Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

asymmetries it carries, is what Smith uses to account for the typological regularities
observed in the licensing potential of this position.
By contrast, stressed syllables, which are phonetically-strong, are seen by Smith
both to behave as strong licensers of vowel contrasts (as in VR systems), and often to
undergo Positional Augmentation of the vowel, resulting in the neutralization of
contrasts. The onsets of stressed syllables are also seen to under Positional Augmentation
of the type found in initial syllables (e.g. mandatory low sonority onset), but are said not
to function as strong licensers of contrasts for onset consonants in the way initial
syllables are. This is said to be comprehensible under the assumption that stressed
syllables are not psycholinguistically prominent in the same way the initial syllables are,
such that there is no processing-related mandate to conserve contrasts in those syllables.
On the contrary, the most important factor is that the stressed syllable be perceptually
prominent, and often in the service of achieving this additional prominence, both onset
and vowel contrasts are lost. In sum, Smith’s account of initial syllable PN processes
relies on psycholinguistic properties resulting from the fact that the syllable is initial to
derive the typological patterning of affects.
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