The phonological endgame
Welsh svarabhakti revisited
November 3, 2012
New Researchers Forum in Linguistics, University of Manchester and University of Salford, UK
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Categories: Welsh Phonology-morphology interface
I present an analysis of Welsh ‘svarabhakti’, whereby a copy of a preceding vowel is inserted to break up final clusters of rising sonority (pwdr ‘rotten’ is [pudur] rather than *[pudr]). This pattern is said to coexist with a pattern of deleting consonants in such clusters in polysyllables (perygl ‘danger’ is [perɪɡ] rather than *[perɪɡl]). It has been argued that the two differing outcomes can be reconciled by appeal to a single constraint on the form of feet. I show that this analysis is not tenable for South Welsh, and propose that deletion (as in perygl) is not part of the phonological grammar (at least in South Welsh).
About me
I’m Pavel Iosad, and I’m a Senior Lecturer in the department of Linguistics and English Language at the University of Edinburgh. ¶ You can always go to the start page to learn more.
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