On paradigm uniformity and contrast in Russian vowel reduction

Abstract

Reduction of unstressed /o/ and /a/ to [ɐ] or [ə] after non-palatalized consonants and to [ɪ] after palatalized ones in Contemporary Standard Russian (CSR) is systematic. But in certain inflectional suffixes [ə] occurs instead of the expected [ɪ] after palatalized consonants. In order to explain these apparent exceptions, I argue that vowel reduction after palatalized consonants is constrained by the morphology and that reduction to [ɪ] is blocked in certain cases of the paradigm by the interaction of Relativized Paradigm Uniformity (PU) and Paradigm Contrast (PCON) constraints (Rebrus and Torkenczy 2005; Steriade 2000). The main finding is that there is a critical contrast between the singular and plural within a given case, Number × Case, and [ɪ] is blocked when it would result in homophony with an /i/ [ɪ] suffix in the relevant situation. When the morphological contrast is implemented by some other means, then regular vowel reduction to [ɪ] takes place. The gen sg /-a/ suffix has special status due to type and token frequency of the [ə] variant. An analysis in terms of paradigm uniformity and contrast provides a more coherent account of the direction of language change in CSR vowel reduction than do appeals to stressed vowel faithfulness, spelling pronunciation, grammatical analogy or paradigm uniformity alone.