Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

pretonic /a,o/ 34 . Had the experiment included phrase-final or absolute word-initial /a, o/,
in which the spectral shift is so conspicuous that it is noted in impressionistic
descriptions, the asymptoting effect for F1 of non-first-pretonics as duration increased
would have been all the more dramatic.
It is clear from the above, then, that Russian has one phonological reduction
process (Degree 1), and one phonetic reduction process (Degree 2). Furthermore, both of
these apply to all unstressed syllables equally. The merger of /a/ and /o/ takes place
categorically whenever the vowels in question appear outside the stressed syllable.
Gradient raising of unstressed /a/~/o/ toward [] occurs in all unstressed syllables as a
function of the duration allotted to the vowels in question by the phonetics. Where this
duration is above a certain threshold (apparently somewhere just over 60 ms), no
reduction is seen.
The only catch here is that the phonetics must be able to assign different durations
to different unstressed syllables on a language-specific basis, since while absolute initial
vowels, phrase-final vowels, and vowels in hiatus before identical vowels receive
additional duration for reasons not specific to the phonology of Russian, significant
34
While some languages do avoid stressing inherently shorter vowels such as schwa, fail to lengthen them
under certain circumstances otherwise requiring it, and perhaps even enhance their sonority in positions of
strength, in such cases the relevant degree of durational enhancement is far greater than the paltry amount
in question here. I know of no reason a true schwa should respond so dramatically to so marginal an
increase of duration as that found in this experiment.
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