The phonologisation of redundancy: length and quality in Welsh vowels

Abstract

Phonologization' is a process whereby a phonetic phenomenon enters the phonological grammar and becomes conceptualized as the result of categorical manipulation of phonological symbols. I analyse the phonologization of a predictable phonological pattern in Welsh, with particular attention to identifying criteria for whether phonologization has occurred. I argue for a model where phonologization experiences bottom-up and top-down biases. From the bottom up, there is pressure to phonologize phenomena with a categorical distribution; from the top down, there exist formal constraints on featural specification. I focus on the requirement for featural specifications to obey the Contrastivist Hypothesis, which denies that redundant features can be involved in phonological computation, in the context of a framework with emergent features. I suggest that the Contrastivist Hypothesis acts as a useful check for emergent-feature theories, whilst independent phonologization criteria provide contrastivist approaches with a more solid conceptual underpinning.

A contrastive analysis of southern welsh and cockney accents

“…The results reported here agree in principle with the previous studies regarding the unique articulatory system of Southern Welsh and Cockney (Collins & Mees, 2013;Iosad, 2017;Ranzato, 2019;Williams, 1985). The differences between the two accents should be considered given the effect of accent differences on comprehension (Ortmeyer & Boyle, 1985).…”

Northern Welsh

“…General descriptions of the vowels of Welsh dialects are found in Ball & Williams (2001) and Hannahs (2013). Iosad (2017) also addresses the Welsh vowel system, specifically in a dialect of South-Western Welsh, but makes observations that are relevant to Northern Welsh as well.…”

“…Williams 1983). While in southern dialects of Welsh, long vowels may appear in both penultimate and ultimate stressed syllables, in Northern Welsh, long vowels are restricted to stressed word-final syllables, a category that includes monosyllables (Awbery 1984, Hannahs 2013, Iosad 2017. The distribution of long vowels is further restricted by the following consonant; long vowels appear in open syllables, before unaspirated plosives /p t k/, fricatives /f v T D x/, and fricative-plosive clusters /ft sp st sk ¬t/.…”

“…Phonetic description of Welsh has a long history, notably Sweet (1882) and S. Jones (1926). More recent work includes a description of the vocalic system (G. E. Jones 1971, 1972), a description of Welsh stress (B. Williams 1999), a collected volume reporting a variety of acoustic investigations of Welsh (Ball & Williams 2001), and a discussion of the phonological representations of Welsh vowels (Iosad 2017). Phonological descriptions of Welsh include Ball & Jones (1984) and Hannahs (2013).…”

“…variety of acoustic investigations of Welsh (Ball & Williams 2001), and a discussion of the phonological representations of Welsh vowels (Iosad 2017). Phonological descriptions of Welsh include Ball & Jones (1984) and Hannahs (2013).…”