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

palate is phonologically relevant, while the position of stricture in the back or
central dorsal-palatal region is phonologically irrelevant’ (p. 36).
From this example we can also see Trubetzkoy’s approach to determining
what the distinctive marks of a phoneme are. These are the marks that abstract
away from the variation of the surface allophones. Thus, in the case above,
variation in the place of articulation of the allophones of German /x/ provides
evidence that its place must be specified only as generally dorsal. Similarly, the
more radical variation in the place of articulation of German /r/, which is
sometimes alveolar and sometimes uvular, reveals that place is a completely
irrelevant property of this phoneme.
This diagnostic does not apply in cases of neutralization of underlying
distinctive contrasts. 4 For example, in certain positions German voiced
obstruents become voiceless, causing /g/ to become [k], which is identical to [k]
that derives from phoneme /k/. Since the contrast between /g/ and /k/ is
suspended in these positions, it is not possible to define the contrastive features
of /g/ in such a way that they abstract away from the variation between [g] and
[k]. Allophonic variation is not a necessary condition for determining the
phonologically relevant features of a phoneme. We will see below that
Trubetzkoy also appeals to other aspects of a sound’s phonological behaviour in
discovering its relevant distinctive features.
4 As we shall see, neutralization itself is Trubetzkoy’s primary diagnostic for bilateral
oppositions, and hence for the structuring of contrasts in an inventory.
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