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Trisyllabic hypocoristics in Spanish and layered feet

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Abstract

Spanish hypocoristics are usually bisyllabic and sometimes bimoraic. In this paper we study a process of truncation in Spanish that results in trisyllabic hypocoristics (Encárna ← Encarnación, Mariájo ← María José). Trisyllabic hypocoristics usually surface with amphibrach (weak-strong-weak) rhythm (Encárna ← Encarnación), although some forms show anapest (weak-weak-strong) rhythm (Marijó ← María José). This article develops an analysis of this process by means of internally layered ternary feet. Internally layered feet are binary feet to which a weak syllable adjoins to create a minimally recursive foot. The theoretical claim of this paper is twofold: (i) that Spanish trisyllabic truncated forms correspond to an internally layered foot, which reconciles the general assumption that truncated forms maximally correspond to the size of a metrical foot, and (ii) that morphological operations such as truncation can directly refer to internally layered feet, expanding the body of work on layered feet by Martínez-Paricio and Kager (2015). Overall, the analysis presented in this article explores a less studied theoretical and descriptive advantage of this ternary metrical configuration (i.e. its templatic use) and provides new evidence in support of layered feet as a possible metrical representation which emerges in some languages from independently needed constraints.

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Notes

  1. Throughout the paper examples are given in their orthographic form, syllable boundaries are marked with dots, foot boundaries are marked with parentheses, and stressed syllables are marked with an acute accent, even though this sometimes contravenes orthographic rules. Orthographic <i, u> when adjacent to another vowel within the same syllable must be interpreted as a glide (e.g. Ma.nuél should be interpreted as [ma.'nwel]; En.car.na.ción, as [en.kaɾ.na'Ɵjon]) vs. Ma.rí.a, interpreted as [ma.'ri.a], where the high vowel is the nucleus of its own syllable.

  2. An anonymous reviewer points out that the forms in (3) could be analyzed as containing a disyllabic foot plus a (gender or theme vowel) suffix rather than being analyzed as clear examples of trisyllabic templates. Regardless of the internal morphological structure of these forms, we believe along the lines of Felíu (2001) that the forms in (3) constitute clear examples of trisyllabic TFs (henceforth TTFs). Note that whereas in some of these TFs the final vowel is a gender suffix or theme vowel (e.g. análf-a, maníf-a), this is not possible for all the documented TFs: in indépe and colégui there is no clear suffix. Hence a purely trisyllabic template seems to be active in the language (the unmarked morphs for masculine and feminine in Spanish are -o and -a, respectively; see Bonet 2006 for a study of gender desinences in Spanish).

  3. The examples in (5a, b) contain an ILT foot which arises from the adjunction of a light syllable to a syllabic trochee (5c). However, ILT feet may equally arise from the adjunction of a syllable to other foot types, such as iambs or moraic trochees.

  4. For a different analysis of these facts with improper bracketed metrical structures (i.e. ambipodal syllables), see Hyde (2002).

  5. It is true that there are no stress-anchored TTFs in Spanish without a suffix, but we believe that this is just an accidental gap in the typology. Note that for a stress-anchored TTF with no suffix to exist, two types of SFs would be required: (i) names with antepenultimate stress that end in a consonant, that is, with no suffix (e.g. CV.'CV.CV.CVC), or (ii) names at least four-syllables long with penultimate stress (e.g. CV.CV.'CV.CVC). In the first case, stress shift would occur in order to comply with the unmarked amphibrach rhythm of TTFs (e.g. 'CV.CV.CVC → CV.'CV.CVC), similar to the stress shift found in bisyllabic TFs derived from SFs with an iambic pattern (Jóse ← José). In the second case, there would be truncation of the syllable(s) up to the third-to-last syllable of the SF (e.g. CV.CV.'CV.CVC → CV.'CV.CVC). In Spanish, antepenultimate stress in forms with a final closed syllable is rare, and we have found no name in Spanish with such a profile. Also, names with penultimate stress that end in a consonant exist (e.g. Ángel, César, Cristóbal) but none is longer than three syllables. Therefore, the absence of stress-anchored TTFs with no suffix seems to be just an accident.

  6. Recall that a high vowel adjacent to another vowel in the same syllable is realized as a glide (e.g. Ma.r[j]a.jo.sé).

  7. An anonymous reviewer suggests an alternative analysis for all compound-based TFs as derived from monosyllabic and bisyllabic templatic base forms, just as we assume for four-syllable truncate-based compounds. All combinations of compound hypocoristics formed of one- and two-syllable templates would be attested: 1σ+1σ = Juán+Ma ← Juán María; 1σ+2σ = Juan+Dávi ← Juán Davíd; 2σ+1σ = Teré+Lu ← Terésa Lóurdes; 2σ+2σ = Mari+Féli ← María Felísa. Under this view, trisyllabicity would emerge as an epiphenomenon of template compounding. This is a very attractive analysis. However, monosyllabic templates consisting of a light syllable like *Lú are not attested in Spanish in isolation, and they should therefore be circumscribed to compounds of this type.

  8. See Alber and Arndt-Lappe (2012) for an investigation of the role of Anchor constraints in the typology of truncation patterns.

  9. This distinction is not crucial for our analysis, but we maintain it for coherence with previous work.

  10. The analysis presented here would work equally well if Parse-Syll were to be used instead of Chain-Right and Chain-Left. However, given that these constraints are independently needed to account for the typology of rhythmic stress systems, we have also adopted them here to account for the shape of hypocoristic TFs.

  11. The constraint Trochee\(_{Nonmin}\) has the same effect as Ft-Bin. The former penalizes ILT feet with a left adjunct, and the latter penalizes all types of ILT feet. We omit Trochee\(_{Nonmin}\) and only use Ft-Bin for the sake of simplicity.

  12. An anonymous reviewer suggests analyzing such a pattern of anapest hypocoristics as atemplatic, involving double anchoring to the first and stressed syllable of the SF, a productive pattern described for vocative truncation in Southern Italian dialects and Sardinian that yields truncated vocatives of variable size (Alber 2010); some examples in Sardinian are Má! ← Mári; Ma.rí! ← María; Ser.va.tó! ← Servatóre; E.le.o.nó! ← Eleonóra (Cabré and Vanrell 2013).

  13. Penélope Cruz has sometimes been called Pé, although subminimal TFs are banned in Spanish.

  14. Recall that forms like Marivícky are truncate-based compounds, but not single TFs. Michael Kenstowicz warns us about the existence of four-mora truncations in Japanese applied to English loanwords (e.g. rihabiri ← rihabiriteesyon ‘rehabilitation’, asupara ← asuparagasu ‘asparagus’ (Itô 1990). Similar to our truncate-based compounds, these longer truncated forms in Japanese are analyzed in Itô (1990) as a template consisting of two bimoraic feet, instead of a template consisting of four moras.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Javier Sanz Álvarez, who kindly pointed us towards interesting data on trisyllabic truncated forms in Spanish and read a first draft of this paper. We also want to thank Michael Kenstowicz, the associate editor of this paper, and three anonymous reviewers for their time and helpful comments. Violeta Martínez-Paricio’s research was financially supported by the postdoctoral grant FJCI-2015-24202, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the University of València. Additionally, her research is part of the project FFI2016-76245-C3-3-P funded by AEI (Agencia Estatal de Investigación) and FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional). Likewise, Francesc Torres-Tamarit’s research is part of the project FFI2016-76245-C3-1-P funded by AEI (Agencia Estatal de Investigación) and FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional). Both authors contributed equally to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Teoria dels Llenguatges i Ciències de la Comunicació, Facultat de Filologia, Traducció i Comunicació, Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez 32-5a, 46010, València, Spain

    Violeta Martínez-Paricio

  2. Structures Formelles du Langage (UMR 7023), CNRS/Université Paris 8, 59/61 rue Pouchet, 75017, Paris, France

    Francesc Torres-Tamarit

Authors
  1. Violeta Martínez-Paricio
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  2. Francesc Torres-Tamarit
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Correspondence to Francesc Torres-Tamarit.

Appendix: Data

Appendix: Data

  1. (39)
    figure y
  1. (40)
    figure z
  1. (41)

    Trisyllabic nominal truncation (Felíu 2001:885)

    a.nál.fa

    ←

    a.nal.fa.bé.to

    ‘illiterate’

    an.fé.ta

    ←

    an.fe.ta.mí.na

    ‘amphetamine’

    ca.má.ra

    ←

    ca.ma.ré.ro

    ‘waiter’

    ma.ní.fa

    ←

    ma.ni.fes.ta.ción

    ‘demonstration’

    te.lé.co(s)

    ←

    te.le.co.mu.ni.ca.ció.nes

    ‘telecommunication studies’

    co.lé.gui

    ←

    co.le.guí.lla

    ‘colleague-dim’

    in.dé.pe

    ←

    in.de.pen.den.tís.ta

    ‘supporter of Catalan independence’

  1. (42)
    figure aa

The last two names in (42a), Etxéba and Beláuste, are Basque source names, but the truncated forms are used in Spanish. The TF Margári derives from the Spanish SF Margaríta but its use is restricted to the Spanish of the Basque Country.

  1. (43)

    Possible BTF derived from the SF in (42)

    Tó.lo

    ←

    Bar.tó.lo

    		  

    Én.car

    ←

    En.car.na.ción

    		  

    Mé.re

    ←

    E.me.ren.ciá.na

    		  

    Már.ga

    ←

    Mar.ga.rí.ta

    		  

    Rí.ta

    ←

    Mar.ga.rí.ta

    		  

    Cá.ti

    ←

    Ca.ta.lí.na

    		  

    Lí.na

    ←

    Ca.ta.lí.na

    		  

    És.pe

    ←

    Es.pe.rán.za

    		  

    Fí.na

    ←

    Jo.se.fí.na

    		  

    Í.sa

    ←

    I.sa.bél

    		  

    Bé.la

    ←

    I.sa.bél

    		  

    Ní.co

    ←

    Ni.co.lás

    		  

    Ló.lo

    ←

    Ma.nó.lo

    ←

    Ma.nuél

    Ís.ma

    ←

    Is.ma.él

    		  
  1. (44)

    TTF derived from compound SF

    Jo.sé.lu

    ←

    Jo.se.luís

    ←

    Jo.sé + Luís

    Jo.sé.ma

    ←

    Jo.se.ma.rí.a

    ←

    Jo.sé + Ma.rí.a

    Jo.sé.rra

    ←

    Jo.se.ra.món

    ←

    Jo.sé + Ra.món

    Juan.dá.vi

    ←

    Juan.da.víd

    ←

    Juán + Da.víd

    Juan.má.ri

    ←

    Juan.ma.rí.a

    ←

    Juán + Ma.rí.a

    Luis.mí.gue

    ←

    Luis.mi.gél

    ←

    Luís + Miguél

    Ma.riá.je

    ←

    Ma.ria.je.sús

    ←

    Ma.rí.a + Je.sús

    Ma.riá.jo

    ←

    Ma.ria.jo.sé

    ←

    Ma.rí.a + Jo.sé

    Ma.riá.te

    ←

    Ma.ria.te.ré.sa

    ←

    Ma.rí.a + Te.ré.sa

    Mi.gué.lan

    ←

    Mi.gue.lán.gel

    ←

    Mi.guél + Án.gel

    Te.ré.lu

    ←

    Te.re.sa.lóur.des

    ←

    Te.ré.sa + Lóur.des

  1. (45)

    BTF from compound SF

    Juán.ma

    ←

    Juan.ma.rí.a

    ←

    Juán + Ma.rí.a

    Juán.ra

    ←

    Juan.ra.món

    ←

    Juán + Ra.món

    Juá.nan

    ←

    Jua.nan.tó.nio

    ←

    Juán + An.tó.nio

    Luís.ma

    ←

    Luis.ma.rí.a

    ←

    Luís + Ma.rí.a

    Luís.mi

    ←

    Luis.mi.gél

    ←

    Luís + Miguél

  1. (46)
    figure ab
  1. (47)

    Truncated toponyms

    San.tá.co

    ←

    Santa Colóma (city in Catalonia)

    Cas.té.fa

    ←

    Castelldeféls (city in Catalonia)

    Ma.ssál.fa

    ←

    Massalfassár (town in Valencia)

  1. (48)

    Kinship appositional phrase

    Ta.tá.lo

    ←

    Tata Lóla

    ‘aunt Lola’

    Cristina Real Puigdollers (p.c.)

  1. (49)

    Truncated phrases in the Spanish slang of youngsters

    me.ló.fo

    ←

    me lo follaría

    ‘I would have sex with him’

    		 
       

    Sanz Álvarez (p.c.)

    		 

    me.lá.fo

    ←

    me la follaría

    ‘I would have sex with her’

    		 
       

    Sanz Álvarez (p.c.)

    		 

    por.sí.fo

    ←

    por si follo

    ‘In case I have sex’

    		 

    yu.ná.mer

    ←

    y una mierda

    ‘no way’

    		 

    me.cá.güen

    ←

    me cago en diez

    ‘goddammit’

    		 

    por.siá.ca

    ←

    por si acaso

    ‘just in case’

    		 
       

    Sanz Álvarez (2017)

    		 

    la.qué.li

    ←

    la que limpia

    ‘cleaning lady’

    		 

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Martínez-Paricio, V., Torres-Tamarit, F. Trisyllabic hypocoristics in Spanish and layered feet. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 37, 659–691 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-018-9413-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-018-9413-4

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