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Davis, S. (1990). Linguistics, 28(1), 43–55
Davis accounts for the two forms of the Italian masculine singular definite article by syllabification: il occurs before a word that begins with a consonant syllabified into the onset of its first syllable, and lo before any other word. Steriade's onset rule joins the first of two word-initial consonants to the onset only when the second is at least four steps more sonorous on Davis's hierarchy for Italian, so that s before a consonant and clusters such as ps, ft and mn begin with a consonant outside the onset; and /ʃ ɲ ts dz/ are underlyingly long, so that their first half has no onset to join. The one condition covers the vowel-initial words, the s clusters and the long consonants, and it sets the rare clusters apart where Radzinski's rule, lo before a cluster containing /s/, does not: lo ftalacene but il Tlingit.
The analysis puts il exactly before the words that begin with an onset consonant, so its
predictions are stated with BeginsWithOnset. The data are the clusters of (1), (3) and (13),
each followed by the vowel /a/; the words of (2) and (4) are not encoded. The s clusters are
written with /s/, as Davis writes them. Davis leaves the affricates and the glides off the
hierarchy (note 6), and sonority gives them no rank, so that they never join a following
consonant; a consonant before a glide begins a diphthong-initial syllable and is in its onset.
Davis does not discuss /ʎ/, and the elision of lo before a vowel is set aside. The rising cluster
of gnu (13a) begins with no onset consonant, though the fragment's classes put it with the
consonants.
The sonority of a segment on the hierarchy (6): the voiceless stops at 1, the voiced stops at 2, the noncoronal and the coronal fricatives at 3 and 4, the nasals n at 5 and m at 6, the liquids at 7 and the vowels at 8, and no rank for the affricates and the glides.
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Used by JoinsOnset, ofSegment_le_of_sonority_le
The onset rule (5b) under the condition on minimal sonority distance: the first of two consonants joins the onset when the second is at least four steps more sonorous.
Built from
Built from
The consonants that are underlyingly long, (11).
Used by BeginsWithOnset
A word begins with an onset consonant when the rules (5) syllabify its first segment into the onset of its first syllable: a consonant that is not underlyingly long, before a vowel or a glide by the CV rule (5a), or before a consonant that the onset rule joins it to.
Built from ,
Used by beginsWithOnset_cons_cons, beginsWithOnset_ilClusters, not_beginsWithOnset_loOnsets, not_beginsWithOnset_unusualClusters, beginsWithOnset_tl, onsetOf_eq_consonant_of_beginsWithOnset
Built from
The clusters il precedes, (1).
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Used by beginsWithOnset_ilClusters
The clusters and consonants lo precedes, (3).
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
Used by not_beginsWithOnset_loOnsets
The clusters that begin ftalacene, pterodattilo, mnemometro and gnu, (13a).
The definition is too large to print here; read it in the source.
The clusters of (1) begin with an onset consonant and the onsets of (3) do not.
Built from ,
Built from ,
None of the clusters of (13) contains /s/, so Radzinski's rule puts il before all five. The four of (13a) begin with no onset consonant, so the analysis puts lo before them, as Davis's consultant does, and il before Tlingit (pp. 51–52).
Built from ,
Built from
The hierarchy follows the modal one of obstruents, nasals, liquids and vowels in its general form and divides its classes further (note 6).
Built from
A word that begins with an onset consonant other than /ʎ/, which Davis leaves aside, is in the class before which the fragment's masculine article is il.
Built from