Speaker: Juan Cancel (MIT)
Title: A Lenition Approach to Consonant Gradation in Nganasan
Time: Monday, May 13th, 5pm – 6:30pm
Location: 32-D831
Abstract: Nganasan (Szeverényi, Várnai, and B. B. Wagner-Nagy 2002; Endrédy et al. 2010; B. Wagner-Nagy 2018) is a Samoyedic language which exhibits a set of alternations commonly described as “Consonant Gradation”. What distinguishes these alternations from alternations seen in other languages is the environments which control them: whether the consonant in question is the onset of an open or closed syllable, or whether the consonant in question is in foot-initial position or not. In this presentation, I will argue that by using an effort-based lenition approach (Kirchner 1998) and by taking into account some diachronic changes (Castrén 1855; Mikola and B. Wagner-Nagy 2004), we can 1) analyze the alternations as a case of lenition similar to similar cases seen in other languages, and 2) provide principled reasons as to why the alternations are the ones that we see. In the end, what really distinguishes Nganasan from other languages which exhibit lenition is the blocking of lenition in one particular environment.