Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

(26) Rounding and Unrounding in Timugon Murut
*tanm > tanom
stressed /a/ > [a], final schwa > [o]
/tanom - in/ > tanamin ‘plant (Referent Focus)
stressed *// > [a], pretonic non-high > *[] > [a]
/tanom -on/ > tonomon ‘plant (Object Focus)
stressed *// > [o]/_Co(C)#, pretonic non-high > *[] > [o]
3.6. Final Weakening
The weakening, often leading to loss, of word-final segmental material is well-
known to historical linguists and synchronic phonologists alike, far moreso no doubt than
the final strengthening trends discussed above. One sees repeated without qualification in
study after study, in fact, the claim that final position is “weak”, usually in the sense that
the speaker deigns to spend less “articulatory effort” in this position. The eminent
Russian phonetician Shcherba, writing in 1912, refers to “a general flaccidity 83 of the
articulatory organs... coming on toward the end of the word”. Gauthiot’s 1913
monograph, Le Fin de Mot en Indo-Europeenne, is an encyclopedic treatment of the
phonological history of final syllables in Indo-European; a narrative of what fell off
where and when. More recently Hock (1999), in an article on phonological processes in
phrase-final position concludes that final position is a monolithically “weakening”
83 v’alost’, also perhaps ‘withering’, ‘limpness’ or ‘languour’.
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