Loanword Adaptation in Québec French: Evidence for Weighted Scalar Constraints

A considerable body of research has demonstrated that loanwords often pattern differently than native vocabulary with respect to markedness restrictions. Most commonly, clearly “foreign” words observe a subset of the markedness restrictions obeyed by more nativized words (Saciuk 1969, Holden 1976, Paradis & Lebel 1994, Itô & Mester 1995, 1999, 2008, Paradis & LaCharité 1997, Davidson & Noyer 1997, Pinta 2013; cf. Jurgec 2010). This gives rise to a nested core-periphery structure like that in (1). Here, three markedness constraints – M1, M2 and M3 – are enforced within the core phonology, but only two of these are enforced among words in the intermediate stratum, and only one is enforced in the periphery. Words in the core lexicon contain a subset of the marked structures found within more peripheral strata.