(Non)retroflexivity of Slavic affricates and its motivation: evidence from Polish and Czech <č>

Autor/innen

  • Marzena Żygis

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.42.2005.274

Abstract

The goal of this paper is two-fold. First, it revises the common assumption that the affricate <č> denotes /t͡ʃ/ for all Slavic languages. On the basis of experimental results it is shown that Slavic <č> stands for two sounds: /t͡ʃ/ as e.g. in Czech and /ʈʂ/ as in Polish. The second goal of the paper is to show that this difference is not accidental but it is motivated by perceptual relations among sibilants. In Polish, /t͡ʃ/ changed to /ʈʂ/ thus lowering its sibilant tonality and creating a better perceptual distance to /tɕ/, whereas in Czech /t͡ʃ/ did not turn to /ʈʂ/, as the former displayed sufficient perceptual distance to the only affricate present in the inventory, namely, the alveolar /t͡s/. Finally, an analysis of Czech and Polish affricate inventories is offered.

 

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Veröffentlicht

2005

Zitationsvorschlag

Żygis, Marzena. 2005. „(Non)retroflexivity of Slavic Affricates and Its Motivation: Evidence from Polish and Czech <č>“;. ZAS Papers in Linguistics 42 (Januar):69-115. https://doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.42.2005.274.