Phonological Function of Noise in Irish and Ukranian Turbulent Sounds

Abstract

The aim of this paper is the examination of the property of turbulence in Irish and Ukrainian. We shall regard this question from the perspective of Government Phonology (Kaye, Lowenstamm and Vergnaud, 1985, 1990, Harris, 1994, Cyran 2003, Gussmann 2002) which is a non-linear approach employing the autosegmental mode of the representation of melodies. The elements are awarded considerable autonomy that is guaranteed by their representational arrangement and which determines their response to phonological processes. Melodic expressions are defined by means of elements whose manifestation depends on their being autosegmentally licensed by the relevant skeletal positions. The element on which the focus of our attention will be placed is that of noise. Noise defines the property of ‘aperiodic energy’ while its articulatory pattern is that of ‘narrowed stricture producing turbulent airflow’. Thus, noise resides in obstruent segments. In our discussion of the Irish and Ukrainian evidence, the function of this prime in the representation of turbulent sounds will be considered with a view to discovering types of relations it participates in and possible licensing constraints it is submitted to in the systems of the two languages.