2022
DOI: 10.3765/amp.v9i0.5174
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Are neutral roots in Uyghur really neutral? Evaluating a covert phonemic contrast

Abstract: This paper looks at the case of so-called neutral roots in Uyghur (Turkic: China), whose idiosyncratic behavior with respect to the backness harmony system has been analyzed as stemming from a covert vowel contrast. Based on considerations of the structural properties of the language and the results of an experimental study, we suggest that an analysis based on lexical exceptionality is more parsimonious than the traditional analysis, unifying the treatment of neutral roots with other cases of exceptionality i… Show more

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Cited by 82 publications
(8 citation statements)
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“…The treatment of neutral roots in Uyghur also bears on the nature of lexical representations: under the analyses proposed by Lindblad (1990) and Hahn (1991b), speakers represent these harmonically ambiguous roots with abstract phonemes that are never realised on the surface. Mayer (2021) and Mayer et al (2022) suggest that speakers' lexical representations correspond more closely to the surface realisations of these roots, with cases of idiosyncratic harmonising behaviour represented as lexical exceptions. These two hypotheses bear directly on the division of labour between phonology and morphology.…”
Section: Theoretical Relevance Of Uyghur Backness Harmonymentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…The treatment of neutral roots in Uyghur also bears on the nature of lexical representations: under the analyses proposed by Lindblad (1990) and Hahn (1991b), speakers represent these harmonically ambiguous roots with abstract phonemes that are never realised on the surface. Mayer (2021) and Mayer et al (2022) suggest that speakers' lexical representations correspond more closely to the surface realisations of these roots, with cases of idiosyncratic harmonising behaviour represented as lexical exceptions. These two hypotheses bear directly on the division of labour between phonology and morphology.…”
Section: Theoretical Relevance Of Uyghur Backness Harmonymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…More research is needed to address this issue. Mayer et al (2022) proposes an alternative account of neutral roots based on lexical exceptionality. Given a covert phonemic contrast, one surprising property of Uyghur is the total absence of homophonic neutral roots that differ in the backness of suffixes they take (i.e., underlying minimal pairs between /i/-/ɯ/ and /e/-/ɤ/), even though such pairs are plentiful for other vowel pairs.…”
Section: Theoretical Analyses Of Transparent Vowelsmentioning
confidence: 99%
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