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

E/ or /U/ and /O/. For example, no raising is reported in Leonese dialects,
where desinences are phonetically [i, a, u] or [e, a, u], depending on the dialect.
In dialects with four desinential vowels /I~E, A, O, U/, the prediction is
that raising can be triggered by /U/, not by /I/; in dialects with four desinential
vowels /I, E, A, O~U/, we predict that raising can be triggered by /I/, not by
/U/. Examples of the former type are Central Asturias, North Central Asturias,
and Santander (Montañese dialects), where /u/ contrasts with /o/, but there is
only a marginal, archaic contrast between /i/ and /e/. As expected, raising is
triggered by [u], not by [i].
In dialects with five desinential vowels, Dyck’s generalization predicts
that both /I/ and /U/ can trigger raising. No Spanish dialects are of this type,
but there are Italian dialects, such as Servigliano, that have five desinential
vowels and raising triggered by both [i] and [u].
7.5.1.2. Accounting for Dyck’s Generalization
In order to account for Dyck’s generalization we must make several assumptions.
First, for purposes of evaluating contrasts, vowel inventories must be divided
into stem inventories and desinential inventories. Contrasts in each inventory are
assessed separately.
Second, we must assume that features in these dialects are ordered [low] >
[ labial] > [high]. If the first feature is [low], then [high] is not needed in the
three-vowel system shown in (7.42a). The non-low vowels have no contrastive
[high] feature to trigger raising, even if they are pronounced as [i] or [u]. In the
inventory in (7.42b) the feature [high] is needed to distinguish between /U/ and
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