A gestural-based analysis of /e/ prosthesis in word-initial /sC/ loanwords in Spanish

Resumen

A theoretical analysis of synchronic /e/ prosthesis in non-native wordinitial /sC/ sequences in Spanish is provided. In light of new evidence, it is argued that the appearance of the word-initial /e/ to the left margin of the non-native /sC/ onset is a perception-based phenomenon, and not triggered directly as a productive operation of the grammar. This assertion is robustly supported by the results of a series of perception tests involving 50 Spanish-speaking children in which the subjects routinely reported hearing an illusory vowel to the left of the non-native complex onset. These data are in line with past accounts of perceptual epenthesis and suggest that the auditory signal in some instances may be distorted by a high-level bias for native sound patterns. At the time of production, then this means that the dominant grammatical constraint governing the appearance of /e/ is based on principles of input/output correspondence, and not productive constraints referencing structural phonotactics.