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Lookup NU author(s): Dr SJ Hannahs
Welsh vowel mutation is a purely positional vowel alternation, the effects of which serve to obscure phonemic contrasts between three vowels in the system, namely barred-i, schwa and [u]. In this paper I propose an optimality theoretic account of vowel mutation differing from previous derivational analyses (e.g. Thomas 1979, 1984, Williams 1983) in various ways, including in the underlying values of some of the vowels involved. The correct results emerge primarily through the interaction of a high-ranking structural constraint prohibiting schwa in a final syllable, an input-output faithfulness constraint on vowel features, and a constraint prohibiting a high central rounded vowel.
Author(s): Hannahs SJ
Series Editor(s): Hussein M; Kolokonte M; Wright C
Publication type: Report
Publication status: Published
Series Title: Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics
Year: 2007
Pages: 27-40
Report Number: 12 & 13
Institution: School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University
Place Published: Newcastle upon Tyne
URL: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics/assets/documents/S.J.HANNAHS-FT.pdf
Notes: ISSN 1472-4855
