Prosodic and segmental unmarkedness in Spanish truncation

This paper deals with the two main truncation processes that occur in Spani sh. Type A and type,pe B hypocoristics represent two different degrees of e mergence of the unmarked. Whereas type A hypocoristics achieve unmarkedness at the prosodic level only (e.g. a minimal prosodic word), type B hypocori stics further achieve unmarkedness at the segmental level (e.g. onset and n ucleus optimization). Spanish hypocoristics are equivalent to a MinWd becau se they, must contain no more than a single binary foot. When the source fo rm (SF) exceeds this limit, some of the segmental material may not be prese rved. In type A hypocoristics faithfulness to the initial part of SF is enf orced by the constraints ANCHOR-L and I-CONTIGUITY, whereas in type B hypoc oristics faithfulness to the head of the PWd is secured by HEAD(PWd)MAX. Ty pe B truncated forms display an additional tendency toward unmarkedness by favoring CV syllables with optimal peaks and mai gins. In addition to causi ng the deletion of certain segments, this tendency toward greater unmarkedn ess yields the selection of low-sonority segments to fill the syllable onse t and high-sonority, segments to fill the nucleus. There are also certain s ound substitutions that take place in type B hypocoristics (e.g. [(c) over cap] < [s], [p] < [f], [k] < [x], [l] < [r]). These are analyzed as a way t o optimize the syllable by parsing segments that are more harmonic with the onset position.