Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

lengthening in Dutch by Cambier-Langeveld suggests what the answer may be. Cambier-
Langeveld (1997) found that in Dutch, words with final syllables containing full vowels
undergo phrase-final lengthening implemented primarily on the rhyme of the word-final
syllable. Previous syllables are not significantly effected. On the other hand, when a
word-final open syllable has a nucleus with the reduced vowel schwa, final lengthening
reaches further back into the word, lengthening the preceding syllable as well. Words
with a final closed syllable containing schwa also saw some lengthening of the penult,
though not as much. Cambier-Langeveld’s analysis is that the overshort vowel schwa
may not be capable of lengthening to the degree that other final vowels are. If this is so,
and the domain of application of final lengthening (the period of activation of the π-
gesture in Byrd’s terms) has a relatively fixed duration, the failure of the schwa to occupy
that entire period would result in the extension of the lengthening past the final syllable
deeper into the word. In Dutch then, final reduced vowels may undergo little final
lengthening themselves, but this is a completely different claim than one which asserts
that final lengthening does not operate in words with final schwa, or that the presence of
schwa in the final syllable induces a process of final shortening. If final lengthening as a
phenomenon is as general and universal as the evidence (linguistic and non-linguistic)
suggests that it is, the very same pattern may be manifested even in languages with
complete devoicing of phrase-final vowels. If these devoiced vowels are short, it means
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