Minimality, weight and melodic content: The view from French and Berber hypocoristics

Mohamed Lahrouchi (1)

1 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage

This paper, mainly devoted to the French hypocoristic formations, offers a Strict CV account for word minimality. It argues that the shape of the truncated forms can be analyzed without appeal to any prosodic hierarchy. The template which the truncated forms use minimally consists of two CV units, which correspond to the minimal domain where Proper Government applies, hence the Minimal Word. In line with previous studies, prosodic weight is viewed as function of the number of vocalic positions each form contains. Moreover, it is claimed that complex onsets may contribute to weight, provided that their second consonant contains a closure element: obstruent+lateral behaves as a genuine cluster which enclose a metrically-active V position, while obstruent+rhotic forms one single segment. In support of the proposed analysis, a brief account for the structure of Tashlhiyt Berber hypocoristics is provided.

Keywords: branching onsets; weight; word minimality; Berber; French; Hypocoristics

Domains: Linguistics

Mohamed Lahrouchi. Minimality, weight and melodic content: The view from French and Berber hypocoristics. 2021. ⟨halshs-03483236v2⟩