Vowel harmony and positional variation in Kyrgyz

Adam G Mccollum

doi:10.5334/labphon.247

Abstract

While it is well known that the phonetic realization of a segment may differ by position, it is unclear how positional variation interacts with vowel harmony, the imperative that vowels be identical along some phonological dimension. Pearce (2008, 2012) contends that phonological harmony blocks phonetic reduction, suggesting that phonology dictates phonetic realization for this class of assimilatory patterns. This paper investigates harmony and vowel reduction in Kyrgyz, finding that non-initial vowels are more centralized than their initial-syllable counterparts. The potential sources for this reduction, including initial strengthening, supralaryngeal declination, predictability, and undershoot are discussed. The proposed predictability-based analysis provides an analysis of reduction based on phonological knowledge and representations.

Highlights

It is well known that the phonetic realization of a phonological element typically varies according to a range of factors, including position, speech rate, and speech style
Phonetic reduction Reduction of vowels toward a more central acoustic or articulatory value is widely reported in the literature (e.g., Tiffany, 1959; Delattre, 1969; Nord, 1986; Bradlow, Torretta, & Pisoni, 1996; Mooshammer & Geng, 2008 among many others); phonetic reduction is derivable from a number of different mechanisms
In terms of F1, most non-low vowels are characterized by increasing F1 in non-initial syllables while /ɑ/ and /u/ show no obvious differences in F1 by position

Summary

Introduction

It is well known that the phonetic realization of a phonological element typically varies according to a range of factors, including position, speech rate, and speech style. Phonetic studies of vowel harmony have typically examined the acoustic or articulatory properties of vowels in a fixed position to determine what similarities exist within a particular harmonic class, and what differences distinguish each class of vowels (e.g., Fulop, Kari, & Ladefoged, 1998; Guion, Post, & Payne, 2004; Svantesson, 1985; Washington, 2016). These studies have compared the properties of vowels across classes, but not across positions. Prominent positions, e.g., stressed syllables, often exhibit distinct articulatory and acoustic characteristics, which de Jong (1995) calls “localized hyperarticulation” (Lindblom, 1990; Harris, 1978; Öhman, 1967; Beckman, Edwards, & Fletcher, 1992)

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