A CVCV template for Turkish
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Ann Denwood
Abstract
In this article several aspects of Turkish phonology, including k-zero, vowel-zero and vowel length alternations, are analyzed using a four-position template. The inaudibility of a template-final position is attributed to its weakness within the hierarchical structure of the template. There is historical evidence for loss of melody and wearing down of template edges to the extent that some initial and final consonant slots are missing from the structure, making the origins of many words unrecognizable. Nevertheless, the template remains an active constituent in word formation, playing its part as a parsing cue and in accommodating loan words into the phonology of the language. Although it frequently coincides with a morphological domain, the template is a constituent not unlike a syllable.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Licensing constraints in phonology
- Georgian consonant clusters: The complexity is in the structure, not the melody
- A CVCV template for Turkish
- A Lateral Theory of Phonology, by Tobias Scheer
- Publications received July 2005 – October 2006
- Language index
- Subject index
- Contents of volume 23
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Licensing constraints in phonology
- Georgian consonant clusters: The complexity is in the structure, not the melody
- A CVCV template for Turkish
- A Lateral Theory of Phonology, by Tobias Scheer
- Publications received July 2005 – October 2006
- Language index
- Subject index
- Contents of volume 23
