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

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properties of a vowel obviously <strong>in</strong>fluence its phonological representation; but<br />

this <strong>in</strong>fluence is not simply one way, and the phonological representation can <strong>in</strong><br />

turn affect the phonetics, by delimit<strong>in</strong>g the space with<strong>in</strong> which the vowel can<br />

range (short of neutralization).<br />

<strong>The</strong> change <strong>in</strong> status of /´/ <strong>in</strong> turn has consequences for the specification<br />

of /u/. Recall that <strong>in</strong> Classical Manchu there is evidence that /i/ is actively<br />

[coronal], but there is no evidence that /u/ and /U/ are actively [labial], though<br />

they clearly are phonetically round. <strong>The</strong> elevation of /´/ to a non-low vowel,<br />

jo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g /i/ and /u/, changes the situation. Assum<strong>in</strong>g, as before, that [coronal]<br />

takes precedence, /i/ is aga<strong>in</strong> specified [coronal], dist<strong>in</strong>guish<strong>in</strong>g it from /´/ and<br />

/u/. But now we must still dist<strong>in</strong>guish the latter two vowels from each other.<br />

<strong>The</strong> most straightforward dist<strong>in</strong>ction is to extend the feature [labial], already <strong>in</strong><br />

the system for /ç/, to /u/, as diagrammed <strong>in</strong> (7.19).<br />

(7.19) Spoken Manchu after loss of /U/<br />

[coronal] [labial]<br />

i ´ u<br />

__________________________________________<br />

a ç [low]<br />

This analysis thus predicts that the reclassification of /´/ as a non-low<br />

vowel should cause /u/ to become <strong>contrastive</strong>ly [labial]. This prediction is borne<br />

out <strong>in</strong> Spoken Manchu, as evidenced by the development of a new phoneme<br />

/y/, a front rounded vowel that orig<strong>in</strong>ated as a positional allophone of /i/<br />

followed by /u/, as well as /u/ followed by /i/ (Zhang 1996). <strong>The</strong> front feature<br />

293

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