The contrastive hierarchy in phonology 2009 Dresher.pdf - CUNY ...

(5.22) Spanish: /e/ is unspecified (Archangeli 1984)
a. Full specifications b. Removing values of /e/
i e a o u i e a o u
+ – – – + high + +
– – + – – low +
– – + + + back + + +
– – – + + round + +
c. Complement rules
i. [ ] [–high] ii. [ ] [–low]
iii. [ ] [–back] iv. [ ] [–round]
Since underlying representations consist essentially of privative features,
the Distinctness Condition is not in effect. Once it has been decided that /e/ is
the unspecified vowel and its features have been removed, the main principle
governing the specification of the rest of the phonemes is minimality of
specification. Looking at (5.22b), we see that the features [high]] and [low] divide
the vowels into three sets: /i, u/, /e, o/, and /a/. It remains to make a further
division in each of /i, u/ and /e, o/. Either feature [back] or [round] will suffice
to do this. Archangeli chooses to dispense with [back], presumably because /a/,
which requires no specifications beyond [+low], has a specification for [back] but
not for [round]; therefore, [round] results in fewer specifications, respecting
193