---
title: "Catalan"
author: "Abi Creighton"
bibliography: ca.bib
output: html_document
---

Last Updated: 2020-06-10

**COMPROMISED: conflation between /e/ and /ɛ/ and between /o/ and /ɔ/, depending on stress; possible conflation between vowels and glides (/j/ and /w/); some ambiguity pertaining to whether a transcription is underlying or the result of a phonological process**

# Background

**Language Family:** Indo-European / Italic / Romance / Italo-Western / Gallo-Iberian / Ibero-Romance / East Iberian

* Catalan is predominantly spoken in eastern Spain, specifically in the regions of Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. It is also spoken in parts of France and Italy, as well as in Andorra, which is a principality between France and Spain.

# Phonology

## Consonants

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE, results = 'asis'}

library(dplyr)
library(knitr)
library(kableExtra)


consonants <- read.table(textConnection('
"Manner of Articulation"      Labial  Alveolar  Postalveolar  Palatal    Velar
Stops                         "p b"    "t d"        ""          ""       "k ɡ"
Affricates                     ""     "ts dz"    "tʃ  dʒ"       ""        ""
Fricatives                     "f"     "s z"      "ʃ  ʒ"        ""        ""
Nasals                         "m"      "n"         ""          "ɲ"       ""
Flaps                           ""      "ɾ"         ""          ""        ""
Trills                          ""      "r"         ""          ""        ""
Approximants                    ""      "l"         ""         "j ʎ"      "w"
'), TRUE)

kable(consonants, col.names = c("Manner of Articulation", "Labial", "Alveolar", "Postalveolar", "Palatal", "Velar"), align = 'c') %>%
  kable_styling("bordered") %>%
  add_header_above(c("", "Place of Articulation" = 5)) %>%
  footnote(general = "Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced. Both palatal approximants are voiced, but the one on the right is lateral.", general_title = "") %>%
  column_spec(1, bold = TRUE)
```

## Vowels

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE, results = 'asis'}
consonants <- read.table(textConnection('
          Front   Central   Back
High       "i"       ""      "u"
High-Mid   "e"       ""      "o"
Low-Mid    "ɛ"       ""      "ɔ"
Low        ""        "a"     ""
'), TRUE)

kable(consonants, align = 'c') %>%
  kable_styling("bordered") %>%
  column_spec(1, bold = TRUE)
```

# Alphabet

* Whether ⟨v⟩ transcribes to /b/ or /v/ is a dialectal difference. I opted for /b/ due to it being more reflective of the standardized language [@wheeler_phonology_2005, p. 13].
* Notice that conflation exists between /e/ and /ɛ/ and between /o/ and /ɔ/, when ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ are transcribed without grave or acute accents [@Hualde1992, p. xxix]. This compromises the language.
* Word-final devoicing is reflected in spelling only when the last syllable is stressed. This creates ambiguity and conflation between voiced and voiceless consonants [@wheeler_phonology_2005, p. 7].
* Grapheme ⟨x⟩ also causes ambiguity. While there are systematic rules to determine its realization, which are generally based on stress, stress is not consistently reflected in the orthography, making transcription difficult. I have defaulted to transcribing ⟨x⟩ as /ks/.

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE, results = 'asis'}

alphabet <- read.table(textConnection('
Grapheme     Phoneme                 Comment
"a"           "/a/"                    ""
"à"           "/a/"                    ""
"b"           "/b/"                    ""
"c"         "/k/; /s/"         "/s/: preceding front vowels"
"ç"           "/s/"                    ""
"d"           "/d/"                    ""
"e"         "/e/; /ɛ/"         "/e/: default in the rules"
"è"           "/ɛ/"                    ""
"é"           "/e/"                    ""
"f"           "/f/"                    ""
"g"         "/ɡ/; /ʒ/"         "/ɡ/: preceding back vowels; /ʒ/: preceding front vowels"
"h"           ""                       ""
"i"          "/i/"                     ""
"í"          "/i/"                     ""
"ï"          "/i/"                     ""
"j"          "/ʒ/"                     ""
"k"          "/k/"                     ""
"l"          "/l/"                     ""
"m"          "/m/"                     ""
"n"          "/n/"                     ""
"o"        "/o/; /ɔ/"           "/o/: default in the rules"
"ò"          "/ɔ/"                     ""
"ó"          "/o/"                     ""
"p"          "/p/"                     ""
"q"          "/k/"                     ""
"r"        "/ɾ/; /r/"           "/r/: word-initially"
"s"          "/s/"                     ""
"t"          "/t/"                     ""
"u"          "/u/"                     ""
"ú"          "/u/"                     ""
"ü"          "/u/"                     ""
"v"          "/b/"                     ""
"w"          "/w/"                     ""
"x"     "/ʃ/; /ɡz/; /ks/"       "/ʃ/: word-initially, in onsets following a consonant, and after /i/; /ɡz/: otherwise before stress; /ks/: otherwise after stress"
"y"        "/i/; /j/"           "/j/: following a vowel"
"z"          "/z/"                     ""
**Digraph**   ""                       ""
"gu"       "/ɡ/; /ɡw/"          "/ɡ/: preceding front vowels; /ɡw/: preceding back vowels"
"gü"         "/ɡw/"             "preceding front vowels"
"ig"         "/tʃ/"             "word-finally"
"ll"         "/ʎ/"                     ""
"ŀl"         "/lː/"                    ""
"ny"         "/ɲ/"                     ""
"qu"       "/k/; /kw/"          "/k/: preceding front vowels; /kw/: preceding back vowels"
"qü"         "/kw/"             "preceding front vowels"
"rr"         "/r/"              "intervocalically"
"ss"         "/s/"              "intervocalically"
"tg"         "/dʒ/"             "preceding front vowels"
"tj"         "/dʒ/"                    ""
"ts"         "/ts/"                    ""
"tz"         "/dz/"                    ""
"tx"         "/tʃ/"                    ""
'), TRUE)

kable(alphabet, align = 'c') %>%
  kable_styling("bordered")
```

# Lenition Rules

* /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ spirantize in syllable onsets following continuants [@wheeler_phonology_2005, p. 10].
* /ɾ/ deletes word-finally [@mascaro_catalan_1972, p. 94].
* /b/ can sometimes be realized as [w] [@mascaro_catalan_1972, p. 99].
* ⟨ŀl⟩ generally undergoes degemination [@Hualde1992, p. xxviii].
* /s/ is voiced intervocalically and preceding voiced consonants (ibid.).

# Misc. Rules

* /i/ and /u/ (sometimes /o/) are realized as [j] and [w], respectively, through diphthongization (ie. in the vicinity of other vowels) [@Hualde1992, p. 375].
* /n/ assimilates in place when preceding velar obstruents [@wheeler_phonology_2005, p. 24].
* Word-finally non-strident obstruents undergo devoicing [@wheeler_phonology_2005, p. 7].
* Consonant gemination may occur [@Carbonell1992 , p. 55]. It's specifically noted for /b/, /ɡ/, /l/, /m/, /n/, and /ʎ/, but I have created a rule to account for any duplicate consonant.

# References
