Coarticulation affects faithfulness: Evidence from subphonemically conditioned featural affixation in Laal
Florian Lionnet
direct link: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/004537
March 2019
This paper describes and analyzes the unusually complex multifeatural plural affix /L [+high, +round]/ of Laal (endangered isolate), focusing on its most intriguing property: the realization of the [+round] subexponent is conditioned by the presence of a labial consonant in the base. Instrumental evidence shows that the conditioning factor is the rounding coarticulatory effect exerted on the vowel by the adjacent labial consonant. This is evidence that coarticulation has a role to play in phonology. Specifically, I show that the degree of faithfulness to a feature value[?F] can be weakened if the realization of that feature is affected by coarticulation. I propose an analysis utilizing both subfeatural representations and scalar faithfulness constraints, both of which are shown to be necessary. This analysis is shown to both confirm and supersede Steriade’s (2009) P-map hypothesis. The subfeatural analysis is compared to an Agreement by Correspondence alternative, shown to be less satisfactory.