Multiple scansions in loanword phonology: evidence from Cantonese

Abstract

In loanword phonology we seek to uncover the processes by which speakers possessing one phonological system perceive, apply native representational constraints on, and ultimately produce forms which have been generated by a different phonological system. We are interested in how speakers instantiate segmental and prosodic structure on an input which may or may not abide by native rules. Crucial to this assumed strategy is the idea that loanwords do not come equipped with their own phonological representation. For any phonetic string, it is only native speakers for whom a fully articulated phonological structure is present; as we will see, the input to loanword phonology is merely a superficial non-linguistic acoustic signal. Thus as host-language speakers perceive foreign forms in accordance with their indigenous phonological system, they instantiate native phonological representations on the acoustic signal, fitting the superficial input into the native phonological system as closely as possible.