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

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(7.37) Role of IO-IDENT[back] (adapted from Bakovic@ 2000)<br />

Input<br />

/e/<br />

IO-ID<br />

[low]<br />

*[–bk,<br />

–ATR]<br />

IO-ID<br />

[back]<br />

*[–hi,<br />

+ATR]<br />

IO-ID<br />

[high]<br />

a. e *!<br />

b. i *<br />

IO-ID<br />

[ATR]<br />

c. E *! *<br />

d. ç *! * *<br />

e. Q *! * *<br />

[PUT (7.38) ABOUT HERE (see the end of this chapter)]<br />

Of course, it is ultimately an empirical question what would happen to<br />

hypothetical <strong>in</strong>put vowels /o/ or /e/ <strong>in</strong> Nez Perce. One could seek to f<strong>in</strong>d<br />

various k<strong>in</strong>ds of evidence that would bear on this question. For example, we<br />

could <strong>in</strong>vestigate the fate of loan words with such vowels when adapted <strong>in</strong>to<br />

Nez Perce, or devise perception tests to see how speakers label such vowels, and<br />

so on. But <strong>in</strong> the absence of any such evidence, it is impossible to favour any<br />

particular result. <strong>The</strong>refore, <strong>in</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g predictions about the fate of illicit vowels<br />

we must be guided by our analysis to the extent that it is based on actual<br />

empirical evidence.<br />

To conclude, the analysis presented by Bakovic@ (2000) appears to require a<br />

rank<strong>in</strong>g of faithfulness constra<strong>in</strong>ts that is <strong>in</strong>compatible with any <strong>contrastive</strong><br />

<strong>hierarchy</strong> for Nez Perce. Moreover, this analysis does not draw any connection<br />

between contrast and phonological activity. Given its low rank<strong>in</strong>g, the feature<br />

[ATR] appears to be redundant, though it is the active feature <strong>in</strong> vowel harmony.<br />

If such an analysis were supported by evidence, it would be a counterexample to<br />

306

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