Consonant Sandhi phenomena and syllable structure in Kabyle Berber

Abstract

This paper discusses some peculiar alternations relative to the dental fricative sounds θ and ð when they occur across morpheme or word boundary in Kabyle Berber. Thus, the string /θ + θ/ is phonetically realized as tt, in some cases, and as θ t, in others. It will be shown that this seemingly aberrant behavior of /θ + θ/ finds an easy explanation if the position of these segments within the syllable is taken into consideration. Discussion of the string /ð + θ/, which surfaces as tt or θ, will reveal other sets of rules, some of which are dependent on syllable structure constraints. The analysis in the paper will also raise some interesting questions for the Obligatory Contour Principle as recently discussed in Schein and Steriade (1986) and Yip (1988). Whereas some data seem to confirm its stipulations, others appear to contradict them.