Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

language Dasenech (Sasse 1976), would be crucial test cases in this regard. In Dasenech
non-pre-pausal final vowels are said often to be voiceless or even to delete in fast speech,
while in pre-pausal position the same vowels are retained in all cases, though realized
with final “aspiration”. If the internal process is not gradient, this could be an instance of
a case analogous to some of the “final clipping” systems described below, in which short
final vowels devoice completely and long vowels are devoiced partially, potentially
phonologizing devoicing of a more or less set vocalic span, regardless of the total
duration of the vowel in question, a mora’s worth in Hayward’s terms (1998). If the
process is gradient, however, as it may be, though the conditions for its occurrence are
not elaborated in the description, we may perhaps suspect the circumstances described
above, though without additional data is impossible to know.
Returning now to Gordon’s observation concerning stress and final vowel
devoicing, findings from my survey support the claim that in general stress impedes
vowel devoicing (Turkish notwithstanding), and that no language devoices stressed
vowels but not unstressed vowels. In fact, there are cases in which final vowels which
would otherwise devoice are realized fully voiced when they receive some sort of
secondary stress or emphasis: Blevins and Garrett (1998) discuss the cases of Rotuman
and Kwara’ae, in which secondary stresses placed on final vowels in marked speech
styles save them from devoicing or deletion. Additionally, Sapir notes for Southern
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