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ROA:504
Title:Contrast dispersion and Russian palatalization
Authors:Jaye Padgett
Comment:Published in Elizabeth Hume and Keith Johnson, eds., The role of speech perception in phonology, Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp.187-218, 2001.
Length:30
Abstract:Based on an instrumental phonetic study, argues that a well known rule of 'i-backing' in Russian is instead an instance of velarization of the preceding consonant before the vowel i. In this way Russian behaves as other languages do with a palatalization contrast, in either recasting the palatalized versus plain contrast as plain versus velarized (respectively) before front vowels, or neutralizing the contrast there. Most generally, this paper argues that allophonic processes can be better understood than they typically are, and that an appeal to functional phonetic grounding is crucial. Note: no Optimality Theory analysis in this paper, but the work relates directly to other work in OT, including other ROA postings by this author.
Type:Paper/tech report
Area/Keywords:Phonology,Phonetics
Article:Version 1