Chaha Labialization and Palatalization as Coalescence

Abstract

Labialization and palatalization in Chaha target segments in different positions in a word. These processes, with or without a concomitant suffix, often express morphemes. This led researchers to analyze them as featural affixes. I propose and unearth empirical data to the effect that the processes arise from underlying full segments, namely the glides /w, y/, and that the linear order of these segments is fixed. I demonstrate that the processes also occur within morphemes; they are results of a phonology-driven coalescence; and, therefore, their formal analysis must not mention specific morphemes.