Abstract
We discuss the grammatical conditions that can be imposed between segmental content (features) and syllable structure (positions) and how a representational preference can influence diachronic development. The discussion centers on the co-distribution of two properties: occlusivity and bipositionality. The first is the phonological feature that induces occlusivity and reduces amplitude (that is: |ʔ|, which we will refer to as Edge(*) ), the second is the autosegmental structural property of belonging to multiple positions (which we refer to as ‘C.C’). Edge(*) and bipositionality have a universal affinity but they are not reducible to each other. Instead, the inherent diachronic tendency to preserve Edge(*) in bipositional structures can become grammaticalised through licensing conditions that dictate the alignment of the two properties. This can be expressed bidirectionally, forming two major language types. Type A has the condition stated from the featural perspective ( Edge(*) must be found in C.C). While, Type B comes from the other direction (C.C must contain Edge(*) ). Crucially, the same structure is diachronically stable: ( Edge(*) -C.C). What varies is the distribution of those properties elsewhere (given the direction of licensing condition). Type A excludes Edge(*) from {#__,V_V}, while Type B excludes C.Cs without Edge(*) . Although there is variation on this point, there is a UG component, because there are no anti-Type A/B languages where Edge(*) repels bipositionality.
Highlights
IntroductionThis paper is broadly about the grammatical relationship that can be imposed between segmental content (features) and syllable structure (positions)
This paper is broadly about the grammatical relationship that can be imposed between segmental content and syllable structure
Type B languages share the positive relationship between Edge and bipositionality, but they express the condition from the other direction, from the syllable structure
Summary
This paper is broadly about the grammatical relationship that can be imposed between segmental content (features) and syllable structure (positions). We begin the discussion with a description of Ontena Gadsup, the only known language to violate a universal against underlying oral stops. This fact is a product of an analysis and it is itself reducible to another highly unusual state of affairs: the unified lenition environment of {#__, V__V}. The actual distribution of stopness in Ontena Gadsup is shown to be regulated by the licensing of Edge* in relation to bipositionality. We show that it forms a linguistic type (Type A) that finds expression in the spirantising Berber languages. Such different language types must be able to arise diachronically, and we consider this below, suggesting that with a diachronic reanalysis one could make a Type B into a Type A language
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