Initial lenition and strength alternations (v/b) in Neapolitan: A laryngeal Branchingness condition

In Central and Southern Italian dialects, the word-initial position plays host to a large number of strength-based alternations involving voiced stops. In this paper we look specifically at the v/b pair in Neapolitan. Strikingly, the absolute initial position appears to be weak with the voiced stop patterning phonologically like a singleton in word-medial position (v). After a variety of morphemes however, roots surface with the strong version of the consonant (b). These root-initial consonants (which would otherwise surface as weak) pattern phonologically like word-internal geminates. The strong form of the alternating consonant is a voiced stop. The initial position, although it hosts the weak allophone, is neither prosodically nor positionally weak. Voiceless stops, whose lenition actually is positionally conditioned, surface with their strong variant in this position. Rather than initial positional weakness, we identify a specific condition on the voiced stop variant (b). The voiced stop alternations that characterise initial-weakness are caused by a Branchingness (feature sharing) condition that plays a crucial role in determining strength. The alternating pairs are subject to a condition by which they must be bipositional in order to be strong. The (root) initial position is not weak, indeed only a positionally strong position could host such a contrast. Positional strength and Branchingness weakness have a quasi-morphological interplay that potentially aids the identification of morpheme boundaries. Though the pattern we describe is phonological, we speculate that it could constitute an intermediate step in the morphologisation of initial strong/weak alternations, a typological step toward developing initial mutation.