El inventario fonémico nasal del español: un estudio comparativo

Abstract

This paper investigates the composition of the Spanish phonemic nasal inventory using the UPSID (UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database) as a framework of comparison. It was found that the inventory /m, n, V/ agrees with a predominant crosslinguistic tendency –the inclusion of /m/ and /n/– but disagrees with another predominant crosslinguistic tendency –the selection of /n/ to complete the nasal triad–. The Optimality-theoretic analysis proposed herein is based on the assumption that, in addition to an articulation markedness dimension, there is also a perception markedness dimension, both of which are formalized in terms of negative constraints and assumed to be subject to a universal hierarchical order. The number of nasal consonants and the place features that they may have depend on the rank that individual grammars assign to FAITH(nasal place) –the pertinent faithfulness principle– with respect to the members of two universal markedness hierarchies. According to this approach, absolute domination of FAITH(nasal place) by both markedness hierarchies leads to the absence of nasal consonants, while the gradual promotion of this faithfulness constraint allows for nasal inventories that are gradually more populated. Yet, regardless of how highly FAITH(nasal place) is promoted, the fixed internal order of the markedness hierarchies rules out the possibility of generating nasal inventories comprising exclusively marked units (e. g. the triad /b, V, n/). Only in those inventories were the least marked units are present can the most marked units arise as well.