Reading Working Papers in Linguistics 4 (2000) - The University of ...

OPACITY AND SYMPATHY THEORY
Plural
Plural
Singular forms Gloss Underlying forms Surface forms
[lemo'ni] ‘lemon’ /lemoni+a/ ! [lemo'$a]
[mali'] ‘hair’ /mali+a/ ! [ma%a'] or
[ma&a']
[krasi'] ‘wine’ /krasi+a/ ! [kra2a']
[maxazi'] ‘shop’ /ma(azi+a/ ! [maxa;a']
c. i remains syllabic in unreduced CCiV clusters:
Gloss Underlying forms Surface forms
‘ploughs’ /aletria/ ! [ale'tria]
‘far’ /makria/ ! [makria']
‘I need’ /xriazume/ ! [xria'zume]
‘light’ (adj.fem) /elafria/ ! [elafria']
‘flour’ (pl.) /alevria/ ! [ale'vria]
‘old woman’ /(ria/ ! [(ria']
‘nets’ /1ixtia/ ! [1i'xtia]
Cypriot Greek, unlike Standard Mainland Greek (henceforth
SMG), exhibits a consistency in its phonological system. The behaviour
of high vowel i and its ‘reflexes’ is perfectly predictable.
In SMG, where patterns of the high variety Katharevusa and the
low variety Demotiki (Demotic) co-exist, the phonological behaviour of
i and j is not always predictable and their distribution is at times highly
erratic. SMG exhibits alternative syllabifications on a large scale and
neither stress nor syllable structure constraints are capable of accounting
for it. There are cases in which i freely alternates with j 5 , such as in
[sxoli'o], [sxoljo'], ‘school’ while in other cases only one of the two - i.e.
either i or j - is allowed to surface, despite the fact that the structural
environments are similar or identical:
5 In SMG i semivocalises postconsonantally and prevocalically (or is sometimes
fricativised) but does not strengthen to a stop.
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