Vowel Harmony and Tridirectional Vowel Features

Rennison, John R.

doi:10.1515/flin.1987.21.2-4.337

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…In the interests of length, we cannot address the analyses of these cases in depth here, however they point to the correctness of the vowel features proposed here over the traditional Dorsal features. Similarly, the cases of height harmony discussed by Rennison (1987), in which both high and low vowels can cause the opposite kind to become mid, are much better accounted for using a feature System such äs the one proposed here than the conventional features. Further analyses of vowel …”

Section: Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Shifty Vowels

FALK¹

1991

Folia Linguistica

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The "vowel shift" alternations in English are not explained by the traditional approach to vowel features, in which vowels are described by the height and retraction of the tongue. In order to understand the alternations, äs well äs the historical processes that gave rise to them (the Great Vowel Shift) and similar processes in other languages a different approach to vowel features is needed. This study discusses such an approach. Combining earlier approaches to the phonetics and phonology of vowels with the theory of feature geometry, it is proposed that there are three articula tor tiers that define vowel articulations: Labial, Coronal, and Mandibular, the latter deüning degree of aperture. In addition, tenseness is described äs a narrowing of the air passage by muscular action in the tongue. Under such a system, the alternations seen in the English vowel system are accounted for by very natural rules, instead of the conventional alpha-switching approach. The historical Great Vowel Shift can also be better explained by such an approach.It is the goal of generative grammar to provide explanations for grammatical processes. The present study examines a phonological phenomenon which we shall refer to here äs shifty vowels. Shifty vowels are vowels which undergo a rule-governed change in quality under certain conditions, most frequently triggered by tenseness. The best-known case of shifty vowels, and the one from which the term is transparently derived, is the phenomenon of Vowel Shift in Modern English, where this term can be used ambiguously to refer either to the historic Great Vowel Shift of Early Modern English or to the long-short alternations of present-day English which are the synchronic reflex of this historic process. Vowel Shift has received much attention in the literature of generative phonology, but despite many technical improvements in the analysis we are no closer to an explanation today than we were with the publication of Chomsky and Halle (1968), henceforth SPE.The explanation must lie in the nature of the phonological features which define vowels. Most contemporary studies of the phonology of vowels assume the feature system of SPE, with slight Foiia Lingüistica XXV/3-4 0165^004/91/25-483 $ 2,-

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Section: Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…They also note that these three properties tend to be at least partially incompatible with each other. Similarly, Rennison (1987) has proposed the vowel features [A], [I], and [U].…”

Section: Preliminariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifty Vowels

FALK¹

1991

Folia Linguistica

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“…1 For the earliest discussions of the nature and kinds of primes, see Kaye (1989), Vergnaud (1985, 1990) or Rennison (1987Rennison ( , 1990. In recent years, there have been very serious contributions to the Element Theory such as those of Ploch (1997), Ritter (1997), Rennison (1998), Scheer (1996), Cyran (1997Cyran ( , 2003 and Nasukawa (1998Nasukawa ( , 2000.…”

Section: Theoretical Preliminariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Element-Based Approach to Ukrainian Back Fricatives

Bloch-Rozmej

2008

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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The discussion offered in this article focuses on the problem of the back fricative segments in Ukrainian. An attempt is made to provide their phonological representations that account both for their distribution and phonological behavior. The analysis proposed here is coached within the framework of Government Phonology, a non-linear model, that awards considerable autonomy to phonological primitives building melodic expressions. Our concern, therefore, is to specify which elements define each of the turbulent sounds and determine the role they play within the relevant melodic structures. In accordance with the principles of the framework, it is predicted that the internal elemental content and organization of primes directly conditions the phonetic manifestation of the fricative segments. The aim of the present analysis is also to pinpoint the significance of the head-dependent distinction that obtains within melodic structures, as it often underlies, if not determines, the strength of expressions and their susceptibility to phonological processes.

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“…' To my knowledge, only Mester (1986Mester ( , 1988 and Rennison (1987Rennison ( , 1990) accept that tier ordering may be language-specific. Crucially, both deal with vowel harmony.…”

Section: 3mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the last twenty years, phonological research on vowel systems has led to two important results. Firstly, vowel components should be viewed as unary primes like 'I', ' U and 'A' instead of the traditional binary features: this is the case with Anderson & Ewen's (1987) dependency phonology (henceforth DP), Schane's (1984a,b) particle phonology (PP), Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnauds (1985) charm and government theory (GP), as well as with Goldsmith's (1985Goldsmith's ( , 1987 and Rennison's (1987Rennison's ( , 1990 works on vowel structure, and a number of papers by van der Hulst (cf. 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Are Vowels Made Of? The ‘No‐rule’ Approach and Particle Phonology*

Carvalho

1994

Studia Linguistica

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According to current unarist theories of vowel systems, minimal components (like A, I, U, etc.) are structured in relation to one another either in terms of dependency (or government) relationships (dependency and government phonologies), or by their relative weight (particle phonology). No attempt has been made in order to evaluate both formalisms, which are sometimes used simultaneously to represent vowel height. The present paper claims that both government and weight are required in the representation of vowel structure, insofar as each notion is specifically motivated. It is argued that government and weight express respectively the 'functional' and the 'structural' aspects of vowel systems. The main point is that such a distinction allows for a strict 'principles and parameters' approach to vowel structure and processes. This theory, which is formally an autosegmental development of particle phonology, provides, as is fully shown by Portuguese data, a unitary and natural account of complex processes by substituting one universal principle for several descriptive rules.* I am grateful to Marc Klein (Paris VIII) and Marc Plinat (Paris X) for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of the present paper. I am also indebted to Mrs. Helen Dochney-Lepine for the revision of the manuscript.

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Vowel Harmony and Tridirectional Vowel Features

Cited by 11 publications

References 1 publication

Shifty Vowels

Shifty Vowels

An Element-Based Approach to Ukrainian Back Fricatives

What Are Vowels Made Of? The ‘No‐rule’ Approach and Particle Phonology*

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