Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

Pure Prominence advocates to assume that the “strength” or “weakness” of particular
structural positions are properties of those positions supplied in Universal Grammar.
A constraint system constructed on the principles of the Pure Prominence
approach might look as follows in (1) below. This system has the effect of excluding mid
vowels from unstressed syllables, a pattern typical of many languages with contrast-
neutralizing vowel reduction.
(1) Neutralization of a Vowel Height Contrast in Unstressed Syllables
a. Ident[hi]/σ@ >> *MidV >> Ident[hi]
b. *MidV/unstressed σ >> Ident[hi] >> *Mid
(1a) accomplishes the vowel height neutralization using Positional Faithfulness
constraints as proposed by Beckman (1998). Here, a general constraint banning mid
vowels (*MidV) is ranked higher than a general faithfulness constraint mandating faithful
output realization of the input feature [hi]. Were this the extent of the constraint system,
the grammar would generate a language with no surface mid vowels at all. The reverse
ranking, by contrast, would brook no alteration of underlying [hi] specifications despite a
general dispreference for mid vowels, the latter being exposed only, for example, in
situations of epenthesis, where the lack of underlying feature specifications makes the
Ident constraint irrelevant, and allows markedness free rein in determining of the identity
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