A GEMINAÇÃO DE CONSOANTES NO ITALIANO

Abstract

This study presents an analysis on consonant gemination in Italian. The hypothesis that guidesour analysis is that gemination is phonemic in Italian. Based on Autosegmental Phonology assumptions, weanalyze the geminate representation as a double linking segment in this language, considering the blockingproperties shown by this segment. To justify its as an underlyingly long segment, we consider its heterosilabicdistribution, according to the onset and coda conditions in Italian. Concerning its prosodic constitution, weconsider the hypotheses of Strong Rhyme Condition (Vogel, 1982; Chierchia, 1986), well-formedness feetcondition, which expects bimoraic feet (D’Imperio & Rosenthal, 1999), and quantity-sensitive stressassignment (Sluyters, 1990). Considering that stress in Italian is cyclic, any of the three hypotheses of thegeminate prosodic configuration points to the conclusion that gemination is underlying in Italian. However,considering the fact that the syllabic and prosodic well-formedness hypotheses do not explain the geminationin non-stressed contexts, we believe that the best option to explain the relation between gemination andstress in this language is the consideration that the stress system in Italian is quantity-sensitive, as presentedby Sluyters (1990).