Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

many languages at least undergo less lengthening than vowels in final open syllables
(immediately adjacent to the word- or phrase-boundary). Also, while the final-syllable
unstressed vowels do reduce in comparison with their stressed counterparts, it is clear
from Nord’s data that for vowels other than //, there is a statistically significant
difference between formant measurements for final-syllable unstressed vowels and
unstressed vowels in initial syllables. Strikingly, for /a/, /i/ and /e/, the final syllable
unstressed vowel has a higher F1. Nord seems to take this to be the “coarticulation with
the rest position” he claims is responsible for the movement toward a schwa-like vowel
particularly characteristic of final unstressed /e/ in Swedish. But the higher F1 for /a/ as
well suggests that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, it is more reminiscent of the
final sonority-expansion documented by Cho (2001) for English. If this is true, then final
lengthening does inhibit reduction somewhat in unstressed final closed syllables in
Swedish 74 . A comparable study of open syllables would most likely clarify this matter.
Johnson and Martin (2001) show more conclusively that in Muskogee Creek final
vowels are generally more centralized than non-final, though final lengthening is
operative. This suggests that at least in Creek final lengthening is carried out without
concomitant articulatory strengthening. Johnson and Martin wish to attribute this to a
“final fade” in supralaryngeal articulations similar to that found in F0 and amplitude at
74 Recall that even in Russian final lengthening does not always reverse reduction of /a/ completely.
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