)phonotactic development with the rise of cluster complexity, we will show that morphonotactics creates new complexity. Since children do not learn directly the target language, as represented in grammars, dictionaries and electronic corpora of written or oral adult language, we compare the development of child speech (CS) systematically with the children's language input, i.e. child-directed speech (CDS) of their caretakers. In this way, we can achieve a higher degree of ecological validity than with formal transversal tests. The three longitudinal corpora of spontaneous interaction between a child and a caretaker (Croatian Corpus of Child Language, Kovacevic 2002) have been recorded, transcribed and coded according to the methodologies of the international project CHILDES and the Crosslinguistic Project on Pre- and Protomorphology in Language Acquisition headed by the second author. The results are compared with those of the acquisition of morphonotactic vs. phonotactic clusters by Polish children. Diverging results are due to structural differences between these two Slavic languages. Link.

Both German and Russian can be characterized as rather consonantal languages with respect to the relative amount of their consonantal inventory, variety and complexity of consonant clusters. The present study compares typological differences between German and Russian morphonotactic and phonotactic triple consonant clusters in both word-initial and word-final positions, i.e. in the periphery of the morphological word. For typological purposes, published evidence from English, Polish, and Slovak is compared in honor of the pioneering work in the area by Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kolaczyk and her team, especially in terms of NAD and the Beats-and-Binding Model. Our research shows that the major differences include asymmetric distributions of consonant clusters within the word: German is richer word-finally, Russian word-initially. In German, all peripheral morphonotactic consonant clusters are formed directly due to morphological concatenation whilst in Russian there are cases determined by morphology-induced vowel deletion. The differences in cluster inventory are related to the fact that the amount of morphonotactic clusters in Russian is greater due to Russian both being more of a consonantal language and having a richer inflectional and derivational morphology than German. The latter fact explains why the majority of word-initial consonant clusters in Russian is morphonotactic, whereas the lack of German word-initial morphonotactic consonant clusters is due to the absence of monophonemic consonantal prefixes and of morphology-induced word-initial vowel deletion. Link.

This book provides a refreshing perspective on the description, study and representation of consonant clusters in Polish. What are the sources of phonotactic complexity? What properties or principles motivate the phonological structure of initial and final consonant clusters? In answering these questions, a necessary turning point consists in investigating sequences of consonants at their most basic level, namely in terms of phonological features. The analysis is exploratory: it leads to discovering prevalent feature patterns in clusters from which new phonotactic generalizations are derived. A recurring theme in the book is that phonological features vary in weight depending on (1) their distribution in a cluster, (2) their position in a word, and (3) language domain. Positional feature weight reflects the relative importance of place, manner and voice features (e.g. coronal, dorsal, strident, continuant) in constructing cluster inventories, minimizing cognitive effort, facilitating production and triggering specific casual speech processes. Feature weights give rise to previously unidentified positional preferences. Rankings of features and preferences are a testing ground for principles of sonority, contrast, clarity of perception and ease of articulation. This volume addresses practitioners in the field seeking new methods of phonotactic modelling and approaches to complexity, as well as students interested in an overview of current research directions in the study of consonant clusters. Sequences of consonants in Polish are certainly among the most remarkable ones that readers will ever encounter in their linguistic explorations. In this volume, they will come to realise that hundreds of unusually long, odd-looking, sonority-violating, morphologically complex and infrequent clusters are in fact well-motivated and structured according to well-defined tactic patterns of features. Link.

In this paper, we take up the challenge of exploring the relationship between markedness and frequency in phonotactics. The study is based on word-initial and word-final consonant clusters in Polish and English. The aim of this study is threefold. First, we establish logarithmic frequencies for word-initial and final consonant clusters compiled from two resources, a dictionary (or paradigm) and a written corpus. Second, we examine the preferability status of clusters in three frequency bands (high, mid, low) in terms of two phonotactic principles, i.e. sonority and Net Auditory Distance. Finally, we test the correlations between degrees of markedness and frequency. The present paper extends our previous studies on comparative Polish–English phonotactics, where markedness and frequency constitute the core of the analysis. The study shows that there is no relationship between cluster markedness and its frequency. As to frequencies, Polish and English differ from each other with respect to the distribution of clusters in the dictionary list, while the disproportions are neutralized in usage. Link.

The book Polish (mor)phonotactics in first language acquisition, connected speech and cluster processing is devoted to the empirical study of Polish phonotactics. The research is conducted in the framework of Natural Phonology, which is a preference theory where clusters are placed on a continuum from the most to the least preferred ones. The character of the cluster is determined by the Net Auditory Distance Principle, which stems from the Beats-and-Binding model of phonotactics. The assumptions of this principle are compared with an earlier approach to studying cluster structure, i.e. the Sonority Sequencing Generalisation. The second dimension of the study is the role of morphology in cluster production and pro-cessing (hence morphonotactics). The assumptions of the Net Auditory Distance Principle, the Sonority Sequencing Generalisation and morphonotactics are verified in three areas of external evidence: first language acquisition, spontaneous speech of adults and phonotactic processing.

Morphonotactics determines phonological conditions on sound sequences produced by morphological operations both with morphemes and across boundaries. This paper examines the historical emergence and the development of morphonotactic consonant clusters in Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, Romance and other languages. It examines the role of the following morphological preference parameters: (i) morphotactic transparency/opacity, (ii) morphosemantic transparency/opacity, (iii) morphological richness. We identify several diachronic processes involved in cluster emergence, production and change: vowel loss, Indo-European ablaut (and comparable Arabic processes), affixation, compounding, metathesis, final and consonant epenthesis. Additionally, we discuss predictions derived from the Net Auditory Distance principle, psycholinguistic evidence and language acquisition. We show that the majority of morphonotactic clusters arise, phonologically, from vowel loss, and morphologically from concatenation.

This paper shows how preferability measures can help to explain the cross-linguistic distribution of consonant clusters, their acquisition, as well as aspects of their diachronic development. Phonological preferability is measured in terms of cluster size and Net Auditory Distance, which interact with morphological complexity and frequency. Predictions derived from the preferability of clusters are tested against the evidence of language specific phonotactics, language use, language acquisition, psycholinguistic processing, and language change.

The phonotactic system of Afrikaans underwent multiple changes in its diachronic development. While some consonant clusters got lost, others still surface in contemporary Afrikaans. In this paper, we investigate to what extent articulatory difference between the segments of a cluster contribute to its successful transmission. We proceed in two steps. First, we analyse the respective effects of differences in manner of articulation, place of articulation and voicing on the age at which a cluster is acquired by analysing Dutch acquisition data. Second, we investigate the role that these articulatory differences play in the diachronic frequency development from Dutch to Afrikaans. We demonstrate that large differences in manner of articulation between segments contribute to a cluster's success in acquisition and diachrony. In contrast, large differences in place of articulation have impeding effects, while voicing difference shows a more complicated behaviour. Link.

Slovak has more consonants than German and also more consonant clusters (plus accented syllabic sonorants). In addition, their asymmetric distribution within the word is different: Slovak has more clusters in wordinitial position, German many more in word-final position. This difference is reinforced by morphology, insofar as only Slovak has monoconsonantal prefixes, and only German has monoconsonantal suffixes. The main word-internal difference is that in compounding German increases clusters, whereas Slovak decreases them. Asymmetries in terms of type frequency are radicalised in token frequency, i.e. in the profitability of clusters. In addition, clusters arise in Slovak also via vowel deletion, which is extremely rare in German (except in casual speech and in dialects). Link.

Phonotactics investigates permissible sound combinations in a language. Polish allows for as many as 4 consonants word-initially, 6 consonants word-medially and 5 consonants word-finally. Polish clusters may be phonologically or morphologically motivated. The former are referred to as lexical or phonotactic clusters, whereas the latter are labeled as morphonotactic, meaning that they emerge as a result of concatenative or nonconcatentive morphology. Consonant clusters may have varying degrees of complexity (expressed by markedness or naturalness). The goal of this paper is the analysis of the most marked clusters in Polish in several areas of external evidence: written corpora, casual speech as well as in first language acquisition. Following the assumptions underlying markedness, it is expected that the most marked clusters in Polish will be infrequent in the corpora, morphonotactic in nature, as well as frequently reduced in casual speech of adult native speakers and in early first language acquisition. The degree of cluster markedness is evaluated by means of the Net Auditory Distance principle (NAD), which specifies well-formedness conditions for clusters of different sizes and word-positions on the basis of 3 criteria, namely, manner and place of articulation as well as the distinction between an obstruent and a sonorant in a sequence. The results show that the most dispreferred clusters are fairly frequent in written corpora, morphologically-driven only to a certain extent, and more frequently simplified in first language acquisition. In spontaneous speech, however, other linguistic variables, such as frequency, dispreferred CV transitions or the pragmatics of lexical items, may override the preferability criterion. Link.

The goal of this paper is to investigate Polish phonotactics from the point of view of different measures of phonotactic preferability. The inventory of word-initial and -final clusters is extracted from a dictionary and analysed in accordance with two principles of phonotactic complexity, namely, the Sonority Sequencing Generalisation and Net Auditory Distance. Sonority entails measurements of distances between consonants expressed by the manner of articulation, whereas NAD uses the manner of articulation, place of articulation as well as the obstruent/sonorant distinction. These differences are likely to contribute to a different assessment of clusters, which is the main focus of this paper. Moreover, since a set of Polish clusters arise due to morphology, a distinction is drawn between phonotactic and morphonotactic clusters, i.e. phonologically and morphologically motivated. We are interested in verifying to what extent the principles under investigation reflect the relation between cluster preferability and morphological complexity. The analysis shows that NAD, as a more restrictive measure of phonotactics, rejects a larger portion of word-initial and -final clusters on well-formedness grounds. Secondly, we demonstrate that both principles generally show a strong relation between cluster preferability and morphological complexity. Link.

Consonant clusters appear either lexically within morphemes or morphonotactically across morpheme boundaries. According to extant theories, their diachronic dynamics are suggested to be determined by analogical effects on the one hand as well as by their morphological signaling function on the other hand. This paper presents a mathematical model which allows for an investigation of the interaction of these two forces and the resulting diachronic dynamics. The model is tested against synchronic and diachronic language data. It is shown that the evolutionary dynamics of the cluster inventory crucially depend on how the signaling function of morphonotactic clusters is compromised by the presence of lexical items containing their morpheme internal counterparts. Link.

The title of the present volume says it all. We provide a thorough description of the consonantal phonotactics and morphonotactics of Polish in a comparative perspective with English. The description is guided by the theoretical assumptions of the models we adopted, i.e. the Beats-andBinding phonology and natural morphonotactics. The tools we have used consist in the statistical analyses of language corpora, which supplied the other guideline to our research, alongside the theory. Thus, methodologically, we have combined the deductive with the inductive approach, or, in modern sociolinguistic terms, a corpus-based with a corpus-driven one. Eventually, we also arrive at some actual and potential applications of both the results of the research as well as of the data corpus itself. The aim of the research was twofold. The first aim was to verify the applicability of the Beats-and-Binding model to the study of phonotactics and of the natural morphonotactics model to the study of morphonotactics. The second aim was to provide extensive descriptive observations concerning the consonantal phonotactics and morphonotactics of Polish and English, with emphasis on the former. Link.

Consonant clusters that rarely occur lexically (i.e. within morphemes) may function as complexity markers when they span a morpheme boundary, i.e. when they occur morphonotactically. In this study we observe patterns in the diachronic dynamics of Middle English which hint at mutually beneficial effects between morphonotactic and lexical clusters. We suggest that the patterns revealed can be explained by frequency-based analogy effects in language acquisition. Link.

Phonological theories generally assume that unmarked clusters would demonstrate similar behaviour in language use, language acquisition and language production. In particular, they are expected to be more frequent, acquired earlier and easier to produce than the marked ones. It seems, however, that the frequent, early and easy clusters are nonidentical sets. Additionally, morphonotactic clusters, which are by default more prone to be marked, behave differently than the marked phonotactic clusters, in particular, they are acquired earlier. In the paper, I will draw from the recent research by myself and colleagues in order to discuss the difficulty in avoiding circularity in characterizing markedness as well as the omnipresent methodological bias connected with the choice of data, both experimental and collected, used to support claims concerning phonotactics. Link.

The aim of the present study is to test the Strong Morphonotactic Hypothesis (SMH), according to which speakers use morphonotactic consonant clusters as morphological boundary signals (Korecky-Kröll et al. 2014). It is hypothesized that morphonotactic clusters will be better retained during production than phonotactic clusters due to the function fulfilled by a morpheme. The study is based on experimental data collected from 60 Lithuanian TD children and 11 Lithuanian SLI children. This study explores the impact of morphology on the acquisition of phonotactics. The findings suggest that TD children process morphonotactic clusters more accurately than phonotactic clusters because morphonotactic clusters have the function of co-signalling the existence of a morphological rule. In contrast to TD children, for SLI children prototypical morphonotactic clusters are the most difficult as SLI children are not sensitive to morphological information which is carried by morphonotactic clusters. Link.

The paper reports on an investigation of wordmedial consonant clusters in English. Medial clusters are further subdivided into phonotactic ones, i.e. intramorphemic, and morphonotactic ones, which are morphologically complex – arising as a result of derivation or compounding. In this study we concentrate on morphonotactic clusters. We put forward the following hypothesis: since compounds may ultimately lose transparency and lexicalize, the medial clusters in compounds will tend to be relatively less marked than the medial clusters produced by derivation. In the latter, signalling a morphological boundary is a priority. In this approach, markedness is defined on the basis of the criteria of consonant description: manner and place of articulation (MoA and PoA) as well as the sonorant / obstruent distinction (S/O) between the neighbouring elements. The verification of this hypothesis has been conducted within the Beats & Binding phonotactics, which operates with the Net Auditory Distance principle (NAD). Link.

This paper presents a model of phonotactic grammar in which wellformedness of consonant clusters is measured by NAD. NAD stands for a Net Auditory Distance obtaining between segments in a cluster. The auditory distance is a net reflection of the differences between segments in terms of manner (MOA) and place of articulation (POA). It is calculated according to the Principle which states that a cluster is preferred if it satisfies a pattern of distances specified by the universal phonotactic preference relevant for its position in a word. Every position of a cluster in a word, i.e. initial, medial and final, is defined by a respective well-formedness (“goodness of cluster”) preference. The NAD Principle makes finer predictions than the sonority sequencing generalization (SSG). For example, it predicts that initial pr- is “better” (more preferred) that tr-, and they are both better than ps- or rt-, while the latter two are of comparable value.

However, phonology alone does not fully account for clusters. Inflection, word-formation and compounding contribute to the creation of consonant clusters to an extent relative to a morphological type of a language. Therefore, a phonotactic grammar operates on basic, non-derived, lexical forms, while morphonotactics takes care of the remaining, morphologically complex, forms. Interaction between phonotactics and morphonotactics provides a richer insight into the understanding of cluster complexity. Link.

Based on the theoretical framework of Dressler and Dziubalska-Kołaczyk (2006a,b), the Strong Morphonotactic Hypothesis will be tested. It assumes that phonotactics helps in decomposition of words into morphemes: if a certain sequence occurs only or only by default over a morpheme boundary and is thus a prototypical morphonotactic sequence, it should be processed faster and more accurately than a purely phonotactic sequence. Studies on typical and atypical first language acquisition in English, Lithuanian and Polish have shown significant differences between the acquisition of morphonotactic and phonotactic consonant clusters: Morphonotactic clusters are acquired earlier and faster by typically developing children, but are more problematic for children with Specific Language Impairment. However, results on acquisition are less clear for German. The focus of this contribution is whether and how German-speaking adults differentiate between morphonotactic and phonotactic consonant clusters and vowel-consonant sequences in visual word recognition. It investigates whether sub-lexical letter sequences are found faster when the target sequence is separated from the word stem by a morphological boundary than when it is a part of a morphological root. An additional factor that is addressed concerns the position of the target cluster in the word. Due to the bathtub effect, sequences in peripheral positions in a word are more salient and thus facilitate processing more than word-internal positions. Moreover, for adults the primacy effect most favors word-initial position (whereas for young children the recency effect most favors word-final position). Our study discusses effects of phonotactic vs. morphonotactic cluster status and of position within the word. Link.

In this contribution we discuss diachronic and variationist aspects of morphonotactics, a new research field that we have tried to establish over the last years (cf. Dressler & Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Rivista di Linguistica, 18: 249–266, 2006). Morphonotactics is the area of interaction between morphotactics and phonotactics and represents a subfield of morphonology, which in turn is the area of interaction between morphology and phonology (cf. Dressler, Morphonology, Karoma Press, 1985, A functionalist semiotic model of morphonology, Benjamins, 1996). We claim that in this interaction morphotactics typically creates phonotactically marked structures which occur never or only exceptionally in monomorphemic words. In our contribution we deal with typical diachronic changes. Our claim about the markedness of morphonotactic sequences is tested mainly against data from Polish, Lithuanian and other Balto-Slavic languages. Our theoretical basis draws on models of Natural Phonology (cf. Hurch & Rhodes, Natural Phonology: The state of the art, Mouton de Gruyter, 1996, Dziubalska-Kołaczyk & Weckwerth, Future challenges for natural linguistics, Lincom, 2002) and Natural Morphology (cf. Dressler et al., Leitmotifs in natural morphology, Benjamins, 1987, Kilani-Schoch & Dressler, Morphologie naturelle et flexion du verbe françis, Narr, 2005), and especially on the subtheories of universal markedness (or universal preferences) and of typological adequacy.

Morphonotactics is a term introduced by Dressler and Dziubalska-Kołaczyk (2006) to refer to the interaction of phonotactics and morphotactics. This paper examines the acquisition of phonotac-tics and morphonotactics, i.e. consonant clusters occurring within morphemes and across mor-pheme boundaries. It is hypothesized that morphonotactic clusters will be better retained in pro-duction than lexical clusters as they carry significant morphological information. Additionally, the acquisition of consonant clusters will be investigated in terms of markedness. With respect to markedness, two hypotheses have been put forward. Firstly, less marked (preferred) sequences will emerge earlier. Secondly, preferred clusters will be retained in production better. Link.

NP Extension: B&B Phonotactics This paper will report on an extension of the framework of Natural Phonology in the area of syllable phonology and phonotactics. In particular, it will present a universal model of phonotactics constructed within Beats-and-Binding Phonology (B&B Phonology, cf. Dziubalska-Kołaczyk 2002) - a syllable-less theory of phonology embedded in Natural Phonology. The thrust of the theory is the claim that intersegmental cohesion determines syllable structure, rather than being determined by it (if one insists on the notion of the "syllable" which is epiphenomenal here). The core of B&B phonotactics is the Net Auditory Distance Principle, according to which phonological naturalness of clusters can be evaluated. Link.

In this report the author will try to show the interface between phonology and
morphology on the basis of phonotactics or rather morphonotactics. Therefore,
the main focus of the empirical study is the investigation of Polish consonant
clusters with and without morphological boundaries. It is assumed that in
languages a given number of clusters will arise at morpheme boundaries.
Although these morphonotactic clusters are often marked, they will be
produced/acquired by children more easily than lexical clusters. A morphological
cluster is more likely to be retained in production as it serves a morphological
function (a new semantic or grammatical meaning is conveyed).
In Chapter 1 the author will present Polish (mor)phonotactics.
Subsequently, Polish clusters will be examined according to the criterion of
markedness. For this purpose the author will refer to the Optimal Sonority
Distance Principle (the OSDP) developed by Dziubalska-Kołaczyk (2002). Chapter
3 will be devoted to the description and analysis of the empirical study of Polish
morphonotactics on the basis of the data coming from the field of first language
acquisition. Finally, in Chapter 4 the author will show in what direction the study
will develop. Link.

In this contribution we propose the establishment of morphonotactics as a subpart of morphonology based on previous research in morphonology, Natural Morphology and Natural Phonology, notably the Beats-and-Binding model of phonotactics. Our area of investigation concerns consonant clusters.
Focusing on morphonotactics in English (5.1.), German (5.2.), Italian (5.3.)
and Polish (5.4.), we establish a gradient continuum between morphonotactics and phonotactics and investigate the impact of morphological and phonological typology on cross-linguistic differences in the number and nature of morphonotactic clusters. Link.