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

mechanism for determining contrasts, but rather provides evidence for particular
analyses that can be viewed as consistent with an asymmetry between the
patterning of redundant and contrastive features. For example, in her analysis of
the Pasiego dialect of Montañes Spanish, a language with a five-vowel system,
Steriade (1987: 343) argues that /a/, which neither triggers nor blocks a rule of
height harmony, has no marking for the feature [high]. This is because ‘the
impossibility of simultaneous [+high, +low] specifications establishes that the
height of low vowels is a R-value’ (342). This analysis appears to be
unproblematic, especially when the vowel system is diagrammed as in (5.30),
where /a/ is the obvious odd man out with respect to the feature [high]:
(5.30) Pasiego (Steriade 1987)
i u +high
e o –high
D-class of [high]
a R-class of [high]
As demonstrated earlier, however, these cases are deceptively simple
looking: the basis according to which D-values are determined is not self-
evident. The value [–high] is logically redundant for /a/, as it is indeed
retrievable from [+low]; however we have seen that logical redundancy is not an
adequate basis for establishing contrastive specifications. From the point of view
of feature ordering, the values in (5.30) correspond to (5.31a), and require [low] >
[high]. If [high] > [low], as in (5.31b), [high] would be a D-value for /a/.
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