Metrical Optimization vs. Syllable Markedness: Constraint Interaction in Zapotec Loan Phonology

Loanwords from Spanish in Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec (TdVZ) are more marked at the syllabic level than their source forms, systematically exhibiting more closed syllables and complex codas than their Spanish counterparts. For instance, Spanish libro 'book' is adapted as [libr] in TdVZ. Using data collected in my own fieldwork, I demonstrate that what looks like anti-optimization in the adaptation process is in fact the result of high-ranking constraints on metrical well-formedness. Pressure to avoid overly sonorous weak members of feet overrides syllable-level markedness constraints, forcing prime facie unexpected apocope. I further demonstrate that the constraint ranking needed to capture the pattern for TdVZ loan phonology differs only minimally from the grammar needed for the language's native phonology.