John Benjamins Publishing Company
Asymmetric variation
-
Abstract
The free combination of independent phonological events is (implicitly) assumed by and built into the mechanisms of phonological models. Phonological variation occurring in independent dimensions applies orthogonally. In the possessive paradigms of Hungarian nouns this fails to apply. Suffixes may vary according to front/back harmony and being yod-initial, so we expect four variants for stems that vary in both dimensions. All four are attested if the suffix vowel is high: hotɛl-jyk%juk%yk%uk ‘their hotel’, but one allomorph is systematically missing if the suffix vowel is low: hotɛl-jɛ%jɑ%ɛ, *hotɛl-ɑ ‘his/her hotel’. We explain the gap by constraints requiring the uniformity of harmonic suffix behaviour, the quality of suffix-initial vowels, and the syllabic affiliation of stem-final consonants within the paradigm.
Abstract
The free combination of independent phonological events is (implicitly) assumed by and built into the mechanisms of phonological models. Phonological variation occurring in independent dimensions applies orthogonally. In the possessive paradigms of Hungarian nouns this fails to apply. Suffixes may vary according to front/back harmony and being yod-initial, so we expect four variants for stems that vary in both dimensions. All four are attested if the suffix vowel is high: hotɛl-jyk%juk%yk%uk ‘their hotel’, but one allomorph is systematically missing if the suffix vowel is low: hotɛl-jɛ%jɑ%ɛ, *hotɛl-ɑ ‘his/her hotel’. We explain the gap by constraints requiring the uniformity of harmonic suffix behaviour, the quality of suffix-initial vowels, and the syllabic affiliation of stem-final consonants within the paradigm.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Prelude, theme and riffs vii
- English /au/ 1
- The internal TR clusters of Acadian French 17
- Hocus bogus? 33
- A unifying explanation of the Great Vowel Shift, Canadian Raising and Southern Monophthonging 63
- Deconstructing tongue root harmony systems 73
- Underlying representations and Bantu segmental phonology 101
- Uniqueness in element signatures 117
- Charting the vowel space 133
- The relative salience of consonant nasality and true obstruent voicing 145
- Asymmetric variation 163
- The beginning of the word 189
- On the diachronic origin of Nivkh height restrictions 201
- Segmental loss and phonological representation 215
- The phonology of handshape distribution in Maxakalí sign 231
- English stress is binary and lexical 263
- Bogus clusters and lenition in Tuscan Italian 277
- The prosodic status of glides in Anaañ reduplication 297
- Index 321
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Prelude, theme and riffs vii
- English /au/ 1
- The internal TR clusters of Acadian French 17
- Hocus bogus? 33
- A unifying explanation of the Great Vowel Shift, Canadian Raising and Southern Monophthonging 63
- Deconstructing tongue root harmony systems 73
- Underlying representations and Bantu segmental phonology 101
- Uniqueness in element signatures 117
- Charting the vowel space 133
- The relative salience of consonant nasality and true obstruent voicing 145
- Asymmetric variation 163
- The beginning of the word 189
- On the diachronic origin of Nivkh height restrictions 201
- Segmental loss and phonological representation 215
- The phonology of handshape distribution in Maxakalí sign 231
- English stress is binary and lexical 263
- Bogus clusters and lenition in Tuscan Italian 277
- The prosodic status of glides in Anaañ reduplication 297
- Index 321
