Syllable-Based Height Assignment is Productive in Parisian French

Asymmetrical distribution of the mid vowels (mid-high in open syllables, mid-low in closed syllables), also known as Loi de Position, is found in European Frenches; however, while lack of phonemic contrast and syllable-based synchronic height assignment is well-supported in other varieties (e.g. Midi French), Parisian French is generally described with phonemic contrast and no synchronic process. Nonetheless, the contrast in height within mid-vowel pairs is weakening in this variety and the question of the existence of a synchronic productive process of syllable-based height assignment in Parisian French remains. In this study, I use Verlan, a language game that changes syllable structure, to probe productivity of height assignment. I use both acceptability and production of Verlan forms from existing and nonce bases to test whether a change in syllable structure causes a change in mid vowel height. I find, both in acceptability and production, a statistically significant preference for forms that conform to a simple iteration of this Loi de Position across mid-vowel pairs, with very few exceptions which can be traced back to specific patterns in the French lexicon. This effect suggest that mid-vowel alternation is not only a distributional fact but also a synchronically productive pattern in the variety.