The Syllable-De Gruyter (1999)

The Syllable
1749 ?
1999
Studies in Generative Grammar 45
Editors
Jan Köster
Henk van Riemsdijk
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
The Syllable
Views and Facts
Edited by
Harry van der Hulst
Nancy A. Ritter
wDE Mouton de Gruyter

G Berlin • New York 1999
Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague)
is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.
The series Studies in Generative Grammar was formerly published by

Foris Publications Holland.
® Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines

of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The syllable : views and facts / edited by Harry van der Hulst, Nancy A.
Ritter.
p. cm. - (Studies in generative grammar ; 45)
Chiefly rev. papers originally presented at the International Confer-
ence on the Phonology of the World's Languages, held June 21-24,
1996, Pézenas, France.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-11-016274-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Syllabication. I. Hulst, Harry van der. II. Ritter, Nancy Α.,
1959- III. International Conference on the Phonology of the
World's Languages (1996 : Pézenas , France) IV. Series.
P236.S94 1999
414—dc21 99-26547
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The syllable : views and facts / ed. by Harry VanDerHulst ; Nancy A.

Ritter. - Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1999
(Studies in generative grammar ; 45)
ISBN 3-11-016274-1
© Copyright 1999 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.
Printing: WB-Druck, Rieden am Forggensee.
Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer GmbH, Berlin.
Printed in Germany.
Preface and acknowledgments
Most chapters in this collection started life as papers that were presented at the
International Conference on the Phonology of the World's Languages in
Pézenas (France), June 21-24, 1996, sponsored by the University of Salford,
Oxford University Press, and the city of Pézenas. Jacques Durand was the main
organizer of this conference and we wish to thank him for allowing us to invite
the participants from 'his' conference to contribute to the present volume. Sub-
sequently, we invited a number of further linguists to extend the scope of our
project. We are grateful for the willingness of all the authors to contribute their
work to this book, and to Jan Koster & Henk van Riemsdijk for adopting it in
their SGG series. We also wish to thank Anke Beck from Mouton for her sup-
port.
All original papers have been extensively rewritten before being submitted as
chapters for this volume. The initial submissions were thoroughly reviewed by
external readers, as well as by the editors of this volume. We wish to thank all
the reviewers who remain anonymous. Another review round resulted when all
contributors were asked to review at least one of the papers of a fellow con-
tributor. The final versions of all chapters were submitted for publication in
1998.
We thank various other people for helping us in the review process: Marc van
Oostendorp, Gertjan Postma and Rob Goedemans. Rob also gave us valuable
assistance in other phases of the editorial process. Jeroen van de Weijer has
done a wonderful job in typesetting the chapters and in helping us to prepare
the indices. We also wish to thank Rose Ritter and Paulus-Jan Kieviet for
helping with the final editing phase.
February 1999, The Editors

Contents
Contributors xi
Abbreviations xv
1 Introducing the volume 1

Harry van der Hulst & Nancy A. Ritter
Part I: General Issues
2 Theories of the syllable 13

3 Morpheme structure constraints and the phonotactics of Dutch 53

Geert Booij
4 Syllables in Danish 69
Hans Basboll
5 The syllable in Hindi 93

Manjari Ohala
Part II: Government Phonology
6 Head-Driven Phonology 113

7 The syllable in German: Exploring an alternative 169

Wiebke Brockhaus
8 Consonant clusters and governing relations: Polish initial

consonant sequences 219
Eugeniusz Cyran ά Edmund Gussmann
viii Contents
9 Hungarian syllable structure: Arguments for/against complex

constituents 249
Miklós Törkenczy & Péter Siptár
10 The Latin syllable 285

Giovanna Marotta
11 Syllables in Western Koromfe 311

John R. Rennison
Part III: Moraic Phonology
12 The syllable in Luganda phonology and morphology 349

Larry M. Hyman & Francis X. Katamba
13 Kihehe syllable structure 417

David Odden & Mary Odden
14 Dschang syllable structure 447

Steven Bird
15 The syllable in Chinese 477

San Duanmu
16 The syllable and syllabification in Modern Spoken Arabic

(San c ânï and Cairene) 501
Janet C.E. Watson
17 The Romansch syllable 527

Jean-Pierre Montreuil
Part IV: Optimality Theory
18 Syllables and phonotactics in Irish 551

Máire Ni Chiosáin
19 A preliminary account of some aspects of Leurbost

Gaelic syllable structure 577
Norval Smith
Contents ix
20 Quantity in Norwegian syllable structure 631

Gjert Kristoffersen
Part V: Other approaches
21 A syllable-level feature in Finnish 651

Richard Ogden
22 Sievers' Law in Vedic 673

Andrea Calabrese
Indexes
Index of authors 753
Index of languages 763
Index of subjects 767

Contributors
Hans Basbell Eugeniusz Cyran

Institute of Language and Dept. of Celtic
Communication Catholic University of Lublin
University of Southern Denmark Al. Raclawickie 14
Main Campus: Odense University Lublin 20-950
Campusvej 55 Poland
DK - 5230 Odense M cyran@kul.lublin.pl
Denmark
hba@language. ou. dk San Duanmu
hba@language. sdu. dk Program in Linguistics
University of Michigan
Steven Bird Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285
Linguistic Data consortium USA
University of Pennsylvania duanmu@umich.edu
3615 Market Street, Suite 200
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2608 Edmund Gussmann
USA Dept. of Celtic
steven.bird@ldc.upenn.edu Catholic University of Lublin
Al. Raclawickie 14
Geert Bootj Lublin 20-950
Faculteit der Letteren Poland
Vrije Universiteit edmund.gussmann@kul.lublin.pl
De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam Harry van der Hulst
The Netherlands Holland Institute of Generative
booijg@let.vu.nl Linguistics
Leiden University
Wiebke Brockhaus P.O. Box 9515
Department of German 2300 RA Leiden
University of Manchester The Netherlands
Oxford Road hulst@rullet. leidenuniv.nl
Manchester M l 3 9PL
UK Larry M. Hyman
wiebke.brockhaus@man.ac.uk Department of Linguistics
University of California
Andrea Calabrese Berkeley, CA 94720
Department of Linguistics USA
University of Connecticut hyman@socrates.berkeley.edu
341 Mansfield Rd. U-145
Storrs, CT 06269
USA
calabres@uconnvm.uconn.edu
xii Contributors
Francis X. Katamba David Odden

Department of Linguistics and Modem Mary Odden
English Language Department of Linguistics
Bowland College Ohio State University
Lancaster University Columbus, OH 43210
Lancaster LAI 4YT USA
UK
f.katamba@lancaster.ac.uk odden@ling. ohio-state. edu
Gjert Kristoffersen Richard Ogden

Dept. of Scandinavian languages and Department of Language & Linguistic
literature Science
University of Bergen University of York
Norway Heslington
gjert.kristoffersen@nor.uib.no York YOlO 5DD
UK
Giovanna Marotta raol@york.ac.uk
Department of Linguistics Manjari Ohala
University of Pisa Department of Linguistics and
Via S. Maria 36 Language Development
I - 56126 Pisa San Jose State University
Italy San Jose, CA 95192
gmarotta@ling.unipi.it USA
manju@trill.linguistics.berkeley.edu
Department of French and Italian John R. Rennison
The University of Texas, Austin Institut für Sprachwissenschaft
Austin, TX 78712-1197 Berggasse 11
USA 1090 Vienna
jpm@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu Austria
Máire Ni Chiosáin john@ling.univie.ac.at

Department of Linguistics
John Henry Newman Building Nancy A. Ritter
University College Dublin Holland Institute of Generative
Belfield Linguistics
Dublin 4 Leiden University
Ireland P.O. Box 9515
chiosain@ollamh.ucd. ie 2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
ritter@rullet.leidenuniv.nl
Contributors xiii
Péter Siptár Miklòs Törkenczy

Department of English Linguistics and Department of English Linguistics and
Theoretical Linguistics Programme Theoretical Linguistics Programme
Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Eötvös Loránd University Budapest
Ajtósi Dürer sor 19-21 Budapest Ajtósi Dürer sor 19-21 Budapest
H - 1146 Hungary H - 1146 Hungary
siptar@nytud.hu tork@nytud.hu
Norval Smith Janet C. E. Watson

Department of Theoretical Linguistics Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic
University of Amsterdam Studies
Holland Institute of Generative South End House
Linguistics (HIL) South Road
Spuistraat 210 University of Durham
1012 VT Amsterdam Durham DH1 4QU
The Netherlands UK
nsmith@hum.uva.nl j.c.e.watson@durham.ac.uk
Abbreviations
1 sg first person singular F, today future

3 sg third person singular F2 general future
f./fem. feminine
A appendix fam. familiar
abl. ablative FEN word-final empty
acc. accusative nucleus
Act active FPA Firthian Prosodie
AO aorist Analysis
ASP aspect Fr. French
attr. form attributive form fut. future
aug. augment FV Final Vowel
Β Brahmanas G glide
GD gerundive
C coda gen. genitive
C consonant GL government licensing
caus. causative GP Government Phonology
cl. class / class suffix GPSG Generalized Phrase
CL compensatory Structure Grammar
lengthening H head
coll. collective H heavy
comp. comparative H high tone
conj. conjunction HDA Head-dependent
Cor coronal asymmetry
CSS closed syllable HDP Head-Driven Phonology
shortening HFC Head-Feature
Convention
D/d dependent HP constituent (non-
dat. dative specific)
deci. declarative HPSG Head-driven Phrase
def. definite Structure Grammar
dim. diminutive hum. human
Dor dorsal
DP Declarative Phonology I high vocoid
DP Dependency Phonology id. idem
dur. durative imp. imperative
imperf. imperfective
ECP Empty Category in prep. in preparation
Principle ind. indicative
EN empty nucleus ind. fut. indicative future
ess. essive indef. indefinite
exp. expressive inf. infinitive
inst. instrumental
xvi Abbreviations
INT intensive pi. plural

interrog. interrogative PP past participle
10 interonset government PR present
IPA International Phonetic PRC Plural Rounding
Alphabet constraint
IPV imperative pres. present
prêt. preterite
L light prog. progressive aspect
L low tone pron. pronoun
Lab labial PS passive
LAR laryngeal PT participle
loe locative
LVS Leftward Vowel Spread R Rhyme
refi. reflexive
m./masc. masculine rei. relative
MD middle rem. remote past
MHG Middle High German RP Received Pronunciation
ML magic licensing RV Rigveda
ms milliseconds RVS Rightward Vowel
MSC Morpheme Structure Spread
Constraint
S sonorant
Ν nucleus s./sg. singular
NAS nasalization s.o. someone
NEG negative SB subjunctive
neut. neuter SESE Standard English of
NHD Non-High Delinking southern England
NHG New High German SG spread glottis
nom. nominative sg- singular
SM subject marker
0 obstruent son sonorant
0 onset SPE The Sound Pattern of
obs obstruent English
OCP Obligatory Contour SSG Sonority Sequencing
Principle Generalization
OHG Old High German SSM Sonority Syllable Model
OM object marker sth. something
OT Optimality Theory subj. subject
syl. syllable
P2 general past
PB Proto Bantu TBU tone-bearing unit
perf. perfective TM tense marker
PF perfect trans. transitive
PFF Phrase-final filling
PG proper government UG Universal Grammar
Abbreviations xvii
UH Ultimate Head
V vowel
v. verb
v.f. vocal folds
vb. verb
VH vowel harmony
voc. vocoid
voc. vocative
voi voiced
1 Introducing the volume
1. Goal of the volume
This collection offers a fairly exhaustive presentation of current day approaches

to the phonotactic or syllabic organization of words, the 'views', as well as a
rich display of the syllabic organization of some 20 languages, the 'facts'. With
respect to representational issues, we find adherents of onset-rhyme models,
using the approach of Government Phonology or 'X-bar' models, and mora
models. Practically all contributors adopt a constraint-based approach, either in
the context of models that appeal to language-specific constraint ranking (such
as in Optimality Theory) or models that use no ranking of inviolable constraints
i.e. Firthian-Declarative Phonology and Government-based analyses. Issues of
surface syllabification and phonetic implementation are also addressed. In the
next section, we provide brief summaries of the chapters. We refer to chapter 2
for a discussion of the various themes that are addressed in the chapters in this
volume.
2. Summaries of the contributions1
2.1. Introduction
In this section we present short summaries of the chapters. The second digit in
the numbering of the subsections is also the number of the relevant chapter.
2.2. Theories of the syllable (Harry van der Hulst & Nancy A. Ritter)
The goal of this chapter is to discuss some general issues in syllable theory.
Section 2 presents some facts that any theory of syllable structure or phonotac-
tics must address, specifically involving complex consonant clusters. Section 3
discusses a number of approaches to syllable structure, comparing them and
showing the equivalencies and real differences. In section 4, the authors address
2 Harry van der Hülst & Nancy A. Ritter
a number of fundamental questions regarding the level of grammar at which

phonotactics must be stated.
2.3. Morpheme structure constraints and the phonotactics of Dutch (Geert

Booij)
This chapter deals with the relation between conditions on prosodie structure
and phonotactics, based on an analysis of a number of phonotactic patterns in
Dutch. It is shown that next to the syllable, higher prosodie constituents such as
the foot and the prosodie word also play a role in accounting for phonotactic
patterns. Also Booij demonstrates that some co-occurrence constraints are
purely linear, and do not have to do with specific prosodie constituents. Since
prosodie conditions are output conditions they cannot function as conditions on
the segmental make-up of morphemes, that is, patterns in the segmental make-
up of morphemes cannot be expressed directly in the grammar, but are the
consequences of lexicon optimization. However, it appears that there are also
phonotactic regularities that can only be stated at the underlying level, which
suggests that there remains a role for morpheme structure conditions. These
morpheme structure conditions, however, must be distinguished from prosodie
conditions that only hold for morphemes, not for complex words. Such con-
straints refer to both prosodie and morphological structure, and suggest that
these two kinds of representations must be available simultaneously.
2.4. Syllables in Danish (Hans Basbell)
The author presents his Sonority Syllable Model which is based on "a universal
logic of segment types". The complete inventories of onsets and codas of the
stressed Danish (native monomorphemic) monosyllable are analyzed, and fur-
ther restrictions (not derived from sonority) are presented. Basboll also includes
an analysis of the phonotactics of unstressed syllables, thus arriving at a com-
plete phonotactic analysis of the Danish word. The author then discusses syl-
labification principles, and in particular the principles for syllable boundaries
between a full vowel and schwa within native Danish words. The weakening of
obstruents (sometimes called Consonant Gradation) and some particular vari-
ants of short /a/ and loi are shown to constitute evidence for syllabification in
Danish. Finally, the author shows how the syllable in Danish is moraically
structured in terms of an analysis of the placement of stod.
Introducing the volume 3
2.5. The syllable in Hindi (Manjari Ohala)
This chapter reports on experiments carried out by the author dealing with two
aspects of syllable structure in Hindi: syllabification of intervocalic consonants
and the organization of the syllable. The syllabification experiments use a
modified version of a 'pause-break' experimental task. Subjects are presented
with different alternatives for inserting a pause within a word and asked to
choose what they regard as the optimal alternative (e.g., for the word [cela]
'disciple', [ce#la] or [cel#a]). The results of the experiments show that although
intervocalic single consonants are syllabified with the following vowel in ac-
cordance with the 'onset first principle', the syllable division for intervocalic
two-consonant clusters is between the two consonants regardless of sonority
considerations. The experiments on syllable organization tested for the internal
structure being onset + rhyme, head + coda, or flat, using a modified version of
a word blending task. Subjects were presented with a pair of real words and
asked to make a new word blending the two words (e.g. [rog] 'disease' [tap]
'fever' > [rap] = onset + rhyme or [rop] = head + coda. The results rule out
onset + rhyme and seem to support head + coda. However, the possibility of the
structure being flat is not entirely ruled out by the author.
2.6. Head-driven Phonology (Harry van der Hulst & Nancy A. Ritter)
The authors defend an approach that is strongly inspired by insights developed

within Dependency and especially Government Phonology. The central idea is
that syllabic constituents are headed and maximally contain two segmental
positions. This claim severely limits the options for analyzing many of the com-
plexities involving onsets and rhymes that contain more than two segments and
calls for postulating onsets followed by unrealized rhymes. Segments appearing
in syllabic positions, in addition, must satisfy a variety of licensing constraints
for which the authors propose a new typology. The chapter concludes with a
case study of so-called 'minor syllables' in Kammu.
2.7. The syllable in German: exploring an alternative (Wiebke Brockhaus)
This chapter is primarily concerned with the role of the syllable in the phonol-
ogy of German, although its basic claims are universal. Brockhaus takes as her
point of departure the general arguments in favor of the syllable and then asks
whether these arguments are really as compelling as is widely thought. What
emerges from the discussion is that referring to a syllable node is not neces-
sarily the only, or perhaps the best, strategy in dealing with certain
phonological phenomena. Alternatives are available. The author then shows

that a framework such as Government Phonology has the potential for handling
the relevant constraints and events in terms of universal principles and para-
meters which never mention the syllable. Language-specific facts are captured
through the settings of a relatively small number of parameters, without the
need for devices such as wholly language-specific sonority hierarchies or syl-
lable schémas which are in no way constrained by Universal Grammar. By the
same token, the problems caused by the power or destructive nature of extra-
syllabicity and resyllabification vanish completely, as neither strategy is needed
in the grammar. Brockhaus compares her analysis with a recent syllable-based
account of the German syllable.
2.8. Consonant clusters and governing relations: Polish initial consonant se-
quences (Eugeniusz Cyran & Edmund Gussmann)
This chapter addresses the problem of the Polish initial consonant sequences,
e.g. [pt]ak 'bird', [krt]an 'larynx', [mgw]a 'mist', [drgnfôc' 'shudder', [psts]yc
'make gaudy', [3d3bw]o 'blade of grass', and investigates the mechanisms
necessary to describe them. The strict view on the structure of syllabic constitu-
ents, which lies at the heart of the model of Government Phonology adopted
here, entails the existence of empty nuclei in such sequences. The authors con-
clude that the licensing mechanisms proposed thus far are not able to justify all
the facts of Polish initial phonotactics, and they consider two new mechanisms
determining segmental distribution which may be at play in Polish: (a) melodic
constraints which are not due to government; these may be derived from the
interaction between phonological elements, or from the OCP; (b) prosodie
effects following from the notion of Licensing Inheritance. A further central
theoretical issue considered in this chapter is the nature and effects of the inter-
action between two major principles of the theory. The analysis of the Polish
facts seems to require that Interonset Government be ranked higher than Proper
Government. The authors provide a rationale for this sort of ranking by trying
to derive it from other general principles of grammar, namely Government
Licensing.
2.9. Hungarian syllable structure: arguments for/against complex constituents

(Miklós Törkenczy & Péter Siptár)
This chapter examines whether complex constituents have to be recognized at

the edges of syllables in Hungarian. The mere existence of consonant clusters at
the beginning or end of words in a given language is no proof that complex
onsets and complex codas exist in a language. Edges allow for extra possibili-
ties that need not involve branching onsets or complex codas. In the first part of
this chapter, the authors give an overview of the various ways such edge phe-
nomena are accounted for in the literature. Turning to Hungarian, it is argued
that all domain-initial consonant clusters can (and should) be analyzed as edge
effects of some sort, rather than complex onsets. It is also suggested, albeit
somewhat tentatively, that apparent complex codas could also be analyzed as
edge phenomena. A number of alternations/processes that are sensitive to syl-
lable structure are considered as evidence pertaining to the issue of whether the
phonotactic patterns observed in Hungarian (including #CC-, -CCC-, CC#,
-CCC#) are to be viewed as involving complex onsets, complex codas, both, or
neither.
2.10. The Latin syllable (Giovanna Marotta)
The structure of the syllable in Classical Latin is investigated in this chapter,

using an onset-rhyme model. First Marotta addresses the methodological prob-
lems connected with the study of a dead language. The phonetic interpretation
of some ambiguous spellings is discussed, in the spirit of reconstructing the
phonology of Latin as a real language once spoken, and not only as a written,
literary code. After a detailed discussion of the phonological inventory of the
language, the syllable structure is presented. Special attention is devoted to
vowel quantity, which plays an important role in the prosodie structure of the
language, as well as in metrics. The relationship between syllabic weight and
stress placement is dealt with, leading to the conclusion that this relation sup-
ports the existence of a rhyme constituent. The interactions between
phonological structure and morpho-syntactic structure are underlined, since
they explain why deviations from the basic syllable template are all found in
word-final position, where long codas are admitted. Morphology is also held
responsible for the special status of the sibilant, which not only is licensed in
extra positions at word boundaries, but also allows the preservation of the
vowel length in closed syllables.
2.11. Syllables in Western Koromfe (John R. Rennison)
This chapter investigates the syllable structure of Western Koromfe, a Gur

language of northern Burkina Faso, which is compared to the related language
Mòoré (the largest Gur language), which though genetically related has gone
different ways with regard to a number of interesting aspects of phonological
structure (in particular: Mòoré has tones, but Koromfe has none). Rennison
6 Harry van der Hülst & Nancy Α. Ritter
adopts the approach of Government Phonology. The author adopts a version of

this model that investigates the total elimination of branching constituents,
assuming, then, that all syllables are simple CV structures. To this end he fo-
cuses on the analysis of (formerly) branching constituents (geminates, nasal +
voiced stop sequences, long vowels and diphthongs) and the licensing versus
filling of empty constituents.
2.12. The syllable in Luganda phonology and morphology (Larry M. Hyman &
Francis X. Katamba)
The Luganda syllable has been the subject of extensive treatment. Despite the
distinction of many linguists and the quality of their work, investigations have
all been limited to studying the phonological properties of the Luganda syllable
in isolation, i.e. without regard to how the syllabification process fits into a total
grammar. In their chapter, the authors take a close look at how the phonological
syllabification process interacts with the complex préfixai and suffixal mor-
phology typical of Luganda and related Bantu languages. They show that the
syllabification process actually differs when applying within, as opposed to
outside, the "prosodie stem". They also show evidence for a major cyclic effect:
while some roots begin with a "stable y" which is present in all derived forms,
others show an alternation between y and 0. The authors provide the first gen-
eral account of y / 0 alternation, showing at the same time that the presence vs.
absence of [y] depends crucially on the phonological shape of the preceding
préfixai morpheme. Any earlier prefixes are irrelevant to the process, suggest-
ing a step-by-step syllabification process: add a prefix to the stem, then syl-
labify (vs. waiting for all the prefixes to be added in a non-cyclic way). This
conclusion, however, contrasts with what is needed to capture the tonal effects
of VNC sequences in the language: the location of a stem-level assigned high
tone requires knowledge of what kind of prefix (e.g. CV vs. V vs. Ν vs. 0 ) will
precede at the ("later") word-level. Hyman & Katamba suggest that this anti-
stratal effect provides an argument for a less derivational, 'direct mapping'
approach to the processes under consideration. The conclusion they draw is that
syllabification in so-called agglutinative languages such as Bantu must be
studied in its morphological context.
2.13. Kihehe syllable structure (David Odden & Mary Odden)
This chapter discusses a number of general issues in the phonology of Kihehe,

which is a Bantu language spoken in southwestern Tanzania, focusing on areas
of the language which relate to the structure of the syllable. Following an
overview of the basic syllable typology of the language, the authors investigate
two domains involving syllable readjustment and compensatory lengthening:
the resolution of vocalic hiatus, and lengthening of vowels before NC se-
quences. It is shown that concatenation of two vowels always leads to syllable-
fiision with compensatory lengthening of the surviving vowels. In addition,
vowels are always lengthened before a sequence of a nasal plus a consonant.
They discuss the theoretical implications of these lengthening phenomena,
especially for the representation of non-alternating words. Then they show how
gemination of nasals is sensitive to tone, since a geminate (syllabic) nasal can
exist only if it bears H tone. Finally, they consider the phonetic and
phonological properties of syllabic nasals in the language. It is shown that there
are two kinds of syllabic nasals, one being dependent for its place features on
the following syllable and the other forming an autonomous syllable, without
phonological connection to any following syllable.
2.14. Dschang syllable structure (Steven Bird)
The syllable structure of Dschang is interesting for a variety of reasons. Most

notable is the aspiration which can appear on most consonant types, including
voiced stops. The author argues that aspiration is best viewed as moraic, con-
tributing to the weight of a syllable. He shows that an understanding of the
syllable structure also gives valuable insights into the phonemic inventory and
the distributional asymmetries of segments, and helps to explain some curious
morpho-phonemic vowel alternations in the imperative construction.
2.15. The syllable in Chinese (San Duanmu)
This chapter argues that the syllable plays a critical role in Chinese phonology.
First, a comparison is provided of the traditional view of the Chinese syllable
and the one offered by the author. The chapter focuses on two varieties of Chi-
nese, Mandarin and Shanghai, and shows that the former has syllables of the
type CVX (i.e. all heavy, although weak CV syllables occur in unstressed posi-
tions) whereas the latter has CV syllables only (i.e. all light, except when
stressed, in which case they become heavy). In his analysis, Duanmu makes the
interesting claim that the pre-nuclear glide is in the onset, as opposed to in the
nucleus, and relates this claim to an approach toward representing complex
onsets as complex segments.
2.16. The syllable and syllabification in Modern Spoken Arabic (San'ânï and
Cairene) (Janet C.E. Watson)
This chapter examines the syllable structure and syllabification of Sancânï

Arabic, an urban dialect of North Yemeni Arabic, in comparison to that of the
more widely documented Cairene Arabic. It discusses the analysis of apparent
CVCCC syllables in Çancânï Arabic in view of the fact that syllables in Arabic
are held to be maximally bimoraic. Consequently, it is proposed that Sancânî
CVCCC syllables can be properly analyzed as marked variants of CVCC sylla-
bles: the only two consonants which occur in final position in CVCCC syllables
are exceptionally linked to a single consonant slot. The author considers then
three syllable-related processes, namely: epenthesis, closed syllable shortening,
and syncope. While syllable-related processes are strictly structure-preserving
in Cairene Arabic, closed syllable shortening and syncope do not appear to be
structure-preserving in Sancânï Arabic: word-internal CVCC syllables are at-
tested optionally, and syllables with initial 'clusters' of up to three consonants
(many of which disobey the Sonority Hierarchy Principle) arise as a result of
syncope. It is demonstrated, however, that syllables are maximally bimoraic at
the post-lexical as well as at the lexical level and that word-internal CVVC
syllables arise from an adjunction operation. In the case of initial consonant
'clusters', it is argued that syncope frequently deletes the vowel of a syllable,
but not the mora; where the initial consonant (the consonant to the left of the
syncopated vowel) is more sonorous than the following consonant (the conso-
nant to the right of the syncopated vowel), the floating mora reassociates with
the initial consonant which functions as the syllable peak of the initial syllable.
Post-lexically, then, syllabic consonants are attested in Sancânî, while onsets
with more than two consonants are not attested.
2.17. The Romansch syllable (Jean-Pierre Montreuil)
The first part of this chapter presents a general picture of the syllable in Ro-
mansch. Vowel distribution patterns show the crucial role played by length and
the various ways in which length interacts with prosodie phenomena (stress and
syllable structure) and segmental features (laxness, height). Although the lan-
guage is fairly conservative in its consonantism and general phonotactics,
word-final syllables are shown to deviate from canonical shapes, as their right
edge can be affected by several processes of epenthesis and devoicing. Then
Montreuil shows that the set of syllabic segments is a subset of the moraic set
and proposes a sonority-based mora-building algorithm which interacts with
syllable-building and serves as the basis for the stress system: Romansch dis-
plays transparent moraic trochees, no extrametricality requirement, and a
bimoraic upper limit within the syllable. Finally, the author reanalyzes a par-
ticular process that has been viewed as problematic for a moraic representation
of the Romansch syllable: glide-hardening in Surmiran. It is argued that the
glide-to-velar hardening process can be shown to target only non-moraic glides,
and thus provides a phonetic confirmation of the validity of the moraic struc-
tures proposed earlier.
2.18. Syllables and phonotactics in Irish (Máire Ni Chiosáin)
The account of the phonotactics of Irish presented in this chapter focuses on the
distributional patterning of consonants. The first section presents the facts of
syllable- and word-initial onsets, both simple and complex. The inventory of
word-initial onsets is increased in environments in which morphologically and
syntactically conditioned initial-consonant mutation occurs. The additional
clusters permitted in word-initial position in these environments generally
reflect a relaxing of requirements on the sonority profile of onset clusters. Other
facts mentioned in this primarily descriptive section include the neutralization
of distinctive contrasts and certain restrictions on secondary articulations in
word-initial onsets. The focus of the second part of this chapter is the patterning
of post-vocalic consonants. The author presents a theoretical account of the
epenthetic vowel that results from restrictions on the sonority profile of such
clusters. The facts concerning these clusters require reference to both sonority
and prosodie structure. Chiosáin argues that the facts are best accounted for in a
constraint-based approach whereby the epenthesis patterns that emerge reflect
the interaction of segmental and prosodie constraints: sonority-driven cluster
constraints compel epenthesis, while higher-ranking prosodie constraints con-
strain it.
2.19. A preliminary account of some aspects of Leurbost Gaelic syllable struc-

ture (Norval Smith)
The syllable structure of Scottish Gaelic is extremely involved, and so poses a

significant problem for existing models of the syllable. In particular, the struc-
ture of the rhyme is highly complex, involving epenthetic vowels whose syl-
labic status has been regarded as controversial. The model of the syllable that
Smith employs to tackle these facts incorporates two important insights. The
basic framework for the model is provided by an X-bar model of the syllable.
Further he utilizes the notion that parasitic vowels may be situated as it were in
syllables within syllables. Smith adopts the idea that the syllabification "rules"
or algorithms form part of GEN (the Generator in Optimality Theory) and will
produce syllabified inputs to the phonology. Constraint ranking will further

determine the optimal output. The author then studies four syllable structure
phenomena in the Scottish Gaelic dialect of Leurbost, Lewis: the occurrence of
svarabhakti vowels, vowel syncope, simultaneous syncope and svarabhakti, and
vowel lengthening before "tense" sonorants.
2.20. Quantity in Norwegian syllable structure (Gjert Kristoffersen)
This chapter discusses a long-standing problem in Norwegian (and Swedish)

phonology on the basis of data from East Norwegian. The problem is how to
account for vowel length and consonant gemination in stressed syllables. The
author shows how both are limited to environments where only one consonant
intervenes between the stressed vowel and a following unstressed vowel, and
they are in complementary distribution in the sense that one obligatorily finds
either a long vowel or a consonant geminate in this environment, but never
both. If one regards vowel length and consonant gemination as a fulfillment of
the requirement that stressed syllables must be heavy, and further if stress as-
signment can be accounted for independently of the surface weight of the sylla-
bles that have been so expanded, then the expansion itself is predictable and
follows from stress. But the expansion type, vowel lengthening or consonant
gemination, is not predictable, and must in some way be marked in the lexicon.
If this is done directly, by assigning underlying length to vowels and conso-
nants, this will at the same time represent a redundant pre-specification of stress
placement. Kristoffersen then argues that stress placement is indeed predictable
without marking vowel length or consonant gemination in underlying structure.
Since syllable expansion itself therefore is predictable, it is the expansion type
that should be marked in the lexicon, but without pre-specification of stress
placement in the form of long vowels or consonant geminates. The author
shows that an analysis by means of co-phonologies within an Optimality Theo-
retic framework can give an adequate account of the data, but an Optimality
analysis without co-phonologies will fail on the same counts as earlier analyses.
2.21. A syllable-level feature in Finnish (Richard Ogden)
This chapter presents a description of some non-terminal (or prosodie)

phonological features of Finnish. The framework used in the chapter is that of
Firthian Prosodie Analysis (FPA), but the formalism used to capture the analy-
sis in formal terms is that of Declarative Phonology. The author presents a brief
summary of FPA and argues that it is fully compatible with Declarative Pho-
nology. He goes on to illustrate this point with a non-destructive account of
rounding in Finnish plural forms and argues that Finnish provides evidence for
treating the feature [±round] as a property of the syllable as a whole.
2.22. Sievers' Law in Vedic (Andrea Calabrese)
Sievers' law deals with the syllabification of high vocoids appearing before a
vowel and after a consonant in Indo-European languages. This chapter is con-
cerned with the instantiation of this law in Vedic and, more in general, with the
syllabification of consonant clusters ending with a sonorant in this language. As
one of his main results, Calabrese proposes to recognize the presence of ambi-
syllabic structures. The proposal is that in Vedic, consonants appearing before a
sonorant are syllabified both as the coda of the preceding light syllable and as
the onset of the following syllable. It is shown that several results can be de-
rived from this representation.
Notes
1. We thank the authors for providing us with the 'raw material' for these summaries.
Part I: General Issues
2 Theories of the syllable
1. Introduction
The goal of this chapter is to discuss some general issues in syllable theory.
Section 2 presents some of the more difficult data that any theory of syllable
structure or phonotactics must address, specifically involving complex conso-
nant clusters. Section 3, then, discusses a number of approaches to syllable
structure, comparing them and showing the equivalences and differences. In
section 4, we address a number of fundamental questions regarding the level of
grammar at which phonotactics must be stated, and how many levels are
needed. In section 5, we offer some conclusions.
2. Some examples of syllabic complexities
Accepting the idea that the phonotactic structure of words can be largely under-
stood by assuming that segments are organized into syllable-sized units, of
which words can contain several occurrences, we start out by observing that in
some languages, words show a simple repetition of CV syllables, without there
being any further complications at the edges of words.1 The number of repeti-
tions of the CV-unit that is allowed per 'word' is typically not unlimited but
instead depends on general constraints which determine the maximal size of
feet and prosodie words in terms of 'prosodie templates' (cf. Kager 1994, van
der Hulst & Klamer 1996). Focusing our attention on the structure of the syl-
lable unit itself, we observe that many languages seem to allow various devia-
tions of this basic CV scheme. Traditional descriptive and theoretical termi-
nology labels such deviations as 'complex onsets', 'closed syllables', 'complex
codas' and 'intervocalic clusters'.
An important discovery has been that the deviations from the simple schema
can be limited in some languages to word edges only. It is well known, for
example, that extra consonants can occur on the left or right periphery of
words, leading to initial or final clusters which we do not encounter word-inter-
nally as syllable-initial or syllable-final clusters, respectively.
Extra consonantal options at the periphery of words are often referred to as

'prependix', 'extraprosodic (or extrasyllabic) position', and 'appendix'; some-
times it is proposed that even two types of extra positions are allowed word-
finally in order to account for so-called 'superheavy syllables' which are fol-
lowed by a coronal 'appendix' as in Dutch her-f-s-t 'autumn', where the til is
the extra consonant producing the superheavy syllable (herf), while /st/ occu-
pies the appendix position; cf. Trommelen (1983) and van der Hulst (1984). In
some frameworks, such as government phonology (Kaye, Lowenstamm &
Vergnaud 1990, and chapters 6-11 in this volume), the extra consonants are
represented as 'degenerate syllables' consisting of an overt onset and an empty
nucleus. Similar ideas have emerged in recent moraic theories of syllable
structure (Shaw 1993, Nepveu 1994). In Kurylowicz (1952), the peripheral
degenerate syllables are stranded onsets, i.e. not followed by an empty nucleus;
this approach is also found in Polgárdi (1998) and Dell (1995). In still other
(usually more descriptively oriented) approaches, the extra consonants are not
given any special structural status, and it is simply assumed that onsets and
codas at word edges can be more complex; cf. chapter 9 in this volume for a
discussion of such differences with respect to initial clusters in Hungarian.
With the option of having extra word-peripheral consonants, a language can
have CV as its core syllable, allowing only CCV word-initially and/or only
CVC word-finally. In other cases, such as Dutch, the 'core' syllable is more
complex, allowing CC initially and W or VC finally. In such a case, word
edges can also allow extra consonants, arriving at the possibility of word-initial
tri-consonantal clusters (always involving initial /s/) and word-final superheavy
syllables (-VVC/-VCC).
When edges do not license extra material, the core syllable simply recurs
throughout the whole word. As mentioned, the core syllable can be the simple
CV unit but may also represent a set of syllable types (as in Dutch) such as CV,
CCV, CVC, CCVC, V, VC, which is collapsed into the template (C(C))V(C).2
However, things may not always be so straightforward. It has been argued
(especially within government phonology; cf. chapter 6) that some languages
which superficially show various types of complications throughout the word,
must still be analyzed as 'strict' CV languages.3 For example, in such cases,
arguments can be provided for representing apparent cases of initial consonant
clusters (#CCV) as ttCvCV, where the small ν stands for 'empty nucleus'.
Likewise medial -CC- can be analyzed as -CvC-, and final C# as Cv#. An
analysis of this type has been proposed for Leti, a language allowing all these
patterns, in van der Hulst & van Engelenhoven (1995) and van der Hulst &
Klamer (1996).
The guiding idea of government phonology is that an explanatoiy structural
description of the phonological structure of words may call for postulating a
somewhat abstract organization which contains units or terminal nodes that
Theories of the syllable 15
remain empty. In addition, government phonology appeals to various principles

that regulate the distribution of these empty nodes. It is also possible, however,
that complications of the CV schema that occur throughout the word reflect
genuine enrichments of the syllable template. Proponents of government pho-
nology have proposed that the complications are limited to headed binary
branching structures so that only bi-positional onsets and bi-positional nuclei
(or rhymes) are allowed.4
We believe that the observation that certain complexities are limited to edges
is quite crucial to counter the simplistic view that the syllable template for a
language can be defined as the sum total of word-initial and word-final clusters
separated by the set of vowels. We now turn to a brief discussion of a few cases
which show that certain complexities are confined to word edges.
An inspection of Dutch syllable structure (as found in Trommelen 1983, van
der Hulst 1984) reveals that Dutch 'onsets' can only exceed the number of two
when at the left word edge, in which case tri-consonantal clusters are allowed
consisting of/s/ + obstruent + liquid:
(1) stronk 'trunk'

splijt 'split'
sprong 'jump'
When such a tri-consonantal cluster is found word-internally (between two

vowels), without the interference of a strong morpheme boundary, it is split up
by a syllable division as follows:
(2) mis.tral 'mistral'

es.planade 'esplanade'
Cas.tro 'Castro'
Independent evidence for this syllable division (as Trommelen 1983 points out)
is that the vowel to the left of /s/ is lax, which is a signal of being checked by a
following tautosyllabic consonant (cf. van Oostendorp 1995). The claim that
word-initial clusters need not be syllable-initial clusters can even be shown on
the basis of seemingly well-behaved bi-consonantal clusters consisting of an
obstruent and a sonorant:
(3) a. gnoom 'gnome' b. Ag.nes 'Agnes'

slaaf 'slave' Os.lo 'Oslo'
tjiftjaf 'type of bird' at.jar 'atjar'
The possible initial clusters /gn1, /si/, /tj/ are split up intervocalically. This
shows that the only 'real' branching onsets are those consisting of an obstruent
(excluding /sÍ) followed by a liquid (cf. Trommelen 1983).5
Another language that has word-initial clusters with more than two conso-
nants is Polish (chapter 8, this volume, Rubach & Booij 1990, Rowicka 1999):
(4) pstry 'mottled'

zdzbl-o 'blade' [3d3bwo]
bzdura 'nonsense'
Evidence for the word-internal syllabification of such clusters is harder to ob-

tain given their scarcity in underived words (cf. below), but this is in itself an
indication that the clusters may be restricted to the word-initial position. In
addition to having such complex clusters, initial bi-consonantal clusters appear
to allow almost any combination of two consonants (but see chapter 8, this
volume, for a discussion of many restrictions). The possible combinations are
clearly not restricted to those that obey the so-called Sonority Sequencing Gen-
eralization (SSG; Selkirk 1982, Clements 1990):
(5) ptak 'bird'

scheda [sx] 'inheritance'
skok 'jump'
mnozyc 'multiply'
lnu 'linen'
rtec 'mercury'
Rubach & Booij (1990) note that the options for word-internal onsets are con-
siderably restricted, suggesting that a cluster like [-rt-], allowed word-initially,
is heterosyllabic word-internally: kar-ty 'cards'. This is very similar to what we
reported for Dutch above.
The realization that clusters that exceed the size of two consonants as well as
clusters that (in addition) violate the SSG are restricted to the word-initial posi-
tion, frees the way to claiming that clusters that are grammatical at the left edge
of words are not necessarily true onsets.
Many phonologists have treated the extra options at the left edge of words by
allowing an extrasyllabic consonant in that position (cf. Rubach & Booij 1990
for Polish), treated as stranded onsets by some (cf. Kurylowicz 1952). Others
have suggested that the apparent sequence of two consonants may in some case
involve complex segments (s+C clusters; cf. van de Weijer 1994 and the dis-
cussion of Wiese (1995) in chapter 7, this volume). The approach that is ad-
vanced in government phonology (mentioned above) claims (in some respects
following Kurylowicz' 'stray onset' analysis of Polish) that the extra material
involves 'degenerate' syllables consisting of onsets followed by empty rhymes

(cf. Ritter 1995 for initial clusters in Hungarian). Some of these options are
perhaps not mutually exclusive and may be compounded in a language like
Georgian, leading to initial clusters of excessive complexity (cf. Nepveu 1994,
Bush 1997, Vogt 1958).
With respect to rhymal structure we can make similar observations. Lan-
guages such as Dutch, English, and Hungarian (where in Hungarian accent
marks indicate length) allow word-final 'rhymes' that are rather complex:
(6) Dutch English Hungarian

oogst 'harvest' sixth társ 'companion'
ernst 'seriousness' blast meggy 'sour cherry'
vreemd 'strange' clown fut 'to heat'
In each case, we find lax/short vowels followed by up to 4 consonants

(VCCCC), or tense/long vowels followed by up to 3 consonants (V, ense CCC or
VVCCC). An inspection of word-internal syllables demonstrates to us that such
very complex rhymes are rather rare when they are not word-final. This leads
us to the descriptive generalization that 'superheavy' syllables (i.e. syllables
ending in overcomplex rhymes) are limited to the right edge of words; this
observation is also commonly made with reference to Arabic dialects (cf.
chapter 16, this volume). In addition, there are phonological alternations which
suggest that in certain languages long vowels cannot occur in a closed syllable
word-internally. Kaye (1990) cites such evidence from Wolof:
(7) Imperfective Inversive

roof roppi 'to put in/to take out'
yeew yewwi 'to tie/to untie'
tc£R teddi 'to start/to stop a vehicle'
Such effects, often called Closed Syllable Shortening (CSS), are found in many
languages suggesting that rhymes are maximally binary (i.e. bi-positional),
consisting of a short vowel plus consonant or a long vowel by itself. The occur-
rence of complex rhymes at the right edge of words again has lead to postula-
ting concepts like 'extrasyllabic consonants', 'heterosyllabic representations of
long vowels', 'appendices', 'stray onsets', or onsets followed by 'empty
rhymes'.
In all cases discussed, the generalization that certain complexities only occur
at word edges must be qualified by saying that the notion 'word' here refers to
non-compounded, non-prefixed words, and words that do not contain certain
classes of suffixes, such as so-called level II affixes and inflectional affixes.
Exactly how to characterize the scope of the syllabic domain is not a trivial
matter, however; cf. chapter 6 for a discussion of this domain which is called
'non-analytic' in government phonology; cf. Kaye (1995). 6
Some languages, however, seem to challenge the claim that certain com-
plexities occur at edges only, by allowing words to consist of sequences of
consonants only:
(8) Nuxalk (formerly called Bella Coola; Baghemil (1991)

xscc 'I'm now fat'
lxwtlcxw 'you spat on me'
Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber (Dell & Elmedlaoui 1985)

tftkt 'you suffered a sprain'
ssrksxt Ί hid him'
With respect to the Nuxalk facts, it has been suggested that such sequences
should be taken as evidence for the claim that syllables can consist of just on-
sets (Hockett 1955), that the segmental string lacks syllable structure (S. New-
man 1969, 1971), that there is only partial syllable structure (Baghemil 1991),
or that syllables have obstruents as their peaks (Hoard 1978). Dell & Elmed-
laoui (1985) suggest that in the Berber dialect that they analyze any type of
segment (including all consonants) can form a syllable peak. An alternative
analysis of similar facts in another dialect can be found in Guerssel (1990), who
postulates empty nuclei. 7 The point of these examples is to suggest, however,
that apart from complexities regarding consonant clusters at edges, the total
absence of vowels throughout a word is a phenomenon that we must also
reckon with. Unfortunately, the present volume does not contain a chapter
dealing with any of the last type of languages and an insightful analysis of most
of such cases, embedded in a principled theory of syllable structure, is not
known to us.
As a final remark in this section, we draw attention to the fact that especially
in the latter type of cases (but also in the languages with complexities at edges
only), we have to take into account the morphological composition of words.
This issue relates closely to determining the precise domain of the syllabic
organization in terms of which we capture the phonotactic patterns of a lan-
guage.
3. The syllable as a phonological unit
3.1. Reintroducing the syllable8
The, by now, traditional manner of motivating the need for the syllable in
phonological analysis is to memorize the position that Chomsky and Halle took
in their Sound Pattern of English (1968) (SPE). Assuming that the best theory
of phonological representations is the most minimal one, Chomsky and Halle
proposed that a phonological representation is simply a string of unordered
feature bundles, provided with a set of boundary symbols reflecting the mor-
phological composition of words and a labeled bracketing system representing
the syntactic organization of these words. It soon became clear that 'doing
phonology without syllables' was a mistake. The representations were perhaps
simpler by not containing yet another type of boundary (i.e. syllable bounda-
ries), but the rules (i.e. those which in fact depended on the syllabic organiza-
tion) turned out to be more cumbersome than necessary, in particular because
each of them in some sense encoded the principles for locating the syllable
boundaries. The two rules in (9), symbolizing a phonological process Ά
changes to Β in the environment...', reconstruct the notion of open and closed
syllables, respectively, in the description of the environment:
(9) a. A —• Β / — {#, CV}

b. A —» Β / — C { # , C }
The context ' — CC' in (9b) would in fact have to be further characterized (in a
further condition to be added to the rule) as not referring to sequences of an
obstruent followed by a sonorant liquid in languages where such clusters are
allowed as well-formed onsets. Clearly, identifying syllable boundaries before
applying rules is a necessary tool. The representation may get more compli-
cated by adding syllable boundaries or syllable structure, but the rules can be
simplified and, more importantly, freed from arbitrary disjunctions like 'either a
word boundary or a consonant'. By applying syllabification first, the explana-
tion for why these two contexts form a natural class becomes more apparent.
Subsequently, additional arguments have arisen in which it has been pointed
out that rules or generalizations not only refer to syllable edges, but also to the
syllable itself as a domain. Certain languages show that features (nasality, for
example) may take the syllable as their domain; cf. Nespor & Vogel (1986:
chapter 3), and van der Hulst & Smith (1982). A third argument that has been
brought forward in favor of the syllable has been that this unit (or one of its
constituents, the rhyme or the mora(s)), rather than the vowel, may be the
bearer of such 'suprasegmental properties' as accent or (lexical) tone. In this
case, even though it is not the syllable but a proper subpart of it (its rhyme or
moras), that is the actual bearer of such properties, it was still assumed that it is
necessary that the unit of which these entities form a part must be represented
in some fashion. 9 Arguments regarding accent have especially supported recog-
nizing the syllable (or a part of it) as a crucial level in the so-called prosodie
hierarchy; cf. Nespor & Vogel (1986).
Finally, the syllable appears to have another kind of motivation involving the
notion of well-formedness. In SPE, regularities in the shape of lexical entries
(formatives or morphemes) were encoded in so-called morpheme structure
rules or constraints. Among these, we find (i) segment structure constraints
which define the combinations of specified features that define the class of
segments in a language, and (ii) sequence structure constraints which define
well-formed sequences of segments in a language. In English, for example, a
well-known sequence constraint marks morpheme-initial /bn/ as ill-formed,
while allowing IbV, /br/ etc. Once syllables were recognized, such statements
seemed more adequately stated in terms of this type of unit; cf. Clayton (1976),
Shibatani (1973), and Hooper (1976). The question concerning at what level
such syllable structure constraints are stated (underlying, surface) is discussed
in section 4.
In summarizing, below are the five major arguments advanced in support of
the adoption of syllable structure:
(10) a. Reference to the edges of syllables

b. Reference to the syllable as a domain of feature 'spreading'
c. Reference to the syllable (or part of it) as the anchor of suprasegmental
features
d. Reference to the syllable as part of a prosodie hierarchy
e. Reference to the syllable as the domain of well-formedness constraints
McCawley (1968), Fudge (1969), Hoard (1971), Vennemann (1972), Shibatani

(1973), Anderson & Jones (1974), Clayton (1976), and Hooper (1976) were
among the first generative phonologists to return to the syllable, often using a
boundary approach. Fudge (1969) and Kahn (1976) introduced a hierarchical
view of the syllable, which fit better with the emerging hierarchical theories of
phonology (Rotenberg 1978, Liberman & Prince 1977, Selkirk 1980). Shibatani
(1973), Clayton (1976), and Hooper (1976) also argued specifically for the
syllable as the unit of phonotactic constraints.
With the rise of hierarchical structure (involving not only syllable structure
but also higher prosodie structure) and the autosegmental deconstruction of the
segment in terms of a hierarchy of feature tiers, the laudable minimalistic ap-
proach of SPE with respect to the structure of phonological representations was
replaced by a view on representations which favored a rich and elaborate
structure. In autosegmental phonology, the string of segments (as feature bun-

dles) was replaced by a string of abstract place holders or skeletal points which
formed the anchor points for features or feature classes on one hand while also
being the starting point for a hierarchical organization into syllables, and further
into feet, prosodie words, clitic groups, all the way up to phonological phrases,
intonational phrases, and the utterance (cf. Nespor & Vogel 1986). The repre-
sentational richness was (programmatically) counterbalanced by the expecta-
tion that the rules would become more constrained, both in terms of what they
could do (hopefully only 'natural processes') and how they would do it (only in
terms of elementary operations of inserting and deleting association lines). This
development was driven by the idea that if the representations are right, the
rules will follow. If taken literally, this means that languages will ultimately
only differ in their representations, a view that requires a system of parameters
with settings that determine limited options with respect to every hierarchical
level of representation. Explicit systems of parameters have been proposed for
the levels directly above the syllable, viz. the foot and word level (in the con-
text of the 'metrical theory' of stress; cf. Vergnaud & Halle 1978, Halle &
Vergnaud 1987, Hayes 1980, 1995, van der Hulst 1999b). Limiting ourselves in
this chapter to the level of syllable structure, we will not discuss these metrical
parameters. Instead, we will turn to parametric theories of the syllable in the
next section.
3.2. Different views on the syllable-internal organization
After having briefly summarized why the syllable was re-introduced into gen-
erative phonology, we proceed with discussing some of the different views on
its internal structure. Early theories which referred to boundaries as well as
Kahn's (1976) flat 'autosegmental' theory claimed no internal structure for the
syllable, presumably since the focus at that point was on the division of the
segmental string into syllabic units and/or on the segmental processes which
make reference to syllable edges.
With respect to theories that assume internal structure we usually distinguish
between two major types (cf. Ohala, this volume):
(11) a.
C V C
Vennemann (1984) referred to (1 la) as the head-body structure and to (1 lb) as

the body-tail structure, arguing that the proper choice is dependent on the pro-
cess that one studies. In section 4, we will return to this viewpoint which im-
plies that both structures are in some sense available. First, we will discuss both
structure types in terms of some of their current-day instantiations.
3.2.1. Onset-rhyme models
The head-body or onset-rhyme model can be traced back to traditions in Chi-

nese phonology (cf. Duanmu, this volume). It can also be found in numerous
phonological works produced in the twentieth century, either informally or
explicitly worked out in various ways (cf. Fischer-Jergensen 1975, Anderson
1981; an historical overview of the concept syllable before generative phonol-
ogy can be found in Adewyck 1975). Fudge (1969, 1987) analyzes English
syllable structure in terms of an onset-rhyme model, allowing both constituents
to contain subconstituents of various kinds; Selkirk (1982) follows this ap-
proach, adopting some of the, by then, available non-linear machinery. Before
that, McCarthy (1979) had employed this type of model in his study of Arabic
phonology. Onset-rhyme theories can also be found in Cairns & Feinstein
(1982), Lapointe & Feinstein (1982) and in government phonology (cf. below).
In most general terms, a hierarchical onset-rhyme model organizes a string
like English /kweynt/ 'quaint' in the following way:
(12)
X X X X XX
k w e y n t
(Where the alphabetic symbols k, w, e, y, n, t abbreviate a hierarchical structure

of tiers with features.)
The terminals in this model are formed by the skeletal points (represented
with x's), the anchor point for root nodes or phonological features. The struc-
ture in (12) represents a syllable with a branching onset and a branching rhyme,
where the latter constituent dominates two further branching constituents: the
nucleus and the coda. Some proponents of this structure would claim that all
these subsyllabic constituents are headed by the left-hand skeletal point.
'Headed' in some sense means that the stronger, salient position is qualitatively
more closely representative of the constituent itself. Government phonology, an

approach that can be traced back to Kaye & Lowenstamm (1984), defends a
version of this view explicitly.
In Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990), the syllable is no longer recog-
nized as a constituent, however. We refer to the contributions in part II of this
volume, and specifically to chapters 6 and 7 for a discussion of this point. Yet,
even though the syllable is not recognized as a constituent, it is argued by KLV
that the 0(nset) and R(hyme) form an inseparable 'package' where the R 'go-
verns' the O. This makes the nucleus the head of the 'syllable package', a claim
also advanced in Levin (1985). Government phonology captures the special
character of the onset-rhyme liaison by postulating a 'government relation'
which does not correlate with a sisterhood relation, as shown in the GP repre-
sentation of the Dutch word klop 'knock': 10
(13) O <— R
Κκ
χ χ χ χ
k l o p
(The vertical constituent lines indicate headedness within constituents; the
arrow indicates 'government' between the two syllabic constituents.)
We believe that the denial of the syllable as such is an interesting viewpoint,
which we elaborate on in chapter 6 (this volume). Harris (1994) and Brockhaus
(this volume) point out that rules and constraints that have been claimed to refer
to the syllable can also be stated with reference to the onset or rhyme. Another
essential observation that we advance to support the idea that the O and R
somehow do not form a constituent in the phonological hierarchy is that onsets
do not contribute to 'syllable weight' (cf. P. Newman 1972). This observation
remains unexplained if feet are claimed to be built upon syllables, which would,
in addition, entail that the computation of weight is non-local in skipping the
syllable-level."
In addition, viewing the onset-rhyme package as a syllable constituent does
not fit conceptually into the general structure of the prosodie hierarchy which at
all levels (except the syllabic one) seems to group units of the same type: syl-
lables into feet, feet into words, words into phrases etc. (cf. van der Hulst 1984,
Nespor & Vogel 1986).
To avoid building the onset-rhyme package into the prosodie hierarchy, one
might also follow the line of Halle & Vergnaud (1987), who build hierarchical
structure on a separate plane which does not contain syllables, but rather a
projection of only the stress-bearing units. This plane, like the syllable, uses the
skeletal positions as starting points.12 This approach makes a crucial prediction,
viz. that feet (represented by bracketing the lines that contain the stress-bearing
units) can group stress-bearing units that belong to different rhymes. This pos-
sibility is displayed in (14) in which the third rhyme, since it is branching,
contributes its stress bearers to both the second and third foot:
σ σ σ σ
/I O/IR O/IR O R
OR
INII I κ κ I
X X X X X XXX XXX
*
(* *) <* (line 0): stress bearing units/moras
*
<* (line 1): heads of feet/secondary stress
*
(line 2): head of word/primary stress
We believe that this view is not correct, but a discussion at this point would
take us too far afield from the focus of this chapter. What we essentially claim
for such cases is that the 'surface syllables' that are claimed to be split up be-
tween feet are really syllable (or rather rhyme) sequences at the level of repre-
sentation that is relevant for the computation of stress. In general, we should be
aware of the fact that an apparent long vowel or diphthong may be a sequence
of two nuclei with hiatus in between. Such analyses are common in government
phonology; cf. Yoshida (1990) on Japanese, Ritter (1995) on Hungarian; cf.
chapter 6, this volume, section 2.2.1.6.
Returning to the head-body government phonology approach, we note that a
further constituent has been postulated, viz. the nucleus, a constituent which
also appears in earlier work on syllable structure (cf. 12). The coda, also widely
occurring in head-body theories, is, however, not recognized as a constituent in
government phonology, although the nucleus node may have an 'adjunct' (cf.
15c). The nucleus is the head daughter of the rhyme. This potentially generates
the four rhyme structures in (15):
The difference between (15b) and (15c) is that (15c) ends in a 'coda' position
that must be occupied by a consonant. By treating the coda position as a skele-
tal point which is directly dominated by the rhymal node, rather than as an
autonomous sub-syllabic constituent, government phonology denies the option
of a 'branching coda'. An additional principle (called 'coda licensing' in Kaye
1990) determines that coda consonants must be licensed (which means that
their existence is only possible when 'followed') by an onset and, additionally,

that, in that case, the coda consonant must be 'more sonorous' (or not more
complex) than the onset consonant following. 13 'Codas', as post-nuclear ad-
juncts, then, cannot occur word-finally. These issues are further discussed in
chapters 6 (especially section 2.2.1.3) and 7 in this volume.
Given that nuclei can branch and that there is a coda adjunct, one might
expect that the structure in (15d) is well-formed in the GP approach. Govern-
ment phonology does not, however, admit (15d) on the grounds that constitu-
ents contain maximally two daughters 14 and in (15d) the rhymal constituent is a
ternary structure. We will return in section 3.2.3 to the issue of representing
'superheavy' syllables which seem to involve rhymes such as W C , VCC or
even VVCC or VCCC, all excluded in the government phonology approach.
Government phonology allows the further option of (15a) to occur without
content (i.e. an empty nucleus). To avoid the unlimited distribution of silent
empty nuclei, GP stipulates that a silent, empty nucleus must be governed by a
flanking full or audible nucleus in order to be allowed to remain phonetically
uninterpreted. This context creates a (either trochaic or iambic) 'foot-like'
dependency structure between the full and the empty nucleus. 15
(16) a. Ν — Ν b. Ν
I I I
X X X
I
A
Allowing 'degenerate syllables', however, is not the exclusive right of govern-

ment phonology, as we have seen above. Both Kurylowicz (1952) and Hockett
(1955) allow syllables that consist of onsets only. These approaches, unlike GP,
make no attempt to limit the distribution of onset-only syllables. In recent mo-
rale approaches, we also find syllable-less moras (Baghemil 1991), headless
syllables (Nepveu 1994) or moraless syllables (Shaw 1993). These models, too,
suffer from the fact that no clear restrictions on the distribution of these objects
are given. We refer to chapters 6 and 7 for further discussion of the dependency
relations which control the distribution of empty nuclei.
We now turn to the onset. The axiom of binary branchingness adopted in
government phonology also allows just a limited array of options for the onset:
(17) a. O b. O
χ
I Κ
X X
26 Harry van der Hülst & Nancy A. Fitter
In fact, government phonology only recognizes (17a) and (17b). The structure
in (17a) can appear empty, i.e. without a consonant filling it. Such empty onsets
'act like' consonants, for example in triggering vowel-final allomorphs of arti-
cles which would only normally precede a word that starts with a consonant (cf.
the so-called h-aspiré cases in French) or in blocking the coalescence of nuclei
(e.g. in Turkish words that show the effect of 7g/-deletion'); cf. chapter 6,
section 2.2.1.1, this volume, and Clements & Keyser (1983) who account for
such effects in a similar fashion.
Since government phonology assumes that every rhyme is preceded by an
onset, even in the absence of an overt consonant or the above-mentioned ef-
fects, the model also postulates a 'pointless' O, i.e. an onset that does not have
an x-slot and effectively has no phonological function. Such a pointless onset
plays no role in the phonology and could just as well be omitted. In chapter 6,
section 2.4.4, we discuss whether the distribution of empty onsets is also con-
trolled in terms of government relations.
The logical option of allowing onsets that have an additional projection level
(cf. 17c) is neither principally excluded nor explicitly discussed in any govern-
ment phonology work that we are aware of. Yet this possible option forms a
formal analogy to the coda structure in (15c). In fact, additional structures are
also possible in which branching is found at both bar-levels such that the de-
pendents occur on different sides of the head.16 It would perhaps be a possible
structure with a left-adjoined position for 'fake' onset clusters, like the ones we
discussed in section 2, (3a), but we leave a further discussion of this idea for
another occasion.17
Let us now take a look at another proponent of the head-body18 approach to
syllable structure, i.e. Levin (1985) (adopted by Calabrese in chapter 22 of this
volume, and elaborated upon by Smith in chapter 19 of this volume) who re-
gards the syllable as the projection of its nucleus:
(18) N" (syllable)
N^^ (rhyme)
N° (nucleus)
χ .
This model builds on the idea that the syllable is a headed constituent showing
some kind of X-bar like structure in which the coda and onset form the com-
plement and specifier, respectively; cf. Ritter (1995) for a similar position. Like
an onset-rhyme model, this model must also stipulate that only material ad-
joined to Ν is potentially weight-determining.
Regarding the representation of onset and coda material, this X-bar model
can be worked out in various ways. One view is to recognize an onset and coda
constituent, allowing both to branch. The other view is to allow multiple ad-
junctions directly to the N' and N" levels:
X X χ χ ... χ
The difference between the two views regards the possibility of making claims
about the complexity of the syllabic margins. The view embodied in (19b)
effectively denies the existence of onsets and coda as constituents and is there-
fore unsuited to formally restrict the complexity of margins. Placing restrictions
on adjunction itself (for example, stipulating that adjunction applies only once
per X-bar level) seems unprincipled or leads to incorrect results (if onsets can
be more complex than codas). Thus, a theory such as (19b) can only place
restrictions on the complexity of nuclei (e.g. requiring them to be binary). The
view in (19a) approximates that of government phonology, but is less restricted
in recognizing a branching coda constituent, and in allowing the combination of
branching nuclei and branching rhymes (leading to superheavy syllables). An
additional property of government phonology, which is not incompatible with
the views in (19) and could thus be added to it, is that all the syllabic constitu-
ents are themselves headed.
The choices between the various OR models that we have discussed depend
in part on general views regarding the kinds of cognitive structures that one
wishes to recognize in linguistic theories. If one believes that the principles
underlying the syntax of linguistic expressions generalize over the morpho-
syntactic and phonological modules of grammar (the Structural Analogy Hy-
pothesis proposed in Anderson & Ewen 1987), then findings in syntactic theory
lead to expectations, and limitations, regarding the kinds of models that one
wishes to consider for phonology, and the other way around. Dependency Pho-
nology (Anderson & Jones 1974, Anderson & Ewen 1987) and government
phonology explicitly adopt this position.
On the other hand, one can also look at the various options from the view-
point of trying to find the most adequate analysis of the phonological facts,
disregarding the structural analogy hypothesis and adopting the 'phonology is
different' position (Bromberger & Halle 1989), which we regard as a very
narrow interpretation of the modularity idea, i.e. the interpretation that the
formal architecture of different modules must be different.
We conclude this section with a discussion of the various ways in which
models deal with very complex consonant clusters. Two extreme views can be
found. One extreme has already been considered, viz. (19b). No formal restric-
tions are placed on the complexity of syllable margins. Unlimited adjunction
can accommodate all complexities. Within Optimality Theory (Prince and
Smolensky 1993), this seems to be the prevailing idea (cf. Bush 1997 on Geor-
gian). The 'markedness' of complex structures is expressed by the fact that
these structures violate prosodie constraints that demand simplicity and that
outrank 'faithfulness' to the underlying or lexical input.
Toward the other end of the spectrum we find the theory of government
phonology, as outlined above. Essentially this theory claims that a 'syllable', or
O-R package, can maximally accommodate strings like /kloo/ or /klop/ with the
latter O-R grouping being restricted to word-internal position only, due to the
principle of coda licensing (Kaye 1990). In this view, then, English clusters like
/spr/, let alone /brgn/ in Polish or /prckvn/ in Georgian, cannot form complex
onsets, while sequences consisting of a long vowel and one or two consonants
( W C , VVCC), or short vowel and two consonants (VCC) cannot be complex
rhymes. The question then arises as to what kinds of structures these really are
and how they can be represented. Proposing the syllabic constituents in
(15a,b,c) and (17a,b) as an exhaustive list, leaves only one answer. These com-
plex clusters and superheavy 'rhymes' must consist of more OR packages than
one might at first realize when attending to the surface facts. In addition, some
of these OR-packages must contain onsets or nuclei that have no segmental
content. In short, the explanatory device of government phonology is to allow
structural units that are phonologically relevant but have no phonetic interpre-
tation. It stands to reason that this approach is, therefore, committed to con-
straining the contexts in which such silent units can occur and, resultantly, their
possible proliferation as well. We refer to the chapters in part II of this volume
for a discussion of the methods by which silent units are kept in check. In
evaluating the markedness of structure it only matters whether parameters have
been set on marked or unmarked values.
In placing GP on one end of the scale of restrictiveness, we find both less
and more restrictive models surrounding this approach. Somewhat less restric-
tive are approaches found in Fudge (1969), Cairns & Feinstein (1982), and
Lapointe & Feinstein (1982) which allow onsets to have 'specifiers' (notably to
accommodate /s/), rhymes such as (15d) and, in addition, appendices of various
sorts. More restrictive than standard government phonology is the theory pro-
posed in Lowenstamm (1996) and Scheer (1996, 1998), which argues that both
onsets and rhymes are unary constituents, essentially arriving at CV as the
maximal syllable template. CV is also the minimal template since Lowenstamm
assumes, with standard government phonology, that the onset and the rhyme
always come in a package. The distinction between a nucleus and rhyme unit
disappears in this strict CV approach, and so does the distinction between syl-
labic constituents and x-slots. Lowenstamm's typology of syllabic constituents
therefore reduces to the possibilities in (20):
(20) a. C b. V c. C d. V
Ρ a
It stands to reason that Lowenstamm's Strict CV model proliferates the number

of empty nuclei, and, to a lesser extent, the number of empty onsets. Standard
government phonology sometimes analyzes a language as strictly CV while the
surface facts seem to indicate otherwise (cf. supra), but Lowenstamm would
also postulate empty nuclei where standard government phonology would ana-
lyze 'well-behaved' branching onsets or coda-onset sequences. Scheer (1996)
points out that the proliferation of empty nuclei leads to simplification in the
theory of proper government. Chapter 11 (this volume) adopts the strict CV
approach.
Anticipating the discussion in the following section, one might characterize
the strict CV theory as a theory that makes no distinction between the unit
syllable and the unit mora in that every CV unit is per definition a mora.
3.2.2. Mora-models
Turning our attention now to the body-tail structure in (1 lb), in this section we
discuss an approach that has come to be known as mora theory. Although the
term mora has a longer history (e.g. Trubetzkoy 1939), even in generative pho-
nology (e.g. McCawley 1968), the hierarchical moraic model was introduced
in Hyman (1985), based on a manuscript from 1983. Its major impact has been
on the treatment of compensatory lengthening; cf. Hock (1986) and Hayes
(1989).
Hyman starts out by proposing that x-slots are in fact mora slots which he
refers to as 'weight units'. The weight-irrelevance of onsets is explained by
universally delinking onset segments ('root nodes') from their skeletal point
and adjoining them instead to a moraic slot:
(21) XX χ weight/mora tier
o o o o root tier
In later versions of moraic theory (cf. Hayes 1989) a somewhat different con-
ception emerged in that the x-tier was simply replaced by the mora tier in all
cases. In one version of that approach, the idea was then also given up that
onset material be dominated by the mora which constitutes the syllable peak
vowel (as in 22a). Instead, in Hayes (1989), the onset material links directly to
the syllable node (as in 22b). Thus two different moraic theories emerge:
(22) a. σ b. σ
o oo o o o
Version (22a) is used in Bird (this volume) and Hyman & Katamba (this vol-
ume). The version in (22b) is no longer a pure representative of the body-tail
approach. It, in fact, comes very close to the head-body approach, differing
from it mainly in not representing onset material as a constituent.
Both versions of mora theory share the idea that the onset constituent as such
does not exist. In (22a) all prevocalic consonants are tucked under the first
mora. In (22b) all prevocalic consonants are directly adjoined to the syllable
node without an intervening onset node. This means that in both models no
restrictions can be placed on the complexity of 'onset' clusters. With respect to
final non-moraic consonants, both models differ in an analogous manner.
3.2.3. A comparison of OR and moraic models
Having outlined the OR and moraic approaches to the syllable, let us address
some of the arguments that have been put forward in favor of the moraic ap-
proach. The moraic approach has been claimed superior with respect to a num-
ber of issues:
(23) a. Forming part of the prosodie hierarchy

b. Explaining the weight-irrelevance of the onset
c. Expressing the variable nature of coda-weight
d. Treating (light) long vowels and geminates
e. Treating superheavy syllables
f. Treating compensatory lengthening
a. Forming part of the prosodie hierarchy

It has sometimes been argued that the moraic theory fits better within the pro-
sodie hierarchy which seems to always organize units of the same type (van der
Hulst 1984, Nespor & Vogel 1986), i.e. words contain feet, feet contain sylla-
bles, but syllables contain the unlike units onset and rhyme. In addition, if syl-
lables with an OR structure are seen as part of the prosodie hierarchy, the
problem arises (mentioned above) that the branching properties of the syllable
itself must be ignored when weight is computed. The moraic theory does not
have these problems. Actually, this is only true for moraic theory as construed
in (22a) and not for the more popular version in (22b). Assuming the represen-
tation in (22a) means that the syllable contains like units (i.e. moras) and, in
computing weight, the branching properties of syllables are directly relevant.
In the OR-theory, however, given that only the R-part is considered to be
part of, or projected to the prosodie hierarchy, the lowest level in this hierarchy,
in fact, organizes units of the same type, i.e. x-positions, just like the higher
levels; cf. chapter 6, section 2.2.1.2.
b. Explaining the weight-irrelevance of the onset

It is sometimes claimed that mora-theory explains why onset material is
weight-irrelevant because prevocalic consonants cannot be moraic. But it seems
to us that the non-moraicity of the prevocalic consonants is entirely stipulati ve.
In OR-models, the weight-irrelevance of onset consonants is derived by placing
the onset outside the prosodie hierarchy; cf. point (a) above. Both moraic and
OR-models, thus, in some sense stipulate that only a certain part of the syllable
is relevant to the prosodie hierarchy. The OR-theory, however, in claiming that
the R-part is the relevant part, connects the onset-irrelevance to the well-estab-
lished phonotactic independence of the onset and the rhyme; cf. below.
c. Expressing the variable nature of coda-weight

In moraic theory, the approach to distinguishing weight differences is that short
vowels project one mora whereas long vowels are necessarily bimoraic and
thus weightier or heavier. Moraic theory conflates length and weight due to the
elimination of the x-tier.19
Whether consonants contribute to weight depends on their position (i.e.
weight-by-position). In the onset they never do, while in the coda they can,
depending on the language.20 If codas are weightless, they are non-moraic and
are directly adjoined to the syllable node (assuming the model in 22b):
(24) σ
. o o
If only a subset of the possible post-vocalic consonants in a language contri-

butes to weight, weight-by-position would be made sensitive to the featural
content of the coda-consonants by specifying some kind of sonority threshold
for moraicity, a situation claimed to exist in Kwakiutl (cf. Bach 1975). This
approach is discussed in van der Hulst (1984), following the manuscript version
of Prince (1983) (cf. also Zee 1995a, 1995b).
The question arises whether the variable weight of codas can be captured in
OR-models which lack specific organizing weight units such as the mora. It
would seem to us that the function of the branching ability of the rhymal con-
stituent can be construed to subsume the notion of coda weight without making
reference to specific moraic weight-bearing units of structure. First, for exam-
ple, if in a language the lower nucleic projection is construed to count in inter-
preting weight, then branching in this lower projection will predict that all long
vowels in this language are construed as heavy while syllables closed by a
consonant, which require branching at the higher rhymal projection, will not
count as heavy since this higher-up projection is not considered to contribute to
the interpretation of weight. Thus a distinction can be made between syllables
that are heavy (i.e. having long vowels) versus those that are light (i.e. having
short vowels). However, if a language parametrically chooses the higher-level
rhymal projection as the projection at which weight is construed, then the oc-
currence of branching within the rhyme, i.e. the presence of two positions,
signals that a heavy weight effect exists. In this way, a long vowel and a closed
syllable can be deemed to pattern in a similar manner given that it is the mere
existence of having two positions within the rhyme that signals heaviness. For
cases in which only a subset of the consonants (i.e. the sonorants) contribute to
weight, it would be necessary to adopt the threshold approach discussed
above. 21
d. Treating (light) long vowels & geminates

As formulated above, neither the mora-approach nor the OR-approaches allow
a situation in which closed syllables are heavy while open syllables with long
vowels are light. This is a suspect option, even though it has been claimed to
apply in Dutch. Lahiri & Koreman (1988) address this issue and propose that
Dutch 'tense' vowels are long but light, light meaning monomoraic. They pro-
pose to represent this in terms of reintroducing the skeletal tier:
(25) Dutch long light vowels
An alternative analysis (proposed in van Oostendorp 1995) is to argue that the

Dutch tense vowels are actually short. Since lax vowels must always be fol-
lowed by a consonant, it suffices to say that stress is sensitive to a distinction
between open (light) and closed (heavy) syllables.
Lahiri & Koreman (1988) not only discuss the issue of light long vowels, but
also the moraic status (and weight) of left-hand sides of geminates. Mora theory
derives geminates from intervocalic consonants that are lexically moraic. In
(26) we depict the manner in which, in moraic theory, long consonants and
short consonants are derived. In (26a) we have an underlying, moraic consonant
which subsequently gets linked both as a coda to the first syllable and as an
onset to the second syllable. In (26b), we have an underlying, non-moraic con-
sonant which only gets linked as an onset to the second syllable:
(26) a. σ σ
ν c ν ν c ν (short)
Thus, a long consonant entails bimoraicity of the preceding syllable. It has been
pointed out (Lahiri & Koreman 1988, Selkirk 1990, Tranel 1991, Davis 1999)
that this representation of geminates predicts that geminates necessarily pro-
duce heavy closed syllables. Thus, if a language has weight-sensitive stress
rules, but lacks the rule of weight-by-position (proposed in Hayes 1989) which
assigns a mora to a coda consonant, the approach predicts that syllables closed
by a geminate will nonetheless be heavy. Tranel (1991) cites several examples
which show that this actual phenomenon is not borne out and he proposes, like
Lahiri & Koreman (1988), to restore the skeleton in addition to admitting the
mora level. 22 Davis (1999) produces evidence in favor of the inherent weight of
geminates which we discuss immediately below.
e. Treating superheavy syllables

Various versions of mora theory can be found specifically concerning the maxi-
mal complexity of the 'rhymal part of the syllable'. While van der Hulst (1984)
and Hayes (1989) consider tri-moraic syllables (for superheavy rhymes), others
have proposed an upper bound of two moras, thus adopting, in mora theory, the
essential binarity principle of government phonology.
Davis (1999) presents an argument for the moraic approach to geminates
which is based on the claim that syllables are maximally bimoraic. Referring to
Sherer (1994), Davis points to cases in which W C sequences behave differ-
ently from VVG sequences (where G indicates the left-half of a geminate). In
Koya (Dravidian), word-internal W C occurs but W G does not. A similar
pattern occurs in Hindi (PIE, Indo-Aryan). Additionally, Sherer (1994) refers to
languages that have W C , while potentially occurring W G sequences (syl-
lables) trigger shortening to VG. How can we explain this asymmetry between
W C and W G ? The explanation, according to Davis, adopting a moraic ap-
proach, is that in a model in which geminates are inherently moraic and long
vowels are bimoraic, long vowels preceding a geminate would result in a tri-
moraic syllable, as in (27a). In the languages mentioned, weight-by-position is
absent. From these assumptions it follows that W C , as in (27b), is bimoraic:
(27) a. *σ o b . σ σ
The languages that allow (27b) while disallowing (27a) simply disallow tri-
moraic syllables.
Can the same asymmetry be accounted for in government phonology? 23 An
answer to this question depends on how, in GP, long vowels will be repre-
sented. This issue is discussed in chapter 6, section 2.2.16. For the sake of the
argument, we will assume here that long vowels are represented as branching
nuclei. We will also assume that geminates in the relevant languages are repre-
sented as coda-onset sequences, with the consonant occurring in onset and
'spreading leftward' into the coda.24 GP predicts that long vowels cannot occur
before any type of coda consonant, because ternary rhymes are excluded (cf.
15d), thus ruling out both W C and W G as rhymes. The possibility can be
explored, however, of analyzing the alleged closing consonants in a W C se-
quence as an onset followed by an empty nucleus. Assuming, then, that this
option exists in the languages at issue, we can arrive at the following repre-
sentations. In (28a) we see that true geminates can only be preceded by a short
vowel. (28b) shows that a long vowel can be followed by an empty-headed
syllable, giving the appearance of a VVC rhyme:
(28) a. O R O R b. O R O R O R
Κ
x x x x
I I κx I I I I
x x x x x
aι Ν α ι! a ηι 0Π α !ι
f . Treating compensatory lengthening

Mora theory treats compensatory lengthening (CL) by assuming that the loss of
a postvocalic consonant entails the stability of its mora to which the vowel
melody then subsequently spreads. Since onset material is always non-moraic,
loss of onset consonants never entails CL.
By positing a distinction between onsets and rhymes as separate constituents,
in the sense of their being separate maximal projections, government phonol-
ogy is also able to capture the prediction that mora theory makes regarding the
fact that onsets do not participate in compensatory lengthening processes. In
government phonology the claim could be made that the lost segments and the
lengthening segment must belong to the same constituent, namely the rhymal
constituent, and that loss of a segment in one maximal constituent cannot trig-
ger lengthening from a separate and independent constituent. Furthermore, to
understand (but not really explain) the absence of compensatory lengthening
effects within onsets, it seems reasonable to appeal to the optional nature of the
non-obligatory structural presence of an onset, which predicts that a process
would not be required to save an onset position if segmental loss occurred. Note
that onsets never or rarely contain geminates to begin with.26
In terms of representations, a problem might arise in OR approaches if it is
assumed that the loss of a consonant in coda position cannot without additional
machinery (e.g. reorganization within the constituent) lead to the emergence of
a long vowel:
(29) a. R R b
\
Ν \
1
Ν
I \ . Ν
X X =>• X X
I I
a [0] a
This problem is addressed in Ritter & Vago (1999), where it is argued that there
is no reason why (29b) could not be the outcome of compensatory lengthening,
although, admittedly, independent evidence must be found for allowing this
extra manner of representing long vowels.
The whole problem does not arise if one adopts a version of OR theory that
makes no distinction between rhyme and nucleus, cf. section 2.2.1.5, chapter 6,
this volume. There it is also argued that long vowels should perhaps always be
represented as bi-nuclear. This would cause no problem if the consonants prior
to disappearing are, in fact, onsets, followed by an empty nucleus, rather than
codas. If, then, long vowels are always bi-nuclear, we can derive the fact that
branching onsets cannot contain geminates from the general claim that no syl-
labic constituent (whether onset or nucleus) can contain long segments.
Conclusions
The above discussion does not support the claim that mora theory is superior to
OR theory. In fact, our own conclusion would be that the reverse applies.
While GP theory seems to be able to capture the same insights as moraic
theory, GP theory surpasses moraic theory in that GP theory can better account
for phonotactics and in connecting the phonotactic independence of the onset to
its irrelevance in the prosodie hierarchy; cf. Zee (1995b) on mora theory and
phonotactics.
It has been pointed out in many studies on phonotactics that the set of core
syllables consists of almost every combination of well-formed onsets and well-
formed rhymes. Some combinations are sometimes excluded (cf. Clements &
Keyser 1983 for examples from English), but these cannot seriously be used as
evidence against the strong phonotactic independence of onset and rhyme.
Mora theory, not recognizing an onset constituent, cannot express the notion of
onset well-formedness in a straightforward manner. In addition, there is no
notion of unified rhyme either since the constituent status of post-vocalic con-
sonants depends on their weight. This would predict a different phonotactic
behavior of weightful and weightless consonants vis-à-vis the preceding vowel.
We are not convinced that such differences can be empirically supported (des-
pite the examples in section e, above).
3.3. Hybrid models
It is of course possible to invent all sorts of hybrid models, containing moras

and an onset constituent. If such proposals would incorporate restrictions to the
effect of only allowing bimoraic syllables and biconsonantal onsets, and if, in
addition, one would add the idea that the left-hand mora is the head mora, it
would seem that a moraic approach and the above-discussed government-based

onset-rhyme approach become notational variants:
(30) a. O <— R b. σ
ΚΚ
χ χ χ χ U μ μ
1111
k 1 ο ρ
κ I Iρ
k 1 ο
In both types of models the claim is expressed that a certain portion of the
syllable, viz. the rhyme or the moraic part, is prosodically active. The 'onset'
portion is 'somehow' adjoined to this active part. Shaw (1993) argues in favor
of another type of mixed model, adopting a nuclear rather than an onset con-
stituent.
The main difference that remains between (30a) and (30b) regards the ques-
tion of whether the onset is linked to skeletal points to which the segmental
content (through a root node) is associated. It seems to us that neither way of
looking at the potential complexity of the onset is fully satisfactory. The OR
theory faces the problem of being unable to explain why onsets do not contain
geminates (or allow CL) 27 , while mora theory cannot express restrictions on the
complexity of onset material. The solution, we believe, might come from the
direction of theories that regard complex onsets as a special type of complex
segment. Hirst (1985), Golston & van der Hulst (1999), Fujimura & Lovins
(1978), Rennison (1997), and van der Hulst (1999a) represent just a selection of
the works where this position has been investigated.
Many other types of hybrid models have been proposed. Clements & Keyser
(1983) propose a flat model with an additional tier for a nucleus constituent:
C C V c c
V
η
Our main objection to this model, however, is the absence of an onset constitu-
ent and thus the impossibility of making direct statements regarding the com-
plexity of material that intervenes between successive nuclei. A further type of
model is that found in Pike and Pike (1947) and Davis (1985):
(32) σ
onset nucleus coda

A /\ A
Here the drawback is that there is no recognition of a rhymal unit. Presumably
many more syllabic models can be and indeed have been proposed. The discus-
sion in this section aimed at giving an idea of the kinds of models that seem to
prevail in the literature and the kinds of arguments that have been submitted in
their support or defense.
4. Optimality theory and levels of representation
4.1. Parameters versus constraints
So far we have been assuming an approach that characterizes syllable structure

in terms of a set of principles and parameters which express what is common to
all languages, allowing variation in terms of parametric choices. In accordance
with government phonology, the universal schema is given by the OR package,
parametrically allowing each syllabic constituent to contain zero, one or two
segments. An additional set of licensing mechanisms limits the distribution of
the zero-option. Optimality theory (OT; Prince & Smolensky 1993) replaces the
parametric choices by ranked constraints. Invariant non-parametric aspects of
syllabic structure (if there are any) are attributed to the Generator (which in this
capacity embodies a theory of possible representations). If the generator is an
unlimited device, invariant properties are expressed by a set of top-ranked
constraints.
Constraints can be regarded as 'monovalent' parameters, expressing the un-
marked setting. The equivalent in OT to setting a parameter to the marked state
is to rank a constraint below another constraint which 'masks' its effect. In the
least interesting case, the masking constraint is a monovalent version of the
marked setting:
(33) a. Parameter Footheadedness: Foothead is Left/Right

b. OT equivalent: FootHeadLeft » FootHeadRight (or vice versa)
OT becomes more interesting when crucial constraint conflicts involve inde-

pendent constraints, rather than 'opposite' constraints. There is as yet no clear
view on the set of necessary constraints as OT is still in the stage of 'exploring
its freedom'. Such explorations have a direct bearing on the observation that
OT has been expanding the set of constraints very rapidly. Here we select two
points for discussion that bear on the issue of syllable structure28 and phonotac-
tics and give a comparison of a parametric approach to a ranked constraint
approach.
a. Richness of the output

The set of strings of segments that any particular language allows is filtered
from the set of all possible strings of all possible segments by the ranked set of
constraints.
The constraints that OT-phonologists tend to propose will be violated by
segment sequences which are derived by the marked setting in a parametric
approach, or which are strictly prohibited in the parametric approach.
For example: in the government phonology parametric approach, onsets are
maximally binary. A string of segments starting with 4 consonants therefore
cannot be parsed as an initial quadri-segmental onset. If a language contains
words which start with four consonants, the theory predicts that this is only
possible if the string can be parsed into a sequence of onsets separated by
empty nuclei. Given that empty nuclei are not distributed freely, the theory
makes certain predictions regarding the number of consonants that may seem-
ingly occur in sequence. In addition, only certain types of consonants can be
combined into a complex onset. Therefore, the theory makes additional claims
about the nature of the consonants that form onsets or sequences of onsets.
Let us now compare this to the OT approach. In general terms, onsets con-
sisting of more than one consonant in the input will violate a constraint that
penalizes complexity, or perhaps a more specific constraint bearing on onsets
(e.g. NoComplexOnset). Whatever constraint will do the work, the crucial dif-
ference with a parametric account will always be that no claim is made in OT
regarding the upper limit in complexity that natural languages may display. A
tri-consonantal onset simply violates the complexity constraint twice (if a so-
called gradient approach to constraint violation is taken), and so on. Violations
of the constraint occur in the output if this constraint is outranked by another
constraint, ΙΟ-faithfulness, i.e. a constraint which penalizes any difference
between the underlying input and the surface output form.
This approach cannot capture any cross-linguistic or language-particular
regularities in, or constraints on complexity of segmental sequences because
OT does not allow constraints on input. This is called 'richness of the base'.
The constraints must filter out what is well-formed given any conceivable in-
put. An obvious objection is thus that the OT account does not rule out the
existence of languages that the parametric theory attempts to exclude. By al-
lowing one of the conflicting constraints to be Faithfulness-to-the-Input, and
given the assumption of Richness-of-the-base, no claims can be made
concerning the maximal complexity of output strings. If Faithfulness outranks

Complexity any string of consonants is predicted to be part of the optimal can-
didate, provided that it is present in the input.
According to a principle of Lexicon Optimization (Prince & Smolensky
1993), language learners will not postulate inputs that could never surface un-
harmed. Lexicon optimization prevents the lexicon from containing arbitrary
sequences of segments, which, given the constraint ranking would never reach
the surface; as such it posits a constraint on abstractness of inputs. But this
plausible principle in itself does not predict why languages with unlimited
output segmental sequences do not seem to exist in the first place. In short, OT
ranks languages on a scale of markedness or complexity but it does not rule out
anything and, therefore, it does not characterize the notion of possible human
language.
b. Emergence of the unmarked

A common objection to parametric models is that the setting of a parameter in
some language excludes the possibility of the other setting in that same lan-
guage once and for all (McCarthy & Prince 1995). We fail to see that this is
necessarily the case.
If the onset-parameter is marked for allowing branching onsets, it does not
follow that we have lost track of the fact that non-branching onsets are possible
and, in fact, are the only ones that can occur in certain positions. It must be
borne in mind that a theory of representations which incorporates head-depen-
dency relations predicts that dependent positions favor simple and unmarked
structures. Following Dresher & van der Hulst (1995, 1998) we may call this
the head-dependent asymmetry principle (HDA-principle). Thus we predict that
in a language that allows branching onsets, dependent syllables (in the foot) can
be limited to containing non-branching onsets only. This approach explains
emergence of the unmarked without appealing to language-specific constraint
ordering, but instead by appealing to a universal dominance of the HDA-prin-
ciple over parameter settings.
It has also been argued (e.g. in McCarthy & Prince 1995) that the setting of a
coda-parameter to the marked option YES and the onset-parameter to the
marked option NO (i.e. allowing onsetless syllables) fails to explain why a
VCV string is always parsed V.CV. However, to explain this we only have to
adopt a single inviolable and dominating principle which says that the least
marked parsing is always the correct one. It seems to us that this 'markedness
principle' has been implicit in all work on parameter theory.
In short, we conclude that OT, while remaining a possible framework for
expressing analyses and generalizations, is not forced upon us because of any
defect of parametric theories. Saying this we are aware of the necessity in the
latter type of theory to appeal to universally top-ranked principles such as the

HDA-principle and the 'markedness principle'.
4.2. Levels and derivationalism
In this section, we will briefly discuss some considerations that are relevant to
determining at what level of representation syllable structure is represented.
This issue is of course closely linked to the issue of how many levels are as-
sumed to exist in the first place. 29
In Chomsky & Halle (1968), a theory is proposed that allows an infinite
number of levels, because phonological rules convert the underlying level to the
surface level through the application of a series of extrinsically ordered rules.
Extrinsic rule ordering creates intermediate levels, the number of which de-
30
pends on how many extrinsic ordering stipulations there are.
It seems that standard OT has inherited the derivational notion of making a
distinction between input and output. There are no intermediate levels in OT. 31
Among others, this has led to the idea, at least in earlier versions of OT, that
syllable structure is 'added' to the input strings (by the generator). This follows
the earlier pre-OT view on syllabic structure as being predictable from the
linear organization of the segmental string and thus 'derived'. It has never been
shown, however, that this is a necessary way of looking at syllable structure
and it seems only motivated by a metatheoretical principle of keeping the input
(i.e. lexical representations) as simple as possible. 2
Government phonology makes no distinction between input and output, nor
between underspecified lexical representations and derived surface forms.
There is only a single level of representation and syllable structure (or rather
OR packages), and all sorts of other government and licensing relations (in part
expressing metrical structure) apply to it. The phonological representation
contains all the information that is necessary to arrive at the phonetic interpre-
tation. There is no independent level of surface phonetic form, there is only
phonetic interpretation. The question whether rules or processes apply to the
phonological level, e.g. to insert elements or skeletal slots in certain circum-
stances is discussed in Kaye (1995). In any event, these processes are not ex-
trinsically ordered, rather they apply whenever their structural description is
met. Such processes however, if necessary, would not necessarily create a
second phonological level. Rather they would be intralevel rules in the sense of
Goldsmith (1993), cf. below. In chapter 6, this volume, and in van der Hulst &
Ritter (1999, in prep.), we refer to government phonology as essentially mono-
stratal. We argue there that even intralevel rules may be unnecessary. Since GP
makes no input-output distinction there is no room for the OT-idea of richness
of the base. 3
Goldsmith (1993) and Lakoff (1993) propose theories that appeal to three
levels; cf. Goldsmith (1993: 32):
(34) a. M-level, a morpho-phonemic level, the level at which morphemes are

phonologically specified.
b. W-level, the level at which expressions are structured into well-formed
syllables and well-formed words, but with a minimum of redundant
phonological information; and
c. P-level, a level of broad phonetic description that is the interface with
the peripheral articulatory and acoustic devices.
If we identify the P-level with what government phonology takes to be the

phonetic interpretation, the question remains whether the distinction between
the M-level and the W-level is motivated. Government phonology seems to
adopt a W-level only. We refer for further discussion of this issue to van der
Hulst & Ritter (1999, in prep.)
Finally, let us address a 'level' distinction that is made in many works on the
syllable where we find a distinction between phonological and phonetic syl-
lables. The phonetic syllables are assumed to be more 'concrete' and closer to
what we actually produce or perceive (cf. Baumann 1999). Making the distinc-
tion between these two types of syllables is useful only, if one wishes to argue
that the structure of both types of syllables can differ with respect to the same
word or type of string. A simple example involves the notion of ambisyl-
labicity. While phonologically a VCV sequence would always be parsed V.CV,
there may be considerations for saying that it is actually pronounced as ambi-
syllabic. In van der Hulst (ms.), cases of this type are referred to as 'structure
paradoxes'. In addition to a difference of this type, we may encounter the fact
that a specific word or string can be pronounced in a variety of ways in a single
language. This follows from the fact that all languages allow various registers
or styles involving differences in the realization of words. In those cases, a
single phonological syllable structure could correspond to a variety of phonetic
syllabifications. Finally, two levels of syllabification have been proposed in the
context of the notion of «syllabification. Sometimes, a string needs to be syl-
labified in a particular manner to motivate processes of insertion or deletion.
Then, subsequently, these processes motivate a different kind of syllabification.
Resyllabification also emerges when words are combined and final consonants
syllabify as onsets to following words that start with a vowel.
The question arises as to whether we assign such differences to the phonetic
implementation component (as government phonology would argue) or whether
we really envisage another level of representation characterized by different
parameter settings or by a separate set of constraints. Van der Hulst (ms.) ar-
gues in favor of a separation of lexical prosodie (phonological) structure and
post-lexical prosodie (phonetic) structure, claiming that syllable structure must

be represented independently by different grammars at both levels. Post-lexical
syllable structure is, in a sense, 'less abstract' and is part of the implementation
systems in forming the interface to the production and perception system of
language, whereas the lexical level is more directly relevant to storage in terms
of cognitive structures. He tentatively suggests that the lexical level is most
appropriately analyzed in terms of a parametric system in combination with a
small set of dominant principles (as in government phonology), leaving open
the possibility that OT may be suitable for the analysis of the phonetic imple-
mentation end of post-lexical structure, i.e. the level where the 'battle' between
production and perception is most vividly present.
S. Summary and conclusions
In this chapter we have reviewed some of the important issues in syllable the-
ory. Our focus was first on making a distinction between core syllable structure
and edge effects, arguing that the complexities arising at edges should not pre-
vent us from postulating a limited array of syllable types. Then, after briefly
looking at the reasons for having syllable structure in our representations, we
discussed a variety of different views on syllable structure. Here we clearly
showed our own preference for a government-phonology style onset-rhyme
theory. Finally, we considered the issues of levels of representation, arguing
against the input/output distinction that is made in classical OT, and against the
three-level model of Goldsmith and Lakoff and in favor of a monostratal
model, or possibly one that separates the lexical phonological representation
from the post-lexical phonetic representation where the latter forms part of the
phonetic implementation system.
Notes
1. Often such statements ignore the precise structure of the V-part, i.e. whether this part
allows contrast for vowel length and or diphthongs.
2. We assume here that Dutch has a tense-lax distinction in the vowel system, rather than
a length distinction; cf. van Oostendorp (1995) and van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep.).
3. Lowenstamm (1996) proposes a theory, called strict CV theory, which claims that all
languages are composed of CV syllables only (cf. chapter 6, note 25). Here we do not
presuppose this theory and merely say that some languages may be strictly CV, despite
the apparent occurrence of more complex syllable types in the language.
4. In the strict CV version of GP (cf. footnote 2) even such structures are reduced to CV
units only.
5. For a government-based analysis of Dutch syllable structure cf. van der Hulst & Ritter
(in prep.).
6. It has also been suggested (e.g. in Pulgram 1970) that the domain of syllabification can
differ from language to language, or that rate of speech can have the effect of increasing
the size of the domain. If the domain of syllabification apparently exceeds that of
'words' and involves phrasal construction, it would seem that syllabification must be
post-lexical. The evidence for post-lexical syllabification most typically is that word-
final consonants syllabify as onsets of following words that start with a vowel.
If, in addition, there is evidence for lexical syllabification (based on phonotactics), a
process of resyllabification seems necessary. We return to this issue in section 4.
7. A complication in evaluating the different analyses involves subtle differences in the
emergence of schwa-like epenthetic sounds.
8. Cf. Blevins (1995) for introducing the syllable and generalizations with respect to
syllable typology. Also see Ewen & van der Hulst (1999), chapter 3.
9. The reasoning here is not flawless according to adherents of government phonology,
who recognize units like onset and rhyme, but not the syllable; cf. chapters 6 and 7, this
volume.
10. In general, government phonology seems to claim that organization above the onset and
rhyme level involves head-dependent relations that do not correspond to constituency.
For discussion, cf. Harris (1994), Ritter (1998), Brockhaus, this volume.
11. Goedemans (1998) convincingly reanalyzes some of the languages where 'onset
weight' has been claimed to play a role.
12. The notion of stress-bearing units, roughly, corresponds to the notion of mora.
13. Cf. Harris (1990) for the role of segmental complexity in government phonology; com-
plexity is in an inverse relationship to sonority, as Harris formulates it.
14. This is derived from the principles that government is strictly directional and local; cf.
Brockhaus, this volume.
15. There is always a skeletal point in the representation of an empty nucleus; cf. chapter 6,
section 2.2.1.1, this volume.
16. Such ternary structures would be excluded if government is strictly (mono)directional;
cf. note 14 and section 2.2.1.5 in chapter 6, this volume.
17. Van der Torre (1998) proposes such structures for coda-onset sequences.
18. The phrase 'head-body' has become confusing, now that we have called the rhyme (i.e.
the body) the head of the syllable.
19. There are also versions of the moraic approach which maintain the skeletal level, es-
sentially claiming that length and weight are two different issues (cf. Lahiri & Koreman
1988 and van der Hulst 1984). cf. section (d) below, for other reasons for separating
length and weight, involving geminates.
20. Van der Hulst & Rosenthal (to appear) claim that the weight-contribution of (non-
onset) consonants can even depend on the position in the word, whereas Hayes (1995)
suggests that it can depend on the level in the derivation; cf. below.
21. Avoiding the possibility that the computation of weight involves two different para-
meters (one looking at branching of the nucleus and one counting units in the rhyme)
we could eliminate the distinction between nucleus and rhyme. Both van der Hulst
(1999a) and Ritter (1999) separately have appealed to this approach. The difference in
the two approaches lies in the manner in which non-moraic segments are captured,
either in a representational alternative, i.e. not as rhymal dependents of the branching
rhyme, as in Ritter (1999), or by parameterization in terms of the threshold parameter
(van der Hulst 1999a). In the latter case, qualifying as a weight-unit, then, follows di-
rectly from the threshold parameter without being represented in the syllabic structure.
Essentially, this is the approach in van der Hulst (1999a), who treats moraicity as a
'label' that is assigned to segments that meet the threshold value. A version of this ap-
proach is incorporated in chapter 6, section 2.2.1.5, this volume.
22. Selkirk's (1990) double-root theory of length addresses the same problem by repre-
senting geminates with two root nodes, thus attributing the length-expressing capacity,
which others attribute to the skeletal tier, to the root tier.
23. We assume here that the facts as reported in Davis (1999) are correct. We have not
looked into that ourselves.
24. In chapter 6, section 2.4.2, such geminates are called 'real'. They are distinguished
from 'fake geminates' which involve two onsets with an intervening empty nucleus.
Kaye (1986) points out that fake geminates can be preceded by long vowels, while real
geminates (coda-onset geminates) cannot. In the languages that Sherer and Davis dis-
cuss, fake geminates, we must assume, are adhocly excluded.
25. Cf. DeChene & Anderson (1979), Wetzels & Sezer (1986).
26. A potential example of initial geminates is found in Leti. Van der Hulst & van Enge-
lenhoven (1995) analyze these word-initial CC-sequences as two onsets that are sepa-
rated by an empty, silent nucleus.
27. Onset geminates have been claimed to exist. Cf. van der Hulst & Engelenhoven (1995)
for an analysis of alleged onset geminates in Leti.
28. Optimality theory is not, however, committed to any specific representational theory of
the syllable. In practice, however, almost all researchers follow some version of moraic
theory. Polgárdi (1998) applies OT to a government-style theory. OT, in other words, is
not a representational theory, but a derivational theory in the sense of representing a
view on the relation between input and output.
29. Goldsmith (1993) offers a very useful discussion of the notion 'level'.
30. The underlying level is in fact preceded by a lexical level which allows underspecifica-
tion and m/u-marks in addition to + and - values; cf. Kaye (1995) for discussion.
31. Apart from those that would result from allowing more than one lexical-morphological
level, and/or a distinction between lexical and post-lexical phonology. We will not dis-
cuss lexical levels here and return to the lexical/post-lexical distinction below.
32. A syllabified representation is not necessarily redundant because one might adopt the
view that given the syllabic (and higher prosodie) organization, the linear structure of
segments is predictable; cf. Anderson (1987), Cairns (1988), Golston & van der Hulst
(1999).
33. The claim that lexical entries are syllabified is not contradicted by languages that allow
non-concatenative morphology, since there is no demand that the OR-constituents are
actually filled with segmental content.
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3 Morpheme structure constraints and the
phonotactics of Dutch
Geert Booij
1. Introduction
In traditional generative phonology of the SPE type (Chomsky & Halle 1968),
it was assumed that the phonotactics of a language are to be accounted for by
two mechanisms, morpheme structure conditions (MSCs) and phonological
rules. Morpheme structure conditions apply to underlying lexical representa-
tions of morphemes, and phonological rules derive the surface form from the
underlying form. Together, they define the possible combinations of the sounds
of a language (Postal 1968).
Due to two influential articles, Hooper (1972) and Vennemann (1972), the
syllable was reintroduced into phonology. Hooper argued that the syllable is not
only indispensable as one of the domains of application of phonological rules,
but also as a unit of phonotactic restrictions. The principles for the division of a
word into syllables have a phonotactic impact which can be characterized as
follows:
(1) A word is phonotactically well-formed if it can be divided exhaustively

into one or more well-formed syllables.
For instance, since the string abkmar cannot be exhaustively divided into well-
formed English syllables, this string is not a possible word of English.
Note that this formulation implies that we no longer speak about the well-
formedness of morphemes, but about the well-formedness of words. The reason
for this is that in a language where, for instance, a morpheme ending in an
obstruent-liquid cluster is always followed by a vowel-initial morpheme, that
morpheme as such may be unpronounceable, and prosodically ill-formed, but
this will not imply its ill-formedness. For example, in Dutch there are a number
of non-native morphemes that end in an obstruent-liquid cluster, and that are
always followed by a vowel-initial suffix. That is, these morphemes do not
occur as independent words:
54 Geert Booij
(2) penetr-eer 'to penetrate'

con-sacr-eer 'to consecrate'
celebr-eer 'to celebrate'
vibr-eer 'to vibrate'
emigr-eer 'to emigrate'
castr-eer 'to castrate'
The morpheme-final obstruent-liquid clusters will never have to surface as

codas. The prosodie well-formedness of words with these morphemes is gua-
ranteed. Similar observations can be found in Kenstowicz & Kisseberth (1977:
145) for Tunica, and they concluded that in such cases it is the word rather than
the morpheme that is the domain of phonotactic constraints.
A similar example from Italian is the following. Italian words are subject to a
prosodie minimality condition (Thornton 1996) that they must be minimally
bisyllabic. Italian words usually end in a vowel which functions as a morpho-
logical ending. Thus, Italian has lexical morphemes such as pizz- (followed by
the ending -a or -e, together forming the words pizza 'id.' and pizze 'pizza, pi.'
respectively). Clearly, the morpheme pizz does not obey the prosodie minima-
lity conditions of Italian. This, however, is not a problem if the phonotactic
constraints of a language do not refer to morphemes, but to (prosodie) words.
This argument can also be made on the basis of Semitic languages where
lexical morphemes can consist of a sequence of consonants without intervening
vowels. That is, these lexical morphemes are always unsyllabifiable. However,
this is no problem since the non-concatenative morphology of these languages
will take care of this, and will insert vowels in between the consonants. Conse-
quently, syllabification will be possible.
An important implication of this approach is that it introduces output con-
straints into phonology: the phonological well-formedness of words is deter-
mined at the output level since principle (1) is an output constraint that applies
after morphology and syllabification have taken place. In other words, there is
no direct statement in the grammar as to which sequences of sounds form pos-
sible morphemes: the segmental make-up of morphemes reflect the phono-
logical rules and constraints (including the syllable structure constraints) of the
language in question. In this respect, Hooper's position can be seen as a precur-
sor to present-day output constraint-based theories of grammar.
This raises the question as to whether we can completely do without mor-
pheme structure constraints in stating the full set of phonotactic generalizations
for a particular language. In this chapter, an attempt will be made to answer this
question on the basis of an analysis of the phonology of Dutch. The following
claims will be made:
- the morpheme remains a relevant domain of phonotactics because some
phonological constraints must refer to the morpheme as their domain;
The phonotactics of Dutch 55
- there are certain phonological generalizations with respect to patterns of

alternation that can only be expressed straightforwardly by referring to the
underlying forms of morphemes.
The structure of this chapter is as follows: in section 2,1 will show that many
phonotactic restrictions are not expressed directly, but follow from the system
of phonological constraints of a language through the mechanism of lexicon
optimization. Section 3 then provides evidence for the role of the morpheme as
a domain of phonological constraints. In section 4, I will discuss some facts of
Dutch that suggest that certain generalizations can only be made by referring to
the underlying level. The conclusions are summarized in section 5.
2. Lexicon optimization
In an Optimality-Theoretical (OT) phonological analysis, the choice of a par-

ticular string of segments as the underlying form of a morpheme is a matter of
lexicon optimization (Prince & Smolensky 1993, Itô et al. 1995). The starting
point of the OT approach is the idealization called 'the richness of the base'
which says that "for the purposes of deducing the possible outputs of the
grammar, [...] all inputs are possible" (Prince & Smolensky 1993: 191). The
projection of the structure of a language's grammar into its lexicon is governed
by the principle of lexicon optimization, which states that of all possible inputs
for a particular output, the input chosen is the one that is most harmonic, in that
it incurs the least significant violations of the constraints (Prince & Smolensky
1993: 192). Furthermore, the choice must be such that phonological alternations
(allomorphy) can be accounted for.
Lexicon optimization implies that the underlying form of a morpheme does
not contain superfluous segments, segments that will never come to the surface.
For instance, Dutch has a rule of prevocalic schwa-deletion that deletes a schwa
before a vowel in the same prosodie word:
(3) Roma + ein -» Romein 'Roman'

zijdo + ig —» zijdig 'silky'
kada + an -» kaden 'quays'
56 Geert Booij
The existence of this rule implies that we could assume the following underly-
ing form /bse:k/ for the word beek [be:k] 'brook', because the schwa will al-
ways be deleted in surface form. This is clearly absurd: when there is no alter-
nation, the language learner has no evidence for such an underlying form with a
prevocalic schwa, and will construct the underlying form /be:k/. The preference
for /be:k/ above /bae:k/ as the underlying form of [be:k] thus follows from the
fact that the first underlying form implies a smaller number of violations of the
faithfulness constraints than the second.
Thus, the prohibition on prevocalic schwa in Dutch is reflected by the ab-
sence of schwa-vowel sequences in morpheme-internal position in the set of
lexical morphemes of Dutch.
The effect of lexicon optimization can be further illustrated as follows. Pro-
sodie words of Dutch are subject to the constraint that they cannot begin with a
schwa (Booij 1995: 47). The consequence of this constraint is that no lexical
morpheme of Dutch begins with a schwa, because these lexical morphemes can
surface as such as a prosodie word, without additional morphological processes
applying that would put the schwa in non-initial position. For the same reason,
Dutch suffixes can begin with a schwa since they will never form the beginning
of a prosodie word. Dutch prefixes, on the other hand, may not begin with a
schwa since they must be suitable for appearing at the beginning of a prosodie
word. Thus, by combining prosodie output conditions with lexicon optimiza-
tion, it is immediately clear why prefixes and lexical morphemes pattern alike
in this case, and that suffixes pattern differently.
Another example of optimization is that Dutch suffixes can be vowelless,
unlike lexical morphemes and prefixes. In that case, they consist of coronal
obstruents only: /s/, /t/ or a combination thereof. This is because, like most
Germanic languages, Dutch allows for an 'appendix' of coronal obstruents at
the end of a prosodie word, after the last syllable:
(4) koor-ts [ko:r-ts] 'fever'

herf-st [herf-st] 'autumn'
groot-st [yro:t-st] 'biggest'
vermoei-dst [vermu:j-tst] 'most tired'
Thus, the regularity that consonantal suffixes consist of coronal obstruents only,
need not be stated as a morpheme structure constraint for suffixes, but follows
from lexicon optimization: a suffix /k/ would not be of much use because it
would lead to many phonotactic violations and hence suffer from a very re-
stricted usability.
The shape of Dutch suffixes is also determined by a cooccurrence constraint
on obstruents, given by Yip (1991) for English, and also holding for Dutch: in a
cluster of two obstruents within a prosodie word the second one is always a
coronal (cf. Yip 1991, Lamontagne 1993 for English, and Booij 1995: 45 for
Dutch). In these cases, the morphological system of Dutch conspires to comply
with these cluster conditions: obstruent-initial suffixes of Dutch always begin
with a coronal obstruent. This guarantees that in an obstruent cluster at the
border between two morphemes, a stem-fmal obstruent is always followed by a
coronal one. (The only exception is the suffix -baar '-able'; however, this suf-
fix forms a phonological word of its own, and therefore, suffixation will not
lead to the violation of these linear constraints, which hold within the domain of
the prosodie word.)
A final example of a prosodie output constraint that serves to illustrate the
working of lexicon optimization is that in Dutch the voiced fricatives /v/ and Izl
do not occur in ambisyllabic position. Dutch consonants are ambisyllabic in
intervocalic position if the preceding vowel is short, because of the minimal
rhyme constraint that requires that two positions are filled in the rhyme of a
syllable (Booij 1995: 31). For instance, in a word such as adder 'snake' with
the underlying form /adar/ the /d/ will close the first syllable (ad) because the
preceding vowel is short and thus fills only one position; simultaneously, it
forms the onset of the second syllable (dar). The ambisyllabicity blocks sylla-
ble-final devoicing of the lál (Booij 1995: 63). Ambisyllabicity, however, is not
possible for /v/ and Izl (the only exceptions to this constraint on ambisyllabicity
o f / v z/ are the loan words puzzel [ργζοί] 'puzzle', mazzel [mazal] 'luck', and
razzia [razi:ja:] 'round up'). Therefore, we only find Ivi and Izl within mor-
phemes after long vowels, both morpheme-internally and at the right boundary.
On the surface, morpheme-final Ivi and /z/ would be voiceless after a short
vowel anyway because in coda position obstruents are always voiceless in
Dutch (Final Devoicing), unless these obstruents are followed by a vowel-
initial suffix which puts these morpheme-final obstruents in onset position. Yet,
this does not make it possible to have Ivi or Izl after a short vowel in mor-
pheme-final position, because this would lead to ill-formed phonetic represen-
tations when vowel-initial suffixes are added to such morphemes:
(5) a. dissel /disal/ 'pole'

gaffel /yafal/ 'fork'
reuzel /re:zol/ 'fat'

ezel /e:zol/ 'donkey'
haver /harvor/ 'oats'
58 Geert Booij
graaf /yrarv/ [yra:f] 'earl' graven 'pl.' [yraivan]

graaf /yra:f7 [yra:f] 'graph' grafen 'pl.' [yra-'fan]
kaas /ka:z/ [ka:s] 'cheese' kazen 'pl.' [ka:zan]
kies /ki:s/ [ki:s] 'delicate' kiese 'attr. form' [ki:sa]
*dizzel /dizsl/, *gawel /γαval/
dis /dis/ 'to serve', */diz/ dissen 'inf.' [disan]

paf /paf 'to smoke' , */ραν/ paffen 'inf.' [pafan]
This constraint is also related to vowel lengthening. A number of Dutch nouns

exhibit vowel lengthening, which is the historical residue of open syllable
lengthening in middle Dutch:
(6) schip 'ship' [sxip] schepen 'pl.' [sxeipon]

weg 'road' [wex] wegen 'pl.' [we:yon]
graf 'grave' [Yraf] graven 'pl.' [yrarvon]
glas 'glass' [ylas] glazen 'pl.' [ylaizan]
The last two examples are the most interesting ones, because here the vowel
length alternation serves to obey the prohibition on ambisyllabic /v zJ. For each
of these nouns, the two allomorphs will have to be listed in the lexicon, for
instance /yraf/ and /yra:v/, both of which are optimal with respect to the /ν ζ/-
constraint.
In all these examples, phonological constraints on the well-formedness of
prosodie words of Dutch have implications for the kind of morphemes that we
find in Dutch. However, there are also constraints that hold within morphemes
only, not within prosodie words. That is, the domain of the morpheme still
plays a direct role in a proper account of phonotactic constraints. This will be
shown in the next section.
3. Phonological constraints on morphemes
A clear case of a morpheme structure constraint of Dutch, observed by Zon-

neveld (1983), is that we do not find clusters of voiced obstruents morpheme-
initially and morpheme-internally: such clusters are always voiceless, with the
exception of a few loans like labda [labda] 'lambda' and budget [bœdjet] 'id.'.
That is, voiced obstruent clusters are only found morpheme-finally. The rele-
vant morphemes only end in a voiced obstruent cluster underlyingly because
these voiced obstruent clusters surface in plural forms and in derived words;
spoken in isolation, such morpheme-final clusters will always be realized as
voiceless due to final devoicing:
( 7 ) hoofd 'head' /ho:vd/ [ho:ft] - hoofden 'pl.' [ho:vdan]

maagd 'virgin' /ma:yd/ [ma:xt] - maagden 'pi.' [mandan]
smaragd 'emerald' /smairayd/ [sma:raxt] - smaragden 'pl.' [smairaydan]
voogd 'guardian' /vo:yd/ [vorxt] - voogden 'pl.' [vo:ydan]
jeugd 'youth' /jeiyd/ [j0:xt] - jeugdig 'youthful' [jeiydax]
The fact that loans such as labda are pronounced with [bd] shows that this
condition on obstruent clusters is a static regularity only, but still a regularity
that needs to be expressed.
Across morpheme boundaries, the occurrence of voiced obstruent clusters is
unrestricted. They are created, for instance, in the past tense forms of verbs of
which the stem ends in a voiced obstruent, and in nouns formed with the suf-
fixes) -de, as in:
(8) tobde [tobda] 'toiled'

draafde [drarvdo] 'ran'
hoosde [ho:zda] 'scooped'
zaagde [zaiyda] 'sawed'
(9) liefde [li:vdo] 'love'

vijfde [veivda] 'fifth'
One may think of avoiding the conclusion that morphemes still play a role as
phonotactic domains by using underspecification. In a lexical morpheme such
as akte /akto/ 'act' we could leave the obstruent cluster unspecified for [voice],
whereas stem-final obstruent clusters must be specified underlyingly for this
feature because there are lexical contrasts like hoofd 'head' versus kaft /kaft/
'cover', and maagd 'virgin' versus macht /maxt/ 'power'. For non-morpheme-
final obstruent clusters, the feature [-voice] would then be provided by a de-
fault rule at the end of the derivation. However, underspecification is at odds
with the concept of lexicon optimization in output-constraint-based phonology.
Moreover, underspecification does not express the generalization discussed
here: in an underspecification approach it could also be the case that only half
of the morphemes of Dutch have morpheme-internal voiceless obstruent
60 Geert Booij
clusters, i.e. are underspecified with respect to [voice]. In other words, we

would not express that [voice] does not have a contrastive function in mor-
pheme-internal obstruent clusters: there is, for instance, no possible morpheme
agde /agdo/ besides akte.
This generalization can be expressed as an alignment constraint (McCarthy
& Prince 1994). Alignment constraints can express that certain constraints only
apply to specific morphologically defined domains. The alignment constraint
that we need for Dutch is that a cluster of voiced obstruents must align with the
right morpheme boundary:
(10) Align ( [-sonJJ-son], R, M, R)

[+voice]
For instance, in hoofd 'head' the voiced obstruent cluster aligns with the right
edge of the morpheme. The constraint excludes voiced obstruent clusters at the
beginning of a morpheme and morpheme-internally, and therefore, we do not
find complex onsets with voiced obstruent clusters. Clusters such as /sp, st, sk/
are possible, but /zb, zd, zg/ are completely out. In the poly-morphemic word
tob-de [tobdo] 'toiled' (the past tense of tob /tob/ 'to toil'), however, it is the
first of the two voiced obstruents that aligns with a right morpheme boundary.
This form violates constraint (10) if the cluster /bd/ is assumed to share the
feature [+voice], but is nevertheless selected as the correct phonetic form since
the voiceless realization [topta] violates Faithfulness: the feature [+voice] of the
/d/ of the past tense morpheme de would not surface in that case. That is, Faith-
fulness is ranked above the alignment constraint (10).
Thus, alignment constraints can, at least partially, take over the role of the
traditional morpheme structure constraints. But, note the crucial difference that
alignment constraints do not pertain to underlying forms, but to surface forms,
and can be violated.
A second example of a condition that pertains to Dutch morphemes is the
following generalization made by Van Oostendorp (1995: 141):
(11) "In (monomorphemic) forms we do not find sequences of schwa-headed

syllables"
Indeed, it is derived words where such sequences do arise, because both pre-
fixes and suffixes can have schwa as their only vowel, and such syllables can
be attached to a stem in a position adjacent to a schwa-syllable:
(12) go-bo-lazar 'cheating'

ga-var-sier 'decorating'
go-lukk-og-ar 'happier'
var-rukk-olok 'delicious'
wandal-on 'to walk'
lekksr-dar 'nicer'
This generalization not only underlines the phonotactic role of the (lexical)
morpheme, but also implies that phonotactics has to do with prosody above the
level of the syllable. In this case, it is the foot that is at stake. Dutch feet are
preferably trochees, and otherwise monosyllabic. The (first or only) syllable
that heads the foot must contain a full vowel. Schwa-headed syllables that are
left over cannot form feet of their own, and are presumably dominated directly
by the prosodie word-node. Given these assumptions about the Dutch foot, the
generalization can be expressed as follows:
(13) Lexical morphemes of Dutch consist exhaustively of feet.
This generalization can be interpreted as a prosodie output condition with the

morpheme as its domain. This formulation not only covers the prohibition on
sequences of schwa-headed syllables (11), but also implies that lexical mor-
phemes cannot begin with a schwa-headed syllable, because Dutch feet are left-
headed. Lexical morphemes that begin with a schwa-headed syllable are indeed
very rare. There are a few exceptions, but such words usually have a polymor-
phemic origin: the schwa-syllable is an old prefix, be- or ge-. In addition, there
are a few French loans in which the unstressed mid vowel has been reduced to a
schwa; in the examples given here, the first e in these words stands for schwa:
(14) simplex onsets: begonia 'id.', beton 'concrete', debacle 'failure', gelei
'jelly', legaat 'legacy', melasse ' i d p e n o s e 'mafia', tenor 'id.'
complex onsets: breton 'Breton', krepeer 'to die', plezier ' f u n '
The relevant condition on the (native) lexical morphemes of Dutch has to refer
to both prosodie information and morphological information (the domain 'lexi-
cal morpheme' or 'root'). This is in accordance with the conclusions in Booij &
Lieber (1993), who showed that simultaneous reference to the phonological and
the morphological structure of a word has to be allowed for. This conclusion
concerning the simultaneous reference to prosodie and morphological structure
is also in line with McCarthy & Prince (1994), who argued in favor of a family
62 Geert Booij
of alignment constraints, which account for certain aspects of the relation

between prosodie structure and morphological structure, and also refer simulta-
neously to prosodie and morphological structure. An alignment analysis of this
generalization is possible in this case as well (see also Kager 1996 for an
example of a prosodie condition on a morphological category, stems).
We can express generalization (13) by requiring the alignment of a foot
boundary with both the left, and the right morpheme boundary. This will ex-
clude unfooted morpheme-initial schwa-syllables at the beginning of a lexical
morpheme, and sequences of two schwa-syllables, of which the second is un-
footed, at the end of a lexical morpheme.
The right alignment constraint will be violated if a vowel-initial suffix is
attached, which causes a morpheme-final consonant to become the first seg-
ment of another foot, as in the infinitive form [[wandel]yen]v 'to walk' with the
prosodie structure ((wan) 0 (d3) a ) F (lon)„. The prohibition on empty onsets will be
ranked higher than the relevant alignment constraint.
It is of course possible to replace condition (13) with an alignment constraint
on prosodie words rather than on lexical morphemes: align the left and the right
boundary of a prosodie word with a foot boundary. This alignment condition
will then be violated at a large scale, by several kinds of prefixed and suffixed
words. This will not cause problems for the computation of the correct phonetic
forms, but - and this is the crucial problem - it leaves unexpressed that native
monomorphemic words never violate it.
The conclusion therefore is that if we want to express the correct generaliza-
tions about the phonotactics of the morphemes of a language in terms of pro-
sodie output conditions, we still need to refer to the boundaries of morphemes.
What remains to be seen, however, is whether all phonotactic constraints that
only hold within morphemes can be described in terms of alignment. For ex-
ample, it has been observed that in Semitic languages with their well-known
triliteral verbal roots there are constraints on the combination of consonants that
are found in such roots (Greenberg 1950). Such constraints are not a matter of
alignment of prosodie constituency with morpheme boundaries, and have to
refer to the verbal root morpheme as their domain. Within verbal roots we do
not find combinations of similar consonants, such as front consonants or conso-
nants from the set {1 r n}, whereas they do occur in other morphemes such as
the numeral isc 'nine' (two front consonants), and in complex forms such as the
prefixed Arabic form narkabu 'we ride' with two consonants from the set {1 r
n} (Greenberg 1950:178). These restrictions can certainly be seen as instantia-
tions of dissimilation constraints or OCP-effects, but it is clear that such con-
straints only hold for a particular class of morphemes, verbal roots. It does not
matter whether such linear constraints are interpreted as input constraints or
output constraints, the point is that they only pertain to a subset of morphemes,
not to (prosodie) words. Thus, it appears that the morpheme still has to play a
role as a domain of phonotactic generalizations.
This is also the conclusion drawn by Kenstowicz & Kisseberth (1977: 146)
on the basis of data from Desano provided in Kaye (1974). In this language, all
syllables of a morpheme are either oral or nasal syllables, whereas a complex
word can consist of both oral and nasal syllables. Therefore, they conclude that
the morpheme still is a relevant domain of phonotactic generalizations.
Other examples of such constraints come from the description of Ngiti in
Kutsch Lojenga (1994: 35-36). In this language, the following constraints hold:
(15) (i) The affricates /pf7 and /bv/ can only be followed by [+round] vowels in
monomorphemic forms;
(ii) The palatal stops /ky, /gy/, and /ngy/ are only found followed by
[-back] vowels in monomorphemic forms.
In complex forms, such as reduplicated forms, these constraints can be violated.

For instance, in the sequence /ipfo-ipfo/ 'moldy' from the root ipfo 'to mold',
the word-internal vowel hiatus is resolved by deletion of the first vowel. Hence,
in the phonetic form fipfipfo], the affricate [pf] precedes a non-round vowel.
Thus, the relevant constraints are valid within the domain of the morpheme
only.
Again, one could formulate these constraints as general constraints on the
phonetic forms of words, which are violated in complex forms only, due to
their being overruled by other constraints such as faithfulness constraints. The
problem then remains, as before, that generalizations about classes of mor-
phemes that are characteristic for a particular language remain unexpressed.
Therefore, it appears that the morpheme must be kept as a relevant domain of
phonological output constraints.
4. Phonological constraints on underlying forms?
In this section, I will argue that certain generalizations with respect to the pho-
nology of Dutch can only be made at the underlying level. These facts suggest
that the underlying level still has to play a role as a level of phonological gen-
eralizations, although many phonotactic generalizations are better stated as
output conditions.
64 Geert Booij
The phonological generalizations involved do not primarily concern phono-

tactics, but the systematic lack of certain alternations in Dutch. After long vow-
els ( W ) , fricatives in morpheme-final position are always voiced, at least at the
underlying level (if they are not followed by a vowel-initial suffix, they will
surface voiceless because of the devoicing of obstruents in coda position).
Consider the following data:
(16) raaf 'raven' /ra:v/ [ra:f] - raven 'pl.' [ra:van]

*raaf /ra:f [ra:f] - rafen 'pl. [ra:fan]
kaas 'cheese' /ka:z/ [ka:s] - kazen 'pl.' [ka:zan]
*kaas /ka:s/ [ka:s] - kasen 'pl.' [ka:san]
zaag 'saw' /za:g/ [za:x] - zagen 'pl.' [zaïyan]
*zaach /zaχ / [za:x] - zachen 'pl.' [za:xan]
Morpheme-internally we do find voiceless fricatives after long vowels, as in
(17) oefen 'to practice' /u:fan/, plafond 'ceiling' [pla:fon], goochem 'smart'
/γο:χ9ΐη/, goochel 'to juggle' [γο:χ9ΐ], Pasen 'Easter' [pa:san], asem
'breath' [aisam], desem 'leaven' [de:som]
That is, the type of alternation that we find is [VVf/s/x - VVv/z/yan], and not
[Wf/s/x - VVf/s/xan]. (Some exceptions do occur, however, for instance the
morpheme pies 'to piss', with the infinitive piesen [pi:s9n], and the loan graaf
'graph' [vra:f] with the plural grafen [yraifsn].) Note that the constraint does
not always hold for fricatives preceded by a diphthong. Diphthongs do occur
before /s/, as in
(18) eisen 'to demand' /ε i san/, kousen 'stockings' /koussn/
The relevant constraint is therefore the following:
(19) * long vowel + [-son, +cont, -voice]] M
where 'M' refers to 'morpheme'. This constraint only makes sense if it refers to
underlying forms; if the morpheme appears as an independent word, the mor-
pheme-final obstruent will be voiceless anyway, because of final devoicing.
That is, if (19) were an output constraint, a word like kaas /kaiz/ 'cheese' with
the phonetic form [ka:s] would violate the constraint although this morpheme
obeys the constraint at the underlying level.
In complex words, the morpheme-final underlyingly voiced fricative may
also devoice due to a morpholexical rule of devoicing that is triggered by spe-
cific suffixes such as -elijk and -enis:
(20) graf-elijk 'of an earl' [vraifalak]

lief-elijk 'peaceful' [liifabk]
vres-elijk 'horrible' [weisalok]
laf-enis 'food' [laifonis]
Moreover, the sequence long vowel + /s/ does occur in morpheme-final position
within the bound morpheme -isch /i:s/, which suggests that this restriction
pertains to lexical morphemes only.
An apparent exception to the non-occurrence of the alternation [VVs -
VVsV] is created by the suffix /s/ used to derive adjectives from nouns. For the
noun Fries /fri:z/ 'Frisian', for instance, we get the following pattern:
(21) noun: sg. Fries /fri:z/ [fri:s] plural Friezen /fri:z+9n/ [friizan]
adjective: Fries /fri:z+s/ [fri:s] inflected form /fri:z+s+^/ [friisa]
So in the case of this derived adjective we do get the pair: [VVs - VVsV], This
is in accordance with the constraint because there is no longer a Izl in intervo-
calic position: it is deleted before the next /s/. Note that this [s] is in morpheme-
final position after a long vowel. Yet, it does not violate the constraint because
it is not tautomorphemic with the preceding long vowel.
The implication of this generalization concerning the kind of alternations
that are normal in Dutch is that there is evidence for constraints on underlying
forms. In this case, the constraint is that in morpheme-final position after a long
vowel, voiceless fricatives do not occur.
A similar example of a co-occurrence constraint of Dutch that applies at the
underlying level is that a Ibi at the end of a morpheme can only be preceded by
a short vowel (i.e. not by a long vowel or a sonorant consonant). We would
never hear that Ibi anyway after a long vowel or a consonant when the mor-
pheme is pronounced as an independent word because of the devoicing of ob-
struents in coda position. Yet, there is an empirical consequence, since the
constraint implies that we do not find alternations of the type
(22) [Vip] - [Vlba], [Vrp] - [Vrbo], [Vmp] - [Vmbs], [VVp] - [VVbo]
in which -a is the beginning of a suffix. The Ibi can follow a long vowel or a
sonorant consonant morpheme-internally, as in
66 Geert Booij
(23) album 'id.', albast 'alabaster', Elbe 'id.', Albanie 'Albania', amber
'amber', kabel 'cable', nobel 'noble', fobie 'phobia'
The only exception I know of is the loan morpheme -foob 'fearing'.

The constraint is therefore the following:
(24) If Ibi is morpheme-final, it must be preceded by a short vowel.
Note that a root like -foob /fo:b/ would not violate constraint (24) if this were an
output constraint, since it is pronounced as [fo:p]. Nevertheless, we want to
exclude such morphemes as regular morphemes of Dutch. In other words, we
cannot determine at the surface whether a morpheme violates this constraint,
unless it is followed by a vowel-initial suffix that prohibits final devoicing from
applying.
In conclusion, if we want to express that certain systematic gaps exist in the
patterns of alternations that we find in the phonetic forms of morphemes,
phonological theory should allow for making static generalizations about
phonotactic patterns at the underlying level. They do not follow from a lan-
guage-particular ranking of universal output constraints; in the course of history
of a particular language, certain combinations of segments became gaps in the
make-up of morphemes in spite of the fact that such combinations are perfectly
pronounceable in that language. Such gaps are characteristic of that language,
have a systematical nature, and therefore need to be expressed.
A possible way of avoiding the conclusion that certain generalizations have
to be made with respect to underlying forms is the introduction of output-to-
output correspondence constraints, as proposed in more recent work in the OT-
framework. For instance, we could state the constraint that in a set of two re-
lated words the sequence [Vip] in one word cannot correspond to the sequence
[Vlb] in the other. However, this solution introduces a very powerful mecha-
nism into the grammar, and thus it is an open issue whether such a solution is
satisfactory.
5. Conclusions
The first important conclusion of this chapter about phonotactics is that once
we recognize the role of prosodie output constraints in phonology, a lot of the
phonotactics of a language is no longer expressed directly, by means of mor-
pheme structure conditions, but only indirectly, through the principle of lexicon
optimization. The phonotactic effects of prosodie constraints on the linear se-
quencing of segments in morphemes are of an indirect nature since we cannot

make direct statements about the prosodie properties of morphemes at the un-
derlying level if prosodie structure is not specified at that level. By relating
phonotactics to prosodie constraints, we also explain why, for instance, prefixes
and lexical morphemes form one class with respect to constraints on mor-
pheme-initial sequences, and why suffixes do not belong to the same class.
Secondly, we have seen that a proper account of the phonotactics of a lan-
guage still requires reference to the morpheme. Such constraints can sometimes
be expressed as alignment constraints, in which alignment of certain phonolo-
gical properties with morpheme boundaries is required. There are also linear
constraints on sound sequences that cannot be expressed as alignment con-
straints but still have the morpheme, or a subset of morphemes, as their domain.
These constraints can thus be seen as output constraints with the morpheme as
their domain.
Thirdly, there are also regularities that can only be stated as regularities with
respect to the underlying level. That is, it appears that some of the classical
(underlying level) morpheme structure conditions are still necessary in order to
capture certain generalizations about the alternation patterns of a language,
unless one allows for the introduction of output-to-output correspondence con-
straints.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Ben Hermans, Harry van der Hulst, Gjert Kristoffersen,
Claartje Levelt, Shelly Lieber, Marc van Oostendorp, Nancy Ritter, Laura
Walsh Dickey, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and ques-
tions. The research for this chapter was partially carried out at the Max Planck
Institute fur Psycholinguistik, Nijmegen.
References
Booij, G.E.
1995 The phonology of Dutch. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Booij, G.E. & R. Lieber
1993 On the simultaneity of morphological and prosodie structure. In E. Kaisse & S.
Hargus (eds.), Studies in lexical phonology. San Diego: Academic Press, 23-44.
1968 The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.
68 Geert Booij
Greenberg, J.
1950 The patterning of root morphemes in Semitic. Word 6, 162-181.
Hooper, J.B.
1972 The syllable in phonological theory. Language 48, 525-540.
Ito, J., R A. Mester & J. Padgett
1995 Licensing and underspecification in optimality theory. Linguistic inquiry 26, 571 -
614.
Kager, R.
1996 Stem disyllabicity in Guugu Yimidhirr. In M. Nespor & N. Smith (eds.) Dam
phonology. HIL phonology papers II. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics,
59-101.
Kaye, J.D.
1974 Morpheme structure constraints live! Montreal working papers in linguistics 3,
55-62.
Kenstowicz, M. & C. Kisseberth
1977 Topics in phonological theory. New York: Academic Press.
Kutsch Lojenga, C.
1994 Ngiti. A Central-Sudanic language of Zaire. Köln: Rüdiger Koppe Verlag (Nilo-
Saharan, 9).
Lamontagne, G.
1993 Syllabification and consonant cooccurrence conditions. PhD dissertation. Uni-
versity of Massachusetts at Amherst (published by GLSA).
McCarthy, J.J. & A S. Prince
1994 Generalized alignment. In G.E. Booij & J. van Marie (eds ), Yearbook of mor-
phology 1993. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 79-153.
Oostendorp, M. van
1995 Vowel quality and phonological projection. PhD dissertation. Tilburg University.
1993 Optimality theory. Constraint interaction in generative grammar. Ms., Rutgers
University and University of Boulder, Colorado.
Postal, P.
1968 Aspects of phonological theory. New York: Harper & Row.
Thornton, A.M.
1996 On some phenomena of prosodie morphology in Italian: Accorciamenti, hypo-
coristics and prosodie delimitation. Probus 6, 81-112.
Vennemann, Th.
1972 On the theory of syllabic phonology. Linguistische Berichte 18, 1-18.
Yip, M.
1991 Coronals, consonant clusters and the coda condition. In C. Paradis & J.-F. Prunet
(eds.), The special status of coronals; internal and external evidence. San Diego:
Academic Press, 61-78.
Zonneveld, W.
1983 Lexical and phonological properties of Dutch voicing assimilation. In M. van den
Broecke, V.J. van Heuven & W. Zonneveld (eds.), Sound structures. Studies for
Antonie Cohen. Dordrecht: Foris, 297-312.
4 Syllables in Danish
Hans Basboll
1. Introduction
In 1972 there appeared at least three papers arguing for the introduction of the
syllable into generative phonology in the broad sense - which would, obvi-
ously, just mean the reintroduction of the syllable into the mainstream of pho-
nology - viz. Hooper (1972) (who saw the issue of the syllable in relation to
segmental phonology as mainly one of introducing syllable boundaries into the
structural description of phonological rules, cf. Basboll 1974), Vennemann
(1972) (who argued more generally for a "syllabic phonology"), and Basbell
(1972) (who focused on the syllable as a domain for segmental phonological
rules). Since then, the syllable has acquired, or regained, status as a central con-
cept in most contemporary theories of phonology. In the days when SPE
(Chomsky & Halle 1968) dominated the theoretical discussion of phonology,
the theoretical non-recognition of the syllable and other prosodie units and
levels within the SPE-model had the consequence of generating a good deal of
research which attempted to show the relevance not only of the syllable -
which was recognized by most linguists outside the generative paradigm any-
way - but also of prosodie structures more generally.
The present paper attempts to be relatively all-embracing, approaching the
most essential aspects of the syllable in Danish phonology from a particular
theoretical and methodological point of view, rather than selecting any single
function and discussing that in relative depth. I thus give a brief survey of the
three main functions which the syllable has in Danish phonology, viz. the so-
nority syllable in phonotactics (section 2), the syllable as a domain in segmental
phonology, with particular reference to syllabification (section 3), and the syl-
lable as a prosodie unit, with an introduction to my new analysis of the Danish
sted (section 4).
The language described in this paper is Modern Standard Copenhagen
Danish, previously termed Advanced Standard Copenhagen (Basboll 1969),
and the forms given in most cases correspond to those given in the new Danish
pronunciation dictionary using the IP A (Molbaek Hansen 1990), and to the first
pronunciation given in the descriptive pronunciation dictionary using the
Danish phonetic alphabet ("Dania"), viz. Brink et al. 1991 (the largest and most
comprehensive pronunciation dictionary, also with respect to the social,
70 Hans Basbell
regional and age-dependent variations covered, to be found for any language, as

far as I am aware).1
2. The sonority syllable in phonotactics
In section 2.1 I shall give a short presentation of my general model of the so-
nority syllable (partly taken from Basboll 1997), and refer the reader to Basboll
1994 for a fuller recent introduction to my main ideas on phonotactics (cf.
Basboll & Wagner 1985: chapter 7 for a relatively detailed contrastive descrip-
tion of Danish and German phonotactics, within an earlier version of the same
framework). Then, in section 2.2, I shall sketch an application of this model to
Danish phonotactics.
2.1. The Sonority Syllable Model (SSM)
John Ohala has strongly criticized the concept of a sonority hierarchy as used in
phonology (e.g. 1992). I agree with this line of criticism on some important
points: (1) sonority is undefined as a phonetic parameter; (2) sonority is often
used in a circular way; (3) real phonetic explanations should be sought for
phonotactic regularities; (4) there are important phonotactic regularities un-
related to sonority. Nevertheless, my endeavor here will be to argue for a spe-
cific version of a sonority syllable model which is not in conflict with any of
these points, and which is in particular NOT circular.2
The central notion when we are talking of syllables and of syllabicity is the
peak: the number of syllables equals the number of peaks; the sonority syllable
has the peak as its central element; and when prosodie domains are smaller than
the syllable, the domain includes the peak (nucleus, rhyme). The prototypical
peak is a vocoid (a phonetic vowel): all languages have vocoids as peaks, only
some allow non-vocoids; and, similarly, the prototypical non-peak is a non-
vocoid: all languages have non-vocoids (= contoids) as non-peaks, only some
allow vocoids as non-peaks ("glides"). Therefore the vocoid is a natural point
to start when developing a model of the syllable. I follow Pike (1943) in defin-
ing a vocoid as a central (i.e. non-lateral) oral resonant, viz. by means of the
following definitional equivalence:3
(1) [vocoid] -¿ef [sonoranl, -oral closure, -lateral]

Syllables in Danish 71
All vocoids are necessarily sonorant, but many sonorants are non-vocoids
(contoids); all sonorants are necessarily voiced, but many voiced segments are
non-sonorant (obstruents). This universal logic of segments (as I am calling it)
can be depicted by means of four concentric (Euler's) circles, as in figure 1.
figure 1
Notice that no considerations of time, or of linear order in any way (not to

speak of the syllable!), have been appealed to here. The model only concerns
(logical, not temporal) relations between segment types. Notice, furthermore,
that I cannot change anything in the model once its foundation is accepted;
obviously, the choice of features and feature definitions is relevant, but I have
until now been talking in terms of very broad phonetic categories which seem
to be accepted by most phoneticians and phonologists.
Now comes the "qualitative jump" in the model: the dimension of linear
order, or of time, is introduced, depicted by an oriented line (one with an arrow)
through the center of the circles, see figure 2.
figure 2
The model then functions as a Sonority Syllable Model (SSM) and is notation-
ally equivalent to a sequence of (in Bengt Sigurd's 1965 words) order classes,
see figure 3. According to the present system, sonorants and obstruents are de-
72 Hans Basbell
fmed as being the complement of one another (by means of the equivalence
[a obs] =def{-a son]); they thus count as only "one primitive" in the model,
even though both [sonorant] and [obstruent] satisfy the condition of phonetic
homogeneity and can be used accordingly as "simple features" in phonology,
cf. Basboll (1996).
figure 3
Figure 4 with the five concentric circles depicts the maximal version of the
SSM:
The next outermost circle represents the segments which are [-spread glottis]
(henceforth being abbreviated [-SG]), i.e. which do not have a spread (i.e.
widely open) glottis. All voiced segments are [-SG] (since they have vibrating
vocal folds), but some segments with [-SG] are voiceless (i.e. [-voiced]); there-
fore the circle representing the voiced segments is properly included (in the
technical sense from set theory) in the circle representing the segments with
[-SG], according to the universal logic of segment types. This amounts to the
claim that the outermost "ring" of the model represents the segments with [SG]
(i.e. the set of all segments - the outermost circle - minus the set of segments
with [-SG]). When we make the "qualitative jump" from the timeless logic of
segment types to a syllable model, i.e. with the time dimension included, the
model predicts that the most marginal order class (in the sense of the order class
farthest away from the syllabic peak) consists of the segments with [SG]. This
is, it seems to me, a very nice prediction: it is phonetically natural in the sense
that the prototypical stressed syllable is the isolated monosyllable, i.e. a syllable
pronounced before and after a pause, and [spread glottis] is the expected glottis
state in that situation. It also follows that the segment type [-SG] cannot be
more marginal than the segment type [SG], and thus an onset like ps- in Greek
would be predicted to have an initial consonant with [SG] (it is clear how this
prediction could be falsified, viz. by observing the glottis, but I find it phoneti-
cally improbable that it should be). Figure 4 is in agreement with the many
initial s+plosive-clusters (it even predicts them if the plosive is unaspirated),
without appeal to notions like "extrametricality". Notice finally that the very
logic of the SSM can be applied independently of any specific set of distinctive
features.4
2.2. The SSM in the phonotactics of Danish
When we apply the SSM to Modern Standard Danish, we depart from the
maximal version of the model, viz. that depicted in figure 4. I shall briefly give
a sketch of how this application proceeds, considering onsets and codas in turn.
First of all, the inventory of initial consonants (at a concrete distinct level, what
I am calling "contrastive phonological segments") must be classified with re-
spect to the order classes defined by the model (viz. those in figure 3 with the
class of [SG]-segments added). The order classes are numbered, departing from
the syllabic peak, and the initial inventory is as follows (each order class con-
sists of an unordered set of segments):
(2) V IV III II I PEAK

[SG] [-voi, -SG] [-son, voi] [-voc, son] [voc]
Ρ f b V 1 ï
t s d κ m
k J g η
h
When we consider the clusters which occur (as registered in Basboll & Wagner
1985: 152-159), we proceed by asking the following questions:
1) Are any clusters in disagreement with the maximal version of SSM? The
answer is NO (i.e. none of the circles of figure 4 is violated ).
2) Are there clusters whose order is not predicted by SSM? The answer is:
YES, one: vr-
3) Are all order classes derived from SSM needed to account for the order of
all clusters? The answer is NO. The distinction between II and III is not needed,
i.e. II and III can be collapsed into one class [-voc, voi], corresponding to the
74 Hans Basbell
removal of the circle marked [son] from figure 4: the [son]-circle is not active
initially in Danish. Figure 5 is identical to figure 4 except for the fact that active
circles are rendered in boldface; thus figure 5, which must be interpreted with a
time dimension and which is specific to Danish, indicates that the feature [son]
is inactive in initial order relations.
time
figure 5
4) What further restrictions are needed to account for the clusters? The an-
swer is complex: there are at most three segments, and in the case of three, the
first must be s. Furthermore, there are a number of anti-homorganicity-restric-
tions. I have tried to describe all restrictions not derived from SSM by means of
filters of the following type:
*[oral closure, alveolar] [alveolar]
* [labial] [labial]
*[oral closure] [-voiced]
The restrictions should be formulated so that accidental gaps are not excluded,
i.e. the filters should be relevant for speakers' competence and not just be the
reflex of historical accident.
The final inventory (i.e. for codas ) is as follows; we start by considering the
monomorphemic monosyllabic word:
(3) PEAK I II III IV+V

[voc] [-voc, son] [-son, voi] [-voi]
ν b/(p)
ü m [j] d/(t)
Β η g/(k)
9 f s (h)
Three remarks are in order here. First, according to the methodology adhered
to, I have collapsed order classes IV and V already at this stage since aspirated
and unaspirated plosives both occur in this position, the aspirates however only
as free variants before pause 5 (this is expressed in figure 5 by the [-SG]-circle
not being boldfaced finally). Second, although the segment "[j]" (occurring in
such words as monje, lilje 'minium, lily' ['monja, lilja]) cannot be shown to be
in contrast with the palatal glide, it is accepted in the inventory since its pro-
nunciation in distinct speech seems often to be that of a voiced obstruent. 6
Third, the distinction between accidental and structural gaps is less clear than
for onsets, i.a. because a number of obstruent endings can be added to the stem.
Now some important questions can be asked:
1) Are any clusters in disagreement with the maximal version of SSM? The
answer is NO (i.e. none of the circles of figure 4 is violated ).
2) Are there clusters whose order is not predicted by SSM? The answer is:
YES, one concerning voiced segments: -Im (an interesting example); and YES,
quite a few concerning voiceless segments, e.g. -sk, -ks, -kt (the first one is even
in disagreement with figure 4 if the plosive is pronounced with [-spread glot-
tis], but such a pronunciation is phonetically highly improbable).
3) Are all order classes derived from SSM needed to account for the order of
all clusters? The answer is YES (once we have collapsed order classes IV and
V as we did at the outset).
4) What further restrictions are needed to account for the clusters? I shall
here only mention the most important place-restriction, viz. that non-alveolars
must not combine (except for clusters with Irl, historically derived from an
apical trill, but now a uvular fricative or glide) (for a detailed discussion, see
Basbell, ms).
The core of native Danish monomorphemic words are either monosyllables
or disyllables with schwa as their second vowel, and schwa is the only vowel
occurring in inflectional endings in Modern Danish (cf. section 3.2 below). This
means that a phonotactic description of schwa-syllables is necessary in addition
to the description of the phonotactics of monosyllables - which are necessarily
stressed when occurring in isolation - in order to give a phonotactic account of
simple (non-compounded non-derived) words in Danish, in inflected as well as
in non-inflected forms (see further Basbell 1997).
Schwa-syllables have the most restricted phonotactics, i.e. the combinatorial
possibilities for surrounding consonants are heavily restrained when compared
to syllables with full vowels (the notion schwa-syllable here includes assimila-
tory products of schwa and adjacent consonants). The main question concern-
ing the phonotactics of schwa-syllables within this framework is the following:
How much of the maximal version of the sonority syllable model is active with
regard to Danish schwa-syllables, i.e. which circles are necessary to account for
the phonotactics of schwa-syllables? The basic observation is the following (cf.
Diderichsen 1953 and Spang-Hanssen 1959):
76 Hans Basbell
(4) interlude = coda plus optional I, n, or r
This formula makes no predictions as to syllable boundaries (cf. examples like

blomstre, künstlet given in section 3.2 below).
I have proposed a very restricted set of circles to account for schwa-sylla-
bles, see figure 6:
figure 6
An inner circle containing schwa (the circles are independent of, i.e. apply prior
to, schwa-assimilation), and an outer circle marked [voi], voiceless segments
thus not belonging to the schwa-syllable proper. This restricted model for
schwa-syllables can explain (in the usual weak sense) the neutralization (cf.
Martinet 1937) between [d] and [ö] after schwa in favor of the latter: the only
voiced alveolar in Danish is the glide [ö] (today a pre-palatal glide, however,
strictly phonetically speaking). See figures 7-8 for further proposals on the
simple word in this interpretation (the figures are from Basbell ms, cf. 1997).7
Θ
.voi.
figure 7
figure 8
Let me finally point out that all remaining systematic phonotactic restrictions
for schwa-syllables can be accounted for by means of the following filters (of
the same basic type as, but even simpler than, those used above for the mono-
syllable):
(5) For schwa-syllables:

* [labial]
•[palatal]
* [velar]
3. The syllable as a domain in segmental phonology, with particular

reference to syllabification
Now we turn to the second main function of the syllable, viz. as a domain for
segmental phonology. When viewed in terms of syllable boundaries, the focus
lies with phonological rules and processes which are blocked by a syllable
boundary, i.e. which take place in whatever string of segments satisfying the
structural description of the rule, as long as the input string does not contain
any syllable boundaries, or any other phonological boundaries which are
stronger than the syllable boundary. In other words: each rule has a certain
boundary as its rank which means that it only allows weaker boundaries within
its structural description; this function was argued for in McCawley's insightful
dissertation (1968). Furthermore, syllable boundaries as well as other phono-
logical boundaries can have two other functions in phonological rules, viz. they
can occur at the edge of the structural description of a rule (e.g. final obstruent
devoicing); or a boundary can occur inside the structural description (in the
78 Hans Basbell
latter case we are talking of sandhi phenomena). In both cases the boundary in
question must be mentioned in the structural description, cf. Hooper (1972),
who talked, however, in terms of boundaries for what was really the domain
function, see Basbell (1975, 1981) for discussion. I think these basic categories
are still relevant in phonological description, although much in the underlying
theories has changed.
Since the domain function of the syllable in segmental phonology implies
that syllable boundaries are not allowed to occur in the input string corre-
sponding to the structural description of the relevant phonological rules, the
location of the syllable boundaries must be known in order to apply these rules.
This does not necessarily mean, however, that there must be one uniquely de-
termined syllable boundary at an exact place somewhere between any two
consecutive syllabic peaks: in many cases, for example, the only thing that
matters for the rules of segmental phonology is whether a syllable is open or
closed. In section 3.1,1 shall present my version of what I have called natural
principles of syllabification (basically from Basbell 1987, but cf. 1972, 1980),
and I shall apply these principles to Danish in section 3.2.
3.1. Natural principles of syllabification
The principles which I am following are these:

(1) Syllabification depends on phonological domains. I think this principle is
universally accepted whatever the specific formulation, viz. certain strong
phonological boundaries are necessarily syllable boundaries too; or more spe-
cifically: syllabification applies within a certain phonological domain. This
domain will be language-dependent, e.g. syllabification typically applies within
a larger domain in Romance languages (where word boundaries are not neces-
sarily syllable boundaries, cf. e.g. French enchaînement) than in Germanic
languages (where word boundaries are much more important for syllabifica-
tion). Furthermore, the domain of syllabification tends to become larger with
increasing degrees of speech reduction, but delimitation between consecutive
syllables also tends to become less clear in reduced speech. Whether one speaks
about certain grammatical boundaries determining syllable boundaries, or about
a certain marked syllabification signaling a grammatical boundary, may be
mainly a question of viewpoint: either the speaker or the hearer defines the
perspective.
(2) Syllabification depends on the syllabic peaks. Three subcases of this
principle will be distinguished here:
(2a) A following V "attracts " a C more than a preceding V. This principle is
incontroversial, I think, and is in agreement with CV$CV being the unmarked
syllabification of a CVCV-string. But, importantly, two competing sub-
principles interfere (i.e., the principle can be seen to come into force "other
things being equal"):
(2b) A "stronger" V "attracts" a C more than a "weaker" V. Exactly what
counts as strong and weak is language-dependent, but the prototypical case of
this distinction may be seen as the one between a fully stressed full vowel and
an unstressed schwa (on stress in this context, see note 8). In many languages,
such a distinction does not apply at all (not all languages possess a schwa, for
example), and that may be one reason why such a principle is not always
recognized.
(2c) A short V "attracts" a following C more than a long V. This sub-
principle is also only relevant in some languages since it presupposes a phono-
logically relevant distinction in vowel quantity; the formulation given recalls
earlier discussions of "close and loose contact". This sub-principle can in no
way be considered part of the preceding sub-principle: if some kind of
"strength" (or weight) should be decisive, long vowels would be expected to be
more, and not less, "attracting" than short ones.8
(3) Syllabification depends on the consonants. A range of sub-principles
concerning the syllabification of different consonant clusters have been dis-
cussed, but I shall not enter into that general problem except when it has spe-
cific consequences in the context of this paper.
The focus will be the sub-principles of (2), and I shall in particular consider
the case in Danish where we get (what many phonologists would consider)
unexpected syllabifications of VCV-sequences, viz. NOT V$CV, i.e. where
principle (2a) does not prevail. This is the topic to which we now turn.
3.2. Examples of syllabification of Danish consonants before schwa
When we apply the principles of section 3.1 to a specific language, say Modern
Standard Copenhagen Danish, it must first be determined how each sub-prin-
ciple should be interpreted for that language, or in other words, what the value
is of each parameter. I shall concentrate on the most central word group as far
as syllabificational problems in Danish are concerned, viz. the disyllables with
schwa as their second vowel. This group is so central because, together with the
monosyllables (which obviously do not have internal syllable boundaries), they
form the core of native Danish vocabulary (inherited from Old Danish).
Concerning the role of phonological domains for syllabification, it suffices
here to say that stronger grammatical boundaries (of the type which have earlier
been symbolized by one or more instances of #, cf. Basboll 1975, 1981) cannot
occur within the syllables. To take just one example, the boundary between the
members of a compound must necessarily be a syllable boundary too, as can be
illustrated by the fact that the final short /a/ of the first member of the com-
80 Hans Basbell
pound sofapude 'sofa pillow (cushion)' (compounded from sofa 'sofa' ['so:fa]
and pude 'pillow' ['pu:ö]) is not subject to the assimilation to a following tauto-
syllabic grave consonant (viz. the labial stop): ['so:fa,pu:ö], never with grave [a]
(*['so:fa,pu:ö]) before the internal compound boundary, cf. below in the present
section.
Concerning the role of the sequence of consonants itself for the syllabifica-
tion (sub-principle (3)), the main question as far as Modern Danish is con-
cerned is whether notions like "possible onset" and/or "possible coda" must be
invoked, or whether syllabifications can be accounted for in terms of the usual
phonological categories (by features, sonority etc.). Word-marginal clusters are,
of course, "hard linguistic facts" to a higher degree than syllable-marginal
clusters which are word-medial. In my view, the notion "possible onset" is
plausibly psychologically relevant for native speakers of Danish, in fact much
more so than "possible coda". Compare the fact that many Danish inflectional
morphemes just consist of one consonant as a suffix, never as a prefix, and nor
do prefixes (which are always derivational in Danish) consist of consonants
only; the morphological structure of Danish would thus lead us to expect that
codas would be less "transparent" (from a morphonological point of view) than
onsets. A good illustration of the importance of the notion "possible onset"
(which does not exclude accidental gaps, of course, cf. Fischer-Jergensen 1952,
Spang-Hanssen 1959, Basbell 1973) for syllabifications in Danish is the fol-
lowing: the words blomstre, künstlet 'flourish/be in bloom, artificial' seem to
be syllabified in different ways: blomSstre, kunstSlet. (Although the precise
location is perhaps not that obvious, there is scarcely any doubt that the location
of the syllable boundary can be just before the prevocalic consonant of the
latter but not the former word, i.e. a syllabification *blomst$re is excluded).
The syllable boundary of kunstSlet co-occurs with the morpheme boundary
(just like in kunstSner 'artist', likewise derived from kunst 'art'), but blomstre is
derived from blomst 'flower, bloom', so why the difference? The natural an-
swer is that str (as well as tr, dr) is a possible onset, but stl, tl, dl are not. I take
the position here that the notion "possible onset" is relevant for the native
speaker of Danish and can be used in syllabification (in a precise way to be
formulated just below).
I have proposed roughly (cf. Basbell 1987) the following principles for syl-
labification in Modern Danish of consonants (both intervocalic consonants, and
consonant clusters) between a short stressed vowel and schwa:
(i) A postvocalic C is adjoined to the left (i.e. to the syllable of the preceding
V);
(ii) /g/ is adjoined to the left;
(iii) Principle applying after the above: Non-adjoined C's are adjoined to the
right if they form a possible onset together with all following C's (which are
then also adjoined to the right), otherwise to the left.
It is a consequence of rules (i) and (ii) combined with a universal principle of

Onset Formation (cf. Hyman 1985) that a single intervocalic consonant before
schwa, as well as a post-consonantal /g/ before schwa, is ambisyllabic. Yet, all
evidence on strictly phonological (as opposed to phonetic) syllabification
points to a classification of such a consonant as final, cf. that the inventory of
consonants in this position is that found in word-final and not word-initial posi-
tion (and the difference is unusually great in Danish, cf. below in the present
section). I will, nevertheless, call such consonants ambisyllabic here (in contra-
distinction to my earlier classification of them as phonologically syllable-final,
from Basboll 1972), not only because I have accepted the idea that there is a
universal onset formation principle of some sort, but also for another reason: in
a word like bade 'bathe' [bas:Ö9, bas:ö], the first pronunciation, which is deci-
dedly distinct, is by native speakers judged as having the syllable boundary
before the intervocalic consonant, or at any rate not after it, and it would be
difficult on purely phonetic grounds to argue for a syllable boundary after it. In
my view, such forms point to a syllabification according to exactly the same
principles at different phonological/phonetic levels: in the most distinct - per-
haps even "over-distinct" - pronunciation, schwa is pronounced like a full
vowel (something like ['bae: ,ôœ], and the syllabification is accordingly
CVSCV; the more schwa is reduced, the more obviously the alveolar glide is
final, to the extreme when schwa is lost.
Furthermore, a post-consonantal /g/ (pronounced [i] or [u] or zero, variably,
dependent on context) before a schwa is syllable-final (ambisyllabic if it is the
last consonant of the cluster, i.e. prevocalic), regardless of any consonants
intervening (i.e. a /g/ in such an interlude can never be only-initial, i.e. function
phonologically as an initial consonant), e.g. œrgre(r) 'annoy(s)' [acBÜKß]. This
particular status of /g/ in Danish syllabification (which is the most specific to be
encountered in any part of the formulations) could be related to the particular
weakness of /g/ in plosive hierarchies, as documented by typology, sound
change etc. Let me finally emphasize that as far as the phonological effects of
the relevant Danish rules are concerned, it makes no difference whether w e are
talking of syllable-final or ambisyllabic consonants in such cases: the crucial
distinction is that between only-initial and not-only-initial consonants (the latter
could then be termed "final" or whatever).
The formulation of these principles is highly preliminary, and the whole
question of how a formalism for syllabification ought to look, is outside the
scope of the present paper. What is most important here is the empirical con-
tent, in particular the net result of the principles: they predict which consonants
will be final, and this prediction can be tested in the sense that there is a large
set of syllable-dependent phenomena which could falsify them.
Let me now illustrate the syllable-dependent phonological rules which can
be used as evidence for syllabification: first, in (i), Consonant Gradation
82 Hans Basboll
(weakening of obstruents, where I use Swedish for comparison with Danish),

then, as (ii), the rules accounting for the quality of short /a/ and loi.
(i) If you take the Swedish words for 'street, cook (v)': gata, koka [2ga:ta,
2
ku:ka] (both pronounced with word accent 2), and compare them to their
Danish cognates gade, ¡coge ['gae:ö, 'ko:u], the difference in syllable structure of
the forms is striking. In Swedish, we find the normal CVSCV-structure, where
the pronunciation of the intervocalic C is approximately as it would be in word-
initial position (ceteris paribus), and the final vowel is articulated as a normal
[a]. In Danish, on the other hand, what is phonologically (and historically) the
intervocalic C is pronounced as if it were in (word-)final position, viz. with the
voiced continuants "soft d and g" (as they are called in the Danish tradition
from schools etc., these words today being pronounced with an alveolar glide -
or pre-palatal glide, strictly phonetically speaking - and a labio-velar glide
respectively), and not as in (word-)initial position, where d, g would be pro-
nounced as voiceless unaspirated plosives. Such examples are all-pervasive
when you compare Danish and Swedish. Even when such words are pro-
nounced with the vowel schwa (and this is only possible in extremely distinct
speech, cf. Basboll 1997), their manifestation is still that typical of word-final
position.
More generally, intervocalic consonants occurring before a phonological
schwa systematically belong to the set of final, not initial, consonants, shown in
the following (where the initial consonants are indicated by a following hyphen,
final ones by a preceding hyphen, commas separating different pairs of corre-
sponding consonants; italics indicate the letters normally corresponding to the
segments in question):
P- p- -b, t: t- -d, k: k- -9,

b: b- -b [-Ü], d: d- -δ, 8- g- [-Y] -Ü/
v: V- -ü, j- -i, r: K- -B
The complicated rule of consonant gradation itself is not in focus here (see
Rischel 1970, Molbaek Hansen 1979, Basboll 1980 and Bauer 1983). Notice the
role of schwa as trigger of the process: schwa always makes a preceding inter-
vocalic consonant have the same manifestation as in word-final position, never
as in word-initial position (in all the cases where the two types of manifestation
differ). Full vowels have the opposite effect, viz. an intervocalic consonant is
pronounced as in word-initial position when it precedes a full vowel, i.e. a non-
neutral vowel. Thus the names Ota, Oda can only be pronounced with plosives
(and thus exhibit a contrast between aspirated (with affrication) and unaspirated
plosive), whereas pote, pode 'paw, graft' exhibit a contrast between alveolar
plosive and glide: ['o:ta, 'o:da ; po:da, 'po:ö] (all plosives are voiceless in
Danish).
A couple of examples serve to illustrate my points: The verbs œngste, entre,

slubre, vakle, sjakre, ankre 'make anxious, board (v.), drink noisily, stagger,
barter, anchor' would, according to the principles proposed here, be syllabified
as follows: œng$ste, enStre, slubSre, vakSle, sjakSre, an$kre? Their pronun-
ciation is as follows (when two forms are given, the former would normally be
conservative and the latter more advanced): [eqsda, 'entire 'endne, 'sbbire,
'vagta, 'JagBB, 'aqkKB 'aqgKB],
(ii) The productive process which accounts for the quality of short /a/ can be
described by means of the perceptual feature "grave" (vs. "acute") from the set
proposed by Roman Jakobson and his associates (e.g. Jakobson, Fant & Halle
1952): before a tauto-syllabic grave consonant, /a/ is grave, otherwise acute, cf.
lap, ladt, lak, lakke, lakere [lab, lad, lag, 'lags, la'ke:'e la'ke:'e] 'patch, loaded,
sealing-wax/enamel (sb.), seal (v.)/enamel (v.)' (the last pronunciation form of
lakere is not given in Molbaek Hansen 1990, only in Brink et al. 1991, which
gives both forms, [la'kei'ß] first). The rule for short /a/ was given as one having
the syllable as its domain in Basboll 1972, and in Basboll 1974: 66 it was pro-
posed that it was an acoustic (perceptual) rule of assimilation in terms of
gravity; for discussion see Brink & Lund (1975: 7Iff) and Davidsen-Nielsen &
0rum (1978). The latter pronunciation of lakere seems to be spreading; fol-
lowing my interpretation, it is the domain of the rule which is expanding (so
that it is no longer blocked by a syllable boundary, only by a #-boundary), cf.
the discussion of this rule in Molbaek Hansen 1979 and Basboll 1980.
The rule accounting for the alternation between the short vowels [o D] is
simpler than the rule above for the manifestation of short /a/: loi is pronounced
[a] before a tauto-syllabic consonant (except /r/), i.e. in closed syllables, other-
wise [o] (in open syllables, cf. Modern French). Traditionally, this alternation
had been seen as one between native and foreign words, so that the pronuncia-
tion of e.g .foto 'photo(graph)' as ['foto] was explained by its status as a foreign
word, as against the normal pronunciation of loi found in e.g. ost, kunde
'cheese, client' [osd, 'kons] (Basboll 1972 then gave the rule as one having the
syllable as domain). It is not hard to understand why this syllable-dependency
has not been immediately obvious to observers: an intervocalic consonant
closes the preceding syllable before schwa but not before full vowels, and the
post-tonic vowel typically occurring in the native vocabulary is schwa while
post-tonic full vowels are characteristic of foreign words.
Thus many Danish phonemes have different manifestations initially and
finally in a phonological syllable, thereby furnishing crucial - but sometimes
ambiguous - evidence of syllabification (see Molbaek Hansen 1979 and Basboll
1980).
84 Hans Basbell
4. The syllable as a prosodie unit with morae, with emphasis on the stod
The importance of the syllable for the description of stress is well known. Here
I shall give a brief introductory summary of the way in which the Danish st0d
should, in my view (cf. Basboll 1998a, b), be accounted for in terms of prosodie
structures, viz. syllables and morae.
The Danish stod is a syllabic prosody, a laryngealization (a kind of creaky
voice) beginning in the middle of certain syllables (see Fischer-Jorgensen 1987
on the phonetics, and Basboll 1985 for a general presentation including both
phonology and morphology). It is historically and systematically related to the
word accents in Swedish and Norwegian (cf. Gárding 1977). The table below
displays the four prosodie syllable types (with primary - or secondary - stress)
in Modern Standard Danish:
(7) With stod Without stod
Long vowel pœn [ρε:'η] pœne ['peina] (1. syl.)

a [as:'] ane ['asina] (1. syl.)
Short vowel pen [pen'] ven [ven]

and [an'] kat [kad]
telt [te I'd] ja Üa]
There are wide-spread, systematic and partly productive stod-alternations,

which can be illustrated by the single root morpheme slod 'push (sb.)' itself: in
the sg. indef. stod, it is without stod.10 In the def. sg. stodet and the def. pi.
slodene, there is stod. In the derived verb form siede 'push (inf.)', stoder (pres.)
etc., there is no stod (except in the imperative s tod! ); but, when a complex verb
is formed from stede by prefixing or compounding (e.g. tilstode 'arrive'), the
root slod has stod in all forms, regardless of whether these forms would have
stod in the simplex verb and whether the root syllable has primary or secondary
stress. That is just one random example of the morpho(no)logical complexities
of stod. All grammatical (and other) stod-rules presuppose that the syllable to
receive sted has a long V or a V + son C (such syllables are said to have s tod-
basis in the literature).
In the case of the complex morpho-phonology of stod, it is important to dis-
tinguish between productive mechanisms, which are real to the native speaker,
and frozen regularities between forms with and without stod. That stod cannot
always be learned in the grammatical forms in question, but in some cases must
be formed productively by the speaker, is shown by examples like Clinton
which Danes pronounce [klenton]; in the pi. ("there are too many\few Clintons
in American politics", meaning for example types like Clinton, or family mem-
bers) it is pronounced ['klen,t3n'B], a form which cannot have been learned.
This pattern is obligatory and must be due to the sound structure.
Both Roman Jakobson and N.S. Trubetzkoy considered the Danish stod to be
a mora-counting device, and various types of moraic analyses have been devel-
oped in particular by Russian Germaniste, most impressively but controver-
sially by Liberman (1982). The grammatical patterns have in general not been
studied in detail within any consistent model (the most important work is in the
philological tradition, viz. Hansen 1943). The international literature has not
touched upon much below the morphological surface as far as the distribution
of st0d is concerned.
I consider stod a signal for a heavy syllable, marking the start of its second
mora: a stod-vowel (e.g. œ in pœri) breaks into two halves, the second of which
is laryngealized, i.e. stod occurs in the second mora of its syllable (see Basbell
1988a, 1998a,b). Therefore, a stod-syllable with short vowel (e.g. peri) should
also be bimoraic, i.e. the nasal moraic, whereas words like sted-less ven are
interpreted as monomoraic (as said in note 10, Danish does not exhibit tonal
lengthening).
Example (8) below illustrates the analysis of three monosyllabic words
(meaning 'nice, pen, friend') in indef sg: pœn, pen, ven ['ρε:'η, 'pen', 'νεη]:
σ σ
A I
p e n
î ΐ
p e n
?
v e n
In the structures, only the lines (up and down) from the morae are sketched (see
Basboll 1998a,b for detailed discussion). Stressed syllables in Danish are
monomoraic or bimoraic, unstressed syllables monomoraic. In Danish, only
sonorants can be moraic (in contra-distinction to Swedish, Norwegian or
Italian, for instance); for example, a monosyllable ending in a short vowel, or in
a short vowel plus an obstruent (like nu, bus 'now, bus' [nu, bus]), is monomo-
raic and thus has no stod.
Predictions from the structures just proposed are: (a) the sted-phase proper
starts where the second mora begins, viz. after the duration of a short vowel,
and in words like pen, at the beginning of [n]; (b) a stod-consonant will be
significantly longer than a similar non-st0d-consonant (because morae are units
of quantity). Both predictions are true (Elert 1964 has found the same order of
magnitude for lengthening of long consonants in Swedish as Riber-Petersen
1973 and Fischer-Jorgensen 1987 for Danish stod-consonants).
The analysis just proposed has some important consequences: (a) the notion
s tod-basis is ad hoc and can be dispensed with; (b) the only possible type of
86 Hans Basbell
stod-rule is: a certain (heavy) syllable has no stod (in the literature, all kinds of
sted-rule-mechanisms and stod-, no-st0d- and st0d-change-markings have been
proposed); (c) light syllables cannot have st0d. The two main problems which
then have to be addressed are: (i) how are alternations like Clinton, Clintonner
or sofa, sofaen ['so:fa, 'so:,fae:'n] (where a light syllable in the indeclined singu-
lar form appears to get stad in the plural and deci, form, respectively) to be
accounted for? (ii) which heavy syllables have no st0d? This approach rep-
resents a radical simplification of "the st0d-problem" compared to any other
explicit and comprehensive account (which addresses both the phonology and
the morphology of the st0d); Basboll 1998a,b proposes an answer to each of
these two questions.
One of the best illustrations of the productive st0d-rules applying to words
with no obvious morphological structure (to most native speakers, psychologi-
cally speaking) can be found, paradoxically, in the pronunciation of loan words
from Latin, Greek and - in the main lines - German (recent loans from English
are less integrated phonologically and do not follow the Danish stod pattern).
The typically Danish pronunciation of words from the classical languages, for
instance, is clearly manifested in the traditional Danish school pronunciation of
Latin: main stress is determined by Latin rules, whereas vowel length is not (i.e.
the pronunciation generally did not conform to the quantities of Latin). The
main s tod-rule seems to have been as follows: st0d occurs in a (primarily or
secondarily) stressed ultima and ante-penultima, presupposing it has stod-basis,
or is bimoraic as I am saying, whereas a stressed penultima is stod-less. Ac-
cording to the present analysis, the stod-rule is simply: the penultimate has no
st0d. Obviously, such rules have not been formulated as part of the teaching of
Latin (or Greek), and nobody would have claimed that this s tod had any rela-
tion to the Latin spoken in Ancient Rome; Danish simply was, and is, like that
(cf. strong diphthongization of long vowels in the English pronunciation of
Latin, final stress in the French pronunciation of Latin, and so forth). Examples
of the traditional Danish school pronunciation of Latin: insula, insulae, insu-
larum 'island (nom. sg., dat./gen. sg. or nom. pl., gen. pl.)' ['en'sula, 'en'su,le:',
ensu'laiKom] (the abl. sg. is most often pronounced as the nom. sg., but occa-
sionally ['en'su,las:'] occurs instead, particularly in citation forms, sometimes
with even stronger stress on the final syllable, to emphasize the vowel length
contrast to the nom. sg. form).
The mora can thus be seen right on the phonetic surface in stod-syllables,
where e.g. a stod-vowel starts as if it were a normal long vowel, and then its
second half is laryngealized (as documented by Eli Fischer-Jorgensen 1987,
although this formulation is not hers). In this respect, Danish is different from a
number of other languages which also furnish arguments for the descriptive
(analytical) relevance of a unit like the mora, but where concrete phonetic
arguments of the type found in Danish are lacking, e.g. Swedish, Norwegian
and Italian (cf. Hyman 1985, Basboll 1989, Hayes 1989).
5. Conclusion
In this paper, we have been looking at the three main functions which the sylla-
ble has in phonology, in particular the phonology of Danish, viz. : the sonority
syllable as the main frame for phonotactics (section 2); the syllable as a domain
for rules of segmental phonology, and in that context the issue of syllabification
(the placement of syllable boundaries) (section 3); and finally the syllable, with
morae, as a unit of prosody (section 4). We shall conclude by asking the ques-
tion: what is the relation between these three notions of the syllable?
Basically, it is with good reason that the three kinds of syllable bear the same
name. Common to the three functions is the importance of the peak; and what a
syllable is in one sense is normally also a syllable in the second or the third
sense (and not, for instance, two syllables or half a syllable). But the three have
different functions in phonology - in this case: the phonology of Danish -
which can be exemplified as follows: the sonority syllable model (section 2)
accounts for the sequence of segments (in terms of sonority) and the number of
syllables, but not for the actual syllable boundaries; the principles of syllabifi-
cation (section 3, exemplified, for Danish, for the position between a short
vowel and schwa in section 3.2) classify some consonants as "final", which has
important consequences for segmental phonology; and the syllabic and moraic
structures, finally (section 4), are pertinent in the account of s tod and schwa-
assimilation (the latter point has not been illustrated in this paper, however). All
three functions of the syllable are thus relevant in this account of Danish pho-
nology, but more work is needed to specify their exact interrelations.
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to Eli Fischer-Jorgensen and Nina Grennum for useful critical

remarks on an earlier version of this chapter, both concerning questions of
content and of formulations, and to Sharon Millar for stylistic suggestions.
Notes
1. This chapter is based mainly on my talk given on June 24th, 1996, at the phonology
meeting in Pézenas, France, organized by the University of Salford in cooperation with
88 Hans Basbell
Oxford University Press. The title of my talk was "The syllable in "The Phonology of
Danish" - a sketch", "The Phonology of Danish" being the preliminary title of a vol-
ume that I am writing for the series "Phonology of the World's Languages", edited by
Jacques Durand and published by Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press). All topics
mentioned in this chapter will be treated in more detail in this volume. The section on
stad is an introductory summary to a new analysis presented at Current Trends in Pho-
nology II (Royaumont, June 22-24, 1998), cf. Basboll 1998a,b. Parts of this chapter are
revised versions of particular sections of Basbell 1997. Figures 1-8 are taken from Bas-
bell (ms).
2. Cf. the following statement by Matthias Butt: "It might even be argued that the major
class features were originally introduced and justified with respect to just those phono-
tactic generalizations that are now explained by reference to the sonority scale. Thus, an
explanation of the sonority scale employing the major class features (as envisaged by
[Basbell 1977...]) faces the suspicion of circularity" (1992: 55). Obviously, I cannot
agree with him (not even when only the short and early reference in Basbell 1977 is
considered) as fer as my own use of distinctive features is concerned, since I define the
major class feature in question (regardless of the terminology) by the equivalence to
[sonorant, -oral closure, -lateral], and these features are introduced and defined inde-
pendently of sonority. I should add that Butt (1992) is in many ways an interesting con-
tribution to phonotactics, and it has some characteristics in common with my own
model, although its foundation is quite different (I shall return to this elsewhere).
3. The feature names (here: vocoid, sonorant, oral closure, lateral) indicate what I call the
positive pole of the features in question, i.e. the pole which is phonetically homogene-
ous, cf. Basboll (1996). For example, [lateral] is phonetically homogeneous in the sense
that laterals constitute a natural class phonetically and phonologically (as evidenced in
rules and processes in language use, cf. sound change, language acquisition, language
loss, typology etc.). On the other hand, non-laterals (comprising e.g. vocoids, nasals and
plosives) have nothing obvious in common in addition to their non-laterality, and
[-lateral] therefore cannot be considered phonetically homogeneous. I use [sonorant] in
an acoustic/auditory sense, basically as in Ladefoged (1971).
4. The figures are meant to be suggestive of the model proposed, rather than to account for
all details (in particular, they must be supplemented by filters of the type mentioned
below in section 2.2). Figure 4 can be interpreted both with and without a time dimen-
sion.
5. The optional aspiration before pause should not be considered a purely automatic
(phonetic) boundary signal, however (which might at first glance appear tempting),
since in this position both a [d] with aspiration and a real [t] are possible, and the pho-
netic difference between those two is striking, [t] being heavily affricated in Modern
Copenhagen Danish.
6. According to Brink & Lund (1975), [j] is treated, with respect to schwa-assimilation, as
having lower sonority than would be expected on phonetic grounds; this agrees com-
pletely with its phonotactic behavior according to my analysis.
7. In figures 7-8 the symbol "V" is used in the center to remind the reader that the peak of
those syllables is the full vowel; this V is not part of the basic logic of the model. In
figures 6-8 schwa in the center is mnemotechnic for [voc] ([voc] in a schwa-syllable
being schwa). Figure 6 can be interpreted both with and without a time dimension;
figures 7-8 should be interpreted with a time dimension (figures 7-8 as models for se-
quences of syllables). Figures 7 and 8 are notational equivalents in the sense that they
amount to exactly the same sequence of order classes; but in the conception of figure 8,
the voiceless part between the two voiced syllable "kernels" is not considered a proper
sub-part of the stressed syllable (thus st in blomstre would not be considered a proper
sub-part of the first sonority syllable according to this conception, cf. section 3.2
below).
8. In my earlier formulation of sub-principle (2c) (1987, 1993), I mentioned stress as a
condition ("a short stressed V 'attracts' a following C more than a long stressed V"). In
that formulation, the principle could be seen as related to what Vennemann (1986: 39)
terms "Prokoschs Gesetz": "Eine dynamisch akzentuierte Silbe ist um so stärker bevor-
zugt, je näher ihr Gewicht bei zwei Moren liegt" (see further Vennemann 1988). It is
clear, however, that stress can come into play regarding sub-principle (2b) as well, a
stressed vowel being stronger than an unstressed one in an obvious intuitive sense (cf.
Hoard 1971). In fact, the crucial distinction concerning sub-principle (2b) in Conserva-
tive Standard French, according to the analysis in Basboll (1988b), is one where the
weak vowels are those which are both non-accentable (cf. examples like prends-le! that
is accentable, and even accented, although non-fùll) and non-full, i.e. "neutral" (cf. the
pretonic vowels of a word like catastrophe which are full but non-accentable), i.e. they
are weak on both dimensions of vowel weakness simultaneously (viz. prosodically,
with respect to stressability, and segmentally, with respect to reduction to neutral vow-
els). I now prefer to leave stress out of the formulations of the principles altogether,
stress then being a condition that can enter into both of the sub-principles (2b) and (2c)
according to the language in question.
9. I shall attempt to take as strong a stand as possible on testability by defining input
forms and rules in such a way that a large number of consequences could be falsified
(this is meant to be the opposite of "axiomatizing empirical issues"). As input to syl-
labification, I in general take the orthographic forms of the clusters, except for a few
cases where there seem to be specific orthography-phonology-incongruences (even
though they may seem too abstract as potential underlying forms), since it would be
trivially easy to derive the phonetic output from very concrete input forms (I have cho-
sen orthography as something I cannot change at will). I have also chosen to compare
the predicted forms with decidedly conservative speech, since this has some contrasts
(in particular a possible contrast between the two series of plosives in the initial posi-
tion of a schwa-syllable) that seem to have been lost in Advanced Standard Copenhagen
Danish, therefore the "testing field" is larger with such conservative forms included.
10. Like a number of similar words, the word sted has, over the last few generations, lost
stod and has therefore neither a long vowel nor a heavy consonant or consonant group,
which is an indication that Danish is not a "tonal lengthening language" like Swedish,
Norwegian and Italian (contra Larsen 1994).
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5 The syllable in Hindi
Manjari Ohala
1. Introduction1
This chapter addresses the psycholinguistic structure of the syllable in Hindi.

After a brief introduction and discussion of its structure, issues of syllabifica-
tion and the organization of the syllable are discussed. In section 5, experiments
relating to the syllabification of intervocalic consonants and consonant clusters
are presented. Section 6 deals with two experiments addressing the organization
of the syllable. The final section presents some tentative conclusions and relates
the findings of the experiments on syllable organization with two other claims
about Hindi phonology: the lack of spoonerisms and the lack of word stress.
The syllable has been a unit of phonological description since ancient times;
both the Greeks and the Indians refer to it. The Sanskrit grammatical treatises
(the siksäs and the prätisäkyas) not only discussed the notion of the syllable
(called aksara 'that which stands alone') but also gave some thought to the
demarcation of syllable boundaries (Varma 1961). In more recent times the
interest has been focused on how the syllable may be defined (see Awedyk
1975 for a review). Phonetically, none of the definitions has been judged satis-
factory and scholars today have pretty much abandoned their search for a pho-
netic definition. Instead, they have just accepted it as a unit in phonological
description.
Of the many issues related to the discussion of the syllable, this chapter
concentrates on two: syllabification and the organization of the syllable.
First, it should be noted that evidence for positing syllabification and syllable
organization comes from at least the following domains:
a) Phonological generalizations.
b) Particular facts of speech production and speech perception.
c) Subjects' judgments about speech and their ability to recognize and de-
compose words into sub-morphemic parts.
With regard to (a), although for many languages it has been claimed that par-
ticular rules require reference to syllabification (e.g., the aspiration rule in Eng-
lish) as far as Hindi is concerned, there are no non-controversial areas of Hindi
phonology that justify a particular analysis.2
94 Manjari Ohala
As for (b), velie opening on vowels before nasals has been claimed to be
sensitive to syllable boundaries (J. Ohala 1975, Krakow 1993) as has vowel
lengthening before voiced stops (Barnwell 1971). Speech errors (i.e. spooner-
isms or exchange errors) are best analyzed as exchange of syllable onsets, nu-
clei or codas (Shattuck-Hufnagel 1983). In Hindi, vowel nasalization (as judged
by velie opening) is temporally greater before syllable final nasals (as in [kän]
'ear') than after syllable initial ones (as in [näk] 'nose') (M. Ohala 1983).
This chapter offers evidence on aspects of the syllable from (c), i.e., from
psycholinguistic studies that require native speaker subjects to manipulate
words.
2. Structure of the syllable in Hindi
M. Ohala (1983) provided a detailed list of all possible clusters in initial, me-
dial and final position along with examples. To briefly summarize, based on
monosyllabic morphemes, it was stated that native words permit up to two
consonants initially and finally. The initial cluster consists of a stop, nasal, or
fricative in CI position with a glide in C2 position. The final clusters consist of
either a fricative followed by a stop or a nasal followed by a homorganic stop
or fricative. Thus the sequencing of the consonants is in conformity with pro-
posed sonority hierarchy principles in that sounds of greater sonority are close
to the vowel. However, when loan words are included (many of them in com-
mon use), three consonant clusters in initial and final position are also permit-
ted and many more types of consonants participate in clusters. Additionally, the
sequencing of consonants in some clusters may violate the principles of the
sonority hierarchy proposed by many phonologists in that fricative plus stop
clusters are permitted initially and stop plus liquid or fricative and fricative plus
nasal clusters etc are permitted in final position. (However, see Basboll 1994
for a different proposal regarding sonority and consonant sequencing.)
With regards to vowels, there are no restrictions on the vowel the word can
begin with. In final position [ι υ a] do not occur. (It should be noted that al-
though in the orthographic representation of words [i u a] are represented, in
the spoken language words with either of the first two vowels are rendered with
[i u]. As for the schwa, since the Hindi orthography is a quasi-syllabary (cf.
footnote 5), the final consonant of words such as [pap] 'sin' is written as 'Ca'.
However, this schwa is never pronounced in conversational Hindi.)
The syllable in Hindi 95
3. Syllabification
Accepting the syllable as a unit in phonological description brings up the prob-

lem of demarcating the syllable.
Most phonologists seem to apply what Pulgram (1970: 75) offers as the
"principle of minimal coda and maximal onset" according to which as many
consonants as possible will be assigned to the following vowel, as long as the
phonotactic constraints of the language are not violated. This principle, termed
the onset first principle, is followed also by non-linear phonologists (Clements
& Keyser 1983). (In Clements 1990 it is called the core syllabification principle
and is further refined to take into consideration the sonority hierarchy).
As for Indo-Aryan, 3 from the ancient grammarians writing about Sanskrit to
the 20th century phonologists working on Hindi, the consensus also seems to be
to assign intervocalic single consonants to the following vowel (Bhatia 1964,
1970, Mehrotra 1959, Kelkar 1968, Pandey 1989). However, the syllabification
rules given by these authors are simply decreed; there is little justification of-
fered for such syllable division. In the case of intervocalic consonant clusters,
the ancient grammarians divided these generally as VC-CV. For example, the
word for 'father' is given as pit-re in the Taittirîya Prâtisâkya (however, the
Rg Prâtisâkya also allowed pi-tre). Varma thinks the division between the two
consonants (i.e. pit-re) reflects the fact that the "genius" of the language pre-
ferred the first syllable to be closed (but, if so, he does not address the question
of why in the VCV case the ' C ' was syllabified in such a way as to leave the
preceding syllable open). Similarly in the case of Hindi intervocalic -CC-
Mehrotra and Bhatia, among others, put the syllable break between the two
consonants, e.g., bhsk-ti 'devotion' im-li 'tamarind' (ml- is a possible initial
cluster as in [mlan] 'wan'), with certain exceptions: if C2 is y, ν (and for
Bhatia, also r) the first consonant belongs to both syllables: ag-gya 'permis-
sion'. 4 Mehrotra also allows for the alternative a-gya, etc.
In the case of intervocalic clusters consisting of more than two consonants,
Mehrotra seems to syllabify after the first consonant, as long as the phonotactic
constraints permit. Thus he gives Jyot-sna 'moonlight' and us-tra 'razor'. In
general Bhatia seems to be in agreement with Mehrotra except that he prefers
jyots-na since -ts is also a possible final cluster. Kelkar's rules for the most part
yield similar results. The syllable divisions obtained by the rules of these three
authors would in many cases be the same as would be obtained by applying the
onset first principle.
Experimental evidence relating to syllable divisions comes largely from
English (Brière, Campbell & Soemarmo 1967, Fallows 1981, Treiman & Danis
1988, Treiman & Zukowski 1990, Derwing & Nearey 1991, Derwing 1992) and
96 Manjari Ohala
by and large supports the onset first principle as long as variables such as the
following are taken into account: phonotactic constraints, stress of the vowel
and whether it is tense/lax, spelling of the intervocalic cluster, nature of the
consonant (e.g., liquid, nasal), etc. (see the references to Treiman and also
Brière et al.). Derwing and his associates (Derwing, Cho & Wang 1991, Der-
wing 1992) have extended the database to languages such as Korean and Arabic
and although their experiments seem to support onset first for intervocalic
single consonants, for intervocalic consonant clusters the syllable break be-
tween the two consonants was preferred.
4. Organization of the syllable
The internal structure of the syllable is also an issue. Is it flat as shown in (a)
below (Clements & Keyser 1983) or hierarchical. And if hierarchical, is it onset
+ rhyme (OR) as shown in (b) (as favored by Halle & Vergnaud (1980), Selkirk
(1982), Fudge (1987) and others) or head + coda (HC) as in (c):
(1) a.
onset nucleus coda
onset rhyme
nucleus coda
head coda
onset nucleus
Experimental evidence again is largely from English and (for English) supports
a hierarchical (as opposed to flat) structure with the organization being OR
(Dow & Derwing 1988, Treiman 1983, 1986, 1988). However, since there
seems to be some evidence that writing systems might influence speakers' pho-
nological judgments (Read et al. 1986, Mann 1988, Goswami & Bryant 1990),
Derwing and his associates (Derwing, Cho & Wang 1991, Derwing, Yoon &
Cho 1993, Wang & Derwing 1993) have also conducted experiments on lan-
guages with different writing systems. Although the Taiwanese data (reported
in Wang & Derwing) seem to support an OR organization, their results for
Korean support an HC analysis. Experiments by Kubozono (1995) on Japanese
also support the HC structure.
In order to explore the universality of proposed syllable structures by ex-
panding the experimental data base to yet another language with a writing sys-
tem that is not strictly alphabetic,5 the following experiments on Hindi were
conducted. Additionally such experimentation allows us to see if the experi-
mental paradigms used by Treiman and Derwing can be extended to other lan-
guages.
5. Experiments on syllabification
5.1. Intervocalic single consonants
Question: Do intervocalic single consonants syllabify with the following vowel

or the preceding one, i.e., do Hindi speakers divide VCV sequences as V-CV or
VC-V?
The onset first principle referred to above would dictate the former (as long
as phonotactic constraints were not violated) and, as mentioned above, modern
linguists working on Hindi adhere to this.
5.2. Experimental procedure
This issue was addressed by using the 'pause-break' experimental paradigm

developed by Derwing (1992). In this paradigm, subjects are presented with
different alternatives for syllabifying the word and asked to choose one. Thus,
to use an English example, for the word melon one would present them with
me-lon, mel-on, and mel-lon (this last option treats the [1] as ambisyllabic, i.e.
belonging to both syllables). However, the ambisyllabic choice was omitted in
the present experiment since, in a pilot study conducted earlier, it was never
chosen by subjects. The words were presented to subjects orally because the
Devanagari orthography has different ways of representing vowels when they
occur word- or syllable-initially as opposed to attached to consonants. Thus the
[a] in [kila] 'fort' would be written differently in ki-a (where it should be rep-
resented with the symbol used for [a] in isolation) vs. ki-la. If one attempted to
98 Manjari Ohala
write them both the same way the strangeness of the orthographic rendition
might influence subjects' judgments.
The subjects (36 in all) were all from New Delhi, India, native speakers of
Standard Hindi, and all also knew English. They were told that the purpose of
the experiment was to determine hyphenation for Hindi (as would be required
in written texts, for example). The words were read with different pause breaks
by a native speaker of Standard Hindi (the author) and the subjects circled their
preference on a sheet provided to them which simply had the word number and
(a), (b), and optionally (c) (this last choice was relevant to words with two-con-
sonant clusters to be discussed shortly under 5.3). Thus they never saw the
word of interest in written form. In reading the words with the different pause
break choices the order of the choice was varied, i.e., sometimes V-CV would
come first and at other times VC-V. There were 24 real words with intervocalic
single consonants. The consonants were either liquids (12 words) or stops (12
words involving voiced and voiceless stops).6 Some examples are given in (2):
(2) [tifok] 'mark on forehead'

[malik] 'master'
[cela] 'disciple'
[sarab] 'liquor'
[zira] 'cumin'
[badan] 'body'
[khadi] 'a type of cloth'
[chipa] 'hidden'
[hathi] 'elephant
etc.
Two different randomizations of the list were used (thus approximately half
the subjects heard the words in one order and the other half in reverse order).
There was an initial training session where words not used in the main test were
presented to subjects with the possible 'pause-break' choices. Once subjects
mastered the task the main test was given.
Results: The overwhelming response was to syllabify the intervocalic conso-
nant with the following syllable thus supporting the onset first principle (ratio =
.72, χ 2 = 173, df = 1, ρ « .001). There was no difference found depending on
whether the consonant was a liquid or stop. This overwhelming preference to
connect the intervocalic consonant with the second syllable is interesting be-
cause this was in spite of the fact that in some cases Hindi morpheme structure
conditions were violated, in that Hindi does not permit short vowels such as [a]
and [i] in word final position and thus presumably also syllable final.7 (Derwing
1992 had similar results in that for the five languages reported on, the pref-
erence was for a V-CV break; moreover for English his subjects showed a
preference for such a break even in the case of words such as 'seven' where the
break after the first vowel violates English phonotactic constraints.)·
Were the subjects responses colored by orthography? Arguing against this is
the fact that in the case of many other languages where orthographic influence
cannot be a factor (e.g., English) something like the onset first principle seems
to be operative. Additionally, this was also the preferred syllabification for
Korean in the experiments of Derwing and his associates even though (as men-
tioned in Derwing, Cho & Wang 1991) the Korean orthography does permit
other syllabifications. However, given the work of Read et al., Mann, etc. (cited
above) orthographic influence cannot be dismissed so lightly. As mentioned in
footnote 5, the Hindi orthography has some characteristics of a CV-type sylla-
bary. Thus, the initial CV in a word like [kila] 'fort' is represented by a single
symbol with a diacritic mark for the vowel. (The second CV is also similarly
represented.) If the intervocalic C is parsed with this initial syllable the follow-
ing [a] would have a different shape (since now it is syllable initial) than if it is
parsed with the second syllable yielding [-la] and perhaps this led to more V-
CV judgments. Although subjects were presented the words orally, it is always
possible that they were accessing some mental orthographic representation
before responding. It would be interesting to attempt to gather data on this issue
from preliterate children.
5.3. Intervocalic clusters
Question: Are intervocalic two-consonant clusters syllabified as VC-CV, V-

CCV or VCC-V?8
The same experimental paradigm described above was used as well as the
same 36 subjects. The 'pause-breaks' were as follows: VC-CV, V-CCV, VCC-
V. In the VCC-V case, although there was a distinct release of the final conso-
nant (similar to what would happen if such clusters were word final), this has
not been counted as a vowel (i.e., the word did not become VCCV-V). The
reason for this is that although in the case of voiced consonants (e.g., the [1] of
-kl) the release has some structure around the first formant, there is no formant
structure at the higher formants. This is true even in hyper-articulated mono-
syllabic words involving no clusters. Eleven words were used and these repre-
sented the following types: stop + glide, stop + liquid, fricative + glide, fricative
+ nasal, and fricative + stop. Example (3) lists the words used. (The numbers in
the rightmost column will be discussed shortly.)
100 Manjarí Ohala
(3) Word Ratio

[9khrot] 'walnut' .92
[cakla] 'round platter for rolling dough' .92
[bakms] 'nonsense' .92
[caplus] 'flatterer' .89
[riSD9t] 'bribe' .83
[casma] 'spectacles' .81
[tastari] 'platter' .78
[isuar] 'god' .78
[sasta] 'cheap' .78
[kismat] 'fate' .75
[uidya] 'knowledge' .69
In all but two cases a V-CCV break would yield acceptable initial clusters,
i.e., those occurring in existing words (the exceptions are äV- and St-). Simi-
larly in all but two cases a VCC-V break yielded acceptable final clusters (the
exceptions being -kl'r and -pi). Although rather few initial and final clusters
occur in native words in Hindi, when the entire vocabulary including loanwords
is taken into account, examples of the above mentioned clusters (with the four
exceptions noted) can easily be found. For a detailed account of Hindi phono-
tactics see M. Ohala 1983.
Results: Subjects overwhelmingly preferred to syllabify between the two
consonants, i.e., VC-CV. The incidence of this response was .82 (χ 2 = 166, df =
1, ρ « .001) for all 11 words. The rightmost column in (3) gives the ratios for
the individual words. Thus regardless of the existence of a particular cluster as
word initial or final, and regardless of whether it occurred in native or loan
vocabulary, the syllabification was between the two consonants. Such VC-CV
syllabification also goes against the proposed onset first principle including
versions of it which take the sonority values of segments into account such as
Clements' (1990) core syllabification principle. For example, a word such as
[caplus] 'flatterer' should have syllabified as [ca-plus] according to these prin-
ciples since [a] is a possible coda and [pi] a possible onset and such a division
would obey Clements' (1990: 300) proposal that "...intervocalic clusters be syl-
labified in such a way as to both maximize the length of the syllable onsets and
increase the difference in sonority between their first and last members".9 How-
ever, subjects overwhelmingly preferred a division between the two consonants.
As mentioned earlier, linguists working on Hindi (e.g. Mehrotra, Bhatia) have
favored a VC-CV division, and, according to Varma (1961), so did the ancient
grammarians for Sanskrit.10 It is also interesting to note that these results match
those reported for other languages by Derwing (1992). They also match the
ones reported by Sherzer (1970) for Cuna (spoken by the Cima Indians of San
Bias, Panama) based on a word game played by children involving syllable

movement. This word game showed subjects divide VCV as V-CV (similar to
the findings in the experiment reported in 5.1 above) and VCCV as VC-CV.
Sherzer does not mention whether these children were literate - a point that is
relevant to what is discussed next.
Even though the words were presented to subjects orally, once again the
possibility of orthographic influence has to be discussed. There are two ways
that the first consonant in the medial cluster can be represented. First, it can be
represented with a full (canonical) symbol which by itself stands for a conso-
nant and a following schwa (since Devanagari is a quasi-syllabary). However,
in the above words this schwa would not be pronounced because the spelling-
to-sound rules - specifically, a form of schwa-deletion rule - would delete it.
Thus these rules would yield the clusters in the words in (3)." Alternatively the
first consonant can be written with a half symbol attached to the next conso-
nant; this is an overt indicator of a cluster. Although for most words it is fixed
which of the two alternatives is taken (dictionaries reflect this and students are
taught the appropriate symbolization in Hindi classes), there is some variation
and the average native speaker reflects the same type of insecurity as English
speakers do for the spelling of a number of words of their language. In the case
of the words given in (3), the first four are written with the first consonant
represented with the full symbol (i.e. as Ca), the next five with the first conso-
nant written as a half symbol. The second-to-last word [kismat] can be written
either way (according to Varma 1958). And the last word [uidya] has a very
special symbol for the -dy- cluster - the orthographic equivalent of suppletion.
In the case of words written with the first consonant of the -CC- having a full
symbol, e.g., [caplus], if subjects were influenced by orthography they should
prefer the VC-CV break, not the V-CCV break predicted by the onset-first prin-
ciple. The reason for this is that if they conceived of the syllable division as
phonological V-CCV, there would be no way the phonetic medial cluster could
be derived from orthographic {ca=p9=lu=} (where '=' indicates a break be-
tween orthographic units), since the orthographic a-deletion rule does not apply
to an initial syllable (and by being written {pa} it has initial status). If, how-
ever, the division is given as VC-CV, the {pa} would be as in {ap3=lu}, thus no
longer treated as initial, and the orthographic a-deletion rule could apply, cor-
rectly yielding [caplus]. However, this problem is not involved for the rest of
the words in which the first consonant is written using the half symbol. Never-
theless, it is interesting to note from the ratios given for each word (in the
rightmost column of (3)) that the highest ratios of VC-CV responses were for
the [caplus] type words and the lowest for [uidya] which, as mentioned above,
involves a very special symbol for the cluster. Thus the dominant VC-CV re-
sponse could be said to be partially modulated by orthographic influence. The
102 Manjari Ohala
alternative explanation of course is that subjects' preference for VC-CV reflects

the psychologically real phonological structure of words (distinct from the
orthographic structure).
6. Experiments on syllable organization
6.1. Experiment 1
Assuming the merits of arguments for some hierarchical structure of the sylla-
ble (as opposed to flat), one can ask is the Hindi syllable organized as OR or
HC? The next experiment addresses this issue.
If orthography either reflects mental organization (i.e. is influenced by it) or
influences mental organization one might expect Hindi speakers to prefer the
HC division because Devanagari symbols are syllable based (i.e. CV). To ad-
dress this question a slightly modified version of a "blend" experimental para-
digm developed by Derwing and his associates (Derwing, Cho & Wang 1991)
was used. Their paradigm in turn was a modification of the one used by Trei-
man (1983). (Further modifications developed for the experiment reported here
included a 'foil' to check subjects for internal consistency. Details are included
below.)
Procedure: Subjects were presented orally with a pair of words such as
[mulk] 'country' [cand] 'moon' and given the choice of two blends: (a) [mand]
(b) [mund]. The first is formed by taking the onset of [mulk] and the rhyme of
[cand]; and the second by taking the head of [mulk] and coda of [cand]. Ten
such word pairs were used, five involving word-final clusters (as in the example
given above) and five had a CVC structure. The words were all real words.
They were nouns or adjectives and the word pairs did not violate any 'parts of
speech' constraints. The resulting blends were nonsense words in all but one
case. (The exception is [mulk] + [cand] where [mand] and [mund] are both
existing words; the former means 'trough' and the latter 'dim-witted'.) The
blends all conformed to the phonotactic constraints of Hindi. The word pairs
were also balanced for the character of the initial consonant. Thus the pairs
involved stop + stop/nasal/r, fricative/affricate + nasal, nasal + stop/affricate/
fricative, r + stop. Each word pair was presented twice during the course of the
experiment with the order changed. Thus the first time the subjects might get
[mulk] [cand] and the resulting choice of the two blends as given above and
some time later [cand] [mulk] with the choice between [calk] (HC) or [culk]
(OR). Also, for a word pair, if the first presentation involved the OR blend
being given as choice (a), the next presentation would have the HC blend as
choice (a). There were two types of 'foils' included: (a) in order to make sure
subjects were following the assigned task, some choices involved a non-blend;
it was expected that subjects would reject the unblended member, and (b): in
order to check for internal consistency (i.e. that subjects answered the same
way the second time also, thus demonstrating internalized rules) a few items
were repeated (with no changes). In all 28 tokens (the 10 pairs of words, their
repetitions, and the foils) were presented orally to 38 subjects (36 of whom
were the same as for experiments reported on above). There were two different
randomizations of the word list. Half the subjects received one and the other
half the other. The subjects checked their preference for the blends on an an-
swer sheet provided to them (which had "a" or "b" for the first or second token
heard - the actual words or blends were not printed on the answer sheet). There
was a training session (with word pairs not included in the main test) which
also included an unblended token (i.e. a 'foil') and if subjects chose the latter,
they were re-instructed (since their instructions were to choose between two
blends). To make the task believable, subjects were told that often companies
need to make up new words for products and one way they do this is by making
up a blend. The English loanword motel had to be used as an example because
Hindi does not have any blends - at least none that this author could think of as
clear examples.12 A hypothetical example was also given of a new soft drink
coming in which is made of mixing mango juice with a native drink made of
fermented carrots and spices i.e., mango + [kanji] 'a drink made of fermented
carrots' being called [manji]. Subjects' preference between pairs of blends was
being sought.
Results: If we look at the results for all 38 subjects the total number of re-
sponses were 836. Of these 433 were HC and 403 OR. The difference is not
significant (χ 2 = .75, df = 1, ρ > .25).
As mentioned above, there were two types of 'foils' in the design of the ex-
periment, one to check if subjects were consistent in their responses and the
second to demonstrate that they understood the task by not choosing an un-
blended token. Next the results were examined to weed out subjects who failed
these criteria. A question comes up as to how many errors a subject could have
on these 'foils' and yet still be retained in the pool (assuming that a few errors
could occur by chance). It was arbitrarily decided that of the three 'repeats', if
they erred more than once, they were excluded from the pool. Furthermore, of
the six opportunities for choosing an unblended word, if they erred three times
or more, they were excluded. This left a pool of 23 subjects. Their results are as
follows: the total number of responses were 506. Of these 270 were HC and
236 OR giving a ratio of .47 and .53 respectively. Once again the difference is
not significant (χ 2 = 2.29, df = 1, ρ > .10) and fairly similar to the results of all
38 subjects. The results were also broken down by whether the words involved
clusters or were CVC. This did not turn out to be a contributing variable. Nor
104 Manjari Ohala
did it matter what type of consonants were involved, e. g. stop + stop, nasal +
stop, etc (as mentioned above the design of the test words was sensitive to this).
Finally the results of eleven subjects who made no mistake in any of the
'foils' were examined. Out of their 242 responses, 130 were HC and 112 OR.
This difference is again not significant (χ 2 = .81, df = 1, ρ > .25) and very
similar to the ones given above.
Discussion: Thus the subjects did not choose HC as might be predicted by a
syllabic writing system (such as the ones for Korean and Japanese). Nor did
they choose OR as native speakers of English do. There are three possibilities
regarding the interpretation of these results:
1. The subjects are giving the right answers and their responses show that
some people have a preference for OR and others for HC and that they
are equally divided in the population. Thus we are getting at the
phonological structure of Hindi in individual grammars. If this is the cor-
rect analysis, the results should show a bimodal structure. The results of
all 38 subjects as group and then those for the group of 23 were exam-
ined. There was no bimodal pattern. The results of the group of 11 have
too few data points to give any convincing indication of bimodality.
2. The structure of the syllable in Hindi is flat (not hierarchical) thus the
question addressed by the experiment doesn't have any meaning for the
subjects. And the great variation in subjects' responses was a reflection
of this.
3. The test didn't test what it sought to because the task of judging blends
was unreasonable (or the instructions were unclear, or subjects had
memory limitations). This might indeed be a possibility since, as men-
tioned earlier, Hindi doesn't have very many existing words which are
blends. Thus perhaps the experimental paradigm used was unsuited for a
language like Hindi.
In order to rule out the third possibility a slightly different experiment was
conducted.
6.2. Experiment 2
This time subjects were taught to produce two different types of blends. One
group was taught OR and the other HC. The aim was to see whether one type is
easier to learn than the other. Even if the blending task turned out to be unusual
for Hindi speakers thus taking them a while to catch on, the question is whether
they catch on more quickly to one type of blend than another.
Method: The word list differed from that used in experiment 1 in that words
with clusters were eliminated and only CVC words were used. This was be-
cause in a preliminary run of this experiment which involved subjects produc-

ing the blend (not just giving preference judgments) the subject was having a
problem dealing with clusters. Since for the purposes of this experiment CVC
words would do just as well, these were substituted. Subjects were presented
orally with a pair of words such as [rog] 'disease' [tap] 'heat, fever'. The HC
group was expected to give the response [rop] and the OR group [rap]. Forty
such pairs were used.
The instructions to the subjects about the general purpose of the experiment
was the same as before. Again the English word motel was used to acquaint
subjects with the notion of a blend. They were also given two appropriate
"practice" word pairs from Hindi (i.e., OR or HC depending on the group)
which were not part of the forty-word list. They were told to repeat the two
words after the experimenter and give the blended version. (This was to ensure
that they were indeed dealing with the words in question.) Then the experi-
menter proceeded to the main test. Twenty native speakers of Standard Hindi
who are currently in the USA served as subjects. They were alternately as-
signed to either the HC group or the OR group. (E.g., if subject #1 was HC, #2
would be OR, and so on.) The test for all but two of the subjects was given in-
person, individually; for two of the subjects (one in each group) the experiment
was conducted over the telephone. All subjects were given all 40 word pairs of
words (i.e., even if they reached the criterion of 13 right in a row the experi-
menter went through all of the words).
Results: The results are as follows: The total number of errors: OR = 148,
HC = 65, a highly significant difference (χ 2 = 32.34, df = 1, ρ < .001). Thus the
OR group made far more errors. Of the OR group only 5 (out of 10) subjects
reached the criterion of 13 right in a row. For the HC group, 7 (out of 10) did.
There were also more cases where the OR group gave HC responses (82 such
errors) than HC group giving OR responses (27 such errors). Thus, one inter-
pretation of the results is that the structure of the syllable in Hindi is HC.
However, some questions remain. In examining the learning curve, one finds
that the group that was given OR did show progressive learning as the experi-
ment went on, in that their correct responses increased. However, the HC group
did not give evidence of such learning. Thus, it seems that the subjects came
into the experiment with an HC bias (perhaps influenced by the orthography
since, as mentioned earlier, it is a CV-syllabary) and thus gave more correct
responses, but did not learn HC any faster.
106 Manjarì Oha la
7. Conclusions
I think at this point all that can really be ruled out for Hindi is the organization
being OR. Although the results of experiment 2 seem to support HC, if HC is
influenced by orthography what is one left with? One possibility is to accept
that the mental grammar of a literate adult is partly shaped by the orthography.
The other possibility, if orthographic influence is factored out, is to interpret the
above mentioned lack of a learning curve for HC as indicating that structure of
the syllable in Hindi is flat (as was mentioned above). If further experiments
support the flat structure notion, it might correlate with two other interesting
areas of Hindi Phonology: the lack of spoonerisms and the lack of word stress
(M. Ohala 1994).
In earlier studies, Ohala & Ohala (1988) claimed that Hindi speakers do not
make spoonerisms, that is, speech errors that break up parts of words. The
evidence provided in that study is based both on casual observation and ex-
perimentation. Although they did not have a definitive answer as to why Hindi
should lack such errors, they suggested that it could be related to the lack of
word stress in Hindi. Although, as mentioned in footnote 2 the existence of
word stress in Hindi is controversial, even those who claim Hindi does have
word stress agree that it is far weaker than in English and plays little role func-
tionally (e.g. does not differentiate minimal pairs). The existence of strong
word stress seems to imply some kind of hierarchical structure which clumps
syllables into feet marking one syllable in the clump as strong and the others as
weak. A number of researchers have noted that speech errors typically involve
segments from the same positions in adjacent feet. Syllable initial segments in a
stressed syllable interchange with syllable initial segments in the adjacent
stressed syllable. If stress is absent or not very strong, as is the case in Hindi,
such hierarchical structure might be absent. Lack of a hierarchical structure
within syllables as well as within a polysyllabic word could account for Hindi's
lack of spoonerisms and word prosody, and for the results of the psycholin-
guistic experiments reported here.
A cknowledgments
The research reported here was made possible by a grant from the University of
Alberta, Edmonton, and also by the San José State University's College of
Humanities & Arts, Dean's Small Grant. I am extremely grateful to Bruce Der-
wing and Grace Weibe for very generously making available to me the design
and details of their own experiments and also for their valuable comments on
the design features of my experiment. I would like to thank all my subjects for
giving so generously of their time. I thank Dr. Anvita Abbi of JNU and Promila
Puri of Lady Sri Ram College for their help in obtaining subjects from their
institutions and Mr. Arya Bhushan for his help in obtaining subjects in the U.S.
This chapter has also greatly benefited from the comments of John Ohala,
Bruce Derwing, Rebecca Treiman, Hans Basboll, and the editors of this vol-
ume.
Notes
1. Versions of this chapter have been presented at the following conferences: the Inter-
national Conference of Spoken Language Processing (ICSLP) meeting in Yokohama,
Japan, September 1994; the colloquium on "The Phonology of the World's Languages:
The Syllable" organized by J. Durand, Pézenas, France, June 21-24, 1996; The Eigh-
teenth South Asian Languages Analysis Roundtable, New Delhi, India, January 6-8,
1997.
2. Word stress assignment algorithms given by Mehrotra (1965), Kelkar (1968), Pandey
(1989), etc., require the classification of syllables as light, medium, or heavy. However,
the existence of word stress in Hindi is controversial: Rumyanceva (1988) and M. Ohala
(1991) claim that it does not exist.
3. The remarks here are restricted to Indo-Aryan because in a recent paper Mohanan (1989)
claims that, unlike Hindi speakers, speakers of Malayalam (a Dravidian language) break
words such as [bhokti] 'devotion' as bhs-kti.
4. These authors are not implying gemination here. Since they claim the [g] belongs to both
syllables, it could be interpreted as ambisyllabicity.
5. Although the Hindi orthography, Devanagari, is often called an alphabet, it has some
aspects which would suggest that it is more a syllabary. Excluding special graphs for
consonant clusters, a basic graph can stand for a V or a CV. A given consonant graph
can have one of 9 vowel diacritics added to it to convey a particular CV syllable. But
without such a diacritic the schwa vowel is understood. This latter detail resembles a
syllabary. Finally, in contrast to the diacriticized consonants which are read as CV, there
are no graphs that can be read as VC.
6. The reason for including only liquids and stops is that the data-gathering session was
rather long (since words of interest to other experiments were also included in the same
sitting). Since liquids are at the higher end of the sonority hierarchy and stops at the
bottom, it was felt that a sufficient range had been covered.
7. However, results from a recent experiment conducted by the author using the Fallows
( 1981) experimental paradigm which involves a production task show that in cases where
the V-CV syllabification would violate Hindi MSC's (for example when short vowels
such as the schwa would end up being syllable final), subjects were more likely to choose
VC-V. Thus it could be that the Derwing experimental paradigm used here is not as sen-
sitive as the Fallows' one since it simply asked for subjects reaction to the stimuli pre-
sented whereas the Fallows paradigm involves a production task.
8. Although Hindi does have intervocalic clusters involving more than two consonants (M.
Ohala 1983), for this experiment only clusters of two consonants were included. The ex-
periment also did not include words with homorganic nasal + stop clusters or geminates.
108 Manjari Ohala
9. It should be noted that there is no phonological or psychological reason to assume a

different underlying form for the words in (3) as far as medial clusters such as -piare
concerned, nor differences involving different strata of lexical phonology. All of these are
considerations mentioned by Clements (1990).
10. Misra (1991) working with Konkani (another Indo-Aryan language) also posits such
VC-CV breaks for intervocalic -CC-'s (other than geminates and homorganic nasal +
stop clusters). Additionally, similar to Hindi, she syllabifies Konkani intervocalic single
consonants as V-CV.
11. Such a reading rule is for all practical purposes indistinguishable from the schwa-dele-
tion rule posited for Hindi phonology. In phonology, of course, underlying forms with a
schwa (which schwa would subsequently be deleted with the schwa-deletion rule) would
only be posited if justified, e.g., by alternating forms. In the case of the words in (3) (as
mentioned in footnote 9) no justification exists for positing phonological underlying
forms without the medial cluster. Of course, if the orthography writes these with full
symbols (i.e. -CaC-) the reading rule which deletes the schwa applies. For a detailed dis-
cussion of the schwa-deletion rule and abstract underlying forms, see M. Ohala 1974,
1983.
12. The soft drink Limca is presumably a blend of lime and the second syllable of coca as in
Coca Cola™. Although this is an example of a blend, it again uses two English words
and motel seemed a more obvious choice.
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Part II: Government Phonology
6 Head-Driven Phonology
1. Introduction
The fundamental units underlying spoken natural language comprise a vast

array of possible sounds. The observable fact that one language differs from
another with respect to the kinds of sounds used and the combinatory inter-
actions among sounds stems from a language's choice of the possible sounds
available in conjunction with a grammar that dictates the syntax of these
sounds.
At first observation, the possible combinations of the members of this set of
sounds or segments may seem to vary in each language, such that in some lan-
guages structures may be quite complicated (for instance in allowing for com-
plex clusters of consonants to occur word-initially, finally, or medially) while
in other languages such combinatory elaborations are non-existent.
Yet, upon closer investigation of cross-linguistic data, there seems to be a
number of generalizations that can be made about how sounds are grouped
together. Given that such generalizations can be extracted from languages
which appear to have rather varied surface structures, the next logical step
would be to try and motivate such generalizations in a principled way. The
question arises, then, as to what kind of theory best captures the basic structure
of phonological architecture at the segmental level.
While in the study of (morpho-)syntax there is a well-established concept of
a system of principles and parameters, comprising the common core of innate
knowledge known as Universal Grammar (UG), the study of phonology is
often believed to be different and much less attention has been paid to devel-
oping a unifying set of principles and parameters which define the common
core and potential variation in the architecture of phonological representations.
This is actually rather surprising given the fact that the focus of attention in
phonological theory has been on the representational aspect for so many years
(from the mid-seventies to the early nineties). Despite the enormous progress
which has been made in specific domains (such as foot structure), no overall
parametric theory of phonological structure has emerged in mainstream gen-
erative phonology. In most textbooks and general studies, it still appears to be
the case that different levels of phonological structure (segmental, syllabic, and
114 Harry van der Hülst & Nancy A. Ritler
higher up) are of a rather diverse formal character. Although segments, syl-
lables and feet are usually all represented as tree-like objects, the formal
properties of these trees (in terms of headedness, recursion, binarity of branch-
ing etc.) are taken to be very different by most phonologists.
This chapter serves to outline an approach, called Head-Driven Phonology
(HDP), in which the central claim is that phonological structure, at all levels of
the hierarchical organization, is best characterized in terms of binary head/de-
pendent relations. This approach incorporates proposals put forward within two
closely related theories known as Dependency Phonology (DP; Anderson &
Ewen 1987) and Government Phonology (GP; Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud
1990) and especially delineates the idea that some of the universal principles
that have been proposed for syntax can also be claimed to relate to the
phonological component (and vice versa). In this view then, phonology is not
radically different from morpho-syntax. Contrary to the idea that the modularity
of grammar entails the expectation that the modules are totally different for-
mally, Anderson & Ewen (1987) introduce the Structural Analogy Hypothesis
which expresses the initial expectation that morpho-syntax and phonology
appeal to the same (or analogous) structural principles and parameters. Thus,
this chapter disavows the claim that universal grammar is only synonymous
with syntax and instead advocates the hypothesis that the notion of there being
a universal grammar extends to the phonological component as well (cf. Ritter
1995).
The HDP model, then, claims that phonology is driven by asymmetrical
head/dependent relations and that such relations underlie phonological repre-
sentations and are the key to understanding phonological processes. HDP-rela-
tions are manifested in terms of licensing mechanisms, which serve to authorize
the units that comprise phonological representations. In this chapter, we focus
on how head-driven phonology is equipped to analyze complex phonotactic
patterns in terms of a highly restricted set of maximally binary head/dependent
relations.
We point out here that HDP, like DP and GP, is essentially a non-deriva-
tional, monostratal theory which also crucially incorporates the notion of para-
meters (Kaye 1995, van der Hulst & Ritter 1999, in prep.). Representations are
well-formed within the range of parameter settings if all the principles and
licensing mechanisms are satisfied.
The chapter is structured in the following way. In section 2, we preface the
discussion of our approach with a characterization of the basic tenets of de-
pendency and government phonology. We do not make an attempt in this sec-
tion to cover the full history of government/dependency phonology and also
wish to make it clear from the onset that we do not feel committed to presenting
these theories in any canonical way. This means that we choose our own
wording in order to express our comprehension of the essence and insights of
Head-Driven Phonology 115
these theories. We then offer a description of our general approach which dif-
fers from DP and GP in various ways, trying to develop a typology of licensing
mechanisms. In section 3, we turn our attention to applying HDP to a case
study (drawing on van der Hulst & Ritter 1998): the phonotactic organization of
minor syllables in Kammu. Finally, in section 4, a brief summary with conclu-
sions is presented.
2. An outline of Head-Driven Phonology
The fundamental contribution of DP is the claim that phonological structure

involves head/dependency relations at all levels of organization (including
intrasegmental organization). Intrasegmental feature classes, segments them-
selves, syllabic constituents (like onsets and rhymes), syllables themselves,
feet, phonological words, and so on are all depicted as headed constituents. In
fact, it is explicitly stated (in the form of the structural analogy hypothesis
mentioned in the previous section) that the notion of a headed, binary constitu-
ent structure defines what is in common between morpho-syntactic and pho-
nological (often called prosodie) structure.
GP takes a very similar perspective regarding both the structural analogy
hypothesis and the organization of phonology proper. A major presentational or
methodological difference between DP and GP is that much that is "implied" in
DP is stated in a restricted manner and much more explicitly in GP. Addition-
ally, GP seems to be an approach which incorporates the role of universal
grammar into the phonological component more clearly than DP does (cf. Ritter
1995 for discussion). GP achieves this goal by providing a system of principles
in conjunction with language-specific parameter settings which together define
lexical items in an economical manner requiring minimal computation. In this
way, a formal system is achieved for yielding well-formed representations from
which the phonologies of individual languages can be construed.
2.1. Principles
We formulate the central head/dependency relations as follows:
(1) Head/Dependency Principle: an object is either a head or a dependent; if a

dependent, it can only exist if it is in a relationship with a head to which it
is adjacent at some level.
This principle, as it will be shown, subsumes all sorts of relations which are
manifested in terms of (i) structural constituent relations of government
(sisterhood), (ii) structural domination relations, and (iii) syntagmatic relations
between elements that may or may not belong to different constituents:
(2) HD-relations
i. Structural relation of government: (H D)
ii. Structural (paradigmatic) relation of domination: H

I
D
iii. Non-structural (syntagmatic) relation: (x y) or χ) (y

> >
(the direction of the head-dependent relation may vary)
(2ii) bears on the melodic content of skeletal positions and on the structural
content of higher units. (2iii) will be argued to exist with reference to the con-
tent of skeletal positions only.
Another principle which we claim is an innate and necessary part of UG is
the Binarity Principle.
(3) Binarity Principle: all head/dependent relations are maximally binary.
The two principles in (1) and (3) allow for the presence of either a head alone,
or a head and a dependent, but never a dependent alone, nor combinations of
more than one head or more than one dependent. With reference to the latter
situation we note especially that the ternary branching structures in (4) are ruled
out (where H = head, d = dependent, and HP = constituent):1
(4) a. * HP b. * HP
d H d H d, d2
When, as in constituent structure, head/dependency relations are hierarchically

layered, some unit that is a head can form a unit which is a dependent at a
higher level. This recursion yields the effect of subsuming all material into a
layered, hierarchical prosodie structure. In order to delimit the expanse of this
recursive structure from continuing ad infinitum, it has been claimed that there
is an upper limit to the number of domains or layers (Nespor & Vogel 1986).
Starting from the smallest units, we adhere to the view that the prosodie hierar-
chy has at least the following layers:
(5) Xo nucleus foot word phrase
Observe that we do not include the 'syllable' in this hierarchy. The reasons for
this will be discussed below. We do not wish to commit ourselves here to a
view regarding levels of organization above the phonological phrase, concern-
ing ourselves in this chapter with structures that occur at the lexical level.
It follows from our two principles that a (phonological) word has the fol-
lowing maximal structure:2
(6) Word level
Foot level
Helsloot (1993, 1995) proposes that the word is a bounded constituent in pre-
cisely this sense, presenting an argument based on verse in Italian.3
We would now like to propose that the word in this sense equals what in GP
is called the non-analytic domain (Kaye 1995), and what others have called the
'word-level' (cf. Chomsky & Halle 1968, Borowsky 1994). The object which
we define as the overall head of the word domain, is the nucleus which projects
as head at all levels up to the topmost node of the domain (shown as embold-
ened in 6). This (ultimate) head is the 'strongest', most viable head in the word,
and, apparently as a result of this, a condition on its content exists, namely that
its content is free, i.e. with no restrictions on its segmental material. Being free
implies that there are no restrictions on what this head can dominate, in the
sense that any vocalic segment can appear in this position. It thus becomes the
site for maximal contrast (cf. Dresher & van der Hulst 1995, 1998). It also
follows from being free that the possibility of this ultimate head (UH) being
empty never exists since, as will be discussed in section 2.4 below, the justifi-
cation of an empty position is controlled by licensing mechanisms. Other nu-
cleic heads, however, while heads in themselves, are directly or indirectly de-
pendent on the UH, thus allowing for the possibility (but not the necessity) of
the content of these other nucleic heads to be restricted or to be empty. Heads
of feet, though typically strong, do not necessarily show all contrasts. When the
foot is not the strongest foot in the word, as our case study in section 3 will
show, heads of structurally dependent feet can, in fact, be very restricted, show-
ing no possibility for contrast at all (cf. also Ritter 1998a).
It follows from the above that words of more than four syllables must consist
of more than one phonological word.4 A simplex word like hippopotamus, with
five syllables, forms, if we are right, two phonological words (as in 7):5
(Here, and henceforth, '[0]' underneath a skeletal point or zero-level position

indicates that the position does not dominate content and is inaudible.)
Our approach postulates feet that do not bear stress (such as the final foot in
7) which implies that we do not assume a one-to-one relationship between
being the head of a foot and bearing stress. The phenomenon of stress is a pho-
netic interpretation of metrical structure and it is consistent to say that, for
example, only contentful heads of branching feet bear stress. The foot status of
monosyllabic feet is evidenced by facts concerning the aspiration of stops and
the occurrence of /h/ (italicized), which both have been claimed to be depen-
dent on initial position in the foot (examples from Davis 1999):6
(8) a. b. Phr
W
X I
F F F F F
I X ι κ
wi ne pe sau kee pa ci fie
Ta ra hu ma ra ho ri zon
We realize that our view on (lexical) prosodie structure needs more justification
than we can give here and we refer the reader to van der Hulst & Ritter (in
prep.) for that.
The claim made here suggests that, in general, analyses appealing to "un-
bounded iteration of foot structure" cannot be correct unless we assume that the
resulting structure (as in the case of hippopotamus) contains more than one
phonological word. Occasionally, the metrical literature has appealed to such
intermediate structures. The analysis that Hayes (1995) proposes for Passama-
quoddy groups syllables into feet, feet into 'cola' (singular colon), and cola into
a word. In our theory, the cola are prosodie words and the resulting structure is
a prosodie phrase; cf. van der Hulst (1997).
Another consequence of our view is that neither 'ternary feet' nor 'un-
bounded feet' can exist. This raises interesting issues with respect to the pro-
sodie structure of words in languages with so-called ternary rhythms and so-
called unbounded word accent. Here we will simply assume that ternary feet
can be analyzed in terms of combinations of two feet (i.e. as prosodie words, as
in the example above). Van der Hulst (1997) applies this analysis to ternary
systems of the iambic type. Rifkin (1999) argues for prosodie word status of
dactylic feet.
With respect to one variety of unbounded systems, lexical accent systems,
Revithiadou (1999) has shown that there is, in fact, no need for unbounded
constituents since lexical accents (for example in Russian) appear in positions
which only allow the formation of well-formed phonological words. Yoshida
(1995) proposes a bounded approach to another system that has been claimed
to be unbounded, lexical accent structure in Standard Japanese (cf. Ritter
1998a).
2.2. Licensing mechanisms
The principles of head/dependency and binarity defined above work together

and are manifested in a variety of forms of licensing, exemplified in (2). We
will now discuss these types of licensing in more detail.
2.2.1. The structural relation of government (sisterhood)
Structural relations of sisterhood are the framework for hierarchical constituent

structure. In this type of head-dependent relation known as 'government', a
head is able to project a constituent by virtue of its potential to form a govern-
ing domain with an adjacent sister dependent. Anticipating a discussion of the
types of rhyme structure that government phonology allows, (9) gives two
branching configurations. (9a) is an illustration of sisterhood, i.e. the first node
that dominates the head also dominates the dependent. Let us call this minimal
c-command. Example (9b) illustrates a context in which minimal c-command
does not obtain since the intermediate node H' does not dominate both the head
(H) and the dependent (D). Whether c-command is met or not, however, there
is a head-dependency relation in both cases which satisfies both the principles

of head/dependency and binarity in that, in each of the two cases, the dependent
unit is in an adjacent binary relationship with its head:
GP allows both structures in (9) as possible rhyme structures. (10a) character-

izes long vowels, while (10b) is a rhyme constituent which contains a short
vowel and a closing consonant:
In section 2.2.1.5, we will argue that we can do without the structures in

(9,10b)7 and thus that minimal c-command is a necessary condition on branch-
ing structures.
The structural governing relation which only allows binary relations between
sisters ultimately yields a universal structural schema of the onset (O) and
rhyme (R) units, the foot, the word, etc., and in so doing, specifies the notion of
the well-formedness of each of these constituents and how they relate to one
another. Example (11) illustrates the hierarchical architecture, based on this
notion of government relations, up to the word level:
(11)
O" Ο" Ν" Ο" Ν" Ο" N"

I I I
oVo°) N° (N°) Ν Ν Ν
(Here and henceforth we use < to represent a head/dependent relationship.)

The special relationship between O" and N" is discussed in section 2.2.1.2.
We will first start with the lowest level, the zero-level of the hierarchy. With
respect to the higher levels of the foot and word, we have already established in
section 2.1 that ternary and unbounded structures are disallowed, and we have
also suggested how apparent occurrences of such structures can be analyzed
without appealing to non-binary constituents. In the following discussion, we
will make it clear where our views deviate from GP.
2.2.1.1. The skeleton

Beginning, then, from the terminal points, it should be noted that in our ap-
proach we notationally replace the traditional notion of skeleton (a string of so-
called x-positions) with 'zero' positions. The zero-level units (such as are
visible to the phonology and as such are subject to principles of headedness,
binarity and a third principle, the Empty Category Principle (ECP), which we
discuss in section 2.4.4. This zero-level unit dominates segmental expressions
(mediated, in our approach, by a 'root node' which dominates phonological
elements) and also encodes the notion of timing in order to differentiate be-
tween long and short segments (cf. section 2.2.1.6 on long vowels).
Constituents which do not have zero-level terminal heads merely serve as
representative cognitive placeholders in the structural schema but do not con-
tribute to any interpretation per se. They could just as readily be left out of the
representation. For instance, words which begin with a vowel on the surface
and also phonologically behave as vowel-initial will have a structure in which
the initial onset constituent may be representationally present but its zero-level
head will not be present, as in the French word ami 'friend' (masc. sing.) illus-
trated in (12) below (cf. Tranel 1987):
(12) Ο" Ν" Ο" N"

I I I
N° 0° N°
a m i
(Here, and elsewhere, we suppress the intermediate N'-level, which we will get
rid of entirely in section 2.2.1.5.)
Since the initial onset constituent contains no zero-level position, i.e. no
head, it lacks the component which the computational system recognizes as
necessary to make an object visible to the phonological system. Consequently,
the lexical item in (12) is phonologically construed as vowel-initial. In cases,
however, where an initial onset is claimed to be phonologically relevant, al-
though it lacks any segmental content and appears silent on the surface, the
onset constituent is headed by a zero-level position (0°). Constituents which
project from a zero-level head are subject to the aforementioned principles,
since being at the zero-level identifies these objects as being phonologically
relevant to enter into licensing relations. Example (13) gives an illustrative

representation of the phenomenon that has been described as h-aspiré in
French, in which apparent vowel-initial words act as if they begin with a con-
sonant, as with haricot 'bean' below.
0" Ν" 0" Ν" 0" Ν"

1 ι I ι I Ρ
1 1
o° J· N°
m a r i k 0
Thus a contrast with respect to the presence or absence of the zero-level head is
claimed to exist in the case of onsets which accounts for the variance in
phonological relevancy of onset constituents which appear silent on the surface.
Whereas nuclei can co-occur with onsets that lack a zero-level position, it is
not our position that the reverse situation is possible. In fact, we claim that
onsets cannot occur with nuclei that lack a zero-level head. We derive this from
the fact, discussed in the next section below, that onsets can only be prosodi-
cally anchored by being adjoined to a nucleus that is itself phonologically vi-
able (i.e. has a zero-level head). This stems from the assumption that prosodie
anchoring is a necessary condition for the interpretability of onsets and that
prosodie viability implies the existence of phonological visibility. Since a nu-
cleus lacking a zero-level position itself would not be visible to the phonology
and thus could not be a potential recipient of phonetic interpretation, such a
nucleus could not occur and therefore could not be an anchor for an onset. As a
result, nuclei (as opposed to onsets) always have zero-level head positions.8
2.2.1.2. How do onsets fit in?

GP represents syllabic constituents like onsets and rhymes in sequence on a
single tier or plane, as in (11). These two units do not form a syllabic constitu-
ent which GP rejects (cf. Brockhaus, this volume).
In this section, we present the somewhat different view that is adopted in
HDP. Since onsets can be missing at the zero-level, they are not calculated,
whether present or not, as being phonologically relevant in creating the pro-
sodie structure. As a result, onsets seem to somehow stand outside of the pro-
sodie hierarchy. In our approach, we represent this by also rejecting the syllable
as a constituent in the prosodie structure. Lexically, there is a head-dependency
relation between an onset and a nucleus, which we will refer to as 'anchoring'
(or more neutrally: adjunction). This adjunction relation could be considered as
creating an interface level between two planes, similar to the way Semitic root-
and-pattern languages operate. In the case of the onset-nuclear interface, the
nuclear plane is the core which bears the notion of prosody, and the onset plane
serves to demarcate prosodie peaks and carries with it some notion of semantic
content. Example (14) illustrates this concept:
We assume, with government phonology, that every nucleus must be preceded

by an onset (and vice versa)9, but we place the two units on different planes to
more clearly express that onsets do not partake in the prosodie hierarchy. We
advance an observation here regarding reduction processes that, to our mind,
has not been made in the literature before, and which strongly supports the idea
that onsets do not form part of the prosodie hierarchy. It is well-known that
vowels may reduce in weak metrical positions. One aspect of reduction is
shortening or monophthongization. English is a clear case in point. However,
reduction never seems to involve the change from branching onsets to simple
onsets. In a pair like photograph - photography we note that the vowel of
/graef/ reduces in the second form, while the cluster /gr/ remains in tact. Re-
duction fails to effect onsets, because reduction is triggered by occurring in
strong or weak positions which are defined in terms of the prosodie hierarchy.
Onsets do not partake in the prosodie hierarchy.10
2.2.1.3. Coda licensing

Government phonology, as we have seen in (10), repeated here as (15), makes a
distinction between branching nuclei and branching rhymes:
(15) a. R b. R
X X X X
The 'coda' is analyzed as a specifier at the rhymal level. It is argued in Kaye,

Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990) and Kaye (1990, 1995), that the 'coda' is not
a constituent in itself because it cannot branch (i.e. there seems to be no empiri-
cal need for postulating branching codas)11. Since this coda position is removed
by one projection (namely N) from the nuclear head and thus not an immediate
sister of the nuclear head, the coda position is not minimally c-commanded by
the nuclear head, as pointed out in section 2.2.1. Because the coda position is
not minimally c-commanded, one could conclude that the relevant structure is
simply ill-formed (a position that we will take in section 2.2.1.5). In GP, a
milder position is adopted: the coda position is allowed, but it needs extra li-
censing. This is the way in which we view what Kaye (1990) calls Coda Li-
censing. According to this condition, a coda can only occur if followed by an
onset which 'licenses' it:
(16) R O
X X X
<
(coda licensing)12
As Kaye (1990) points out, a consequence of coda licensing (i.e. the require-
ment that all codas be followed by an onset) is that closed syllables cannot
occur word-finally. Yet, lexical items often have final consonants. In this con-
text the consonants cannot be licensed by a following onset, but there is another
way of licensing them if it is assumed that the consonants form onsets which
are anchored to a following 'empty' nucleus. 13 The word cat would be repre-
sented in government phonology as in (17):
(17) 0 Ν 0 Ν
II II 1I I1
χ X X X
k as t [0]
In section 2.2.1.7, we will turn to the question as to whether coda licensing will
be adopted in our approach. First, in the next section, we discuss another li-
censing principle that has been adopted in government phonology.
A final point with respect to coda licensing must be made. This principle en-
sures that onsets take priority over codas, since a string VCV, to be in agree-
ment with coda licensing cannot be parsed as VC.V, because, in that case, the
coda is not licensed by a following onset. Coda licensing also ensures that
onsets are maximized (cf. the so-called Maximal Onset Principle) because, as
pointed out in Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990) and Kaye (1990), an
onset can only license a preceding coda if the onset consonant is 'less sonorous'
than the preceding coda (cf. Harris 1990 for a formalization of the notion 'sono-
rant' in terms of complexity). A string VbrV can thus never be parsed as Vb.rV
because an Irl can never coda-license a Ibi. Such a string will be parsed as
V.brV in a language that permits branching onsets, and as V.b[0].rV (i.e. with
an empty nucleus after the Ibi) if no branching onsets are permitted.
2.2.1.4. Government licensing

Before we turn to Government Licensing, it will be necessary to say a few
words about another central mechanism of GP, viz. Proper Government (PG).
We have seen that, in GP, nuclei are allowed to be empty, i.e. contain a skeletal
point that does not contain any content. In order to avoid a proliferation of
silent nuclei, GP demands that they be licensed. This demand is stated in the
form of the so-called Empty Category Principle: An empty nucleus must be
licensed in order to be inaudible.14
There are several licensing mechanisms pertaining to empty nuclei, which
we discuss further in section 2.4. The most important of these is proper gov-
ernment. In essence, proper government obtains if the empty nucleus has a
neighboring nucleus that is audible, i.e. either contentful or an empty unlicens-
ed nucleus (and thus phonetically interpreted). In most GP accounts, PG is a
right-to-left (iambic) relation:15
(18) R O R
Ν Ν
I
χ
I χ
I
χ
[0] ρ e
<
(proper government)
PG can be 'blocked' if there is an intervening consonant cluster (either a coda-

onset sequence or a branching onset). This means that such consonant clusters
cannot be preceded by an empty silent nucleus; cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm &
Vergnaud (1990) for details. In section 2.4.4 we show how PG is integrated into
HDP. With this background, we turn to Charette (1990).
Charette (1990) proposes a licensing principle that involves a relationship
between some unit that licenses another unit to govern a dependent. The central
observation is that in some cases it appears that inaudible nuclei cannot follow a
consonant cluster, albeit coda-onset clusters or branching onsets:
(19) a. * R O R b. * O R
I
N\ Ν Ν
* I
XXX XXX
[a] ^ p [0] Ρ i[¿]
(coda licensing) (government)
In the relevant languages, empty nuclei, when followed by an audible nucleus

(i.e. when properly governed), are permitted. Yet in the configurations in (19),
the empty nucleus must be audible even when followed by an audible nucleus
that governs it. Why would this be so? Observe that, according to the theory of
GP, in both (19a) and (19b) the /p/-segment must govern another consonant, the
government relation being indicated. In (19a) the /p/ must coda-license the pre-
ceding rhymal coda, while in (19b) the onset head must govern its dependent.
The proposal that Charette makes is that consonants that must govern a pre-
ceding (as in 19a) or following consonant (as in 19b) need to receive licensing
power from a following nucleus, and in order to do this, a nucleus must be
filled. She refers to this phenomenon as 'license-to-govern' or 'government-
licensing': 16
(20) a. R O R
XXX XXX
a 1 ρ ρ 1 a
<—
<-
(government licensing) (government licensing)
Yoshida (1992) extends the license-to-govern analysis to cases in which a long

vowel cannot occur before an empty nucleus, namely in those cases in which
the 'closed syllable shortening (CSS) effect' can be observed (cf. Kaye 1990).
In this case the head of a long vowel must be licensed to govern its dependent
vowel slot by a following non-empty nucleus:
(21) Ν Ο Ν Ο Ν
χ X X X
a -> ρρ m
i/[
< 17
(government licensing)
In sections 2.2.1.6 (note 26), we show that the 'local' (or direct) form of gov-
ernment licensing in (20a) is needed. For the 'nonlocal' (or indirect) form in
(20b) we propose an alternative in sections 2.2.1.7 and 2.2.3. In this chapter, we
accept Yoshida's account of CSS (even though it is also nonlocal). In van der
Hulst and Ritter (in prep.) we consider local alternatives to Yoshida's analysis.
2.2.1.5. Is the nucleus-rhyme distinction necessary?

Allowing the two structures in (15) raises the question of potentially combining
the presence of a branching nucleus and a coda, thus creating a 'superheavy'
syllable, as in (22). Government phonology wishes to ban such a construct
(assuming that it is unnecessary for the analysis of languages) and does this by
pointing out (referring to the notion of 'strict locality' of government) that in
such a case, the head would not be adjacent to the coda dependent:
(22) R
X X X
This structure is one that might come to mind for rhymes that contain a long
vowel and a closing consonant, a so-called 'superheavy' rhyme. We turn to the
GP analysis of superheavy rhymes (both VVC and VCC) in section 2.2.1.6.
Another requirement that government phonology proposes on O/R structures
is that of strict directionality: the head always governs to the right. This rules
out a number of further structures:
(23) a. * HP b. * HP
d H d d H d
Such structures are, in fact, disallowed not only for rhymes but also for onsets.
Structures as in (23) have occasionally been proposed for onsets consisting of
three consonants (e.g. spr in English); cf. van de Weijer (1994) for discussion.
In our mind, positing a structural position to accommodate special clusters
(such as those involving initial /sÍ) seems to miss their special character. Thus,
we believe that allowing such ternary structures will only and undesirably ex-
tend the descriptive power of the theory leading to a loss of explanatory
power.18
Let us now focus on the two structures in (15) that are allowed in govern-
ment phonology. The consequence of banning the ternary structure in (22),
results in the fact that the structures in (15), stand in complementary distribu-
tion to one another with respect to the representation of the nuclear comple-
ment. In section 2.2.1, we announced that we would like to disallow the struc-
ture in (15b). We will now develop this idea that no intermediate bar-level
exists.19 Head-driven phonology, then, will only acknowledge the structures in
(24):20
(24) a. O" b. O" c. N" d. N"

ι r \ ι r \
0° 0° 0° N° N° N°
We stipulate (as in government phonology) that the direction of the government

head/dependent relation is non-parametric, universally left to right (left-headed)
within the most minimal of constituent domains, i.e. at the zero-level within the
onset constituent (cf. 24b) and within the nuclear constituent (cf. 24d). At the
adjunction site of O" and N", where N" is the head, the licensing relation is a
right-headed one, following from the claim (cf. section 2.2.1.2) that prosodie
structure (composed of nuclei only) is the foundation on which the onset is
anchored.21
Thus we do not recognize a single-bar intermediate level as a constituent
which can function as a head and enter into a head/dependent relation. Only
'zero level' heads and maximal projections can function as heads, suggesting
that only units of the same bar-level can enter into a head/dependent relation.
An immediate advantage of adopting the position that minimal c-command
is necessary is that this move rules out the onset structure in (25). GP, by al-
lowing the analogous structure for rhymes, cannot explain why the same type
of structure is not used for onsets:
(25) O"
Κ
o° o°
We realize that our proposal needs further support, which we will give by
showing here and elsewhere (van der Hulst & Ritter, in prep.) that the resulting
restrictive theory can account for all the relevant facts that we are aware of.
2.2.1.6. Do we need two structures for long vowels?

We now address the question as to whether the structure in (24d) represents
both long vowels and short vowels followed by another segment. It has been
argued, for example in Yoshida (1990) that long vowels can (and in some cases
clearly must) 22 be represented as bi-nuclear structures (with an empty inter-
vening onset as in 21). If we use (24d) for long vowels, this means that we have
two structures in the theory for long vowels. We therefore propose to represent
all vowels as in (26):
(26) Ο" Ν" O" N"
χ χ
>
(spreading)
The vowel melody of the first nucleus 'spreads' to the second nucleus in the
phonetic interpretation of this structure.
We propose, then, to restrict the branching nucleus option in (24d) to
vowel-consonant sequences, where the 2nd member of such sequences includes
glides (or approximants), liquids, homorganic nasals23 and left halves of gemi-
nates. 24 This move also seems supported by the typological facts. The presence
of long vowels does not imply the presence of closed syllables, and vice versa.
If both are the consequence of parametrically allowing branching nuclei, then
this mutual implication would be the expected result. We refer to van der Hulst
& Ritter (in prep.) for further extensive discussion of long vowels (for conso-
nants; cf. section 2.2.3). Here we limit ourselves to some remarks about the
distribution of long vowels.25
It has been observed that long vowels fail to occur in 'closed syllables' either
totally (type I), or only medially (type II). As shown in Kaye (1990), a language
like Yawelmani belongs to type I: long vowels occur only 'in open syllables'. A
further restriction obtains, however, in that even in open syllables, long vowels
are prohibited if word-final. The prohibition on the occurrence of long vowels
can lead to alternations involving vowel shortening when underlyingly long
vowels end up being in a 'closed syllable'. The shortening process has been
termed Closed Syllable Shortening (cf. section 2.2.1.4). Arabic dialects have
been mentioned as typical examples of type II: word-finally, long vowels fol-
lowed by a consonant (creating 'superheavy' syllables) are allowed, but word-
medially, long vowels can occur in open syllables only. The evidence regarding
long vowels in final open syllables is less clear in type II languages. This distri-
bution of W C is usually paralleled by the distribution of VCC in that VCC
either does not occur at all (type I), or only finally (type II).
Government phonology accounts for these facts as follows. Adopting a bi-
nuclear representation of long vowels, we represent in (27a) a string that results
in a surface superheavy syllable VVC. We then adopt the proposal in Yoshida
(1992), based on Charette (1990), discussed in section 2.2.1.4, which claims
that in languages that bar VVC altogether, the head of a long vowel (Ni), which
is the nucleus dominating the vowel melody, must be licensed to govern the
following empty nucleus (N2) by a following contentful nucleus (N3). Thus, if
N3 is not audible, as in (27a), the structure is ill-formed. Given this requirement
of being licensed-to-govern, word-final long vowels are also prohibited.
Extending the argument to VCC 'rhymes', (27b) shows an ill-formed struc-
ture because N2, being inaudible, is not properly governed by a following audi-
ble nucleus:26
N, 0 N2 0 N3
I1 11 11
X X X X
a > Ρ [0]
— n -
(government licensing not possible)
NI 0 N2 0 N3
I1 Ι1 I1 I1 Ι1
X X X X X
a 1 [0] Ρ [0]
-H-
(PG not possible)
To account for languages of type II, which allow VVC and VCC finally, in
which case N3 is at the end of the word, we must postulate that word-final
empty nuclei (unlike medial empty nuclei) do have the power to government-
license, and to properly govern; cf. section 2.2.1.4 and note 16. Word-fmal long
vowels are still prohibited because there simply is no following nucleus to
government-license the head of the long vowel. 7
2.2.1.7. Do we need coda licensing?

Having abandoned the difference in (15), we must review the evidence for coda
licensing, i.e. the claim that a 'coda' consonant must be followed by an onset,
barring the occurrence of domain-final consonants. A first observation we make
is that the licensing relationship between a coda and following onset could be
generalized by stating that each dependent (whether in the nucleus or in the
onset) must be licensed by a following audible head. We have seen in section
2.2.1.4 that Charette (1990) proposes a principle (license-to-govern) which,
among others, demands that an onset dependent can only occur when its head is
licensed-to-govern its dependent by a following nuclear head (cf. 20). We argue
in section 2.2.3 that the required result in this case can be derived from a (syn-
tagmatic) licensing relation (as shown in 28a) that subsumes the coda licensing
relation (displayed in 28b).This means that all zero-level positions are now
formally 'linked', as shown in (28c), either in terms of left-headed government
(—>) or in terms of right-headed interconstituent syntagmatic licensing (<—);
licensing is the 'thread' that holds together the 'zero-level beads':
(28) a. O" N" b. N" O"
0
N° N ^ N ^ O
c. Ο" Ν" Ο" Ν" Ο" N"
0 ^ 0 °
— X >< >< >< >< >
Assuming that the coda position can contain glides (or approximants), liquids,
nasals and left-halves of geminates, and adopting coda licensing as a necessary
relation, we enforce that word-finally, glides, liquids and nasals must be onsets
followed by an empty silent nucleus (cf. 29a). Final geminates would of course
necessarily involve a final empty nucleus (29b):
N" O" N" b. Ν" 0" Ν"

1
Ν
1
0° Ν
1 [ \ Ν0
Ν
Ι
0° J·
a {g, U } m a <-- - Ρ [0]
In this chapter we assume along with Kaye (1990) that coda licensing is indeed
an obligatory principle, but the matter is more fully discussed in van der Hulst
& Ritter (in prep.)· An issue that is relevant to this question is that in the gov-
ernment phonology approach, consonants (whether coda licensing is obligatory
or not) can occur in three different environments:
(30) a. in an onset followed by an audible nucleus

b. in an onset followed by a silent, contentless nucleus
c. in a coda, licensed by a following onset
Loss of contrast typically occurs in (30b) and (30c), but since both positions are
structurally different we expect different patterns of reduction. If consonants in
the position in (30b) show unique behavior vis-à-vis reduction, that is, if occur-
ring before an empty silent nucleus has a specific effect on the range of conso-
nants that can occur in the onset, we can use this effect as a diagnostic to test
whether the structures in (29a) and (29b) are indeed necessarily enforced by an
obligatory form of coda licensing.
2.2.1.8. Prosodie parameters for head orientation

In accordance with the theory promulgated here, both feet and words, like on-
sets and nuclei, are maximally binary constituent types. This excludes, as we
have argued, ternary feet and words containing more than two feet.
We have seen (i.e. stipulated) that onsets and nuclei are universally left-
headed constituents, i.e. the choice of the edge for headedness is not parame-
trized. With respect to both feet and words, however, the literature (cf. Hayes
1981, 1995, van der Hulst 1999) allows variation with respect to the location of
the head, demonstrated in (31) and (32), respectively.28 In addition, for feet a
third parameter has been proposed in the literature, i.e. direction of foot assign-
ment.
(31) Foot-level Parameter
(i) Left (ii) Right

F F
r\ /I
Ν Ν Ν Ν
(trochee) (iamb)
(32) Word-level Parameter
(i) Left (ii) Right

W W
XI
F F F F
(initial/second nucleus stress) (final/penultimate nucleus stress)
The existence of variable directionality at the foot level has been called into
question by casting doubt on the need for the iambic foot (cf. van de Vijver
1998, van der Hülst 1997).29 We do not take a stand with respect to that issue
here. With respect to the word-level parameter, it does seem reasonable to
assume that left-headed and right-headed structures are needed.
Turning to the direction of foot assignment, we wish to challenge the idea
that the direction of foot assignment is a necessary independent parameter. Our
point here introduces the next section in which we discuss paradigmatic li-
censing relations.
2.2.2. The structural (paradigmatic) relation of domination
2.2.2.1. Paradigmatic licensing of structural complexity

With respect to the issue of directionality of foot assignment, we follow van der
Hulst (1984) in assuming that the choice of the edge of the head foot of the
word (i.e. whether the word is left-headed or right-headed, cf. 32) determines
the direction of footing. This correlation can be seen as the consequence of a
rather plausible paradigmatic licensing relation: the foot that is the head of the
word must be branching. This statement entails that a tri-nuclear string is
parsed uniquely. Example (33) below illustrates what occurs when each of the
parametric choices is selected for the word-level parameter:
30
(33) a. Word-level Parameter: Right
W
F F
A
Ν" Ν" Ν"
b. Word-level Parameter: Left

W
F F
. A
Ν" Ν" Ν"
We argued in section 2.1 that 'directionality' effects do not exceed more than
two feet, given that the word is a bounded constituent consisting of maximally
two feet.31
Paradigmatic licensing relations, then, are top/down, head/dependent rela-
tions making reference to the constituent status of a position as either a head
(i.e. a governor), or a dependent (i.e. a governee), with respect to the content
which such a position is able to license, precisely because of its status. This
type of licensing produces the effect that head positions allow greater complex-
ity than dependent positions and that dependent positions display effects of
neutralization (cf. Dresher & van der Hulst 1995, 1998).
2.2.2.2. Paradigmatic licensing of content

In the previous section, we discussed a paradigmatic relation that is structural in
which the head foot of a word (by virtue of being a head) requires greater com-
plexity and thus must be branching. In this case the complexity asymmetry
involves the ability to be binarily structurally branching. We will now consider
paradigmatic relations as they bear on the content of zero-level positions. In
understanding this type of licensing, we view head positions as positions of
maximal contrast, i.e. the state of being a zero-level head licenses the ability of
a whole array of segments to appear in such a position; thus a zero-level head
position licenses its dependent segmental content to be segments from a large
set of possibilities from the phonemic inventory of a language. Correlatively,
structurally dependent, zero-level positions are claimed to typically allow less
options, and thus select from a smaller, restricted set of possibilities. In com-
parison with their heads, then, dependent positions appear to be positions in
which neutralization of contrast is seen. For instance, it is typically the case that
only a limited set of consonants can occur in the onset constituent's dependent
position (typically only liquids or approximants). Moreover, it is also the fact

that the nuclear dependent in the case of a heavy diphthong only allows vowel
melodies like III and /u/. The head/dependent relation that this approach pro-
motes thus predicts in which positions we find neutralization of contrast.32
With respect to branching onsets and branching nuclei, there is an additional
effect that we must consider. When the dependent position is present and a
structural licensing relation holds between the head and its dependent, the pre-
sence of the dependent seems to narrow down the possible contrasts that can
occur in the head position, in a paradoxical fashion. Example (34) illustrates
this seeming contradiction with respect to what the head position of an onset
constituent is able to license as its dependent segmental material when it is a
lone head and when it is in a licensing relation.
(34) O" vs. Ο-

Ι
¿ 0
Ν
¿ 0 q O
obstruent/sonorant obstruent liquid/approximant33
In the case in which the onset head participates in a licensing relation with a
dependent, the onset no longer appears to be the site of maximal contrast since
it is only obstruents that are typically found in the head position in this context.
In this case, heads only allow 'prototypical' consonants, i.e. obstruents.
That this, in fact, is a natural situation can be shown by looking at quantity-
sensitive feet. There appear to be two types of quantity-sensitive feet. In one
variety, the dependent position can be occupied by light syllables only, whereas
the head can contain heavy or light syllables (cf. 35a). In a second type (called
'obligatory branching' in Hayes 1981 and 'quantity-determined' in van der
Hulst 1984), the situation is the same for the dependent position (only light),
but in head position we only find heavy syllables (cf. 35b):
(35) a. quantity-sensitive b. quantity-determined
F vs. F
Κ
{H,L} L
κ
H L
Apparently, onsets only allow the second option, which in this case we might
call sonority-determined. As in the case of the direction of government, it
seems that the foot level allows a parametric choice where the syllabic constitu-
ents allow only one.
This same effect can also be seen to operate with respect to nucleic constitu-
ents. A lone nucleic head allows for the licensing of any vocalic segment; how-
ever, once this head enters into a licensing relation with its nuclear dependent
(restricted to either ill or /u/), the preferable vowel within the head position that
can co-occur with such a dependent is /a/.34
(36) N" vs Ν
N°
any vowel /a/ /i,u/
Once again, the inherent nature of the constituent, in this case nucleic, shows up
in the head position of that constituent in the form of the most prototypical
nucleic segment, namely /a/. Segments which are more remotely removed from
characterizing the nature of the constituent (i.e. in the vocalic case, segments
which detract from the full openness of the oral cavity) appear in the dependent
position. Therefore, it seems that, when two positions enter a licensing relation,
a division of labor exists in which these two positions take on different roles,
precisely due to their being in a head/dependent relation. As we have seen, for
example, the head position of a branching constituent, the stronger position by
virtue of its being the head from which the constituent projects, embodies the
particular characteristic of the constituent while the dependent position, the
weaker position, becomes the site for segments which are more remotely re-
moved from characterizing the nature of the constituent. The range of contrasts
defining a constituent are divided up over the two positions with the prototypi-
cal defining characteristics situated in the head of the constituent. In this light,
then, the descriptive generalization of sonority sequencing, which has been
traditionally relied upon to account for sonority differences, can be better un-
derstood now as a manifestation of the way head/dependent relations work.
2.2.3. The non-structural (syntagmatic) relation
The third type of licensing that we propose occurs between adjacent units at the
zero-level. In this type of licensing, the content of the head has bearing on the
type of content that can occur in the dependent. This results in what is usually
called phonotactic restrictions. Non-structural content-licensing can occur
within a constituent (in which case it happens to co-exist with structural li-
censing as well), but it can also occur across constituents.35
An example of intra-constituent licensing involves the effect of labial dis-
similation between an onset head and onset dependent within the onset con-
stituent, as illustrated in (37a):
(37) a. O" N"

Ν
0° 0° N° N°
*U U
(e.g.* ρ w)
Possibly, this restriction applies more generally to place properties.

The structure in (37b), we propose, displays the relationship between lax (or
unchecked) vowels and a following consonant in languages such as German
(Vennemann 1991) and Dutch (van Oostendorp 1995). As previously stated, we
propose that lax vowels subcategorize for a consonant complement in such
languages. Given the subcategorization frames of such vocalic segments and
given what we have said about paradigmatic licensing, the head of the nuclear
constituent will bear the prototypical nucleic objects, i.e. vowels in general,
while the dependent will contain those segments more remotely removed from
the characterizing nature of the nucleus, namely consonants. We explore this
topic in greater detail in van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep.).
The direction of content-licensing in (37a,b) has been displayed as 'harmo-
nizing' with the head/dependent relation of structural licensing within a con-
stituent. In actual fact, it is difficult to decide whether the restrictions expressed
in (37) are left-headed or right-headed. We return to this issue immediately
below.
Interconstituent licensing can be seen in the case of homorganic nasals or
partial geminates arising from the relation between a coda and following onset
as in (38a):
(38) a. N" O" b. N" O"

N I I I
N° N° 0° N^ 0°
Observe that in (38a), which expresses the coda licensing relation discussed
extensively above, the direction of the relation seems to correlate with the
structural head status of its members, i.e. 0 ° being a head and N° being a struc-
tural dependent of the preceding nucleus head. This form of licensing reflects
assimilatory relations between onsets and codas and, in addition what Murray
& Vennemann (1987) have called the Syllable Contact Law. codas are not less
(and perhaps, more) sonorous than the following onset.
Integrating Charette's (1991) notion of government-licensing we will say
that the 0°, in order to license N°, must itself be licensed by an audible nucleus
(or, in some cases, an inaudible final nucleus).
A potential example of the occurrence (or non-occurrence) of approximant

onsets following a preceding vowel is represented in (38b). Such a relation can
be assimilatory in that the approximant must be homorganic with the preceding
vowel, or, the reverse, in that the vowel and approximant must be disharmonie
(e.g. *CuwV... in English). In Dutch, for example, the vowel on the left deter-
mines the nature of the glide (in terms of palatality and labiality) that follows.
This phenomenon of homorganic glide-insertion may, however, be entirely
irrelevant given our claim that onsetless syllables have no zero-level onset
position, and given that glide-insertion could also be attributed to the realm of
phonetic interpretation.
Interconstituent relations between an onset and a following nucleus are dis-
played in (39):
(39) a. O' N" b. Ο" N'
* t w ü/u
The kind of restriction that comes to mind as an instantiation of this relation

again involves dissimilatory restrictions involving place, excluding both /twü/
and /wü/, as for example in Dutch and /twu/ and /wu/ in English.
The relation in (39a) also expresses what Charette (1991) captures in terms
of indirect government-licensing. To cover the facts that motivate this relation-
ship for Charette, we will simply say that an onset dependent must be licensed
by an audible nuclear vowel (or a final silent one, in some languages).
All examples of inter-constituent relations are right-headed, while those of
intra-constituent relations are left-headed. We conclude, at this point, that the
opposite does not occur in line with the 'beads-and-thread'-model proposed in
(28c).
2.2.4. Summary of licensing relations
We have discussed three types of licensing relations:
(40) structural government involves building structure

domination involves restrictions on positions
(paradigmatic) (structural and content)
non-structural involves restrictions on zero-level
(syntagmatic) positions (i.e. content only)
Following Harris (1994), and Ritter (in press), we also assume a class of li-
censing mechanisms with respect to segment-internal licensing which dictates
the combinatorial possibilities of the elements that make up segments. Harris
(1994), in general, offers a thorough discussion of the notions of licensing and
government, stressing in particular the correlation between these relations and
phonotactic restrictions.
2.3. Syllable typology
The approach that we have outlined above allows for a number of different
language types, in terms of the set of O/N structures that they permit:
(41) i. CV ia. CV, CVC

ii. CV, 0V iia. CV, CVC, 0V, 0VC
iii. CV, CCV, CVC, CCVC
iv. CV, CCV, CVC, CCVC, 0V, 0VC
With respect to the onset, we could assume the usual two parameters:
(42)
onset obligatory? Y Ν
onset branching
Ν i, ia ii, iia
Y iii iv
An alternative would be to replace the 'onset obligatory' parameter by a syn-

tagmatic licensing relation which strict CV languages must adhere to, viz. a
requirement that the nuclear segment be preceded by stricture, i.e. a conso-
nantal element. This approach, while descriptively equivalent to the parametric
approach, is more appealing because it reduces prosodie parameters to 'deci-
sions' on structural complexity, rather than the presence of structural nodes.
The nucleus is obligatory, as we have seen in section 2.2.1. We assume here,
with respect to the nucleus, that a parameter specifies whether this unit allows
branching or not. It has been claimed that languages cannot at the same time
parametrically allow branching onsets, while parametrically disallowing
branching nuclei, i.e. closed syllables (Kaye & Lowenstamm 1984). We inter-
pret this as a so-called head-dependent asymmetry (in the sense of Dresher &
van der Hulst 1995, 1998) which in this case implies that the complexity of
dependent constituents cannot, parametrically, exceed that of head constituents.
This implies that type i and type ii languages have a counterpart with closed
syllables, whereas type iii and iv languages must have closed syllables.36 In
section 2.4.1 we turn to another aspect of typology, which involves the para-
meter that is relevant for the licensing of final empty nuclei.
2.4. Emptiness
We conclude this section on head-driven phonology with a discussion of emp-

tiness, starting with nuclei. We have seen that in GP and HDP nuclei must
always contain a zero-level position, which can be either filled or empty. In
order to constrain the distribution of empty nuclei, GP adopts a principle of
UG, introduced in section 2.2.1.4, called the Empty Category Principle (ECP)
which states that empty positions must be licensed to remain silent or inaudible.
This principle of the grammar serves to constrain ad hoc appearances of silent
empty positions including the possibility of having a string of consecutive
empty objects. A number of mechanisms have been proposed in the GP litera-
ture in order to license the emptiness of such positions:
(43) a. Proper government

b. Final licensing
c. Interonset government
d. Magic licensing
Our goal here is not to discuss all four of these licensing principles in detail; cf
van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep.) for that purpose. We already discussed proper
government in section 2.2.1.4 above. Here we briefly explain the other licens-
ing mechanisms as well, before we present our own 'typology of emptiness'.
2.4.1. Word-final empty nuclei
A first and most obvious circumstance in which the postulation of a final empty
nucleus is necessary involves the occurrence and distribution of so-called 'su-
perheavy syllables'. We anticipated this point in section 2.2.1.4. Most Arabic
dialects allow words to end in sequences as in (44); the examples come from
Cairene Arabic:
(44) a. VCC] e.g. katabt Ί wrote'

b. VVC] e.g. sakaki:n 'knives'
According to government phonology, these cases cannot involve tri-segmental

rhymes. If we take the facts in (44) to imply that the restrictions on rhyme
structure are wrong, or must be relaxed in word-final position, we would not
explain why the relevant sequences occur in word-final position only. The best
explanation seems to be to assume that the final consonant is not tautosyllabic
with the preceding VV or VC sequence. Standing by its own, then, it most
likely forms an onset, which according to government phonology licensing
principles must be followed by a nucleus. A GP representation of this phe-
nomenon would be as in (45):
(45) R O R
Ν Ν
Ν
XXX
i η [0]
In languages like Arabic (and English), the presence of final superheavy sylla-
bles directly reveals the parameter setting for final empty nuclei. Perhaps more
surprisingly, though, languages lacking final superheavy syllables (such as
Yawelmani or Turkish) also get their final consonant analyzed as an onset. The
argument (which we do not discuss here) in these cases relies on the analysis of
word-internal consonant clusters and vowel shortening. To enforce final conso-
nants to form onsets in such cases, Kaye (1990) states the principle (coda li-
censing) which expresses that a coda must be followed by an onset. In fact,
Kaye proposes that no language has final coda consonants (cf. section 2.2.1.3).
A consequence of postulating final empty nuclei is that a licensing mecha-
nism must be invoked to allow them to remain inaudible. The mechanism in
question is called domain-final licensing. This mechanism, if parametrically
active, states that a word-final or domain-final silent, empty nucleus is licensed
simply because of its final position in the word (domain).
Languages, however, which do not permit domain-final consonants, such as
Italian, will not license a final nucleic position to be silent, thereby ensuring or
enforcing that this word-final nucleus will be segmentally contentful or audible.
For word-final nuclei then, the absence of melodic content or the emptiness is
licensed or permitted by parametric choice.
This way of looking at final consonants predicts that the occurrence of final
'closed' syllables is independent from their occurrence medially; in the latter
case, closed syllables in government phonology result from setting the rhyme
parameter to branching: yes (or, alternatively, by activating coda - onset junc-
tural licensing). Kaye (1990) therefore claims that four types of languages can
be expected to exist:
(46) Br. rhyme Final EN medial final languages

yes yes CVCCV CVC] Arabic
yes no CVCCV *CVC] Japanese
no yes »CVCCV CVC] Gur languages
no no »CVCCV *CVC] Desano
Hence a pure CV language disallows both a branching rhyme and a final empty
nucleus. We accept domain-final licensing in HDP.
2.4.2. Interonset government
A second manner in which an empty position can be licensed in order to satisfy

the ECP is by its being embedded within a governing domain comprised of two
onsets in what has been termed an inter-onset (10) relation.
(47) ON O
I I I
X X X
p—{0l·->
('spreading')
Originally, this relation was motivated in Kaye (1986) to represent Semitic

biliteral stems which map onto a triliteral template such that the second and
final member of the root geminates in order to adhere to the regular pattern
containing three consonantal positions (cf. Guerssel 1990):
(48) Ο Ν! O Hz O Na
I I I I I I
X X X X X X
h [i] 1— {0}> [0] [hill]38
This type of geminate creation is observed by Kaye (1990) to be a 'spurious'

geminate.39 Spurious geminates create a domain in which a nucleic position,
N2, is flanked by two onset positions that are 'united' by spreading. Kaye
claims that by virtue of being in such a context, the emptiness of the interven-
ing nucleus is justified and thus licensed. This predicts that if such an interonset
relation could ever be destroyed, the nucleus, as a consequence of no longer
being contained within such a context, could be phonetically realized under the
right conditions.
Cyran & Gussmann (this volume) offer a quite detailed discussion of 10-
licensing, addressing a rather different set of facts concerning Polish consonant
clusters. They postulate (left-headed) 10 relations to account for the fact that
certain sequences of onsets have a structure not unlike complex branching
onsets in the sense that the left-hand onset cannot be less sonorous than the
right-hand onset.
A third potential area for postulating ΙΟ-relations (not relevant to the silence
of empty nuclei) may lie in the wish to limit the distribution of empty onsets.
This seems to be validated by the fact that languages avoid repetitions of con-
secutive hiatus contexts. We discuss this form of ΙΟ-relations in section 2.4.4. It
seems to us, then, that there is ample evidence for postulating interonset rela-
tions, but we also believe that at this moment no consistent theory of such rela-
tions has been developed in the literature. In section 3.3, we also discuss a case
of ΙΟ-licensing in Kammu.
2.4.3. Magic licensing
One fmal method of licensing the presence of nucleic positions devoid of audi-
ble segmental material targets a specific position that is claimed to precede
clusters of the sC order. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990) have argued
that such clusters are never tautosyllabic but, rather, are heterosyllabic, pat-
terning the inter-constituent rhymal coda/onset relation, where /s/ resides in the
coda position of a preceding rhyme (cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud 1990
and Kaye 1992 for evidence in support of this argument). Given that the coda
position, as has been motivated here, is a dependent position or complement, it
follows that the presence of this position implies the presence of a rhymal nu-
cleic head. Therefore, UG ensures that a nucleic position must be structurally
present in such cases. Where previously in some approaches, the initial s of
such clusters was considered to be a left-edge appendix of some type, GP has
incorporated it into a well-formed prosodie domain headed by an empty nu-
cleus:
(49) R O R
XXX X
[0] s ρ a
Although the nucleic position is structurally requisite, this nucleus' inability to

be phonetically realized must be justified. Kaye (1992) has called this type of
licensing of a word-initial empty nucleic position Magic Licensing (ML). Of
course, magically licensed empty nuclei involving /s/ need not occur at the
word edge only, at least there is nothing in the formulation of magic licensing
that requires this. Perhaps this means that M-licensing is too unrestricted since
it allows /s/ segments to be distributed entirely freely.
Moreover, the possibility of allowing word-initial empty nuclei introduces a
powerful tool into the government phonology model which can generate se-
quences of consonants on the surface, e.g. C0sC, VCC0sC, VCC0sCC, etc. A
case in point is the analysis of Cyran & Gussmann (this volume) which invokes
ML for Polish, allowing, in addition, that the magically licensed /s/ be preceded
by an onset consonant. If this line of reasoning is possible, then having, for
example, an additional coda-onset sequence preceding the M-licensed /s/ is also
a possibility, as well as having a branching onset succeed it.
2.4.4. Proper government
Proper government (explained in section 2.2.1.4) is the most important mecha-

nism used in GP (cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud 1990) to satisfy the ECP.
It involves an internuclear relation which allows the silence of an empty nu-
cleus only if it is 'governed' by an adjacent fully contentful nucleus that is itself
not 'properly governed'.
In our HDP approach, we derive the effect of 'proper government' in two
steps. We assume that, first of all, there exists a structural government relation
between an empty nuclear position and an adjacent filled position, forming a
foot. 40 Given that this is so, we then establish a paradigmatic licensing relation
which disallows heads to be silent. This disallows ungoverned empty nuclei
from being silent since being ungoverned, these nuclei must themselves be
heads and thus must be audible. This interpretation of proper government is
based on the idea that phonotactics involves a kind of foot structure that is not
necessarily isomorphic with the foot structure that produces rhythmic stresses.
For discussion of this claim (which is not necessarily unproblematic), we refer
to van der Hulst & Rowicka (1997), Rowicka (1999a,b), and van der Hulst (in
press).
We would now like to argue that 'audibility' as such may not be the crucial
property of ungoverned empty nuclei. As pointed out in Rowicka (1999b),
Mohawk makes a distinction between two types of epenthetic vowels which in
essence involves their 'phonological visibility'. Epenthetic vowels that are not
counted in the computation of stress (the invisible ones) are precisely the ones
that are properly governed by a full nucleus to their left. Audibility, then, is
dependent on the segmental surroundings of empty nuclei, but their visibility

depends on whether or not they enter into a head-dependency relation with a
full nucleus.
At this juncture, we would like to formally distinguish three types of empti-
ness. In some languages we find nuclei that are invisible (and sometimes in-
audible) when governed, while they must be visible (and necessarily audible)
when they are ungoverned, and thus themselves heads. These we represent as
nuclei which have a zero-level position that does not dominate anything.
Strictly speaking, we refer to this type of emptiness as empty zero-level posi-
tion, but in practice we use the term 'empty nucleus' interchangeably. If the
empty content of such nuclei is not licensed, audibility results as a matter of
phonetic interpretation; cf. van der Hulst & Ritter (1999) regarding the exis-
tence of a two-way discrepancy between phonetic events and phonological
units. In phonological descriptions this phenomenon is usually called 'vowel
epenthesis'. We assume that epenthesis does not involve the actual insertion of
phonological elements, despite the fact that the 'epenthetic vowel' may vary
from language to language (from schwa, to the high, non-front, unrounded
vowel, to [i], or [u])41. The case of Mohawk demonstrates that even governed
empty nuclei may be realized, showing that other factors may play a role in the
realization of such nuclei. An empty nucleus can also be the head of a foot (in
which case it becomes visible), but it can never be the ultimate head (UH) of a
word, i.e. it can never bear primary accent. This idea is elaborated further in
section 3.3 in our discussion of the phenomenon of minor syllables in Kammu.
In the second type of emptiness that we distinguish here, we encounter lexi-
cal non-epenthetic schwas which, like the previous type, can never be the UH
of the word. However, these schwas are visible in that they count in the analysis
of word accent. As pointed out in van der Hulst & Rowicka (1997) and further
developed in Rowicka ( 1999a,b), the distribution of such schwas is thus parallel
to the distribution of invisible empty nuclei. We propose that lexical schwas are
represented as empty segments, rather than empty zero-level positions. By
'empty segment' we mean that the zero-level position dominates minimal seg-
mental content in the form of a bare 'root node'. Such empty segments may
arise through loss of the place node.
Finally, with respect to the third type of emptiness, there are languages that
have non-low, non-front and non-round vowels in their phonemic inventory.
Such vowels can be the UH of words. The representation of these high/back,
unrounded vowels requires that a zero-level position dominate a root node
filled with the empty element, formerly called the 'cold vowel'. In GP's original
theory of elements (Kaye, Lowenstamm and Vergnaud 1985), this element had
no 'hot feature' (i.e. no marked feature value, which in our view makes it con-
tentless). Although some recent work in GP dispenses with this element, we
maintain it in our theory (cf. Ritter 1995, 1998b), but distinguish it from the
elements A, I and U, by formally representing it as an 'empty' element. In fact,

we might also equate this with the notion of empty place node. A case in point
is the high central vowel in Turkish which has been proposed by Kaye (1990)
to be represented by an empty nucleus. As pointed out in Polgárdi (1998),
representing this vocalic segment in this way raises the problem that Turkish
has a contrast between consonant-final words, which end in a silent empty
nucleus, and words ending in a high central vowel on the surface. By appealing
to the same type of representation, the distinction between the two different sur-
face occurrences is lost (i.e. zero vs. [i]). The type of word ending in a high
central vowel must be represented differently from the word-final nucleus that
surfaces as silent. We claim that the difference between the two is that the
overt, final high central vowel has an empty element (or empty place node; cf.
50c) while consonant-final words end in an empty nucleus devoid of any ele-
ment or any root node (cf. 50a).
Summarizing we have argued for the following three types of emptiness:
(50) a. Empty zero-level position b. Empty root node c. Empty place node
("empty nucleus") ("empty segment") ("empty element")
Invisible (but possibly Visible and audible; Visible and audible;
audible) if governed; cannot be the UH: can be the UH :
otherwise, visible and audible
cannot be the UH:
Ν" Ν" Ν"
Ν Ν° Ν°
I
root root
place
To complete this discussion of the notion of emptiness, we draw a parallel with

the phenomenon of emptiness found in the domain of onsets. Here we find an
additional type of emptiness, namely the O" place holder which lacks a zero-
level position; cf. section 2.2.1.1. In addition, we find the analogues of (50), as
shown below:
(51) a. Empty zero-level position b. Empty root node c. Empty place node
("empty onset") ("empty segment") ("empty element")
Inaudible, acting Audible Audible
as a consonant (i.e. laryngeals? dorsals
h-aspiré)
O" O" O"
¿° 0o 0°
I
root
I root
I
place
The question arises as to whether empty onsets are also subjected to some form
of government. The claim that this might be so could be derived from the un-
likelihood of finding non-initial, double hiatus contexts (52a, b):
(52) a. O" N" O" Ν" O" Ν"
Ou Ν i· 0o
b. O" N" O" N" O" N"
O N" O Ν O Ñ
c. O" N" O" N" O" N"
O" Ν 0o ¡e 0o i.
d
By observing the string in (52a) and (b) it would seem that a sequence of two
empty onsets leads to ill-formedness, at least in a number of languages, whereas
the presence of one empty onset is more acceptable (as in English viola, piano,
koala). This could imply that an empty onset in such cases must be 'properly
governed' by a following filled onset. The fact that (51c) is quite acceptable for
a number of languages suggests that the reason for the more marked nature of
(52a) and (b) may be that an initial empty onset is licensed by the initial word-
edge, just like an empty final nucleus can be licensed by the right word-edge
(cf. 52c).
3. An HDP analysis of minor syllables
In this section, we examine the phonotactic word structure of Kammu, an Aus-

troasiatic language spoken in a large area in northern Southeast Asia (Laos,
Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, China). We base ourselves mainly on the excellent
analysis of the phonology and morphology found in Svantesson (1983), in
which a northern dialect of Kammu is described.
3.1. Introduction
Kammu, like other Austroasiatic languages, displays a difference between two

types of syllables called minor syllables and major syllables 42 From a phono-
logical perspective, minor syllables are characterized as syllables which lack a
vowel contrast, although phonetically, especially in careful pronunciation, there
is often a schwa or [i]-like vocalic element present.43 If these latter vocalic
sounds can be construed as mere consequences of phonetic implementation,
then the observed occurrences of consonant sequences created by minor sylla-
bles preceding major syllables seem to evidence very complex word-initial
consonant clusters, such as Iptrap 'lie face down (expressive)' (Svantesson
1983: 31). Analyzing a form like this as one syllable would entail allowing
virtually unrestricted 'onsets' and frustrate any serious attempt to develop a
cross-linguistic theory of syllable structure.
Minor syllables have recently drawn the attention of other researchers who
propose analyses within a moraic approach to phonotactics and syllable struc-
ture. Shaw (1993), for example, analyzes minor syllables in terms of various
types of 'degenerate syllable structure' (non-nuclear but moraic or non-nuclear
and non-moraic syllables). Approaches of this sort do not address a question
that, in our mind, is more fundamental than the question of 'representing' the
minor syllables, namely the question of how minor syllables are distributed
within words. In the HDP approach, minor syllables are represented as empty-
headed syllables (empty zero-level positions), i.e. syllables in which the nuclear
head (N ) neither dominates a root node nor any segmental material. Apart
from dictating a highly specific representation of minor syllables, HDP also
appeals to licensing relations, discussed above in section 2, which control the
distribution of these empty units. These central relations are discussed in further
detail in section 3.3, showing that such licensing mechanisms readily offer a
principled explanatory answer to the question regarding the distribution of
minor syllables, without the need for resorting to templates, copying, melodic
overwriting, or base-reduplicant correspondence constraints utilized in other
approaches. An important, and perhaps somewhat surprising aspect of our
analysis is that forms like Iptrap cited above, rather than forming one mono-
syllabic (prosodie) word, form a structure consisting of several nuclei organized
into two feet. In section 3.4, we draw attention to some interesting aspects of
Kammu phonotactics which involve (long distance) relations between onsets
which may be of importance for the development of a theory of interonset
relations touched upon in section 2.4.2 above.
3.2. The data
Kammu is analyzed as a tone language with high and low tone. All major sylla-
bles contain a full vowel and bear a tone. According to Svantesson (p. 12),
there are two types of minor syllables: tonal and non-tonal ones. Tonal minor
syllables have a consonant as their 'syllabic element'; the consonant is usually a
sonorant (as in the 'free' type in (53) below), but due to assimilation (involving
identity with the 'coda' consonant of the major syllable; cf. section 3.4) obstru-
ents may also be syllabic "in which case the syllabicity and tone is carried by a
schwa". The non-tonal minor syllables are monoconsonantal, characterized by
the absence of a 'syllabic' element, though they may contain a schwa in careful
pronunciation only.
Svantesson (p. 31-34) presents a list of the minor syllables that he has found.
For the purpose of illustration, we have extracted the following subset of items
from his list (tone marks omitted). We have added a dot to indicate the separa-
tion between minor and major syllables:
(53) Gloss Non-tonal Tonal

Free Coda-assimilated
a. 'to sow' c.mool
b. 'sowing season' cr.mDol (cf. cmool)
c. 'soul' hr.maal
d. 'human being' km.mu?
e. 'sleep' sm.nis (cf. sis 'to sleep')
f. 'flat (exp.)' tp.miap
g. 'lie face down (exp.)' lp.trap
h. 'bellows' rt.yuut
i. 'pointed (exp.)' lc.pec
j. 'to make angry' ps.roos
k. 'straight (exp.)' tt.jieet
The abbreviation '(exp.)' stands for expressive. This term refers to a class of
Kammu words which have an 'iconic and connotative' meaning rather than a
'symbolic and denotative' meaning (Svantesson, p. 78-81). Expressives also
have special phonological properties in the sense that certain consonant se-
quences which occur in the tonal, coda-assimilated minor syllable type (such as
tp.—, Ip.—, le.—, tí.—, cited above) can only be found with expressives, al-
though coda-assimilated minor syllables can also be found with causatives and
nominalizing prefixes as well. We assume, however, that expressives do not
have to be set apart from other words with respect to the analysis of minor
syllables. Neither expressives nor other words seem to possess phonotactic
properties which involve unique structural options.
Major syllables in Kammu start with an obligatory onset which may be
branching (pi, pr, tr, er, kl, kr, kw, khw). The nucleus contains a short or long
vowel or a diphthong. Short vowels must be followed by a consonant. Long
vowels may be followed by at most one consonant, but the range of consonants
found in this position forms a subset of the total set of consonants permitted in
the major syllable coda. The major syllable coda itself allows only a subset of
the maximal consonantal contrasts found in the major syllable onset (i.e. aspi-
rated stops, implosives, and laryngealized glides which can be found in the
onset, do not occur in this coda position).
Minor syllables can be monoconsonantal (namely, non-tonal, cf. (52a)) or
biconsonantal (i.e. tonal). According to Svantesson, a monoconsonantal minor
syllable forms an onset without a following nucleus. A biconsonantal minor
syllable, in his view, consists of an onset-coda sequence without an intervening
nucleus. Hence, minor syllables do not allow branching onsets in his analysis.
The consonants that may appear as minor syllable codas are drawn from the
same set of consonants that appear in the major syllable codas except that ?and
h cannot occur in the coda position of a minor syllable. As for the nucleus, we
have already mentioned that minor syllables have no vowel contrast. Svantes-
son seems to represent this lack of contrast by omitting the nucleus constituent
from his structural representation (cf. section 3.3). We, on the other hand, take
another point of view and postulate the presence of a nuclear zero-level position
that is empty. This alternative position is dictated by the theory we present here
which requires the presence of a nucleic zero-level position as the head of the
0"-N" adjunction site (cf. section 2.2.1 above), and is motivated mainly in the
context of phonotactic patterns that involve vowel-zero alternations found in
languages other than Kammu (cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud 1985). As
mentioned above, our main concern here is not the specific manner of repre-
senting 'degenerate syllables', but rather of representing their distributional
properties.
A word in Kammu may consist of a major syllable alone, or a major syllable
preceded by at most one minor syllable. Such types of words are called 'one-
based words' by Svantesson. Words may also contain two or four word-bases,
in which case we usually deal with words formed through reduplication. We
limit our attention here to one-based words.
Words containing minor syllables can, but need not, be morphologically
complex. Minor syllables may be prefixes themselves (as in ρ.φίτη 'to lay', cf.
rpim 'to lie'; and pn.kle? 'to show', cf. kle?'to appear') or they may be com-
posed of a root segment and an affix segment. For example, Kammu has left-
edge infixes, as in tr.nam 'drumstick' which derives from tam 'to beat' and has
the morphological makeup of /t +rn +am/. In such cases, the infixal consonants
divide over the minor syllable and the major syllable. A minor syllable may
also be part of a monomorphemic root as in tr.haay 'bee'. The conclusion, then,
is that minor syllables are not morphological units. As Svantesson states (p.
35): "a minor syllable is a phonological (and phonotactic unit), while a prefix is
a morphological (and semantic) unit".
A complete statement of the phonotactic structure of Kammu word bases is
beyond the scope of this section, so it should be clear that our rendering of the
data is far from complete. In section 3.3 we will go into a few additional as-
pects.
3.3. The HDP analysis
The structure of one-based words is analyzed by Svantesson (p. 15) as follows:
(54) word-base
(minor syllable) major syllable
onset (coda) onset rhyme
peak (coda)
tr aa
cn.traas 'lightning'
Looking at the structure of word bases from an HDP perspective, we immedi-

ately spot an obvious head/dependent relation between minor and major sylla-
bles. Minor syllables show the typical diagnostic property of a dependent:
namely, that they lack several contrastive options that are possible for major
syllables. As mentioned above, neutralization of contrast is the typical exponent
of head-dependent asymmetries (cf. Dresher& van der Hulst 1995, 1998). The
structure that unites a minor and major syllable in the order of dependent-head
has been identified as an iambic foot in various traditional and modern studies.
However, we argue below that the iambic unit in question is not a foot but a
prosodie word.
The starting point for our argument is found in the following important gen-
eralization made by Svantesson (p. 16): "Except for assimilated minor syllables
[cf. section 3.4], minor and major syllables can be combined almost freely
(although far from all combinations occur)". We interpret this to mean that no
phonotactic restrictions have been found that restrict the combination of the
minor syllable consonants with the major syllable onset. This is important be-
cause the lack of phonotactic restrictions signals the occurrence of an interven-
ing empty-headed syllable in HDP. Thus, in the case of monoconsonantal, non-
tonal minor syllables, the lone consonant is analyzed as an onset followed by an
empty nuclear position in our approach (#C0.). This yields the effect that
monoconsonantal minor syllables consist of one 'syllabic' (0"-N") domain.
A correlative argument for the structure of biconsonantal tonal minor sylla-
bles can also be given. As has been noted in section 2.2.3, following Kaye
(1990), coda-onset sequences are typically characterized by specific phonotac-
tic restrictions. The transition from minor to major syllable shows no sign of
such restrictive patterns, and it therefore follows that the relevant consonants
are not involved in an interconstituent syntagmatic content-licensing relation of
minor syllable coda and major syllable onset. Instead, we therefore analyze
such a series of consonants as a sequence of onsets (...C0.CV...). Consequently,
given the phenomenon of minor syllable 'coda assimilation', we show in sec-
tion 3.4 that such a phenomenon is the result of an interonset relation between
onset heads of the two syllable types. Given the view of constituent structure
we have argued for in section 2, there must be an intervening nucleus (albeit
empty in the sense of being devoid of both a root node and melodic material)
following the right-most consonant of the minor syllable, which consonant we
now analyze as an onset (cf. 55). Similarly, since no phonotactic restrictions are
observed between the first consonant and the second consonant of a biconso-
nantal minor syllable, the possibility of these two consonants forming a
branching onset is dispelled. Thus, the left-most consonant of a biconsonantal
minor syllable is also postulated as being followed by an empty nucleus
(#C0C0.). Thus, we posit that biconsonantal minor syllables are 'bisyllabic'
(containing two 0"-N" domains) where each such 'syllable' is headed by an
empty nucleus.
Looking more closely at the structure of the major syllable, we are forced to
adopt a bisyllabic representation for it as well. We have seen that major sylla-
bles may contain either a short vowel, or a long vowel or diphthong. If they
contain a short vowel, this vowel must be followed by a consonant. Long vow-
els and diphthongs can be followed by a consonant, but not necessarily. If we
focus on this last observation first, we have seen that, given the strict binarity
claim of HDP (cf. section 2), the model predicts a bi-syllabic analysis for any
VVC occurrence. This claim arises from the view that a consonant following a
long vowel or diphthong cannot be licensed by the nuclear head since such a
move would yield a ternary rhymal constituent structure containing three zero-
level positions. In order to save the content of the surface post-nuclear conso-
nant, this content is relegated to an onset position which, in turn, is followed by
an empty-headed nucleus as prescribed by the theory.
What then is the structural position of consonants that follow a short vowel?
There are two indications that these consonants also form onsets of empty-
headed syllables. Firstly, there is no difference between the consonants that
may follow a short vowel and those that may follow a long vowel or diph-
thong. 44 It therefore seems that this similarity offers support in assuming that
the consonantal possibilities in both these cases occur in the same position,
namely one that allows for a full range of consonantal contrasts, in other words,
the onset head position. Secondly, the assimilation process mentioned earlier
(which will be discussed in more detail in section 3.4) copies postvocalic con-
sonants of the major syllable into the minor syllable coda (cf. note 44), irre-
spective of whether the vowel preceding the source of the copy relation is real-
ized as a short vowel or long vowel or diphthong. This strongly suggests that
the post-vocalic consonant occupies the same structural position in all cases. It
is also interesting to note that while 'codas' of minor syllables can exist without
a fully contentful vowel preceding them, 'codas' of major syllables must follow
a full-fledged vowel. This asymmetry is predicted by our HDP approach which
ensures that all positions within a non-analytic domain are licensed except for
the ultimate head of the domain. In the case of the word-base in (55), the head
of the entire prosodie structure is the first nucleus of the major syllable and,
therefore, is always a contentful, audible vowel.
The above lines of reasoning (all very much dictated by standard aspects of
HDP) lead us to postulating the following alternative to the structure in (54).
(55) PrWord
Foot Foot
Ο" ΝΓ Ο" KZ" O" Na" Ο" Ν4"
a. c <- if [0] t r a s [0]

b. t [a] t [0] Ji e t [0]
c. c [0]/[9] m o l45 [0]
> >
<
where: (a) = freely occurring tonal minor syllable
(b) = coda-assimilated tonal minor syllable
(c) = non-tonal minor syllable
One feature of this representation requires special attention. We posit final con-
sonants to be represented as onsets, both following long and short vowels. We
propose to represent the 'long' vowels as 'unchecked' vowels, i.e. phonolo-
gically short vowels that need not be followed by a consonant. Support for this
view comes from the fact that Svantesson observes that 'short' vowels must be
followed by a consonant. We take this to mean that these 'short' vowels are
'checked', i.e. phonologically short vowels that must be followed by a conso-
nant within the same nucleus (cf. 37b).46
Notice that in (55) the word base has the structure of a full-fledged prosodie
word, especially in the case of biconsonantal minor syllables. The word base
consists of two binary branching feet organized into an iambic structure result-
ing in the prosodie word. The nucleus N3 containing the full vowel forms the
head of the prosodie word and bears the primary word accent. Since this is the
maximal structure of a prosodie word in Kammu, and perhaps universally, the
possibility of there being a second final consonant in the major syllable is obvi-
ated since the HDP model would analyze this consonant as an empty-headed
syllable which would, in turn, project a degenerate foot that would be unable to
be subsumed into the prosodie structure. Moreover, our approach also predicts
the absence of having a possible branching 'coda' in the major syllable, which
in our model would be analyzed as branching in the final onset, since the
maximal extent of branching of the fourth and final onset is restricted due to its
being the onset of the weak dependent of a foot. Given the claim that neutrali-
zation effects are found in dependent positions, the maximum branching struc-
ture of the onset is restricted to a singleton structure. The HDP model can there-
fore readily explain the absence of final consonant clusters in Kammu syllables.
In example (55), we have indicated by arrows beneath the words, some of

the licensing relations that hold. These licensing relations hold within prosodie
constituents. Thus they involve structural government relations between heads
and dependents at two levels of prosodie structure: the foot and the prosodie
word. Foot-level government is trochaic (cf. section 2), while word-level gov-
ernment is iambic.
In accordance with the distributional restrictions on empty nuclei, depend-
ents within a foot are allowed to be empty-headed, if we assume that their
emptiness is licensed by the foot head; and, indeed, in Kammu they always are
(e.g. N2 and N4). Governors at this level, however, have so far been assumed to
be 'audible'. This assumption is, as we have argued in section 2, quite crucial
because it would otherwise be possible to line up an infinite number of empty-
headed syllables forming binary groups (i.e. feet) of which the heads are as
silent as the dependents.
We next address the question of what the role is, if any, of word-level iambic
government. Let us turn back to what we have said about the vocalic properties
of minor syllables. According to Svantesson, non-tonal minor syllables (which
are monoconsonantal), as in /c.moDl/ are only required to contain an audible
nucleus (a schwa sound) in careful pronunciation. In the casual style of speech,
however, the nucleus of monoconsonantal minor syllables is inaudible. This
suggests that the iambic word-level government relation between N3 and Ni
(the head of the word and its dependent, respectively) can license the occur-
rence of an empty-headed syllable in the dependent Ni position. The audibility
of governed, i.e. dependent, empty nuclei is not precluded, since, as in the
Mohawk case (Rowicka 1999a,b) other factors than government may determine
audibility.
Turning to biconsonantal minor syllables, we note that the first nucleus Ni is,
in fact, always expressed phonetically. Either it contains a schwa sound (in the
coda-assimilated cases), or it contains a sonorant consonant which is syllabic.47
These facts are readily predicted by the approach we take here since the first
nucleus Ni (the head of the foot) must trochaically govern the second inaudible
nucleus N2 (the dependent of the foot) which is never realized. This initial
nucleus, by virtue of being a governor, requires phonological visibility and thus
a phonetic interpretation to surface in the form of a schwa or syllabic sonorant.
Furthermore, since biconsonantal minor syllables carry tone, the stronger gov-
ernor Ni has the further duty of bearing the tonal accent. Thus if Ni is a gover-
nor at the foot level, it must be audible even though it is, itself, iambically gov-
erned. It, therefore, follows that trochaic government supersedes the effects of
iambic government.
Thus, we see that the complexity of Kammu consonantal clusters exhausts
the maximum word structure that HDP allows as well-formed. The pattern that
is found is predicted by the relations that hold within a prosodie word on the
condition that this structure is based on certain principles, most importantly

binary relations holding at the foot and word level, which are trochaic and
iambic, respectively. A prosodie word structure like this allows, of course, a
sequence of four fully fledged syllables (as in Dutch macaroni). The nucleus
that is most likely to reduce in such words in the direction of silence is the
second one (the dependent in the weak foot), as in fact happens obligatorily in
the English equivalent m[œ\c[z\roni, which is also a possible option in Dutch.
The weak syllable in the strong foot (i.e. the word-final nucleus) is much less
likely to reduce; in fact, in Dutch and in English, reduction never takes place in
this case. Notwithstanding this fact, both English and Dutch allow final empty
nuclei (just like Kammu does), i.e. when the word ends in a consonant that fol-
lows a long or tense (unchecked) vowel 4 8 , 4 9
In (56) we give the possibilities for the distribution of empty and silent nu-
clei in Dutch, English, and Kammu and we also list impossible patterns ( ' f
stands for 'full' and 'z' stands for 'zero' i.e. inaudible):
(56)
Dutch
English
Kammu
Imposs.
Imposs.
The typology in (56) reduces to the fact that governing heads cannot be in-
audible, as claimed in section 2.
3.4. Interonset relations
In this section, we briefly look at certain phonotactic patterns, different from

those mentioned in section 2.4.2, which also seem to point to the need for inter-
onset relations. We start the discussion with the phenomenon of coda assimila-
tion. Earlier we stated that the 'coda' (now identified as an onset) of minor
syllables allows the same range of consonants that appear in the 'coda' (idem)
of major syllables. It turns out, however, that the 'coda' of the minor syllables
is much more restricted than the 'coda' of major syllables. In fact, this is what
is to be expected if dependents typically show neutralization effects. Svantes-
son points out that the 'coda' of minor syllables may freely contain a sonorant
consonant, but that it can only contain an obstruent if this obstruent is identical
to the obstruent occurring in the major syllable 'coda'. In other words, in the
case of obstruents, the major syllable coda is reduplicated as the coda of the
tonal minor syllable:
(57) PrWord
or N" 02" N" O4" Ν"

-O
ι I ι I ι
Jo 0° N° 6° N° 0° J·
c [0] r i t m
<
M t
ct. riit ' (exp. ) not hear'
The pattern attested for the minor syllable 'coda' is very similar to a restriction
on 'codas' in many languages, such as Japanese, in which the relevant position
can only be occupied by a sonorant or the 'left half of a geminate. The inter-
esting fact in Kammu is that the "geminate" involves a non-local or long dis-
tance interonset licensing relation. We propose that in such cases, the 'coda' of
the minor syllable, understood as 0 2 above, is melodically empty and that one
way of licensing it is by spreading melodic material from the major syllable
'coda' or 0 4 . 5 0
We have also observed another interonset relation. Major syllables that con-
tain a branching onset almost without exception contain a closing consonant.
This suggests a second licensing relation that radiates out from the right-most
onset O4 such that the presence of 0 4 is necessary to license the maximal scope
or range of the onset preceding it in terms of this 0 3 onset's ability to branch:
(58) PrWord
c <S y [0] t r a s [0]

<
We believe that the observed patterns point to a system of interonset relations

which is quite independent from the system of internuclear relations sketched
above. Given that we claim that onsets and nuclei reside on separate planes,
indicating their independence, this proposal is neither problematic nor surpris-
ing:
In the system of 10 relations in (59), the right-most onset governs the penulti-
mate onset, evidenced by the fact that the presence of the final onset is required
to license the branching penultimate onset. By analogy, we assume that the
second onset governs the first. The only evidence for this that we have found so
far comes from co-occurrence restrictions regarding what may occur in the
onset and 'coda' positions of a minor syllable. For example, I and r cannot
occur only as onsets in non-tonal minor syllables. Rather, their existence in the
surface onset position of a minor syllable seems to depend on the presence of a
segment in the coda position. Thus, in some way, minor syllable liquid onsets
must be licensed by a following minor syllable onset in our approach. The third
10 relation found to exist is when the right-most onset (0 4 ) governs the second
onset (evidenced by the non-local geminate copying). There seems also to be a
fourth IO relation found between the penultimate (0 3 ) and antepenultimate (0 2 )
onsets or, in other words, between the onset head of the major syllable and the
'coda' of the minor syllable. This relation results in occasional phonotactic
events such as nasal assimilation, liquid dissimilation, and intrusive stop inser-
tion between a nasal minor syllable 'coda' and a liquid major syllable onset
(e.g. m.r>m.br). 5 1
At this point we do not wish to elaborate on the speculative structure in (59).
Clearly, more work is needed with respect to analyzing the 10 relations here,
and more generally, in order to gain a better insight into the workings of 10
relations, which it seems to us are too poorly understood at the moment. We
hope, however, that the above facts can be instrumental in developing an ar-
ticulated theory of interonset relations. We pursue this enterprise elsewhere; cf.
van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep.).
4. Concluding remarks
In this chapter we have proposed a theory that attributes a fundamental role to

head-dependency relations and we have proposed a typology of such relations
in the form of licensing mechanisms. We have applied our approach to the
phonological word structure of Kammu to illustrate the workings of the theory.
The traditionally recognized notion of minor syllable has been reconstructed in
terms of our theory of head-driven phonology. It should be clear that our analy-
sis offers explanatory insights with respect to surface facts that may at first
seem perplexing and chaotic. In addition, we believe that our proposals nicely
illustrate how a sharply articulated representational theory clearly leads the way
to a particular approach. The resulting structures seem somewhat remote from
the surface 'facts', but it must be borne in mind that the alternative of merely
listing the initial clusters and concluding that Kammu has onsets that apparently
violate binarity constraints or constraints that militate against complexity in
general (the common practice in optimality theory today) because the output
wishes to be faithful to the input, contains no explanatory value whatsoever.
Structural descriptions of strings are cognitive and abstract by definition and
structural descriptions that explain the observed patterns in terms of a limited
set of structural principles and licensing relations, in our view, can make a
reasonable claim to being explanatory.
Notes
1. In section 2.2.1.5 we discuss the exclusion of ternary structures involving embedding.

2. This is a right-headed word. In section 2.2.1.8 we discuss that the head at the word-
level can be on the right or on the left.
3. Rifkin (1999) also proposes to impose a binarity constraint on the prosodie word.
4. Such longer words are often morphologically complex. Thus, words that are too long to
form a phonological word, like compounds, prefixed words, and words derived with
class II suffixes, typically form a prosodie phrase. While correlated with morphological
simplicity, the (single) word domain can certainly be composed of lexical items that are
morphologically complex as well. The morphology involved is what has been analyzed
as 'level I' morphology in the treatment of English word structure.
5. We rule out the alternative structure (hippopota)w (mus)w by assuming that words with a
schwa as the ultimate head are avoided. We justify this assumption in van der Hulst &
Ritter (in prep.).
6. Even four syllable words can consist of two prosodie words: (cata)(maran), (a)(mérica).
In van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep.) we argue that in the second case, rather than parsing
this form into two prosodie words, a word embedded in another word (i.e. a clitic
structure) may be also possible.
160 Harry van der Hülst & Nancy A. Ritler
7. Except perhaps in the case of clitic structures, which seem to involve a structure in
which a word (i.e. a non-analytic domain) is embedded within another word: [word
X]word; cf. Kaye (1995); cf. note 6.
8. That is not to say that the presence of onsets is completely arbitrary and not at all
necessary. The presence of onsets, their inter-relations, and constraints on patterns of
their absence are issues which will be broached later in section 2.4.2.
9. Polgárdi (1998) abandons this claim and assumes that onsets can occur without nuclei.
The claim that nuclei cannot occur without onsets is a less compelling claim, even
within government phonology, as has been pointed out in section 2.2.1.1.
10. Another indication for this is that processes like trisyllabic shortening (contrite-contri-
tiori) which are also prosodically-driven are not attested in onset clusters.
11. We discuss the GP representation of syllables that have been claimed to end in VCC in
section 2.2.1.6. Cf. Brockhaus (this volume) on the GP treatment of very complex
word-final clusters (involving the so-called 'appendix') in German. See also chapter 2,
this volume.
12. In our typology of licensing relations this relation would be called a (non-structural)
syntagmatic relation; cf. section 2.2.3.
13. In section 2.4.1 we show that, according to Kaye (1990), not all languages allow word
final empty nuclei. It can therefore happen that 'coda' consonants are allowed word-
medially, but not word-finally.
14. In early versions of GP (Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud 1990) empty nuclei would
contain an 'identity element' or 'cold vowel'. This element would have no phonetic in-
terpretation, producing an inaudible nucleus, unless the nucleus it was contained in was
not licensed. In the absence of licensing, the identity element would be phonetically
audible as a high, central vowel [i]. Alternatively, this element would, in such a case,
receive the company of an 'inserted' element, like [A], producing a schwa-like sound.
In later versions of GP, the identity element has been eliminated (cf. Kaye 1995), thus
making an 'empty' nucleus truly empty. We abstract away from such distinctions here,
the relevant point being that an empty nucleus must be licensed to remain inaudible,
and will be audible if not licensed.
15. Van der Hulst & Rowicka (1997), Rowicka (1999a,b) make use of 'trochaic' proper
government.
16. The more precise empirical observation is, however, that languages differ in enforcing
audibility depending on whether the structures in (19) appear word-internally or word-
finally ('yes' means 'allowed to remain silent'):
(i) medial final
cd-ons nuc br.ons nuc cd-ons nuc br.ons nuc
Polish yes yes yes yes
French no no yes yes
English no no yes no
Tangala no no no no
To handle the cross-linguistic differences in this table, Charette must assume that the
licensing power of silent nuclei is language-specific in two ways. Firstly, the licensing
power of final silent nuclei can differ from medial empty nuclei. This happens in
French, where final silent nuclei have licensing power while medial silent nuclei do not;
the reverse, incidentally, is not attested in any language. In Polish, all silent nuclei have
this licensing power. Secondly, the licensing power discriminates, according to Charette
(1990), between whether the onset head must license a preceding coda (the silent nu-
cleus, being adjacent, directly governs the onset head) or whether the onset head must
act as a governor in a branching onset (the silent nucleus, being non-adjacent, in that
case indirectly governs the onset head). In French final, silent nuclei license both di-
rectly and indirectly. In English, however, only direct licensing applies: again the re-
verse does not hold. These facts suggest two implications:
a. Medial licensing —> Final licensing (i.e. final empty nuclei are stronger licensers than
medial empty nuclei)
b. Direct licensing —• Indirect licensing
Actually, the analysis of Charette is more complex in that the principle that enforces
audibility is in conflict with proper government which allows empty nuclei to be silent
if followed by a filled nucleus. Cf. Polgárdi (1998), Cyran & Gussmann (chapter 8, this
vol.) and Ritter & Vago (1999) for different ways of treating this issue.
17. An alternative to Yoshida's analysis of closed syllable shortening is offered in van der
Hulst & Rowicka (1997), Rowicka (1999a,b). The idea here is that the head of the long
vowel shortens in an attempt to trochaically govern the empty nucleus.
18. Van der Torre (1998) uses the structure in (23b) for coda-onset sequences, thus making
the coda a specifier to the onset.
19. This alternative has been suggested in Ritter & Vago (1999) to account for special cases
of compensatory lengthening in which deletion of a coda consonant triggers lengthen-
ing of the preceding vowel (e.g. Hungarian dialectal [ku:d] vs. standard [küld] kiild
'send'). In van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep.) we argue our case in greater length.
20. In the theory proposed in Van der Hulst (1995, 1996, 1999), the syllabic constituents
have the following notation:
a. C" b. C" c. V" d. V"
I Κ Io Κ
C° C° V o V V o c°
We do not adopt this notation here; cf. van der Hulst (in prep.) for discussion.
21. Onsets and rhymes are represented on different planes and thus not linearly ordered.
Since, in HDP, the onset and rhyme constituents are part and parcel of the phonological
representation, we could also assume that the linear order of segments within these con-
stituents is not encoded phonologically. This issue is discussed in Golston & van der
Hulst (1999), and in van der Hulst & Ritter (1999, in prep ).
22. Cf. Ritter (1995) on Hungarian.
23. The limitations arise from a syntagmatic requirement of homorganicity with the fol-
lowing onset (sect. 2.2.3), or paradigmatic restrictions on the position itself (sect.
2.2.2.2). We assume here that 'glides' can be in the nuclear dependent position, to form
diphthongs, i.e. when they pattern with the closed syllables. In other cases, when they
pattern with long vowels, diphthongs will be bi-nuclear; cf. van der Hulst & Ritter (in
prep).
24. At this point it might be better to replace the use of the term nucleus by the term rhyme.
25. The abandonment of treating long vowels as branching nuclei has also been proposed in
the context of 'strict CV theory' (Lowenstamm 1996). cf. also Scheer (1996, 1998),
Rowicka (1999b), Rennison (this volume). Lowenstamm, however, makes this proposal
in the context of a theory that completely disallows branching syllabic constituents.
Thus, what others analyze as branching onsets, are really two successive onsets for
Lowenstamm, the first one being followed by an empty nucleus. In addition, no closed
syllables are allowed, since nuclei cannot branch either. We do not follow Lowenstamm
in his revolutionary proposal, although this does not exclude that many languages,
which on the surface seem to display branching onsets and closed syllables, are in fact
strict CV type languages. A case in point is the language Leti that van der Hulst & van
Engelenhoven (1995) and van der Hülst & Klamer (1986) analyze as strictly CV,
despite the fact that words may start with two consonants, and exhibit occurrences of
intervocalic consonant clusters and closed syllables word-finally.
26. The discussion of VCC is complicated by the fact that these strings could also involve a
branching nucleus:
Ν, O WS
Ν I I
XX X X
a l ρ [0]
To block VCC in this case, we need Charette's (1990) notion of government-licensing;

cf. (19a).
27. In van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep), we offer an analysis of cases in which the contrast
in the vowel system does not involve length but a tense-lax opposition (as in Dutch; cf.
van Oostendorp 1995, and German; cf. Vennemann 1991). Here we observe the phe-
nomenon, that is parallel to what we have observed in type II languages, viz. that
'tautosyllabic' medial sequences VtcriseC and V|axCC are prohibited ('a' is a tense vowel,
Ά ' a lax one):
N," 0 N2" 0 N3"
I I I I
1 1 1 1 I
N° 0° N° 0° N°
a 1 [0] Ρ [0] *[ ...alpo...]

ΝΓ 0 N2" 0 N3"
Κ 1 1 1 I
N°N° 0° N° 0° N°
A 1 Ρ [0] k [0] *[...Alpko...]

The analysis is that in such cases, parametrically, empty nuclei are simply not allowed
medially. If, however, N2 is the final nucleus in the domain, a domain-final empty nu-
cleus being licensed, the structures [...al] and [...Alp] are well-formed. We propose a
representation for lax vowels, as 'subcategorizing' for a nuclear dependent, in section
2.2.3, (37b).
28. In line with section 2.1, we do not reckon with so-called unbounded feet.
29. It has been claimed that if indeed feet are trochaic only, the head-orientation would
switch with every subsequent level in the prosodie structure and this might lead to the
expectation that the word must be right-headed:
onset/nucleus left
syllable right
foot left
word right
In our model, however, this tendency cannot be expressed, since the syllable is not a
recognized level in the prosodie hierarchy. We will not dwell here on arguments against
iambic feet; we see this as an independent issue.
30. In English, the word-head is on the right. This means that the rightmost foot is the head.
Our example in (7) shows that there may be further conditions in the sense that the
rightmost foot can only be the head i f f Λ is branching and its head is a full vowel.
31. If a final syllable forms a monosyllabic foot and primary accent falls on the final sylla-
ble in a right-headed language, we must postulate a silent 'catalectic' syllable. The
theory proposed here would otherwise skip the final non-branching foot, i.e. what has
been called the 'LCPR'-effect (Liberman & Prince 1977).
32. In our theory, coda consonants also occur in the nuclear dependent position. This
seemingly implies that the nuclear dependent position allows more contrast than the nu-
clear head. This paradox is addressed in van der Hulst & Ritter (in prep.)
33. As it may be noted, nasals are clearly absent from either the head or the dependent
position when a licensing relation within the onset ensues. This is due to the ambiguous
nature of nasals in that they bear characteristics of both sonorants as well as stops (pro-
totypical obstruents). This hybrid state of nasals does not permit them to be construed
as purely one or the other; therefore, they do not occur in dependent position due to
their displaying occlusion in the oral cavity similar to oral stops, and they do not occur
in the head position of a licensing relation due to their inclination to behave as sono-
rants.
34. There are other vowels which can be the first member of a heavy diphthong, such as loi.
In such cases, we rely upon our understanding of the structure of segmental expressions
and claim that the internal structure of these segments contains the A element, the ele-
ment most representative of vocalic pharyngeal aperture. In this way, the head position
in a branching nucleic constituent either contains the A element by itself (realized as
/a/) or some combination of the A element with another element.
35. An issue that needs further attention is to what extent inter-constituent licensing rela-
tions are bound to 'higher' constituents, such as the foot.
36. A language that allows branching onsets will not, however, disallow syllables like
CCV, i.e. syllables that have a branching onset and a non-branching nucleus. The head-
dependent asymmetry noted here holds between the parameters in this case and not
between the onsets and rhymes that cooccur in a syllabic unit.
37. See Piggott (1991) and Polgárdi (1998) on the interaction between final licensing and
coda licensing.
38. In this form Ni is empty but not licensed and thus audible as [i], N3 is licesend by
domain-final licensing in this language.
39. The structure of a spurious geminate is claimed to be distinct from a true geminate
(represented by a coda/onset domain) since spurious geminates permit long vowels to
precede them while true geminates do not and, as a consequence, the latter show evi-
dence of closed syllable effects such as vowel shortening. If spurious geminates are rep-
resented as two onsets, this predicts the possibility of either a long or short vowel be-
fore such type of geminate structure. A true geminate, on the other hand, comprising a
relation between a rhymal coda and its following onset, would forestall the possibility
of allowing a branching nucleus to precede this geminate relation for, otherwise, the re-
sultant structure would contain a branching nucleus within a branching rhyme.
40. The term 'foot' here is not necessarily meant to coincide with the notion foot in metri-
cal/stress systems, but rather is a term which captures the organization of nuclei; cf. van
der Hulst & Rowicka (1997) for discussion of this point.
41. Why [a] is unlikely as the epenthetic vowel may follow from the high sonority of this
sound. The optimal vocalic sound is an unlikely realization of a nuclear position that
does not display vocalic contrasts.
42. Minor syllables are also sometimes referred to in the literature as 'presyllables', or
'sequisyllables' together with their base.
43. According to DifEloth (1976), vocalic contrasts in minor syllables may be found in the
Aslian branch of languages.
44. There is an exception, namely that ? and h never occur after long vowels and very rarely
after diphthongs. Perhaps this is due to the weak ability of these laryngeal segments,
which lack any substantive place features/elements, to syntagmatically license the
empty content of the adjacent nuclear dependent preceding them. Moreover, in further
support of this notion that these laryngeal segments are weak licensors, it is also inter-
esting to note that there is no minor syllable coda assimilation when ?and h do appear
as major syllable codas following a short vowel.
45. This example in (b) is not meant to suggest that there is an empty sequence NON in the
monoconsonantal minor syllable. Rather, the structure of the minor syllable in this case
will be monosyllabic (i.e. one 0"-N" domain) with only one empty nuclear position.
Furthermore, it is not the case that the initial consonant /c/ could form a cluster with the
major syllable onset /m/, since /cm/ is not one of the permitted onset clusters cited in
the beginning of section 3.2 above. Moreover, even when a consonant has the phono-
tactic potential to become part of a major syllable onset cluster, it can still form its own
minor syllable, producing minimal pairs such as klook 'bamboo bowl' and k.look 'slit
drum'.
46. Short, or checked vowels cannot be followed in Kammu by more than one consonant.
This implies that the coda position that lax vowels are subcategorized for must be
empty (which is a type of requirement that occurs independently in languages which
only allow the left-half of geminates to close syllables), and thus that final consonants
following lax vowels are technically geminates; cf. (29b).
47. In fact, Smalley (1961) says syllabic nasals and liquids actualize as [iC] when syllabic
and just [C] when nonsyllabic, i.e. when following full vowels or when onsets.
48. When the final vowel is short or lax (checked), a following consonant occurs in coda
position, again like in Kammu.
49. At this point, we believe that the reason that the dependent syllable in the strong foot
can be empty but not reduce stems from two notions; the first being that there are two
different representations for positions that can be silent (i.e. an empty nucleus) and
those that contain an overt schwa (i.e. an empty root node or an empty segment); sec-
tion 2.4.4; the second being the role that paradigmatic domination relations play with
respect to this position. A fuller explanation than this, however, cannot be given here
due to space limitations.
50. A major syllable coda containing only a laryngeal element (P or h) is not a strong
enough licensor to license the 0 2 position by melodic spreading. In such cases, the
vowel of the major syllable must also be infixed in the minor syllable with the result
that two prosodie words arise: c.meh '(exp.) become small' > cch mch '(exp.) small'.
51. Intrusive stop insertion could be a way of strengthening the governing onset by maxi-
mizing its structure since the ability of the major syllable onset to govern as a simple
onset is impossible due to its being more sonorous than its dependent nasal onset.
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7 The syllable in German: Exploring an alternative
Wiebke Brockhaus
1. Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the role of the syllable in the phonology of
German. It takes as its point of departure the general arguments in favor of the
syllable which are summarized in Kenstowicz (1994: 250) and then asks
whether these arguments aie really as compelling as is widely thought. What
emerges from the discussion is that referring to a syllable node is not neces-
sarily the only, or perhaps the best, strategy for dealing with certain phono-
logical phenomena. Alternatives are available. Specifically, I try to show that a
framework such as Government Phonology has the potential for handling the
relevant constraints and events in terms of universal principles and parameters
which never mention the syllable. Language-specific facts can be captured
through the settings of a relatively small number of parameters, without the
need for devices such as language-specific sonority hierarchies or syllable
schémas, which are in no way constrained by Universal Grammar. By the same
token, the problems caused by the excessive power or destructive nature of
extrasyllabicity and resyllabification vanish completely, as neither strategy is
needed in the grammar.
The chapter is organized as follows. In section 2, I briefly review the three
main reasons for positing the syllable as a phonological unit. How the facts of
German can be dealt with under the assumptions discussed in section 2 is the
topic of section 3. Here, I provide data illustrating some of the most important
distributional facts and phonological processes which have been related to the
syllable in previous work. Specifically, I consider these matters in the light of
the most recent, and one of the most detailed studies of the phonology of Ger-
man currently available, viz. Wiese (1996). The theoretical framework of
Wiese's study is "a combination of Lexical Phonology, non-linear phonology,
and underspecification theory" (Wiese 1996: 4). In section 4, I give a very brief
introduction to another framework, that of Government Phonology, which
makes no reference to the syllable. I return to Wiese's account of the syllable in
German in section 5, and show that a way of handling the same data, and
covering a great deal more empirical ground besides, can be developed using
Government Phonology. The chapter is concluded in section 6.
170 Wiebke Brockhaus
2. General arguments in favor of the syllable
In this section, I very briefly review the role of the syllable in recent
phonological theory and the most important reasons for positing a syllable
constituent.
For most phonologists today, there is very little need to provide detailed
arguments for the syllable as a unit of phonological analysis. Although the
specifics of the internal organization of the syllable may still be a matter for
debate, a general consensus concerning the need for the syllable per se has
existed for some time. As observed by Blevins (1995), the syllable has been
recognized by phonologists for much of this century, although SPE (= Chomsky
& Halle 1968), the seminal work in generative phonology, officially denied its
existence. However, even the authors of SPE themselves were unable to follow
this policy through, and repeatedly made reference to the syllable, at least in-
formally. 1 This rejection of the syllable as a formal unit led to unnecessary
complications of rules, among other things, and was soon exposed as a weak-
ness of generative phonology by researchers such as Anderson (1969), Fudge
(1969), Vennemann (1972), Hooper (1972) and Kahn (1976), who paved the
way for the return of the syllable. Today, both textbooks (such as Carr 1993,
Roca 1994, Kenstowicz 1994 and Spencer 1996) and publications intended for
the research community (such as Goldsmith 1995) contain sizeable sections or
entire chapters on the syllable, bearing witness to the fact that "syllable struc-
ture is considered indispensable for expressing many phonological generaliza-
tions" (Carr 1993: 195).
The main arguments which have led to this position are conveniently summa-
rized in Kenstowicz (1994: 250) and can be stated as in (1).
(1) The syllable is a useful concept in phonology, for three main reasons:
a. It is a natural domain for the statement of many phonotactic constraints;
b. Phonological rules are often more simply and insightfully expressed if
they explicitly refer to the syllable2;
c. Several phonological processes are best interpreted as methods to en-
sure that the string of phonological segments is parsable into syllables.
There are numerous examples illustrating each of these three points which can
be gleaned from the facts of German, and it is to these facts that we turn in the
next section.
The syllable in German 171
3. The syllable in Standard German
The first part of this section provides a short pre-theoretical survey of some
syllable-related facts of Modern Standard German {Hochlautung). In the light
of several sets of data, I will consider the structure of the German onset and
rhyme, and discuss some of the most important distributional restrictions and
phonological processes. The second part of the section summarizes how the
facts described in the first part have been dealt with in a detailed recent study
(Wiese 1996).
3.1. A pre-theoretical survey of the facts
(Standard) German, like many other Indo-European languages, has a rather

complex syllable structure, which, in many respects, is very similar to that of
English. To discuss the details of this, I assume a fairly widely adopted struc-
ture,3 viz. the one shown in (2), illustrated by the German word plant ([plaint]
'(he/she/it) plans').
(2) σ ^
O R
χ χ χ χ χ χ
I I ν I I
ρ 1 a η t
The representation in (2) implies that the syllable (σ) is divided into two main
parts, the onset (O) at the left edge and the rhyme (R) at the right. The rhyme
can be further subdivided into nucleus (N) and coda (C). The skeletal units used
here are x's, rather than C's and V's, 4 but nothing in the present chapter de-
pends on this choice.
In the following paragraphs, I first of all investigate German onsets.5 For this
purpose, as for the discussion of rhymes which follows later, I omit those which
only occur in readily identifiable, unassimilated foreign borrowings.6 German,
like English, permits single-segment onsets, two-member onsets, and three-
member onsets. It also exhibits what could be thought of as empty onsets.7 Two
examples of each type are given in (3), beginning with the 'empty' onsets.
(3) a. Ehrung [e:Kuq] 'honour' Alter [alte] 'age'

b. Tasche [taja] 'bag' Haus [haus] 'house'
c. Traum [teaum] 'dream' Pflicht [pfliçt] 'duty'
d. Spruch [fpKux] 'saying' Streit [Jteait] 'quarrel'
The cases in (3a) and (3b) need not concern us further, whereas those in (3c)
and, particularly, in (3d) are discussed in detail later in the chapter. The table in
(4) provides a comprehensive survey of all two-member onset clusters occur-
ring in native vocabulary. It shows that two-member onset clusters consist of an
obstruent (specifically, a plosive or a voiceless fricative or affricate) occupying
the first slot and, typically, a liquid filling the second. There are a few cases,
though, where a nasal ([n] or [m]) or a fricative/glide ([v])8 is found in the C 2 -
slot. After [J], even a plosive ([p] or [t]) can occur here.
(4)
C2: κ 1 Ρ t k ν m η
C,:
Ρ + + - - - - - -
t + - - - - - - -
k + + - - - + - +
b + + - - - - - -
d + - - - - - - -
g + + - - - - - +
pf + + - - - - - -
ts - - - - - + - -
f + + - - - - - -
b. J + + + + - + + +
In three-member onsets, Q is a voiceless sibilant, as in English (although

German has [J] rather than [s]). The second member is a (voiceless) plosive
(except [k])9 and the third a liquid. The three-member onset clusters can then be
summarized as in (5), with the proviso that *[Jtl] is excluded, because of a
prohibition on *[tl],
(5) C, C2 C3
J {p,t} {*,!}
Having considered the possibilities for the German onset, we now turn to the
rhyme. Although there may be arguments for a further subdivision into nucleus
and coda, as shown in (2), there is a strong interaction between the two, so that
it makes sense to discuss them together. If, for the time being, we adopt as
simplistic a view of the rhyme as we did of the onset, we can identify German
rhymes in a very straightforward way. All we need to do is to take monosyl-
labic words and remove their onsets. Everything that remains must be part of
the rhyme. Under this assumption (which, like the claim that word-initial clus-
ters necessarily constitute onsets, is exposed as false in section 5), we can con-
clude only that German has very complex rhymes, with short vowels being
followed by up to five consonants, as in the gen. sg. form Herbsts (/herpsts/
[heçpsts],10 'autumn'). Long vowels, as one would expect, can be followed by
maximally four consonants, e.g. in Obsts ([o:psts], 'fruit'), which is also a gen.
sg. form.11
If we assume that vowels occupy the nucleus, while consonants are domi-
nated by the coda constituent, we can cite at least three examples of coda con-
straints. The first and most well-known of these is probably that the voicing
contrast in obstruents is neutralized here. Specifically, only voiceless obstruents
may occur in a syllable coda. The special status of the coda also manifests itself
in the fact that consonantal [κ] is typically vocalized to [ç]. Thirdly, in North-
ern Standard German,12 underlying /g/ is devoiced and spirantized to [ç] or [x]
when occurring in the coda. These constraints give rise to alternations both
word-internally and word-finally, although the examples in (6) illustrate the
word-final environment only.
(6) a. Final devoicing

Tag 'day' [ta:k] [taiga] Tage 'days'
brav 'good' [bKa:f] [biraiva] brave 'good' (nom. pl.)
halb 'half ' [halp] [halba] halbe 'half (nom. pl.)
b. /r/-vocalization
ihr 'their' [ire] [ί:κο] ihre 'their' (nom. pl.)
stur 'stubborn' [Jturg] [JtuiBs] sture 'stubborn' (nom. pl.)
wirr 'confused' [vie] [νικο] wirre 'confused' (nom. pl.)
c. /g/-spirantization (Northern Standard German)

Tag 'day' [tax] [taiga] Tage 'days'
Flug 'flight' [flu:x] [flyigo] Flüge 'flights'
Sieg 'victory' [zi:ç] [zi:ga] Siege 'victories'
3.2. Wiese's approach to the syllable in German
3.2.1. Phonotactic constraints
In this section, I explore how Wiese (1996) deals with the various issues arising
in the context of syllable structure in German. I have chosen to present his
approach to these issues before my own because the combination of frame-
works (Lexical Phonology, non-linear phonology and underspecification
theory) he employs is based on widely accepted ideas and takes advantage of
machinery used throughout much of the current literature. Taking Wiese's
account first, thus offers a straightforward way into the discussion and makes
the chapter more accessible.
I begin by examining Wiese's proposals for dealing with some of the dis-
tributional restrictions outlined in section 3.1. In section 3.2.2, I consider how
he handles apparently syllable-related phonological processes such as final
devoicing, and in section 3.2.3 I review his account of a process which seems to
be required to make syllabification possible.
Wiese, following a well-established tradition, proposes to capture the syl-
lable-related phonotactic facts of German with reference to a language-specific
syllable schema working in conjunction with a language-specific sonority hier-
archy. The maximal expansion of this syllable schema is shown in (7), and the
sonority hierarchy appears in (8). The idea is that the nucleus of each syllable
constitutes a sonority peak, while the other segments belonging to the same
syllable are arranged according to a falling sonority profile from the nucleus
outwards. In other words, Wiese views this issue along the lines of the Sonority
Sequencing Generalization (SSG) in (9).13
(7) Wiese 's (1996: 47, 54f.) core syllable schema (example: Thron 'throne ')
/\
C C V c c
t ν o η
(8) Wiese 's (1996: 260) sonority hierarchy for German:
obstruents nasals 1 κ high vowels vowels

(9) Sonority Sequencing Generalization (Selkirk 1984: 116)

In any syllable, there is a segment constituting a sonority peak that is pre-
ceded and/or followed by a sequence of segments with progressively de-
creasing sonority values.
Although both the syllable schema in (7) and the sonority hierarchy for German
in (8) together go quite a long way towards generating only the well-formed
syllables discussed in section 3.1, they also create some problems. The most
serious of these is perhaps that certain attested onsets and rhymes (or nucleus-
coda sequences under Wiese's approach) cannot be accommodated. Beginning
with onsets, the three-member clusters in (3d) are the most obvious example of
this. On the face of it, these clusters are incompatible with (7), (8) and (9), for
two reasons. Firstly, they simply do not fit into the two slots to the left of the
nucleus provided for in (7). Secondly, the J + plosive cluster which constitutes
the CiC2-sequence could be seen as involving a falling (rather than rising) so-
nority profile towards the syllable peak, at least according to several sonority
hierarchies put forward in the literature.14 Wiese (1996: 259f.), following
Clements (1990) and Hall (1992a, b), however, groups all obstruents together,
so that a sonority plateau, rather than a sonority slope, exists. Still, even such a
plateau is excluded by the SSG.
To solve these problems, Wiese makes the following proposals, which allow
him to kill both birds with the same stone. He (1996: 43) assumes that J + plo-
sive clusters are not sequences of two distinct segments but complex single
segments which constitute mirror images of affricates. For this reason, he terms
them SUFFRICATES,15 and an example of a word beginning with a suffricate is
given in (10).
(10) Wiese 's (1996: 43) representation of Spruch™
C C V C
A I I I
J ρ κ υ χ
Wiese provides three arguments in support of this approach. Firstly, affricates

and suffricates are very similar in their distribution. Secondly, allowing com-
plex segments consisting of a plosive + fricative sequence only in that order
would require a costlier statement in the grammar than permitting both this
particular order and its converse. Finally, historical evidence of s + plosive
clusters behaving differently from 'ordinary' onsets may also be worth bearing
in mind.17 For example, in Gothic, which Wiese (1996: 43) claims to be among
the "historic precursors of German", s + plosive clusters are fully reduplicated,
whereas typical branching onsets are not.
Having seen how Wiese deals with the problems arising at the left edge of
the German syllable, we can now focus on the right edge. Consider the data in
(11), mostly taken from Wiese (1996: 48).
(11) a. lehn+t [le:nt] '(he/she/it) leans'

Schal+s [Jails] 'scarf (gen. sg.)
lehn+st [lernst] '(you, sg. fam.) lean'
glaub+t [glaupt] '(he/she/it) believes'
Laub+s [laups] 'foliage' (gen. sg.)
glaub+st [glaupst] '(you, sg. fam.) believe'
b. Jagd [ja:kt] 'hunt' Markt [magkt] 'market'

Herbst [heepst] 'autumn' Obst [o:pst] 'fruit'
Haupt [haupt] 'head'
Again, Wiese's core syllabification machinery seems inadequate. The syllable

schema in (7) has only three slots available to accommodate up to five seg-
ments. However, it is striking that no phonotactic constraints appear to hold
between the coronal obstruents occurring close to or at the right edge of the
syllable and the segments to their left. This suggests that treating the coronals as
extrasyllabic may be an appropriate solution. Specifically, Wiese (1996: 48)
argues "that German allows an extrasyllabic coronal obstruent word-finally".
Bearing in mind that the /st/ cluster is to be interpreted as a complex segment,
this statement seems sufficient for handling the data in (II). 18 Extrasyllabic
consonants may then be adjoined by the rule in (12), which applies late in the
derivation. Alternatively, extrasyllabic consonants, which only occur word-
finally, could be adjoined to the word node.
(12) Wiese 's (1996: 56) obstruent adjunction rule
C C V C C C
[+obstruent]
Extrasyllabicity, however, may be required not only at the right edge. Wiese
(1996: 264) also hints that extrasyllabicity at the left edge could be the best way
to deal with initial J" + sonorant clusters. The argument for this goes as follows.
German, like a number of other Indo-European languages, has branching on-
sets, but does not, on the whole, permit sequences of homorganic segments to
occupy the positions within such onsets. So, the onset clusters in (13a) are well-
formed, but the ones in (13b) are not. The two clusters in (13c), however, do
not conform to the general pattern, in that they are common in native German
words and yet are homorganic. Wiese suggests that positing extrasyllabic [J]
would capture this special status.
(13) Examples of well-formed and ill-formed onset clusters (based on Wiese

1996: 262f.)
a. [pi, ρκ, tK, kl, ICK, kv, kn, bl, b», dn, gl, G K ]
[pfK, pfl, fl, fk, Jk, Jm, jv]
b. *[pm, ti, tn, kq, bm, dl, dn, gq]
*[pfm, fm]
c. Problematic cases: [Jl, Jn]
3.2.2. Processes best expressed with reference to the syllable
Having seen how some of the most important phonotactic constraints can be
dealt with in terms of syllable structure, we can now turn to phonological pro-
cesses. Specifically, we can consider examples of phonological processes in
German which are best captured in terms of the syllable (motivation (lb) in
section 2).
Without a doubt, the most well-known and most widely cited syllable-related
phonological process in German is final devoicing.19 The effects of this event
were already illustrated in (6a) and in Wiese's account are handled by the final
devoicing rule in (14). This rule stipulates that a [+voice] specification is de-
linked from any obstruent occurring immediately to the left of a syllable boun-
dary.20 The [-voice] specification can then be filled in by default.
(14) Wiese 's (1996: 204) final devoicing rule
R: [+obstruent]
Laryngeal
[+voice]
Wiese (1996: 206-209, 252-258) also proposes several rules to deal with the
two other phonological processes resulting from coda constraints (viz. /r/-vo-
calization and /g/-spirantization), but lack of space precludes me from discuss-
ing these.
3.2.3. Processes which make syllabification possible
Before concluding this brief survey of some of Wiese's proposals for the Ger-
man syllable, we need to consider a phonological process which can be inter-
preted as a method for ensuring that a string of segments can be parsed into
syllables (motivation (lc) in section 2).
Wiese argues that there are roots which require schwa epenthesis for syllabi-
fication to be successful (e.g. /handl/ 'to act' and /ru:dr/ 'to row'). Schwa
epenthesis in such cases proceeds according to the rule in (15). Part (a) of this
rule states that a skeletal position is inserted to the left of an unsyllabified posi-
tion which itself immediately precedes a prosodie word boundary. Part (b) only
illustrates what is handled by more general statements about underspecification
elsewhere in the grammar, viz. that a skeletal point created in this way will end
up being syllabified into a V-position occupied by the default vowel schwa.
(15) Wiese 's (1996: 243) schwa epenthesis rule

a. 0 X/ Χ]ω
b. X V
I
[β]
In (16) we see some of the stages of a derivation involving schwa epenthesis.
(16) Partial derivation o/Filter ([filta] 'filter') (based on Wiese 1996: 244)
a. /filtr/ underlying
b. Syllabification
C V C C X
I I I I I
f I 1 t Β
c. Schwa epenthesis (15)
Resyllabification
4. Government Phonology: its view of the syllable, its primes and some
principles of grammar
In this and the following sections of the chapter, I try to show that the syllable
may not be needed in phonological theory, after all, and that the reasons for
referring to it given in (1) can be dealt with in different, perhaps more appropri-
ate, ways. My argumentation is based on the assumption that Occam's Razor
(see e.g. Lass 1984: 38) is a valid scientific principle and that structural units
should be posited only if they can be shown to be necessary. The null hypothe-
sis with regard to the syllable would, then, be that the existence of a syllable
node should be assumed only if other, independently motivated, units of struc-
ture are unsuitable for capturing the generalizations usually viewed as manifes-
tations of the syllable. At present, it seems that no compelling evidence in favor
of a syllable node has been put forward in the literature and that the null hy-
pothesis should at least be explored further. This is essentially the stance
adopted in Government Phonology (GP), to which I provide a brief introduction

here.2'
In the absence of a syllable (node), GP obviously needs to have alternative
structures and mechanisms in place which perform the functions usually at-
tributed to the syllable. Let me outline these very briefly. Firstly, GP recognizes
so-called constituents, which bear the names Onset, Nucleus and Rhyme. All the
forms these constituents may take are shown in (17), but it may be worth noting
that the rhyme is the first projection of the nucleus. In other words, the two Ν
nodes in (17b) could be thought of as being immediately dominated by an R
node, which, however, is often omitted in the literature, for simplicity's sake.
The arrows in (17) indicate intra-constituent licensing relations (see below),
and heads are emboldened.
(17) The three GP constituents
a. onset b. nucleus c. rhyme
O O O Ν Ν Ν
A A
What may seem surprising is that the constituents are called onset, nucleus and
rhyme - in the absence of a syllable node. As Rennison (1992) observes, these
constituents are primitives of the theory, and the terms used are suggestive only
of the historical derivation of these primitives from earlier work on the syllable.
Another question arising from (17) is why the constituents should be maxi-
mally binary. The reason for this is the following. 'Government' Phonology,
which could just as well be referred to as 'Licensing' Phonology, takes the view
that licensing relations drive all phonological processing. (Licensing relations
are asymmetric binary relations,22 and governing relations,23 which give the
theory its name, are particularly restrictive licensing relations.) This fundamen-
tal idea is captured in the Licensing Principle in (18), stating that all skeletal
positions must be licensed in each domain, except for the head of that domain.24
Wherever licensing relations are established, they define a phonological do-
main.
(18) Licensing Principle (Kaye 1990: 306)

All phonological positions save one must be licensed within a domain.
The unlicensed position is the head of this domain.
Licensing relations can be set up at the skeletal level, where they are universally
left-headed within constituents. This is known as strict directionality. Licensing
relations are also strictly local, that is, the positions entering into such a relation
must be adjacent. The binarity of constituents is a direct consequence of the
requirement for licensing relations to be strictly directional and strictly local.
But it is not only within constituents that licensing relations are established.
There is a network of licensing relations running through each morphological
domain, so that even between adjacent positions within separate constituents
licensing relations are contracted, with each head and complement forming a
phonological domain. These so-called inter-constituent licensing relations are
universally right-headed, as illustrated in (19).
(19) Some inter-constituent licensing relations in GΡ
a. b.
R
X X <— X X <— X
Note that nuclei invariably constitute heads of phonological domains - be they

inter-constituent or intra-constituent domains - and this is a role which can be
fulfilled only by a constituent dominating a skeletal position. Onsets, by con-
trast, need not be domain heads, so that some of them can remain without a
skeletal point, as illustrated in (17a). Both the inter-constituent licensing rela-
tions shown in (19) will be discussed in more detail in later sections of this
chapter, particularly in section 5.2, where I spell out their motivation.25
In addition to inter-constituent and intra-constituent licensing relations, there
are licensing relations at various levels of projection, which, although strictly
local at that level of projection, are parametrically variable in their directional-
ity. The dominance in vowel harmony processes and stress assignment, for
example, is determined by the setting of this parameter.
As argued by Harris (1992),26 licensing potential originates from the head of
a (morphological) domain and is then dispersed through the domain by means
of the licensing relations just described.
Any position which is called upon to license another must meet certain re-
quirements. Specifically, it must have sufficient phonological strength. Strength
in GP is gauged in terms of representational complexity, where complexity
refers to the make-up of the melodic material attached to a particular skeletal
position. This melodic material does not consist of (binary) features, but solely
of privative primes referred to as elements. Elements are cognitive entities
which can receive a physical interpretation by the speaker/hearer. Such an in-

terpretation can be described in terms of its acoustic properties, as shown in
(20).27
(20) GP elements (based on Brockhaus 1995a: 105)
Element Acoustic properties

Label Manifestation
U [u] falling fall in spectral amplitude
I [i] extremity large spectral gap
Resonance
A [α] mass convergence of Fi & F2
@ M centrality central spectral activity
h [h] noise aperiodic spectral change
Manner ? [?] edge abrupt spectral change
Ν [η] murmur low frequency intensity
L L voicing fall in pitch (F0)
Source
H H voiceless rise in pitch (F0)
Elements can be interpreted in isolation, as indicated in the second column in

(20), or be combined with each other to form compound expressions. Broadly
speaking, the complexity of an expression corresponds to the number of ele-
ments it contains. The more elements there are in an expression, the more com-
plex it is.28 The segments associated with the most complex expressions are
(released) plosives, with certain vowels and approximants constituting the least
complex. Thus, the kind of information which, in many approaches, requires a
separate sonority or strength hierarchy29 is directly encoded in the representa-
tions of individual segments. The Complexity Condition in (21) refers to this
when stipulating that heads must be at least as complex as their complements.
Note that the complexity condition refers only to governing relations, that is,
relations holding within branching constituents and within a coda-onset cluster
(see note 23 for further details), but not to other, less restrictive licensing rela-
tions, such as the relation between a nucleus and a preceding onset, for exam-
ple.
(21) Complexity Condition (based on Harris 1990 and Kaye et al. 1990)
Let α and β be segments occupying the positions A and Β respectively.
Then, if A governs Β, β must be no more complex than a.
5. How Government Phonology deals with 'syllable' structure and 'syllable-

related' processes in German
In this section, we return from the general discussion of GP to the apparently

syllable-related aspects of German and explore how the phonotactic constraints
and phonological processes outlined in section 3.2 can be dealt with in the GP
framework. Parts of the discussion have a direct bearing on whether the syllable
node is necessary or not, while others explore how the structures and mecha-
nisms available in GP deal with other issues usually considered in the context
of the syllable (such as complex onsets and rhymes).
5.1. Phonotactic constraints
5.1.1. Onsets
Taking onsets first again, we immediately encounter a problem. How are three-
member onsets, such as those illustrated in (3d), to be represented? Obviously,
the binary constituents of GP face as much of a challenge here as Wiese's core
syllable schema in (7). We need to find a way of capturing the special status of
the initial [J] (which clearly corresponds to [s] in many other languages) and we
need to fit the three segments into a two-position onset. Recall that Wiese pro-
posed to deal with J + plosive clusters by means of suffricates and that he re-
cognized evidence for extrasyllabicity in the case of J + sonorant clusters.
To tease out some of the implications of Wiese's approach, let us explore
suffricates further. Suffricates are assumed to be mirror images of affricates
and, according to Wiese (1996: 43), "the distributional possibilities for affri-
cates and the complex segments covered here [= suffricates/WGB] are to a
large extent the same". We would then expect to find suffricates in the same
environments as affricates, that is, word-initially and word-finally, as in (22a).
This, however, does not appear to be the case.
a. Affricates
Zank [tsaqk] 'quarrel' Platz [plat8] 'place'
Pfand [pfant] 'pawn' Napf [napf] 'bowl'
b. Suffricates
?
Spann [Jpan] 'instep' Lisp30 [lisp], *[lijp] 'lisp'(?)
Stall [Jtal] 'stable' Last [last], *[lajt] 'load'
Post-vocalically, suffricates either do not occur at all or are exceedingly rare,31

from which we could conclude that they are rather different from affricates. On
the other hand, suffricates may simply have two allophones, viz. a pre-vocalic
one containing [J] and a post-vocalic one containing [s]. This possibility, how-
ever, would lead us to the same conclusion - suffricates are fundamentally
different from affricates, as German affricates exhibit no allophonic variation.
Either way, suffricates will not fit the Procrustean bed made up by their alleged
similarity with affricates. The difference between suffricates and affricates
suggests that sibilant + plosive clusters, unlike affricates, may be sensitive to
what is located to their left - and this is a factor which the GP analysis can
readily take into account.
The structure of s/J" + consonant sequences that is usually assumed in GP is
shown in (23). It was first proposed in Kaye (1992), with supporting evidence
from British English, Italian, Ancient Greek and European Portuguese. The
arrows represent licensing relations, as before.
(23) The representation of s + C (or f+ C) clusters in GP (Kaye 1992: 293)
How well does this structure work for German? Consider the representation of
Spruch in (24) and compare it with that of Gast in (25).
(24) GP representation o/Spruch (fJpKux] 'saying')
O Ì O N O N
A I I I
χ χ χ χ χ χ χ
; ρ κ υ χ
(25) GP representation of Gast ([gast] 'guest')
O Ο Ν
χ χ χ χ χ
I I I I
g a s t
Incidentally, here and elsewhere, I have used IPA symbols on the melody tier
instead of element-based representations. Readers not used to the latter would
find them rather difficult to interpret. In any case, the details of the melody are
irrelevant here. Where they do matter, GP elements will be used.
Comparing (24) and (25), we can see that, in both cases, the coronal fricative
[s] or [J] is attached to a post-nuclear rhymal position. This position is often
referred as the coda, for short, although GP does not recognize a coda con-
stituent.32 However, in (24), the nucleus to the left of the coda is empty,
whereas in (25) it has phonetic content. It seems to be the case that the realiza-
tion of the fricative is sensitive to this. Such sensitivity would not be surprising,
as there is a licensing relation between the nucleus and the coda position, with
the nucleus providing part of the licensing necessary for the coda to be audible.
It appears that, if this nuclear position has no melodic content (and is located at
the left edge of a domain), then we hear [J], otherwise [s], in German.33
Having seen that J + plosive clusters are represented as in (23) in GP, we can
now turn to J + sonorant clusters. As far as GP is concerned, these would be
expected to have exactly the same structure. For Wiese, by contrast, J + sono-
rant clusters are structurally distinct from J + plosive clusters. The former may
require extrasyllabicity, whereas the latter are treated as suffricates. Curiously,
however, J + sonorant clusters pattern with J + plosive clusters in dialectal
variation. To see the shape this variation may take, let us begin by considering
varieties located at both ends of the spectrum, English at one and Standard
German at the other. Relevant words are listed in (26), with English consis-
tently exhibiting [s] and German [J].
English German
a. spade [speid] Spaten [Jpaten] 'spade'
stone [staun] Stein [Jtam] 'stone'
b. scream [skii:m] schreien [/Karen] 'to scream'
c. swine [swain] Schwein [Jvain] 'swine'
d. sleep [sli:p] Schlaf [Jla:f] 'sleep'
smeary [smiaii] schmierig [JmiiKiç] 'smeary'
snout [snaut] Schnauze [Jnaüfa] 'snout'
This difference between the two closely related languages arose historically
during the transition from Middle High German (MHG) to New High German
(NHG), as described by e.g. König (1994: 151). In fact, there are still some
Low German (particularly West Low Saxon) dialects (e.g. Mascherode near
Brunswick, see Bethge & Flechsig 1958) which have maintained the old sys-
tem, where s + consonant clusters occur very much as in English.34 More im-
portantly, though, there are dialects exhibiting hybrid systems,35 with [J] show-
ing up only in some of the clusters illustrated in (26). The patterns of these
dialects are summarized in (27).
(27)
C2: ρ t m η 1 κ ν
C,:
a. S + + + + + - +
J - - - - - +
b. s _ _ _ _ _ _ +
J + + + + + + -
c. § _ _ _ _ _ _ _
J + + + + + + +
Given Wiese's account, one would expect clusters containing plosives (i.e.
suffricates) to behave differently from clusters containing any other segment
type in C2. This, however, is not the case. All patterns in (27) show that plo-
sives have the same status within sibilant + consonant clusters as nasals and
laterals do, but not as rhotics and labio-dental fricatives/glides. The GP analysis
outlined above, by contrast, predicts that all sibilant + consonant clusters be-
have identically. Clearly, this is also incorrect. However, the GP account has
the potential for the kind of refinement which would bring out the special status
of [κ] and [v], whereas Wiese's does not appear to offer this possibility. If the
dual identity of [v] discussed in note 8 is taken seriously, one could argue that
[v] and [κ] are the only segments among the C 2 's listed in (27) which lack a
manner element and which, consequently, have very low complexity. The
(rather conservative) representations of these segments shown in (28) illustrate
this point.
(28) a. b.
χ χ
U U U
A
I
@
h h h
I I
? ?
Ν Ν
[p] [t] Μ [ν] [1] [m] [η] [s] m
Assuming, with Chalfont (1997), that only manner elements (i.e. h, ? and N)
count for gauging the complexity of an expression (as first mentioned in note
28), then the lateral, the plosives and the nasals in (28a) would have a com-
plexity of 1 and 2,36 respectively, whereas [κ] and [v] would score 0. This may
not seem particularly significant at first, but when this fact is considered in the
light of the complexity condition (21) and the representation of sibilant + con-
sonant clusters in (23), then its implications begin to emerge. It becomes clear
that a structure such as (23) with either [κ] or [v] (as represented in (28a)) at-
tached to the governing onset position x 3 is in conflict with the complexity
condition. As can be seen by glancing at (28b), both [s] and [J] have a com-
plexity score of 1, so that the complexity slope from x 3 to the coda position x 2
is rising rather than level or falling, as required by the complexity condition.
This forces the conclusion that (23) cannot be the correct representation of [Jk]
or [Jv] clusters. Instead, the complexity slope suggests that the structure in-
volved is a branching onset, as shown in (17a). This seems a desirable result, as
further evidence to support it is readily available. Firstly, rhotics are cross-lin-
guistically the segments which are most commonly associated with onset com-
plement positions. German itself has eight clear-cut branching onsets of this
type, as exemplified in (3c) and summarized in (4a). Secondly, [ν] also appears
in two German clusters containing heads which are so complex in their compo-
sition that they are unattested in codas. These clusters, [kv] and [tsv] (e.g.
Quittung [kvitoq], 'receipt' and zwei [tsvai], 'two'), are therefore most likely to
constitute branching onsets. In other words, German appears to have two
branching onsets with [v] in the complement position in any case.37
Apart from the patterning of J" + sonorant with J + plosive clusters just dis-
cussed, I would like to mention one more argument for the structure in (23) at
this point. This argument consists of the fact that some languages deal with s/J
+ consonant clusters in loan items by means of a prothetic vowel, which is also
accounted for in a straightforward way under the GP analysis. All that has to be
said is that such languages do not permit the initial nucleus to remain empty,38
and the prothetic vowel is simply a matter of giving it a phonetic interpretation.
Dziubalska-Kolaczyk (1993/94: 154), for example, observes that some Spanish
speakers learning German render a word like Straße ([JtKaisa] 'street') as
[astraisa], with a prothetic vowel. Mutatis mutandis, the same is true of similar
clusters involving sonorants.39
To summarize, then, treating J + plosive clusters as suffricates and positing
other structures for the remaining NHG J + consonant clusters make it impos-
sible to account for either the patterning of these clusters in some Low German
dialects or for the fact that prothesis commonly occurs where J + consonant
clusters are learned by speakers of languages without such (initial) clusters (e.g.
Spanish). The GP proposals developed here, by contrast, shed light on both. It
has emerged from the discussion that, for theory-internal reasons, Standard
German [Jv] and [JK] should be treated as branching onsets, while [Jp Jt Jm Jn]
and [Jl] seem to constitute coda-onset clusters. This distinction between the two
cluster types is mirrored in some Low German dialects by the fact that either
[s/Jv] or [S/JK] fails to pattern with [Jp Jt Jm Jn Jl] or [sp st sm sn si] with re-
gard to the realization of the cluster-initial fricative (see (27)). As for prothesis,
the presence of a nuclear position provides a skeletal slot for a vowel which
may or may not be audible, depending on what the licensing requirements of
the language concerned are.
5.1.2. Rhymes
How can the binary constituents of GP accommodate complex clusters at the

right edge? Consider the items in (1 la) first of all, which are reproduced here as
(29), for convenience.
lehn+t [lernt] '(he/she/it) leans'

Schal+s [Jails] 'scarf (gen. sg.)
lehn+st [leinst] '(you, sg. fam.) lean'
Laub+s [laups] 'foliage' (gen. sg.)
glaub+st [glaupst] '(you, sg. fam.) believe'
All of these are clearly morphologically complex, containing a 3rd sg. pres.
ind., a masc./neut. sg. gen. suffix, and a 2nd sg. fam. pres. ind. suffix, respec-
tively. As far as GP is concerned, morphological complexity may or may not be
visible to the phonology. Roughly speaking, where affixation does not interact
with the root, the phonology is aware of the affix or affixes being present and
treats the individual morphemes as separate. An example of this would be the
past tense form of the English verb seem, where no so-called closed syllable
shortening can be observed - by contrast with a pair such as sleep ~ slept. Also,
the nasal and the following plosive in seemed disagree in their place of articu-
lation, which is unusual, because place agreement in nasal + stop clusters is
typical of Germanic languages. Morphology of this kind, which creates clusters
not normally found in monomorphemic forms, is referred to as analytic mor-
phology in GP. Analytic forms correspond roughly to those involving regular
inflection or Class II derivation in Lexical Phonology (see e.g. Giegerich 1985:
Chapter 2).40 Lexical Phonology's Class I derivation (like irregular inflection),
by contrast, is not visible to the phonology in GP at all. As far as the phonology
is concerned, it is dealing with just one domain that cannot be further analyzed.
A regularly inflected form would then be represented as in (30), which
shows a configuration involving an analytic structure. There are two domains,
that of the root, and that of the root incorporating the affix.
(30) GP representation o/lehnt ([le:nt] '(he/she/it) leans')
0 Ni 0 N2 0 N3
1 A 1 1 1 1
X X X X χ] X x]
1 V 1 1
1 e η t
The phonology first sees the root only, and any phonological events, as driven
by the establishment of licensing relations, apply there, in accordance with the
minimalist principle in (31).
(31) Application of phonological processes (Kaye 1995: 291)

Processes apply whenever the conditions that trigger them are satisfied.
Once all licensing relations have been established and the root has been fully
interpreted, the brackets are erased and the same procedures apply to the entire
domain comprising both root and suffix.
The question arising in this context is, of course, what the status of the two
empty nuclear positions N2 and N3 in (30) is. To deal with this point, we need
to note that GP operates with empty categories, the occurrence of which is
controlled by the Empty Category Principle (ECP) in (32).41
(32) The Phonological Empty Category Principle (Kaye 1995: 295)

A p-licensed (empty) category receives no phonetic interpretation.
P-licensing:
1. domain-final (empty) categories are p-licensed (parameterized)
2. properly governed (empty) nuclei are p-licensed
3. a nucleus within an inter-onset domain is p-licensed
Proper government:42
a properly governs β iff
a) a and β are adjacent on the relevant projection,
b) α is not itself licensed, and
c) no governing domain separates α from β.
N2 and N3 in (30) are both straightforward cases. They are domain-final, which
means that the Final Empty Nucleus Parameter in (33) applies to them. Its de-
fault setting is OFF (as in languages which do not tolerate consonants at the
right edge of a domain, such as Italian, Hua, Zulu, Telugu, etc.), but for lan-
guages like German (English, French, etc.) it is set at ON. Therefore, N2 and N3
in (30) are licensed to remain empty, whatever else may happen in the deriva-
tion.
(33) Final Empty Nucleus Parameter

A domain-final empty nuclear position is licensed: ON/[OFF]
German: ON
Looking at ( l i b ) next, we can use licensed empty nuclei to represent even

items which may not show their morphological complexity quite as clearly as
the inflected forms in (11a) do. The noun Jagd, for example, consists of the
root jag- as shown in (34) and the deverbal noun suffix -d, which, however, is
no longer productive. Still, the root is readily accessible to the learner from
various verb forms, so s/he will have no trouble constructing the representation
in (34). Incidentally, this analysis of Jagd is neither novel nor forced exclu-
sively by theory-internal considerations. Accounts which share the spirit of the
one presented here, but are couched in frameworks such as classical generative
phonology and Lexical Phonology, have been put forward by Kloeke (1982:
31), Giegerich (1989: 55), Yu (1992: 172) and Wiese (1988: 46).
(34) GP representation o/Jagd ([ja:kt] 'hunt')
0 NI 0 N2 0 N3
1 A 1 1 1 1
X X X X χ] X χ]
1 V 1
j a k t
How are the remaining items in (1 lb), reproduced here as (35), to be dealt with,
considering that none of them contains a verbal root which is active in its own
right?
(35) Haupt [haupt] 'head' Markt [maçkt] 'market'

Herbst [heçpst] 'autumn' Obst [o:pst] 'fruit'
Clearly, there is no morphological evidence to motivate more than one domain

in these cases. However, taking a conservative view of GP constituent structure
and assuming that all constituents, including rhymes, are maximally binary,43
we are forced to draw the conclusion that an inaudible empty nucleus must be
present word-internally in all four words, between the first plosive and the
second in Haupt and Markt, and separating the plosive and the following [st]-
cluster in Herbst and Obst. Licensing such an empty nuclear position to remain
inaudible would involve p-licensing under the ECP (32), but neither proper
government (32.2) nor appropriate inter-onset domains (32.3) are available to
provide this p-licensing. The remaining option, a domain-final empty nuclear
position (32.1) is problematic to the extent that 'domains' in the context of
(32.1) are taken to be morphological rather than phonological. The most widely
adopted view appears to be that the phonology operates on morphological do-
mains (see e.g. Kaye 1995), in which case (32.1) would do nothing to solve the
present problem, as there is no synchronic evidence for more than one mor-
phological domain in these words. However, there can be no doubt that the
words in (35) are phonologically indistinguishable from certain words with

genuine morphological complexity. This is illustrated in (36).
(36) a. Monomorphemic forms

Haupt [haupt] 'head'
Herbst [heepst] 'autumn'
Markt [maçkt] 'market'
Obst [o:pst] 'fruit'
b. Morphologically complex forms
fárb+st [feepst] '(you, sg. fam.) dye'
merk+t [meekt] '(he/she/it) notices'
lob+st [lo:pst] '(you, sg. fam.) praise'
As one would expect, the representations of the words in (36b) are of the same
type as those of lehnt in (30) and Jagd in (34). The right-hand boundary of the
inner domain (marked by '+' in (36b)) is preceded by a licensed empty nucleus.
Containing the same clusters at the right edge, the words in (35) certainly have
the appearance of also being morphologically complex.
This seems to be a consequence of two historical facts. The relevant word
consisted of more than one morphological domain and/or it contained a vowel
precisely where the domain-final empty nucleus in the phonologically similar,
but morphologically complex, corresponding forms in (36b) is now. The dis-
play in (37) provides more detailed information on the historically older
forms.44
(37) NHG MHG OHG Morphological complexity (if any)

Haupt houbet houbit
Herbst herbest herbist derived from the Germanic root harb
'to pluck fruit' by means of the de-
verbal suffix -st; similarly, Dienst 'ser-
vice' (from dienen 'to serve') and Kunst
'art' (from können 'to be able to')
Markt mark(e)t markät,
merkät
Obst obej oba3 Kluge (1889) suggests that this may be
related to up- 'that which is found
above'; it then looks like a superlative
with an -st suffix
It may be that the earlier morphological complexity and the syncopated vowels
still survive in the present-day phonological structure, which is why I would
propose to think of these (relatively rare) forms as having 'dummy' morphol-
ogy. Assuming the principles of grammar of GP as contained in Universal
Grammar and in the light of words such as those in (36b), the learner may well
construct representations along the lines of the structures in (30) and (34).45 Al-
though there may be no synchronic morphological evidence for this as far as the
words in (35) themselves are concerned, there are arguments from phonotacti-
cally similar morphologically complex forms for assuming that the phonolo-
gical consequences of historical morphological complexity and/or the presence
of a filled nucleus are still in place.
In this section, we have seen that, in spite of having only binary branching
constituents at its disposal, GP can provide reasonably insightful analyses of
complex clusters in Standard German. It has also emerged that these analyses,
unlike the syllable-based account introduced in section 3.2, accommodate data
related to other languages (e.g. Spanish prothesis) and from other dialects of
German. Even the presence of morphological boundaries and/or vowels in
historically older forms is predicted correctly.
5.2. Processes best expressed with reference to the syllable?

A licensing account
What about the justification for the syllable given in (lb)? Can we capture a
process which seems to be as intimately tied up with the syllable coda as final
devoicing does in German, without referring to the syllable? This is a particu-
larly challenging task in GP, as the theory does not recognize word-final codas.
The Coda Licensing Principle in (38) stipulates that codas can occur only if
they are licensed by a following onset.
(38) Coda Licensing Principle (based on Kaye 1990: 311)

A post-nuclear rhymal position must be licensed by a following onset.
By dint of the coda licensing principle, the representation of the German noun
Bus in (39a) is ill-formed. The well-formed equivalent required by the coda
licensing principle working in tandem with the Onset Licensing Principle in
(40) is shown in (39b).
(39) Ill-formed and well-formed GP representations o/Bus ([bus] 'bus')
a. b.
*R
0 N\ Ο Ν Ο N
1 I \ I I I I
X X X X X X X
I I I I I I
b u s b u s
(40) Onset Licensing Principle (Harris 1992: 380)

An onset head must be licensed by a following nuclear position.
There can be little doubt that coda licensing brings a range of benefits, includ-
ing the following. By forcing us to treat word-final consonants or even certain
word-final clusters as onsets, coda licensing obviates extraprosodicity, accounts
for the fact that word-final so-called codas often tolerate a greater range of
melodic material than word-internal ones, and gives us a handle on languages
like French, where some word-fmal clusters have a rising rather than a falling
sonority profile.46
The onset licensing principle complements the coda licensing principle by
establishing a licensing relation between an onset and the following nucleus,
the motivation for which may not seem obvious at first. It is quite widely agreed
that, if there are any phonotactic constraints between onsets and nuclei at all (as
argued by Clements & Keyser 1983: 19ff), these are not particularly 'tight'.47
The fact that the onset-nucleus relation is not a governing relation in GP reflects
this, but, at the same time, the presence of the licensing relation does make the
prediction that some interaction between a nucleus and the onset licensed by it
should be observable. This appears to be the case, and an effect of this interac-
tion has been described by Charette (1991: 139ff.). She points out that (para-
metrically) licensed domain-final empty nuclei vary in the kind of onset struc-
ture they can prosodically license. Considering languages with branching
rhymes, one can distinguish between (at least) two groups, viz. a) languages
such as French and Polish, where both coda-onset clusters and branching onsets
occur preceding a licensed final empty nucleus and b) languages such as Eng-
lish and German, where only coda-onset clusters, but not branching onsets,
occur in this environment. To illustrate this point, we find words such as acte
[akt] and reste [»est] as well as table [tabi] and candélabre [kädelab-i] in
French, but only act [aekt] and rest [jest] in English, with word-final [bl] or [bj]
being ill-formed. Assuming a licensing relation between a nucleus and the pre-
ceding onset, it is reasonably straightforward to account for this variation. Sim-
plifying Charette's account somewhat, we can say that domain-final empty

nuclei in French and Polish have the power to license branching onsets, while
they do not in English and German.48 The crucial point is that »«licensed nuclei
(i.e. those which are audible) can license both coda-onset clusters and branch-
ing onsets in both language groups. In other words, in languages such as Eng-
lish and German, whether an onset may branch or not depends on whether the
licensing nucleus is itself unlicensed or not. Languages like French and Polish,
by contrast, do not distinguish between licensed and unlicensed nuclei in this
way.
As we shall see below, there is evidence which suggests that not just con-
stituent structure, but also the segmental content of an onset position, is deter-
mined by the nature of the immediately following nucleus. Modern Greek (see
Pagoni 1993: Chapter 6) could serve as an example of a language which distin-
guishes between licensed empty nuclei and the corresponding filled positions
for this purpose. Nasals typically spread voicing to an adjacent obstruent in
Modern Greek, except where that obstruent is immediately followed by a do-
main-final licensed empty nucleus. No other type of nuclear position invariably
requires the obstruent to remain voiceless.
Onsets, though, are not only sensitive to whether 'their' licensing nuclei are
themselves licensed or not. In some languages, the constituent structure or the
segmental content of an onset depends on how the immediately following li-
censed empty nucleus receives its license. For example, Charette (1992) argues
that, in Standard French, properly governed empty nuclei can license neither a
preceding coda-onset cluster nor a branching onset, whereas domain-final li-
censed empty nuclei can do both. In the dialect of French spoken in Saint-
Etienne, by contrast, the former type of empty nucleus can license a preceding
coda-onset cluster (but not a branching onset). With regard to segmental con-
tent, we can again refer to the spreading of voicing from a nasal to an adjacent
obstruent in Modern Greek described in the previous paragraph. If the nucleus
licensing the onset position occupied by the obstruent is properly governed,
then the effects of spreading may still be observed, whereas voicelessness is
obligatory if the onset is licensed by a parametrically licensed domain-final
empty nucleus.
The kind of phonotactic constraints described for English by Clements &
Keyser (1983: 19ff.) could, of course, serve as another argument in favor of the
onset-nucleus licensing relation. English is not alone in exhibiting some con-
straints of this type. Korean, where *[wu] or *[ji] are ill-formed onset-nucleus
sequences, is one of many other cases.
Having seen that there are various arguments for including the onset licens-
ing principle in (40) among the universal principles of grammar, we can now
return to the consequences this principle and the coda licensing principle in (38)
have for capturing so-called coda processes. At first glance, it seems that this
task is actually made more difficult by the GP coda and onset licensing re-
quirements. Under what circumstances, for example, does final devoicing ap-
ply? In syllable-based accounts, all that needs to be said is that obstruents must
be voiceless in a syllable coda.49 To see how a GP approach to final devoicing
may work, we need to note the four points in (41), only the first of which is
specific to final devoicing. I shall discuss this and the remainder in the follow-
ing paragraphs.
(41) a. Voicing alternations (see e.g. (6a)) occur only where the relevant
obstruent occupies an onset position.
b. The segmental material contained in an onset (or any other position)
must be licensed.
c. An onset derives the power to license its segmental material from
the immediately following nucleus (i.e. from the nucleus which
licenses the presence of the onset position).
d. The ability of a nucleus to pass on the power to license certain seg-
mental material in an onset depends on the place of the nucleus
within the licensing hierarchy.
(41a) requires very little comment. It simply spells out a result which follows
directly from the structure of GP constituents, as shown in (17), and the coda
licensing principle (38), which prevents codas from occurring at the right edge
of a domain. In languages such as English and German, alternations are in-
variably consequences of some form of morphological concatenation, e.g. the
addition of a suffix. As codas are always directly followed by onset positions
(which, in turn, are followed by nuclei), they are never close enough to a con-
catenation site to be directly affected by the consequences of such concatena-
tion.50 The restrictions on voiced obstruents in codas are therefore of an entirely
static nature and require no more than a simple statement to the effect that a
German coda can neither license a laryngeal element nor share that of the gov-
erning onset.51
Dynamic devoicing processes, which require a more complex account, by
contrast, can occur only if the affected segment is attached to an onset position.
As we saw in previous paragraphs, a nucleus licenses the immediately pre-
ceding onset and, in doing so, passes licensing potential on to the onset posi-
tion. This licensing potential determines whether the onset can license other
skeletal positions (e.g. in a branching onset) and what segmental material may
occupy the onset slot (41b, c). From the point of view of final devoicing, what
is crucial is that the segmental content of an onset is essentially controlled by
the nucleus immediately to its right.
To put this claim on a slightly more formal footing, let us introduce some
helpful terminology. First of all, recall from section 4, and particularly the
licensing principle in (18), that there is a network of licensing relations running

through individual domains, originating from the head of the domain. GP re-
searchers assume that these licensing relations provide the channels along
which licensing potential travels, which is why they can be thought of as con-
stituting licensing paths, leading from the head of the domain to particular
positions. Harris (1992) makes this view of licensing more precise by drawing
attention to the distinction between prosodie licensing and autosegmental li-
censing, as defined in (42) - p-licensing and α-licensing, for short. He argues
that a-licensing potential is inherited from the relevant licenser (see (44)), i.e.
the next position 'up' on a licensing path. Harris also proposes that every time a
position is licensed on such a path through the domain, the licensing potential
originating from the head is reduced by one measure.
(42) Prosodie licensing and autosegmental licensing

P-licensing sanctions the presence of positions at different levels of pro-
jection, ranging from the skeletal tier through successively higher domains
at the level of the [...] constituent, the foot, the word, and so on through-
out the prosodie hierarchy. (Harris 1992: 378f.)
Α-licensing determines the phonetic interpretability of a melody unit, the
minimum requirement for which is association with a skeletal point. (See
also (43) below.)
(43) Α-licensing potential (Harris 1992: 384)

The a-licensing potential of a skeletal position refers to its ability either
a. to directly a-license a melodic expression, or
b. to confer a-licensing potential on another position.
(44) Licensing Inheritance (Hams 1992:384)

A licensed position inherits its a-licensing potential from its licenser.
We can now see how the statements in (41b-d) are to be understood. Before
refocusing this discussion of licensing relations and licensing potential back
onto final devoicing, let us consider an example illustrating how licensing rela-
tions bind all positions within a domain into a hierarchy.
In (45), the licensing paths performing this function have been made visible.
Constituent structure is shown by means of brackets rather than arboreally, and
the RP pronunciation of the English word tawdry serves as an example. Each
arrow represents a dose of licensing, so to speak. The nuclear position labeled
X2, the head of the domain, has no arrow pointing down to it, that is, it itself is
unlicensed in the domain made up of the entire word. By contrast, X5, the com-
plement position in the branching onset, receives licensing from x2 via X4 and
X6. This means that the licensing potential which reaches it has been
substantially depleted and we would expect the range of melodic material

which can be licensed by x 5 to be extremely limited. A position endowed with
full a-licensing potential (i.e. directly licensed by the head of the morphological
domain) would be able to accommodate any member of the segment inventory
of the language concerned.52 However, only liquids or glides can fill x 5 in a
structure such as that illustrated in (45). So, the prediction that only heavily
depleted a-licensing potential is available to Χ5 seems to be in accordance with
the facts.
(45) Licensing paths in tawdry [tordii] (based on Harris 1992: 384)
[Xl]0 [X2 X3]N [Χ4 X 5 ]0 [xe]N

I
i
We have seen that the segmental content of an onset position depends on the
a-licensing potential it inherits from the licensing nucleus. Let us now consider
how this basic insight, which is universally valid and entirely independent of
any specific phonological events, may have a bearing on final devoicing in
German (or in any other of the many languages which exhibit it). I would argue
(as I have done in more detail in Brockhaus 1992, 1995a) that final devoicing
involves the withdrawal of an a-license from the GP element which is respon-
sible for voicing in obstruents. At present, the most likely candidate for this is
the source element L, so one could state the substance of final devoicing as in
(46).
(46) Final Devoicing

Final devoicing consists in the depletion of a-licensing potential, resulting
in the withdrawal of an a-license from the source element L.
To see how this works in practice, consider the representation in (47), which
illustrates a case of word-final devoicing. Word-internal dynamic devoicing
events are restricted to the right edge of morphological domains and can be
handled in exactly the same way. The representation in (47) is of the same type
as that in (45), i.e. showing licensing relations, and, again, mostly IPA symbols
have been used, but the bilabial plosive [p] is given its full element-based seg-
mental representation.
Counting the arrows pointing down to x5 in (47), the position to which these
elements are attached, we find that the licensing potential coming from X3, the
head of the domain, has been reduced by three measures,53 including one which
is due to the final empty nucleus parameter in (33). This parameter is set at ON
and, more importantly, this setting is necessary for the representation in (47) to
be well-formed. The upshot is that X5 has only severely depleted a-licensing
potential at its disposal, and as a result, the a-license is withdrawn from the
source element L, which is associated with voicing in obstruents. Although L is
still present in the representation, the fact that it has no a-license (indicated by
the bracketing of L) means that it is not interpreted. A direct consequence of
this is that the plosive manifests itself as voiceless.
(47) Licensing relations in blieb ([bli:p] '(I/he/she/it) stayed')
Final Empty Nucleus

Parameter ON
I 1 i
[xi x 2 ]0 [X3 X4]N [Xs]0 [xe]N
I I / I
b 1 υ
I
h
I
?
I
(L)
This interpretation of (47), of course, raises some questions. The most impor-
tant are probably the following two. Firstly, why should it be L which loses its
a-license, rather than, say, ? or h? Secondly, why does the depletion of
a-licensing potential result in the withdrawal of an a-license in German, while it
has no effect whatsoever on a similar structure in English (hence the existence
of minimal pairs such as lobe - lope, bead - beat, lug - luck, save - safe etc. in
English, but not in German).
To begin with the first question, there is no a priori reason for L drawing the
short straw in the a-licensing stakes. Apart from distinguishing between heads
and operators, GP expressions occupying skeletal slots have no internal
structure which would have any bearing on the status of one element compared
to that of another. Although headship is not indicated in (47) because it seems
irrelevant to the discussion, it may be worth mentioning that there are good
reasons for assuming ? to be the head (see e.g. Chalfont 1997), so that U, h and
L would all be operators, with their arrangement on the page being merely a
matter of convention. There is no evidence to suggest that the internal structure
of an expression makes certain elements more prone to losing their a-license
than others. Which element(s) fall(s) victim to the depletion of a-licensing
potential appears to vary freely between languages and between varieties of the
same language. Harris (1990, 1994), for example, observes that 7-lenition in
English may result in glottalling, tapping or spirantization in certain dialects of
English (e.g. those characteristic of London, New York City and Liverpool).
The elements most notably deprived of their a-licenses in these processes are h,
h and ?, and ?, respectively. It would seem misguided to ask why London Eng-
lish should have glottalling, whereas New York City English exhibits tapping.
With the possible caveat that the origins of final devoicing may, to some extent,
be tied up with certain phonetic factors,54 it would seem equally fruitless to
enquire why L should lose its a-license before the other elements present in an
underlying voiced obstruent. These matters must simply be attributed to para-
metric variation.
As far as the second question is concerned (Why should an element lose its
a-license in German but not in a similar structure in English?), parametric
variation, again, seems to be the most likely option. We saw earlier that some
languages, such as English and French, contrast in the behavior of p-licensed
domain-final empty nuclei. In English, such positions cannot license an onset
head to govern a complement to its right, whereas in French, this poses no
problems. This kind of variation must be due to differing parameter settings,
and I would likewise attribute the existence or non-existence of final devoicing
to parametric variation. The relevant parameter would have to control how
exactly a language/variety responds to the depletion of a-licensing potential."
Both Standard German and many varieties of English have onset heads which
are sensitive to such depletion to the extent that one or more elements fail(s) to
receive an a-license. Which elements are affected and under what circum-
stances is under the control of the relevant parameter(s).
Having dealt with the two most fundamental questions raised by my account
of final devoicing, as illustrated in (47), we can now consider how the repre-
sentation of a segment which undergoes final devoicing differs from that of a
corresponding segment which is not subject to this process. This is shown in
(48), where x5, unlike X5 in (47), receives licensing potential which has been
reduced by only two measures, because the setting of the final empty nucleus
parameter has no effect. The parameter is still set at ON, which is what we
would expect, as parameter settings do not normally oscillate. However, this

setting is irrelevant for forms which contain a domain-final filled nuclear posi-
tion. As far as representations such as that in (48) are concerned, the final
empty nucleus parameter may equally well be set at OFF - its setting simply
does not matter. Assuming that parameter settings can affect licensing potential
only if they have some bearing on the well-formedness of the representation
concerned, we conclude that the setting of the final empty nucleus parameter
does not participate in the depletion of licensing potential along the path from
x3 to X5. Therefore, the a-licensing potential which reaches x5 in (48) is greater
than that which is available to X5 in (47). As a consequence of this, the element
L retains its license in (48), which manifests itself in the fact that the bilabial
plosive is voiced.
(48) Licensing relations in bliebe ([bli:ba] '(I/he/she/it) would stay')
(Final Empty Nucleus

Parameter ON)
1 1
[xi x 2 ]0 [x3 X4]N [x 5 ]0 [xe]N
I I I
b 1 i υ 9
I
h
?
I
L
We have now seen that at least one process, which in the literature has been
considered as being inextricably linked with the syllable, can be dealt with
without ever mentioning this prosodie unit. Final devoicing, though, is not the
only event which is amenable to this kind of treatment. I show in Brockhaus
1995a that the same is true of /r/-vocalization and /g/-spirantization in German,
and Harris (1992) provides numerous examples of weakening events in other
languages which can also be analyzed in this way.
5.3. Processes which make syllabification possible? Another licensing story
To conclude this section, let us return to reason (lc) for positing the syllable as
a phonological unit. Apparently, some phonological processes exist only to
make parsing a particular string into syllables possible. I gave one example of
this in (16), where I illustrate how Wiese would deal with a word such as Filter.
His analysis requires both level-ordered schwa epenthesis and resyllabification.
Resyllabification is an extremely powerful device which is becoming in-
creasingly controversial. The issues involved are clearly identified by Rice
(1989: 345), who eventually suggests "that in general, resyllabification is not
allowed in the grammar [...]. Syllabification is thus always a structure-building
process that serves to license unsyllabified material, it is never a structure-
changing process". The view that a range of processes, including syllabifica-
tion, should be exclusively structure-building is becoming more and more wide-
spread; for example, it is central to recent developments such as phonological
versions of unification grammars (see e.g. Coleman 1992 or Walther 1993 for
discussion). Given a choice between structure-building and structure-changing
syllabification algorithms, there can be no doubt that those which operate
monotonically (i.e. only add information to representations, but never remove
anything) are the more highly constrained. The null hypothesis (as pointed out
by Harris 1994: 187) must then be that syllabification is exclusively structure-
building. Only where structure-building syllabification clearly fails to cover the
necessary empirical ground should resyllabification be invoked. GP takes the
view that such circumstances never arise, and that resyllabification56 is ruled out
universally. The Projection Principle in (49) captures this by prohibiting any
change to existing licensing relations, while (in my interpretation of (49) at
least) permitting the addition of licensing relations as the derivation proceeds.
(49) Projection Principle (Kaye et al. 1990: 221)

Governing [= licensing/WGB] relations are defined at the level of lexical
representation and remain constant throughout a phonological derivation.
How GP deals with cases of apparent schwa epenthesis and resyllabification

in the light of the projection principle is shown in (50), where we see the GP
representation of Filter. N2 is underlyingly empty, but, according to the ECP in
(32), it is not licensed to remain inaudible, so the neutral element, which repre-
sents schwa, attaches itself to this position when licensing relations are estab-
lished, to give it the required phonetic interpretation, yielding the correct out-
put.
(50) Simplified1 GP representation o/Filter ([filte] 'filter')
R
κ
0 n2 0 n3
I1 I1 11 11
* 1ΐ \ \
χ X X X X X
I 1
1 1
I 1 t @ if
Turning to (51) now, we can see one reason for Wiese's decision not to assume
the presence of schwa in the underlying representation.
(51 )GP representation of Filtrat ([filteait] 'filtrate'), showing proper govern-

ment (to be revised)
4 1
R R R
I
1 1
O N,\ O nN22 0O n3
N O N4
\ I 1 1 A
X X X X+X
I I 1 V
1 t κ a
The reason is that the schwa in Filter alternates with zero in Filtrat, which is
then straightforward for Wiese to deal with. When the deverbal noun suffix -at
is attached, the structural description of the schwa epenthesis rule in (15) is no
longer matched, because there are no unsyllabified positions, so that schwa
epenthesis is blocked. Provided that (15) is ordered after Class I derivation, this
generates the desired output, [filtea:t], rather than the ill-formed *[filt3Ka:t],
The GP account of this schwa/zero alternation requires neither level-ordered
rules nor «syllabification. It is entirely governed by the ECP in (32). We have
just seen that N2 in (50) is not licensed to be empty and so receives phonetic
interpretation. In (51), by contrast, N2 is licensed to be empty and, therefore,
inaudible. The question then is by what mechanism N2 is p-licensed in the sense
of the ECP. There are two possibilities, viz. proper government (32.2) or li-
censing within an inter-onset governing relation (32.3).
Let me begin with proper government, which is the concept with the longer
tradition. This was first discussed in detail in Kaye (1987) and has played an
important role in a good deal of subsequent work in GP (e.g. Charette 1991). In
Brockhaus (1992: 224), I proposed to deal with German words structurally

similar to Filtrat in terms of proper government. However, as I have pointed out
in Brockhaus (1995a: 207), this approach makes the prediction that there should
be no constraints on the segment types occurring either side of the properly
governed nucleus. This, though, is not the case. On the contrary, the position to
the left of the nucleus must be filled by an obstruent and that to the right by a
sonorant. This inadequacy of the proper government analysis leads us to the
second possibility mentioned above, that of licensing within an inter-onset
governing relation.
This type of licensing was originally proposed by Gussmann & Kaye (1993),
as part of their account of Polish yers.58 The basic idea is the following. Onsets
may enter into governing relations with each other, provided that the melodic
material attached to the onset positions concerned is such that the governing
relation complies with the complexity condition in (21). In other words, the
expression occupying the head position must be at least as complex as the ex-
pression occupying the complement position. The diagram in (52) shows such a
governing relation, with Oi governing O2. The Greek letter variables would
typically have the following values: ß=obstruent, y=sonorant, a=vowel. The
inter-onset governing relation between Oi and O2 is represented by a broken
line in (52).
(52) ψ
Γ Τ
Ol NI 02 N2
l i l i
χ χ χ χ
I I I
β γ α
The head position (Οι in our example) must receive a license to govern, if a
governing relation with O2 is to be established. This license can be granted only
by a filled nuclear position to the right, specifically, to the right of the comple-
ment position in the inter-onset governing relation, i.e. to the right of O2. This
position is N2, so that the license to govern has to be transmitted from N 2 to Oi
in some way. The dotted line in (52) shows a possible transmission path, run-
ning from N2 to O], Where such a government-license is available and an inter-
onset governing relation can be established, an empty nuclear position sand-
wiched between the two onset positions in an inter-onset governing relation is
considered to be p-licensed in the sense of the ECP. In our example, Ni, the
nuclear position sandwiched between Oj and 0 2 is then p-licensed under (32.3).
This means that N! remains without phonetic interpretation.
Clearly, there are several unresolved issues associated with inter-onset gov-
ernment, including the question of its directionality, how to motivate the level
of projection at which it operates, how licensing by inter-onset government
interacts with proper government and so on59 but, at the same time, this kind of
licensing seems a more insightful way of dealing with items such as Filtrai. I
would suggest, then, that N 2 in (51) receives its p-license (in the sense of the
ECP) by licensing through inter-onset government rather than proper govern-
ment. This is illustrated in (53), where, as in (52), the inter-onset governing
relation is shown by means of a broken line and the transmission of the gov-
ernment-license by means of a dotted line.
(53) GP representation of Filtrat ([fdtea:t] 'filtrate'), showing inter-onset li-

censing
O, N| 02 N2 O3 N3 O4 N4
A
χ χ χ χ χ
I I V
ι 1 t κ a
To sum up, it has become clear how GP can handle schwa/zero alternations
with reference only to the ECP. Neither level-ordered epenthesis nor the some-
what controversial mechanism of resyllabification is needed.
6. Conclusions
In this chapter, I hope to have shown that the three main arguments for the
syllable as a unit in phonological theory given in (1) are perhaps not as com-
pelling as is generally thought. We have seen that phonotactic constraints can
be captured with reference to constituents such as onset, nucleus and rhyme,
rather than the syllable. I have also demonstrated how typical 'syllable-related'
processes like final devoicing can be handled without any mention of the syl-
lable. Thirdly, the possibility has emerged that processes such as apparent
schwa epenthesis, which could be taken to be required for syllabification pur-
poses, may have their basis in something quite different, that is, in the estab-
lishment of licensing relations in a domain. I have suggested that what could be
seen as the insertion of a vowel may simply be a matter o f determining h o w an

existing empty nuclear position is to be interpreted. The empty category prin-
ciple in (32), a universal principle of grammar, operating together with the
universal principles for the establishment of licensing relations in a domain
provide an algorithm which identifies an empty nuclear position as either audi-
ble or inaudible. N o other mechanism is needed in order to deal with cases of
schwa-zero alternations. Nor is it necessary to invoke a syllable constituent.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Harry van der Hulst, Nancy Ritter and an anonymous
reviewer for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this chapter. I have
also benefited from feedback on oral presentations of the material, especially
from Martin Durrell and Martin Barry. Any shortcomings that remain are en-
tirely m y responsibility.
Notes
1. This has been pointed out repeatedly in the literature, for example in Fudge (1969), Roca
(1994: 133) and Blevins (1995). Roca is one of several authors who assume that Chom-
sky and Halle's proposal to adopt a feature [±syllabic], with [+syllabic] segments being
defined as "constituting a syllabic peak" (SPE: 354), is the most striking example of their
failure to operate without the syllable, but a close reading of SPE (especially p. 355) re-
veals that no commitment to this feature is actually ever made.
2. It is probably helpful to interpret 'phonological rules' in the broadest possible sense here,
so that stress assignment is also included. In this chapter, I shall have nothing to say
about stress assignment in German. However, it may be worth noting at the outset that
the distinction between light and heavy 'syllables', crucial for stress assignment in
weight-sensitive languages such as English or Latin, appears to depend solely on proper-
ties of the rhyme (see e.g. Hyman 1985: 5f.). So 'syllable weight' is perhaps more accu-
rately referred to as 'rhyme weight'. This, of course, means that the syllable as such is
not a relevant unit for stress assignment and that any phonological framework which re-
cognizes a rhyme or equivalent structure (as Government Phonology does) has the basic
tools for distinguishing between light and heavy rhymes.
3. I do not mean to suggest that there is a general consensus on the internal structure of the
syllable. The fact that Blevins (1995) lists five different proposals which have been ar-
gued for in some detail in the literature (and rejects all of them!) may give some indica-
tion of how controversial this issue is. Nothing very much hinges on the choice of the
structure in (2), but readers should find it familiar, as it can also be found in textbooks
such as Carr (1993), Kenstowicz (1994) and Spencer (1996)..
4. The CV-skeleton has been argued for by McCarthy (1979) and, especially, Clements &
Keyser (1983). It is also adopted in some work on German, e.g. Wiese (1988, 1996).
5. What I have to say here is based on the assumption that consonant clusters at the left
edge of a word constitute syllable onsets. As I show in section 5.1, this assumption turns
out to be incorrect. Still, it is made widely in the literature and will suffice for our
present purposes.
6. See e.g. Scholz (1972) and Wurzel (1981: 908f.) for discussion of the difficulties in-
volved in distinguishing between native items and so-called Fremdwörter ('foreign
words').
7. This claim is something of a simplification. True empty onsets can be observed, e.g.
where certain vowel-initial suffixes are appended to vowel-final roots. However, foot-
initially such apparently empty onsets usually contain some form o f f e s t e r Einsatz ('firm
onset'), typically a glottal stop (see Krech 1968 for details). In light of the fact that the
presence or otherwise of a glottal stop is never contrastive, most authors (e.g. Venne-
mann 1982, Giegerich 1989, Féry 1991, Hall 1992b: 58f. and Yu 1992: 84-88), how-
ever, assume that there is no underlying glottal stop, with glottal stop being inserted by
rule. Exploring this issue further would be beyond the scope of the present chapter, but
see Brockhaus (1995a: 180-185) and Wiese (1996: 58-61) for more detailed recent dis-
cussions of the role of glottal stop in German.
8. The reason for referring to [v] as a fricative/glide is this. It is well known that in a num-
ber of languages, including Russian (see e.g. Jakobson 1978, Hayes 1984 and Kiparsky
1985), Polish (see Gussmann 1992), and German, [v] has a special status. On the one
hand, it participates in phonological processes such as final devoicing or voicing assimi-
lation which typically affect obstruents, but, on the other hand, it occurs in positions (e.g.
as C2 in a branching onset) which are normally reserved for approximants. This dual
identity has prompted researchers such as Hall (1992b: 162-168) and Wiese (1996: 238-
242) to posit underlying /u/, from which [v] is subsequently derived by rule.
9. What may seem surprising is that C2 can never be [k]. This could be viewed as a histori-
cal accident. Specifically, during the transition from Old High German (OHG) to Middle
High German (MHG), /sk/ clusters turned into the single segment /JV (see Szulc 1987:
119f., König 1994: 151), orthographically represented as <sch>. For example, OHG
skrïban became MHG schrîben.
10. Pronouncing dictionaries such as Mangold et al. (1990) list this form with a consonantal
/r/-realization (i.e. one of [κ], [κ], [R] or [r]), assuming that /r/-vocalization occurs only
after long vowels. My observations, particularly of speakers with uvular rhotics, though,
suggest that postvocalic /r/-vocalization is now very widespread among speakers of
Standard German, even after short vowels.
11. Halle & Vergnaud (1980), incidentally, also discuss these two forms and come to the
conclusion that German has a three-slot rhyme, which can be followed by a three-slot
appendix.
12. By 'Northern Standard German' I mean the dialect characteristic of educated speakers in
northern Germany, a dialect which is very similar to Standard German.
13. Note that Wiese makes no reference to any explicit formulation of the SSG. However,
his (1996: 258) observation that "[sjegments occurring between the central (core) seg-
ment of a syllable and the peripheral segment will be intermediate in inherent loudness [=
sonority/WGB]" suggests that his approach is very much in the spirit of the SSG.
14. These include the hierarchies argued for in Lass (1971, 1984: 178), Hooper (1976: 206),
Escure (1977), Kiparsky (1979), Vennemann (1982), Selkirk (1984), and Wiese (1988:
91).
15. Incidentally, interpreting sibilant + plosive clusters as complex segments is not an en-
tirely novel approach. To my knowledge, Fudge (1969) was the first to suggest this, and
the idea has been adopted elsewhere in the literature, e.g. in Selkirk (1982).
16. It may be worth noting here that Wiese actually uses [χ] to represent the realization of
<ch> in this case, but nothing hinges on this.
17. Such s + plosive clusters are, as we shall see in section 5.1.1, historically earlier forms of
the J + plosive clusters we find in Modern Standard German.
18. We should perhaps note here that Wiese (ibid.) actually leaves open the question of
whether more than one coronal obstruent should be accorded extrasyllabicity.
19. See Brockhaus (1995a: Chapter 2) for a detailed recent survey of the literature on final
devoicing.
20. Note that 'R' in (14) stands for 'Root' node, whereas elsewhere in this chapter 'R' is
short for 'rhyme'.
21. Readers are referred to Brockhaus (1995b), Harris & Lindsey (1995) and Kaye (1995)
for useful introductions to all aspects of GP. More detailed or more specialized work in
this theory can be found in, for example, Brockhaus (1995a), Charette (1989, 1991,
1992), Cyran (1996), Gussmann & Kaye (1993), Harris (1990, 1992, 1994), Harris &
Kaye (1990), Kaye (1987, 1988, 1990, 1992), Kaye et al. (1985, 1990), and Lindsey &
Harris (1990). See also van der Hulst & Ritter (this volume) for further discussion of the
principles of GP.
22. Unfortunately, the term 'licensing' has become somewhat ambiguous in recent years. On
the one hand, it refers to the asymmetric binary relations described in this subsection,
which sanction the presence of a skeletal position as well as its melodic content. On the
other hand, the provision of licensing may have a diametrically opposed effect. Instead of
permitting certain melodic elements to be phonetically interpreted, licensing in the second
sense enables a position to remain inaudible. This may seem surprising and contradic-
tory, but it is simply one of the many terminological accidents in linguistics which tend to
confuse students in introductory courses. It seems to me that we need to distinguish
between a 'license to be audible' (for positions with melodic material) and a 'license to
remain inaudible' (for skeletal positions not associated with melodic material). The for-
mer is typically provided by the binary relations discussed in the present subsection,
while the latter may also involve other mechanisms (see the phonological empty category
principle as defined in (32)). What we need to bear in mind is that licensing relations are
invariably of the kind described here, but that licensing (especially the 'license to remain
inaudible') need not involve any relations between skeletal positions or their projections
at all.
23. This distinction, which views governing relations as a proper subset of licensing relations
in general, is a fairly recent one. In the earlier GP literature (e.g. Kaye et al. 1990), all
types of licensing relations were referred to as 'governing relations'. Harris (1994:
167ff.) was the first to argue that governing relations, unlike some other licensing rela-
tions, are associated with "quite particular phonotactic restrictions [which] are univer-
sally in force" (p. 168). Such phonotactic restrictions can be observed within branching
onsets, branching nuclei, and coda-onset clusters. These three governing domains can be
formally distinguished from other licensing domains by the following properties. Firstly,
their complement positions must be 'persistent non-heads', that is, they never function as
heads at any level of projection. Secondly, within a branching constituent, the head of the
governing domain must be the immediate head of the governee. This second requirement,
which excludes nucleus-coda licensing relations from the set of governing relations,
however, cannot be applied to coda-onset clusters, where positions from two adjacent
constituents enter into a governing relation. However, this particular governing relation is
distinct from all other inter-constituent licensing relations anyway, in that the govemee is
a persistent non-head.
24. This, of course, does not mean that GP is the only phonological theory to employ the
concept of licensing. Some of the proposals on licensing in GP can be traced back to
somewhat different notions of licensing put forward in earlier work, including Selkirk
(1978), Itô (1986), Nespor & Vogel (1986), and Goldsmith (1989, 1990).
25. See particularly the discussion of the onset licensing principle (40) for arguments in
favor of the licensing relation shown in (19b).
26. Some of the implications of Harris's original proposals are explored in Harris (1994) and
Brockhaus (1995a).
27. The table in (20) represents just one of many recent proposals (see e.g. Jensen 1994,
Szigetvári 1994, Harris & Lindsey 1995, Rennison 1995, Brockhaus et al. 1996,
Foltinl996, and Ritter 1996 for others), all of which assume that ten or fewer elements
are needed. More detailed descriptions of the acoustic properties of each elemental inter-
pretation can be found in Brockhaus et al. (1996).
28. Unfortunately, this simple bean-count approach appears to be insufficient and may even
make incorrect predictions, depending on concomitant assumptions about the composi-
tion of certain segment types. If [κ], for example, is composed of A and then a
straight element count would mean that its complexity is the same as that of a neutral [t]
(see (28)), which is clearly undesirable. One way of solving this problem has been sug-
gested by Chalfont (1997). He points out that licensing relations are established mainly
on the basis of manner information and proposes that, consequently, only manner ele-
ments should be taken into account when determining the complexity of a particular ex-
pression. The implications of this proposal, however, need to be explored further. Spe-
cifically, it needs to be determined how the special status of coronals (see e.g. Paradis &
Prunet 1991) can be captured and how the apparently greater phonological strength of
voiceless (vis-à-vis voiced) obstruents is to be accommodated.
29. See, for example, Harris (1985: Chapter 2), Wiese (1988: 90ff ), and Heike (1992) for
critical comments on sonority hierarchies. One of the difficulties with such hierarchies is
that they often remain independent look-up tables which are not fully integrated into the
theory. Dogil (1988), Clements (1990), and Rice (1992), though, address this particular
problem.
30. This word appears on p. 266 of Wiese (1996), but it does not seem to be a word of
German, native or otherwise, if comprehensive dictionaries such as Drosdowski et al.
(1976-1981) can be relied upon. It is presumably a proper name or an acronym, in which
case it should not be included in a list such as (22) anyway. According to Muthmann
(1991), there are no (other?) German words ending in -sp.
31. Word-final [Jp] is unattested, while [ft] is represented in Muthmann (1991) only by verb
forms containing a -t suffix, and by the onomatopoeic Gischt 'spray' and pscht 'sh'.
32. For arguments against a coda constituent see Brockhaus (1995b) and the references
there.
33. Why the absence of melodic content should trigger [J] rather than [s] is not clear to me.
At present, the composition of the two segments is not sufficiently well understood for an
explanation to be readily available. In any case, the difference in licensing status between
empty as opposed to contentful nuclei must have some role to play here.
34. The only complication concerns the data in (26b), where a [JK]-cluster is illustrated for
Standard German. Here, English does not have the [SJ] cluster one might expect in the
light of (26a, c, d). In fact, the only sibilant + rhotic cluster attested in this language is
[ f j ] (e.g. shriek). It appears that genuine /sr/-clusters have never existed in Germanic
languages and that the development of N H G [JK] began with /skr/ (as already mentioned
in note 9) - hence the choice of such a cluster from English in (26b).
35. According to König (1994: 151), these dialects can be found in contiguous parts of the
Limburgian region, which straddles the German-Belgian-Dutch border area.
36. The complexity score of 2 for nasals is as high as that for plosives, which is inappropri-
ate, considering that nasals never fill the head position of a branching onset. Further
work on the representation of nasals is, therefore, required. Relevant discussions can be
found, for example, in Ploch (1995), Kiss (1997) and Nasukawa (1997). One possible
solution to the problem at hand may be to think of Ν as a source element, rather than a
manner element. Acoustic and phonological similarities between Ν and L (see the refer-
ences just given and Williams 1997) suggest that this would be a plausible strategy.
37. Whether similar clusters, i.e. [sw] and [JJ], form branching onsets in English is not clear.
There is next to no internal evidence which has a bearing on this issue, although Kaye
(1992: 308) does observe that several s + consonant clusters ([sj sm sn si sw JJ]) 'pattern
like branching onsets' with regard to whether they can occur domain-finally. (Note that
for [sj sm sn si] - but not [sw] and [JJ] - this is in conflict with other evidence suggesting
that the first four clusters are coda-onset sequences.) Another piece of evidence in favor
of my analysis comes from reduplication in Sanskrit (see e.g. Steriade 1988). Kaye
(1991) argues that only heads are reduplicated, which neatly accounts for the fact that
[st] and [sk] are reduplicated as [t] and [k], given the s + C structure shown in (23).
However, [sv] is reduplicated as [s], suggesting that this cluster, unlike [st] and [sk] does
form a branching onset.
38. Kaye (1992: 306) first suggested that the status of this nuclear position is parameterized.
39. There is clear evidence that at least s/J + lateral and s/J + nasal clusters behave in this
way. Whether [JK] and [fv] also trigger prothesis for Spanish learners is more difficult to
say without access to data from an appropriate study. My preliminary investigations
suggest that it is at least possible (if perhaps less likely than for the other clusters) that
prothesis applies here. The analysis of these clusters as branching onsets which I have
just proposed, however, would not lead us to expect prothesis. After all, Spanish has
branching onsets, too, so that it should be possible for Spanish learners of German to re-
alize these correctly. On the other hand, one has to bear the following in mind. Firstly, no
branching onsets in Spanish involve coronal fricatives and, secondly, Spanish has neither
[J]» M nor [v], so that some reanalysis of the German material is unavoidable. If it does
turn out that German [[κ] and [Jv] are associated with prothesis, then I would attribute
this to the branching onsets of German having been reinterpreted as coda-onset se-
quences.
40. In Lexical Phonology accounts, regular inflection and Class II derivation have in com-
mon that they are ordered after Level 1. Specifically, Giegerich (1987), Wiese (1988:
152) and Hall (1989) agree that Class II derivation is associated with Level 2, while in-
flection is located on Level 3 in German. Yu (1992: 30), by contrast, argues for Level 2
in both cases.
41. It has to be admitted here that not all cases where empty nuclei appear to occur are fully
understood yet. For example, the empty nuclear position in structures such as (23)
should be unlicensed in the sense of the ECP and, consequently, receive phonetic inter-
pretation, even in German. Why this is not the case is unclear at present. In recognition
of this problem, Kaye (1992) has termed the licensing from which such a position appar-
ently benefits 'magic' licensing.
42. Note that proper governing relations do not constitute a subset of the governing relations
described in note 23. Recall that the complements in those governing relations must be
persistent non-heads. As pointed out to me by Edmund Gussmann, this, however, is not a
property of the governees in proper governing relations. After all, these governees are
typically heads of inter-constituent licensing domains involving a nucleus and the pre-
ceding onset. It is probably best to think of governing relations and proper governing re-
lations as discrete proper subsets of licensing relations in general.
43. A less restrictive view, recognizing ternary rhymes, is defended by Harris (1994: 163Í).
However, not even Harris's ternary rhymes would be able to accommodate sequences
such as [o:pst] and [eçpst], so an empty nuclear position is needed in any case, whether
rhymes turn out to be binary or ternary.
44. The information provided here comes from Drosdowski et al. (1976-1981), Kluge (1889)
and Grimm & Grimm (1877).
45. Incidentally, the gen. sg. forms Herbsts and Obsts discussed in section 3.1 contain an
analytic -s suffix, so that they consist of three domains, bracketed as [f[Herb]st]s] and
[[[Ob]st]s] respectively. It may also be worth mentioning that, although the representa-
tions of Jagd and Obst contain a branching nucleus, that of Herbst would have the [eç]
sequence dominated by the branching rhyme structure shown in (17c).
46. For further arguments in favor of the coda licensing principle, see especially Kaye
(1990), but also Harris (1992, 1994: 160ff).
47. Some authors would deny the existence of such constraints altogether. Selkirk (1982:
339), for example, takes the view that, in English at least, "there are no phonotactic re-
strictions at all [...] which involve onset and peak".
48. This statement appears somewhat ad hoc, but in order to formalize it properly and so
bring out its more general nature, I would have to provide a detailed introduction to
Charette's concept of government-licensing (see Charette 1990, 1991, 1992), which
would be beyond the scope of this chapter. See van der Hulst & Ritter (this volume) for a
discussion of government-licensing.
49. But see Brockhaus (1995a: Chapter 2) for a detailed discussion of the numerous prob-
lems associated with this apparently so straightforward solution.
50. This point is made by Harris (1994: 165).
51. See Brockhaus (1995a: sec. 3 .4 .3 .2) for a more detailed discussion of this.
52. As (45) shows, this claim is too strong and/or too general, as it counter-factually predicts
that x 3 should also be able to be associated with the full range of melodic material. This
is clearly not the case. On the contrary, the governed position in a branching nucleus is
quite limited in the segmental material it can a-license. This could be for a variety of rea-
sons, but one of the most important factors seems to be that intra-constituent governing
relations trigger much more drastic depletion of a-Iicensing potential than inter-constitu-
ent licensing relations do. It may turn out that this difference is quantifiable in some way,
but I will have to leave this issue for future research. Another question to be dealt with is
why x 5 in (45) appears to have the same amount of a-licensing potential at its disposal as
the complement position of a word-initial branching onset in, say, draw (i.e. x2 in draw),
even though the a-licensing potential of x5 in (45) should be more severely depleted than
that of X2 in draw.
53. This reduction of a-licensing potential by three measures equals the depletion of a-
licensing potential which affects x5 in (45). When discussing (45), I noted that this degree
of depletion of a-licensing potential could be expected to drastically restrict the range of
segmental material which can be accommodated by the position concerned. This seems a
reasonable claim to make in the context of (45), but the fact that an obstruent (albeit a
devoiced one) can occupy a position with equally depleted a-licensing potential in (47) is
then rather surprising. It raises the question of what exactly 'depletion by three mea-
sures' means. What I have said so far suggests that there is no way of quantifying a-li-
censing potential in absolute terms and that the number of arrows in diagrams such as
(45) and (47) can be taken as only an approximate and relative indication of 'more or
less' a-licensing potential being available. I find this a deeply unsatisfactory state of af-
fairs which suggests that, although licensing inheritance has a good deal of explanatory
potential, much more research is required to realize that potential fully.
54. See Brockhaus (1992: sec. 5.3) for a review of possible physical/physiological factors
which may predispose pre-pausal obstruents (particularly plosives) to undergo at least
some degree of devoicing.
55. It seems clear that this parameter must distinguish between the depletion of a-licensing
potential in different types of positions. For example, codas and complements in branch-
ing onsets are universally sites with minimal a-licensing potential, resulting in severe re-
strictions on the segmental material which can be licensed. Onset heads, by contrast, as
discussed here, can accommodate a much wider range of segmental material, even when
a-licensing potential is depleted to some extent. How exactly the relevant parameters)
would handle this is a matter for future research.
56. In the absence of a syllable (node), «syllabification in GP is taken to consist in the re-
assignment of a skeletal position to a different constituent in the course of the derivation.
57. I have simplified the representation of the final [e] in this representation. What (50)
actually shows is [3κ], In the account I put forward in Brockhaus (1995a: 228-232), [e]
involves the spreading of certain elements present in [κ]. The details of this, though, are
irrelevant for our purposes here.
58. See also Cyran & Gussmann (this volume) for a more detailed discussion of inter-onset
licensing.
59. See Gussmann & Kaye (1993), Brockhaus (1995a: 207-210), and Cyran & Gussmann
(this volume) for discussion of these issues.
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8 Consonant clusters and governing relations:
Polish initial consonant sequences
Eugeniusz Cyran & Edmund Gussmann
1. Introduction
Polish consonantal sequences have for generations baffled scholars of very

different theoretical backgrounds. The formidable array of possibilities in this
language constitutes both a challenge and a testing ground for theoretical
models. In this chapter, we try to address various problems concerning the
nature of the mechanism or mechanisms necessary to describe the consonant
sequences of Polish with special emphasis on the word-initial combinations.
The framework we adopt is that of Government Phonology familiar from the
works of Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1985, 1990), Harris (1994),
Charette (1991), Brockhaus (1995), Yoshida (1996), Cyran (1997), and others.
Its basic notions are introduced in van der Hulst & Ritter (chapter 6, this vol-
ume).
By way of introduction let us look at a few sample consonant sequences.1
2 consonants 3 consonants
[pt]ak 'bird' [mgw]a 'mist'
[sc]çscie 'happiness' [krt]an 'larynx'
[wz]a 'tear' [bzd]ura 'nonsense
[dzdzjownica 'worm' [tscjina 'reed'
[rt]çc 'mercury' [psc]ola 'bee'
4 consonants
[pstsjyc 'make gaudy'
[vzgl]^d 'consideration'
[fsks]esic 'resurrect, imp.'
[drgnfcc 'shudder, perf.'
[zdzbwjo 'blade (of grass)'
Past work on the subject has moved along two very different lines - either more
or less exhaustive lists of existing consonant sequences were produced (thus
Sawicka 1974 documents well over a hundred three-consonant and about
220 Eugeniusz Cyran & Edmund Gussmann
twenty four-consonant sequences) or ways were devised to dismiss the odd-

looking combinations as fundamentally not different from what is found in
languages such as English or German. The latter line was first adopted by
Kurylowicz (1952) whose claim was, in brief, that a Polish onset may be a
complex structure comprising two well-formed onsets, where well-formedness
comes close to what is now taken to be the Sonority Sequencing Generalization
(SSG) (plus a few special provisions). To take a simple case, consider the first
word in (1) beginning with the sequence [pt] which, of course, cannot be as-
signed to a single onset. For Kurylowicz, this sequence is a combination of two
separate onsets, each containing just one consonant. Similarly, the four-conso-
nant sequence in drgnqc is a combination of two well-formed branching onsets
dr+gn (the latter is a possible branching onset for Kurylowicz). Our own posi-
tion is in the spirit of Kurylowicz's approach even though we will attempt to
make sense of the facts within a different framework. The most striking initial
difference is connected with a basic theoretical tenet which requires that an
onset must be licensed by a nucleus even if the nucleus is not realized phoneti-
cally. Taking the word ptak 'bird' again, this means that the initial obstruents
are separated by a licensed empty nucleus, i.e. the word has a representation as
in (2), where the final empty nucleus is enforced by the Coda Licensing Princi-
ple.
(2) Ο, N, 02 N, 03 N,
The recognition of nuclei which are not realized phonetically is not by any
means an ad hoc step motivated by the need to bring complex consonantal
sequences into line with certain preconceptions about syllabic constituents.
Quite conversely, Polish like other Slavic languages, displays numerous in-
stances of vowel-zero alternations which go back to the historical phenomenon
of so-called yers. In Slavic modern languages, these vowels result in an alter-
nation of some full vowel with zero - in the case of Polish the vowel is usually
[e]. In (3) we have examples of such alternations in the form of the nominative
and the genitive of the native noun len/lnu 'flax' and the nominative and the
genitive of the borrowed name Luter/Lutra 'Luther'.
Polish initial consonant sequences 221
(3) a. Ο, N, 0 2 N2 Ο, N, 0 2 N2 b. 0, N, 0 2 N2 0 3 N: Ο, N, 0 2 N2 0 3 Ν;!
X X X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X X X
I u I M i l l II I II
1 e η n u 1 u t e r l u t ra
Thus some underlying empty nuclei receive a phonetic shape whereas others
are licensed to remain silent.
Quite a lot of work in recent years has gone into elaborating the principles
whereby empty nuclei are licensed in the languages of the world. It is agreed
that empty nuclei can be licensed by parameter domain-finally, they can be
licensed through Proper Government from a neighboring nucleus with phonetic
content, they can be licensed 'by magic' when the rhymal complement is a
consonant of the s-type, and finally, the interonset relation has been recognized
as a licit licensing environment. We shall have an opportunity of exploring all
these modes of nuclear licensing. In section 2, we first illustrate the principles
with a view to demystifying the Polish facts concerning initial consonant se-
quences - in other words, we will show that many of the apparently irregular or
unusual consonant combinations can be subsumed under very general principles
which have nothing to do with Polish only. After this survey, in section 3, we
will discuss some of the inadequacies and the mistaken predictions the account
produces and will suggest possible answers and lines of enquiry in sections 4
and 5 for the problems that are raised.
The main descriptive problem to be discussed below concerns the way in
which the mechanisms responsible for producing Polish initial consonant se-
quences account for the recurrent patterns to which the sequences conform. We
will conclude that the principles licensing empty nuclei are not able to do full
justice to the facts of Polish initial phonotactics and will consider two other
supplementary mechanisms determining segmental distribution which may be at
play in the language.
As an additional theoretical issue, we will investigate the nature and effects
of principle interaction (Charette 1990, 1991, Cyran 1996). The analysis of the
facts seems to require that the principle of Interonset Government should be
given priority over proper government.
2. Licensing mechanisms
2.1. The domain-final parameter
It might seem paradoxical that the domain-final parameter should be invoked to

account for word-initial clusters - the point is, of course, that domains or do-
main boundaries should not be equated with lexical or orthographic words.
Individual affixes may constitute domains of their own and domainhood trans-
lates into the fundamental issue of analytic vs. non-analytic morphology (Kaye
1995). In Polish, many, or perhaps most prefixes are analytic, hence they make
up domains of their own which end with a nucleus. The most straightforward
argument for the domainhood of prefixes is that their last, or only, consonant is
independent of the initial consonant of the following stem. This situation is not
unlike what is found in English when inflectional suffixes combine with stem-
final consonants and yield spurious clusters, that is, consonant sequences which
arise at word boundaries only; thus hanged or hangs produces the same effects
as hang down or hang zealously. The effects of the two Polish prefixes w- 'in,
into' and z- 'off, out o f , which additionally undergo assimilation of voice and
palatality, are shown in (4).
(4) V-
[m]ówic 'speak' [zmjówic 'say' [vm]ówic 'talk into'

[v']iezc 'carry' [zv'Jiezc 'carry down' - [w']iezc 'carry into'
[x]odzic 'go' [sx]odzic 'go down' - [fx]odzic 'enter'
[s]i^sc 'sit' [ss]i^sc 'get off [fsji^sc 'get on'
The initial two-consonant combinations are, quite simply, sequences of two

non-branching onsets; the nucleus which stands between the two onsets is final
in the prefix domain and as such it is licensed by parameter 2 In the same way, a
significant number of the three-member consonant sequences can be shown to
result from a combination of a prefix and a binary branching onset:
(5) [prjosic 'ask' [spr]osic 'invite' - [fprjosic 'intrude'

[kl]eic 'glue' [skljeic 'id. perf.' - [fkl]eic 'paste into'
Likewise, some of the four-member consonant sequences arise once a prefix is

combined with an initial three-consonant sequence, which sequence itself obvi-
ously could not be a branching onset:
(6) [krf]awic 'bleed' - [skrfjawic 'id. perf.'(cf. krew [kref]'blood')

[trfjonic 'squander' - [strf]onic 'id. perf.'
[stsjelic 'shoot' - [fsts]elic 'id. perf.'
2.2. Proper government
Proper government, as the relation between a nucleus dominating a melody and

a nucleus with no phonetic content, serves to explain a large number of initial
consonantal combinations; these combinations cannot be viewed as constituting
branching onsets, either because of the nature or the number of the consonants
making up the initial sequence. The nature of the consonants excludes govern-
ing relations typical of branching onsets, which means that two given conso-
nants must be assigned to distinct onsets and the empty nucleus separating them
is licensed through proper government from the following nucleus containing a
melody. In a number of cases there are direct alternations when the empty nu-
cleus fails to be licensed due to the absence of a governor or when restructuring
has to be recognized as the result of a morphological process. Some examples
are offered in (7a), and an interpreted representation of the first example is
provided in (7b).
[mx]u 'moss, gen.' - [mex] 'id., nom.'

[ln]u 'flax, gen.' - [len] 'id., nom.'
[wb]a 'head, gen.' - [web] 'id., nom.'
[bz]u 'lilac, gen.' - [bes] 'id., nom.'
[lv]a 'lion, gen.' - [lef] 'id., nom.'
[tx]u 'breath, gen.' - [dex] 'id., nom.'
(za)[tk]ac 'stopper' - (za)[tyk]ac 'stopper, imperf.'
[rv]ac 'tear' - (wy)[ryv]ac 'tear out'
[px]ac 'push, imperf.' — (za)[pyx]ac 'block'
I 1 I -X-n
Ο Ν, 0 N2 0 NI 0 N2
I1 II I1 I1 I1 ιι ι1 1ι
X X X χ X χ X X
1 1 1 1 II 1
m χ u m e X
Of course, this sort of direct and very comforting evidence will not be available
in every case. If the initial empty nucleus is always followed by some vowel
with phonetic content, it will be licensed through proper government in every
case:
[wk]ac 'sob' [gd]y 'when'

[wgjac 'lie' [dzb]an 'jug'
[rt]çc 'mercury' [db]ac 'care'
[rdz]a 'rust' [cc]y 'futile'
[pt]ak 'bird' [dzdzjownica 'earth-worm
[kt]o 'who' [mz]awka 'drizzle'
[vd]owa 'widow' [xsj^szcz 'beetle'
These examples illustrate cases where an empty nucleus is assumed to separate

the two consonants; this nucleus is invariably followed by one with phonetic
content which either belongs to the root (rtqc, wdowa, ptak) or realizes an in-
flectional or derivational affix (tkac, rdza). In any event, the empty nucleus
cannot be realized for reasons which have to do with the lexical or morphologi-
cal composition of words. Some triconsonantal sequences can also be handled
by proper government if an empty nucleus is postulated between a branching
and a non-branching onset. As before, we find direct support for the empty
nucleus in the form of alternations in certain cases (9a) but not in others (9b):
(9) a. [pwc]i 'sex, gen.' - [pwec] 'nom. '

[brv']i 'brow, gen.' - [bref] 'nom. '
[krf]i 'blood, gen.' - [kref] 'nom. '
b. CrC
[brdjysac 'frolic' [drv]al 'wood-cutter'
[brn]^c 'plod' [krtjan 'larynx'
[krn]^[brn]y 'unruly' [grd]yka 'Adam's apple'
[drz]ec 'shake' [brd]a 'name of a river'
[drg]ac 'vibrate' [brdzjiañski 'of the Brda river'
2.3. Magic licensing
The concept of Magic Licensing was introduced by Kaye (1992) to cover the
well-known irregularity in the syllabic positioning of the consonant /s/ when
followed by one or more consonants, e.g. English string, sting. The suggestion
that /s/ should be treated as the rhymal complement in such cases requires a
mechanism to license the nucleus of that rhyme; since the mechanism is poorly
understood it has been aptly dubbed magic licensing. Polish supplies ample
evidence for the existence of such magically licensed nuclei; its applicability -
in comparison with languages such as English - is further extended as the rele-
vant rhymal complement can be occupied not only by /s/ but also by its voiced,
palatal, and palatalized congeners. On the other hand, not every such sequence
is necessarily the result of magic licensing since there are clear cases where /s/
and the following consonant belong to separate onsets. In any event, magic
licensing can be invoked to account for the muting of the nucleus before /s/ plus
a non-branching onset (10a), /s/ plus a branching onset (10b), and after an onset
(usually a labial) (10c).
(10) a. s+C b. s+CC c. Cs+C(C)

[st]ól 'table' [strjona 'page' [fsctec 'initiate'
[scjçscie 'happiness' [sxljudny 'spruce' [pstr]y 'gaudy'
[sc]iana 'wall' [scfjany 'cunning' [bzdjura 'nonsense'
[zd]anie 'sentence' [zbrjoja 'arms' [fstrjçt 'repulsion'
[zdz]ira 'scrubber' [zgrjoza 'terror' [fskrjos 'throughout'
The three types of licensing mechanisms illustrated so far appear to cover most
of the empty nuclei which need to be postulated. They do not, however, exhaust
all the possibilities involving three- and four-member sequences. In order to
account for the remaining data, a new mechanism will be needed. However,
before it is introduced, let us consider some inadequacies of the three mecha-
nisms presented above.
3. Licensing mechanisms and phonotactic restrictions - basic inadequacies
Fundamentally, the account presented so far works in a static kind of way. In

other words, given the vocabulary of Polish as it is, we can cover most of the
existing consonantal sequences using the three mechanisms of licensing empty
nuclei. If these mechanisms are to be treated as being actively at work in the
language, they make predictions which fail to be borne out to an extent that un-
dermine their plausibility.
What requires further consideration in this analysis is the application of
proper government since it licenses an empty nucleus in total disregard of what
kind of onset precedes or follows it. This means that proper government should
make it possible for any two consonants to stand together, which is anything but
true. First of all, we should find sequences of identical consonants, something
which happens in very few cases, while double *pp, *kk, etc. are totally impos-
sible. In a less trivial way, proper government predicts that any two-member
sequence should have its mirror image. This is again simply not true. Consider
(1 la) with examples of Imi plus sonorant and (1 lb) with a reversed order of the
sonorants:
(11) m + s onorarti
a. [mw]ody 'young' b. *[wm]
[ml]eko 'milk' *[lm]
[mrjówka 'ant' *[rm]
[mn]ogi 'numerous' *[nm]
[tnñ]ie 'me' *[mn]
The reversed order of consonants is not only unattested but not even potentially
available. The same holds for the majority of two-member sequences produced
by proper government where one of the onsets is an obstruent and the other a
sonorant. Thus, with a few notable exceptions, e.g. iba 'head, gen.' or rtqc
'mercury', such sequences conform to the order: obstruent-sonorant.3 Quite
logically, then, most cases of vowel-zero alternations in Polish are found in
sequences of onsets exhibiting rising sonority to the right. This is shown in (12)
below.
(12) a. [kr]a / [k'er] 'ice float' b. *rka/rek

[pr]ac / [p'ez]e 'wash' *rpa / rep
[gn]ç / wy[g'in]ac 'bend' *nga / neg
[tn]ie / wy[cin]ac 'cut' *nta / net
The question why vowel-zero alternations are rare in sequences of the reversed
sonorant-obstruent order (12b) will be tackled in the following sections. It
should be noted, however, that, with the exception of [rek] / [rka], the absence
of the alternations in (12b) also holds true for the word-medial and word-final
contexts.4
Other impossible initial sequences (/r/+sonorant, /j/+consonant, /n/+conso-
nant) strengthen our doubts about the viability of proper government as a satis-
factory mechanism for the licensing of empty nuclei. Since all such sequences
should be freely available, we need to invoke an additional mechanism to rule
them out. This difficulty may be traced back to a general property of internu-
clear licensing, namely that proper government is insensitive to the nature of the
neighboring onsets. While domain-final licensing may and does bring together
any kind of consonants, including identical ones, see (4-6) above, the same
should happen in the case of proper government, but it does not. This is also the
basic failure of Kurylowicz's account mentioned at the outset: if a Polish onset
may be a complex of two onsets, then clearly any two consonants should be
possible at the beginning of a word since, of course, any single consonant is a
well-formed onset. Even worse for Kurylowicz's hypothesis, combinations of
two branching onsets should be found just as easily, which again is not the
case. In fact, none of the combinations in (13) is even vaguely possible:
(13) *[blgr]ac, *[grkl]ac, *[trpl]ac, *[fltr]ac
Our account fares better here. To obtain the branching onset sequences we
would need to license an intervening empty nucleus, something proper govern-
ment cannot do as it never applies across a governing domain. In this way, the
second branching onset, being a governing domain, constitutes a barrier to the
impossible sequences, clearly a desirable result.
Magic licensing faces similar problems: the attested consonantal sequences
are quite restricted even though there is nothing in the licensing mechanism to
preclude other patterns. Forms found in (10c), such as [pstrjy 'gaudy', [bzd]wra
'nonsense', [fstrjç/ 'repulsion', and [fskr]o.v 'throughout', show that the 'magic'
context is predominantly preceded by a labial plosive or fricative. 5 Given the
nature of magic licensing, we might expect forms like *tskry, *gzgfy and so on.
Thus, in order to account fully for the Polish facts we need a model which
would ensure that all the empty nuclei are properly licensed: on the other hand,
the system should be able to account for the dominant patterns of segmental
distribution and exclude the non-existing or impossible ones. It is obvious that
the mechanisms presented so far, while licensing all empty nuclei, dramatically
fail to cover the various consonantal restrictions. Specifically, what requires
explanation is the apparently random conformity to the rising 'sonority slope'
in Polish initial sequences; as we have seen, violations of the slope are not
recognized in some initial sonorant-obstruent sequences, (e.g. */jC/ and */nC/),
but there is an apparently inexplicable tolerance of violation in the case of some
sequences of two sonorants, (e.g. /ml/, /mn/, /mw/), two obstruents, (e.g. /kt/,
/kp/, /tk/), or in the case of the licit sequences of three consonants beginning
with a sonorant such as [mgl]a 'mist' or [lgn]qc 'cling'.
What makes a study of these facts particularly challenging is the existence
of all kinds of subregularities and exceptions to the observed patterns. Firstly,
as mentioned above, only some sonorant-obstruent sequences are strictly for-
bidden (*/jC/ or */nC/), while others are allowed, e.g. /wC/ Igac 'lie' and /rC/
in rdesl 'water-pepper', even though the latter forms are very infrequent (see
section 6). Secondly, a sequence of two sonorants must appear in a particular
order, e.g. Imi plus sonorant and not the other way round. And finally, not all
combinations of two obstruents are possible as testified by, for example, the
absence of initial */pk/ or */bg/.
The following table summarizes our observations on initial clusters involv-
ing two consonants.
(14) Possible Impossible Exceptions

OS [gn']e.ç'c 'squeeze' SO j/n/w/r/l/m+O SO [rt]qc 'mercury'
00 [kt]o 'who' SS j/n/w/r/l+S [wb]a 'head, gen.sg.'
m+S [ml]ejto 'milk' [lvly 'lions'
(O)bstruent, (S)onoraiit
It seems reasonable to suspect that some mechanism determining the restric-

tions and the licit types of sequences is indeed in operation. It should be able to
cover the facts summarized in (14) and it should provide a principled basis for
the limiting of initial sequences to no more than four consonants. Additionally,
it would be desirable to be able to provide a rationale for the total absence of
three- or four-member sequences consisting solely of obstruents (apart from
sequences involving /s/ because of magic licensing) or solely of sonorants:
(15) *ptk, *kpk, *bdgb, *mnl, *rnl, *lrnm
In the following section, we present a new set of data which involve the pre-
sence of two empty nuclei. The interpretation of these forms requires the intro-
duction of a fourth licensing mechanism which, as we will try to demonstrate,
entails more than just the licensing of empty nuclei.
4. Interonset Government
Consider the examples in (16):
(16) [mkn]^c 'speed' po[myk]ac 'id., imperf.'

[mgw]a 'mist' [mg'ew] 'id., gen. pi.'
[lgn]^c 'cling' przy[leg]ac'id., imperf.'
[tkn]^c 'touch' [tyk]ac 'id., imperf.'
[pxw]a 'flea' [pxew] 'id., gen. pi.'
[zdzbwjo 'blade (of grass)' [zdzbew] 'id., gen. pi.'
[txn]^c 'breathe' [tx]u 'breath, gen. sg. '
- [dex] 'nom. sg. '
and also [mdw]y 'bland', [dzgnj^c 'stab', [tkl]iwy 'tender'
What is striking about these sequences of three consonants is the fact that
neither the first two consonants nor the last two can contract a governing rela-
tion that would place them within a branching onset: neither the [mk] nor the
[kn] of [mkn]^c qualifies as a well-formed onset. Consequently, two empty

nuclei have to be recognized and we need to find principled means of licensing
them. In Gussmann & Kaye (1993) a proposal is put forward whereby the last
two consonants contract an interonset governing relation which licenses the
intervening nucleus. The interonset government (10) is made possible by the
following full vowel which simultaneously properly governs (PG) the first
empty nucleus. A representation is supplied for the word tknqc 'touch' in (17a)
and for zdzblo 'blade of grass' in (17b).
(17) ι PG ,
EG
i ι 10 » I I i
I n-ro-^ I
a. O, N, 0 2 N2 0 3 N3 0 4 Ni 02 N2 0 3 Nj 04 N4
X x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
1 1
bί w o
L·
There are a few technical problems with the interpretation in (17); one is that
the proper government which licenses Nj in (17a) and N 2 in (17b) has to apply
across a governing domain (across the interonset), something which is normally
regarded as inadmissible. Much more importantly, the interpretation surrepti-
tiously introduces the need to order the licensing principles: note that N 2 in
(17a) and N 3 in (17b) are licensed through interonset government although they
could just as well be licensed through proper government with the final full
vowel serving as the governor. If we were to order - or rank - the principles by
specifying that if a choice were possible, apply interonset government, this
might salvage the uniqueness of relations but it would force us to reanalyze
some cases that were handled by proper government above. Consider the two
pairs of nouns:
(18) a. [kw]a 'tusk, gen. sg. ' - [k'ew] 'nom. sg.'

b. [wb]a 'head, gen. sg.' - [wep] 'nom. sg.'
Words like [kw]o - [k'ew] (18a) can be interpreted by either mechanism since
the conditions for both proper government and interonset government are met.
On the other hand, cases such as [wep] - [wb]a (18b) can only be handled by
proper government since /w/ is obviously not a governor. 6 It thus seems that
both licensing principles are necessary but there are cases of indeterminacy
where we cannot decide which one actually applies. If we bypass these diffi-
culties for the moment, we can say that the facts of Polish can be described in a
reasonably coherent fashion without resorting to language-specific mechanisms
or rules. What is language-specific is the relatively free use of empty nuclei in
the representations, but this seems to be the irreducible minimum, not different
in kind from the appearance of front rounded vowels in some languages or tonal
distinctions in others. Another issue which needs more thought is the ordering
of the two principles, something which can only be described as an ad hoc solu-
tion, not different in kind from traditional rule ordering.7
5. Accounting for the segment distribution of Polish
In the previous section, we introduced the concept of interonset government

(10) and demonstrated how this mechanism, in combination with proper gov-
ernment (PG), sanctions two empty nuclei in words like tknqc 'touch'. We have
also identified some problems created by the introduction of 10 in the
phonological system of Polish.
To avoid the theoretical problems raised in section 4, that is: (a) the neces-
sity of ranking 10 and PG, (b) the indeterminacy as to which mechanism ap-
plies to derive individual forms, and (c) the application of PG across a govern-
ing domain, one could pursue the option of eliminating interonset government
altogether and redefining proper government to include the possibility of its
recursive application (Gussmann 1997). This would account for the sequences
of two empty nuclei in forms such as tknqc, but it would fail to advance our
understanding of the permissible consonant sequences. In other words, by re-
cursively licensing both empty nuclei in tknqc through proper government we
would be making the prediction that the character of the consonants surround-
ing the nuclei is irrelevant, hence any two or three consonants can be brought
together. This, as we have seen, is at odds with what is actually found; hence,
by recognizing PG only, we would lose the only mechanism we have to deal
with the nature of the consonant sequences, namely, the interonset relation.
We do not intend to deny the importance of the mechanisms which license
empty nuclei or exaggerate the importance of those dealing with the nature of
consonant sequences. That is to say, we are not assuming that all cases of
phonotactic restrictions involve governing relations between onsets. In what
follows, we will suggest that there are at least three quite disparate mechanisms
which, taken together, are responsible for the segment distribution of Polish
initial sequences, viz. (a) the interplay between interonset and proper govern-
ment, (b) restrictions on adjacent melodies (rather than positions) where no
government seems to be involved, and (c) some prosodie effects connected with
the notion of Licensing Inheritance as developed in Harris (1992, 1994, 1997),
and Brockhaus (1995). These three points are taken up below one by one.
5.1. Principle ranking and segment distribution
In this section, we will inspect only one aspect of the segmental distribution of
Polish initial sequences, i.e. the order of segments. We begin with the data in
(19) and consider some consequences of the interaction between 10 and PG.
Then we move on to some non-obvious predictions that this analysis entails and
propose a tentative account of the prevailing order of segments in initial se-
quences of two and three consonants. It should be stressed that we are going to
consider major tendencies rather than hard and fast principles.
The crucial data in our analysis are those which seem to be most proble-
matic, that is, those involving two licensed empty nuclei (19a).
a. b. c. d. e. f.
Ci0C20C3.. . *C,0C30C2 *C20C3OC, •C30C,0C2 *C30C2OC, *C20C, 0C:
[tkn]^c 'touch' *[tnk] *[knt] *[ntk] *[nkt] *[ktn]
[cknjic 'long for' *[cnk] *[knc] *[nck] *[nkc] *[kcn]
[txn]^c 'breathe' *[tnx] *[xnt] *[ntx) *[nxt] *[xtn]
[dzgnfôc 'stab' *[dzng] *[gndi] *[ndzg] >gdz] *[gdzn]
[tkf ]ic 'stick, vb' *[tfk] *[kft] *[ftk] •[Act] *[ktf]
[tkljiwy 'tender' *[tlk] *[klt] *[ltk] *[Ikt] *[ktl]
[ckl]iwy 'maudlin' *[clk] •[klc] * [lek] *[lkc] *[kcl]
The fact that the sequences in (19b-f), with the order of onsets changed (onset
flip-flops), are ungrammatical, suggests that the types of sequences in (19a) are
not arbitrary. This view is particularly strengthened by the distinct pattern dis-
played by the types of segments in particular positions, a point to which we
return later.
Gussmann and Kaye (1993) claim that the ungrammaticality of (19b) can be
directly derived from the ranking of principles proposed to deal with the forms
in (19a). Note that in (19b) the second and the third onset are swapped. These
are the two onsets which contract a governing relation in the analysis of forms
with two empty nuclei (17). Given the ranking strategy that 10 takes priority
over PG and assuming that 10 applies only from left to right, the impossibility
of the reshuffled forms in (19b) becomes obvious. This is illustrated below in
(20a) and (20b).
(20) -P6-
-ff~
-*I0 -P6 1
Ο, N, 0 2 N2 0 3 Ν, 0 4 N4 *b. Ο, N, 0 2 N2 0 3 N3 0 4 N4
I I I I I I ! I I I
X X X X X X X X X
I U ι ι I I u I I I I
c e η k i c
Because of the governing properties of Ini, which is a typical governee, and /k/,
which is a typical governor, an interonset relation cannot be contracted between
/n/ and ñd in either case in (20); for this reason, one of the two empty nuclei
must remain unlicensed regardless of whether proper government licenses Ni
(20a) or N2 (20b). The other permutations responsible for the ungrammatical
sequences (19b-e) can be handled in the same fashion.8
From the above discussion it may be concluded that whenever we are deal-
ing with two onsets separated by an empty nucleus, the preferred sequence type
will be one which can be sanctioned by the rightward interonset relation.9 In the
case of sequences of two obstruents, i.e. two typical governors, the interonset
relation cannot be invoked and hence the intervening empty nucleus in, for
example, kto 'who' and tka 'she weaves' may be licensed by proper govern-
ment only. We shall continue to hold that PG applies whenever it can, except
where 10 is involved. This leaves us with the problem of sequences of two
sonorants, e.g. [m\\eko 'milk'. As in the case of two obstruents just discussed,
such forms could be derived by PG alone because both sonorants are typical
governees which cannot invoke 10. This would predict the existence of the
reverse order of onsets, something which we have seen is not the case; hence,
this path has to be abandoned. We will consider the sequences of two sonorants
in more detail in section 5.4.
To summarize, the operation of 10 combined with PG seems to provide a
useful tool not only for licensing forms containing two empty nuclei, e.g. tknqc
'touch' (17), but it also allows us to explain the prevailing patterns of segment
distribution in Polish. 10, which is necessary to sanction sequences involving a
governor and a governee, is responsible for the fact that such strings must ex-
hibit rising sonority. To illustrate this we repeat the data from (12).
(21) a. [kr]a / [k'er] 'ice float' b. *rka/rek

[pr]ac / [p'ez]e 'wash' *rpa / rep
[gn]ç / wy[g'in]ac 'bend' *nga / neg
[tnjie / wy[cin]ac 'cut' *nta / net
Recall that, as we demonstrated in section 3, these tendencies would remain

inexplicable if the forms in (21) were to be derived by PG.10 Our account also
provides an answer to the question of why vowel-zero alternations are typically
found in sequences with rising sonority, regardless of the position within the
word, e.g. kra/kier 'ice float, nom./gen.pl.'. Thus, given that any morpheme-
internal sequence of the onsets: /r-k/, /r-p/ or /n-t/ will be excluded by 10, the
only configuration in which such strings can be found in Polish is either a
rhyme-onset sequence, e.g. park 'park' (22a), or a sequence where the two
onsets belong to two different phonological domains as in parek 'pair, dim. gen.
pi.' (22b).
(22) a. R b.
i—Λ—ι
O 1> Ο Ν Ο Ν Ο Ν N O N
[ χ χ χ-*-χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ Χ ]
JJ I
p a r k p a r e k
In (22a) there is no empty nucleus between Irl and ñd, hence no vowel-zero
alternation is found. On the other hand, in the existing alternation parka/parek
'pair, dim.sg./dim.gen.pl.', the two onsets belong to two different phonological
domains and the alternation results from the application of PG.
Finally, we may also offer a rationale for the total absence of three- or four-
member sequences consisting solely of obstruents or solely of sonorants, e.g.
*/ptk/, */kpk/, */bdgb/, */rnl/, */lrnm/ (see section 3). Such sequences require
that an interonset relation be contracted between onsets with identical govern-
ing properties, which is an unlikely situation.11
The main point of this section was to demonstrate the potential of the pro-
posed ranking of 10 and PG in accounting for certain tendencies concerning the
order and the type of segments found in Polish initial sequences. The results of
our investigation suggest that the ranking of 10 and PG is able to define the
effects (word-initially) of what we prefer to call the 'rising sonority slope'. 12
At this point, one should ask a question concerning the role of proper gov-
ernment in the Polish system. The introduction of the interonset relation seems
to have reduced PG to a position of a fairly general licensing mechanism which
'patches up' the gaps in the analysis of the Polish data. This is not necessarily
true. As we have demonstrated, proper government is responsible for licensing
empty nuclei not only in combination with 10 (17), but also in other crucial
contexts, namely, when two onsets are of equal status as far as their governing
properties are concerned, e.g. kto 'who', tka 'she weaves'. In the following
sections, PG will be shown to play a crucial role in other sets of data, for exam-
ple, [krt]aw 'larynx' which contains a branching onset followed by another
onset.13
Below, we return to the problem of distribution in the initial triconsonantal
sequences, e.g. tknqc 'touch', presented in (19a).
5.2. Constraints on adjacent melodies
Although the ranking of principles accounts for the lion's share of the problems
encountered in Polish triconsonantal sequences, it is not able to explain the
somewhat restricted nature of the positions Ci and C2. Let us first repeat (19a)
below for convenience.
(23) C,0C20C3...
[tkn]^c 'touch'
[ckn]ic 'long'
[txn]^c 'breathe'
[dzgnj^c 'stab'
[tkf]ic 'stick, vb.
[tkl]iwy 'tender'
[ckl]iwy 'maudlin'
The data in (23) show a clear pattern as to what type of consonant is found in
the respective positions, i.e. Ci and C2. The first onset is filled by a coronal
obstruent and the second by a velar. The reversal of the order of the two seg-
ments produces forms which are unattested, e.g. */ktl/iwy, a point we discussed
in connection with the data in (19) above. For the moment, we will concentrate
on the Ci position.
What is disturbing about Q is that it could be expected to enjoy relative
melodic freedom because it does not contract any relation with other conso-
nants. Thus, we should expect to find all kinds of consonants there yielding
sequences like */pkn/, */kkn/, */wkn/, */rkl/, */nkl/, */jkn/. The question imme-
diately arises why it is a coronal stop or affricate that tends to appear in that
position, while C 2 is occupied by a velar obstruent. Furthermore, we need to
recognize the departures from this pattern given below and consider their sig-
nificance.
(24) C!0C20C3...
[pxw]a 'flea'
[pxnfcc 'push'
[mgw]a 'mist'
[mkn]^c 'speed'
[mgñjienie 'wink'
[mdw]y 'bland'
[Ignkc 'cling'
The data in (24) belong to the same set of forms as (23) in terms of structure.
They both contain two empty nuclei which are licensed through 10 and PG.
The exceptionality of (24) lies in the fact that the positions Ci and C2 do not
conform to the pattern of (23) in that either Q is not a coronal obstruent, or C2
is not a velar or both. Q can be a labial plosive (pchia) or one of the sonorants
/l, m/ (Ignqc, mknqc), while C2 can be occupied by a velar fricative (pchia) or,
in one case, a dental plosive (mdly). The significance of these observations will
be discussed shortly. Recall, however, that /l/ and Imi are the only sonorants
which can precede a 'magic' context word-initially, e.g. mscic 'avenge' and
Isnic 'glitter', as this position is normally reserved for labial obstruents (see
(10c)). One could also add here that only Ν and Irai can occupy the initial posi-
tion in sequences of two sonorants, e.g. mnogi 'numerous', Inu 'flax, gen. sg.'.
Bearing in mind the exceptions in (24), let us try to account for the distribu-
tion of the obstruents in (23). We begin by looking at some facts concerning the
Polish obstruents in order to show why coronal stops or affricates are the best
candidates for the Ci position of forms like tknqc 'touch' (23). There are two
reasons for this. One is connected with certain constraints on the consonantal
melodies of adjacent onsets when separated by an empty nucleus. The other is
connected with the prosodie system of licensing and refers directly to the ad-
missible phonological strength of segments in prosodically weak positions. Let
us concentrate on the former point first.
Polish seems to have constraints on adjacent melodies which do not follow
from governing relations, as it is only consonantal melodies attached to adjacent
positions that must contract governing relations. One such constraint disallows
adjacent homorganic stops word-initially. Thus, initial */tt/, */kk/, */pp/ or their
voiced counterparts are illicit, and the stop sequences we do find are invariably
heterogenic:
(25) C,0C 2
[kt]o 'who' *tt... *dd.
[tk]ac 'weave' *kk... *gg·
[kp]ic 'mock' *PP- *bb.
[gd]y 'when'
[gb]ur 'boor'
[db]ac 'care'
[pt]ak 'bird'
As mentioned earlier, 10 cannot be invoked in (25) due to the fact that both
onsets are typical governors. Therefore, the intervening empty nucleus is li-
censed by proper government. Given the nature of proper government, it fol-
lows that the restriction on the homorganicity of plosives in Polish has nothing
to do with government but requires a special constraint characterizing well-
formed representations.
Additional support for this analysis is provided by the data in (26) below
which illustrate the same point, namely, that two plosive consonants in a single
sequence must not agree in place of articulation even if they are not in a gov-
erning relation. The forms contain an intervening [r] segment which is not to be
found in triconsonantal forms such as tknqc (23).
(26) Cir0C2
[brdjysac 'frolic' *[brb]
[drgjac 'vibrate' *[drb]
[krt]añ 'larynx' *[krp]
[grd]yka 'Adam's apple' *[grb]
[brd]a 'name of a river'
[brdzjianski 'of the Brda river'
It seems natural to propose that the first two consonants form a branching onset
which is followed by an empty nucleus and another onset. The head of the
branching onset is not homorganic with the second onset and the intervening
nucleus is licensed by proper government exactly as in the case of kto 'who'
(25).
Both data sets, (25) and (26), show that the plosives reveal more freedom
than the triconsonantal sequences in (23), yet the constraint disallowing ho-
morganicity is still active. This fact provides us with an explanation for the
distribution of segments in (23), for example, cknic 'long'. Given that the sec-
ond onset is typically occupied by a velar plosive, the Ci position can either be
coronal or labial, but not velar. The question now is why labial plosives are not
easily allowed in Q of such forms as tknqc 'touch'. A possible way of ap-
proaching this problem is discussed in the following section.
5.3. Prosodically determined distribution?
In the preceding section, we have provided a partial account of the existing

triconsonantal sequences as well as reasons for the non-existence of others.
There still is a major lacuna in our description since nothing in it bars the emer-
gence of sequences such as /pkn/, /bgl/ etc. If such sequences are impossible, as
seems to be the case, we need to determine the mechanism disallowing the
combinations.
The proposal to be made below draws on the notion of Licensing Inheri-
tance (Harris 1992, 1997, Brockhaus 1995) which, generally speaking, assumes
that a slot's ability to license a given amount of phonological material is deter-
mined by its position in the prosodie structure. These licensing possibilities
refer not only to the position within a syllable, but also to the position within a
foot or even within the phonological word. The 'amount' of phonological mate-
rial is identified with segmental complexity, i.e. the number of elements in a
given compound. The general assumption is that a prosodically weak position
may not be able to license excessively complex segments.
Polish plosives can be chartered along the following complexity hierarchy.
(27) strong « « « weak

b/p g/k d/t
The hierarchy does not seem to require much justification. Given the recurrent
special behavior of coronal consonants in languages which has led other models
to recognize that they are underspecified, we are not surprised to find the coro-
nal stops at the bottom of the hierarchy. As for the distinction between labials
and velars, government phonology provides an explanation for this difference
too. Velar consonants are typically represented as headless or headed by the
neutral element, which makes them weaker than the labials.
Let us now demonstrate why labial plosives are not tolerated in the C, posi-
tion of the triconsonantal clusters. The explanation illustrated below is based on
the exposition of the licensing inheritance theory in Harris (1992, 1997). Con-
sider the sequence [dzgnj^c 'stab' from the point of view of governing and
licensing relations.
(28) PG government
licensing
" γ - » ® — *
Οι Ν, 0 2 N 2 0 3 WS 0 4 N 4
I I I I I I I I
x - « x x x x x x x
I I I I I
dz g η ^ c
The structure in (28) presents the now familiar interpretation of triconsonantal

forms. We include the licensing path which proceeds from N 3 (head of domain)
to the head of the interonset relation O 2 - O 3 . It appears that the position Oi is
prosodically speaking the weakest as it is only licensed indirectly by the head of
domain (N 3 ) via Ni.
Given that labial plosives are at the top of the segmental strength hierarchy,
they will be the least likely candidates to occur in a weak position. N 3 has to
license the preceding interonset relation as well as properly govern the first
empty nucleus. Thus, the licensing charge that can be offered to Oi is highly
depleted.
Having excluded velar plosives from the initial position in such forms as
(28) on the basis of the constraint on homorganicity, we can now also exclude
the labial plosives from this position, although on quite different grounds. We
admit that at this stage we cannot offer a viable explanation for the fact that the
second onset in forms like tknqc must be a velar which thus excludes /ktn/ or
/ktl/ (cf. (19f)). It appears, however, that a velar consonant is not favored in
Polish in the context preceding a governing relation. For example, it is not
238 Eugeniusz Cyrart & Edmund Gussmann
found in the forms involving a single onset preceding a 'magic' context

(*/kstr/), where only labial obstruents are found, e.g. pstry 'gaudy' (10c). Note
that a potential interpretation of */ktn/ would involve an 10 relation between /t/
and /ηλ In this respect, one might simply assume that the sequence /tkn/ as in
tknqc is an optimal arrangement for triconsonantal sequences.
We mentioned above that the sequence */pk/ or */bg/ is also unattested in
the data involving just two plosives (25). We may account for this fact by ap-
plying a parallel analysis. In kto, tkac, kpic, gbur, gdy and dbac, the first onset
is also prosodically weak. Note that the nucleus which licenses the first onset is
itself properly governed by the head of the domain. The only exception in this
set of data is the word ptak 'bird' which has a labial plosive in the initial posi-
tion. This case may be explained by the fact that, first of all, the second onset is
occupied by the weakest of plosives, that is, N. And secondly, both onsets are
voiceless, that is, they lack a laryngeal element, which makes the whole se-
quence relatively uncomplex and hence possible to license. The nature of the
following consonant seems to be of some importance. Recall the two cases of
triconsonantal sequences, e.g. pchla 'flea' (cf. (24)), where /p/ was allowed
initially and the second onset was occupied by a velar fricative rather than a
plosive. A labial plosive may be licensed in Oi only if the following onset is
weakened and thus 'consumes' less of the licensing charge from the head of the
domain.
The concept of licensing inheritance in Polish is additionally appealing
because it gets us closer to providing a non-arbitrary justification for ranking
the interonset relation higher than proper government. Consider again the
' 0 i r 0 2 ' sequence in forms such as brdysac 'frolic' (26). What is striking about
these forms is that here, unlike in tknqc (23) and kto (25), a labial plosive is
found in the initial position, but not in the O2 position. This suggests that in
brdysac it is 0 2 which is weak and, consequently, we would like to claim that
the licensing path is reversed here as compared with both kto and tknqc. For
clarity of presentation, we encircle the weakest position in each of the forms
below.
(29) a. b.
i f P€ , J P6 1
Ni 02 N2 0 3 Na Οι Ν! 02 KZ
Ν I I I I I
XX Χ ®< X X X X X X
d r 8 a
c. , EG-
I , iF) _
0! Ni 02 N2 03 N3 04 N4 » licensing
government
Note that in all three cases Nj is properly governed. However, in (29a), unlike
in (29b) and (29c), Ni does not license the preceding onset. We claim that the
licensing comes directly from the head of the domain, i.e. the following realized
nucleus N 2 . The same can be said about the interonset relation between /k/ and
ltd in (29c), namely, the licensing comes from the following realized nucleus.
To return to the licensing path in drgac 'vibrate' (29a), we observe that the
first onset forms a governing relation (a branching onset). The head of the do-
main - N2 - has to properly govern the preceding nucleus and give licence to
the preceding branching onset (a governing relation). Consequently, 0 2 , even
though it is directly followed by the head of the domain, receives less licensing
and may not support the strong consonants /p/ or Ibi. Alternatively, one could
paraphrase this claim by saying that, given all the licensing duties that the head
of the domain has to discharge, a less complex object is favored in the 0 2 posi-
tion.
Clearly, the analysis presented above constitutes a modification of the con-
cept of Government Licensing (GL) introduced in Charette (1990, 1991, 1992).
The general idea of GL stays the same: every governing relation must be li-
censed. In Charette's account, government licensing comes from the nucleus
which directly follows a given governing domain. She concludes, on the basis
of similar data as drgac, that in Polish, empty nuclei are government licensers.
The extension of this principle which we would like to make assumes that gov-
erning relations are indeed licensed in Polish, but the source of such licensing is
invariably a realized nucleus. This, in the case of, for example, drgac means
that the licensing comes from the head of the domain which does not directly
follow the governing relation.
Our analysis of drgac assumes that the head of the domain licenses govern-
ing relations 'before' any other type of licensing, hence the reversed licensing
path in such forms. This produces one very important prediction about Polish:
given a form which contains a potential relation between consonants and an
empty nucleus to be properly governed, the first type of licensing, that is, gov-
ernment licensing will be given preference. A claim could be made here that the
licensing of relations prior to segments is part of universal grammar and hence
does not contribute to the complexity of the description of Polish. Not only
does it account for the reversed licensing path in drgac, but it also provides us
with a non-arbitrary explanation for the ranking of principles in, for example,
tknqc (29c) where the head of the domain gives 'licensing preference' to the
interonset relation, which licenses the intervening empty nucleus, and properly
governs the remaining empty nucleus. Thus the ranking of principles, which
seems to account for a large portion of Polish phonotactics, is an instantiation
of a general principle of government licensing.
Below we take up the last problem concerning the data in (23) and (24),
namely, the presence of III and Imi in the Ci position of, for example, Ignqc
'cling' and mknqc 'speed'. What requires explanation is not only the occurrence
of Ν and /m/ in these forms, but also the fact that no other sonorants (/w, r, n,
j/) are admitted here.
5.4. Like obstruent, like sonorant
It was mentioned earlier that the two objects I\1 and Imi seem to pattern with
obstruents, a fact which we may express by placing these two segments just
below obstruents on the strength scale, a more complete version of which is
given below.
(30) Strength hierarchy: strong « « « « « « « < weak

p/b k/g t/d
ml w r ηj
Examples of the obstruent-like behavior of Ν and Imi can be found in mknqc

'speed', mgla 'mist', mdfy 'bland' and Ignqc 'cling' (24), as well as in the data
where /l/ and Imi are also the only sonorants found in the context before a
'magic' cluster, for example, Isnic 'glitter' and mscic 'avenge'. It seems that the
position Ci in both contexts excludes the weak sonorants /w, r, j, ηΛ14
The relative strength of IV and /m/ is also reflected in the way they interact
with other (weak) sonorants.
[mw]ody 'young'
[ml]eko 'milk'
[mrjówka 'ant'
[mn]ogi 'numerous'
[mñ]ie 'me'
[ln]u - [len] 'flax'
[lv]a - [lef] 'lion'
[lz]yc 'insult' 15
These forms might be treated as parallel to those involving two plosives (klo in
(25)). Given that these sequences contain two typical governees, no 10 is pos-
sible. These sequences, subject to constraints on adjacent melodies (excluding
*[mv], *[lr], etc.), may be assumed to be created by proper government. How-
ever, the problem with such an interpretation is that, similarly to typical obstru-
ent-sonorant sequences, '[m]/[l] plus sonorant' sequences appear in a fairly
rigid order, which suggests that here too we are dealing with an interonset rela-
tion. Thus, an alternative analysis of the forms in (31) may assume that a right-
ward interonset relation is contracted. The absence of initial */wm/, */lm/,
*/rm/, */nm/ and */nl/ receives a parallel explanation to the absence of */jg/,
*/mk/, or */nt/: the presence of a typical governor and governee invokes an
interonset relation (that is, such sequences must be sanctioned by the relation
between onsets), which is impossible here because the order of segments disal-
lows a rightward relation.
6. Some residual problems
Finally, let us look at the data in (32) to which we have alluded on a few occa-
sions. They constitute a set of troublesome exceptions to our analysis and dem-
onstrate that we have a better understanding of the complex sequences than of
the simple ones. We assume that structurally these sequences contain an empty
nucleus. 16 This assumption is supported by the vowel-zero alternations exhib-
ited by some of the data in (32). As to the interpretation of such forms, it seems,
that we can only derive such sequences by proper government, which goes
against our claims that any sequence of two onsets, where one is a typical gov-
ernor and the other a typical governee, must be sanctioned by the interonset
relation (see section 5.1). For these reasons, we will refrain from offering a
definitive interpretation at this stage and limit ourselves to enumerating the

relevant observations which point to the regular nature of these exceptions and
to suggesting possible lines of inquiry which might lead to a full explanation.
(32) a. [rd]est 'water-pepper' b. [wb]a - [wep] 'head'

[rt]çc 'mercury' [wk]ac 'weep'
[rdz]a 'rust' [wg]ac 'lie'
[wz]a - [wez] 'tear'
[rv]ac - u[ryv]ac 'tear, vb.'
[rv]etes 'commotion' *rf...
[rz]ec 'neigh' *rs...
Rubach & Booij (1990) account for such forms by means of a postcyclic rule of
'Initial Adjunction' which prosodifies the initial sonorant by adjoining it to the
phonological word rather than to the syllable, thus bypassing the issue of the
sonority sequencing generalization. However, regardless of the framework in
which it is developed, this analysis fails to address the main issue discussed in
this chapter in that it wrongly predicts that any sonorant can be prosodified in
this context, and ignores the exceptional and very restricted nature of the data in
(32).
The exceptional character of the forms in (32) lies in the fact that the se-
quences show decreasing sonority towards the first realized nucleus, an aberra-
tion which in our analysis should be ruled out because it cannot be sanctioned
by interonset government. However, there are certain regularities which might
explain this recalcitrant behavior. Note, for example, that /r/ must be followed
by a coronal plosive. Also, in the discussion of the forms such as kríañ 'larynx'
(26) we observed a peculiar property of /r/, namely, the fact that Irl between
plosives exhibits similar characteristics to /s/ and /z/ in, for example, bzdura
'nonsense' in that the two plosives somehow get to see one another and observe
the homorganicity constraint. This suggests that an explanation for (32a) is
connected with the somewhat exceptional behavior of this consonant. Addi-
tionally, in rwac 'tear' and rzec 'neigh' we need to achieve a better under-
standing of the phonological status of /v/ and IzJ, which seem to be ambiguous
in that sometimes they act like sonorants and sometimes like obstruents (Guss-
mann 1980).
As to the forms in (32b) it seems that /w/ followed by a coronal stop is
impossible. This may be a result of the activity of the constraint on homor-
ganicity (historically /w/ had a coronal articulation, and is still regarded as a
coronal object phonologically (Gussmann 1980)).
As signalled earlier, we will refrain from offering a final interpretation of
the forms in (32). There are, however, various possible lines of inquiry which
might lead to a fully articulated answer. For example, one should look more
closely at the elemental make-up of Polish consonants. Possibly, some answers

can also be found by investigating the way in which elements interact with one
another. Note that sonorants, like obstruents, exhibit restrictions on what seg-
ments may come together. These constraints exclude initial *[rl], *[lr], *[rw],
*[wr], as well as n+C and j+C.
Another area which should be investigated is the possibility that interonset
government is bidirectional, the word-initial position being very restricted and
allowing only for some restricted forms such as those in (32). Last but not least,
one should also take into account the facts concerning the word-medial and the
word-final contexts. However, an attempt to investigate these possibilities
would go beyond the scope of this chapter.
7. Conclusions
In this chapter, we examined the status of various licensing mechanisms which

produce consonantal sequences in Polish, with regard to the problem of seg-
ment distribution. A summary of the types of sequences and the licensing
mechanisms responsible for their emergence is presented in the table below.
(33) PG IO IO 'magic'
PG
, J 1
k0to
π
k 0 ra R 0
CC
m^mietem»
i 1 I *
• • R M 0 s toi
10 b a m0 1 eko J t> ι" <<
- :
-i • <
0
R 0
CCC g r0 d y k a
WÊÊÊÊ ι·
10 k 0 η ^ c Κ Κ
0 st rοηa
0
•1 ΜπΙ OR 0
cccc
d r0g0n^c
IKK
f 0 s t rçt
RΚ 0I
M i r - »
0zdz0b0wo
We concluded that the licensing mechanisms, although they account for the
lion's share of the segmental distribution - especially the interaction between
10 and PG - must be supplemented with other devices in order to account more
fully for the existing patterns. Specifically, we considered various melodic
constraints, some of which were dependent on prosodie licensing.
As an offshoot of the analysis of prosodie effects in Polish we seem to have
acquired the possibility of explaining the peculiar behavior of some of the sono-
rants, which clearly pattern with obstruents in many respects. A more important
result of this analysis is the possibility to derive the apparent principle ranking
from general principles of grammar such as government licensing. This problem
requires further study, especially with reference to other positions within the
phonological word in Polish and in other languages.
One additional advantage of this analysis is that it predicts that sequences of
five or more consonants are impossible in Polish, which agrees with the facts.
Consider the types of structures below.
(34) a. *C,0C2 0C3 0C4 0C5 e.g. »Ibtkn^c
b. * 0sC2r 0C4 0C5 e.g. *strkn^c

*Ci0sC 3 r0C 5 0C 6 e.g. *pstrkn^c
One reason why (34a) is impossible is the number of empty nuclei which we
would have to license. The mechanisms we use in this analysis may account for
up to three nuclei. This can be illustrated by the word zdzblo 'blade of grass'
(33) which is similar to the triconsonantal sequences such as tknqc except that it
additionally has an initial empty nucleus preceding the 'magic' cluster /zdz/.
Additionally, sequences with two empty nuclei involve an interonset relation
between the last two onsets, in this case C4 and C5, and, consequently, onset C3
is subject to restrictions due to licensing inheritance, i.e. it cannot be the head
of a governing domain. The two exceptions where an interonset relation is
preceded by a governing domain are the words zdzblo mentioned above, and
drgnqc, in which the interonset relation is preceded by a branching onset. Note,
however, that this branching onset contains the weak coronal plosive and Irl
which also exhibits weak characteristics. By combining the two exceptional
sequences, that is, zdzblo and drgnqc, one could arrive at two possible struc-
tures involving five or even six consonants (34b); however, it is not difficult to
find reasons for rejecting this possibility by referring to the licensing inheri-
tance principle.
Thus it appears that the interaction between interonset and proper govern-
ment, supplemented with restrictions on adjacent melodies and the concept of
prosodie licensing, makes it possible to account for a vast number of facts con-
nected with the distribution of consonantal segments in Polish initial sequences

and increases our understanding of the facts without necessitating an excessive
enrichment of the apparatus.
Notes
1. Phonetic transcription is restricted to the material directly relevant to the discussion. We

adopt a system of notation familiar from Slavic studies where [s, c, z, dz] denote post-
alveolar fricatives and affricates, [s, z, c, dz, ή] stand for prepalatals, and [c, dz] signify al-
veolar affricates. (') is additionally used to mark palatalized consonants.
2. This statement is in conflict with Kaye's (1990) claim that every phonological domain
has to have a head which is a realized nucleus. If the nucleus of the préfixai domain is li-
censed, then the domain has no head. Possibly a distinction needs to be introduced be-
tween a lexical domain requiring a realized nucleus as head and a phonological domain
which imposes no such condition. Clearly, the domain structure of words stands in need
of extensive further inquiry.
3. One should bear in mind that conformity to the order: obstruent-sonorant refers to a
sequence of separate onsets rather than to one constituent. Therefore, the rising 'sonority
slope' cannot be mechanically regarded as an instantiation of the sonority sequencing
generalization.
4. The disparate behavior of word-final 'sonorant-/k/' sequences finds a straightforward
explanation in the fact that most, if not all, such alternations involve an analytic suffix
/-ek/ (Gussmann & Kaye 1993).
5. One should mention here two other existing forms, i.e., Isnic 'glitter' and mscic 'avenge',
in which the sonorants IV and Imi precede a 'magic' context and in this way pattern with
labial obstruents. More cases of IV and Imi betraying their 'obstruent-like' nature will be
discussed shortly.
6. We assume that 10 in Polish is directional and applies from left to right.
7. In section 5.3, we propose that the interaction between 10 and PG in Polish can be
derived directly from the principle of government licensing (Charette 1990, 1991).
8. Notably, the analysis so far does not exclude the forms in (19f) in which the order of the
first two obstruents is reversed. Potentially, these sequences should be grammatical un-
der the analysis in (17) because the intervening nucleus is licensed by PG. We will pro-
pose a tentative account of these forms in 5.3.
9. The term 'preferred' is used here mainly due to the existence of exceptions such as 1gac
'lie' and rdest 'water-pepper'. However, the highly restricted nature of these exceptions
(see section 6) allows us to claim that rightward 10 is responsible for the very strong
tendency for the initial sequences to conform to the rising sonority requirement.
10. The vowel-zero alternation is a consequence of morphological structure, not phonology.
Phonologically, we have empty nuclei and conditions on their interpretation
11. Some exceptions to this statement, which involve sequences of Imi plus sonorant, will be
discussed shortly.
12. The concept of principle ranking, although discussed in the GP literature (e.g. Charette
1991, Cyran 1996), remains controversial. It could be done away with altogether if the
10 relations were viewed as lexical in very much the same way as other element-based
relations are e.g.: branching onset, rhyme-onset, etc., while PG was understood as part of
the interpretation of lexical forms. For an opposite view on the role of 10 and PG in pho-
nology, i.e. one where PG is lexical and 10 postlexical, see Rowicka (1998).
13. One should also add that at this stage the only interpretation we can offer for exceptional
forms such as [web]/[wba] leb-lba 'head, nom./gen.sg.' is to derive the alternation by
PG.
14. Possibly, what makes these objects unsuitable for the position is the fact that, arguably,
they consist ofjust one element, that is, U, A, I, Ν respectively.
15. We include the forms [lv]a - [lef] 'lion' and [lz]yc 'insult' here because of the unclear
status of the consonants /v/ and ffl in Polish (cf. also [rv]ac 'tear' and [rz]ec 'neigh').
Their sonorant-like behavior has been discussed in the literature. These examples will be
problematic for our analysis only if we find that the consonants are more complex than
m.
16. In government phonology, two consonants which cannot form a branching onset word-initially
must be separated by an empty nucleus. Note that /rd/, for example, is not a possible rhyme-
onset relation as word-initially only /s/ can act as a rhymal complement.
References
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1995 Final devoicing in the phonology of German. Niemeyer: Tübingen.
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1990 Licence to govern. Phonology 7, 223-253.
Press.
1992 Mongolian and Polish meet government licensing. SOA S working papers in lin-
Cyran, E.
1996 Licensing properties of nuclei and principle ranking in Irish. The linguistic review
13, 1-32.
1997 Resonance elements in phonology. A study in Munster Irish. PASE Studies and
Monographs, vol. 3. Lublin: Folium.
1998 Structure and interpretation. Studies in phonology. PASE Studies and Mono-
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Cyran, E., E. Gussmann & J.D. Kaye
in prep. Polish phonology: principles and parameters.
Gussmann, E.
1980 Studies in abstract phonology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
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1291-1300.
Gussmann, E. & J.D. Kaye
1993 Polish notes from a Dubrovnik café. I: The yers. SOAS working papers in lin-
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1992 Licensing inheritance. IJCL working papers in linguistics 4, 359-406.
1997 Licensing inheritance: An integrated theory of neutralisation. Phonology 14, 315-

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this volume Head-Driven Phonology
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1992 Do you believe in magic? The story of s+C sequences. SOA S working papers in
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(eds.), (1996) A Festschrift for Edmund Gussmann from his friends and col-
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1995 Derivations and interfaces. In J. Durand & F. Katamba (eds.), Frontiers of pho-
nology. London: Longman, 289-332.
1985 The internal structure of phonological elements: a theory of charm and govern-
ment. Phonology yearbook!, 305-328.
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versity.
9 Hungarian syllable structure:
Arguments for/against complex constituents
Miklós Törkenczy & Péter Siptár
1. Introduction
In this chapter we examine whether complex constituents have to be recognized

at the edges of syllables in Hungarian, i.e. whether it is necessary to refer to
complex onsets and/or codas in order to account for Hungarian syllable struc-
ture-related phonological phenomena. As the main thrust of the chapter is ana-
lytical rather than theoretical, i.e. its main purpose is to identify phenomena that
have to be accounted for by everyone of any theoretical position who analyzes
Hungarian phonotactics or syllable structure, we will take a very permissive
stance initially, and assume that, in principle, branching onset and coda con-
stituents are universally possible in languages.1 Given this assumption, it is
interesting to ask whether a given language allows these branching constituents
or not, since languages can and do differ in the setting of the complexity para-
meter (cf. Blevins 1995).
It should be noted, however, that the mere existence of consonant clusters at
the beginnings or ends of words is best not to be taken as sure-fire proof that
complex onsets/codas exist in the language examined. Most current research
does not accept the assumption that all members of all consonant clusters at the
edges of domains necessarily belong to a single (complex) syllable constituent
(cf. for instance Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud 1990, Harris 1994, Steriade
1982, Rubach & Booij 1990, Davis 1990, etc.). Some edge clusters exhibit
special behavior that can be attributed to their special syllabic constituency/ af-
filiation. This phenomenon is usually referred to as an 'edge effect' and is ana-
lyzed in various ways.
Usually, the argument follows this pattern: there is a phonological pheno-
menon PP which is assumed to be related to syllable structure. The consonant
clusters C a C p and CyCg occur at the edge of a morphological domain M but
only CaCp displays PP. C„Cß and CyCg are analyzed as different in terms of
syllabic constituency and PP is taken to be sensitive to this difference. Typical
phenomena that have been analyzed in this way include Ancient Greek and
Sanskrit reduplication (Steriade 1982), the distribution of the masculine definite
articles il/lo in Italian (Davis 1990, Kaye 1992), Portuguese vowel nasalization
250 Miklòs Törkenczy & Péter Siptár
(Kaye 1992), final devoicing in Polish (Rubach & Booij 1990), the distribution
of consonants in word-initial clusters in Polish (Rubach & Booij 1990, Cyran &
Gussmann, this volume), English word-initial and word-final clusters (Fudge
1969, Giegerich 1992, Borowsky 1989), Hungarian word-initial and word-final
clusters (Törkenczy 1994), etc.2 The actual constituency asymmetries between
CaCn clusters ('normal' clusters with respect to PP) and CyC5 clusters ('spe-
cial' clusters with respect to PP) vary from analysis to analysis. Perhaps it is
useful to review some solutions that have been proposed. For the sake of sim-
plicity all the illustrations show the left edge of domains (the onset side as it
were) - naturally, the mirror image of a given analysis is always possible at the
right edge (the coda side), too. To simplify matters further, we concentrate on
analyses that make use of hierarchical syllable structure and X positions; how-
ever, it is not difficult to extend most of the analyses to flat syllable structure
(cf. Kahn 1976, Clements & Keyser 1983) or moraic syllable structure (cf.
Hyman 1985, Hayes 1989). Let us assume that the consonant cluster in ques-
tion (CiC2) is word-initial (#CiC2). Triangles abbreviate a structure of any
complexity.
Figure (1) shows an analysis where the consonants making up the 'normal'
cluster form a branching onset (la) while the first consonant of the 'special'
cluster (the consonant on the edge of the domain) is outside the onset and is
directly attached to the syllable node (lb). Davis (1990) is an example of this
type of analysis.
(1) a.
Ci C2 Ci C2
Figure (2) shows two variations of the same kind of analysis. In both cases the
'normal' cluster would have the same representation as in (la). The 'special'
clusters, however, are analyzed differently. In (2a) the first consonant of the
cluster is outside the onset, but it is not directly attached to the syllable node (as
in (lb)), but has its own node A (usually called appendix in such analyses; cf.
e.g. Fudge 1969, Fujimura & Lovins 1978, Giegerich 1992). (2b) is exactly like
(lb) except that the consonant outside the onset is also outside the syllable and
is directly attached to a node Px higher in the prosodie hierarchy than the syl-
lable (such as the foot or the prosodie word, for instance; cf. e.g. Rubach &
Booij 1990, Törkenczy 1994).
Hungarian syllable structure 251
(2) a. σ b. Px
χ χ
I I
C, C 2 XX
I I
C, c2
Figure (3) shows an analysis in which there is no difference in constituency
between normal clusters and special clusters at the end of the derivation. They
both look like (3b). Initially, however, there is a difference: the first consonant
of special clusters is not affiliated to the syllable (or any other node) (3a). It is
only attached to the syllable node at some later point in the derivation by some
rule (3c), which makes the constituency of a special cluster indistinguishable
from a normal one (cf. e.g. Steriade 1982, Clements & Keyser 1983). Crucially,
in order for the analysis to work, rule (3 c) must apply only after the rule that
accounts for PP has already applied.
(3) a. σ b. σ c. σ
X X X X X X
I I I I I I
Cj C2 Ci C2 Ci C2
Figure (4) shows possible representations of edge clusters in a theory, Govern-

ment Phonology (GP), which does not allow for special nodes (like an appen-
dix) or the possibility of a consonant being directly associated to a node higher
than onset and rhyme.4 GP, however, does allow empty vowels (empty nuclear
positions), which makes it possible to account for edge clusters. (4a) shows the
structure of a normal cluster in which the consonants Ci and C2 form a complex
onset, and (4b) and (4c) show the two possible structures available for special
clusters in GP.5 Notice that in this theory the only way to represent a special
cluster is to assign its consonants to different 'syllables' (i.e. O - R doublets). In
(4b) the two consonants form an inter-constituent cluster (a cluster of two
strictly adjacent consonants belonging to two different constituents): Ci is the
final consonant of a rhyme which is followed by an onset whose initial
consonant is C2. If the cluster C1C2 is word-initial, the nucleus of the first
rhyme is empty (i.e. filled with an empty vowel). In (4c) the two consonants
252 Miklós Törkenczy & Péter Siptàr
making up the special cluster are separated by an empty vowel, i.e. Ci and C 2
are surface-adjacent, but are not strictly adjacent underlyingly.6
(4) O R b. O R 0 R
Δ Δ
n \
Δ\
X χ
ι ι
1 I
Ci Ci c 2
c. O R O R
I Δ
Ν
c, 0
Finally, figure (5) shows an analysis in which the representation of normal
clusters is identical with the one in figure (la), i.e. C\ and C 2 form a complex
onset; however, in a special cluster, the first consonant is not attached to any
node, i.e. it is not part of any constituent. This extreme position, which is in-
compatible with most current research, is not usually held; but, in a recent
analysis of Bella Coola, a somewhat more restricted version of this type of
analysis was proposed (Bagemihl 1991).7 The analysis in (5) is different from
the one in (3) in that in this analysis the prosodie licensing of a segment is not
required in order for it to be pronounced (or, equivalently, to escape stray era-
sure), whereas in the analysis shown in (3) it is assumed that all segments must
be prosodically licensed at the end of the derivation.
(5) a. b.
O
To the best of our knowledge these are the types of representations of edge
clusters currently available in the literature. There are minor variations8 on, or
translations9 of these analyses, but these are the basic ideas.
In this section our main intention is to point out and illustrate that at the
edges of domains there is more than one way of analyzing clusters in terms of
constituency, and not to choose between the analyses that have been proposed.
Indeed, the main purpose of this chapter is to show that (at least certain) Hun-
garian consonant clusters at word edges are not branching onsets or codas, but
can be analyzed as edge-phenomena. Nevertheless, at this point some brief
comments on the various analyses are in order. First of all, some of the repre-
sentations above are in conflict with some widely held general principles con-
straining phonological structure.
(5b) violates Prosodie Licensing (cf. Itô 1986), in fact, it is a denial of the
principle. (2b) is in violation of the Strict Layer Hypothesis (cf. Nespor & Vo-
gel 1986, for instance). It also has the additional disadvantage that, if we allow
some segments to be directly licensed by prosodie constituents higher than the
syllable while some segments are licensed by the syllable node (or one of its
subconstituents), there is an uncomfortably high number of analyses available.
For instance, it is in principle possible that in the same language there is a
'normal' domain-initial consonant cluster, all of whose consonants belong to
the onset, and there is more than one type of 'special' cluster. In one special
cluster type, the consonant at the edge of the domain is licensed by the foot, in
another it is licensed by the phonological word, and in yet another the licenser
is the phonological phrase, and so on. Thus we could have as many types of
special clusters within the same language as there are prosodie constituents.
There does not seem to be evidence for this wide variety of special clusters
either within the same language or across languages. The theory must be more
restrictive, allowing just one type of special cluster.
Furthermore, analyses (lb), (2a,b) and (3) are not incompatible treatments of
'special' clusters in most instantiations of current 'mainstream' syllable struc-
ture theory.10 Thus, we are again facing the familiar problem of (insufficient)
restrictiveness: we could have all these different types of special clusters within
the same language and across languages, and as pointed out above, this much
variation is not needed. Flat syllable structure and moraic syllable structure
would exclude analysis (lb) 11 , but (3) and the various versions of (2b) would all
be available in these theories as well. A theory (such as GP) in which syllable
structure is 'uniform' in the sense that all clusters are analyzed into (some com-
bination of) the same very limited set of syllabic constituents fares much better
as far as restrictiveness is concerned.
Finally, it must be pointed out that arguments for/against given structures
differing in constituency are strongest if couched in a non-derivational frame-
work. The reason is that if derivation is allowed and only two types of clusters
254 Miklós Törkenczy & Péter Siptâr
(normal vs. special) need to be distinguished,12 then the difference in constitu-

ency between the two types can be translated into an analysis like (3), in which
the difference is derivational rather than configurational, since at the end of the
derivation the two structures are indistinguishable.
A framework like GP avoids the restrictiveness problem outlined above
because it is non-derivational and has uniform syllable structure.
In what follows, our main aim is to decide if the clusters, or some of the
clusters, that occur at the edges of words in Hungarian do or do not form com-
plex onsets/codas, or - to put it in another way - whether it is necessary to
assume that there are complex subsyllabic constituents other than the nucleus
and the rhyme in the language. The analysis we finally propose is compatible
with GP principles. Nevertheless, throughout, our main intention is to identify
the problems that confront the analyst irrespective of the framework s/he uses.
2. Complex onsets/left-edge
It is a well-known fact about Hungarian that there was a time in the history of
the language when complex onsets were not permitted, as is shown by the re-
pair of loans such as Latin schola > iskola, Slavic brazda > barázda, German
prez > perec, etc.13 In contrast to this state of affairs, there are plenty of words
(all of which are loans) beginning with consonant clusters in present-day Hun-
garian, but there is no compulsory repair of these clusters by epenthesis or
deletion. Figure (6) shows representative examples14. The list is fairly exhaus-
tive as far as the clusters are concerned: it gives an example for each cluster
attested in a sufficiently large database (about 80,000 words).
(6) #CC words15

a. plakát, prém, tviszt, tréfa, kvarc, klór, krém, blúz, bronz, drukkol,
gvárdián, gladiáíor, gróf, flòra, frász, fiord
b. szpícs, szíár, sztyepp, szkíta, szcéna, szféra, szvetter, szmog, sznob,
szláv, sport, stáb, skorpió, scsí, svéd, smink, snassz, slussz, sróf
c. ptózis, pszichológus, pneumatikus, [ksjilofon, knédli, dzéta, gnóm,
cvekedli, ftálsav, vlach, zlotyi, zrt, mnemonika, nganaszán, Hradzsin
The words in (6) are arranged in three groups: in group (6a) the words begin
with 'typical' onset-like clusters; in (6b) all the word-initial clusters begin with
/s/ or /J"/; and finally, (6c) contains words with initial clusters that are 'unusual',
or 'atypical' or 'crazy' as onsets (e.g. they violate Sonority Sequencing, contain
affricates, etc). Initial clusters like the ones in (6a) are usually analyzed as
onsets in languages that permit branching onsets, and clusters like those in
groups (6b&c) are often analyzed as edge clusters. As can be seen in (6),
Hungarian has examples in all three groups. The question is whether all these
word-initial clusters are complex onsets, and, if not, which of them are complex
onsets if any? Or more generally, is there evidence that any consonant cluster in
the language behaves as a branching onset? Note that the fact that word-initial
clusters are no longer repaired but are tolerated does not in itself argue for a
branching onset interpretation - the extra consonants could easily be licensed
by some edge mechanism. In principle, three positions can be taken in this
matter: one can claim (i) that all relevant clusters are branching onsets and there
are no edge clusters (at the left edge of domains) in the language; (ii) that some
of the relevant clusters are true branching onsets, while others are edge clusters;
and (iii) there are no branching onsets in the language, and all the relevant
clusters are edge clusters. As opposed to some other studies16 of Hungarian
syllable structure, we take the third position.17 The evidence is mainly negative
and cumulative: it seems there is no proof that it is necessary to analyze any
cluster as a branching onset, while some clusters can be shown not to behave
like complex onsets at all. Let us examine the Hungarian phonological phe-
nomena that bear on this problem. Unsurprisingly, there are two types of rele-
vant phenomena: alternations/processes that seem to be sensitive to syllable
structure and phonotactic patterns.
2.1. Stem-internal V~0 alternations
If one takes the traditional view and considers epenthesis a rescue operation for
unsyllabified/unsyllabifiable consonants, then stem-internal V~0 alternations
seem to be evidence that onsets may not branch in Hungarian.
There is a class of stems in Hungarian that exhibits V~0 alternation. In these
stems (traditionally called epenthetic stems, cf. Vago 1980) the vowel which
alternates with zero (henceforth the 'unstable vowel') is always in the last syl-
lable and is never preceded or followed by a consonant cluster. The vowel
appears when the stem is in isolation or is followed by a consonant-initial suf-
fix. There is no vowel if the suffix is vowel-initial. The height of the unstable
vowel is predictably mid and vowel harmony determines its frontness/backness
and rounding (it is regularly /ε a o/18):
(7) retek retek-tôl retk-ek

vödör vödör-tol vödr-ök
szobor szobor-tól szobr-ok
256 Miklós Törkenczy & Péter Siptár
Since the height, frontness/backness, and rounding of the unstable vowel is

predictable, and there exist near-identical pairs of stems such that, in the same
environment, in one of the members of a given pair the last vowel is unstable,
while in the other it is not, the phenomenon is traditionally analyzed as epen-
thesis 19 (8a). In this analysis, underlyingly, vowel-zero stems end in two-
member consonant clusters that are unsyllabifiable, and are broken up by an
epenthesis rule if they are not followed by a vowel-initial suffix; non-alter-
nating stems, on the other hand, end in VC or VCC whose final consonants are
syllabifiable (8b). If an epenthetic stem is followed by a vowel-initial suffix,
the stem-final consonant syllabifies as the onset of the initial syllable of the
suffix and is thus rescued. 2
(8) a. terem (term-ek) vs. perem (perem-ek)

vödör (vödr-ök) vs. csödör (csödör-ök)
szobor (szobr-ok) vs. labor (labor-ok)
b. terem /term/ vs. perem /perem/

vödör /v0dr/ vs. csödör /tjeider/
szobor /sobr/ vs. labor /lobor/
What makes this phenomenon interesting is that while a stem-final consonant

C¡ syllabifies with a following vowel-initial suffix -V... (consequently, there is
no epenthesis before Q; cf. (9a)), a stem final Q does not syllabify with the
initial Cj of a consonant-initial -CjV... suffix even if C¡Cj is an attested word-
initial consonant cluster. Consequently, epenthesis does occur before C¡, cf.
(9b):
(9) 21 a. retk-ek /retk-Vk/ [ret.kek]
b. retek /retk/ [ret.k'] -> [re.tek]

retek-töl /retk-t0:l/ [ret.k'.tail] [re.tek.tad]
retek-röl /retk-ra:!/ [ret.k'.ra:!] —> [re.tek.ra:!]
As can be seen in (9b), there is no difference between the behavior of retektôl

and retekrôl despite the fact that /kt/ is not attested word-initially, but /kr/ is
(e.g. krém, kretén, etc). One could thus say that the reason why /kr/ does not
syllabify as an onset is that branching onsets are not permitted in Hungarian. If
they were, one would not expect epenthesis before the fk/ in this case as
/ret.kral/ *retkról could be fully syllabified. This can be taken as evidence that
/kr/, and by analogy that all word-initial consonant clusters, are not branching
onsets, but are licensed by some edge mechanism.
The problem, however, is that this argument about the impossibility of

branching onsets can be easily translated into an argument based on domains.
Suppose that -C/V... suffixes (as opposed to -V... suffixes) form their own do-
main, which is a new domain of syllabification, i.e. syllabification cannot cross
the boundary of this domain. This distinction is traditional and has many reali-
zations in different theories (cf. Harris 1994). We are going to refer to the
boundary that syllabification cannot cross as analytical and the one that it can
as synthetic,22 A syllable then must be contained within an analytical domain.
Given this distinction, the occurrence of epenthesis before the /k/ in retekrôl,
or, equivalently, its failure to form an onset with the following Irl, can be seen
as due to the fact that -rol starts a new analytical domain rather than the impos-
sibility of branching onsets in Hungarian; compare retekrôl [retk] re:l] vs.
retkek [retkVk]. 23 There is plenty of evidence for -CjV... suffixes being ana-
lytic. For instance, there seem to be no phonotactic restrictions between stem-
final consonants and the initial consonants of -CjV... suffixes: any suffix-initial
consonant can follow any stem-final one. 24 Given this state of affairs, the origi-
nal argument against branching onsets based on stem internal epenthesis disap-
pears. In order to rescue it, we would need to find the same situation occurring
with suffixes that are not analytical. The suffixes which are interesting in this
respect are the ones that begin with two consonants (there are no suffixes be-
ginning with more than two consonants in Hungarian).
It is an interesting characteristic of -C¡CjV... suffixes that in general none of
them begins with a consonant cluster C¡C¡ where C¡Cj is a possible word-initial
cluster. The one exception is the associative suffix, which begins with /Jt/, an
attested word-initial cluster (e.g. stop, stilus, etc.). This suggests that all the
suffix-initial clusters in (10a) are syllabified in such a way that they straddle a
syllable boundary (since they cannot form onsets). The question is whether the
initial cluster of the associative suffix is syllabified in the same way.
(10) a. -tlan/-tlen Privative '-less'.fej-etlen

-cskaZ-cske Diminutive: bot-ocska
-nként Distributive 'by/every ...': egy-enként
-ntaZ-nte Distributive-temporal 'every ...': nap-onta
b. -stuU-stül Associative 'together with ...': bot-ostul
Significantly, all the clusters in (10) behave in the same way with respect to
V~0 alternation (compare (11a) and ( l i b ) ) . These suffixes must be preceded by
a vowel 25 when attached to a consonant-final stem. They only begin with their
respective consonant clusters when they follow vowel-final stems:
(11) a. ágyú ágyú-cska *[a:ju:otJko]

bicikli bicikli-cske *[bitsiklietjke]
bot boto-cska *[bottjlo]

sör sörö-cske *[j0rtfke]
b. ágyú ágyúsíul *[a:ju:oJtul]

bicikli biciklistül HhiteiHii
[bitsikliejtyl]
bot botos tul "[botjtul]

sör söröstül *[j0rjtyl]
When analyzed, accepting the same assumptions as in the analysis of stem-in-

ternal epenthesis above, this means that a vowel is inserted before these suf-
fixes (which underlyingly begin with consonant clusters in this analysis) to
ensure exhaustive syllabification; otherwise, the suffix-initial consonant would
remain stray. The question, of course, is why this applies to initial /ft/, too, in
spite of the fact that it is an attested word-initial cluster. A possible answer is
that /jt/ is not a well-formed onset (either because /Jt/ specifically - perhaps /s,
JV initial clusters in general, cf. Kaye 1992 - is disallowed as an onset, or be-
cause complex onsets are not permitted in Hungarian). In the discussion of -CjV
suffixes above, we saw that an identical argument could be translated into an
argument based on domains. In other words, can we account for the behavior of
-CiCjV... suffixes by saying that they (like -CjV suffixes) belong to an ana-
lytical domain different from that of the stem? Would such an assumption ex-
plain why a vowel appears before -stul/-stiil when it is attached to a consonant-
final stem?
First of all, notice that the two assumptions, the one about the well/ill-
formedness of complex onsets and the other one about the analytic/synthetic
domains of suffixes, are not incompatible: it is in principle perfectly possible,
for instance, that complex onsets are disallowed in Hungarian and that the
suffixes in question form their own analytic domains at the same time. As we
saw in the discussion of -CjV suffixes above, the assumption that complex
onsets are ill-formed and the assumption that -CjV suffixes belong to an ana-
lytical domain different from that of the stem, always give the same result.
Consequently, only one of them needs to be maintained (as Occam's razor
would require). Let us examine if the same state of affairs applies here as well.
Given the fact that the analytic/synthetic suffixation distinction and the well-
formed/ill-formed complex onset distinction bifurcate, there are four possibili-
ties: (i) the suffix in question may be analytic and complex onsets may be per-
mitted; (ii) the suffix may be analytic and complex onsets may be disallowed;
(iii) the suffix may be synthetic and complex onsets may be permitted; and (iv)
the suffix may be synthetic and complex onsets may be disallowed. Let us see
what predictions these different combinations make about the behavior of
-stul/stul (the forms in (12) are underlying forms, albeit after syllabification):26
(12) a. analytic synthetic

complex onset: OK [ a:.ju: ] JtUl ] [ a:.ju:.JtUl ]
complex onset: BAD * [ a:.ju: j J'.tUl ] [ a:.ju:J.tUl ]
b. analytic synthetic
complex onset: OK * [ b o t ] JtUl ] * [ bot. JtUl ]
complex onset: BAD [ bot ] J'.tUl ] [ bot. J'.tUl ]
Example (12a) shows the predicted behavior of the associative suffix when
attached to vowel-fmal stems. As can be seen in (12a), we only make a wrong
prediction if we assume that -stul/stül is analytic and that complex onsets are
not permitted.27 It is only in this case that /J/ is stray (i.e. epenthesis is pre-
dicted: *[a:juoJtul]). In all the other cases in (12a) the forms are syllabifiable
without repair, and the right prediction is made. Thus, (12a) shows that we
cannot disallow complex onsets and maintain that -stul/stül is analytic at the
same time.
(12b) shows predictions for the same suffix when attached to a consonant-
final stem. The expected behavior is epenthesis before the /J/: [botojtul]. It is
evident that incorrect predictions are made if we assume that /Jt/ is a complex
onset irrespective of whether the suffix is taken to be analytic or synthetic
(•[botjtul]).
Taken together, (12a) and (12b) demonstrate that (i) /Jt/ cannot be a complex
onset; (ii) stul/-stül must be synthetic. Evidently, this is a case in which the
argument against a complex onset interpretation in Hungarian cannot be trans-
lated into an argument based on domainhood. There are no other -QCjV...
suffixes in Hungarian whose initial consonant clusters are attested word-initial
clusters. Thus, minimally, the above argument is one against /Jt/ being a com-
plex onset; maximally, it is an argument against complex onsets in general in
the language.
Before moving on to other pieces of (possible) evidence bearing on the
problem of complex onsets in Hungarian, let us note in passing that the analysis
outlined above has two serious defects. The first problem is that epenthesis
seems to occur in epenthetic stems even if the final underlying cluster of the
stem is a possible word-final cluster:28 compare fürd-ik ~ füröd-ni with kard ~
kard-näl ~ kard-om. This is extremely problematic for a view of epenthesis
such as the one described above. The second (related) problem concerns
-QCjV... suffixes. When these suffixes are attached to consonant-final stems,
epenthesis occurs even if in principle Q could syllabify as the last consonant of
260 Miklós Törkenczy & Péter Siptàr
the complex coda of the stem-final syllable. Thus, sor plus -stiil could easily
syllabify as *[f0rJ".tUl] (compare the final clusters in stems like vers, sors, etc.)
and there would be no degenerate structure for epenthesis to repair. Under a
view of epenthesis as described above, it is difficult to explain what prevents
sufFix-initial /J/ from joining the preceding syllable. (Remember that it does
syllabify with the final syllable of a vowel-final stem; and we have seen that the
suffix in question is not analytic.) We have no ready answer to these problems,
but we want to point out that they seem to stem from this particular view of
epenthesis - we will sketch a possible remedy and an alternative analysis below
in section 3.2.
2.2. Medial -CCC- clusters
We have demonstrated in the previous section that, minimally, one of the clus-
ters that occurs in word-initial position is not a branching onset. The data we
have reviewed (and all Hungarian syllable-structure sensitive to alternations for
that matter) are compatible with the claim that in fact none of the word-initial
clusters is a complex onset (i.e. that all of the word-initial clusters are edge
clusters). So let us assume that this claim is indeed true and see if there is any
evidence for branching onsets anywhere in Hungarian phonotactics. Given that
the word-initial and word-final positions are suspect (since the clusters occur-
ring in these positions may be due to some edge mechanism), the most prom-
ising place to look for such evidence is medial. Furthermore, it is medial -CCC-
clusters29 that we must focus on, since a medial two-member cluster can in
principle be syllabified in such a way that the syllabification does not produce
any complex constituent (-C.C-). The syllabification of a -CCC- cluster, how-
ever, will result in a complex syllabic constituent, either a coda or an onset
(-CC.C- or -C.CC-).30
First of all, let us point out that regular medial -CCC- clusters are expected
if complex onsets are allowed in the language - they could be exhaustively
syllabified as -C.CC-.31 Therefore, the lack/scarcity/irregularity of medial
-CCC- clusters can be taken to suggest that branching onsets are ill-formed.
At first sight, Hungarian seems to have plenty of word-medial -CCC- clus-
ters. However, the main source of such clusters is analytic suffixation (e.g.
\kard\ bol], [vers] rôl}, [e/v] telen}) and compounding (e.g. [[vera] [táó]],
[[e/v]j JJrársJj ). We have pointed out above, that clusters straddling the edge of
an analytic domain do not tell us anything about the phonotactics of the lan-
guage. They are 'accidental' in the sense that no phonotactic restrictions apply
across analytic domain edges - the relevant consonants are just juxtaposed
without any restrictions.32 Thus, 'real data' are mono-morphemic items, or
words with synthetic suffixation containing medial -CCC-.33 Interestingly, there
are no examples in Hungarian of synthetic suffixation creating -CCC- clusters

(cf. the discussion of -QCjV... suffixes above). There are mono-morphemic
words with -CCC- clusters in the language, but, significantly, their number is
rather low, about 300 items in our database (examples: bisztró, centrum, kom-
plex, export, improvizál, instancia, ostrom, etc.34). Furthermore, there are 94
types altogether that the approximately 300 tokens exemplify, but, typically, the
number of tokens in a given type is extremely low. There are only 7 types with
10 or more tokens 35 and the majority of types (n=48) only have one token. This
suggests that medial -CCC- clusters are special/irregular in Hungarian.
It could be a basis for a possible counter-argument that (mono-morphemic)
medial -CCC- clusters do display certain regularities. Figures (13) and (14)
summarize some of them:
(13) 36 - Ci C2 C3-
a. C 2 * [+son]
IF Ci = [-son, -cont]
THEN Ci * [+cor]
c. IF C, = [s, J] THEN C 2 = [-son, -cont]
d. IF Ci = [-son, -cont] & C 2 = [-son, -cont] THEN C 3 = [+son]
e. Ci = [+son] IF C 2 = [-son, -cont] & C 3 = [-son, -cont]
f. IF Ci < C 2 THEN C 2 = [s, J]
g. IF C, - C 2 THEN C 2 = [+cor]
(14) Preferred sonority profile: Q > C 2 (71 out of 94)

C2<C3 (61 out of 94)
C, > C 2 < C 3 (56 out of 94)
We want to claim that these regularities (and other possible ones crucially refer-
ring to medial -CCC-) are accidental in Hungarian in that they only reflect
some of the regularities of the source languages from which the relevant words
were borrowed. 37 More precisely, if a constraint applying between -CiC 2 C 3 - is
non-accidental, then we have to consider either of the following two situations:
(i) the constraint is identical with a constraint obtaining between the consonants
of a corresponding two-member medial cluster -CiC 2 -, which, consequently,
reduces to a constraint applying between a syllable-final consonant and the
following syllable-initial one (i.e., it is an inter-constituent constraint); for
example, there are no words with medial -tpC- in Hungarian just as there are no
words containing medial -tp- or (ii) the constraint has nothing to do with sylla-
ble structure at all (e.g. adjacent obstruents have to agree in voicing in Hun-
garian). Otherwise, all apparent medial -CCC-specific constraints would have
to be considered accidental and merely 'debris' of the constraints that exist in
the languages from which the particular words containing such clusters were
borrowed. 3
Another argument for the special character of -CCC- clusters involves a
comparison of -CC- clusters and -CCC- clusters. In a language that permits
branching onsets, we expect to find -C1C2C3- clusters where C2C3 is a
branching onset, and -C1C2- is a permitted inter-constituent cluster (-C1.C2C3-).
Correlatively, for every -C1C2C3- cluster, we should find a matching -CiC 2 -
cluster if the latter is a permitted inter-constituent cluster in that language. Of
course, accidental gaps may exist, but this should be the general tendency for -
CCC- clusters. It is interesting to compare English and Hungarian since, in the
literature, it is generally accepted that English has branching onsets. As can be
seen in (15), English is well-behaved with respect to the generalization above.
(15) English VC,C 2 V VQC2C3V

-kt- vector electronic
-pt- chapter dioptry
*-tk- - -
*-pk- - -
*-tp- - -
*-kp- - -
Hungarian, on the other hand, is very different. Some

sponding to well-formed -C1C2-, are curiously missing
(16) Hungarian VCiC 2 V VC,C 2 C 3 V

-kt- akta spektrum
-pt- kapta dioptría
-tk- atka -
-pk- lepke -
*-tp- - -
*-kp- - -
We can either say that the missing clusters are accidental gaps, or that complex
onsets are ill-formed. We opt for the latter interpretation.
It has to be pointed out here, that the fact that branching onsets are not per-
mitted does not in itself explain the scarcity/irregularity of -CCC- clusters. The
reason is that a -CCC- cluster can, in principle, be parsed exhaustively, even if
it does not contain a branching onset. The cluster could consist of a complex
coda and a following non-branching onset: -CC.C-. This could raise the ques-
tion as to whether complex codas are well-formed in Hungarian.39 If the answer
is negative, it follows that medial -CCC- clusters are ill-formed (assuming that
complex onsets are also ill-formed both word-initially and word-medially).
There are words ending in more than one consonant, but this does not in itself
ascertain the status of these final clusters as complex syllabic constituents. We
will return to this problem in section 3.
The phonotactics of -CCC- clusters suggests that branching onsets are not
permitted in Hungarian. This means that in all of the examples cited in (6), the
initial clusters are due to (or licensed by) some edge mechanism. However,
while some edge mechanism can be invoked to account for domain-initial (and
domain-final) non-constituent clusters, a similar solution does not seem to be
available for the analysis of the few -CCC- medial clusters that do occur in
mono-morphemic words.40 The problem is that they are not simplified or bro-
ken up in Standard Hungarian. What licenses them? If complex onsets (and
codas) are not permitted, words like obskurus [opjkuruj], exponál [ekspona.1],
or templom seem unsyllabifiable.
A possible answer is to say that these words exhibit a mismatch between
morphological structure and phonological structure, which is the reverse of the
commonplace situation when the edge of a morphological domain is invisible
to phonology (synthetic affixation). In particular, we would like to tentatively
suggest that, although the words discussed are mono-morphemic, they are
treated in Hungarian as if they were compounds, i.e. a morphologically unitary
domain is phonologically analyzed as if it were two domains:
(17) obskurus [ [ o p ] [ J k u r a J ] ] or [ [ o p j ] ] [ k u r u j ] ]
exponál [ [ c k ] [spona:l]] or [ [ e k s ] ] [ p o i n d ] ]
templom [ [ tem ] [plom ] ] or [ [temp ] ] [ l o m ] ]
This assumption would permit an analysis that accounts for medial -CCC-
clusters by referring to an edge mechanism. The problem, of course, is that this
is an 'excessive' or unrestricted use of such a move. In principle, an analyst can
resort to it whenever s/he is in trouble (i.e. when the analysis does not seem to
work). What is needed is both a theory that restricts the possibility of phono-
logically reanalyzing, or 'splitting', a unitary morphological domain, as well as
independent language-specific evidence. The former task is definitely beyond
the scope of this chapter. As for the latter task, the re-analysis of unitary mor-
phological domains in words containing medial -CCC- clusters is certainly
compatible with all Hungarian facts (to the best of our knowledge), so there is
no counter-evidence.41 Direct evidence, however, is difficult to come by. We
know of one piece of evidence that seems to suggest that the re-analysis is
indeed correct - though it has to be made clear that the evidence is not conclu-
sive. What we need is a phonological phenomenon that applies in non-com-
pounds, but does not apply in compounds. Front/back harmony is such a phe-
nomenon in Hungarian. In general, the vowels of mono-morphemic stems and
suffixes harmonize regardless of whether they are analytic or synthetic ({öröm},
\orom\ {bot} ban], [botos tulj). This pattern is 'muddled' somewhat by the
neutral vowels. The neutral vowels are i [i], í [i:], é [e:], and there is disagree-
ment about the interpretation of e [e].42 Compounds do not harmonize ([[M]
Ι / ό Ί ] [k0:por]). Interestingly, words containing medial -CCC-, or longer me-
dial consonant clusters, are frequently non-harmonic (e.g. angstrom, ösztro-
géri). This fact can be used to buttress our analysis of these words. Unfortu-
nately, however, most of the disharmonie examples contain e as a non-harmo-
nizing vowel. This means that our 'evidence' is not valid if e is a neutral vowel
- but it is if e is a harmonic one. As there are arguments for both points of
view,43 we leave this matter open here.
Because of the fact that GP allows empty nuclei to appear in the representa-
tion, and that these empty nuclei may not only be licensed to be phonetically
unexpressed by a domain edge but by another operation called proper govern-
ment,44 GP affords another way to license the few occurring medial -CCC-
clusters, namely, a licensed empty nucleus may break up the cluster:
45
(18) O o R O R
Δ I
Ν Ν
Δ
C, 0
Without discussing the possible licensing mechanisms any further, we just want
to point out that it is possible to maintain (as we do) that branching onsets are
ill-formed in Hungarian and still account for the fact that the few mono-mor-
phemic items with medial -CCC- are not repaired.
2.3. Two non-arguments for complex onsets
We would like to finish the discussion in this section by showing that an argu-
ment for complex onsets based on some optional 'very late' and/or fast-speech
processes is untenable.46 The first one involves variation of the length of the
vowels ά and é (/a:/, /e:/). In some words these vowels may be optionally short-
ened into [a] and [e], respectively.47 Comparing the data in (19a) and (I9b) one
might (hastily) conclude that Optional ά/é Shortening has to do with syllable
structure, i.e. it is only possible in closed syllables. By implication, the second
syllable of words in (19b) (the words in which shortening may not apply), pre-
sumably begins with a branching onset. However, the data in (19c) show that
optional á/é shortening is unrelated to syllable structure. These words behave
like those in (19b), i.e. like the words that putatively contain branching onsets,
although the medial clusters in the words in (19c) are not possible onsets (or
word-initial clusters). What seems to be important is the continuancy of the
second consonant; if it is a continuant, shortening is not possible:
(19) a. Mòrta [mairto, marta] b. Mátra [ma:tro, *matro]

férges [feirgej, fergej] végre [ve:gre, *vegre]
c. vádli [va:dli, *vadli]

hétfô [heitfec, *hetfe:]
vânszorog [va:nsorog, *vansorog]
The optional simplification of medial -CCC- clusters in fast speech is a process

which has been claimed to be conditioned by syllable structure.48 In some
words, the C 2 of a medial -C1C2C3- can be left out in fast speech. Such a dele-
tion, however, is not always possible. The conditioning factors are remarkably
similar to those we identified for optional á/é shortening. A comparison of
(20a) and (20b) might suggest that the deletion is not possible if C2 can form a
complex onset with C3 (20b). Otherwise, if C2C3 is not a possible branching
onset, C2 can be deleted (20a). This can be seen as an argument for the exis-
tence of complex onsets in Hungarian. However, the deletion of C2 is not pos-
sible in the words in (20c) in spite of the fact that the C2C3 clusters that occur in
these words cannot form a complex onset either. Again, as in the case of
optional á/é shortening above, it is the continuancy of C 3 that seems to matter.
If C 3 is a continuant, the deletion of C 2 is impossible even if C 2 C 3 cannot form
a branching onset. Examples (20d) and (20e) are included for the sake of
completeness and are meant to show that the conditioning of Fast -CCC- Sim-
plification is even more complex. It does not seem to be possible if Ci = Irl
(20d) or if C 2 is a coronal strident obstruent (20e). The data in (20f) and (20g)
show that fast -CCC- simplification applies in compounds and across a word-
boundary, too. The point is that fast -CCC- simplification (like optional ó/é
shortening) is independent of syllable structure, and is not an argument for
complex onsets.
(20) a. lambda b . *àmtyra c. *han<jllé

aszjma * rindió "kom^júter
rontgen "temalo m *szfm[fts]e(
plancton *usz]lve
d. * partner e. "ekfpâzis f. lom\é]-korona

* infarctus *corftok banïf-tisztviselô
* szer[^]-töl *pol^-tôl tesf-nevelés
* kort/i-bársony *trenfykôt
mos/ pedig
dobji bele
a[sy mondja
To sum up the argument in this section, there is no evidence for branching

onsets (it is possible to refute or re-analyze all putative evidence); there is, how-
ever, some evidence against it (in stem-internal epenthesis patterns and the
phonotactics of medial -CCC- clusters). Consequently, we claim that complex
onsets are not well-formed in Hungarian. All word-initial consonant clusters are
edge clusters (i.e. are licensed by some edge mechanism) and the regularities
that they happen to display are just (fragmentary) reflections of the regularities
of the source languages from which the words containing such clusters were
borrowed.
3. Complex codas/right-edge
Let us now examine complex clusters at the right edge of words and see if there
is any reason for supposing that the clusters in question form (or do not form)
complex constituents (branching codas). The following is an exhaustive list
exemplifying word-final -CC clusters.49 We always give two examples when-
ever a given attested cluster occurs both separated and unseparated by a mor-
pheme boundary. Only one example is provided if only one of these possi-
bilities is found. The examples in (21a) all end in geminates. 50 The words in
(21b) end in consonant clusters which are 'typical' codas. In contrast, the final
clusters in the words in (21c) and (2Id) are 'unusual' as codas: many of them
are sonority sequencing violations, some contain a nasal followed by a non-
homorganic fricative and some others (are extremely rare and) seem irregular
for some other reason in Hungarian. All of the final clusters end in /s/ or /J/ in
(21c):
(21) a. csepp; Ott, olvad-t [t:]; pötty; sakk; több; kedd, ad-d; meggy, ad-j
[j:],· agg; vice, lát-sz [ts:]; giccs, tát-s [tf:]; bridzs [d3:]; treff;
klassz, eresz-sz; friss, has-s; néz-z; stramm; kinn; könny, szán-j
[ρ:]; hall; orr; ujj,fal-j [ji\; pech [x:]
b. paraszt, lösz-t; est, kos-t; gerezd, néz-d; kolomp; ini, siin-t; fànk;
ìomb; rend, bán-d; ring; konc; nines, int-s [ntj]; fajansz, ken-sz;
pàtens; vonz; lâny-t; konty [pe]; hány-d; rongy [pc], mond-j [pj];
talp; foli, él-t; halk; kiild, öl-d; hölgy, áld-j [lj]; rivalg; pole; kulcs,
ölt-s [ltf]; golf; él-sz; fais; nyelv; film; szörp; tart, kar-t; korty;
park; szerb; kard, vár-d; tárgy, hord-j [rj]; dramaturg; hare;
korcs, tart-s [rtj], turf; kommersz, ver-sz; vers; érv; borz; törzs;
reform; konszern; árny; lajt, fáj-t; hüvelyk [jk]; majd, fúj-d; cajg;
Svájc; nefelejcs, felejt-s [jtj]; dölyf; fédervejsz, fúj-sz; Majs; ölyv;
rajz; pajzs; slejm; kombájn; fájl
c. bicepsz, kap-sz; taps; vágy-sz; szex, rak-sz; voks; döf-sz; nyom-sz;

hány-sz
d. recepì; copf; lop-j; Detk; Batyk; akt; Szakcs; rak-j; dobd; dobj;
nedv; edz; hagy-d; smaragd, fog-d; fog-j; barack; Recsk; tät-s-d
[(fed]; szaft; MAFC; dof-j; groteszk; hív-d; hiv-j; kiiz-d-j [zj], rezg;
idös-b [3b]; pünkösd [3d], vés-d [3d]; esd-j [jj]; terem-t; nyom-d;
terem-t-s [mtj]; tromf; hamv; nemz; tömzs; szomj, nyom-j; ellen-
szenv; ajánl; enyv; enyh; görl;fürj, vár-j; bolyh; jachi [xt]
A s can be seen in (21), Hungarian has plenty of final consonant clusters. It is

also clear that there are phonotactic restrictions between the members of (some
of) these clusters.51 The question is whether it is necessary to analyze (i) all, or
(ii) some, or (iii) none of these clusters as branching codas. The first two of
these positions are those that are usually taken in studies of Hungarian phonol-
ogy. 52 Here we want to explore the third possibility and examine whether one
can 'get by' without considering any of the final clusters above to be branching
codas. 53 Through the examination of a central syllable structure-related phe-
nomenon (vowel~0 alternation at the edges of morphemes) we want to suggest
that the relevant data can be accounted for without reference to complex codas,
i.e. that word-final clustering is an edge effect in Hungarian. A s in the previous
section, we are primarily interested in the (interpretation of) evidence rather
than the actual mechanism licensing these clusters.
3.1. Stem-external vowel~0 alternations
Our line of argument will be the following. We will examine vowel~0 alterna-
tions at morpheme edges and classify suffixes according to their behavior with
respect to this phenomenon, i.e. we will identify how many types of behavior
must be distinguished. Then we will ask the question of whether the distinction
between complex and simple codas is necessary to account for all the different
types of behavior we have found. We intend to show that a re-analysis is pos-
sible and that all the types can be distinguished with reference to distinctions
other than the one between a branching vs. a non-branching coda. Furthermore,
these distinctions are (also) needed independently of the phenomenon analyzed.
(22) A Β C D
Initial unstable V - + + +
Phonotactic interaction + +
between stem-final C &
initial C of suffix
Unstable V unrealized only — + —
after V-final stems

Unstable V realized only + — —
after CC-final stems
(22) shows the behavior of suffixes in relation to unstable vowels (i.e. vowels
that alternate with zero). It classifies suffixes according to (i) whether they are
preceded by an unstable vowel or not; (ii) whether there is phonotactic inter-
action between the stem-final consonant and the initial consonant of the suffix
(i.e. whether the surface appearance/non-appearance of the unstable vowel de-
pends on the identity or the number of the stem-final consonant(s)); (iii)
whether the unstable vowel is unrealized after vowel-final stems only; and
finally, (iv) whether the unstable vowel is realized after CC-final stems only.
This covers all the (major) relevant factors determining whether an unstable
vowel between a stem and a suffix is realized or not.54 The shaded boxes in (22)
indicate that a given choice is logically excluded. As can be seen in (22), suf-
fixes actually fall into four classes. (23) lists representative examples for each
class (the minuses appear in the chart because there are no (underlying) vowel-
final verb stems55):
(23)
A. INESSIVE -BÂN ágyú-ban bolond-ban csap-ban kölcsön-ben szem-ben
ALLATIVE -hOz àgyù-hoz bolond-hoz csap-hoz kölcsOn-höz szem-hez
TERMINATIVE -ig ágyú-ig bolond-ig csap-ig kölcsön-ig szem-ig
I M P E R A T I V E ^ -d mond-d csap-d köszön-d nyom-d
IMPERATIVERE, -y mond-j csap-j köszön-i nyom-j
B. INFINITIVE -ni - mond-ani csap-ni köszön-ni nyom-ni

PRES 2ND S G ^ -SZ - mond-asz csap-sz köszön-sz nyom-sz
C. ASSOCIATIVE -stUl ágyú-stul bolond-ostul csap-ostu! kölcsön-östii! szem-estäl

DISTRIBUTIVE -nként ágyú-nként bolond-onként csap-onként kôlcsôn-ônként szem-enként
PLURAL -k ágyu-k bolond-ok csap-ok kölcsön-ök szem-ek
PRES 2ND SG DEF -d - mond-od csap-od köszön-öd nyom-od
D. ACCUSATIVE -t ágyú-t bolond-ot csap-ot kölcsön-t szem-et

PAST -t(t) - mond-ott csap-ott köszön-t nyom-ott
The suffixes in class A are never preceded by a realized unstable vowel on the
surface. As we have pointed out above, there is no phonotactic interaction be-
tween the stem-final segment and the initial segment of these suffixes (cf. sec-
tion 2.1). Class Β suffixes are different because a realized unstable vowel pre-
cedes them if the stem ends in a consonant cluster. Otherwise, their initial un-
stable vowel remains unrealized. Class C suffixes begin with a realized unstable
vowel if the stem to which they are attached is consonant-final. It is only after
vowel-final stems that their initial unstable vowel is unrealized. Class D suf-
fixes differ from those in class C in that the initial unstable vowel of class D
suffixes is only realized if the stem ends in certain kinds of consonants: in gen-
eral, the unstable vowel is unrealized after vowel-final stems and after stems
ending in a (single) coronal nasal or coronal continuant. The question is how
the four classes of suffixes can be distinguished; or more specifically, is it
necessary to refer to the complexity of codas to make the necessary distinc-
tions?
Consider the following analysis. The suffixes in class C begin with an un-
derlying vowel which deletes in hiatus: e.g. P L U R A L - V i , ASSOCIATIVE -VstUl.
These suffixes differ from those in classes Β and D in that the suffixes in the
latter classes are underlyingly consonant-initial and the vowel that appears
before them in the relevant contexts is epenthetic: e.g. INFINITIVE -ni,
ACCUSATIVE -t.
Class A must be distinguished from class Β since it is possible to create me-
dial -CCC-clusters with class A suffixation (bolond-ban), but not with class Β
suffixation ( * m o n d - n i (actual form: mond-ani)). Class A also has to be differ-
entiated from class C because hiatus created by class A suffixation is tolerated
(ágyú-ig), but it is not when created by class C suffixation (*ágyú-Vk (actual
form: ágyú-k), *ágyú-Vstul (actual form: ágyú-stul)). Notice that the analytic
vs. synthetic difference can be used to make precisely these distinctions: class A
suffixation is analytic (hence the lack of phonotactic restrictions across the
suffix boundary), but class Β and C suffixation is synthetic: e.g. (underlying)
{bolondj ban] vs .{mond-nif, \àgyu\ /g] vs. [ágyú-VstUl]56 The emboldened se-
quences in the synthetic examples must be repaired because some phonotactic
restriction applies.
So far we have made no reference to branching codas (notice that the com-
plex clusters we have seen so far are all at domain edges so an edge cluster
analysis is not theoretically excluded). However, a possible argument for
branching codas may be put forward based on the distinction between class D
and class A.57 Compare the behavior of the ACCUSATIVE and the definite
IMPERATIVE:
(24) ACCUSATIVE vs. IMPERATIVEDEF

*szem-t nyom-d
szem-et * nyom-od
On the basis of pairs of forms like the above, one could propose that there is a
lexical difference between ACCUSATIVE -t and LMPERATRVEDEF -d in that the
former has to be incorporated into the final syllable of the stem (if possible),
while the latter may be licensed by some edge mechanism. Thus, an epenthetic
vowel will appear before ACCUSATIVE -t whenever a cluster of a stem-final
consonant C a plus t is not a well-formed complex coda (otherwise the t can be
incorporated into the stem-final syllable). However, a near identical cluster C a
plus d whose final consonant is IMPERATIVEDEF -d can appear word-finally
without being broken up by an epenthetic vowel. 58 Naturally, such an analysis
pre-supposes that complex codas are permitted in Hungarian. It should be
noted, however, that we can use the synthetic - analytic distinction and account
for the different behavior of the ACCUSATIVE and the IMPERATIVEDEF without
having to refer to branching codas, namely that ACCUSATIVE -t is synthetic and
IMPERATIVEDEF is analytic: e.g. (underlying) {szem-t\ vs. [nyomj d\. Of course,
the mechanism whereby epenthesis happens with the ACCUSATIVE is still to be
explained, but, significantly, the two classes of suffixes can be distinguished
without reference to branching codas.
Finally, note that the suffixes in classes Β and D behave very similarly: they
are both synthetic, and phonotactic restrictions apply between them and the
preceding stem. The only difference between them is that the restrictions are
not the same (cf. table 22) - the difference in their behavior can be explained
with respect to the particular phonotactic restrictions that apply. They can be
distinguished without reference to branching codas. In fact, the phonotactic
restriction that seems to govern the behavior of the suffixes in class Β follows if
complex codas are not allowed. We have seen in section 2 that complex onsets
are also not possible in Hungarian. Taken together, these two assumptions
make medial -CCC- clusters unsyllabifiable. This would explain why epenthe-
sis happens before INFINITIVE -ni, for instance, when it is attached to a stem
ending in two consonants.
Thus, it seems that all the attested types of suffix behavior (displaying
vowel~0 alternation) can be distinguished with reference to the segmental
make-up of the suffixes (vowel-initial vs. consonant-initial) and the analytic vs.
synthetic distinction.59 This is summarized and exemplified in (25):
(25) vowel-initial consonant-initial
analytic -ig (A) - ¿ I M P , -bAn { A )

[ s t e m ] ig] [ stem ] d ] ; [ stem ] bAn '
synthetic -Vk, -VstJJl (C) -t, -ni (D, B)

[stem-KA:] [ stem-i ] ; [ stem-«/ ]
As can be seen, there is no phonotactic interaction between stem and suffix if

the suffixation is analytic (vowel clustering and virtually any two-member
consonant clusters are possible); if, however, suffixation is synthetic, hiatus is
not tolerated (the suffix-initial vowel deletes) and some final two-term clusters
are broken up by epenthesis.50
Thus, there is no need to refer to branching codas. The difference between
class A and class Β can be made with reference to domains and, therefore, - as
the branching coda vs. edge distinction is no longer needed to distinguish the
two types of behavior - both types of clusters (analytic and synthetic61) may be
considered edge clusters. Given this hypothesis, there are two questions that we
have to answer: (i) why/how does epenthesis break up some synthetic clusters?
(ii) what licenses final clusters? In what follows, we try to sketch a tentative
answer to these questions.
3.2. Stem-internal V~o alternations revisited
Consider again stem-internal epenthesis:
(26) I II III
szobor labor *br#
szobr-on labor-on
torony szurony szörny

torny-on szurony-on szörny-ön
füröd-tek mered hord

fürd-és mered-és hord-ás
If we assume the analysis of vowel~0 alternation outlined in section 2.1, (26a)

is not problematic: a word-final cluster like /br#/ is not syllabifiable, therefore,
it is repaired by epenthesis if a stem happens to contain this final cluster un-

derlyingly. No epenthesis happens if a vowel-initial suffix follows, because the
stem-final stray Irl can syllabify with the suffix. The stems a.I and a.II behave
differently (a. II displays no vowel~0 alternation), but this can be attributed to a
lexical difference between the two stems: underlyingly a.I ends in CC (/br/)
while a.II ends in CVC (/bor/). Thus, a.II is fully syllabifiable to start with, and
therefore it does not show vowel~0 alternation. The data in (26b) and (26c),
however, are problematic for such an analysis. In both cases the problem is that
the cluster which appears to be broken up in bl and cl are attested final clusters
(b.III and c.III). Thus, a three-way distinction must be made in (26b) and (26c)
as opposed to the two-way distinction in (26a). The question is how to make
such distinctions.
One possible way is to resort to arbitrary lexical diacritics. We could say that
(i) the stems in (26.11) all end in CVC as opposed to the stems in (26.1) and
(26.III), which all end in VCC; and (ii) epenthesis works as described above,
but some stems in (26.1) and/or (26.III) have to be marked to exceptionally un-
dergo (or alternatively, fail to undergo) epenthesis. The class of words in a.I
would always be the regular (unmarked) case; the actual markings in the b.I,
c.I, b.III, c.III groups could differ in different analyses - the choice being more
or less arbitrary. 62
Another more attractive way, in our view, to make the necessary three-way
distinction is to make use of the GP notion of empty nucleus: ν (cf. Kaye,
Lowenstamm & Vergnaud 1990). Then we could say that the stems in both
(26.1) and (26.11) end in CVC. The difference is that the vowel in (261) is
empty, i.e. a nuclear position without segmental content (that is why it alter-
nates with zero), while in (26.11) it is full (V), i.e. it is a nuclear position with
segmental content: torv°ny vs. szurVny,63 The discussion of the calculus speci-
fying when empty nuclei can remain unexpressed is beyond the scope of this
chapter. 64 The point we want to make here is that empty nuclei seem necessary
to account for the data in (26) (unless we want to choose the lexical analysis).
Thus, empty nuclei seem to be the answer to the first question we asked in the
discussion of final clusters above (i.e. why epenthesis breaks up some synthetic
clusters).
Let us now turn to the second question (i.e. what licenses final clusters?). We
want to claim that there are no branching codas in Hungarian and that all final
consonant clusters (synthetic and analytic) are edge clusters. Once we allow
empty nuclei in the representation, it seems a logical step to use them to ac-
count for edge effects. Let us briefly sketch a possible analysis. Suppose that
empty nuclei are licensed to remain empty at the edges of analytical domains
and a coda consonant (a rhyme-final consonant) is only licensed if a filled onset
follows. 65 These assumptions establish analytic domain-final consonants as
onsets of 'degenerate' syllables whose nucleus is empty: -.Cv 0 ]. 6 6 The empty
final nucleus analysis makes it possible for us to distinguish three kinds of

'final' consonant clusters (all edge clusters): (i) an analytic type -V.Cv 0 ] Cv 0 ];
and (ii) two synthetic ones (a) -V.Cv0 .Cv° ] and (b) -VC.Cv 0 ]. Type (iia) would
be where vowel~0 alternations are expected in the middle of the cluster, and
types (i) and (iib) would be where there are no vowel~0 alternations. The diffe-
rence between types (i) and (iib) is that there are no phonotactic restrictions
between the two consonants in (i), while phonotactic restrictions are predicted
to apply between the two consonants in (iib). These structures, then, are avail-
able for the analysis of the suffixes discussed. (27) is a version of (25) recast for
the empty nucleus analysis:
(27) full-vowel-initial non-full-vowel-initial
analytic -ig {A) -<ÎMP, -bAn (A)

[ stem ] i.gv" ] [ stem ] dv° ] ; [ stem ] bA.nv0 ]
synthetic -Vk, -VstUl (C) -v°t, -v°ni (D, B)

[ stem-V.kv0 ] [ stem-v° tv° ] ; [ stem-v".ni ]
The remaining structure (-VC.Cv0 ]), unused so far, is available for the analysis
of 'final' clusters that are never split by vowel~0 alternations: hor.dv0,
ször.nyv0.
4. Conclusions
In the discussion above we have shown that branching constituents other than
the nucleus and the rhyme are not necessary if we want to account for phono-
tactics and other syllable structure related phenomena in Hungarian. Rarely is it
possible to demonstrate that a complex onset/coda analysis is absolutely un-
tenable (i.e. there is little hard counter-evidence); but, neither is there any evi-
dence for complex onset/coda behavior in the sense that it is always possible to
propose an alternative (simpler) analysis which makes no reference to complex
onsets/codas. Therefore, we claim that Hungarian does not have a branching
onset or a branching coda. We suggest that the clusters that do occur at the
edges of (analytical) domains are all edge clusters, the result of a licensing
mechanism based on empty nuclei.67
Acknowledgments
The first author was supported in part by the Research Support Scheme, Central
European University under Grant No. 1904/94. We would like to thank László
Kálmán and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments. Naturally, all
remaining errors and flaws are our own.
Notes
1. Although in many - perhaps most - theories recognizing the syllable (or its equivalent
of some kind) this is not a risqué assumption (Blevins 1995), we are well aware of the
fact that there are frameworks that reject it; cf. for instance, the lack of a branching
coda (in fact, a coda constituent of any complexity) in Government Phonology (hence-
forward GP); see, e.g. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990), and Harris (1994).
2. Many other languages are said to display such edge effects. For some other examples
cf. Blevins (1995) (only the languages are identified, the phenomena are not).
3. Note that the terms 'special' and 'normal' are just convenient labels and are not meant
to imply any markedness relationship between the two kinds of clusters. Specifically,
we think it is possible for a language that has clusters to have (a) only 'normal' clusters,
(b) 'normal' clusters and 'special' clusters, or (c) only 'special' clusters.
4. In fact, the theory does not even have a syllable constituent, but this is not relevant to
the questions being discussed. Informally, an onset-rhyme sequence is equivalent to a
syllable. See Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990) for details.
5. On possible ways of licensing special clusters in GP, see e.g. Kaye (1992), Cyran &
Gussmann (this volume), van der Hulst & Ritter (this volume).
6. In GP there are strict conditions (partly independent of edge effects) under which an
underlyingly empty vowel may remain phonetically unrealized (cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm
& Vergnaud 1990).
7. Bagemihl proposes that some consonants in Bella Coola are licensed by mora nodes
that are not licensed by higher prosodie structure.
8. For instance, an analysis referring to the extraprosodicity of edge consonants can be
seen as a variant of (2) or (3).
9. For instance, translations into mora theory or flat syllable structure,.
10. Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993) as a non-derivational theory would not
allow analysis (3), which crucially depends on derivation.
11. Given that onset consonants are non-moraic (and thus are all directly attached to the
syllable node), moraic syllable structure is incompatible with (lb); cf. Davis (1990) for
discussion.
12. Which is the case in all the analyses we know. Cyran & Gussmann (this volume) is a
possible exception.
13. Of course, we do not mean instant repair. For details and the dating of this historical
repair, cf. Bárczi, Benkö & Berrár (1967).
14. For the sake of simplicity we concentrate on two-member consonant clusters and onsets
that are maximally binary. There are a handful of three-member initial clusters (all of
them beginning with /si or /J/). The inclusion of these clusters would not change our ar-
gument in any way.
15. Hungarian words in this chapter usually appear in spelling. Acute accents on vowel
letters denote length (ó, é, i, ó, ύ; ö, ü). The spelling of Hungarian consonants is fairly
transparent. The following chart shows the more unusual (di)graphs and their phonetic
values (given in IPA transcription):
Spelling IPA Spelling IPA

ty c sz s
gy j s Í
ny J1 zs 3
Iy=j j CS tí
C ts
The glosses of the Hungarian words occurring in the chapter can be found in the Ap-
pendix, where the words are listed in alphabetical order. In the text, we use a hyphen to
indicate morpheme boundaries relevant to the discussion. In the Appendix, the exam-
ples appear in normal spelling, without special markings.
16. Törkenczy (1994), for instance, which is a detailed analysis of Hungarian syllable
structure, takes the second position.
17. Ritter ( 1995) also argues that there are no branching onsets in Hungarian.
18. There are a handful of exceptions, for a full list cf. Törkenczy (1992).
19. For two (dissimilar) alternative views cf. Kornai (1990) and Törkenczy (1992).
20. This view of epenthetic stems and Hungarian stem-internal epenthesis can be straight-
forwardly carried over and translated into an analysis in Optimality Theory, a non-deri-
vational framework (cf. Törkenczy 1995). Thus, a non-derivational approach, in itself,
does not necessarily exclude this view. Note that at the end of this chapter (in section
3.2) we argue for a different analysis.
21. Notation: a dot marks a syllable boundary and C' is an unsyllabified consonant.
22. These terms are borrowed from GP, but it should be noted that GP uses them somewhat
differently because it does not have a syllabification process (syllable structure is pre-
sent underlyingly), cf. Kaye (1995).
23. We use the symbols [ and ] to indicate the edges of analytical domains. Synthetic
domain-edges, being invisible to phonology, are not indicated (cf. Kaye 1995).
24. The restrictions that do apply in this context are either completely unrelated to syllable
structure (some assimilations) or also apply across a word-boundary (degemination).
25. The quality of this vowel is the same as that of the unstable vowel of epenthetic stems.
The vowel is subject to lowering after Lowering Stems (compare bot-ostul with fal-
astul, cf. Vago 1980). Note that the initial vowel of -tlan/-tlen is always a (underlying-
ly) low vowel (e.g. par-atlan) (we are grateful to László Kálmán for drawing our atten-
tion to this fact).
26. Capital vowel letters in transcriptions are only used to indicate informally that some of
the features of the vowel are the result of spreading and need not be specified with the
vowel in question in the underlying representation. An apostrophe indicates that the
segment bearing it is stray (unsyllabified).
27. Other, less general statements that constrain the class of possible complex onsets (e.g.
that /J/ or Isl initial complex onsets are ill-formed, or that /Jt/ alone is ill-formed) would
have the same effect. It is our intention to formulate such statements as generally as
possible, but notice that the degree of generality is immaterial from the point of view of
the argument itself.
28. Cf. Törkenczy (1992).
27 Miklòs Törkenczy & Péter Siptâr
29. Or even more complex medial clusters - but medial clusters of more than three conso-
nants are virtually non-existent in Hungarian. In the database there is only one item
containing a five-member medial cluster (/nkjtr/ angström) and there are 23 mono-
morphemic items with a four-member medial cluster (e.g. /nskr/ szanszkrit, /jjtr/
lajstrom, /kspr/ expressz, /nkst/ gengszter, etc.).
30. This is not always true in a theory that allows (underlying) empty nuclear positions (e.g.
GP) where an empty nucleus (v°) may break up a cluster of seemingly adjacent conso-
nants, and thus -CCC- need not necessarily syllabify into a structure that contains a
complex constituent (e.g. -C.Cv°.C-).
31. Naturally, complex codas could also produce such clusters (syllabified as -CC.C-). For
a discussion, see the section on complex codas.
32. See note 24.
33. The latter would be phonologically indistinguishable from mono-morphemic words.
34. All the relevant words are loans, but, naturally, this does not in itself say anything about
their well-formedness in Hungarian.
35. The list of words above gives one example for each of these 'more popular' types (/str,
ntr, mpl, ksp, mpr, njt, Jtr/).
36. Notation: χ > y 'χ is more sonorous than y'; χ < y 'χ is less sonorous than y'; χ « y 'χ
and y are equally sonorous'.
37. Of course, this does not mean that an explanation of why these clusters are not repaired
is not in order, see a possible explanation below.
38. Inasmuch as the real constraints in the source language reflect a universal restriction,
the accidental Hungarian one will certainly display it too, cf. the sonority restrictions/
tendencies in (14). The preferred type Ci > C 2 < C 3 obviously reflects the source
language situation C1.C2C3 where C 2 C 3 is a complex onset; Ci > C2 is a universal inter-
constituent restriction/tendency while C2 < C 3 is a universal intra-onset restriction/ten-
dency. In this way, Hungarian appears to conform to a constraint that refers to a com-
plex constituent, which it arguably does not have.
39. GP has a 'built-in' negative answer to this question since the theory does not permit
complex codas (it does not even have a coda constituent, cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm &
Vergnaud 1990, and Harris 1994).
40. Regardless of the theoretical differences, there is a general agreement in the literature
that edge effects (i.e. the special structures discussed in section 1) are restricted to do-
main-edges (cf. Hayes 1981). There are few less restrictive analyses (e.g. Rubach &
Booij 1990).
41. Stress, for instance, is compatible with a compound (as well as a non-compound)
analysis: both compound and non-compound words have initial stress.
42. There is an abundance of analyses of Hungarian vowel harmony in the literature. For a
detailed discussion of the facts, cf. Nádasdy & Siptár (1994).
43. Cf. Nádasdy & Siptár (1994).
44. They may be licensed by being properly governed, cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud
(1990), and Charette (1991).
45. This structure is only available for certain -C1C2C3- clusters (/mpl/, for instance, as in
templom). Other -C1C2C3- clusters would have a different structure - also involving
empty nuclear positions. The GP analysis of the structure of these clusters is outside the
scope of the present chapter. For a discussion of this problem cf. Ritter (1995).
46. Dressler & Siptár (1989), for instance, assume that branching onsets are well-formed
and crucially refer to this fact in their analysis of the second process to be discussed
here.
47. Note that [a] and [e] are not underlying vowels in Hungarian (for a discussion, see
Siptár 1993, 1994). Note also that this 'shallow' shortening is distinct from regular
/a:/ ~ hi and /e:/ ~ /ε/ alternations that are found in various contexts (see Nádasdy &
Siptár 1994).
48. Cf. Ács & Siptár (1994).
49. As before, we concentrate on clusters consisting of two consonants for simplicity's
sake. For some problems concerning more complex final clusters, cf. below.
50. Of the Hungarian geminates only M and /y./ do not occur word-finally. We consider
this an accidental gap.
51. For a detailed discussion, cf. Törkenczy ( 1994).
52. For instance, Kornai (1994) and Olsson (1992) are examples for position (i) and Tör-
kenczy (1994) is an example for position (ii).
53. Compare Ritter (1995), who also assumes that branching codas are not permitted.
54. There are a number of complications, some of which are briefly discussed later in the
chapter. For a detailed treatment of stems and suffixes, cf. Rebrus (1996).
55. There are verb stems that end in a vowel in isolation (e.g. szö, ri), but, arguably, even
these steins end in a consonant underlyingly (szöv-ök, rlv-ok), cf. Vago (1980, 1989).
56. In section 2.1 we have already seen that -stUl is synthetic and -bAn is analytic.
57. Obviously, only those suffixes that consist of a single consonant are interesting in this
respect. Note that only some class A suffixes are of this kind.
58. For an analysis along these lines, cf. Törkenczy (1994).
59. There are some problems, however: (i) the quality of the alternating vowel is predict-
able and is identical in class C (where we consider the vowel underlying) and in class D
(where we suggest that the vowel is epenthetic); (ii) there are some differences of be-
havior even among suffixes belonging to the same class: e.g. within class D there is a
contrast between the ACCUSATIVE and the PAST - epenthesis occurs in somewhat dif-
ferent environments: kos-t vs. mos-ott. We skirt these issues now and leave them for
further research (for further details, cf. Kálmán 1985, Papp 1975, Rebrus 1996).
60. We would expect that larger than two-term final clusters may not be created by syn-
thetic suffixation. Unfortunately, this is not true. Sometimes there is no epenthesis
when the ACCUSATIVE is attached to a -VC]C 2 final stem. This can only happen with
certain stem-final consonant clusters. In all these cases the C 2 of such a cluster is a con-
sonant after which there is no epenthesis if it is the last consonant of a -VC 2 final stem.
This, however, is just a one-way correlation: there are final -VC]C 2 clusters that require
epenthesis before the ACCUSATIVE even though the corresponding final -VC 2 clusters
do not:
pad pad-ot kos kos-t

szem szem-et baj baj-t
kölcsön kölcsön-t
kard kard-ot vers vers-et konstans konstans-t

film film-et férj férj-et konszern konszern-t
We can offer no explanation at this point (for an account which is unavailable in the
present analysis, cf. Törkenczy 1994).
61. To save space, we will use 'analytic cluster' to refer to clusters divided by an analytic
boundary; a 'synthetic cluster' is a cluster which is not thus divided.
62. A relatively plausible proposal would be to mark b.III to prevent it from undergoing
epenthesis (there are only three (free) stems ending in / φ / : amy, szárny, szörny) and to
mark c.I to (exceptionally) serve as an input to epenthesis (füröd-/fürd- is the only stem
in which epenthesis breaks up stem-final /rd/). Words in b.I and c.III would be un-
marked.
63. Cf. Törkenczy (1992).
64. For a discussion of the calculus (the Empty Category Principle, Interonset Government)
and its application in Hungarian, cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990), Charette
(1991), Törkenczy (1992), Harris (1994), Ritter (1995), and Cyran & Gussmann (this
volume).
65. These are standard GP assumptions, cf. Kaye, Lowenstamm & Vergnaud (1990), and
Kaye (1990), for instance.
66. For a similar proposal outside GP, cf. Burzio (1994).
67. We have not discussed the licensing of clusters at the left edge of analytic domains, but
we assume that the empty nucleus analysis can be extended to that site as well.
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APPENDIX
Glosses (in alphabetical order)
add 'give! (definite)' döfsz 'stab (près 2nd sg indefinite)'

adj 'give! (indefinite)' dölyf arrogance '
agg 'very old' dramaturg 'director's assistant'
ágyú 'cannon' drukkol 'cheer (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
ágyúcska 'little cannon' dzéta 'zeta'
ajánl 'recommend' edz 'train (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
akt 'nude' egyenként 'one by one'
akta 'file' eksztàzis 'ecstasy'
áldj 'bless!' ellenszenv 'antipathy'
ómbra 'ambergris' élsz 'live (près 2nd sg. indefinite)'
angstrom 'id.' élt 'live (past 3rd sg)'
árny 'shadow' elvtárs 'comrade'
asztma 'asthma' elvtelen 'without principles'
atka 'mite' enyh 'relief
azt mondja '(s)he/it says' enyv 'glue'
baj 'trouble' eressz 'let go!'
band 'repent! (definite)' érv 'argument'
banktisztviselö 'bank clerk' esdj 'beg!'
barack 'peach' est 'evening'
barazda 'furrow' expondl 'shoot with camera (près 3rd sg
Batyk <proper noun> indefinite)'
bicepsz 'biceps' export 'id.'
bicikli 'bicycle' expressz 'express'
biciklicske 'little bicycle' fajansz 'faience'
bisztro 'bistro' fàjl 'file'
blúz 'blouse' fájt 'hurt (past 3rd sg)'
bolond 'fool' falastul 'together with the wall'
bolyh ' f l u f f fai] 'gobble!'
borz 'badger' fais 'out of tune'
bot 'stick' fánk 'doughnut'
botocska 'little stick' fédervejsz 'talcum powder'
bridzs 'bridge' (card game) fejetlen 'headless'
bronz 'bronze' felejts 'forget!'
cajg 'cheap cloth' férges 'worm-eaten'
centrum 'centre' férj 'husband'
colstok 'folding rule' film 'id.'
copf 'plait' ford 'id.'
csaptj 'tap' flòra 'vegetation'
csapy 'hit (près 3rd sg indefinite)' fogd 'hold! (definite)'
csepp 'drop' fogf 'hold! (indefinite)'
csödör 'stallion' folt 'stain'
cvekedli <type of pasta> frász 'slap'
Detk <proper noun> friss 'fresh'
dioptría 'dioptry' flalsav 'phthalic acid'
dobd 'throw! (definite)' fujd 'blow! (definite)'
dobd be le 'throw it in! ' föjsz 'blow (près 2nd sg indefinite)'
dobj 'throw! (indefinite)' fiirdés 'bathing'
döfj 'stab!' fiirdik 'bathe (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
firj 'quail' klór 'chlorine'

fiirödni 'to bathe' knédli 'dumpling'
fürödtek 'bathe (past 2nd pi indefinite)' kölesön 'loan'
gengszter 'gangster' kolomp 'bell'
gerezd 'slice' kombájn 'combine-harvester'
giccs 'kitsch' kommersz 'cheap'
gladiator 'gladiator' kompjúter 'computer'
grtóm 'gnome' komplex 'complex'
golf'id.' konc 'spoil'
görl 'girl in chorus line' könny 'tear'
grófí count' konstans 'constant'
groteszk 'grotesque' konszern 'concern'
gvárdián 'Father Superior (of Franciscan konty 'bun'
monastery)' köpor 'sandstone powder'
hagyd 'allow (definite)' kores 'mongrel'
halk 'quiet' kordbársony 'corduroy'
hall 'hear (près 3rd sg indefinite)' korty 'swig'
hamv 'ash' kos 'ram'
handle 'second-hand dealer' kost 'ram (acc)'
hànyd 'vomit! (definite)' köszön 'greet (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
hánysz 'vomit (près 2nd sg indefinite)' krém 'cream'
hare 'fight' kretén 'cretin'
hass 'influence! (indefinite)' kulcs 'key'
hétfo 'Monday' kiild 'send (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
hivd 'call! (definite)' kilzdj 'fight! (indefinite)'
hivj 'call! (indefinite)' kvarc 'quartz'
hölgy 'lady' labor 'laboratory'
hord 'carry (près 3rd sg indefinite)' lajstrom 'list'
hordás 'carrying' lajt 'water-barrow'
hordj 'carry! (indefinite)' lambda 'id.'
Hradzsin <proper noun> lányt 'girl (acc)'
hiivelyk 'thumb' látsz 'see (près 2nd sg indefinite)'
idösb 'senior' lepke 'butterfly'
improvizál 'improvise (3rd sg indefinite)' lomb 'foliage'
infarktus 'heart attack' lombkorona 'foliage of a tree'
instancia 'instance' lopj 'steal! (indefinite)'
int 'wave (près 3rd sg indefinite)' löszt 'yellow soil (acc)'
ints 'wave! (indefinite)' MAFC <acronym>
iskola 'school' majd 'later'
jacht 'yacht' Majs <proper noun>
kapsz 'get (près 2nd sg indefinite)' Marta 'Martha'
kapta '(boot) last' Mátra <proper noun>
kard 'sword' meggy 'sour cherry'
kardnál 'at the sword' mered 'protrude (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
kardom 'my sword' meredés 'protrusion'
kart 'arm (acc)' mnemonika 'mnemonics'
kedd 'Tuesday' mond 'say (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
kensz 'smear (près 2nd sg indefinite)' mondj 'say! (indefinite)'
kinn 'outside' most pedig 'and now'
klassz 'great' naponta 'daily'
nedv 'juice' rend 'order'

nefelejcs 'forget-me-not' retek 'raddish'
nemz 'beget (près 3rd sg indefinite)' retektöl 'from (the) raddish'
nézd 'look! (definite)' retkek 'raddishes'
nézz 'look! (indefinite)' rezg 'vibrate (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
nganaszán 'Nganasan' ri 'weep (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
nines 'do(es) not exist' ring 'sway (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
nyelv 'language' ringló 'plum'
nyom 'push (près 3rd sg indefinite)' rivalg 'blare (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
nyomd 'push! (definite)' rivok 'weep (près 1st sg indefinite)'
nyomj 'push! (indefinite)' rongy 'rag'
nyomsz 'push (près 2nd sg indefinite)' röntgen 'X-ray'
obskurus 'obscure' sakk 'chess'
old 'kill! (definite)' scsi <Russian soup>
ölts 'wear! (indefinite)' skorpiô 'scorpion'
olvadt 'molten' slejm 'phlegm'
Olyv 'hawk' slussz 'finished'
orom 'summit' smaragd 'emerald'
öröm 'joy' s mink 'makeup'
orr 'nose' snassz 'passé'
ostrom 'siege' sör 'beer'
ôsztrogén 'oestrogen' söröeske 'little beer'
ott 'there' sors 'fate'
pad 'bench' spektrum 'spectum'
pajzs 'shield' sport 'id.'
paraszt 'peasant' JTÓ/'scrcw'
páratlan 'unparalleled' stab 'staff
park 'id.' stilus 'style'
partner 'partner' stop 'stop!'
patens 'letter' stramm 'healthy and strong'
pech 'bad luck' sunt 'hedgehog (acc)'
perec 'pretzel' Svájc 'Switzerland'
perem 'edge' svéd 'Swedish'
perm 'Permian period' szaft 'sauce'
plakát 'poster' Szakcs <proper noun>
plankton 'id.' szánj 'have pity! (indefinite)'
pneumatikus 'pneumatic' szanszkrit 'Sanskrit'
pole 'shelf szárny 'wing'
polctól 'from the shelf szcéna 'scene'
pötty 'dot' szem 'eye'
prém 'fur' szerb 'Serb'
pszichológus 'psychologist' szerbtöl 'from (a) Serb'
ptózis 'ptosis' szex 'sex'
pünkösd 'Whitsun' szféra 'sphere'
rajz 'drawing' szfmxet 'sphinx (acc)'
rakj 'put! (indefinite)' szkita 'Scythian'
raksz 'put (près 2nd sg indefinite)' szláv 'Slav'
recept 'receipt' szmog 'smog'
Recsk <proper noun> sznob 'snob'
reform 'id.' szö 'weave (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
szobor 'sculpture' fre^'chibs'

szobortól 'from (the) statue' tréfa 'joke'
szobrok 'statues' trencskot 'trench coat'
szomj 'thirst' tromf trump'
szörny 'monster' turf'id.'
szörp 'soft drink' tviszt 'twist' (dance)
szövök 'weave (près 1st sg indefinite)' ujj 'finger'
szpícs 'speech' uszkve 'approximately'
sztár 'star' vádli 'calf (of leg)'
sztyepp 'steppe' vágysz 'desire (près 2nd sg indefinite)'
szurony 'bayonet' vánszorog 'crawl (3rd sg indefinite)'
szvetter 'sweater' várd 'wait! (definite)'
talp 'sole' vàrj 'wait! (indefinite)'
taps 'applause' végre 'at last'
tárgy 'object' vers 'poem'
tart 'hold (près 3rd sg indefinite)' versláb '(metrical) foot'
tarts 'hold! (indefinite)' versz 'beat up (près 2nd sg indefinite)'
tats 'open! (indefinite)' vésd 'etch! (definite)'
tàtsd 'open! (definite)' vicc 'joke'
templom 'church' vlach 'Walachian'
terem 'grow (près 3rd sg indefinite)' vödör 'bucket'
teremt 'create (près 3rd sg indefinite)' vödörtöl 'from (the) bucket'
teremts 'create! (indefinite)' vödrök 'buckets'
testnevelés 'Physical Education' voks 'vote'
több 'more' vorn 'attract (près 3rd sg indefinite)'
tömzs 'lode' xilofon 'xylophone'
torony 'tower' zlotyi <Polish currency>
törzs 'trunk' zri 'trouble'
10 The Latin syllable
Giovanna Maretta
1. Introduction
The phonological analysis of Latin poses special problems to the linguist due to
the fact that Latin is a dead language. Knowledge of its linguistic structure is
obviously incomplete since the phenomena cannot be directly tested anymore.
The resulting analysis, even the most accurate, will therefore contain some
arbitrariness. But to recognize that there is an unavoidable degree of arbitrari-
ness, does not imply that such an analysis should be necessarily useless or
unfounded: in as much as the arbitrariness will be constrained and limited, the
analysis should reach a sufficient threshold of scientific availability.1 In par-
ticular, as far as Latin is concerned, the great quantity of surviving texts ap-
pears to be a good indicator of such a direction.
However, we must admit without any doubt that there are specific method-
ological problems connected with the phonological study of a dead language.
From a general point of view, it is common opinion that in the case of a lan-
guage attested only by written texts, reconstruction is less difficult for mor-
phology and syntax than for phonology, and even more difficult for phonetics
and prosody. Fortunately, as is normally recognized, writing systems are gen-
erally more phonology-oriented than phonetics-dependent. In particular, as
Allen (1965: 9) has already noted, "Latin spelling comes very near to being
completely phonemic." Even assuming the basically phonemic character of
Latin spelling, other problems related to the phonology of a dead language
exist.
First of all, any detailed phonological analysis must be couched on a pre-
vious phonetic one. In the case of a dead language, it is by definition no longer
possible to have direct access to the native competence: there are no Latin
speakers who can pronounce a word for us, or read an utterance. The basic
sources for the study of Latin are the literaiy texts and the epigraphs; other
indirect sources are the evolution of Romance and the borrowings from and
into other languages. Rather important, also, are the linguistic comments of
authors or grammarians, which can help us to reconstruct a phonetic reality
corresponding to the graphic materials we are dealing with.
Second, it has to be emphasized that in the case of a dead language, the
analysis will necessarily be based on a corpus, a corpus which can even be very
286 Giovanna Marotta
great in quantitative dimensions, yet, is still a closed corpus. From a generative

perspective, reference to the corpus may appear rather strange since it refers to
Externalized Language, and not to Internalized Language, the latter of which is
assumed to be the only relevant level for theoretical linguistics. However, if a
language is no longer spoken, the speaker's competence will no longer be at-
tainable in a direct way and it becomes impossible to disregard the texts, i.e.
elements of Externalized Language.
In the case of Latin, which is accessible only through written texts, recogni-
tion of the graphic system is fundamental: the correspondence between graphic
units and phonetic elements is a step which cannot be overlooked. As we shall
see ultra, the major problems in Latin phonology are those connected with the
interpretation of some ambiguous spelling (e.g. <QV, GV, V>).
Another preliminary issue concerns the variety which will be considered.
Written texts in Latin cover roughly a thousand years. Obviously, it is impos-
sible to believe that a language, though fixed in a grammatical norm, could
remain the same over such a long period without any structural change. On the
other hand, most of the texts that have survived till now relate to the literary
register (poetry or literature), while only a small part of them reflect the spoken
language, especially the popular sub-code (e.g. the comedies of Plautus or the
Satiricon of Petronius). Moreover, the fortunes of the Roman Empire resulted
in the spread of Latin over a much wider area than the Latium Vetus or Italy,
including not only Europe, but also large portions of Asia Minor and North
Africa. Therefore, since Latin cannot be considered as a unitary entity, it is
necessary to specify the synchronic axis, the local area and the register of the
variety we are referring to.
A final caveat concerns sociolinguistic variation: the progress made in this
field by modern linguistics has resulted in changing the ways we consider lan-
guage. Even dead languages are now no longer viewed as compact or mono-
lithic systems, but rather as stratified ones, with a social dynamic which is
undoubtedly reflected in the different strata of the language (cf. Marin 1972;
Tekavcic 1982: 81-82; Zamboni 1987).
Our analysis is concerned with Classical Latin, i.e. the educated register of
the language spoken in Rome and used by the upper and middle classes of
Roman society during the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. As a conse-
quence, the dialectal phenomena as well as the pragmatic variation will not be
taken into account.
In the present chapter, we would like to present a detailed picture of the
syllable and its constituents in Latin. We would like to pay special attention to
the interaction between phonology and morphology in this language. As we
will see, all the deviations from the standard syllable template have a morpho-
logical reason. The prosodie phenomena related to quantity and the phonolo-
gical inventory of Classical Latin will be analyzed first (sections 2-3). Then, we
The Latin syllable 287
will turn to considering how the syllable constituents were filled in Latin and
which kind of constraints were applied to them (sections 4-8). Thereafter, a
syllable template will be proposed and the typology of rhymes will be briefly
discussed in relation to the linguistic evolution (sections 9-10). General re-
marks on syllable structure will conclude the chapter (section 11).
2. Quantity
As is well-known, one of the major phonemic contrasts in Classical Latin con-

cerns vowel quantity. Since the occurrence of long or short vowels in lexical
roots is unpredictable, quantity has a distinctive value. Long vowels could
occur not only in stressed syllables (e.g. filum 'thread', duco '(I) lead') - as it
happens in Romance languages - but also in unstressed syllables (rosa 'rose',
abl.sing.; amo '(I) love'). 2 The occurrence of many minimal pairs in the lan-
guage proves that the contrast between long and short vowels was distinctive;
e.g. populus 'poplar-tree'/ populus 'people'; pu let, form of puteo '(I) stink'/
putei, form of puto '(I) suppose'; rosa 'rose', abl.sing. Irosa 'rose', nom.sing. 3
Vowel quantity is relevant not only because it is phonologically contrastive
(see the minimal pairs cited above), but also for assigning lexical stress. The
weight of the penultimate syllable rhyme is crucial: if the vowel is long, the
syllable is stressed; if the vowel is short and not followed by at least one con-
sonant in the coda, the stress falls on the preceding syllable; for instance,
natura 'nature', oratiónis 'speech', gen.sing. versus régula 'rule', hominis
'man', gen.sing. Again, there are minimal pairs exhibiting the contrast in
meaning and stress position; e.g. appáret, third pers. sing, of pres. of appáreo
'(I) am visible' versus äpparet, form of apparo '(I) prepare', lepóris 'charm',
gen. sing., versus léporis 'hare', gen. sing., invénit, perf. of invénio, '(I) find'
versus invenit, pres. of invénio.
The recognition of long segments as phonemes besides the short ones has
the consequence of increasing the number of elements belonging to the under-
lying level. In such a traditional view, the phonemic inventory of Latin will
contain ten vocalic elements:
(1) i: i u u:
e: e o o:
a a:
However, assuming an autosegmental framework (cf. Goldsmith 1990,

Kenstowicz 1994), we can deal with quantity in a new way. Since the length of
288 Giovanna Maretta
the segments is now remanded to the skeletal tier of the phonological repre-
sentation, long vowels will be associated with two skeletal positions, while
short ones will be associated with only one position. Thus, it might no longer
be necessary to posit underlying long segments besides the short ones: the
information relative to length will be available from the skeletal tier, while the
segmental tier will give the melodic information, i.e. the indication of the fea-
tures which are involved in the segment production.
Since in the autosegmental framework only the skeletal tier is relevant for
assigning quantity to the segments, the lexical representation of long vowels in
Latin requires their association with two skeletal slots. Therefore, the differ-
ence between Latin, on the one hand, and Romance languages on the other, lies
only in the skeletal level of the underlying representation. In Latin, where
vowel quantity is distinctive, vowels can be associated with one or two struc-
tural positions, while in Romance languages each vowel is associated with a
skeletal slot. It is only at the surface level that long vowels can occur via a
lengthening rule depending on special prosodie constraints.4
In Latin, consonants exhibit a phonemic contrast for length and have the
same effect on the assignment of lexical stress; e.g. colis '(you) live in' / collis
'hill'; teris '(you) pierce' / terris 'earth', abl. and dat. plur.; anus 'old woman' /
annus 'year'. Long consonants have hetero-syllabic status in Latin, as is proved
by the stress position in words of the form CVCVCiV; here, the penultimate
syllable is stressed, even with a short vowel, since it is closed by the geminate;
e.g. capillus 'hair', procélia 'storm', sagitta 'arrow'. We touch here on an
obvious, but rather important difference between vowels and consonants: the
long segments are tautosyllabic if vowels, but hetero-syllabic if consonants.
3. Phonological inventory
3.1. Vowels
As we have already seen in the previous section, Latin shows distinctive length.
The vowel inventory is rather simple, displaying a limited number of segments,
relatively unmarked from the typological point of view (see 1). Together with
three degrees of raising, the basic opposition is [back] vs. [anterior]. Even the
simultaneous occurrence of features [round] and [back] is absolutely unmarked.
The relation between length and tenseness is rather complex in Latin. As-
suming an autosegmental framework, length has to be referred to exclusively
on the skeletal tier, as we did, in fact. Therefore, any possible interface with
segmental features should be avoided. But in Latin the co-occurrence of length
with tense is normally observed; therefore, e.g. [u:], [a:] = [+long, +tense].
However, there seems to be no theoretical conflict per se in such an observation

since it is still true that modern phonology works with features, even in non-
linear frameworks.
In the educated register of the language, length was distinctive while tense
was redundant. In other registers, less controlled and more informal, however,
the two features probably changed their status, mostly under the influence of
the Osean and Umbrian dialects, such that tense, and not length, became dis-
tinctive. In particular, there is epigraphic evidence showing <E> instead of ;
e.g. CIL I 2 89 TEMPESTATEBUS = tempestatibus. Furthermore, the evolution of
i, u and ¿m is not the same in a wide area of Romance languages (e.g. pilum > It.
pelo 'hair', but ρ mus > It. pino 'pine'). The diffusion of such a new hierarchi-
cal relation between the two features (now tense over length, while before
length over tense) might have produced, or at least favored, the loss of vowel
quantity in Vulgar and Late Latin.
A last critical point concerns the occurrence of nasal vowels in Latin. First,
in the epigraphs, a nasal consonant {-m in word-final position and -n- in the
internal clusters -m- and -«/-) is often omitted.5 Second, in the same contexts
Cicero and many grammarians witness the absence of the nasal with a co-oc-
curring lengthening of the preceding vowel. Moreover, in the poetry the be-
havior of the word-final sequence - Vm is similar to that of a long vowel, as far
as synaloephe is concerned (e.g. Verg. Aen. I, 41 noxam et = nox(am) et).
However, the evidence for postulating long nasalized vowels in Latin does not
seem to be strong enough. If we consider the Romance languages, only French
and Portuguese show vocalic segments marked [+nasal].
3.2. Sonus medius
In the epigraphs, especially the archaic ones, alternative spellings for the high
vowels are found in the context of a following labial segment; e.g. maxu-
mus/maximus 'greatest', decumus/decimus 'tenth'. Quintilianus {inst. 1,4,7-8)
and late grammarians (e.g. Prise. 11,7,15 Keil) inform us about the occurrence
of a special sound, intermediate between the pronunciation of an i and that of a
u when a labial consonant follows. This special sound was called by Quintilia-
nus sonus medius, and probably corresponded to a high front rounded vowel,
i.e. [y], Suetonius, Claud. 41 and Tacitus, Ann. XI, 14 inform us that Emperor
Claudius tried to introduce a special sign for this sound in the Latin alphabet.
He did not succeed, since the [y] sonus medius was only a segment determined
by a specific phonetic context. And, as we saw before, the Latin alphabet was
basically phonological.
The occurrence of this segment was probably favored by the influence of
Ancient Greek, where such a vowel did occur as an autonomous phonological
element, e.g. pyr 'fire', syn 'with', phylax 'guard'. The numerous loanwords
probably favored the diffusion of such a sound, at least in the educated circles;
see, for instance, Lydius, Pylus. However, we do not believe that a vowel /y/
should be adopted in the phonological inventory of Latin, since this element
had only an allophonic status.
3.3. Diphthongs
Classical Latin had many falling diphthongs: ae, au, oe, ei, eu, ai, oi; for in-
stance, aedes 'temple', taurus 'bull\foedus 'league', deinde 'thereafter', neu-
ter 'neither', Maia (name), Troia (name). However, only the first three show a
rather free lexical distribution. Their pronunciation should have corresponded
to that suggested by the graphic form, at least in the educated register. There-
fore, we suppose they were sequences of two vocalic segments, the first being
more relevant and longer than the second, as occurs normally in falling diph-
thongs in the natural languages we can observe today (e.g. English, Italian,
etc.).
In the low registers of the language, and not only in the country, but even in
Rome, ae was probably pronounced as [ε:], as the borrowings from Greek
indicate; e.g. Cumae (name) < Κύμη, scaena 'stage' < σκηνή, scaeptrum
'sceptre' < σκήπτρον. In parallel, au would be produced more as [a:] than
[au]. We should underline that in the historical evolution of Latin, a progressive
trend toward the loss of diphthongs can be observed. Indeed, in the archaic
period, the typology of diphthongs was richer than in the classical age (e.g. ei,
regei = regi 'king', datsing.; ou, senatous = senatus 'Senate', gen.sing.). In
Late and Vulgar Latin, ae and oe were lost as well; in Romance languages,
there is no trace of them. Only au was maintained in Vulgar Latin and still
survives in some of the dialects of Southern Italy as well as in Rumanian and
Occitan; in the other languages, au occurs only in a few words belonging to the
educated register, e.g. It. causa, Fr. cause (with a further monophthongization).
As far as rising diphthongs are concerned, they are basically absent in Latin,
since the sequences where a vowel is preceded by a semi-vowel (e.g. iacio '(I)
'throw', volo '(I) wish', with [j-], [w-]) cannot be considered as true diph-
thongs, i.e. as vocalic structures belonging to the same syllabic constituent (i.e.
the nucleus; see ultra). The lack of rising diphthongs has to be emphasized
together with their development in Romance languages. As is well-known,
Romance diphthongization is namely a process involving stressed vowels
giving rise to complex nuclei of the structure GV, i.e. glide + vowel, while
Latin diphthongs have only the VG format.
3.4. Semi-vowels
In accordance with the traditional picture, the term semi-vowel will refer only
to glides which are followed by a vowel; therefore, the second element of the
diphthongs ae, oe, au will be excluded.
The anterior semi-vowel can occur in Latin between vowels as well as in
word-initial position: e.g. Maius 'May', iaceo '(I) lie', iam 'already'. In inter-
vocalic position, the [j] articulation was prolonged; cf. Quintil., inst. 1,4,11, and
also the grammarians (e.g. Prise. 11,14,5 Keil; Vel. Long. VII,54,16 Keil).
Probably, the pronunciation of words like maius, peius did not sound very
different from that of It. paio 'pair' as produced by a speaker of the present-day
Roman dialect, i.e. ['paj:o].
This semi-vowel is traditionally considered the non-syllabic allophone of [i].
In fact, there are no minimal pairs contrasting [j] with [i], with the exception of
a few words like Iulius 'July' with [j] vs. lulus (name) with [i], or iam 'already'
with [j] vs. iambus 'iamb' with [i]. Actually, it is possible to find explicit rules
determining the occurrence of [j] from an underlying HI. This hypothesis is also
confirmed by the use of the same letter in the writing system. The rule
accounting for the occurrence of [j] can be formulated as follows:
(2)
Given the complementary distribution between fi] and [j] in Classical Latin,
a hiatus with i in first position was possible only if there was a consonant be-
fore the high vowel; in other words, avia 'birds', nom./acc.plur., abiete 'silver-
fir', abl.sing., were syllabified as follows: a.wi.a, a.bi.e.te. In Vulgar and Late
Latin, we have abjete, with a change of syllabic status for the high vocalic
element and a shift of the lexical stress, from the high vowel to the following
one. 6 As is well-known, the new syllabic status of -/- in hiatus (from vowel to
semi-consonant) produces many palatalization processes in Late Latin, and
then in the Romance languages; e.g. Class. Lat. ratio, rationem 'account' >
Vulg. Lat. ratjonem > It. ragione, Fr. raison, Lat. fació > Vulg. Lat. facjo > It.
faccio, Fr. {je) fais (cf. Lausberg 1969: sec. 453 ff.).
The rounded semi-vowel exhibits a less constrained distribution in compari-
son with that of the corresponding anterior one. Indeed, within the word, [w]
occurs in the following contexts:
(3) a. in initial position; e.g. via 'street'; volo '(I) wish'; vulpis 'fox'
b. between vowels; e.g. lavo '(I) wash'; aves 'birds'
c. after a consonant and before a vowel; e.g. arva 'arable field', nom.
and acc. plur.; silva 'wood'
A real complementary distribution between [w] and [u] is prohibited by the

occurrence of both segments in the same context (3c). Consider, for instance,
the following minimal pairs:
(4) salwi 'safe', adj., gen. sing. / salui_ '(I) jump', perf. of salio
serwi 'slave', gen. sing. / serui_ '(I) rope', perf. of sero
alwi 'belly', gen. sing. / alui '(I) feed', perf. of alo
But if we consider the morphology of these word pairs, we see that the mor-
phological boundary does not occupy the same position. Therefore, we can
easily assume that even in the context between a sonorant and a vowel there
was complementary distribution between [w] and [u], since we find the former
only when there is no preceding morpheme boundary (#). The underlying rep-
resentation of the minimal pairs cited in (4) will therefore be the following:
/salw#[/ vs. /sal#ui7, /serw#ij vs. /ser#uij, /alw#i/ vs. /al#ui7. The major con-
straint on [w] seems to be the occurrence of a vocalic segment at its right; the
same holds for [j], which is, however, constrained in the same sense at its left
as well.
Despite the occurrence of [j] and [w], there were no rising diphthongs in
Latin which could be associated with a complex nucleus, since the semi-vowels
were undoubtedly attached to the onset position. Their adjacency to all the
vowels indicates that their nature was more that of a consonant than that of a
vowel. In fact, true rising diphthongs, as in the case of the Romance languages,
arise from the fusion of a semi-vowel with a specific vowel; cf. It. uovo 'egg',
piede 'foot'; French oiseau 'bird', pied 'foot', etc. From a phonetic point of
view, there is no problem in considering both [j] and [w] as segments associ-
ated with an onset position, and specifically with the position closest to the
nucleus: on the one hand, they have the highest value of strength among the
vocalic elements; on the other, semi-vowels occupy the highest position before
vowels in the sonority scale, and therefore they cannot be followed by any
stronger consonant.
Even the Romance evolution indicates that both [j] and [w] have consonantal
more than vocalic value, at least in Vulgar and Late Latin. In fact, [j] behaves
like <gi, ge> clusters, changing into affricates or fricatives; e.g. ianuarius
'January' > Vulgar Latin jenuarius > It. gennaio, Fr. janvier, Cat. gener, Port.
janeiro; [w] becomes a fricative; e.g. Vulgar Latin velum 'veil', with [w] > It.
velo, Fr. voile (see Lausberg 1969: sec. 329-330). The strengthening process in-
volving both Latin semi-vowels was possible only if they were produced and
perceived more as consonants than as vowels. Probably, as Lausberg (1969:
sec. 329) suggests, the process took place initially in strong positions, i.e. in ut-
terance-initial position or after a consonant, even in a phrase; e.g. Lat. iam
'already' > It. già; Lat. belua 'beast'> It. belva.
3.5. Consonants
The class of stops is rather unmarked: p, b, I, d, k g, kw, gw. The only critical
point is indeed the interpretation of the graphic sequences <qu, gu>, probably
labiovelare, i.e. velar segments with a labial secondary articulation. As such, kw
and gw would be represented as complex segments with a single skeletal slot in
onset position. 7 For instance:
(5) a. a kw a 'water' b. 1 i η gw a 'tongue'

I V I I I I V I
X X X x x x x x
I I I I I I I I
N O N O N Cd O N
The evidence in favor of an interpretation of labiovelare as complex seg-

ments is based on the light prosodie weight of the syllable preceding <qu> in
metrics. If this spelling were to indicate a sequence of true consonants, the
velar stop could stay in the coda and the semi-vowel in the onset of the next
syllable. Moreover, [kw] and [gw] would be the only tautosyllabic clusters
different from the muta cum liquida format (see sec. 6.2). The feature of
rounding linked to the Root node allows the contrast between velars and labio-
velare; e.g. sequor '(I) follow' / secor '(I) am cut'; pinguis 'fat', adj. / pingis
'(you) paint'. However, the voiced labiovelar appears to be strongly con-
strained, because it occurs only when it is preceded by a nasal; e.g. lingua
'tongue', pinguis 'fat'. An interesting alternation of gu with the rounded semi-
vowel is attested too; for instance, nivis, 'snow', gen.sing. versus ningit or
ninguit 'it is snowing' (but perf. ninxil, cf. sec. 8.1).9
The fricatives of Latin were f , s and h. The last one, probably produced as a
glottal fricative, was present only in the educated register of the language. The
articulation of Dal was so weak that it did not block phonological processes
such as rhotacism (e.g. diribeo '(I) divide' < *dis-habeo) or vowel contraction
(e.g. nemo 'no one' < *ne-hemo < *ne-homo). 10 It must be remembered that, in
the word's internal position, the aspirate also has the function of signalling the
hiatus; e.g. ahenus < *aes-nos 'bronze', cohors 'cohort', etc. The Iii was pro-
duced more as a labial fricative than as a labiodental one, as the late grammari-
ans noted. As far as the sibilant is concerned, in Latin only the voiceless [s] oc-
curred, since the voiced sibilant either was deleted or became [r] (see sec. 7).
The last class to be considered is that of sonorants: two nasals and two liq-
uids are the last segments to be included in the phonological inventory of Clas-
sical Latin: m, n, r, I. The lateral could be pronounced in two ways: a pinguis I
and an ex His /, i.e. [t] and [1]. Context determined the alternation between the
two sounds, since the former occurred only before a rounded vowel; hence,
Sicilia 'Sicily', with [1], but Siculus 'Sicilian', with [1]; velie 'to wish', velim
'(I) would wish', both with [1], but volo '(I) wish', volumus '(we) wish', with
[i], As the instances show, this alternation also has an interesting harmony
effect on the vowel preceding -/-.
As for nasals, a critical point concerns the interpretation of <gn>: does it
stand for a phonetic sequence of a velar stop followed by a coronal nasal, as the
spelling shows, or did the Latins write a special sound in this way, where the
features [back] and [nasal] were simultaneously present? In poetry, although gn
cannot be preceded by any consonant, the syllable which is followed by it
counts as heavy, thus suggesting that we are in front of two heterosyllabic
consonants. In <gn> spelling, the interpretation of g as a nasal is suggested by
word games occurring in the texts; e.g. ignem magnum / inhumanus (PI. Rud.
767); ignominia / in nomine (Cie. Rep. IV, 6). Even the spelling ngn that we
find at times in the epigraphs seems to confirm such an interpretation. More-
over, etymological relations like decet 'it is proper' / dignus 'proper, suitable',
lego '(I) pick' / lignum 'wood' indicate that gn stands for a phonetic sequence,
probably [qn]. However, the velar nasal cannot be included in the phonological
inventory of the language, since it occurred only when licensed by a following
nasal in onset.
4. The syllable
Doubts as to the relevance of the syllable in phonological theory have been

recently expressed, especially within Natural Phonology. The hypothesis is that
all the relevant information can be taken from the segmental tier; therefore, the
prosodie tier relative to the syllable no longer becomes necessary. However, we
would like to affirm once again the centrality of the syllable in phonological
analysis, since syllable structure allows one to give a simpler yet exhaustive
picture of the phonological structures as well as of the processes occurring in a
language. Taking into account only the constraints at work on the adjacency of
segments without considering the hierarchical relations between the syllable
constituents is not sufficient for explaining the phenomena observed in natural
languages. Moreover, a multilinear representation cannot do without the syl-
lable tier.
The representation of the syllable that has already become traditional in non-
linear phonology is the following (see, among others, Goldsmith 1990: 109 ff.;
Kenstowicz 1994: 253 ff.):
(6) (Onset) Nucleus (Coda)
Syllable
With such a picture, we are able to represent the internal structure of the
syllable, accounting for the optionality of the onset as well as for that of the
coda. As we know, the nucleus is the only obligatory constituent and, at the
same time, the optimal element for bearing stress and tone in natural languages.
This special status of the nucleus is represented in an explicit way in the theory
proposed by Levin (1985), where the nucleus becomes the essential core of the
syllable through the application of the principles already proposed in X-bar
syntax. The syllable is now viewed as a projection of the primitive category
Nucleus; the onset is the specifier and the coda the complement; the rhyme is
the first projection of the Ν category (i.e. N'). The representation would be the
following:
(7) Spec Ν Compi
Ν'
The tree in (7) is basically the same as in (6), but in (7) the relevance of the
nucleus is more transparent. Especially in languages where vowel quantity is
phonological, as in Latin, the nucleus appears to play a fundamental role in
determining the prosodie structure. Moreover, the metrics of Latin is based on
the contrast between light and heavy syllables, and the nucleus structure is the
first element for the assignment of syllable weight. Finally, a hierarchical
structure such as that in (7) also has the advantage of using the same represen-
tation for syntax and phonology: the positions associated with Spec and Compi
can be empty in a syllable just as in a Noun Phrase. Despite these remarks on
the isomorphism between syntax and phonology, we decided to maintain here
the traditional terms (onset, nucleus and coda) for the sake of clarity.
We shall now go on to consider the different constituents of the syllable, in
order to show how they were filled in Latin. An important source for studying
syllable structure in natural languages comes from poetry, especially from
metric conventions, which normally reflect the prosodie principles of the lan-
guage. In Latin metrics, the opposition between light and heavy syllables is
fundamental, and prosodie weight is determined by rhyme structure. Therefore,
a syllable representation cannot disregard the rhyme constituent; in other terms,
we defend binary and hierarchical representations of the syllable such as that

presented in (6).
5. The nucleus
In Latin, the nucleus can project one or two structural positions; one position in
the case of a short vowel (e.g. malum 'bad accident'), two positions in the case
of a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. malum 'apple', caelum 'sky'). The nucleus
head is associated with the first position:
(8) a. a: b. a e
/ \ I I
χ χ
χ χ
Ν
Ν
From a general point of view, another representation is possible, i.e. we
might associate the first slot with the nucleus and the second with the coda. At
first glance this solution seems more plausible for diphthongs than for vowels,
since quantity has distinctive status in Latin (see sec. 2). In the case of a long
vowel, the association of both timing units to the nucleus is justified by the
distinctive value of vowel quantity in the language. We know that diphthongs
have the same prosodie weight as a long vowel in metrics as well as in the
assignment of lexical stress. Therefore, there are good reasons for representing
both structures with the same autosegmental notation, as we did in (8).
In a sketch of the syllable in a language, it is important to present not only
the size of the different syllable constituents, but also the specific segments
which are licensed in different positions. We now briefly illustrate the relevant
properties of the nucleus in relation to the segmental and prosodie content.
5.1. Light nucleus
In the case of a light nucleus, all the short vowels belonging to the
phonological inventory of the language were allowed. There are no constraints
in relation to the syllable position in the word.
When a short /i/ was followed by a labial consonant (e.g. optimus 'the best',
maximus 'the greatest'), the so-called sonus medius occurred (cf. sec. 3.2).
Since in this context a sound like [y] was probably produced, in its auto-
segmental representation the sonus medius will be associated to the same con-
tent of a short front vowel with the addition of the rounding feature. Thus, if we
want to give an exhaustive picture of the phonology of the language, we have
to assume that in Latin the features [+rounded] and [+front] could occur in the
same segment, but only in the case of a high vowel.
The phonological contrast between light and heavy nuclei was normally
neutralized in case of a hiatus: in a sequence of two vowels, the first one was
normally short, as the metrics undoubtedly suggests; e.g. pendeo '(I) hang' vs.
pendere 'to hang', deamo '(I) love' < de-amo^ This shortening process is tradi-
tionally summarized with the rule vocalis ante vocalem corripitur, i.e. 'a vowel
before another vowel becomes short'. Actually, there are exceptions, concern-
ing a few borrowings from Greek (such as a.er 'air', Lo (name)), as well as
pronominal forms like illius, istius (but in poetry the shortening is also attested)
and forms of the verb fio '(I) become', maintaining the long root vowel in
hiatus (e.g.ßo, fluni, but flerem,fieri).u
Another case of neutralization of vowel quantity is represented by the so-
called correptio iambica: in disyllabic words composed of an iambic sequence
(light + heavy), the final heavy syllable becomes light; e.g. ego > ego T , mihi
> mihi 'me', dat., modo > modo 'now', ubi > ubi 'where', etc. 12 The brevis
brevians phenomenon was a typical feature of colloquial speech, taking place
especially when the disyllabic word was syntactically bound with the following
word. In the classical age, iambic shortening had the status of an optional rule.
In the educated register of the language, the shortened forms could coexist with
the unshortened ones. The metrical evidence suggests that poets were allowed
to make use of both forms, depending on the meter.
5.2. Heavy nucleus
In the case of a heavy nucleus, in the sense of a long vowel, there are no con-
straints: all five segments are allowed, and in all the positions of a word; e.g.
initial syllable: pijum 'pounder', populus 'poplar-tree', paret 'it is clear'; me-
dial syllable: apparet 'it is evident', leporis 'charm', gen.sing.; final syllable:
amo '(I) love', lupi ' w o l f , gen.sing., manus 'hand', gen.sing., facie 'figure',
abl.sing.
As far as the diphthongs are concerned, only [ae] is allowed in the final
position of a word. In an inflected language like Latin, the final position is
devoted to the expression of morphosyntactic marks. Therefore, the occurrence
of a segment in this context is mostly dependent on the morphological struc-
ture. Now, if we consider the Latin diphthongs, only [-ae] has a morphological
function, since it is the morpheme for genitive and dative singular as well as for
nominative and vocative plural of the so-called first declension, that is, of the
feminine nouns with -a stem.
This is a point which has to be emphasized as a constant in the phonological
analysis of Latin: a segment occurring in the rhyme of a word's final syllable is
not only an element of the phonological level of the language, but also a unit of
the morphological structure. Therefore, in this position the distribution of both
vowels and consonants is heavily constrained by the morphological role played
by the segment.
6. The onset
6.1. Empty and simple onsets
In Latin, an onset can be empty in initial syllables (like in et 'and', am. nis 'tor-
rent', o.cu.lus 'eye') as well as in internal or final syllables (like me.atus
'course', sci.o '(I) know'). 13 Given the shortening rule working in the context
of hiatus (cf. sec. 5.1), in a sequence of two nuclei, the vowel associated with
the first nucleus was normally short; e.g. habeo '(I) have' vs. habere 'to have',
familia 'family', vmea 'vineyard'.
When the onset is filled by a consonant, there are no segmental constraints:
all the consonants which belong to the phonological inventory of Latin may be
associated with the onset position closest to the following nucleus; for instance,
pa. ter 'father', ter. ra 'earth', di. gì. tus 'finger', lingua 'tongue', fi. I i. us 'son',
hos.tis 'enemy', vi.ta 'life', ma.ter 'mother', na.vis 'ship', lana 'wool', etc.
However, the relative frequency of the segments is not always the same. It is
sufficient to pick up a Latin lexicon and see how many pages are devoted to
initial letters which stand for the different consonants: the voiceless stops are
more frequent than the voiced ones; the sibilant is more frequent than the labial
fricative. Even less frequent is the occurrence of [j], [w] and [h], which appear
to be peripheral elements; as such, they were more prone to linguistic change.
Liquids and nasals cannot precede any other consonant within the same onset.
Notice also that the voiced labiovelar cannot occupy the initial position in a
word, since it must always be preceded by a nasal (e.g. lingua).
6.2. Complex onsets
The only segmental sequence allowed as a complex onset in Latin is the so-
called muta cum liquida-, for instance, premo '(I) press', credo '(I) believe',
frater 'brother', brevis 'short';pluit 'it rains',77umen 'river', gloria 'fame', etc.
The Latín syllable 299
Different remarks about the data are necessary. The first concerns the lack of
*tl and *dl clusters, although they come under the typology of complex onsets
as defined by the formula muta cum liquida. Taking the perspective adopted by
Goldsmith (1990: 124ff.), we might say that in a syllable constituent an overlap
of the same distinctive feature (here, [coronal]) is not allowed; hence, *tl, *dl.
In that case, we would not have any motivation for the occurrence of tr and dr,
where, again, both segments have in common the same point of articulation.
Alternatively, the strength hierarchy, as well as the related notion of minimal
sonority distance, could be invoked, as indeed Steriade (1982) has already
proposed for Latin. However, this solution seems to be an ad hoc proposal
more than a real explanation.
The lack of *tl and *dl clusters is related to the coronal syndrome, i.e. to the
special status of the coronal segments. As is well-known, there is evidence
from different areas (language acquisition, aphasia, speech errors, linguistic
change, assimilation and harmony processes) suggesting that the coronal con-
sonants are underspecified for point of articulation (see Paradis & Prunet 1991;
Marotta 1993). The head of a complex onset is the segment associated with the
first position. In a sequence like ll, if the stop is underspecified at the underly-
ing level for Point of Articulation, it cannot govern the lateral, which would
then be more complex than its head.
A second caveat concerns the dr sequence, which is rather marked within the
phonological system of Latin. In word-initial position, we find dr- in a few
words, normally Greek loans (e.g. druppa 'ripe olive', draco 'snake', drachma
'drachma', a small Greek coin). In medial position, -dr- is present again in
borrowings from Greek (e.g. Hadrianus, Adria, both names) or in the Latin
word quadrus 'square' and its derivates (e.g. quadriga 'a set of four',
quadraginta 'forty'). There are also alternations indicating the devoicing of the
cluster, i.e. -dr- > -tr-, for instance, the adjective derived from the impersonal
verb taedet 'it disgusts' is taeter, taetrum < *taed-rom 'horrid'. The compari-
son of inflected forms with the corresponding Greek also suggests devoicing;
cf. uter, utris 'a skin (for oil, wine)' vs. Gr. hydría. The change dr > tr may be
viewed as a strengthening process: in a complex onset where both segments
share the feature [coronal], the devoicing allows the stop head to better govern
the following rhotic (cf. Harris 1990).
The last point to be taken into account concerns labiovelare: if they are con-
sidered to be sequences composed of a velar stop followed by a rounded semi-
vowel, then a new format for complex onset has to be added. Otherwise, if we
insert labiovelare in the phonological inventory of Latin - as actually we did - ,
/k w / and /g w / would be associated with only one skeletal slot, thereby project-
ing a simple onset (see 5a and b).
7. The s + C clusters
The consonantal sequences which have a sibilant in first position are rather
problematic. On the one hand, in many languages and in Latin too, 5 normally
enters into cluster formation; on the other hand, general phonological principles
connected with the strength hierarchy force us to consider it as heterosyllabic
with respect to the following consonant, at least in the case of s + stop se-
quences, which actually are the most frequent clusters involving the sibilant.
As for the sonority scale, we would like to point out that so far no specific
phonetic correlate has been found for sonority. At the same time, consonantal
strength does not have a clear correspondence with any physically measurable
property (cf. Ohala & Kawasaki 1984: 122; Dogil & Luschützky 1990: 14 ff.).
However, assuming a phonological point of view, i.e. an abstract one, as
Clements (1990) proposed, we think that the notions of sonority and segmental
strength can continue to be used, at least as a tool for describing, more than for
explaining, the distributional data. In other terms, sonority should be con-
sidered a phonological category, and not a phonetic property.
In the case of Latin, the only clusters of the s + C type which are allowed are
those where the C is a voiceless stop. As is well-known, Classical Latin had no
voiced sibilant, since it was deleted before the voiced consonants (e.g. izdem >
idem 'the same'), while in intervocalic context, it was rhotacized; e.g. arbozis >
arboris 'tree', gen.sing.14
There is clear evidence in favor of the heterosyllabic status of the sibilant
followed by a consonant. From a general point of view, the arguments may be
the following:
a) external evidence: in living languages, speech errors show that the degree of
cohesion in s + C clusters is clearly lower than with other possible complex
onsets, such as obstruent + liquid sequences; moreover, children normally do
not syllabify the s and the following consonant in the same syllable;
b) the strength hierarchy, interpreted as a universal principle: in the onset, the
consonants follow an order going from stronger to weaker; thus, a fricative like
5 cannot precede any stop in the same onset;
c) both on the articulatory and acoustic sides: the phonetic features of [s] as-
similate it more with the class of sonorants than with that of obstruents, al-
though the sibilant is traditionally classified with the latter.
For Latin, in particular, we might add evidence coming from metrics, where
in a sequence V + s + C + V the first syllable normally counts as heavy, sug-
gesting that the sibilant has to be associated with the coda. Furthermore, if the
final part of a word has the format s + C + V (+ C), the lexical stress invariably
falls on the preceding vowel, even if it is short; e.g. desisto '(I) leave o f f , in-
féstus 'disturbed', incéstus 'impure'. The last two examples are particularly
interesting, because the short -a- of the basic form (fastus, castus) is raised to -
e-, and not to -/'-, as it normally happens when, in a derivate, this vowel is in an
open syllable; compare facio '(I) make' -> affido '(I) affect', cado '(I) fall' —»
cecidi (perfect form) with scando '(I) rise' ascendo '(I) rise', fallo '(I) mis-
take'—> fefelh (perfect form); cf. Niedermann (1931: secs. 15-18).
Consider now word-initial clusters like those in slare 'to stand', spes 'hope',
scribo '(I) write'; in the light of the arguments summarized so far, the sibilant
would be a 'stray' or 'floating' segment, unassociated with the onset at the
underlying level. However, if we take into account that, in Latin, word bounda-
ries are very strong, we might consider the initial clusters of the format s + C
as tautosyllabic, at least at some level of representation.
The fusional type of the language, with relative freedom of word positioning
in the sentence, gives an autonomous status to the word unit. Therefore, resyl-
labification rules not only have a reduced scope, but also a lower-ranking rele-
vance. This is another important difference in relation to the Romance lan-
guages. For instance, in Italian, word boundaries are very weak, and syllabi-
fication rules normally by-pass them, especially within a single phrase; e.g. la
scala = las.ca.la 'the stair', as vasto = vas.to 'wide'. In Latin, syllable bounda-
ries tend to respect word boundaries, with the result that a heteromorphemic
sequence is normally also heterosyllabic, without any adjunction of further
rules.
Within Government Phonology, the initial s- would stay in a separate sylla-
ble, whose rhyme would be filled by an empty nucleus plus the sibilant (cf.
Kaye 1992). However, metrical evidence coming from literary texts goes
against this hypothesis: the supposed rhyme with the empty nucleus plus Λ does
not count as a real syllable. In the same way, in the context of a final super-
heavy rhyme (see sec. 10), no resyllabification rule can be applied, and a final -
5 has to remain in the coda position, without association with a following
empty nucleus; for instance, a word like arx will be dealt with as a monosyl-
lable.
Once again, the sibilant shows a special status in the phonological system. In
particular, -s occurs in word-final position even in contexts where the prosodie
structure would not allow it. This may happen by virtue of the great functional
load carried by this segment in the Latin morphophonology. This is also the
reason why vowel quantity is maintained in word-final syllables only before -s;
e.g. manus / manus 'hand', respectively nom.sing. and gen.sing.; fastus 'pride',
nom.sing. / fastus, gen.sing. The great number of contrasts pushed toward the
preservation of both long and short vowels before final -s.
302 Giovanna Maroita
8. The coda
8.1. Simple codas
If the coda is associated with a consonant, many segments may be licensed in

this constituent: obstruents (e.g. fac.tum 'done', sep.tem 'seven', scrip.si '(I)
wrote', ves.pa 'wasp'), sonorants (dentis 'tooth', gen.sing.), vinco '(I) win',
vulnus 'wound', her.ba 'grass', corpus 'body'), geminates (gut.ta 'drop',
pas.ser 'sparrow', mel.lis 'honey', gen.sing.). Although the inventory is rather
wide, a few gaps are found. With regard to obstruents, clusters like *t+c, *t+p,
*t+s are ruled out because of the coronal syndrome (cf. sec. 6.2). Also, two
voiced stops are not allowed in Latin, even with a morpheme boundary be-
tween them; e.g. ad + gero > aggero '(I) bear' (but ad-bibo '(I) drink'). At the
same time, backward assimilation of voicing is frequent, with further gemina-
tion; e.g. ad + facio > affido '(I) affect', ad + fluo > affluo '(I) run'.
The sequences of the kind *s + b, d, g; *s + C [+son] are prohibited by the
feature [-voiced] always associated with the sibilant in Classical Latin. The
closeness of sonority values is the reason for the absence of clusters made up
by two sonorants where a nasal occupies the first position (i.e. *m+ r, I, *n + r,
1). However, the occurrence of -mn- and the lacking of *nm has to be under-
scored: once again a coronal segment, i.e. [n], is not licensed in the coda before
another nasal.
As far as geminates are concerned, their relative frequency in the Latin lexi-
con is variable (see Giannini & Marotta 1989: 245 ff.). Liquids are very fre-
quent. Voiceless stops are more frequent than voiced ones; these latter actually
occur only in a few words, i.e. gibbus 'hunched', agger 'earthwork'. The frica-
tive / i s also rare as a geminate; the only clear instance is offa 'bite'.
Not all the consonants belonging to the phonological inventory of Latin
could be geminated: labiovelare, /w/ and /h/ cannot occupy the coda position in
the syllable, neither as simple segments nor as geminates. There are specific
reasons accounting for this distributional constraint. Labiovelare are complex
segments which cannot govern a complement by virtue of their special nature.
Glides normally occupy the position closest to the nucleus in a syllable. Fi-
nally, after a glottal fricative like the one corresponding to the graphic <h>, it is
not possible to produce any other articulatory gesture unless vowel or glide;
consider for instance the similar situation in English and German.
With regard to labiovelare, we have to observe an interesting reduction pro-
cess that takes place in the context of a coda. Alternations like relictus 'left' vs.
relinquo '(I) leave', coctus 'cooked' vs. coquo '(I) am cooking', ninxit < ning-
sit 'it was snowing' vs. ninguit 'it snows' show that, in coda position, [k w ] and
[g w ] changed into the simpler corresponding velar stops by delinking the
rounding feature.
8.2. Complex codas
The coda can be filled with two consonants. The possible combinations have
the following formats: a. stop + s; e.g. ecs.traho '(I) draw out', ees.tollo '(I) lift
out'; b. C [+son] + C [-son]; e.g. sane.lus 'established', carp.si '(I) picked',
sump.tus 'taken up', iunc.si '(I) joined'.
Two general constraints apply to complex codas: first, the second consonant
must be a voiceless obstruent; second, a morpheme boundary has to be present
after a complex coda. As we noted earlier, in Latin the morphological structure
is reflected in the prosodie structure. This agrees with the previous observation
about the reduced power and scope of resyllabification rules. Therefore, in the
clusters composed of three consonants, the morpheme boundary is a syllable
boundary too. Only the sequence C [+son] + stop + liquid sets the syllable
boundary after the first segment (e.g. per.plexus 'confused', per.traho '(I)
draw'). In the other cases, the boundary is after two consonants. In this way, we
maintain that morphology is able to constrain the prosodie structure of the
language, inasmuch as syllable boundaries tend to agree with morphological
boundaries.
Even in the case of adverbs like iuxta 'nearby', extra 'outside', where the
morpheme boundary seems to be more opaque,15 we are able to predict the
occurrence of a complex coda (i.e. iucs.ta, ecs.tra). Such a syllabification not
only agrees with the strength hierarchy, but is also the same one we proposed
for the cases considered so far, where the syllable boundary coincides with a
more evident morpheme boundary.
The relevance of morpheme boundaries is the reason why we propose to
syllabify words like sane, tus 'established', vine, tus 'bound', iunc.tus 'joined',
with complex codas of the type C [+son] + C [-son], followed by a C [-son] in
the onset. With the alternative syllabification, i.e. san.ctus, vin.ctus iun.ctus,
there would be disagreement in the behavior shown elsewhere by clusters made
of two stops. As a matter of fact, there is no doubt that in captus 'taken', faclus
'made', victus 'won', the two obstruents have to be considered as heterosyl-
labic. Another piece of evidence in the same direction comes from the absence
of clusters like -ct- or -ps- in word-initial position, together with their reduction
in borrowings from Greek containing them; e.g. Gr. πτισάνη > Lat. tisana
'infusion'; Gr. πτελέα > Lat. tilia 'linden' (cf. Leumann 1977: 186).
If we accept the principle of agreement between morphological structure and
syllabic representation, then setting the syllable boundary might be problematic
in words like perspicio '(I) look through', persto '(I) continue standing', where
syllable and morpheme do not coincide. The only way to save the principle of
agreement we have recognized so far is to assume that in per. s to, per.spicio,
the initial 5 is a sort of appendix, which may be associated with the coda or the
onset of the following syllable in a low stage of the derivation.
In the final position of a word, we observe more constraints than elsewhere.

In fact, we find only C + s as nominal morphemes (e.g. ars 'skill', mens
'mind', inops 'helpless'), or C [+cont] + C [-cont] as verbal morphemes (e.g.
amant '(they) love', dicunt '(they) say\fert '(he) brings', vult '(he) wishes', est
'(he) is'). Since these consonantal sequences are consistent with the strength
hierarchy, we assume that they have to be associated with the coda. This as-
sumption is in line with the recognition of the Latin word as an autonomous
unit not only at the morphological level, but also at the phonological one. We
could say that Latin is a language where the prosody is marked by the 'stac-
cato' feature, while Romance languages, and Italian in particular, present a
'legato' prosody. While some of the final nominal morphemes in -s show the
same format as the internal complex coda, the verbal morphemes present new
combinations of segments in the coda constituent. In any case, both -s and -t,
as word-final segments, are morpho-phonemes here, and have a very high fre-
quency of use in the language. We might also observe that these segments are
both marked as [+coronal].
9. Syllable template
On the basis of the data presented, the syllable template which can be assumed
for Classical Latin has therefore the following format:
As we have seen so far, the complex coda in Latin is associated with two
segments. However, in word-final position, codas made up by three consonants
are possible too. In a language with morphological marks at the end of lexical
units, the final rhyme, and in particular the coda, is the typical constituent
which may present deviations from the standard syllable template, deviations
which consistently go toward an increase in the number of consonants allowed
elsewhere. The onset is not affected by this widening of constraints that is
morphologically motivated. As Benveniste (1939) already observed, Latin is a
language where the phonological weight is charged on the right side of the pro-
sodie units, both syllable and word, in agreement with the direction followed
by the morphological marks.
The super-heavy coda, specific of word-final position, has the following for-
mat: C [+son] + C [+stop, -voice] + s; e.g. arx 'castle', stirps 'stem', falx
'sickle'. It is important to observe that the only segment which can occupy the
last position in a word in the case of a super-heavy coda is the sibilant. Once
again, morphology appears to be able to constrain the prosodie structure.
In order to explain this special behavior, we might assume that the -s is a
prosodie element located on a different tier, autonomous with respect to the
syllable, and licensed specifically by the final position of the word. As we have
already seen, in Latin there are many endings in -s, both in nominal and verbal
inflection; e.g. rosas 'roses', acc.plur.; lupus ' w o l f , lupos, acc.plur.; ci vis
'citizen', cives, nom. and acc.plur., civibus, dat. and abl.plur.; manus 'hand',
manus, gen.sing.; ferox 'wild'; amas '(you) love', sing.; amatis '(you) love',
plur.; amans 'loving'. The very high functional load played by this consonant
can also explain why in a closed final syllable the contrast between short and
long vowels is preserved only before a sibilant (cf. manus vs. manus, see Por-
zio Gernia 1977). There are then sufficient reasons for assigning this consonant
a special status and for setting it on a tier of the representation different from
that of the other segments and connected with specific morpho-phonological
properties.
From a theoretical point of view, this solution may have Goldsmith (1990,
1993) as a reference point: in his Harmonic Phonology two different levels of
representation are assumed, syllable and word; the final inflected segments, and
in particular -s, may be located at the word level, without any change to the
syllable constraints. In such a way, it becomes possible to maintain a syllable
template with the coda constituent filled with a maximum of two consonants.
10. The weight of rhymes
The syllable structure of Latin admits light, heavy and super-heavy rhymes. A
light rhyme is a rhyme associated with a light nucleus (= a short vowel) and no
coda; e.g. ro.ta 'wheel\pi.lum 'hair', ma.lus 'bad'.
A heavy rhyme may be composed of a complex nucleus (corresponding to a
long vowel or a diphthong) and no coda (e.g. mu.rum ' w a \ Y , f i l u m 'thread',
cae.lum 'sky', tau.rus 'bull'), or of a short vowel in the nucleus and a conso-
nant in the coda (e.g.fac.tum 'made', mor.lis 'death', gen.sing., gut.ta 'drop').
A super-heavy rhyme has one of the following formats: (a) complex nucleus
+ simple coda; e. g. mij.le 'thousand', stella 'star', or.do 'order\ fes. ta 'holi-
day', and also scrip, tus 'written', ac.tus 'driven', by Lachmann's Law; 16 (b)
simple nucleus + complex coda; e.g. sane, tus 'established', carp.si '(I) picked',
vine.s[ '(I) bound'.
Both heavy and super-heavy rhymes may be represented in an autosegmen-

tal structure where binarity and hierarchy will be preserved; for instance,
f a c t u m b. o: r d o:
1 1 1 I 1 1 Λ 1 1 Λ
X X X X X X XX X X χ X
1 1 1 1 1 1 ν ι 1 V
0 Ν Cd 0 Ν Cd Ν Cd 0 Ν
1/ 1/ 1/ I
R R R R
c. mi: 1: e d. c a r ρ s i:
I Α Λ I I I I I I A
X XXXX X χ χ χ χ χ χ χ
I ν I I ι I I I / I V
Ο Ν Cd O N Ο Ν C O N
[/ I 1/ I
R R R R
All the rhymes of the initial syllables are prosodically equivalent: in the
metrics of Latin poetry, they count as longae. However, the overlong syllables
appear to be marked structures, not only from a typological point of view, but
even for their relatively low frequency with respect to the other rhymes. In the
sermo cotidianus, especially in the low register, probably these structures were
already simplified in the classical age. The reduction of the prosodie weight
follows two complementary directions: on the one hand, the complex nucleus is
reduced via shortening of long vowels and monophthongization; 7 on the other,
the complex coda became simple through the deletion of a consonant (e.g.
sanctus > French saint; It. santo). Both processes are confirmed by linguistic
evolution: Romance languages no longer have vowel quantity and normally
show only simple codas. We believe that the loss of vowel quantity as a
phonological property of the language found its point of departure in the reduc-
tion of super-heavy rhymes. From this context, the process is spreading over
other different and even less marked contexts.
11. Concluding remarks
The picture presented for the Latin syllable shows that the constraints bearing
on the prosodie structure of the language are not too strict. Looking carefully at
The Latin syllable 3 07
the filling of the syllable constituents, we come to the conclusion that the Latin
syllable is relatively unmarked. The onset can license zero, one or two seg-
ments; in case of a complex onset, the strength hierarchy is respected. The
nucleus is associated with short or long vowels, as well as with falling diph-
thongs.
The coda appears to be the richest constituent since it allows the possibility
not only of zero, one or two segments, but even of three segments, at least in
word-final position. The morpho-syntactic function carried out by the endings
in Latin explains this enlargement of the coda constituent in the final position
of inflected words. The loss of many endings in the linguistic evolution is re-
flected in the coda weakening observed in Romance languages, both in qualita-
tive and quantitative terms.18
The static picture we depicted here might be integrated with a dynamic
analysis where the description, constituent by constituent, should leave room
for the study of interactions between the constituents. We would like to devote
our attention to this specific topic in the near future; at the same time, we hope
that the present analysis might be a synthetic illustration of Latin syllable
structure in the framework of non-linear phonology.
Notes
1. For problems connected with the phonological analysis of Latin, we refer the reader to
the still relevant contribution by Leumann (1958).
2. In the whole chapter, long vowels will be underlined; they will be indicated only when
relevant to the point in discussion. As far as glosses are concerned, if no other specific
indications are given, nominative sing, for nouns and adjectives, and present indicative
for verbs are presented.
3. The vowel quantity in Latin has been dealt with by many scholars; see, among others,
Zirin (1970), Maratta (1981), Vineis (1993).
4. For instance, in Italian the lengthening rule applies when a vowel is in an open non-
final stressed syllable; e.g. /'kasa/ 'house' -> ['ka:sa],
5. In the epigraphs, we find for instance <COS > as the usual abbreviation of consul·,
sometimes, even an apex, a mark of the lengthening, occurs on the vowel preceding a
nasal in coda. On the topic, cf. Sommer (1914: sec. 83), Safarewicz (1969), Leumann
(1977: 125, 228), Vineis (1993).
6. However, trisyllabic abjete is already attested in Classical Latin; for instance, Verg.
Aen. II, 16; V, 663.
7. On the definition of complex segments, see Kenstowicz (1994: 43, 499).
8. However, we have to observe that in some of the poetic texts the syllable preceding qu
counts as heavy in the meter. The possibility of counting qu as either tautosyllabic or
heterosyllabic seems to indicate that - at least in some register of the language - the
production of the labiovelar as a cluster made of a velar (probably lengthened) plus a
rounded semi-vowel was possible; see Devine & Stephens (1977).
9. Working within a structuralist framework, Touratier (1971) claimed that [gw] and [w]
should be referred to by the same underlying phoneme, probably /w/.
10. As far as the diachronic aspects are concerned, we refer the reader to Safarewicz (1969)
and Leumann (1977: 174, passim).
11. In this last case, Safarewicz (1974: 231-239) draws attention to the rhythmic structure
of the verbal form: if after the root vowel there is a heavy syllable, is long (e.g. fio);
otherwise, it is short (e.g. fieri). The topic has been dealt with recently by Mester
(1994: 19-20), who believes that the "distribution of long and short variants (...) is not
synchronically arbitrary, but instead follows a clear rhythmic pattern striving towards
optimal footing", i.e. the quantitative trochee.
12. Cf. Safarewicz (1969: 85 ff.). The 'iambic shortening', together with the lexical stress
rule of Latin, has become a popular topic of the literature on metrical phonology; see,
for instance, Mester (1994: 11 ff.), Hayes (1995: 112 ff.).
13. Here and henceforth, syllable boundaries are indicated by dots (.).
14. The phonetic interpretation of forms like eiusdem, iisdem, or eisdem, respectively
gen.sing. and dat./abl.plur. of idem 'same' remains an open question: was the sibilant
still voiced or did the following morpheme boundary prevent backward assimilation?
15. The first word is etymologically related to ¡ungo '(I) join', while in the second, the
preposition (and prefix) ex is recognizable (extra < extera, scil. parte).
Remember that the reduction of [ks] cluster is often observed within the word domain;
e.g. *sekscenti > sescenti 'six hundred'; cf. Niedermann (1931: sec. 103). This reduc-
tion is perfectly compatible with the simplification of a complex coda.
16. On the complex topic relative to Lachmann's Law, see Leumann (1977: 114).
17. These processes were fed by the vowel shortening occurring in other contexts too; for
instance, the correptio iambica and further general shortening of the final vowels; e.g.
credo > credo '(I) believe'.
18. On the other hand, the same history of the Latin language shows a clear trend toward
the weakening of the coda, especially in the most marked structures, namely in the case
of a super-heavy rhyme; for instance, Early Latin mijsi caussa > Class. Latin misi
causa (cf. Maratta 1993: 74-76).
References
Allen, W.S.
1965 Vox Latina: A guide to the pronunciation of Classical Latin. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press.
1973 Accent and rhythm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ben veniste, E.
1939 Repartition des consonnes et phonologie du mot. Travaux du Cercle linguistique
de Prague 8, 27-35.
Clements, G.N.
Beckman (eds ), Papers in laboratory phonology, I, Between grammar and phy-
sics of speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 283-333.
Devine, A.M. & L.D. Stephens
1977 Two studies in Latin phonology. Saratoga: Anma Libri.
Dogil, G. & H.C. Luschiitzky
1990 Notes on sonority and segmental strength. Rivista di linguistica 2, 3-54.
Giannini, S. & G. Maratta

1989 Fra grammatica e pragmatica: la geminazione consonantica in latino. Pisa:
Giardini.
Goldsmith, J.
1990 Autosegmental and metrical phonology. London: Blackwell.
Goldsmith, J. (ed.)
1993 The last phonological rule. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.
Harris, J.
Hayes, B P.
1995 Metrical stress theory. Principles and case studies. Chicago & London: Univer-
sity of Chicago Press.
Kaye, J D.
1992 Do you believe in magic? The story of.? t C sequences. SOA S working papers in
Kenstowicz, M.
1994 Phonology in generative grammar. London: Blackwell.
Lausberg, H.
1969 Romanische Sprachwissenschaft, I, Einleitung und Vokalismus, II, Konsonan-
tismus. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Levin, J.
Leumann, M.
1958 Phonologie der toten Sprachen. Acta Congressus Madvigiani I, 115-125; re-
printed in Idem, Kleine Schriften, Zürich-Stuttgart: Artemis Verlag, 398-407.
1977 Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre. München: Beck.
Marin, D.
1974 Latino arcaico e lingue neo-latine. Romanica 7, 183-200.
Maretta, G.
1981 Contributi all'analisi del vocalismo latino classico. Studi e saggi linguistici 44,
85-131.
1993 Dental stops in Latin: A special class. Rivista di linguistica 5, 55-101.
Mester, R.A.
1994 The quantitative trochee in Latin. Natural language and linguistic theory 12, 1-
61.
Niedermann, M.
1931 Précis de phonétique historique du latin. Paris: Klincksieck.
Ohala, J. & H. Kawasaki
1984 Prosodie phonology and phonetics. Phonology yearbook 1, 113-127.
Paradis, C. & J F. Prunet (eds.)
1991 The special status of coronals: Internal and external evidence. New York: Aca-
demic Press.
Porzio Gemía, M L.
1977 Interferenze tra struttura morfologica e struttura fonologica nella sillaba finale
latina. Studi Italiani di linguistica teorica e applicata 3, 113-140.
Safàrewicz, I.
1969 Historische lateinische Grammatik. Halle: Niemeyer.
1974 Linguistic studies. The Hague: Mouton.
Sommer, F.
1914 Handbuch der lateinischen Laut- und Formenlehr. Leipzig: Winter.
Steriade, D.
Mass.: ΜΓΓ.
Tekavéic, P.
1982 Riflessioni su alcuni aspetti sociolinguistici nello studio del latino volgare.
Incontri linguistici 7, 81-94.
Touratier, C.
1971 Statut phonologique de qu et de gu en latin classique. Berkeley Linguistics Soci-
ety 66, 229-266.
Vineis, E.
1993 Latino. In A. Giacalone Ramat & P. Ramat (eds ), Le lingue indo-europee. Bo-
logna: il Mulino, 289-348.
Zamboni, A.
1986-87 Tra latino e neolatino: l'evoluzione delle medie aspirate indoeuropee e le succes-
sive ristrutturazioni del consonantismo. I & II, Indogermanische Forschungen
91, 205-235; 92, 112-134.
Zirin, R.A.
1970 The phonological basis of Latin prosody. The Hague: Mouton.
11 Syllables in Western Koromfe
John R. Rennison
1. Introduction
This chapter investigates the syllable structure of the Western1 dialect of

Koromfe (a Gur language spoken in northern Burkina Faso, West Africa) from
a Government Phonology (GP) perspective and, where relevant, compares it to
the related language Mòoré (the largest Gur language). Mòoré, though geneti-
cally related, has gone different ways with regard to a number of interesting as-
pects of phonological structure (in particular: Mòoré has tones, but Koromfe
does not). The main focus here is on the status of (formerly) branching con-
stituents (geminates, nasal + voiced stop sequences, long vowels and diph-
thongs) and the licensing vs. filling of empty constituents. The structure of this
chapter is as follows.
In section 2 I give some background information on segmental and phono-
tactic aspects of Koromfe, and in section 3 I outline the theoretical framework
that I assume. The treatment of syllable structure begins in section 4 with the
description of the simpler structures: single onsets (section 4.1), both filled and
empty (and in initial and medial positions), then single nuclei (section 4.2).
Special structural phenomena involving empty constituents are described in
section 4.3, namely syllabic nasals (section 4.3.1), geminates (4.3.2.1) and
homorganic nasal + voiced stop sequences (4.3.2.2), long vowels and diph-
thongs (4.3.3). The remainder (i.e. section 4.4) is devoted to floating melodies.
2. The segment inventory and 'phonotactics'
2.1. Koromfe vowels
Koromfe has 40 phonetic 'monophthongs', given in (1), which can be analyzed

as permutations of the basic 5-vowel system given in (2): each of the five full
vowels has a nasal, tense (ATR) and long counterpart in each possible combi-
nation (except *ò:), giving 5><23-l=39, plus schwa ([a]). (The data given here
comes mainly from Rennison 1993, 1997.)
312 John R. Rennison
(1) The complete system of monophthongs in Koromfe

39 full vowels, plus a prosodically weak mid-central schwa
front central back

high LINI: υ u υ: u:
ï î ϊ: ί: ö ü ö: ü:
mid ε e ε: e: (9) o o o: o:
ε ε ë: ê: δ ö 5: ö:
low a Λ a: Λ:
à Λ â: Λ:
(2) The basic vowel system of Koromfe

5 short, lax, oral monophthongs, plus a prosodically weak mid-central
schwa
front central back

high ι υ
mid ε (a) o
low a
The vowel *<5: is an accidental gap in the system, which may foreseeably be
filled as the result of further research. Each of the 39 full vowels occurs dis-
tinctively in word stems (which control vowel harmony and nasalization pro-
cesses), where vowel length is never predictable (no lengthening or shortening
processes apply); 2 schwa is the realization of (certain) empty nuclei. Therefore,
we must assume that all 40 vowels are 'underlying', i.e. distinctively present in
the lexicon. However, from the point of view of distinctive nuclear melodies
(vowel colors), there are only 20, the long vowels being melodically identical to
the corresponding short vowels, as described below, and schwa being an empty
nucleus (i.e. without any lexical melody, as described at the beginning of sec-
tion 4 below).
2.2. Koromfe consonants
The consonant inventory of Koromfe, given in (3), is considerably less rich in

phonetic variants than the vowel inventory, and contains few surprises. There
are processes of medial weakening (d -» r, g -» γ), fusion (bb —> p\, dd —» /:,
gg —> t ) and nasalization (including / - > « ) .
Syllables in Western Koromfe 313
(3) The inventory of word-initial/medial consonants of Koromfe without 'syl-

labic nasals '
(distributions, not alternations; 0 means 'does not occur in this position';
medial ρ is rare)
labio- labio- apico- dorso- dorso-

labial dental alveolar palatal velar
voiceless stop (fortis) t/t k/k
p/(p)
voiced stop (lenis) / fricative or tap b/b d/r g/γ
voiceless fricative f/f s / s
voiced fricative v/0 ζ/0
nasal stop m / m η / η 0/q
lateral approximant 1/1
glide w/0 j/j
2.3. Koromfe 'phonotactics'
The majority of words in Koromfe (a) begin with a consonant and (b) end with
a vowel; the word-initial distributions are given in (4). The exceptions to gen-
eralization (a) are a few words beginning with a vowel, given in (5) and de-
scribed in section 4.1.2.1 below, and the syllabic nasals, given in (6) and des-
cribed in section 4.3.1, which can only occur phrase-initially. The exceptions to
generalization (b) are nasal consonants and /, which can sometimes occur in
phrase-final position, though with restrictions depending on their position in the
word (cf. section 4.2.2.1 below).
(4) Word-initial onset-nucleus pairs (without schwa)
Onset Nucleus Comments

p, t, k any Medially the voiceless stops are often long and deriv-
able from bb, dd, gg(\.t. an ΟΝΟ sequence - cf. sec.
4.3.2.1 below);
b, d, g any Medially, except after a nasal consonant, d -> r and
g —> y; other assimilations: nasalization of d-> η and g
-> η, lateralization of d -> I after /, and place assimila-
tions;
f, s any Hardly ever long / geminated (ONO);
ν a, ε, e, ι ν occurs only in 9 lexical stems and only word-ini-
tially;
ζ any ζ is rare medially;
Onset Nucleus Comments

m ε, ο, ε, 5, a, An expected following high vowel often lowers to
i, 9 mid;
η ε, ο, ε, ο, a, An expected following high vowel often lowers to
a, i mid;
1 any oral / before nasal vowel probably became [n] historically;
vowel
j, w, h any j and w assimilate to / and w before nasal vowels, [p]
is a very careful variant ofj\ Koromfe has no palatal
series;
0 ι, u, a Only in a very restricted set of morphemes - see (5);
(see text) Φ η q Syllabic nasals occur only in phrase-initial position
and in few morphemes, though one (2nd sg. proclitic
pronoun) is very frequent.
(5) The word-initial vowels of Koromfe (native vocabulary)
Vowel Morpheme(s) Examples

a definite article (obligatory for otherwise a kèd 'woman'
undetermined nouns, but not proper
names);
ι subject and possessive proclitic pronoun / w5fiu) 'they had'
3rd. sg. non-human; also fossilized noun / sulΛ 'their foreheads'
class prefix on cardinal numerals from 2 ihîï 'two', itää
to 9; 'three', maa 'four'
υ subject and possessive proclitic pronoun υ pa 'we give'
1st. pi. u sa 'our father'
(6) Syllabic nasals (which only occur phrase-initially), exemplified with the
2nd singular proclitic personal pronoun N, which always assimilates to
the place of articulation of the following consonant
(Phonetically vowel-initial verbs do not exist)
Pron. & Verb Pron. & Verb

m pa 'you give' n zaga 'you ask for'
m baki 'you do' η nasi 'you spread out'
n) fan 'you go forward' n labu 'you group'
rq vaba 'you hit' qkam 'you press'
m man 'you get used to' qgjebu 'you pound'
w wary ι 'you tire' qgAbu 'you bang'
w wäg 'you break' J ja 'you go'
n ta 'you shoot' q han 'you touch'
n da 'you win' jjàq 'you resemble'
η s am 'you wash'
The vowels at the end of words (with the exception of some CV morphemes)
frequently delete (or are reduced to schwa) phrase-internally; one class of such
vowels can be considered to be lexically empty nuclei, since their quality is
completely predictable from vowel harmony. Other vowels, with lexically
distinctive qualities, can optionally be deleted, especially when unstressed and
in faster or more casual speech, though this occurs less frequently than with
empty nuclei. In both cases, there is no restriction whatsoever on the resulting
sequence of phonetic consonants (cf. example (8) below) except for the acci-
dental idiosyncrasies of the phonological shape of the morphemes involved.
In Mòoré, all final nuclei (except in CV morphemes), whether lexically
empty or filled, automatically delete (or are reduced to schwa) phrase-inter-
nally, though the processes of Α-umlaut and U-umlaut (which do not exist in
Koromfe) often ensure that the quality of a lost vowel is recoverable (cf. Renni-
son 1988, 1990).
In both Koromfe and Mòoré, stress is very weak and fully automatic, falling
on the first nucleus of a word stem. Clitics are unstressed.
3. Theoretical prerequisites
This chapter is written in a version of Government Phonology (GP) in which

branching constituents (onsets and nuclei) are to be abolished in favor of
sequences of constituents (cf. Lowenstamm 1996). This is shown schematically

in (7). As a consequence of this move, there is no longer a rhyme constituent in
the theory (cf. van der Hulst & Ritter, this volume). The rhyme was formerly a
projection of the nucleus; now that it can no longer branch, it is formally
equivalent to (and therefore indistinguishable from) the nucleus that it contains.
As a consequence, there is no longer any kind of coda constituent; all conso-
nants are onsets (or ONO sandwiches - cf. sec. 4.3.2 below). It would go be-
yond the scope of this chapter to justify these revisions to the theory; I can do
no more than refer to my work in preparation.
(7) O Ο Ν O
Λ
χ χ χ χ χ where Ν is empty
Ν Ν Ο Ν
Λ
χ χ χ χ χ where O is empty
Ν, Ο N2
χ χ χ χ χ where either O or N2 is empty
4. Syllable structure
My treatment of Koromfe syllable structure is far removed from a superficial

phonetic taxonomy of the traditional kind. In this chapter 'long' consonants or
vowels involve empty constituents of the opposite type (i.e. an empty nucleus
in a long consonant and an empty onset in a long vowel). It will be shown that
such 'abstract' representations are necessary in order to understand the phono-
tactic structure of the language.
One particular problem for superficial syllable structure dissolves into thin
air in a GP analysis: the apparent asymmetry between the simple word-edge
structures (both initial and final) and the quite complex word-internal consonant
sequences (with up to four successive consonants). This discrepancy was ana-
lyzed within the GP framework in Rennison (1993) as being the result of (mul-
tiple occurrences of) morpheme-final empty nuclei, which are parametrically
licensed in Koromfe. An example of this kind of structure is given in (8).
(8) The partial GP representation of sigtrgu 'filter', from /sig0 +t0 +d0 +gu/3
(The relative ordering of the lines in diagrams throughout is irrelevant to
the points at issue. Diagrams represent three-dimensional structures and
lines are ordered for ease of graphic representation only.)
O/N line ONON ON ON ON
Skeleton
I I I I
x x x x + xx
II +
II
xx + xx
II
[[[[ S I g ] STEM t ] c AUS./TRANS. Γ ]DUR. G ° ]cL.
The empty nuclei of words like sigtrgu, although licensed,4 can optionally be
filled with schwas (especially in slower and/or more careful speech). Thus the
pronunciations [siytrYu] (with no schwas) and [siyatarayu] (with the maximum
number of schwas) are equally acceptable, although the first co-signals faster /
more casual speech and the latter slower / more careful speech; moreover, any
of the logically possible combinations of schwa vs. zero in each of these nuclei
produces a good Koromfe word.5
Let us now consider the realizations of each type of syllabic constituent in
turn and try to account for the constraints that can be observed.
4.1. Onsets
There exist lexically filled6 onsets (the normal case) and two classes of empty
onsets: (a) word-initial empty onsets, which are compositionally, positionally
and lexically restricted (cf. (5) above for data and section 4.1.2.1 below for
discussion), and (b) medial empty onsets (described in sections 4.1.2.2 and
4.3.2.2 below). A third type of phenomenon, a floating nuclear melody, is also
relevant to empty onsets, precisely because it does not have one (cf. section 4.4
below); thus the lexical gu+ a which results in go (with a short monophthong)
is structurally ON (i.e. (9a)), not ONON (with an empty onset, O2, as in (9b);
here there is no reason for N2 to remain empty).
318 John R. Rermison
(9) The structure of short monophthongs resulting from a floating melody

(There is no reason for N 2 of form (b) to be silent; a nucleus with a lexical
melody is always licensed in Koromfe)
a) correct b) incorrect
O/N line 0,N, Ο, N, 02N2
skeleton χ χ + χ χ + χ χ
A line "A
I/U line U U
phonetic k o k ο 0
gloss 'kill' ARTICLE 'kill' ARTICLE
4.1.1. Filled onsets
Even before branching onsets were removed from GP theory, Koromfe (and
Mòoré) had no candidates for such a structure. A Koromfe word normally
begins with a single consonant (more precisely: a lexically filled onset), imme-
diately followed by a vowel; no words begins with a consonant sequence. The
exceptions to this generalization are the 'syllabic nasals' given in (6) and dis-
cussed in section 4.3.1, and the very few words which begin with vowels, given
in (5).
A few words such as those given in (10) might be considered to contain a
'branching onset' [kj] or [qj]. However, this would be a most peculiar single
exception to the structure of onsets; all the more so because there exist no such
'onsets' at other places of articulation (e.g. *[pj]/*[bj] or *[tj]/*[dj]), nor any
labiovelar equivalent (*[kw] etc.).
(10) Words with the apparent 'branching onset ' [kj]
Normal Careful Lexical

kjeku kjeku keb + gu 'field'
ragjo ragio ragio 'radio (sg.)' 7
kjena kjena ke + na 8 'woman + pi.'
gjeku gjeku geb + gu 'millet water'
kj5 kje5 ke + ο 'woman + sg. '
gpq gpn Φη 'John'
A closer look at the distribution of k and g in Koromfe reveals that [kj] or [gj]
are in fact the normal realization of k and g before a non-low front vowel (/, i,
e, ε and their long and nasal variants). Clearly, the palatal element9 I of the
following nucleus is being realized in the k or g onset (though as velo-palatal
rather than pure palatal stops),10 as shown in (11).
(11) The partial GP representation of (a) the 'non-branching ' onset [k] in [ka]
and (b) the 'branching ' onset [kj] in [kjc]
(Dotted lines represent non-lexical associations)
(a) (b)
A/? line ? A ? A
I/U line I
O/N line Ο Ν Ο Ν
phonetic k a kj ε
Although the onset-nucleus sequences A/f and gjcshown in (lib), with all pos-
sible variations of non-low front vowel quality, is very frequent in Koromfe,
only once in my corpus does this structure occur before an onset-nucleus se-
quence whose onset is empty and whose nucleus contains a back vowel, namely
in the word kjö 'woman + sg.', whose structure is shown in (12).
(12) The partial GΡ representation of [kjö] (=keö) 'woman-sg. '

(The vowel ε in parentheses is audible to a varying degree, depending on
tempo and casualness)
AT? line ? A A
I I
I/U line
I U
O/N line
Ο Ν Ο Ν
phonetic kj (ε) δ
Other types of word-initial consonant sequences which might be analyzed as

branching onsets do not occur.
4.1.2. Empty onsets
Koromfe allows empty onsets in a variety of contexts, though with some inte-
resting constraints, which are dealt with in detail in the following subsections.
4.1.2.1. Word-initial empty onsets

In GP, a phonetically vowel-initial word must be analyzed as having an empty
preceding onset. In native Koromfe vocabulary, such empty initial onsets co-
occur exclusively with a following nucleus which is either a, / or υ (cf. the
short, but nonetheless exhaustive, list of morphemes given in (5) above). No
other variant of these vowels is permitted (e.g. tense (ATR), nasal, or long).
Loanwords are even more restricted: there are a few loans from Arabic (e.g.
ahbahola 'onion') and French (e.g. ahmetu 'match') which have an initial a,
but no loans (from any language) with any other initial vowel (except, of course
non-integrated borrowings, including some first names).
This co-occurrence restriction between an empty word-initial onset and the
quality of the following nucleus cannot be a consequence of any property of the
onset: there is no way for an empty onset to directly determine the quality of
the following nucleus. Rather, the restriction in vowel quality is determined by
a more general constraint on the quality (better: melodic complexity) of pre-
tonic syllables. The nuclei in question all immediately precede the stressed first
syllable of a lexical stem, i.e. they stand in a prosodically very weak position. It
seems that such nuclei, both in Koromfe and in Mòoré, cannot have complex
melodies: exactly one element is both permitted and required. And only the
elements A, I, U can ever stand alone in a nucleus (giving the vowels a, /, υ of
the morphemes in question - cf. table (5) above). This restriction also applies to
pretonic nuclei which do have a filled onset (cf. the proclitic pronouns in (13)
below).
In turn, these weak nuclei seem to be able to license their onset to be empty.
However, there is a general restriction which can be observed in pretonic ON
sequences: the element H (high tone / voicelessness) is never present, and prob-
ably cannot be licensed in this position. Some relevant evidence can be accrued
from the proclitic pronouns, given in (13), none of which has a voiceless first
onset.
(13) Proclitic (always pre Ionic) vs. postclitic variants ofpersonal pronouns
(Vowels in parentheses occur only phrase-finally; phrase-internally they
are schwa)
Singular Plural Singular Plural

person 1 proclitic postclitic proclitic postclitic free ^pro-
clitic + Icd)
1st ma m(e) 0 h5 moko uko
2nd Ν η(ε) na na qko nako
3rd human da d(l) ba ba dako bako
3rd non-human gu go I he guko lk3
3rd diminutive ga ga - - gako -
The particularly interesting cases are υ ~ ho and / ~ he, where the proclitic
variant is an extremely reduced version of the postclitic variant. This reduction
of melodic material is due on the one hand to licensing failure (of the element
Η in the onset and of L, for nasality, in the nucleus). In addition, the regular
lowering of the nasal vowels ¿j ΐ to 3, ε (by the addition of an A element) does
not affect the proclitic variants because no additional melodic material can be
licensed in a pretonic nucleus. These facts seem to imply that the power to
license Η in an onset melody (or whatever property endows that power) is
transmitted from left to right, starting from the stressed nucleus.
The representations of tr~ ho and i~ he are given in (14).
(14) The partial GP representation of υ ~ ho and i~ he

(The arrow t I represents melody licensing of onsets by the following
nucleus, and represents internuclear Ή in onset melody licensing')
tone
(H) (L) Η
(H/L) line (H) (L)
I/U line Û
• "Sil
Ο Ν
t I
O/N line # 0 Ν
phonetic υ
Therefore any preceding nucleus can license the Η melody of the onset in the
postclitic variants ho and he. The proclitic variants never have a preceding
nucleus. Note that despite the failure of inter-nuclear melody licensing, the
elements U and I of υ and /, respectively, are always realized phonetically (i.e.

are never reduced to schwa or zero).
It is also no accident that only the elements I, U, A, out of the full set of ele-
ments in the theory11 (cf. this footnote) can occur alone in unstressed onsetless
syllables. The other elements are banned from ever appearing alone in a nu-
cleus, in whatever position, in Koromfe.
The restriction of 'initial' nuclei to the vowels ι, υ, a was seen to apply to
pretonic initial syllables. When an empty onset precedes a stressed nucleus,
however, the choice of vowel is reduced even further: to a. All the lexical
words in my corpus with an initial empty onset before a stressed vowel are
given in (15).
(15) Words with an initial empty onset

(excluding the grammatical morphemes given in (5) above)
Singular Plural
abbahola abballala 'onion, garlic' Arabic
alkamisa alkamisafi 'Thursday' Arabic
a l b / halb / jallo albba / hallaba / jalbba 'enemy'
abmetu alarne tafi 'match' Fr. allumette
arba arbafi / arbama 'Wednesday' Arabic
ario / jaría arba / jarba 'blacksmith' Mòoré
arkilla arkillafi 'striped material' Arabic
arzeka / arzeke arzeksuu 'wealth, treasure' Arabic
All the words in (15) are nouns and are also almost identical in Mòoré: there
are no vowel-initial verbs or adjectives.12 In native vocabulary there are two
words (apart from the article a already mentioned) which begin with a - the
pronouns ala 'who (interrog. & relative pron.)' and ase 'what (interrog. pron.)'.
The first is stressed on the first syllable, but ase is stressed on the second
(which to me implies that the a is either the initial article a or a fossilized rem-
nant of the pronoun a / a of the third person singular human which still survives
in Mòoré as the regular pronoun and human singular noun-class suffix form a
and in the Koromfe human singular noun-class suffix form -o). In either case,
these two pronouns pattern along with the 'vowel-initial' grammatical mor-
phemes in (5) above.
Two of the words given in (15) have alternative forms with a filled initial
onset h or /, and both seem to be loans which have been in the language for a
long time. 3 The melody of these adapted loans is typical for minimal filling of
onsets: the glides h and j each contain only one element - H and I, respectively.
Here, the licensing of the onset melody H is no problem because the nucleus
which follows it is stressed. The element I is the 'ambient 14 element' for the
vowel coloring process of phrase-final filling (cf. sec. 4.2.2.1 below). However,
this diachronic development of onset filling cannot be considered to be a syn-
chronic constraint; it is optional for some words, and applies only when the
following nucleus is stressed.15
4.1.2.2. Word-internal empty onsets

As mentioned in section 2.1 above and exemplified in (37) and (38) below,
Koromfe has long vowels and (heavy) diphthongs, both of which are analyzed
in GP terms as an NON sequence, where the sandwiched onset is empty and is
licensed by the presence of the two neighboring, lexically filled16 nuclei (cf.
van der Hulst & Ritter, this volume, on the notion of interonset government).
Such structures are parametrically licensed in Koromfe and Mòoré, thus any
lexical vowel which occurs short can also occur long (with the already noted
gap of *<5:). Since schwa is an optional phonetic realization of a licensed empty
medial nucleus it never occurs phonetically as both the first and the second
nucleus of a NON sequence whose onset is empty. Therefore, there are no long
schwas (""[a:]) in either language. The long vowels and diphthongs are des-
cribed in section 4.3.3 below.
A more puzzling type of word-internal empty onset (if this is the correct
analysis) 17 is that which occurs before those lexically empty nuclei which re-
ceive coloring through vowel harmony (dealt with in greater detail in section
4.2.2.2 below). Some verbal suffixes like the reversive verb suffix -Vt exem-
plified in (16), contain an empty nucleus (noted here with the symbol V) which
is always harmonized to a non-high version of the preceding nucleus.
(16) Verbs with the reversive morpheme -Vt and durative suffix -d, here pho-
netically [r]
The final vowel is only realized phrase-finally; in phrase-internal posi-
tions it is schwa or zero. 'V' is a phonetically realized, harmonized nu-
cleus and 'N' a phonetically silent nucleus. The vowel harmony trigger is
always the first vowel of each word. The vowels corresponding to the V
of the reversive suffix are underlined in the first column.
Form Structure18 V, v2 Vi
diqgetri diqNgN-OVtN-d(V) I ε I 'flee'
dSnotru dônN-OVtN-d(V) 5 D υ 'undo'
dollotru dolNlN-OVtN-d(V) 0 0 u 'take'
feyetri fegN-OVtN-d(V) e e i 'revive'
fiYetri figN-OVtN-d(V) i e i 'dig up'
fôqotru ßqN-OVtN-d(V) 5 3 u 'rest'

g an atri ganN-OVtN-d(V) a a I 'take down'
hubotru hubN-OVtN-d(V) υ D υ 'find (sth. hidden)'
kemetri kemN-OVtN-d(V) ε ε I 'turn round'
korotru kodN-OVtN-d(V) 0 0 υ 'divide'
layatri lagN-OVtN-d(V) a a I 'detach'
liyetri ligN-OVtN-d(V) i e i 'uncover (sheet)'
neqetri neqN-OVtN-d(V) ε ε I 'oblige'
sumbotru sumNbN-OVtN-d(V) u 0 u 'open (lid, bottle)'
This suffix must have the form given in (17) (exemplified with the last word of
(16), sumbotru), i.e. an empty ON pair (0 4 and N4 in (17)) followed by t in O5
and an empty N5, because morpheme-final empty nuclei are always licensed.
Therefore N4, which must be unlicensed for vowel harmony to apply, cannot be
morpheme-final.
(17) Partial GP representation of the durative verb form sumbotru 'uncover,

open'from (16), lexically /sum0b0+00t0+d0/
O/N line O, N, 0 2 N2 Ο, Ν, 0 4 Η O, N5 O, N„
IIIIII IIII II
Skeleton x x x x x x + x x x x + x x
rphonetic s u m 0 b 0 0 0V. t 0 r 0
ι PHRASE-FINAL
tj X I ^ FILLING (PFF)
O U
cover (VERB STEM) REVERSIVE DURATIVE
[sumbotru] 'uncover (DURATIVE)'
Note that -Vt is a different suffix from the -t causative suffix shown in (8)
above and (18) below (which comprises only one ON pair, of which the t is the
onset and the nucleus is empty). The durative form of the verb 'calm' is given
in (18) for comparison with (17). These two suffixes are always distinct and
always surface as - Vt (reversive) and -t (causative), respectively.
(18) Partial GP representation of the durative verb form sigtn 'calm', from
/sig0+t0+d(V)/
O/N line O, N, Q N, O, N, Q N4
ι ιιι η M
Skeleton χ χ χ χ + xx + xx
phonetic
r s i vq 0 t 0 r 0\ PHRASE-FINAL
^ FILLING (PFF)
I
calm (STEM) CAUSAT. DURATIVE
[siytn] 'calm' (DURATIVE)'
The theoretical question which these data pose is: What licenses the empty
onset of the suffix -Vt (and others)? The suffix introduces a (lexically) com-
pletely empty ON pair, which together with the final empty nucleus of the verb
stem gives an empty NON sequence. Such structures have previously been
candidates for the proposal that 'pruning' should be allowed in GP (cf. e.g.
Yoshida 1993). However, such a move goes against the Projection Principle,
and I would not like to see it introduced into the theory. At the present stage, I
can do no more than note that lexically empty (N)ON sequences occur in Ko-
romfe and require a theoretical explanation that goes beyond simply noting that
they exist (i.e. can be licensed by some, as yet, unknown means). This situation
is particularly intriguing because Koromfe also allows for floating melodies,
e.g. in the article a (cf. sec. 4.4.1 below).
The -Vt suffix type shows that Koromfe permits empty ON sequences medi-
ally; but word-initially they do not exist. However, Mòoré does have such se-
quences in the short proclitic pronouns ob (3rd person plural) and a/(2nd per-
son singular), which must be analyzed as ONbN and OnfN, respectively.
4.2. Nuclei
4.2.1. Nuclei with a non-alternating lexical melody
Most nuclei that have a non-alternating lexical melody occur in the first syllable
of a word stem, but there are also affix syllables (e.g. the progressive suffix
described in footnote 21) which do not weaken or alternate (beyond obligatory
ATR harmony), and for which the generalizations given below also hold. Con-
versely, most first syllables of word stems contain a non-alternating lexical
nucleus, the only exceptions being proclitic personal pronouns (always mono-
syllabic in Koromfe) with syllabic nasals or schwa. Koromfe has no short
diphthongs.
Some examples of each of the occurring short monophthongs are given in

(19) below. The tense (ATR) nasal monophthongs are fairly rare, as can be seen
from the absence 19 of ë and δ in (19). The tense (ATR) low vowels (both oral
and nasal) are also rare in word stems. However, all of these lexically 'rare'
vowels are quite frequent in Koromfe as the result of phonological processes
(ATR harmony, nasalization, nasal lowering).
(19) Monophthongs
i wileti 'return' u tuko 'sit'
-r
1 bïnîq 'black + sg.' Q hü 'calabash + sg.'
I jika 'face + sg.' υ boku 'shoulder + sg.'
ï dïqde 'ear + sg.' υ JÖ 'head (sg.)'
e wete 'day + sg.' 0 zoqgre 'wing + sg.'
ë (only loans) δ (not in stems)
ε kεtI 'open' 3 sobo 'hunter + sg.'
ε hën 'sew' ö kön 'when (conj.)'
a jage 'go + past' Λ hAwei 'paternal aunt'
ä zâq 'take' Λ pXrsi 'widen'
4.2.2. Nuclei with an alternating melody
Several assimilatory processes in Koromfe, namely vowel harmony, nasal

assimilation and nasal vowel lowering, co-operate to produce alternating vow-
els whose quality is fully determined by their phonological context. Since these
alternations are described in Rennison (1993, 1997) I will not go into all the
details here. 20 The particularly interesting cases, as far as syllable structure is
concerned, are those in which a full vowel alternates with zero or schwa (which
is an optional realization of empty nuclei not sandwiched in an ONO structure).
These cases can conveniently be dealt with in two classes: those in which the
nucleus is phrase-final, and those in which it is not.
4.2.2.1. Phrase-final (empty) nuclei with an alternating melody

In Koromfe word-final empty nuclei (FEN's) are licensed to remain phoneti-
cally empty (or optionally be realized as schwa) in all phrase-medial positions.
When the surrounding onsets are voiceless, the optional schwa realization is
also voiceless (i.e. aspiration), e.g. goktam or goktam 'to peck'; when the
preceding onset is nasal, or when the flanking onsets are identical, usually no
schwa is possible, e.g. hagsam, but not *hagssam 'to arrange' (except if there
happen to be three identical onsets, in which case schwa occurs in the second
empty nucleus, e.g. bennane 'backsides').
In phrase-final positions, however, an empty nucleus must be filled with
melodic material unless the preceding onset is a nasal or / in a permitted envi-
ronment (cf. again hagsam 'to arrange'), as summarized in (20).
(20) Environments in which α phrase-final empty nucleus is permitted
Preceding onset Position

m anywhere torn 'ashes'
tosam 'to pick up'
tiscmam 'to sneeze'
only after the wen 'twist!' (*wene)
first nucleus but: mcgnc/ merpne 'remain (dur.)'
{*megn, *megm, *megen etc.)
anywhere hog 'this (hum. sg.)
bmh7 'black (sg.)'
bandog 'mortar'
only after the dol 'sell!' (*dolu)
first nucleus, and sekel 'block' (*sciceli) (only word
only in some of this type - a loan?)
words but: pili 'trample fiat' (*piT)
dollu 'buy, sell (dur.)' (*doll,
* dolsi, *dolol, etc.)
In all other cases, a phrase-final empty nucleus is obligatorily filled with the
melody of a preceding I or U element if there is one available. 'Available'
means here either associated with the preceding consonant sequence or with the
preceding full vowel. Some examples are given in (21), along with their GP
representations. (Note that the imperative verb form consists of the bare stem
without suffix and the durative of the suffix -d0, where 0 is an empty nucleus.)
(21) Examples ofphrase-final filling and their partial GP representations

(Dotted lines represent non-lexical associations, circled I elements are
non-lexical ('ambient'))
Word (phrase-final realization)

zigi (*zigu, *ziga, *zig etc.) 'ask (imp.)'
dugu (*dugi, *duga, *dug etc.) 'leave (behind) (imp.)'
sibu (*sibi, *siba, *sib etc.) 'die (imp.)'
kibtru (*kibtri, *kibtro, *kibtr etc.) 'pinch (dur.)'
lagi (*lagu, *lags, *lag etc.) 'wake up (imp.)'
labu (*labi, *labo, *lab etc.) 'group (imp.)'
baki (*baku, *baka, *bak etc.) 'do (imp.)'
lebeli (*lebelu, *lcbek>, *lebel etc.) 'follow secretly (dur.)'
I/U line I U I U I U
Skeleton χ χ χ X X X X XXXX X X X X + XX + x""x

I I I I I I I I I I I I II II
O/N line Ο, Ν, 02 Ν, ο, Ν, o, N2 O, N, Q N2 O, N, O2 N2 O, N3 O4 N4
phonetic ζ Ι g Ι d o g o s i b o k i b (a) t (a) r o
ask (IMP.) leave (IMP.) die (IMP.) pinch (DUR.)
A line A A A A
I
I/U line U (f) U (f) I U
Skeleton
l\
x x x x
!
x x x x
I !
x x x x x x x x x x + x x
I I I I II I I II I I I I II I I II
O/N line O, N, O, N2 O, N, 02 N2 O, N, 02 N2 O, N, 02 N2 03 N, 04 N4
phonetic l a b o l a g i b a k i l e b e l ι
group (IMP.) wake up (IMP.) do (IMP.) follow secretly (DUR.)
In zigi and dugu there is only one element on the I/U line available to fill the
final nucleus. In sibu, the first available element on the I/U line is a U, therefore
coloring with I is impossible. In kibtru the U element is also allowed to spread
to the final nucleus because none of the intervening nuclei are phonetically
filled. In lagi, we see the insertion of a non-lexical I element in a word which
has no lexical elements on the I/U line. In baki the U element of the initial onset
is not available to fill the final nucleus because a full (lexical) vowel (a) inter-
venes. Finally, in lebeli the U element of the second onset is also not available
to fill the final nucleus because a harmonically filled empty nucleus intervenes.
Finally two points for the attentive reader: (a) the apparent association line
crossings in Icbeli are not violations of the no-crossings constraint, since vowel
harmony actually takes place on the nuclear projection (where onsets and their
associated elements are invisible), and (b) the empty 0 4 of lebeh is lexically d
(of the durative suffix), but is never realized phonetically in such words (for
reasons too complex and poorly understood to be included here - cf. again
Rennison 1993).
The partial availability of U elements from onsets shows here quite clearly
that phrase-final filling is a different process from the normal (color) vowel
harmony of Koromfe (dealt with in the next subsection). Only U elements
which are available (even across unfilled empty nuclei) can fill a phrase-final
empty nucleus. Any intervening nuclear melody, whether lexical or 'derived',
suffices to block availability. Finally, supporting evidence comes from Mòoré,
where there is no vowel harmony of the type found in Koromfe: there, an illicit
final empty nucleus is filled with a non-lexical I element, but never with a U
melody from an onset.
4.2.2.2. Medial (empty) nuclei with an alternating melody

As mentioned above, schwa is an optional realization of licensed empty nuclei;
it cannot be used to fill an unlicensed empty nucleus as it is in English, French,
German and a large number of other languages. In Koromfe, an unlicensed
empty nucleus which needs to be filled receives coloring from the preceding
lexical vowel by the process of vowel harmony. This process is distinct from
phrase-final filling (described in sec. 4.2.2.1 above) for two reasons: (a) it ap-
plies only to medial nuclei (pace similarities with phrase-final filling), and (b) it
is not sensitive to (U or other) elements in onsets. There are even cases of
vowel harmony which affect (apparently) word-fmal nuclei, but which I will
analyze as not being final in phonological structure.
The vowel harmony process associates the nearest preceding element (if
there is one) on the I/U line to the affected nucleus. In addition, and for me
rather puzzlingly, the nucleus always receives an A element 'from nowhere'. 21
This means in effect that the harmonized nucleus is always a non-high copy of
the preceding nucleus, which itself is inevitably the (lexical) first nucleus of the
word stem (even when the first nucleus is a low vowel, as in daga etc. in (22).
The morphology of Koromfe is so restricted that no word ever has a second
medial unlicensed nucleus later in a word that could trigger further occurrences
of vowel harmony.
The medial vowel harmony alternations as such have already been exempli-
fied in (16) above, though with non-alternating nuclei in the - Vt suffix. In some
words however, particularly the class of verbs shown in (22), there exist alter-
nations between a harmonized full vowel and zero (optionally schwa), depend-
ing on the structure of the rest of the word. These words have a suffix-like -VI
sequence attached to their stem which has no noticeable morphological effect;
some verbs also have a form without this -VI (with the same meaning and
grammatical properties) others do not. This -VI sequence, which I term a 'suf-
flxoid', since it contains phonological material but has no noticeable morpho-
logical effect, behaves phonologically as if it had no preceding morpheme
boundary (cf. Kaye 1995).
(22) Verbs containing medial nuclei with alternating full (harmonized) vowels
and zero (optionally schwa)
Vowels in parentheses occur in phrase-final positions only.
Imperative Durative Past

(no suffix) (suffix -d) (suffix -c)
mese mesel(i) messie 'measure'
daga dagal(i) dagale 'wait'
hama hamand(i) hamane 'believe'
g ondo gondol(u) g ondale 'deform'
hubo hubol(u) húbole 'wash oneself (the body)'
buno bunond(u) bunne 'steal'
Superficially, the imperative forms in (22) seem to contradict phrase-final fill-

ing by being mid or low instead of high. However, the situation is complex, and
the vowels are not final. The verb stems in (22) have the shape ONON/N (ex-
cept gondo, which has ONONON/N), and the onset / has some strange proper-
ties in this metrically weak22 position. (See section 4.4.2 below for considera-
tion and rejection of the analysis that the stem-final / in these forms is a floating
melody.) In the imperative, we would expect (but never find) either *mesel, etc.
or *meseliy etc. Forms like * mesci are completely impossible in Koromfe
(apart from the one word sckcl, a noun, noted in (20) above). The form mescli,
on the other hand, is phonetically well-formed, but is the realization of the
durative form - lexically meselN+dN. Consider the GP representations of these
forms, given in (23).
(23) Partial GP representations of phrase-final forms of (a) mese 'measure

(imp.) (b) mescli 'measure (dur.) ' and (c) mésale 'measure (past) '
Licensed domain-final empty nuclei have a tick licensing by proper
government is indicated with f I, licensing failure with an X, VH =
vowel harmony, PFF = phrase-final filling. The past suffix - c is a floating
melody without syllable structure of its own.
a) b) c)
I ¿ \\¿<¿ /PFF I
A line A \ (Â) A \ (A) " " < A
I \¡T~*X I \ ¡Γ~*Ί •'""•··-. I i I
O/N line QN.QKQN, O, N, 02 H Q H Q, Η Ο, Ν, Ο, Ν, 03 Ν,
I I I I I I I I I I I I II II I I II
skeleton x x x x x x x x x x x x + xx x x x x x x..+
phonetic m ε s ε ^ m t s ε I <X) ι m ε s (s) 1 "ε
It is unclear to me why the / melody in (23a) cannot be licensed in this position.

Two things seem to be happening. On the one hand, the final empty nucleus
(N3) is able to remain empty, even phrase-finally, because it is strong enough to
license the (melodically very weak) preceding onset position of the / (cf.
'monosyllabic' phrase-final forms like dol given in (20) above). On the other
hand, the melody of 0 3 seems to require additional licensing of some kind
which is not available to it. This additional licensing could hardly come from a
following onset position; such licensing is not required for words such as dol
(of which there are quite a few).
The realization of (23b) is equally puzzling. Parallel forms with one syllable
less have a geminate // where mescli has only one (cf. dollu 'buy, sell (dur.)';
here the d of the durative suffix is quite regularly assimilated to /); but a gemi-
nate in this position (i.e. after the second full-vowel nucleus of a word) is im-
possible in Koromfe verbs.23 We can probably assume that the same factors that
are responsible for the licensing failure of the final lexical / of mese in (23a) are
responsible for the failure of d to surface phonetically in mescli. Whether the
single I of this word is in O3 or 0 4 cannot be decided with any certainty (though
see Rennison 1993 for one attempt).
In contrast with the imperative and durative forms, the / of the past forms in
(23c) does surface phonetically; but here the preceding nucleus is not filled by
vowel harmony because it can be properly governed by N3 (which, in turn, is
lexically filled by the floating melody of the past suffix -e. (Evidence that the
past suffix must be a floating melody without syllabic structure is given in
section 4.4.1 below.)
Note that the empty onset between the η and d of the forms gondo (imp.),
gzndol(y) (dur.), gondalc (past) 'deform' is licensed by the flanking onsets (cf.
section 4.3.2 below) and cannot affect the licensing of the other nuclei or the /
in any way.
The forms of hama and buno in (22) at first sight look anomalous. Firstly,
the / of the durative form hamand(i) / bunondu is regularly nasalized to η when
the preceding onset is nasal. The additional melodic strength endowed by na-
sality in turn permits the formation of an ΟΝΟ sequence with a sandwiched
empty nucleus (indicated by an ellipse in (24)) where it could not be formed

with two /'s in mesel(i). Therefore, in contrast with the non-nasalized forms,
both O3 and O4 surface phonetically in (24b).
(24) Partial GP representations of phrase-final forms of buno 'steal (imp.) '

and bunond(u) 'steal (dur.) '
government is indicated with i I, licensing failure with an X, VH =
vowel harmony, PFF = phrase-final filling, NAS = nasalization (from the
preceding onset).
a)
I/U line VH
U
A line
AI V r ^ i
O/N line m
skeleton X X X X XX x x x x x x + xx
phonetic b u η o ^ b u η o 1 d u
iWn
Secondly, the form bunne 'steal (past)' has no optional form *bumne with
schwa because that ΟΝΟ sequence forms a special 'sandwich' construction
(described in section 4.3.2 below) which emerges phonetically as a geminate.
This is the only word in my corpus which does this because it is the only such
verb with η as O2.
One further sub-class of these verbs, with d or / as O2, induces dissimilation
of the I of the -VI suffixoid to phonetic [d] (cf. examples in (25)).24
(25) Verbs containing medial nuclei with alternating full (harmonized) vowels
and zero (optionally schwa) and d (= phonetic frj) or I as O2
Vowels in parentheses occur in phrase-final positions only.
Imperative Durative Past

(no suffix) (suffix -d) (suffix -ε)
fere fered(i) ferede 'whistle'
kere kered(i) kerede 'carry'
bele beled(i) belede 'sell (on foot)'
dile diled(i) dilede 'feed'
Here the past form does not form a geminate II, as one might perhaps expect;
such a geminate can only arise if the second onset of the ONO sandwich is
lexical d (cf. sec. 4.3.2.1 below). Given that gemination is impossible, we
would expect the penultimate nucleus to be licensed by proper government
from the final nucleus ε, as it is in all the forms discussed up to now (cf. (23c)).
However, for reasons unknown to me, this does not happen, and the nucleus
before a phonetic d dissimilated from / is always filled by the regular vowel
harmony process. A putative partial GP representation of the first past form in
(25) is given in (26) - with the caveat that the licensing failure ( t x |) is un-
motivated.
(26) Partial GP representations of ferede 'whistle (past)

government is indicated with i I, licensing failure with an X, VH =
vowel harmony, PFF = phrase-final filling, DIS S IM = dissimilation of I to
d after d. The past suffix -ε is a floating melody without syllable structure
of its own.
I/U line
A line
I \ ¡Γ~*Ί
O/N line Ο, Ν, Q Ν, O, Ν,
skeleton
lililí
X X X X X X. +
phonetic f e d e 1 '"e
i"· "i, DISSIM
r d
4.3. Special structural combinations of onsets and nuclei
Koromfe has a variety of special structures involving combinations of filled and

empty onsets and / or nuclei.
4.3.1. Syllabic nasals
The term 'syllabic nasal' here refers to an ON pair which sounds like a nasal
consonant, but forms a phonetic syllable. Syllabic nasals occur only in absolute
initial position (i.e. phrase-initially); in medial positions, they are not heard as a
separate phonetic syllable. The syllabic nasals of Koromfe are always homorga-
nic with the following onset (0 2 ), and share all other articulatory features (cf.
the examples in (6) above). Moreover, the syllabic nasals are acoustically dis-
tinct from an ON pair comprising a nasal stop and an empty nucleus; indeed
these two structures are involved in the very important distinction between the
1st singular pronoun ma and the 2nd singular pronoun m (when the following
word has a labial onset). A few relevant examples are given in (27).
(27) 1st and 2nd person singular proclitic possessive pronouns
lsg. pron. + noun 2sg. pron. + noun

ma bi 'my child' m bi 'your child'
ma dai] 'my house' η däq 'your house'
ma guile 'my drum' q guile 'your drum'
I analyze the syllabic nasal ON pair as in (28), with only a single element: a
low tone / nasal element (L) attached to the onset. This onset is ill-formed
phrase-initially in Koromfe25 and must be filled with the melody of the follow-
ing onset (if there is one)26 in order to become a well-formed ONO sandwich.
Additionally, in phrase-initial position the nucleus of the syllabic nasal must
also be filled - with all available flanking melodies (shown in (28a)).
(28) Partial GP representation of the syllabic nasal (a) in phrase-initial and

(b) in medial position
(a) (b)
O/N line Ο, N, 0 3 N2 O, N, 0 2 N2 Ο, N3
skeleton ### X X+ X X X X # X X+X X
tone line
I/U line U I U 1
I ?I
A/? line Î A
phonetic m b i 1 a m b i
morpheme glosses 2SG. child with 2SG. child
[mbi] 'your child' [Iambi] 'with your child'
This raises two questions: Why is there this asymmetry between phrase-initial
and medial positions, and why is there any filling at all? It seems that the an-
swers to both questions have to do with some kind of minimal melody require-
ment. The first nucleus of a phrase in Koromfe cannot be empty (just as the last
one cannot - recall the process of phrase-final filling), and phrase-initial ΟΝΟ
sandwiches (i.e. consonant clusters) are illicit. In medial positions, on the other
hand, an ONO sandwich is permitted, and therefore nucleus filling is not
needed. I have no means to decide whether in the phrase-initial variant the
onset of the syllabic nasal is also filled with the melody of 0 2 . But if that were a
prerequisite for nucleus filling, it would explain the phrase-initial vs. medial
asymmetry: the moment a well-formed minimal structure is achieved in the
medial case, no further filling (of the nucleus) is necessary. These descriptive
facts about 'minimal melody requirements' and filling do not follow from any
part of GP theory; nor should they, in my opinion. At best they are parameter
settings, and at worst plain idiosyncrasies.
Now contrast the syllabic nasal with the true nasal + schwa sequence, shown
in (29), which has a fully specified nasal consonant as its onset plus an empty
nucleus. Here there is no motivation for spreading any melodic material be-
cause the structure is already well-formed. This is why the 1st person singular
pronoun ma has an invariant phonetic form (cf. again the examples in (27))
whilst the 2nd person singular pronoun Ν is always a nasal copy of the follow-
ing onset.
(29) Partial GP representation of the syllabic nasal (a) in phrase-initial and

(b) medial position
(a) (b)
O/N line Ο, N, 0 2 N2 O, N, 0 2 N2 O, N,
I I I I I I
skeleton ### X X + X X X X # X X+X X
tone line
I/U line U U I U U I
AII line ? A 7
phonetic m a b i 1 a m a b i
morpheme glosses lsG. child with lSG. child
[mabi] 'my child' [lamabi] 'with my child'
One final puzzle needs to be addressed: Why does the 1st person singular pro-
noun ma always surface with a schwa (the only such case in the language)? I
think this is also due to the constraint that the first nucleus of a phrase must be
realized phonetically (even if only with schwa). Recall that Koromfe has no
initial consonant clusters or geminates. This seems to imply that the constraint
on first nuclei is not as strong as that on final nuclei (which can never be schwa,
but must at least receive an ambient I element). However, a first nucleus is not
truly phrase-initial in this case, because the preceding onset is filled. And in
cases where the initial onset is empty, as we saw in section 4.1.2.1 above, the
first nucleus must indeed be filled (with either I, U or A).
4.3.2. ONO sandwiches with an empty nucleus (geminates and homorganic

nasal + voiced stop sequences)
A word-internal empty nucleus position, which is sandwiched between two

onsets that have certain properties (to be outlined immediately below), is li-
censed. The licensing of such sandwiches seems to be very common in natural
languages, but the exact properties of the sandwiches themselves is language-
specific. In Koromfe, the second onset must always be (what would otherwise
be) a lax ('voiced') stop or a nasal, and the first onset must either be identical
with the second (for a geminate) or a nasal (for the homorganic nasal + voiced
stop sequence). In both cases, the place of articulation of the two onsets must be
the same (either lexically or by assimilation in some contexts). 27 In addition, the
lateral I also forms a geminate with a following d onset (resulting in phonetic
[11]). There is no phonetic velar nasal geminate, although its structure must exist
in at least one word (see below on borjAA, where the geminate ηη is simplified).
In all cases, an ΟΝΟ sandwich completely silences the intervening nucleus; it
cannot ever be optionally realized as schwa. 28
These structures all occur both lexically (i.e. 'pre-formed', with the excep-
tion of the undetectable geminate velar nasal) and at morpheme boundaries,
though the lexical variety always seems to be homorganic (i.e. synchronically
there are no traces of assimilation).
4.3.2.1. Geminates
Phonetically realized geminates occur only after the first (i.e. stressed) nucleus
of a word stem, 29 although their ΟΝΟ sandwich structure does occur after a
second nucleus in the case of Ml (from lexical INd) dealt with in section 4.2.2.2
above (which simplifies phonetically to a single Γ) and in a handful of nouns
mentioned in footnote 23 (which surface as phonetic geminates). I am not sure
whether this behavior is determined by the preceding stressed nucleus, by the
prosodie weakness of third nuclei, or by a phonotactic accident (i.e. the short-
ness of lexical stems and the lack of melody in nuclei after the first nucleus of
the word).
The geminates veiy often, but not always, contain a morpheme boundary. 30
Some examples with morpheme boundaries are given in (30) and (31), and
without in (32).31
(30) Examples of geminate structures (underlined) containing a morpheme

boundary (nouns)
Stem Sg- suffix PI. suffix Sg- PI.

a. dod- -de -a dote dara 'cloud'
b. bug- -gu -ni buk:u bugane 'shoulder'
c. kon- -de -au könne konAu 'door'
d. bel- -de -a belle bela 'back'
(31) Examples of geminate structures (underlined) containing a morpheme

boundary (verbs)
Stem Imperative Dur.

(no suffix, but PFF) (suffix -d plus PFF)
a. d5m d5m d5mm5 'bite'
b. tig ti / tigi tikn 'put, do'
c. ken ken kenni 'strangle'
d. bid bin bit:i 'ripen, mature'
e. hul hul hoHo 'give birth'
(32) Examples of gemmates structures (underlined) containing no morpheme

boundary (nouns and verbs)
Stem Suffix Word

a. dumm -de dummane 'knee (sg.)'
b. benn -ga bcnnaqa 'backside (sg.)'
c. boll -de bollre 'window (sg.)'
d. wenn -am wennam 'stop (gerund)'
e. bell -am bellam 'fan (gerund)'
In forms (30a-c) both onsets of the ONO structure are lexically identical; in
(30d) the d of the suffix is assimilated to the preceding / onset. Indeed, it seems
that INd is the only possible lexical structure that results in phonetic geminate
II, since lexical INI undergoes dissimilation of the second / to d (cf. the end of
section 4.2.2.2 above). However, the suffixal d does not assimilate to a preced-
ing labial (b or m) or velar {g or η) in nouns (cf. (33a-b) and (33c-d), respec-
tively), although it does in verbs - regularly and without exception for preced-
ing m (cf. (31a)) and rarely also with preceding g (cf. (31b)). Instead of gemi-
nates, nouns regularly have the forms given in (33a-d); moreover the geminate
nn of (30c) occurs in about half the nouns with the -de singular suffix and the
338 John R Rennison
unassimilated nd of (33e) in the other half. I can offer no explanation for this
behavior.
(33) Examples of the failure of assimilation (and formation of geminates and

nasal + voiced stop structures (underlined)) in nouns
Stem % Pl.
(suffix -de; (suffix -a)
a. gab- g abre gaba 'knife'
b. dum- dumde doma 'lion'
c. lug- lugre lugA 'side'
d. geq geqde geqA 'stone'
e. bin- binde bina 'heart'
Although the verbs seem to more readily assimilate a -d suffix in a nasal ONO
sandwich, and even sporadically when the first onset is g (cf. again (31a-c), the
oral stop b never triggers assimilation (cf. (34a)), and the normal case for g is
not to assimilate (cf. (34b)).
(34) Examples of the failure of assimilation (and formation of geminates) in

verbs
Stem Imperative Durative

(no suffix, but PFF) (suffix -d plus PFF)
a. beb bebo bebru 'travel'
b. dig digi digri 'sow'
Finally, let us consider the velar nasal. Only one verb form in my corpus, bogAA
(shown in (35a)) has simplification of an expected geminate velar nasal. Argu-
ably, the durative form of this verb has merged with the imperative. The normal
case, however, is failure of assimilation, as shown in (35b).
(35) (a) The ONO 'geminate ' velar nasal, and (b) failure of place assimilation
in the same structure
Stem Imperative Durative Progressive

(no suffix, but PFF) (suffix -d plus PFF) (durative plus -aa)
a. boq boq boq boqAA 'love'
b. gaq gaq gaqon(e) qarpnaa 'refuse'
This behavior is puzzling for two reasons: If m allows assimilation (as in (31a)
- a fairly large class of verbs), why doesn't η assimilate more often, especially
since in other assimilations and fusions the velars are more ready to assimilate
than the labials? And why should there be an absolute ban on geminate *ηη in
Koromfe? Again, I can do no more here than present the facts and hope that a
solution will be available in the future.
4.3.2.2. Homorganic nasal + voiced slop sequences

ΟΝΟ sandwiches resulting phonetically in a sequence 'homorganic nasal +
voiced stop' are never restricted in position (except that Koromfe words are
phonetically hardly ever longer than trisyllabic). Thus there is little more to say
about them. Some examples are given in (36).
(36) Examples of homorganic nasal + voiced stop sequences (underlined) con-

taining no morpheme boundary (nouns and verbs)
Stem Suffix Word

a. dumb -ga dumboqa 'piece (sg.)'
b. zamb -am zambam 'deceive (gerund)'
c. korom 32 -ba korombA 'Koromba (member of ethnic group) (pi.)'
d. gind -ga gindagA 'round (sg.)'
e. hemen -de hemende 'crocodile (sg.)'
f. gagan -d gagandi 'cry (dur.)'
g· düqg -am dûggAm 'carry (gerund)'
h. lòqg -de löggre 'sandal (sg.)'
i. bireqg -am bireggAm 'blacken (gerund)'
4.3.3. NON sandwiches with an empty onset (long vowels and diphthongs)
The NON sandwich structure, just like the ΟΝΟ sandwich, has special proper-
ties (to be discussed below) which must hold in order for it to be licensed. Such
a structure is licensed in any position in Koromfe (i.e., perhaps surprisingly, it
is not restricted to the stressed first syllable of word stems), though typically
NON sandwiches after the first syllable of the word occur across morpheme
boundaries. Any pair of nuclei which share exactly the same melody can form
an NON sandwich, giving a long vowel. A few random examples are given in
(37).
(37) Long vowels (a few random examples)
Long vowel Example

aa inaa 'four' 3 3
εε Ιεεπ 'watch' (Fr. / 'heure)
ee ndeeqgu 'which (non-hum. sg.)'
II juba 'chief (pi.)'
ii kii 'madness'
εε ιρεε 'seven'
The diphthongs, exemplified in (38), on the other hand, show a striking restric-
tion: they may begin with a low vowel, but may not finish with one.
(38) Diphthongs
Diphthong Example Diphthong Example

[ai] haitam 'remember' [51] dôîsam 'be good'
[aï] dàine 'wood' [oe] hoefA 'bed'
[au] tau 'quickly' [oi] hoifA 'bed'
[AU] kAuSAm 'cry' [ου] bousam 'recover'
[ει] άε^πι 'be able' [ui] huisam 'mock'
[εϊ] jèînayu 'trap' [ûî] dûï 'this year'
[65] se 5 'drug' [ui] duìne 'kind of nut'
[oí] doisam 'lengthen'
This asymmetry could formerly be accounted for by left-to-right governing

relations within the nucleus or rhyme constituent; now it must be regarded as a
property of the NON sandwich structure. The most obvious account for it is by
means of vowel harmony. Recall that in this process all elements on the I/U line
spread to the right. Therefore if the first nucleus of an NON sandwich has an I
or U element, this is always transmitted to a following nucleus that has no such
element: i.e., in particular, to a nucleus that has only an A element. Therefore
the second nucleus of an NON sandwich can only ever surface as a low vowel
if the first nucleus is also a low vowel - in which case it produces a long low
monophthong.
Other properties of the first nucleus of an NON sandwich are transmitted to
the second: nasality and even an A element optionally (but very frequently,
especially in faster / more casual speech - cf. the pair hoifA ~ hoefii in (38)).
This last process is the only case in Koromfe that I know of where an A-ele-
ment is transmitted from one nucleus to another (recall that in vowel harmony
proper, a medial nucleus that requires filling receives an A element from no-
where, even if the preceding nucleus has none - cf. section 4.2.2.2 above).
4.4. Floating melodies
4.4.1. Floating melodies which attach to nuclei
At least two morphemes which consist phonetically of a single vowel seem to

have no nuclear position of their own. When they occur in a position where a
nucleus is available to the left, they attach to that nucleus without adding extra
length. These morphemes are the article a and the past suffix -ε. Thus the sen-
tence which is lexically da ku_a pesu 'He kills a sheep' surfaces as da kopesu,
with a short monophthong o realizing all the elements of its lexical vowel υ and
the article a. The representation of this sentence is given in (39a).
(39) (a) The article a as a floating melody in lexical da ku a pesu 'He killed a
sheep (b) a non-floating A melody in lexical ku+am 'kill (gerund) '
a) b)
O/N line ON ON ΟΝ ΟΝ ON ΟΝ ΟΝ
skeleton XX + X X + +XXXX χ χ + χ χ χ χ
A line A Α
/
I
I/U line U U I υ U U
phonetic d a k o Ρ e s u ko am
Contrast this with the gerund form of the same verb in (39b), [koom], whose
suffix -am does not float. Here the resulting phonetic monophthong is melodi-
cally identical, but always long.
The article a has no phonetic reflex if the preceding nucleus is a mid or low
vowel; it seems to simply disappear, as in dajo hcnam 'He drinks the beer' or
da da pesu 'He gets a sheep'. Moreover, although all the examples given here
involve verb-article sequences, the category of the word preceding the article is
completely irrelevant, so long as there is no pause, e.g. da pa QU a pesu be-
comes da pa go pesu 'He gives it a sheep', where the nucleus preceding the
article a is in a pronoun.
If the preceding nucleus is empty, then the article always appears as a, as in
dadogt a pesu 'He slaughters a sheep' (lit.: 'cuts') - and of course there is no
phrase-final filling of the preceding word (here, if it were phrase-final dogtu).
Similarly, the pronouns that have no lexical N2 (cf. (13) above) have the low
vowel of the article only, e.g. da pad apesu 'He gives him a sheep'.
When the article a occurs in phrase-initial position, it receives an empty ON
pair (or alternatively, we might assume that additional structure is always avail-
able, if needed, at the beginnings and ends of phonological phrases - cf. a
similar line of thought in Lowenstamm, in press).
The behavior of the past suffix -ε is analogous, except of course that it never
occurs in phrase-initial position. Thus the past form of jo 'drink' is also
jò. Informants were happy to supply an artificial form joe in isolation to show
me what was going on, but such forms never occur in spontaneous speech.
Note that, conspiratorially, neither of the morphemes dealt with here ever
occur in a position where the preceding syllabic constituent is an onset.
4.4.2. Floating melodies which attach to onsets
The only candidate for the status of a floating melody which might attach to an
onset is one possible analysis of the stem-final / in verbs with the -VI suffixoid
dealt with in section 4.2.2.2 above. On this analysis, we would have represen-
tations as in (40).
(40) Partial GP representations of mese 'measure (imp.) ' and mescli 'mea-
sure (dur.) ' with 1as a floating melody
I/U line I I
I'ι·."·
A line A
I
1
\® A \ (A)·...
I
1
O/N line 0 Ν ΟΝ 0 Ν 0 Ν ON
1 I I I ! 1 II II
1 1 1 1 1 1 II II
skeleton X X χ X χ X XX+ X X
phonetic m E s ε fó m ε s ε l'OÔ ι
However, the big drawback of this analysis is the past form of such verbs,
where (even in medial positions) we would have to postulate that an empty ON
sequence appears from nowhere to provide the necessary structure for the
floating / melody and the floating ε of the past morpheme. In the nasalized
variant of bunond(u) 'steal (dur.)', we would also need such magic extra struc-
ture. I would not like to give up the theoretical advantage of the projection
principle for the sake of such an analysis of these verbs (which also has other
problems). I therefore conclude that Koromfe has no floating melodies that
attach to onsets.
5. Conclusions
This GP-based investigation of the syllable structure of Koromfe has turned out
not only to account for the fairly simple superficial paradox of medial conso-
nant sequences, but also to provide a reasonable account of all the syllable
configurations (and their distributions), syllable-related phonological processes,
and constraints on segmental melodies. Bearing in mind that GP was not in-
vented to account for Koromfe, it is remarkable that the highly restricted in-
ventory of theoretical devices made available by the theory has provided suffi-
cient generative power for this quite exhaustive account (pace lacunae on the
higher levels of metrical structure). In particular, we have seen that empty syl-
labic constituents, together with the various licensing conditions which either
allow them to remain silent or provide specific melodic fillings, are indispen-
sable. Inevitably, a comprehensive description of this kind throws up quite a
number of new questions to be answered, and I have tried to point these out
wherever possible.
The further restriction of the theory to single (non-branching) onset and
nucleus constituents has turned out to be a viable proposal. In addition, one gap
in the empirical basis of the theory has now been filled by additional evidence:
floating melodies were shown not to be restricted to tones alone, but also to
include the elements A and I.
Notes
1. Fieldwork and consultation with Chris Ladish in February 1998 has shown that Ko-
romfe has two distinct dialect areas which are very homogeneous within themselves,
but which show consistent phonological and morphological distinctions. The most no-
ticeable of them are: W. medial /k/ corresponds to E. /g/, W. medial /g/ to E. 0, some
W. mid vowels are high in E., W. has only singular and plural for nominal adjectives,
E. has agreement for humanness/diminutive and number. Apart from the expected in-
crease in the number of diphthongs in the east through loss of /g/, none of these differ-
ences seem to affect the syllable structure. Nevertheless, it should be noted that this
chapter (and all my previous work on Koromfe) is based on the western dialect of
Mengao alone.
2. There is no vowel lengthening at all in Koromfe. The only vowel shortening process
that I know of targets the (arguably complex) -daa suffix of the progressive aspect in
certain morphological / syntactic environments, e.g. under negation. Thus the final
vowel aa is long in positive ma sigtraa Ί calm (prog.)', but short (i.e. a) in negative ma
ba sigtra and maa sigtra Ί do not calm (prog.)' (the former sentence having a negative
particle and the latter a negative pronoun). Cf. also sec. 4.4.1 below on floating nuclear
melodies which attach to a preceding nucleus (if present) to produce a short rather than
(possibly expected) long vowel.
3. The morphological structure of this word involves the stem sig 'be silent/calm', the
(optionally) causative/transitivizing suffix -I, the durative aspect suffix -d (here: pho-
netic r) and the class suffix -gu. The combination of durative + -gu is the regular deri-
vation of an instrument noun: thus a 'filter' is a 'thing that calms (water)'.
4. In Koromfe, nuclei can be licensed in the following ways:
a) Phrase-final empty nuclei: by phrase-final filling (cf. sec. 4.2.2.1)
b) Phrase-internal, morpheme-final empty nuclei: parametrically licensed to remain
phonetically empty. In NON sandwiches (cf. sec. 4.3.2), they must remain empty;
otherwise they can optionally be filled with schwa (cf. example (8) above).
c) Phrase-internal, morpheme-internal empty nuclei: must be licensed by vowel har-
mony from the preceding lexically filled nucleus (cf. sec. 4.2.2.2).
d) Non-empty (i.e. lexically filled) nuclei: always licensed, though sometimes melo-
dically reduced (cf. sec. 4.1.2, esp. example (14)).
5. This is true for all Koromfe words with phonetic consonant sequences of this type that I
have checked with informants; I do not claim to have checked every single combination
of every word of the language. Also, there exist environments in which schwa cannot
appear (cf. Rennison 1997 and sec. 4.3.2 below).
An anonymous reviewer points out that "the case for the theory abandoning
[branching] onsets and codas is not so convincing as it could be because the data used
come from a language without complex clustering." This is only partly true; the clus-
tering of consonants in words like sigtrgu is surely complex enough, but the analysis is
simple. In languages which (unlike Koromfe) do not permit the optional filling of a li-
censed empty nucleus with schwa, there is no direct evidence for either analysis.
6. The term 'filled' refers to the presence of melodic material. To be 'lexically filled', a
syllabic constituent must have at least one phonological melody element in the lexicon.
To be 'phonetically filled', a syllabic constituent which has no lexical melodic elements
must be realized acoustically. Assuming that there are no longer any branching con-
stituents in GP (which is a current working hypothesis within GP - cf. van der Hulst &
Ritter, this volume), it is no longer necessary to distinguish between 'syllabic constitu-
ents' and 'skeletal positions'.
7. In glosses I distinguish between grammatical morphemes associated with phonological
material (with the plus notation, e.g. kco 'woman + sg.', where 3 is the phonetic reflex
of the second morpheme) and grammatical categories which are not overtly represented
(with parentheses, e.g. 'radio (sg.)').
8. In contrast with its perfectly regular singular form, the plural of 'woman' is idiosyn-
cratic; the only other word with a similar plural suffix -na is 'man' (though with addi-
tional phonological idiosyncrasies: sg. bora, pi. benna).
9. Cf. footnote 11 for a synopsis of the phonological elements (in SPE terms 'features')
assumed in this chapter.
10. The representation of such segments ought to be permissible (or better: is predicted) in
an extension of GP representation of contour segments which I have been developing.
The basic idea is that one element (but only one) can be 'late' or 'lazy' in a segment.
This element is absent in the first part and present in the second part of contour seg-
ments, such as affricates, light diphthongs and labiovelars (whether simultaneously or
consecutively articulated). On this account, contour segments are not instances of
branching constituents. See Rennison (1998).
11. Though elements are primitives of the theory, in articulatory terms they can roughly be
viewed as follows:
I palatality
U labial ity
R coronal ity
H high tone / voicelessness
L · low tone / voice / nasal
(A) (= empty head of a nucleus) non-high vowel
(ATR) (= empty operator in a nucleus) ATR / 'tenseness'
(?) (= empty head of an onset) occlusion
(h) (= empty operator in an onset) friction / noise
It would go beyond the scope of this article to justify the reinterpretation of A, ATR, ?,
h as being different incarnations of the same element, namely the empty one. See Ren-
nison (in press) for details.
12. Koromfe has no lexical class of adjectives: they are morphologically either nouns or
verbs. In either case, they never have an empty onset. Some interjections and ideo-
phones begin with a vowel, but they stand outside the regular phonological system.
13. I do not know the source of alio. The word aria comes from Mòoré, as does most of the
vocabulary of metallurgy in Koromfe.
14. The notion of an element being 'ambient' means that it is most easily available when
the language requires some minimal melodic filling of a syllabic constituent. Both con-
cepts ('ambient elements' and 'required filling') deserve closer investigation, and I am
well aware that they deservedly arouse suspicion.
15. Harry van der Hulst (p.c.) pointed out that this is hardly surprising since the pretonic
nucleus is neither a governor nor a governee.
16. Whether in fact both nuclei are filled or only one is a debatable point for the long
vowels. But in either case, this NON structure with a sandwiched empty onset is li-
censed in Koromfe and Mòoré.
17. There exists an alternative analysis to the one given here. The reversive suffix could be
just -t involving non-analytic morphology (i.e. behaving as if there were no preceding
morpheme boundary; thus the stem-final empty nucleus would not be licensed as a final
empty nucleus and would be harmonized). This analysis can be visualized as running
exactly parallel to the one given in the main text, except that in (17) the sequence 'N 3 -
morpheme boundary - 0 4 ' is omitted.
18. In the 'Structure' column, O and Ν represent empty onsets and nuclei, respectively, and
V represents filled (harmonized) nuclei. The V's in parentheses are realized as zero or
schwa except in phrase-final position. There is no theoretical distinction between Ν and
V; both are empty nuclei, and these symbols are used simply to indicate how the nu-
cleus surfaces phonetically.
19. These vowels occur, for example, in two large classes of derived words:
a) the plural deverbal instrument noun tufahe 'things to sit on' by nasal lowering from
expected tufahi, and
b) the singular agent noun zoromö 'beggar' by nasalization of the suffix -o.
20. In particular, ATR harmony, which affects every phonological word of Koromfe and is
an independent and exceptionless process, will simply be taken for granted throughout
this article. It never affects or is affected by any other phonological process.
21. It could, of course, be assumed that all nuclei that are candidates for vowel harmony
already have a lexical A element. However, this assumption would raise more problems
than it would answer: why are there no medial vowels with I or U? Why are there no
I/U-disharmonic words? Also, the progressive suffix -daa speaks against this analysis;
it never harmonizes to a mid vowel, even though it undergoes ATR harmony. Thus the
progressive form of 'open' (cf. (17)) is sumbotrAA, where the final vowel does not re-
ceive the U element that is transmitted to the second vowel. I therefore, on balance, opt
for an analysis where no lexical nucleus undergoes I/U harmony and all unlicensed
empty nuclei undergo it.
22. The typical, perhaps (in native vocabulary) exclusive, position in which geminates
occur is immediately after the stressed syllable. Harry van der Hulst (p.c.) points out
that the motivation for all the weakening processes described here probably lies in the
metrical status of the second posttonic syllable.
23. There are a handful of nouns with the forms gubolle, pi. gubala 'pile of earth' and
pogolle, pi. pogoLι 'shell', but neither is really parallel to meselr. the first, guballe, has
no harmonization of the second nucleus, and the second, pogolle, could be analyzed as
having a lexical second vowel - otherwise, we would expect *pogslle parallel to
gubali ε. But there is also deqgele, pi. deηgelΛ 'open area, clearing' which seems to
have undergone the same degemination as the verbs discussed here.
24. Recall that lexical d is always realized as [r] in all positions except word-initially or
following a nasal stop. Intervocalic phonetic [d] occurs only very rarely outside this
class of verbs, where clearly, on distributional grounds, it can only be a reflex of lexical
I. There are no verbs in my corpus with the -VI suffixoid and phonetic [t] as O2, but I
would expect dissimilation of O3 in that context, too.
25. An onset containing just an L element is a velar nasal ([η]). Such an onset is illicit in
Koromfe word-initially except in the syllabic nasal configuration. There seems to be a
general scarcity of word-initial velar nasals in the languages of the world, even when
they are common in other positions (e.g. English, German). I know of no theory-inter-
nal reason why L alone should be a bad word-initial onset. However, the fact that it is
illicit in Koromfe seems to be the motivation for the existence of syllabic nasals and for
their being restricted in occurrence to phrase-initial positions. In other positions, an
ΟΝΟ sandwich (as described in sec. 4.3.2.2 below) is permitted.
26. For the velar syllabic nasal followed by a velar onset (O2) there is no additional melody
that can be transferred to the syllabic nasal. This ΟΝΟ sandwich structure is neverthe-
less well-formed. On theoretical grounds, I assume that the stop element ? does not
spread (ever, in any language), since it is an empty head position in the melody; but the
point does not affect the analysis of Koromfe because 'voiced' stops have no L element.
27. There exist some interesting cases of lexically labial consonants which assimilate to a
following velar stop, both in geminate and in homorganic nasal + stop sequences, e.g.
fek.u, pi. febi 'tree' (lexically feb- 'tree' and sg. suffix -go, pi. suffix -1) and nuggu, pi.
numi 'millstone' (lexically num- 'millstone' and the same sg. suffix -go and pi. suffix
-/). This seems to be a case of licensing failure of the U element in the lexical stems. I
do not know why this should be so, but quite generally the labials behave unusually in
Koromfe. Only very few words have an incontrovertible labial geminate p\ from bNb,
e.g. soba, pl. sopa 'hunter', with stem sob-, sg. suffix -o and pi. suffix -ba. Coronal and
velar geminates, on the other hand, abound.
28. This fact might tempt one to speculate that the optional realization of a licensed empty
nucleus as schwa only occurs in the case of morpheme-final empty nuclei. However,
the hypothesis breaks down because (a) there are many unanalyzable word stems con-
taining such optional schwas (e.g. the loan abbahola 'onion' and (b) morpheme-final
empty nuclei which enter an ΟΝΟ sandwich structure and are silenced, e.g. the words
given in (30).
29. This means that no geminate ever occurs after a long vowel or diphthong.
30. This fact could be purely accidental, since Koromfe has very few (and possibly no
native) word stems with more than one lexically filled nucleus (i.e. word stems are
'phonetically monosyllabic' for those who accept final codas).
31. I have been unable to determine whether voiceless stops in words like sekre 'half (sg.)'
(stem sck, suffix -de) are geminate or single, since there is nothing to compare them
with, and all words with the intervocalic phonetic sequence kr or tr seem to have an
equally long voiceless stop.
32. This is the only word in Koromfe with the anomalous singular form koromdo instead of
expected koromo. If the d were a part of the stem, we would expect (phonologically
perfectly well-formed) koromdabA.
33. The numerals from 2 to 9 in Koromfe have an /- prefix which I analyze as being identi-
cal with the -/ suffix of the gull noun class. This is perhaps the only case in which the
(originally Bantu) noun class affixes emerge as prefixes in Koromfe; otherwise, they
are always suffixes.
References
Hulst, H.G. van der & Ν.Α. Ritter

this volume Head-Driven Phonology
Kaye, J.D.
1995 Derivations and interfaces. In J. Durand & F. Katamba (eds.), Frontiers of pho-
nology: atoms, structures, derivations. Harlow: Longman, 289-332.
Lowenstamm, J.
phonology: models and methods. Paris: CNRS, 333-362.
in press The phonological government of affixes. A theory of cliticization. In J.R. Ren-
nison & K. Kühnhammer (eds ).
Rennison, J R.
1988 Tridirectional autosegmental phonology and the PC. Habilitationsschrift. Un-
published (circulated as ms.).
1990 On the elements of phonological representations: the evidence from vowel sys-
tems and vowel processes. Folia linguistica XXIV/3-4, 175-244.
1993 Empty nuclei in Koromfe: a first look. Linguistique Africaine 11, 35-65.
1997 Koromfe. Routledge Descriptive Grammars. London: Routledge.
1998 Contour segments without subsegmentai structures. In E. Cyran (ed.), Structure
and interpretation. Studies in phonology. Lublin: Folium, 227-245.
in press Can there be empty phonological elements? On empty heads and empty opera-
tors. In J.R. Rennison & K. Kühnhammer (eds.), in press.
Rennison, J.R. & K. Kühnhammer (eds.),
in press Phonologica 1996: Syllables!? The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics.
Yoshida, S.
1993 Licensing of empty nuclei: the case of Palestinian vowel harmony. The linguistic
review 10, 127-159.
Part III: Moraic Phonology
12 The syllable in Luganda phonology and morphology
Larry M. Hyman & Francis X. Katamba
"The composition of the syllable in LuGanda, and the rules for syllable
length are so aesthetically satisfying that there is a danger
in supposing them to hold for Bantu languages in general."
(Tucker 1962: 122)
1. Introduction
Thus observes the author of one of the major works, among many, treating the
structure of the Luganda syllable. The Luganda syllable has been the subject of
inquiry within a number of frameworks during the past forty years (Ashton et
al. 1954, Cole 1967, Stevick 1969, Katamba 1974, Herbert 1976, Halle &
Vergnaud 1980, Heny & Wheeler 1982, Borowsky 1983a,b, Katamba 1985,
Clements 1986, Hyman & Katamba 1990, Wiltshire 1992). Directly or indi-
rectly these studies draw heavily on Tucker's original analysis and hence on the
'aesthetics' that he highlighted. As shall be exemplified below, Tucker's 'rules'
conspire to guarantee that a Luganda syllable will be maximally bimoraic and
that this bimoricity will be preserved even if the first of a sequence of vowels
loses its syllabicity or is deleted. While these rules are well-founded and aes-
thetically pleasing, we shall show that the situation is considerably more com-
plex than Tucker or other scholars have indicated. The basic question that has
not been addressed is how the syllabification process is to be effected within a
morphological context. Each study has been presented as if one could do a one-
time (non-cyclic) mapping from an underlying representation to a surface tar-
get. As we shall demonstrate, there are important cyclic effects in Luganda
syllabification: Stratum 2 prefixes appear to be added one at a time to the verb
stem1, with syllabification checked in a step-wise fashion. This finding, which
potentially bears on the question of whether step-by-step derivations are justi-
fied in phonology (Bromberger & Halle 1989, Coleman 1995), is however
contradicted by an 'anti-stratal' effect: The stratum 1 (stem-level) phonology
cannot be correctly derived without peeking ahead to see what will happen at
stratum 2 (word-level). This paradox, we argue, is best resolved if we adopt a
'direct mapping' approach to both stratified and cyclic phonology such as in
350 Larry M. Hyman & Francis X. Katamba
Orgun (1996). Instead of ordered rules, there would be analogous output con-
straints which could apply in parallel rather than one after the other.
The purpose of this chapter is thus twofold. First, as a descriptive goal, we
shall provide an account of the syllable-related phonology of a wider range of
phenomena in Luganda than heretofore considered. Second, as a theoretical
goal, we shall provide evidence for a particular view of the phonology-mor-
phology interface based on Luganda syllabification. Despite previous grammar-
free accounts, Luganda syllabification is intimately tied to the morphology. In
some cases, the parsing and allocation of segments to syllables does take into
account grammatical considerations. Of particular importance in this regard is
our treatment of the y / 0 alternations that characterize root morphemes. While
we present much of our analysis in derivational terms for expository reasons,
the obvious relation to constraint-based phonology, specifically certain ideas
within Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993), will be evident. We first
present the basic properties of syllabification in Luganda followed, progres-
sively, by elaborations and refinements. Finally, the 'derivation' of geminate
consonants is treated in an Appendix.
2. The bimoraic syllable
We begin by schematizing the possible syllable types in Luganda in (1), where

C represents an onset consonant (which may be prenasalized and/or followed
by a glide), VV indicates a long vowel, and C¡ stands for the first half of a
geminate consonant:
(1) a. Utterance-Internal b. Utterance-Initial c. Utterance-Final

Monomoraic Bimoraic Monomoraic Bimoraic Monomoraic Bimoraic
CV CVV CV CVV CV CVV
CVC, V CVC,
Ν VC,
Ci
As seen in (la), all utterance-internal syllables have an onset position which is

filled by a single consonant. Such syllables may be monomoraic (CV) or bimo-
raic (CVV, CVQ). In utterance initial position in (lb), monomoraic syllables
may be CV or lack an onset, consisting either of a single vowel (V), a syllabic
nasal (N), or the first half of a geminate (Q). (There are two reasons for re-
garding the first half of a geminate as moraic: the first is that it is a tone-bearing
unit; the second is that it counts towards the 'bimoraic maximum' for syllables
as we shall show below.) As also seen, an utterance-initial bimoraic syllable
The syllable in Luganda 351
may consist of a vowel followed by the first half of a geminate consonant (Q) 2
It should be noted that there are no VV syllables in Luganda, a fact which will
be crucial in our analysis (see section 3). In addition, there are no syllables
containing more than two moras (e.g.*CVVV). Lastly, only open syllables
occur in word- or utterance-final position and they tend to have a short vowel
because one of the moras of a CVV syllable is suppressed in that position (cf.
Hyman & Katamba 1990).
As indicated in (1), bimoraic syllables may consist either of a long vowel
nucleus or of a vowel followed by the first half of a geminate consonant. Ex-
amples contrasting such syllables with corresponding monomoraic ones are
given in (2).3
(2) a. [CV]„ vs. [CVV]„ ku-lim-a [ku.li.ma] 'to cultivate'

ku-liim-a [ku.lii.ma] 'to lie in wait for'
b. [CV]CT vs. [CVC,]„ ku-ket-a [ku.ke.ta] 'to cut off
ku-kett-a [ku.ket.ta] 'to spy'
In (2a) the verb root -liim- 'lie in wait for' contains an underlying long vowel,
while in (2b) the verb root -kett- 'spy' contains a phonological geminate. Be-
cause of the bimoraic maximum, there are no verb roots such as *-liiim- or
*-keett-. Concerning C W syllables, we note that vowel length may come from
four sources in Luganda. We consider three of these here."
First, a long vowel may be underlying, as in the case of -liim- 'spy'. Other
examples include -léet- 'bring', -saab- 'smear', -loot- 'dream', and -túuk- 'ar-
rive'.
Second, a long vowel automatically results when two identical vowels occur
in succession across morpheme breaks: either within words, as in (3a), or across
words, as in (3b).
( 3 ) a. bâ-agal-a [báá.ga.la] 'they want' (bâ- 'they', -agal- 'want')

ku-se-ebu-a [ku.see.bwa] 'to be ground' (-se- 'grind', -ebu- 'passive')
ku-lí-ir-a [ku.líi.ra] 'to eat at' (-lì- 'eat', -ir- 'applicative')
b. a-lâb-a a-ba-kâzi [a.lá.baa.ba.ká.zi] 's/he sees women'
e-n-te e-mû [e.ntee.mû] 'one cow'
o-no o-mu-genyi [o.noo.mu.ge.nyi] 'this visitor'
Third, a long vowel may result from the compensatory lengthening (CL),
which accompanies the gliding of a high vowel before another vowel:
(4) High Vowel Gliding + CL: /CiV, CuV/ -> [CyVV, C w W ]

a. Within morpheme: ku-kîal-a [ku.kyàà.la] 'to visit'
ku-tûal-a —» [ku.twàà.la] 'to take'
b. Across morphemes: ku-lî-a -» [ku.lyàà...]5 'to eat'

[lexical] ku-gu-a -» [ku.gwaa...] 'to fall'
c. Across words: mu-limi + o-mû -> [mu.li.myoo.mû] 'one farmer'

[postlexical] n-fiûdu + e-mû -» [n.fu.dwèè.mû] 'one tortoise'
As seen in (4a), gliding + CL applies morpheme-internally. It also applies

within a word across morpheme breaks, as in (4b), and across words, as in (4c).
The reason for positing underlying forms such as /-kial-/ and /-tûal-/ is that
there are otherwise no underlying consonant + glide sequences in the language:
all CG sequences come from the gliding of a vowel6. Besides having to com-
plicate the inventory of permissible underlying forms, if the glide were under-
lying, we would have no explanation as to why the following vowel is normally
long.7
The assumption of all previous researchers is that gliding applies whenever a
high vowel is followed by another vowel. Using the CV framework of
Clements & Keyser (1983), Clements (1986) formalizes the gliding rule as in
(5a).
(5) a. C V V b. V V
I
[+high] [-cons] [<xF]
The rule in (5a) delinks a high vowel from its V slot and relinks it to the pre-
ceding C slot, when it is followed by another (non-identical) vowel. Then (5b)
applies to spread the second vowel onto the preceding free V slot. The effect of
these two rules taken together is that the second vowel is compensatorily
lengthened to fill the vacated position of the first vowel.8 Previous researchers
had all assumed that /Ci/ and /Cu/ sequences become [Cy] and [Cw] before
another vowel (e.g. Tucker 1962, Cole 1967 etc.), i.e. that consonant clusters
are created. Clements' rule in (5a), however, represents these as [Cy] and [Cw],
i.e. as single consonants with a palatal or labial offglide. This appears to be
necessitated by the theory: the way to get CL is by transferring a vowel from a
V to a C, which it will share with the preceding consonant. Hyman's (1985: 80)
moraic analysis of Luganda is perhaps appropriately ambiguous with respect to
this issue, and has the advantage of producing the gliding plus compensatory
lengthening effects by a single rule, which we term Leftward Vowel Spread
(LVS):
(6) Leftward Vowel Spread: μ μ
[-cons] [-cons]
The effect of this rule is to lengthen the second of two vowels in sequence. In
case the first vowel is [+high], LVS will produce representations such as in (7).
(7) a. μ μ b. μ μ
Λ - J A - J
k i a g u a
Following Hyman (1985), we interpret syllabicity in terms of relative sonority.

In (7a) the first mora dominates the segments /k/, /i/ and /a/, while in (7b) the
first mora dominates the segments /g/, lui and /a/. In both examples the most
sonorous segment is /a/, which therefore is syllabic. In both cases the second
mora dominates only /a/, which again is syllabic. The result is the long vowel
[a:] preceded by a non-syllabic high vowel, i.e. a glide.
It has been generally noted that gliding (or LVS in our analysis) applies only
when the first of two vowels in sequence is [+high]. The examples in (8) show
that when the first vowel is non-high, it does not glide. Instead, it is subject to
elision accompanied by compensatory lengthening:
a. mu-sibê + o-mû -» [mu.si.bóò.mù] 'one prisoner'

mu-walâ + o-mû —> [mu.wa.lóò.mù] 'one girl'
b. m-bogô + e-mû [m.bo.géè.mû] 'one buffalo'
n-diga + e-mû -> [n.di.gee.mû] 'one sheep'
c. ba-sibê + a-ba-o -> [ba.si.bàà.bo] 'those prisoners'
ba-kô + a-ba-o -» [ba.kàà.bo] 'those in-laws'
The examples in (8) show elision of a word-final / e o a / followed by a non-

identical / e o a / across a word boundary.9 In each case the first vowel is lost,
and the second vowel is lengthened but there are no palatalization or labializa-
tion effects ever associated with /e/ and loi in this context. Clements (1986)
represents this process as in (9a).
(9) a. V V b. V V
i I
[-high] [-cons] [aF]
A [-high] vowel is delinked from its V slot, which is filled by a leftward

spreading of the features of the second V in (9b) (= (5b)). In the moraic frame-
work LVS first applies to these vowel sequences, followed by the delinking of
the [-high] vowel:
(10)a. μ μ b. μ μ
A - J A - J
b e o k o a
The rule of Non-High Delinking (NHD) is formulated in (11).
(11) Non-High Delinking: μ μ

[-cons] [-cons]
I
[-high]
In this framework, all sequences undergo LVS, but only [-high] vowels de-
link.10
Let us consider other environments where NHD might potentially apply. All
of the examples in (8) showed the delinking of a [-high] vowel when followed
by another vowel across a word boundary. It is thus clear that NHD applies
postlexically. The examples in (12) show that it also applies between a prefix of
the shape Ca- and a stem:
(12) a. ba-ogezi [boo.ge.zi] 'speakers' (cf. sg. [mwoo.ge.zi])

ma-envû [mee.nvû] 'ripe bananas' (cf. sg. [lyee.nvû])
ka-âna [kàà.na] 'small child' (cf. [mwàà.na] 'child')
b. bâ-er-a [béè.ra] 'they sweep' (cf. [twéè.ra] 'we sweep')
bâ-ôt-a [bóò.ta] 'they bask' (cf. [twóò.ta] 'we bask')
The examples in (12a) involve the class 2 ba-, class 6 ma- and (diminutive)
class 12 ka- noun class prefixes followed by a noun stem, while those in (12b)
have the class 2 subject marker (SM) bâ- followed by a verb stem. In each case
the /a/ is elided and the following Id or loi is lengthened." NHD thus appears to
apply lexically, at least across the prefix-stem boundary.
There is, however, a complication. Within the verb stem, there is evidence
that Id and loi undergo LVS but are not subject to NHD. In (13) we provide a
complete list of the 18 verb roots in Luganda which have the underlying shape
-CV-:
(13) a. -lì- 'eat' [ku.lyàà...] 'to eat' [a.lìd.dè] 'he has eaten'
-tí- 'fear' [ku.tyàà...] 'to fear' [a-tìd.d.è] 'he has feared'
-gi- 'fit in' [ku.gyaa...] 'to fit in' [a-gid.dè] 'he has fit in'
-yî- 'be burnt' [kûg.gyaa...] 'to be burnt' [e.yîd.dè] 'it is burnt'
b. - g u - 'fall' [ku.gwaa...] 'to fall' [a-gùd.dè] ' h e h a s fallen'
-lu- ' d e l a y ' [ku.lwaa...] 'to d e l a y ' [a.lùd.dè] ' h e h a s d e l a y e d '
- f u - 'die' [ku.fàà...] 'to die' [a.fud.dè] ' h e h a s d i e d '
- v u - ' c o m e f r o m ' [ku.vaa...] 'to c o m e f r o m ' [a.vùd.dè] ' h e h a s c o m e f r o m '
1 2
c. - k e - ' d a w n ' [ku.kyàà...] 'to d a w n ' [lù.kêd.dè] 'it h a s d a w n e d '
-se- ' g r i n d ' [ku.saa...] 'to g r i n d ' [a.séd.dè] ' h e h a s g r o u n d '

1 3
-ne- ' d e f e c a t e ' [ku.nyaa...] 'to defecate' [a-nyéd.dè] ' h e h a s d e f e c a t e d '
d. - m o - ' s h a v e ' [ k u . m w a a . . . ] 'to s h a v e ' [ a - m w é d . d è ] ' h e h a s s h a v e d '
-J1Ô- ' d r i n k ' [ku.jiwàà...] 'to d r i n k ' [a-jiwêd.dè] ' h e h a s d r u n k '
-CÔ- ' a b s c o n d ' [ku.cwàà...] 'to a b s c o n d ' [ a - c w ê d . d è ] ' h e h a s a b s c o n d e d '
-WÔ- ' b e e x h a u s t e d ' [kûg.gwaa...] 'to b e e x h a u s t e d ' [a.wêd.dè] ' h e is e x h a u s t e d '
e. -bâ- 'be' [ku.báá...] 'to be' [a.bâd.dè] ' h e h a s b e e n '
-tâ- 'let g o ' [ku.tâa...] 'to let g o ' [a.tâd.dé] ' h e h a s let g o '
- w â - 'give' [ku.wâa...] 'to give' [a.wâd.dè] ' h e h a s g i v e n '
The infinitive forms marked by the prefix ku- all show the vowel of the -CV-
root fusing with the final vowel (FV) suffix -a. As expected, the high root vow-
els /i u/ in (13a,b) are realized as [y w] and the FV is lengthened by LVS. In
two of the examples, the glide [w] is absorbed into a preceding labiodental
consonant: We thus obtain [faa] and [vaa] rather than *[fwaa] and *[vwaa].
This follows from the general prohibition in the language of labiodental frica-
tives [f v] occurring before [w]. Also as expected, the root vowel /a/ and FV /-a/
fuse as a long [aa] in (13e). What is not expected is the gliding of the root vow-
els lei and loi in (13c,d). (In the case of [ku.saa...], the [y] of the intermediate
representation [syaa] is always absorbed into the preceding alveolar fricative.
This too follows from the general prohibition of coronal fricatives [s z] occur-
ring before [y].) It is clear from the perfective forms in the right hand column
that the underlying vowels are as indicated. The perfective ending which sur-
faces here as -dde is preceded by the underlying vowel in all cases except
(13d), where /Co/ for some reason is realized as [Cwe].M
What is clear is that stem-level mid-vowels glide when followed by a (non-
identical) vowel. In our analysis, this means that they do not undergo NHD.
Luganda has no Co- prefixes and only one Ce- prefix, negative te-, whose be-
havior is irregular, and which has the allomorph t- before vowels (see section
4.2). We therefore do not know whether word-level sequences of /e+V/ and
/o+V/ would undergo NHD or not.'5 It is thus possible to say that mid-vowels
do not undergo NHD lexically, but do undergo NHD postlexically. The vowel
/a/, on the other hand, undergoes NHD both lexically and postlexically. The
coalescence of unlike vowels can now be summarized as in (14).
(14) a. Ci+Vi - > CyVjVj c. Ca+V¡ -> CV,V¡

Cu+Vj - > CwV¡Vi
b. Ce+V¡ -> CyV¡V¡ [lexical] Co+V¡ -> CwViV¡ [lexical]
CViVj [postlexical] CVíVí [postlexical]
In order to obtain this result, if we were to postulate a single 'input-output'

application of LVS, NHD would have to apply differentially to the output,
sensitive to the lexical/postlexical distinction. In a derivational approach, one
might apply LVS first lexically, followed by NHD applying only to /a/, and
then postlexically, with NHD applying to /i/ and /e/, as well as /a/.16
In all of the relevant examples, the rule of LVS assures that no Luganda
syllable will surface with two non-identical vowels. Whether NHD applies or
not, the bimoricity of the input is preserved. However, when morphemes are
concatenated, it is possible for a string to have up to five vocalic moras in se-
quence. As the literature has repeatedly established, Luganda syllables are
maximally bimoraic. The examples in (15) and (16) respectively show three
and four vocalic moras occurring in the underlying representation being re-
duced to a single bimoraic syllable on the surface:
(15) tû-eê-lâb-a - » [twéé.là.ba] 'we see ourselves'

we-refl-see-FV
(16) a. tû-nâa-eê-lâb-a —> [tù.néé.là.ba] 'we will see ourselves'

we-Fi-refl-see-FV (Fi = today future)
b. tû-â-eê-lâb-â —> [twéé.làb-à] 'we saw ourselves'
we-P2-refl-see-FV (P 2 = general past)
It should be noted that the reflexive morpheme and the Fi 'today future' both
have underlying long vowels. They appear not only in the above examples but
also elsewhere in preconsonantal environments where length is unconditioned
cf. [n.tém.à] Ί cut' vs. [nn.éé.tèmà] Ί cut myself, pres.'; [tù.tèm.à] 'we cut,
pres.' vs. [tu.náá.tém.á] 'we will cut'.
In (15) the first person plural SM tû- and the reflexive prefix -eê- provide
three moras in sequence. LVS spreads the /e/ of the reflexive onto the mora of
tû-, thereby producing surface trimoraic *twêeê-. In (16a), the Fi today future
marker -nâa- is followed by the reflexive prefix -eê, thereby creating a se-
quence of four vocalic moras. LVS spreads the /e/ of the reflexive into both
moras of the F) prefix, producing the unacceptable quadrimoraic output *neeee.
In the input in (16b) there are two opportunities for LVS to apply: the /a/ of the
P2 past tense spreads leftwards onto the mora of the first person plural SM tû-,
and the /e/ of the reflexive prefix spreads onto the mora of the P2 marker -a-.
With N H D of the /a/, this yields the unacceptable sequence *tweeee. As
indicated in the outputs in (16), the moraic lengths of /e/ in each case must be
pared down to two. For this purpose, Clements (1986) proposes the rule of V-
trimming in (17).
(17) Clements' 'V-trimming': VQ -» 0 / V V
Recall that in Clements' CV framework, vocalic moras are represented as V

slots. The rule in (17) deletes all V slots that precede a VV sequence. The deri-
vation in (18) shows how Clements' rules would apply to the relevant part of
the form in (16b).
(18) a. C V - V - V V - b. C V - V - V V -
I ι ι V Λ V
t u a e t w a e
c. C V - V - V V - d. C V V
Λ V
t w e
The input in (18a) shows three vowels linked to four V slots. In (18b) the lui
relinks to the preceding C slot by Clements' rule in (5a), while the /a/ delinks
by his rule in (9a). This is followed in (18c) by the leftward spreading of the
vowel /e/ (Clements' rule in (5b)). Finally, V-trimming (17) applies in (18d),
removing the first two V slots.17
In a moment we will reformulate V-trimming in moraic terms. But first let us
consider how it is possible to get five V slots in a row. In order to demonstrate
this, we need to consider geminate consonants. We saw in the examples in (2b)
that the first half of a geminate counts as a mora. Thus, any long vowel that
precedes a geminate consonant will be automatically shortened, as seen in (19).
(19) a. tû-a-"tt-a -» [twât.tà] 'we killed'

we-P2-kill-FV
b. tû-ee-'tt-a -> [twét.tà] 'we are killing ourselves'
we-refl-kill-FV
c. tû-a-ee-"tt-a -» [twét-tà] 'we killed ourselves'
we-P2-refl-kill-FV
In (19a) the geminate of -~tt- 'kill' is preceded by two vocalic moras. After
LVS applies, the intermediate representation is *tw-àà-tt-à. As Tucker (1962),
Clements (1986), and others have pointed out, the first half of a geminate is
tone-bearing, hence moraic and joins a preceding vowel to form a syllable.
Thus, the syllabification of this intermediate string would be *[twáát.tá] with an
unacceptable trimoraic syllable. The vowel preceding the geminate thus short-
ens. The same results are obtained in (19b), where there are three vocalic moras
preceding the geminate, and in (19c), where there are four. A derivation of
(19c) in Clements' framework is provided in (20).
(20) 'V-trimming'from left to right (Clements 1986)
a. CVi-V 2 -V3V4-V 5 C-V 6 b. CV, -V2 -V3V4 -V5 C -V6

Μ V V I Λ - ^ / ζ ν I
t u a e t a tw e t a
c. C V4 V 5 C V6
A I V I
tw e t a
As seen, Clements represents a geminate as a consonant linked to a VC se-

quence on the CV tier. Example (20a) shows the relinking of lui to the preced-
ing C slot by (5a), and the delinking of /a/ by (9a). In (20b) the vowel Id
spreads by (5b) to the preceding two V slots, and in (20c) V-trimming (17)
removes the first three of the five successive V slots. Thus, five vocalic moras
(V slots) are reduced to two.
The moraic analysis could in principle proceed in similar fashion, with ex-
cess moras being trimmed from the left. We will, however, depart from
Clements' V-trimming in two ways. First, we shall assume that the 'trimmed'
moras are not the leftmost ones, but rather excess internal ones. And second, we
will assume that the reason they are trimmed is that they fail to be parsed into
the syllable. As shown in (21), we will adopt an 'edge-in' association of moras
to syllables.18
(21) Edge-in syllabification of moras + stray erasure: (some tonal evidence)

σ σ σ σ
ι Λ ι
a. μ-μ-μμ-μ-μ b. μ Ι -μ 2 -μ3μ4-μ5-μ6 c. μι μ 5 μ 6
A I V \Λ A ^ y \ Λ Αν \
tua e t a t w a e t a twe t a
The input form is given in (21a). In (21b), LVS has applied, followed by NHD,
which delinks the /a/. This creates a form in which the /e/ of the reflexive mor-
pheme is linked to four moras. As also seen, only the first and fifth moras are
syllabified by the edge-in algorithm. As a result, moras 2, 3 and 4 are stray
erased in (21c).
The evidence for this departure from Clements' view is tonal. As back-
ground, consider the two geminate-initial verbs in (22).
(22) a. ku-ggul-a [kug.gu.la] 'to open'

ku-"dduk-a [kùd.dù.ka] 'to run'
b. bâ-ggul-a [bâg.gul.a] 'they open'
bâ-"dduk-a [bàd.dù.ka] 'they run'
The verb root -ggul- 'open' is underlyingly toneless, while the verb root - "dduk-
has an underlying HL contour on its first (=geminate) mora. As seen in (22a),
the H of the HL contour is realized on the underlyingly toneless infinitive pre-
fix ku-, while the L of the contour is realized on the next syllable. In (22b), the
class 2 SM bâ- 'they' has an underlying HL contour. When followed by the
toneless root -ggul-, the contour surfaces on the vowel of the first syllable.
When tonic bâ- is followed by tonic -'dduk-, the two HL contours simplify on
their one syllable, and the same surface realization is obtained as in [kùd.dù.ka]
in (22a).19
With this background, we are now ready to consider cases that involve stray-
erasure of excess moras. Consider the forms in (23).
(23) a. a-nâa-ggul-a [a-nâg.gu.la] 'he will open'

b. a-nâa-"dduk-a [a-nàd.dù.ka] 'he will run'
In each form the geminate-initial verb root is preceded by the F ¡ future prefix -
nâa-.20 As seen, the output in (23 a) is with a falling tone on the syllable [nâg],
while the output in (23b) has a H tone on [nád] followed by a L tone on [dû].
Consider in (24) what would happen if the leftmost of the three moras were
trimmed:
(24) a.i. H L a.ii. H L H L

\ /
\/ \/
μ μ μ μ μ μ
A / I A / I
n a g n a d
b.i. H L b.ii. H L H L
μ μ μ μ μ μ
A / I A / I
n a g n a d
C.l. H L C.ll. H L
Λ \
μ μ μ μ μ μ
A / 1 Α / I
η a g η a d
d.i. L d.ii. Η L
1 Α
μ μ μ μ
A I A I
η a g η ad
Although this does not affect the argument about to be made, the derivation in
(24) follows the analysis of Hyman & Katamba (1993a). As seen in (24a), un-
derlying tonicity consists of a HL contour. In (24b) the rule of Contour Simpli-
fication (CS) has applied, which delinks the L of a HL contour from its mora
when followed by another mora. This L links to the following mora in (24c.i).
In (24c.ii), where the L is wedged between two Η tones, it is deleted, and the
two H's fuse into a single Η by a process of Η tone plateauing21. Following
Clements' proposal of V-trimming from the left, (24d) shows the structure that
results if we delete the leftmost mora.22 Initial mora-deletion creates no diffi-
culty in (24d.ii), where the correct bimoraic Η tone syllable is derived. How-
ever, with the first mora deleted in (24d.i), its Η is now floating and a L is
linked to the now initial mora, thereby incorrectly deriving a L tone bimoraic
syllable. We know that Η tones never spread to the right in Luganda (and ex-
cept for a very specific phrasal phenomenon, they do not dislodge L tones).
Instead, such free Η tones, when they are realized, always link to the preceding
mora. In this example, the preceding mora is a word-initial vowel, which can-
not be Η in Luganda. The expected result, then, would be for the Η either to be
passed onto the preceding word or to be stray erased. Since this does not hap-
pen, we assume that the first mora is not deleted in (24).23
Of course Clements' V-trimming rule can be reformulated as in (25).
(25) V-trimming revised: VQ -> 0 / V V
Or, one could revise (25) to adopt our claim that the excess moras (V slots) are
stray-erased because they fail to be syllabified, as in (21). Either way it would
still be useful to have more empirical evidence distinguishing leftmost V-trim-
ming vs. internal stray erasure. It would be critical for this purpose, if Luganda,
for example, provided an input of the form in (26).
(26) C V, C V, C V3 V4 V5 ... (ifV 3 is'trimmed', the H will be

lost in its C W syllable)
H
In this case a H is linked to Vi, V2 and V3, which are in three different sylla-
bles, the last of which has the problematic input of more than two moras. As
seen, the H is linked only to V3, i.e. the first V in the third syllable. If this V3
were 'trimmed', the H would thus be lost on the third syllable by the general
principles of autosegmental phonology.2" Unfortunately, the morphology of the
language seemingly conspires against providing a relevant sequence of forma-
tives that would produce this output. The best case we have come up with con-
cerns the WH-êi tense illustrated in (27).
(27) a. o-âa-sib-i-e = ki [wàà.si.byee.ki] 'what have you tied yet?'

b. o-âa-lâb-i-e = ki [wáá.lá.byéé.ki] 'what have you seen yet?'
The only underlying contour in (27a) occurs on the first mora of the tense
marker -âa- in (27a). In (27b), there is a second contour on the verb root -lâb-
'see'. By the regular tone rules of Luganda, a H plateau surfaces from the first
mora of -âa- to the tonic mora of -lâb-. Now consider the corresponding forms
that are obtained when a -Co- verb root from (13d) is substituted for the above
-CVC- roots:
(28) a. o-âa-mo-e-jd-e = ki [wàà.mwed.de.ki] 'what have you shaved yet?'

b. o-âa-pô-e-jd-e = ki [wáá. jiwêd.de.ki] 'what have you drunk yet?'
A comparison of these forms with those in (27) reveals that the perfective end-
ing is -j-e following a consonant, but -jd-e following a vowel, the latter being
converted by rule to -dd-e (cf. Appendix).25 In order to get the [e] of the surface
syllables [mwed] and [pwêd], we have placed an additional morph -e-. Now, if
this vocalic morph is moraic, as it is everywhere else in the language, we have
the input we seek:
(29) H L
μ μ μ
I V
o a jí o e j d e
It should be clear that if μι were to be trimmed in (29), the incorrect tonal out-
put *[wáá. jiwèd.de.ki] would be obtained. As indicated in note 14, there are
however other interpretations of the μ 2 vowel formative -e-. In addition, even if
362 Larry M. Hyman ά Francis X. Katamba
the vowel sequence /o-e-j-/ is trimoraic, it is possible that it has been trimmed
at the stem level before the prefix -âa- is added. While the tonal facts suggest
that stray erasure should apply to medial moras, a stronger argument will be
made from the perspective of the syllabification process itself. As we shall see
in sections 4.2 and 4.3, syllabification is cyclic in Luganda. That fact plus the
preference for CV syllables will automatically result in the retention of the first
and last moras of vocalic sequences.
3. The optimal syllable
Taking our inspiration from Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince & Smolensky
1993), we present in this section evidence in favor of the following surface
syllable preferences in Luganda:
(30) a. CV » V
b. V » VV
c. CVV » cvcv
(30a) states that Luganda disprefers syllables lacking an onset, which can occur
only after pause. This then is strong instantiation of Itô's (1989) constraint
Avoid a[V.26 According to (30b), syllables with simplex (monomoraic) nuclei
are preferred. Although Luganda allows CVV (30c), i.e. a syllable with a com-
plex bimoraic nucleus, which goes against the preferred choice in (30b), rarely
does it allow an onsetless syllable with a bimoraic nucleus which violates both
constraints (30a) and (30b). Finally, as we argue below, where it has a choice,
Luganda prefers to build a single CVV syllable rather than two CV syllables
(30c). This minimization of the number of syllables constructed, which can be
attributed to Prince & Smolensky's (1993) constraint *STRUC(a) (avoid struc-
ture with respect to syllables), is the one place where a W nucleus is preferred
to V nucleus.
In this section we shall exemplify the validity and see the utility of the three
preference statements in (30). In (31) we summarize the syllable-related pheno-
mena that are related to or are at least in part motivated by (30), particularly by
the need to avoid VV syllables:
(31) Motivation for the hierarchy in (30)

a. the occurrence of V (and syllabic N) syllables only after pause
b. the near non-existence of [VV]„
c. the lack of root morphemes that begin +VVC (or VQQ)
d. the replacement of class 1 SM a- by e- when followed by a V
e. the lack of CL when onsetless /e-, o-/ are followed by a V
f. y / 0 alternations at the beginning of root morphemes
g. the non-tone-bearing status of the moraic nasal 'N' in onsetless [VN]CT
We begin by considering the status of V-initial syllables.
3.1. V-initial syllables
We have already established that onsetless syllables can only appear after a
pause. In all other positions the vowel that begins a word joins the preceding
syllable (recall the examples in (3b), (4c) and (8)). This is true even if there is
an assertion break (%) occurring between two words, as in a right dislocation,
as in (32).
(32) /tû-mu-lâb-a % ô-mu-âna/ —> [tú.mú.lá.bóó.mwáá.na]

we-him-see-FV aug-cl.l-child 'we see him, the child'
In addition, we have asserted that Luganda has no VV syllables. As pointed out

by a number of scholars (e.g. Tucker 1962, Cole 1967, Stevick 1969), the one
exception to this statement is that post-pausal vowels actually vary in duration.
Thus, the augment vowels / e o a / may be short or long when followed either by
a plain consonant in (33a) or by a preconsonantal nasal in (33b).27
(33) a. e-bi-tabo 'books' [e.bi.ta.bo] ~ [ee.bi.ta.bo]

o-mu-limi 'farmer' [o.mu.limi] ~ [oo.mu.limi]
a-ba-limi 'farmers' [a.ba.li.mi] ~ [aa.ba.limi]
b. e-n-jovu 'elephant' [en.jo.vu] ~ [ee.njo.vu]
o-n-sib-a 'you sg. tie me' [on.si.ba] ~ [oo.nsi.ba]
a-n-sib-a 'he ties me' [an.si.ba] ~ [aa.nsi.ba]
What we propose is that the VV realization is stylistic or expressive and, as is

often the case, intonational features produce a structure that would not normally
occur in the output of the phonology proper. In terms of OT we can say that
stylistic initial lengthening is optional, but outranks the prohibition against W
syllables. As seen in (33), this variation is categorical: Independent of whether
a NC sequence follows, there is a clear distinction between a short vs. long
realization of the initial vowel. The vowel duration that is optionally observed
in (33b) is thus due to intonation, rather than to lengthening before preconso-
nantal nasals (see sec. 5.1).28
3.2. Lack of root morphemes that begin +VVC
The second property that is explained by the prohibition against VV syllables is

the non-occurrence of root morphemes that begin W C . Limiting our attention
to verbs, there are roots of the shape -al- 'spread' and -er- 'sweep'. However,
no roots exist such as *-aal- and *-eer-. Two kinds of evidence unambiguously
establish that the initial vowel of verb roots is underlyingly short. The first of
these can be seen from the forms in (34), where verb stem reduplication adds
the meaning of 'to X here and there':
(34) a. (ku-) al-a 'to spread' -» (ku-) al-aa - yal-a [kwaa.laa.ya.la]

(ku-) er-a 'to sweep' —> (ku-) er-aa - yer-a [kwee.raa.ye.ra]
b. (ku-)lim-a 'to cultivate' -> (ku-) lim-aa - lim-a [ku.li.maa.li.ma]
(ku-) gul-a 'to buy' —> (ku-) gul-aa - gul-a [ku.gu.laa.gu.la]
c. (ku-) saab-a 'to smear —» (ku-) saab-a - saab-a [ku.saa.ba.saa.ba]

oneself, refi. '
(ku-) siig-a 'to smear -> (ku-) siig-a - siig-a [ku.sii.ga.sii.ga]
s.o./s.th.'
(34a) shows that the first FV is lengthened following a -VC- root in reduplica-
tion. A comparison with (34b) and (34c) shows that this lengthening applies
only when the FV is preceded by exactly one mora. Further complications
involving this construction are discussed in section 5. For our present purposes,
it should simply be noted that the initial [y] that occurs on the second stem in
reduplication is followed by a short vowel in these examples. Given the appear-
ance of this [y], it would have been logically possible for Luganda to have an
opposition between root initial /V/ vs. /VV/. A hypothetical underlying repre-
sentation such as /-aal-/ would not only require that the first FV be short, but
also that the second part of the reduplicated stem surface as [yaa.la], with a
perfectly fine CVV initial syllable. Since no such alternations exist in the lan-
guage, we conclude that Luganda roots may not begin with an underlying long
vowel.
The second piece of evidence for this conclusion is tonal. The forms in (35)
show the tonal realization of vowel-initial stems in the non-subject cleft con-
struction:
(35) a. (ènó gyè tu-) al-â29 'it's this that we spread' [twàà.lâ]
(ènó gyè tu-) er-â 'it's this that we sweep' [twèè.râ]
1 2
b. (eno gye tù-) lim-â 'it's this one that we cultivate' [tù.li.mâ]
(ebyo bye tù-) gul-â 'it's these that we buy' [tù.gù.lâ]
1 2
c. (guno gwe tu-) saâb-a 'it's this that we smear' [tù.sàà.bà]
(zino ze tu-) siïg-a 'it's these that we smear' [tù.sii.gà]
12
In this construction30 a HL contour is assigned to the second mora (M2) of the

stem. In (35a) we see that the stem-initial vowel is counted as one TBU for this
purpose. In this regard it behaves identically to the CVCV stems in (35b) rather
than the C W C V stems in (35c).31 If the stem-initial vowel were bimoraic, we
would have obtained outputs such as *[twáá.lá] and *[twáá.gá.lá]. Both redu-
plication and tonal evidence thus point towards root-initial vowels as being
short.
Recall that while roots may not begin + W C , they may begin +VNC. We
attribute this to the [+cons] specification of the nasal. It is important to note in
this context, however, that roots beginning +VQQ are also not found.32 Since
the first half of the geminate is phonetically a consonant, one might expect to
find such roots, just as one finds roots such as -anj- 'spread out' which begin
with a +VNC sequence. We can explain this gap by treating the first half of the
geminate as a vowel (cf. Clements' 1986 representation of Luganda geminates
as VC). Specifically, in our analysis we would have to derive +VQC¡ from un-
derlying N\d which clearly violates the prohibition against root initial +VVC.
At a later stage in the derivation /VjC/ is converted to [VC¡C¡],
What this means is that roots may not have the structure [ W , i.e. a branch-
ing nucleus following a left bracket. We believe that this is related to the prohi-
bition of VV syllables in general in the language. The output of stratum 1
(stem-level) phonology must not therefore contain such a sequence. While root
morphemes may not begin with a long vowel, a small number of grammatical
morphemes do, e.g. the reflexive prefix -eê- seen in many of the examples.
Since it is not unusual for affixes to escape root-structure constraints, we
needn't be concerned.
3.3. Replacement of class 1 subject marker a- by class 9 e-
Another property of Luganda that we believe to be related to the avoidance of

bracket-initial VV and VV syllables concerns the allomorphy of the class 1
(singular human) SM. As seen in (36a), the regular allomorph of the class 1 SM
is a-:
(36) a. a-làb-à 'he/she sees' a-kyáá-láb-á 'he/she still sees'

a-ki-láb-á 'he/she sees it' a-náá-láb-á 'he/she will see'
b. e-láb-á 'it sees' e-kyáá-láb-á 'it still sees'
e-ki-láb-á 'it sees it' e-néé-láb-á33 'it will see'
c. y-a-láb-á 'he/she/it saw'
y-aaka-láb-á 'he/she/it has just seen'
y-éé-làb-a 'he/she/it sees self
The forms in (36a) show a- followed by a verb root, an object marker (OM),
and two tense markers (TM's), all of which begin with a consonant. In (36b) we
see that the class 9 (singular animal) SM has the shape e- in the same preconso-
nantal environments. In (36c), however, where the SM's are directly followed
by the reflexive OM or a TM that begins with a vowel, the two noun classes
merge. Earlier analyses of Luganda or closely related languages have occasion-
ally accounted for this fact by positing a peculiar phonological rule by which
/a-/ glides to [y] before a vowel.
We shall depart from this interpretation and suggest that the class 1 SM a- is
replaced by the class 9 SM e- before a vowel by a morphological rule. The class
9 e- then glides to [y] by the regular phonological rule in (14b). Such a process
whereby one morpheme is replaced by another in a specific phonological (or
grammatical) context has been called a 'rule of referral' (Zwicky 1987, Stump
1993) or 'take-over' (Carstairs 1987). The rule of referral in Luganda is ex-
pressed as in (37a) and is responsible for the first step of the derivations in
(37b).34
(37) a. a- -» e- / V
[class 1 SM] [class 9 SM]
b. /a-a-lâb-â/ -» /e-a-lâb-â/ —> [ya.là.bà] 'he saw'

/a-aaka-lâb-a/ —» /e-aaka-lâb-a/ —> [yaa.ka.là.bà] 'he has just seen'
/a-eê-lâb-a/ —» /e-eê-lâb-a/ -> [yéé.là.ba] 'he sees himself
Once class 1 a- has been taken over by class 9 e-, gliding applies to create the
[y]. The reason, we suggest, for this take-over is to avoid an initial VV syllable.
When a- is replaced by e-, this sets up the possibility of deriving a [yV] or
[yVV] initial syllable. The last example in (37b) shows that e- glides to [y]
even before another /e/. We have seen in other cases that sequences of identical
vowels are realized as a single long vowel. In our view, this latter option is
blocked here, because a VV syllable would result. Instead, a more optimal
realization is obtained by allowing /e-/ to glide before another /e/.35 In case e- is

followed by a short vowel, the output is monomoraic for reasons to which we
now turn.
3.4. Lack of CL when onsetless /e o/ are followed by a vowel
In (3), (8), (12) and elsewhere we have seen examples where a vowel either
glides or is deleted, with compensatory lengthening of the following vowel.
Additional examples are given in (38a).
a. kî-â-lâb-â 'it saw' -» [kyàà.là.bà] (cl. 7)

tû-â-lâb-â 'we saw' -> [twàà.là.bà]
bâ-â-lâb-â 'they saw' - * [bàà.là.bà]
b. e-â-lâb-â 'he/she/it saw' -> [ya.là.bà] (cl. 1, 9)
o-â-lâb-â 'you sg. saw' [wa.là.bà]
As seen in (38b), however, CL is not observed when the gliding vowel is not
itself preceded by a consonant. Further examples of this contrast are seen in
(39).
(39) a. ky-ee= ki-kópò 'it's the cup' b. y-e= loolê 'it's the lorry' [cl.9]
lw-ee= lu-ggi 'it's the door' y-e= mw-ààna 'it's the child' [cl. 1]
b-ee= b-ààna 'it's the children' (< ba-e-)
In this construction the copula is expressed by the morpheme /-e/ which com-
bines with the appropriate noun class prefix. In (39a) we see that when this
prefix is of the underlying shape CV-, gliding or deletion applies, accompanied
by CL. The resulting length surfaces because length is preserved on proclitics
(Hyman & Katamba 1990). In (39b), on the other hand, the vocalic class 9
prefix e- glides to [y] without CL. (We also see that class 1 a- is again replaced
by class 9 e- by the rule of referral in (37a).) One solution, suggested by
Clements (1986), would be to introduce a mora truncation rule which can be
informally stated as in (40a) or (40b).36
(40) a. μ μ μ b. μ 0 / μ
I I / \ I I
[e,o V e,o V [ e,o V
The mora of an initial Id or loi is deleted before another vowel but the vowel
itself survives and gets realized as a (non-moraic) glide. As a result, underlying
/e+V/ and /o+V/ sequences are realized as short [yV] and [wV], What is crucial
is that the V in (40a) does not simply spread onto the preceding mora by the
LVS rule in (6). Our contention is that this would be the equivalent of a W
syllable, which is prohibited on the surface in Luganda.
Now it turns out that, in other cases, these same morphemes glide and we
observe [ y W ] and [ w W ] syllables. As seen in (41), however, this only arises
when the following morpheme has an underlying long vowel:37
(41) a. y-éé-làb-a 'he/she/it sees self < e-eê-lâb-a

w-éé-làb-a 'you sg. see self < o-eê-lâb-a
b. y-aa= mulondo 'the one of Mulondo' [cl. 9] < e-aa= mulondo

w-aa= mulondo 'the one of Mulondo' [cl. 1] < o-aa= mulondo38
c. mw-ááná y-ee= y-a-gw-â 'it's a child that fell' < 1mu-âna e-ee= e-â-gu-â
m-bwá y-ee= y-a-gw-â 'it's a dog that fell' < 1m-buâ e-ee= e-â-gu-â
In (41a) e- and o- glide before the reflexive OM -eê- yielding surface [yéé] and
[wée] syllables. This is because the reflexive morpheme has an underlying long
vowel. We similarly obtain the surface syllables [yaa] and [waa] in (41b), be-
cause of the underlying length of the genitive morpheme -aa (which is pre-
served in the examples because y-aa= and w-aa= are proclitics). Example
(41c) shows that the subject cleft marker -ee is also underlyingly long.39
The preceding subsections have shown that VV syllables are prohibited in
Luganda. We propose, in addition, that the present section points to the need for
an additional constraint presented in (42a).
(42) a. σ b. σ c. σ
I I I
Avoid [V [WC [WC
A V-initial syllable is to be avoided at the left edge of a constituent, i.e. in

addition to the avoidance of onsetless syllables, which are dispreferred in ge-
neral. We take this to mean that in Luganda, as in many languages, constituents
should begin with a CV syllable, e.g. words, stems and roots (possibly other
morphemes as well).40 This constraint motivates the non-existence of + W C + in
roots in the following way: If there were such an input, we could not syllabify
both V's to obtain a disallowed W syllable. Hence both W ' s of a [ W input
cannot syllabify. Without the constraint in (42a), there would be two equally
well-formed syllabifications of one of the two vowels: the first V in (42b) and
the second V in (42c). With the constraint in (42a), (42c) 'wins out' over (42b).
Now, if we add the proposal that non-syllabified moras are stray-erased at the
end of the stem level (stratum 1), the long vowel in (42c) would automatically
shorten to V before moving on to prefixation at stratum 2.
It can now be noted that (42a) will also obviate the mora truncation rule in
(40). In this case as well, only the second of the two V moras e-α- and o-a- of
(38b) can be syllabified, while the other is stray-erased. The difference is that
stray-erasure occurs at the end of the word (stratum 2) phonology rather than
the stem (stratum 1). In addition, the constraint in (42a) explains the y / 0 alter-
nation which we address in the following section.
4. y / 0 alternation
The take-over of class 1 a- by class 9 e- and the moraic loss and gliding of e-
and o- before another vowel indicate that much of the syllable phonology of
Luganda centers around the analysis of glides. In this section, we present an
analysis of the y / 0 alternation that occurs in vowel-initial roots.
4.1. Stable- vs. unstable-^
As seen in the examples in (43), there are clearly verb roots which begin with
an underlying /y/.
(43) 'Stable-y ' at the beginning of root morphemes
a. ku-yïg-à 'to learn' a-yig-à n-jig-à 'he, I learn'

ku-yuz-a 'to tear' a-yuz-a n-juz-a 'he, I tear'
b. ku-yéyùk-a 'to be poor' [< Swahili] a-yéyùk-a n-jéyuk-a 'he, I am poor'
ku-yoy-a 'to hanker after' a-yoy-a n-joy-a 'he, I hanker after'
ku-yab-a 'to be weak' a-yab-a n-jab-a 'he is, I am weak'
c. ku-yiiy-a 'to invent' a-yuy-a n-jiiy-a 'he, I invent'
ku-yéèy-a 'to crumble' a-yéèy-a n-jéèy-a 'he, I crumble'
ku-yûùg-a 'to vacillate' a-yûùg-a n-jùùg-a 'he, I vacillate'
ku-yool-a 'to pick up in hands' a-yool-a n-jool-a 'he, I pick up'
d. ku-yîgg-a 'to hunt' a-yîgg-a n-jîgg-a 'he, I hunt'
ku-yôtt-a 'to make off, go away' a-yôtt-a n-jôtt-a 'he, I make off
ku-yagg-a 'to lament' a-yagg-a n-jagg-a 'he, I lament'
e. ku-yümb-a 'to sing' a-yiimb-a ji-jiíimb-a 'he, I sing'
ku-yeeng-a 'to stir and dissolve' a-yeeng-a ji-jieeng-a 'he, I stir, dissolve'
ku-yuunj-a 'to cut down (plantains)' a-yuunj-a ji-jiuunj-a 'he, I cut down'
ku-yoond-a 'to twist, twine together' a-yoond-a ji-ôond-a 'he, I twist, twine'
ku-yaamb-a 'to help' a-yaamb-a ji-jiaamb-a 'he, I help'
The forms in (43) are arranged by what follows the initial lyl of the verb root:
high short vowels (43a), non-high short vowels (43b), long vowels (43c), vowel
+ geminate (43 d), and, finally, vowel+NC (43 e), where we have also tran-
scribed the redundant vowel length obtained before a preconsonantal nasal (see
sec. 5.1). These roots are preceded by a CV- prefix (infinitive class 15 ku-) in
the first column, by a V- prefix (class 1 SM a-) in the second column, and by
the first person singular moraic n- prefix in the third column. As seen, a [y] is
realized throughout the first two columns. In the third column of (43a-d), the lyl
hardens after the nasal prefix to the alveopalatal affricate [d3] transcribed as j.
In (43e), a process known as Meinhofs Rule (also known as the Ganda Law)
converts the derived n+j to ß ß when the next syllable begins with a nasal (cf.
also ku-yim-à 'to take up position' vs. ß-ßimä Ί take up position', where the
following syllable begins with a simple nasal consonant, rather than NC).
Using Meeussen's (1955) terminology, we can refer to such cases of root-
initial lyl as 'stable': In all environments these roots show either a phonetic [y]
or its hardened or nasalized counterparts. Roots with stable lyl initials are par-
ticularly common when followed by Ν or when occurring in a bimoraic sylla-
ble, i.e. preceding a long vowel or a vowel + NC cluster.41 By contrast, un-
stable-j (and its hardened and nasalized counterparts) is found only before roots
that begin with /e/, loi or /a/:
(44) 'Unstable-y ' at the beginning of root morphemes

a. ku-er-a [kwee.ra] 'to sweep' a-yer-a n-jer-a 'he, I sweep'
ku-ôl-a [kwóò.la] 'to carve' a-yól-à n-jól-à 'he, I carve'
ku-oger-a [kwoo.ge.ra] 'to speak' a-yoger-a n-joger-a 'he, I speak'
ku-al-a [kw-aal-a] 'to spread out' a-yal-a n-jal-a 'he, I spread out'
b. ku-êng-a [kwéè.nga] 'to despise' a-yéèng-a ji-ji-ééng-a 'he, I despise'
ku-end-a [kwee.nda] 'to c. adultery' a-yeend-a ji-jieend-a 'he, I c. adultery'
ku-onger-a [kwoo.nge.ra] 'to increase' a-yoonger-a ji-jioonger-a 'he, I increase'
As seen in the infinitives in (44), these are the forms we have referred to as
'vowel-initial roots'(cf. sec. 3.2). When preceded by the class 1 a- SM, they
begin with [y] and are thus indistinguishable from the stable-^ roots. Similarly,
when preceded by the first person sg. n- prefix, the [y] hardens to [j] and Mein-
h o f s Rule converts nj to [pji] when the next syllable begins with a nasal. The
question, then, is how to analyze this alternation between 0 and [y].
The forms in (45) reveal the correct generalization: the 0-initial form is used
when the root is preceded by a CV- prefix; the y-initial form is used else-
where:42
(45) Generalization: no [y] if the root is preceded by a CV prefix; otherwise a

[y]
a. ku-er-a [kwee.ra] 'to sweep' (infinitive)
tû-er-a [twéè.r-a] 'we sweep' (subject)
ku-gî-er-a [ku.gyéè.ra] 'to sweep it' (object)
a-lî-er-a [a.lyéè.ra] 'he/she will sweep' (tense)
b. a-yer-a [a.ye.ra] 'he/she sweeps' (subject)
o-yer-a [oyera] 'you sg. sweep' (")
e-yer-a [e.ye.ra] 'it sweeps' (")
tû-â-yêr-â [twàà.yè.rà] 'we swept' (tense)
c. ku-eê-yer-a [kwéé.yè.ra] 'to sweep oneself (reflexive)
a-nâa-yer-a [a.nàà.ye.ra] 'he/she will sweep' (tense)
a-kîa-yer-a [a.kyàà.ye.ra] 'he/she still sweeps' (aspect)
d. n-yer-a [n.je.ra] Ί sweep' (subject)
a-n-yer-er-a [an.je.re.ra] 'he/she sweeps for me' (object)
e. yer-a [ye.ra] 'sweep!' (0)
yer-aa - yer-a [ye.raa.ye.ra] 'sweep here and there'
a-yer-aa - yer-a [a.ye.raa.ye.ra] 'he/she sweeps here and there'
tû-er-aa - yer-a [twéè.raa.ye.ra] 'we sweep here and there'
(45a) shows the vowel-initial realization -er- of 'sweep' when preceded by a

variety of CV- prefixes: infinitive class 15 ku-, first person pi. SM tû-, class 9
OM -gì-, and the general future (F2) prefix -//-. (45b) shows the ^-initial reali-
zation -yer- after the three vocalic SM's: a- (class 1), o- (second person sg.) and
e- (class 9), as well as after the general past (P 2 ) TM -â-, [y] is also obtained in
(45c) after long vowel prefixes: reflexive -eê-, today future (Fi) -nâa-, and
persistive -kia-. In (45d) we again have -yer-, although with hardening after a
nasal. Finally, (45e) shows that [y] appears when there is no prefix, i.e. either
word-initially or at the beginning of the second stem in verb stem reduplication.
As seen, the second stem begins with [y] independent of how the first stem is
realized (e.g. without [y] in the fourth example) and independent of whether the
preceding syllable is CV or CVV.43
There are four logical analyses of unstable j-stems, which we will treat in
tum:
(a) underlying /y/ gets deleted; (b) /y/ is epenthetic; (c) a ghost /y/ without a
root node, and (d) extraprosodic /y/.
The first analysis proposes forms such as /-yer-/, i.e. with an underlying /y/
which deletes by rule (46) whenever preceded by a CV- prefix:
(46) y 0 / C V +
There are two problems with this analysis. First, as we saw in (43), there are
many verbs whose initial /y/ does not delete. There are even some minimal or
372 Larry M. Hymcm & Francis X. Katamba
near-minimal pairs, e.g. ku-ab-a [kwaa.ba] 'to come to an end' vs. ku-yab-a 'to
be weak', ku-êng-a [kwéè.nga] 'to despise' vs. ku-yeng-a [ku-yeeng-a] 'to stir
and dissolve'. If unstable-}» roots are analyzed with /y/, we will thus have to
invent some way to distinguish stable and unstable /y/, e.g. a diacritic or rule
exception feature. This seems an unsatisfactory solution, since stable-^ and
unstable-}> appear with almost equal frequency in the lexicon (87 vs. 85 verb
roots, respectively, in Snoxall 1967). The second problem is that unstable-j is
invariably followed by one of three morpheme-initial short vowels in the lan-
guage: Id, loi and /a/. That is, stable- and unstable-}» contrast only when the
following vowel is [-high] and short. This vowel may not be followed by a
geminate, but it may be followed by a NC cluster.4" If unstable-}' is underlying,
how do we relate its distribution to the generalization that morphemes must not
begin with a high vowel? We might therefore reformulate the rule as in (47).
(47) y —» 0 / C V + [-high] C
V
However, even with the short [-high] vowel environment being stipulated, as in
(47), there would be many lexical exceptions to the rule.45
This problem is automatically taken care of in the second logical analysis:
unstable-^ is epenthetic. In this case, we set up underlying forms such as /-er-/
'sweep', /-oger-/ 'speak' etc. Since such roots are entered in the lexicon as
vowel-initial, they meet the general morpheme structure condition of the lan-
guage that prohibits words and root morphemes beginning with /i/ and /u/.46 The
first problem with this analysis, however, is how to formulate the rule. As was
seen in (45b-e), the left hand environments in which unstable-}1 appears are
quite varied: after a -V- morpheme, a long vowel, a nasal, or 0 . Not only would
it be difficult to conflate the preceding environment of the rule, one would also
have to build into it that the [y] is inserted only at the beginning of a root (or
stem). As seen in (48), a [y] is not inserted between vocalic prefixes:
(48) a. o-a-lâb-â [wa.là.bà]47 'you saw' *[o.ya.là.bà]

b. o-eê-lêet-a [wéé.lèè.ta] 'you bring yourself *[o.yéé.lèè.ta]
In (38a) [y] is not inserted when the 2 sg. SM o- is followed by the P2 TM -a-,
and in (48b) it is not inserted between the o- SM and the reflexive prefix -eê-.4S
A second potential complication involves the interaction of ^-insertion with the
takeover rule in (37a). Consider the input in (49), which meets the structural
description of both the takeover rule in (37a) andj-insertion.
(49) a. ([y]-epenthesis)
/a + er-a / -> a-yer-a -> [a.ye.ra] 'he sweeps'
b. (takeover + gliding)
/a + er-a / -> e + er-a -> *[ye.ra], *[e.ye.ra]
The correct output is seen in (49a), where ^-insertion precedes (and hence
bleeds) the takeover rule responsible for replacing class 1 a- with class 9 e-. If
takeover were to apply first, the incorrect output would be derived in (49b).49
Although both rules are in part phonologically conditioned, takeover is a mor-
phological process establishing allomorphy, while ^-insertion is a phonological
rule. One would normally assume that allomorphy would be established before
the application of a phonological rule.50
First, however, let us consider a phonological strategy which appears to us to
be less problematic than the foregoing - and which derives the correct result
from the syllable hierarchy in (30). The solution is to give special status to
unstable-^. One possibility raised by Peterson (1993) is to represent unstable-
>>'s as 'ghost consonants'. Following the work of Zoll (1993, 1996) one could
represent unstable-^ as an I'll lacking a root node. In the right context, a root
node would be supplied so that the segment could be syllabified as [y]. If not
supplied a root node, the rootless /i1 would be stray erased. The drawback of
this solution is that we have no explanation for why unstable-^ appears only at
the left edge of a root morpheme.
Our own preference is to view unstable-^'s as extraprosodic /y/ that is in-
visible at the stem level. This makes two correct predictions. First, because of
the peripherality condition (Hayes 1982), extrametricality accounts for why
unstable-^ is found only at the beginning of a domain. Second, if we adopt
Inkelas' (1989) account of extrametricality, unstable-^ cannot be seen by virtue
of its being external to the stem domain. This explains why the visible part of
the stem must meet the general condition that the initial vowel of a morpheme
is limited to short /e/, loi or /a/.
Our analysis can be illustrated by means of the derivations in (50).
(50) a. [ye.ra] b. [a.ye.ra] c. [twéè.ra]
μ μ μ μ μ μ
I A I A I A
<y>e r a <y> e r a <y> e ra
374 Larry M. Hyman & Francis X. Ka tamba
11. σ σ σ σ σ σ
I1 ιι ιI ιι ιι
μ μ μ μ μ μ μ μ
I Λ I I Λ A I Λ
y e r a a- y e r a t u- y e r a
iii. σ σ σ σ σ σ
ιI ιI I
μ μ μ μ μ μ μ μ
,-Ί Λ I Ί Λ Λ
y e r a a- y e r a t u - ye r a
All examples begin with the representation in (50i): The initial lyl of the root
-yer- is extrametrical at the left edge of the stem. Despite the constraint in
(42a), one forms a V syllable after the left stem bracket so as to avoid stray-
erasure of the initial [e] at the end of the stem phonology. In (50ii), the lyl be-
comes visible when a subject prefix is added in (50b, c), or in the case of the
imperative in (50a), which has no prefix, the lyl becomes visible at the word
level. At this point the preferences in (30) come into play. The question in each
derivation is whether to syllabify the lyl as an onset or to leave it unparsed. In
(50a.iii), the lyl syllabifies because the resulting CV syllable is preferred over
the initial V syllable that would otherwise result. In (50b.iii) the lyl syllabifies
for the same reason. In (50c.iii), on the other hand, the lyl is not parsed. Instead,
the mora of the SM tû- joins with the initial vocalic mora Id of the verb root to
form a bimoraic syllable. If the lyl had been parsed we would have obtained
*[tù.yè.ra], i.e. two CV syllables. As we indicated in (30c), a single CVV sylla-
ble is preferred over two CV syllables. When given a choice, the language will
first construct a CVV syllable before considering other options. Getting the
CVV syllable is thus ranked higher than parsing the lyl. This stands in contrast
with the results in (50b): Here parsing the lyl was ranked higher than forming a
V or VV syllable. These outputs thus result from the interaction of constraints,
ranked in the following order:
(51) a. Avoid a[V51

b. Minimize structure
c. Principle of preservation ('parse')
The first constraint due to Itô (1989) states that onsetless syllables are to be
avoided. The second constraint says that structure should be minimized (cf. the
constraint *STRUC of Prince & Smolensky 1993). Finally, borrowing the princi-
ple of preservation from Paradis & LaCharité (1993) or the notion of 'parse'
The syllable in Luganda 3 75
from OT, the constraint in (51c) says that features in the input should be real-
ized in the output.
Now consider how this hierarchy works when the same verb is preceded by a
long vowel or by a moraic nasal, as in (52).
(52) a. [kwéé.yè.ra] b. [n.jer.a]
(i) σ σ σ σ
I I I I
μ μ μ μ
I Λ <
Ι Α
<y> e r a y > e r a
(ii) σ σ
μ μ μ μ μ μ μ
V ι Α I I Λ
e -y e r a η -y e r a
(iii)
μ μ μ μ μ μ
V / I Λ I /I Α
e -y e r a η -y e r a
i
j
(iv) σ
. -Λ
• \
μ μ μ μ μ
Λ - V Α Α
k u - e - y er a
We again begin in (52i) with stems whose initial /y/ is extrametrical. In (52a.ii)
the reflexive prefix -eê- is added, while in (52b.ii) the 1 sg. SM η- is added.
(52iii) shows that the /y/ is parsed to create a [ye] syllable in both cases. The
alternatives include either not building any additional syllables at all, which is
unacceptable, given that [ye] is perfectly well-formed, or building one or more
onsetless syllables. In (52a.iii) the reflexive morpheme cannot itself be syllabi-
fied, since that would require creating an onsetless syllable, -eê- thus remains
unsyllabified until another prefix is added, e.g. infinitival ku- in (52a.iv).S2 As
seen, the first and third available moras link to this syllable by the edge-in
process referred to in section 2. In the case of (52b.iii), the nasal mora cannot
begin a syllable (by itself or with the vowel /e/) because it would create an
onsetless (i.e. non-branching) mora. Instead, the /y/ must be parsed and, as
indicated, will strengthen to [j] because of the preceding nasal.53
While such hierarchies are common (see Prince & Smolensky 1993 and the
growing literature on OT), what makes Luganda unusual is that it can put off
syllabification of vowels until a later stage in the 'derivation'. Consider, in this
light, what the alternatives are in realizing the representation in (50b.ii):
(53) a. The mora of a- is linked to a syllable with /e/, and the /y/ is not parsed.
b. The mora of a- and the following /e/ are linked to their own syllables,
and the /y/ is not parsed.
c. The /y/ is parsed with the following /e/ as a CV syllable, and the mora
of a- is linked to a newly constructed syllable.
d. The /y/ is parsed as an onset to the next syllable, and the a- is morai-
cally licensed at the left edge of the form.
Assuming that the unparsed /y/ does not block NHD (11), the first two choices
result in the same surface output *[ee.ra]. (53a) creates an initial VV syllable,
while (53b) creates two V syllables in succession. The correct form [a.ye.ra] is
produced by (53c): The CV syllable is formed with the visible /y/ followed by a
new syllable being formed with the mora of a-. This output is preferable to the
two earlier ones because it both avoids VV (the least preferred syllable) and has
the two syllables V and CV rather than two V syllables. The last possibility in
(53d) differs only slightly from (53c): this variant allows the a- to remain un-
syllabified, a vowel being moraically licensed at left edge of its domain.54 (53d)
has the advantage of not constructing lexical syllables in excess of what is
needed postlexically. Recall that all Luganda words end in a vowel, and that
this vowel is always tautosyllabic with an immediately following vowel in the
next word.55 Assume that an initial vowel syllable a- is constructed by (53c). If
another word is placed before it at the phrase level, its final CV syllable will
have to combine with the initial a- syllable. In other words, one of the syllable
nodes would have to be removed. If we wish Luganda syllabification to be
strictly structure building, and never structure changing, we must not allow ci-
to become a syllable. This can only be accomplished by prohibiting onsetless
syllables except when preceded by pause.56
4.2. Cyclic syllabification
We have thus far established that the hierarchy in (51) is responsible for y / 0
alternation in Luganda, and that the ranking proposed guarantees that unstable-
y will be taken only if it is needed to avoid an onsetless syllable. We have also
demonstrated that syllabification cannot be done in one step at the phrasal level,
as implicitly assumed by previous researchers, but rather must proceed in

stages. The question is whether syllabification is cyclic, i.e. applying every time
a morpheme is added, or whether it is non-cyclic. The y/0 alternation suggests
that syllabification is cyclic. The argument is seen from a comparison of the
correct vs. incorrect realizations of the input tû-a-er-a 'we swept' in (54).
(54) Sensitivity to single prefix = cyclic syllabification?

a. [twàà.yè.rà] b. *[twéèrà]
σ σ σ σ σ
/ K T Λ λ Λ
t U- a- y e r a t u- a-y e r a
In (54a) we see that unstable-^ must be parsed to obtain surface [tw-àà-yèr-à].

However, why don't we obtain (54b) instead? We saw in (50c) that a C W
output is preferable to a CVyV one (where the [y] is from unstable-y). So why
shouldn't the C W output of *twéèrà be preferred to the C W y V output of
twààyèràV7 The answer is that it should be, but is not available because syllabi-
fication is not non-cyclic, as in (55a), but rather cyclic, as in (55b).
(55) (a) non-cyclic: *[twéè.rà] (b) cyclic: [twàà.yè.rà]
(i) σ σ σσ
I I I I
μ μ μ μ
I Λ I Λ
<y> e r a <y>e r a
(ii)
Λ Ι Λ Α I I A
t u - a - y e r a - a - y e r a
(iii) σ σ σ σ σ
...--""Ι I / \ I I
... Tμ - - Jμ Αμ μ
Α μ
ι Λμ μΛ
t u - a - y e r a t u - a - y e r a
The assumption in Bantu phonological studies, if any, has been that the préfixai
(stratum 2) phonology is non-cyclic, as in (55a). Here all prefixes are brought
in at the same time, in (55ii). With this assumption, however, edge-in associa-
tion of moras into syllables produces the wrong output in (55iii). The correct
output is seen in (55b), where the past tense prefix -a- is brought in first in
(55ii), thereby causing now visible unstable-^ to link to the following mora.
The subject prefix is then brought in and syllabified separately in (55iii).
The argument for cyclicity is that the y/0 alternation is determined locally
with respect to the shape of the preceding morpheme. In order for this to go
through we must, however, have a clear notion of the morphemic structure of
prefixes. One potential problem concerns prefixes that appear to have the shape
C W - . There appear to be two of these in the language: near future (Fi) -nâa-
and persistive ('still') -kîa-, two tense markers, which were both illustrated in
(45c). Compare the derivations in (56).
(56) (a) cyclic -nâa-: *[a.néè.ra] (b) cyclic-V-: [a.nàà.ye.ra]
(i) σ σ σ σ
I I I I
μ μ μ μ
I Λ I Λ
<y> e r a <
y >
e r a
(ii) σ σ
Λ / I Λ I /ι Α
-η a - y e r a . γ . y e r a
(iii)
μμ,. μ μ μ μ μ μ μ μ
I Λ I Λ , ' 1 Λ Λ
a-η a - y e r a a-η a - V - y e r a
The extrametrical /y/ in (56a.i) becomes visible when the Fi T M -nâa- is added
in (56a.ii). As seen, however, in (56a.iii), the first ( C V ) mora of -nâa- poten-
tially syllabifies with the vocalic mora /e/ of the root. The incorrect output
*[a.néè.ra] is produced instead of the correct [a.nàà.ye.ra] 'he will sweep'. If
persistive -kîa- were treated the same way, we would likewise derive
*[a.kyéè.ra] instead of the correct [a.kyàà.ye.ra]. The correct outputs thus re-
quire that /y/ be parsed when preceded by CVV. (56b) shows how this can be
done by treating these two prefixes as bimorphemic -nâ-V- and -kî-a. In (56b.ii)
the empty vocalic mora -V- is prefixed on its own cycle. At this stage the /y/
links to the mora of the following /e/ and a CV syllable is correctly derived. In
later cycles the F! morph -nâ- and the class 1 SM a- are added. As seen in the
output in (56.b.iii), syllabification proceeds without complication. (Rightward
vowel spreading observed in 56b occurs elsewhere in Luganda and will be dealt
with in sec. 5.1 below.)
The decision to treat Fi -nâ-V- as bimorphemic is easily justified by com-
paring the affirmative and negative forms of the Fi tense in (57):
(57) a. tû-nâ-V-yer-a [tù.nàà.ye.ra] 'we will sweep'

bâ-nâ-V-yer-a [bà.nàà.ye.ra] 'they [class 2 human] will sweep'
kî-nâ-V-yer-a [ki.nàà.ye.ra] 'it [class 7] will sweep'
b. te-tû-V-yer-ê [té.túú.yé.ré] 'we will not sweep'
te-bâ-V-yer-ê [té.báá.yé.ré] 'they [class 2] will not sweep'
te-kî-V-yer-ê [té.kii.yé.rê] 'it [class 7] will not sweep'
The affirmative Fi is marked by [nàà], while the corresponding negative is

marked by the lengthening of the vowel of the SM. Our analysis is that the
formative -nâ- appears only in the affirmative F u while the underspecified
vocalic mora -V- occurs in both affirmative and negative forms. Since only -Ma-
can precede the empty -V- in the affirmative, one can mistakenly conclude that
there is a single -nâa- formative. We instead set up two formatives -nâ-V- in
order to account both for the length alternations in the F ι in (57) as well as to
account for the realization of unstable-^ in (56). Concerning -kîa-, while there is
no evidence from Luganda specifically, other nearby languages have -ki- as
their persistive, e.g. in relative clauses in Kirundi (Meeussen 1959). It is clear
that two formatives -kî-a- were involved historically - and, if we are correct,
still function as such in synchronic Luganda.
With the potential problematic cases of - C W - prefixes analyzed as bimor-
phemic CV-V-, we now seek to test the cyclic hypothesis with the reverse
situation: a CV préfixai syllable that has the bimorphemic structure C-V-, i.e. a
C- prefix followed by a V- prefix. The one possible case of this in the language
is not unambiguous, but it is instructive. It concerns the negative prefix, which,
as seen in (58a) precedes the SM:
(58) What if a C-V- sequence ofprefixes precedes a root?

a. te-bâ-lâb-â [te.bà.là.bà] 'they do not see'
te-tû-lâb-â [te.tù.là.bà] 'we do not see'
b. t-ê-lâb-â [té.là.bà] 'it [cl. 9] doesn't see' (?< /te-ê-/)

t-ô-lâb-â [tó.là.bà] 'y° u s g· don't see' (?< /te-ô-/)
t-â-lâb-â [tà.là.bà] 'he/she doesn't see' (?< /te-â-/)
Where preceding a -CV- SM in (58a), the main clause negative prefix is te- and
two CV syllables are realized without event. In (58b), where the SM has the
shape -V-, however, we observe that the resulting coalesced syllable is unex-
pectedly monomoraic. If we assume the underlying representations shown in
parentheses to the right in (58b), this would be the only place in the language
where a préfixai CV-V- sequence surfaces as short. In addition, the negative
prefix te- in (58a) is the only CV prefix that has the vowel [e]. Recall from
earlier discussion that the only shapes of CV- prefixes in Luganda are Ci-, Cu-,
and Ca-. What we would like to suggest is that the negative prefix has the
vowelless allomorph /t-/ in prevocalic position. This would then be the only
case in the language a C-V- préfixai sequence occurs - and, as we have, the
result is a CV syllable coming from two different morphemes.
With this assumption we are now ready to consider the realization of
-<y>er- 'sweep' in the present negative:
(59) a. te-bâ-er-â [tè.béé.râ] 'they do not sweep'

te-tû-er-â [tè.twéé.râ] 'we do not sweep'
b. t-ô-yer-â [tô.yé.râ] 'you sg. don't sweep'

t-â-yer-â [tà.yé.râ] 'he/she doesn't sweep'
t-ê-yer-â [té.yé.râ] 'it [cl. 9] doesn't sweep'
In (59a), the [y] of -<y>er- is not parsed. Since the root is preceded by the
SM's -bâ- and -tû-, which have the shape CV-, these latter then syllabify with
the following vocalic mora of the verb root, as expected. Turning to (59b), it is
noted that the [y] of -<y>er- is parsed even though it is preceded by one of
three phonetic CV syllables: [tó], [tá], [té]. As seen in (60a), if this C-V- pré-
fixai sequence had been available all at once, we would have expected the [y]
of -<y>er- not to parse, and instead get realizations such as *[twéé.râ], *[téé.râ]
and *[tyéé.râ],
(60) (a) non-cyclic: *[twéé.râ] (b) cyclic: [tô.yé.râ]

(i) σ σ σ σ
I I I I
μ μ μ μ
I Λ e r a y> e r a
(ii) σ σ σ σ
ι ιι Ιι ιι
κ μ μ μ μ μ
y Τ" - -
t- 0 - y e
- - J Λ
r a
I
-0-
/I
y e r
Λ
a
(iii) σ σ σ
I I I
μ μ μ
Λ Λ Λ
t- 0- y e r ;
In a non-cyclic analysis such as (60a), this incorrect result would be obtained

whether one recognized underlying /t-/ or /te-/.58 This is because the extrametri-
cal /y/ of the verb root would be able to see the whole prefix string at once.
Since either te-V- or t-V- begin with a consonant, the /y/ would not parse and
instead a C W syllable would be formed.
Our analysis, then, is that prefixation is cyclic. As a result, as seen in (60b),
the extrametrical lyl will become visible when the SM's o-, a- and e- are added
alone. This is exactly what is also needed for sequences such as o-â-(y)er-a to
be realized as [wa.yé.rà] 'you swept', rather than *[wéé.rà]. Each formative is
thus introduced on a separate cycle at which point the constraints in (51) deter-
mine whether unstable-^ will be parsed.
Before we leave this subject, let us consider a few other relevant facts from
the negative paradigm. The relative clause forms in (61) and (62) correspond to
the main clause negatives seen earlier in (58) and (59).
(61) a. by-e bâ-tâ-lâb-â [bye.bâ.tà.là.bà] 'the ones they don't see'

by-e tù-tâ-lâb-â [by e. tû. tà. là. bà] 'the ones we don't see'
b. by-e ô-tâ-lâb-â [byóó.tò.là.bà] 'the ones you don't see'

by-e â-tâ-lâb-â [byàà.tà.là.bà] 'the ones he doesn't see'
by-e ê-tâ-lâb-â [byéé.tè.là.bà] 'the ones it doesn't see'
(62) a. by-e bâ-tâ-yer-â [bye.bá.tá.yé.rá] 'the ones they don't sweep'

by-e tù-tà-yer-à [bye.tú.tá.yé.rá] 'the ones we don't sweep'
b. by-e ô-tâ-yer-â [byóó.tó.yé.rá] 'the ones you don't sweep'
by-e â-tâ-yer-â [byáá.tá.yé.rá] 'the ones he doesn't sweep'
by-e ê-tâ-yer-â [byéé.té.yé.râ] 'the ones it doesn't sweep'
As seen, in relative clauses, the negative relative marker -tâ- occurs after the
SM. The vowel of -tâ- assimilates to the preceding o- or e- SM (cf. also note
382 Larry M Hyman & Francis X. Katamba
33). Surprisingly, the /y/ of -<y>er- 'sweep' parses in (62), even though it is
preceded by a CV morpheme. This is the sole exception to the generalizations
we have outlined above. The only solution to it that has occurred to us would be
to treat -lâ- as the combination of two formatives -t-â-, i.e. the main clause
negative marker followed by an -â- formative.
Consider, finally in this connection, the forms in (63):
(63) a. sî-lâb-â [si.là.bà] Ί don't see' *te-n-n-lâb-â

b. by-e sî-lâb-â [bye.si.là.bà] 'the ones I don't see' *bye n-tâ-lâb-â
c. [1 sg. SM + negative] -> si-
The data in (63a, b) show that both in main clauses and in relative clauses the
combination of a 1 sg. SM and a negative TM is realized with the portmanteau
morph si- by the spell-out rule in (63c). In other words, the formative si- over-
rides the expected sequences *te-n- in (63a) and ή-là- in (63b). What this means
for the cyclic account of Luganda prefixation that we propose is that si- pre-
empts whichever of the two morphemes [ 1 sg. SM] or [neg] it first encounters:
in the main clause, where NEG comes outside the SM, si- will be spelled out in
place of the 1 sg. SM -«-. In the relative clause, where the SM comes outside
NEG, si- will be spelled out in place of NEG -tá-.59 With this in mind, now
consider the realization of -<y>er- in (64).
(64) a. sî-er-â [séé.râ] Ί don't sweep' *si-yér-â

*te-n-jer-â
b. by-e sî-er-â [bye.séé.râ] 'the ones I don't sweep' *by-e si-yér-â
*by-e ή-tâ-yer-â
The non-parsing of <y> is as expected, since si- is a single formative, i.e. since
it comes in on one cycle. In this sense it differs from the forms in (59b), where
the combinations of NEG + vocalic SM have the shape CV (e.g. [tó]), but come
in two cycles, i.e. [t- [o-.
4.3. Edge-in syllabification is cyclic syllabification
To summarize, the preferred syllable types in (30) are predicted on the basis of
the ranked constraints in (51). With cyclicity and these constraints established,
we are now in a position to address the edge-in syllabification of overloaded
moraic sequences. Recall the example in (19c), repeated in (65).
(65) tû-a-ee-"tt-a -» [twét-tà] 'we killed ourselves'

we-P2-refl-kill-FV
The underlying form in (65) has a C V V W V sequence which must be

'trimmed' into a single bimoraic syllable.60 In section 2 we discussed Clements'
V-trimming rule that removes V slots from the left. Tonal evidence was ad-
duced for internal stray erasure to trim excess medial V slots. In our moraic
account, we proposed that if syllabification proceeded in an edge-in fashion, the
excess medial moras of a C V V W V sequence would fail to be syllabified and
would be stray-erased, as shown in (66).
(66) σ σ
I
a. μ - μ - μ μ - μ - u b. μ^ - μ2 - μ 3 μ4 - μ5 - μβ
Λ I Ve ΝΑ
t u a t a t w a e
\Λ
t a
c.
t w
It may seem unfortunate, however, that we have had to invoke edge-in as-
signment of moras to syllables, rather than the more usual left-to-right linking.
However, we suggest that this edge-in effect may only be an artifact. Once we
recognize the syllable preferences in (30) and the constraints in (51) and (42a),
we can derive this edge-in effect by our demonstration that syllabification is
cyclic in Luganda. The cyclic analogue to non-cyclic edge-in syllabification in
(66) is given in (67).
(67) a. σ σ b. σ σ c. σ σ
μ μ μ μ - μ μ
μ
\ Αt a
νe ν t\ a
ϊa ' Ve ' \Λ
t a
d. σ σ
μ - μ - μ μ - μ μ
Λ Γ"-νe
t u a t
\Λa
We begin in (67a) with both moras of the stem /"tta/ syllabified. When the
reflexive prefix /-eê-/ is added in (67b), the prohibition against a W syllable
(including VC¡) blocks the syllabification of either of its moras. The same is
observed in (67c) when the P2 tense marker /-â-/ is added. It is not until the CV
mora tû- 'we' is added in (67d) that syllabification can proceed: as seen, the CV
mora joins with the V (=Q) mora to form a bimoraic syllable. The intervening
moras are then stray-erased.61
In (67) we thus derive the edge-in nature of syllabification by a combination
of two formal devices: (i) the constraints in (51) and (42a); and (ii) cyclic syl-
labification. While V syllables are permitted, VV syllables are avoided at all
stages of the derivation. When a - W - prefix such as reflexive /-eê-/ is in-
volved, one of two things happens: first, neither mora may be syllabified, as
(67c), because to do so would create a VV syllable. Or, in the case of an input
such as /tû-eê-lâb-a/ 'we see ourselves', its second mora is syllabified (rather
than its first) because this satisfies the constraint against bracket-initial V sylla-
bles in (42a). In such a form, the mora of /tû-/ will also be syllabified so as to
create a CVV syllable, and the medial mora (= the first mora of /-eê-/ is stray-
erased.62 Thus, the syllable hierarchy in (43) - coupled with cyclicity - yield the
apparent edge-in association.
S. A problem for level-ordered phonology
In the preceding sections we have thus motivated a cyclic process of syllabifi-

cation which starts internal to the stem and then moves progressively outward,
taking in one prefix at a time. The effect, as we have just seen, is an edge-in
association of moras in case more than two must be squeezed into a bimoraic
syllable. We have also seen that stem-initial y / 0 alternation is conditioned by
optimizing the syllable outputs relative to the principles in (30), (42) and (51).
The analysis we have presented would lead one to conclude that one can pro-
ceed derivationally to effect all of stratum 1 (stem-level) phonology 'before'
going on to stratum 2 (word-level) phonology. In this section we show that a
rule application paradox arises if we interpret the strata as domain-ordered, i.e.
if we insist on completing the stem-level phonology before moving out to con-
sider the prefixes at stratum 2. In order to appreciate the problem we first intro-
duce the moraic nasal in section 5.1.
5.1. The moraic nasal
In the preceding sections we saw that a hierarchy of constraints determines

which moras will be syllabified vs. stray-erased. An additional element figuring
in the moraic equation, but not yet treated, is the preconsonantal moraic nasal.
Just as a vowel or a geminate consonant contributes a mora to a syllable to its
left, so does a nasal that is immediately followed by a homorganic oral conso-
nant.63 The major difference between such NC sequences and geminates is the
vowel lengthening that applies before the former. As seen in (68), vowel-
lengthening before a NC sequence is pervasive:
(68) a. Within morpheme: ku-gend-a —> [ku.gee.nda] 'to go'

ku-bing-a —» [ku.bii. ηga] 'to chase'
b. Across morphemes: ku-ñ-sib-a —» [kúú.nsi.ba] 'to tie me'

[lexical] ku-n-tûm-a —» [kúú.ntú.ma] 'to send me'
c. Across words: bu-tâ-lâb-â + n-te -> [bu.tà.là.bàà .nte]

[postlexical] 'to not see cows'
bu-tâ-lâb-â + n-go -> [bu.tà.là.bàà ^go]
cl. 14-neg-see 'to not see leopards'
In (68a) the moraic nasal /n/ is tautomorphemic with the following oral conso-
nant, while in (68b) the N+C cluster occurs as the result of prefixation of the
first person singular object prefix /-n-/.64 In (68c) the nasal is the class 9/10
prefix which comes in contact with the preceding vowel across a word bound-
ary.
As seen in (68), whatever the source of the VNC sequence, in all cases the
preceding vowel is lengthened. Clements (1986) accounts for this in the two-
step fashion seen in (69).
(69) a. V V C b. V V
[+nasal] [aF]
As in the case of geminate consonants, which Clements set up as VC on the CV

tier, the moraic nasal is linked to a V slot and forms a VC with the following
consonant. In (69a) the nasal both delinks from its V slot and relinks to the
following C. This creates a vacant V slot to which the features of the preceding
vowel spread. In this fashion, Clements is able to view the increased vowel
duration as a case of compensatory lengthening. As was true of his gliding rule
in (5a), Clements' rule in (69a) creates a single segment, a prenasalized conso-
nant. There is good durational evidence for this view, since the vowel lengthen-
ing is quite considerable in Luganda, even greater than that in closely related
languages (Hubbard 1994, 1995, Maddieson & Ladefoged 1993). Clements'
rightward spreading rule in (69b) is the mirror image of his leftward spreading
rule in (5b).
Converting Clements' insights into our moraic framework, what we need is a
process that will convert the input in (70a) into the output in (70b).
(70) Rightward vowel spreading (RVS)
a. μ μ μ b. μ μ μ
C
/ \V N
I C
/V\ / C\ /V N
/CΝV
As seen, the nasal in (70a) relinks to the following mora in (70b). The mora of
the preconsonantal nasal is filled by a process of rightward vowel spreading
(RVS) which is analogous to the LVS process seen in (6). If done in two steps,
this input-output relation of nasal relinking with compensatory lengthening can
logically be effected in one of the two ways in (71).
(71) 'Push ' vs. 'drag ' versions of the CL trigger

a. μ μ μ b. μ μ μ
g
Αe / n d
Α
a
Αg e n
Αa
d
In (71a) RVS has applied, 'pushing' the nasal off of its mora. The freed nasal
then relinks to the following mora, which now has the shape NCV. In (71b) the
nasal first delinks from its mora and relinks to the following mora. This then
'drags' the preceding vowel onto the freed mora by RVS.
Either of these conceptions will work, as will a non-ordered, input-output

relation. What must be recognized in either case is a crucial condition on RVS:
the vowel that spreads must be in a CV mora. Of the three distributions of the
moraic nasal in (72), RVS will apply only in (72a), where the preceding mora is
CV:
(72) a. μ μ b. μ μ c. μ
A l I I ι
C V Ν [V Ν [Ν
RVS and delinking will not apply to a VN sequence in (72b), which recall
occurs only bracket-initially in Luganda, because a VV syllable that would
result fatally violates the highest ranked constraint on syllable structure in this
language and so, when it is generated by the grammar, it is screened out and
fails to surface (see 30, 31). Finally, note that delinking does not apply to a
string-initial moraic nasal in (72c), which will be moraic (and syllabic) if occur-
ring after pause.
Evidence for the failure of RVS to apply to the structure in (72b) comes from
tone. Consider the forms in (73), which correspond to those cited earlier in
section 3.2:
(73) a. (eno gye tù-) lim-â 'it's this one that we cultivate' [tù.li.mâ]
(ebyo bye tù-) gul-â 'it's these that we buy' [tù.gù.lâ]
1 2
b. (ono gwe tu-) lagîr-a 'it's this one that we command' [là.gi.rà]
(ono gwe tu-) sasûl-a 'it's this one that we pay' [sà.sù.là]
1 2
c. (guno gwe tu-) saâb-a 'it's this that we smear' [tù.sàà.bà]
(zino ze tu-) siîg-a 'it's these that we smear' [tù.sii.gà]
12
As indicated, in the non-subject cleft construction, a HL contour is assigned to

the M2 (second mora) of underlyingly toneless verb stems. All preceded moras
are realized with surface L tone. By the regular tone rules, the M2 is realized H,
while the following moras, if any, are realized L. In case the M2 is the second
mora of a CVV syllable, as in (73c), the whole syllable is realized H. This is
because Luganda does not permit rising tones.
Now compare the analogous forms in (74) involving NC sequences:
(74) a. (ono gwe tu-) liñd-a 'it's this one that we wait for' [tù.lii.ndà]
(zino ze tu-) biñg-a 'it's these that we chase' [tù.bii.qgà]
12
b. (guno gwe tu-) anj-â 'it's this that we spread out' [twàà.nj-â]
(tutyo bwe tu-) end-â 'it's thus that we commit adultery' [twèè.nd-â]
1 2
c. (zino ze tu-) ambâl-a 'it's these that we wear' [twàà.mbà.là]
(eno gye tu-) ongêr-à 'it's this that we increase' [twòò.qgé.rà]
1 2
The forms in (74a) show that -CVNC- roots act the same way as the - C W C -
roots in (73 c): The HL is assigned to the second mora which, as indicated,
belongs underlyingly to the preconsonantal nasal. On the surface, the preceding
vowel is of course lengthened and, since rising tones are not permitted in
Luganda, the whole syllable is pronounced on a H pitch. This situation con-
trasts with the tones observed on the vowel-initial verbs in (74b,c). In these
examples, the HL contour is assigned to the second syllable - as if the initial
VN sequence counted as one mora. Evidence that this sequence cannot be
monomoraic comes from the verb stem reduplication process also seen in sec-
tion 3.2. The reduplicated verb forms in (75) have a frequentative ('again and
again') or distributive meaning ('here and there'):
( 7 5 ) a. (ku-) lim-a 'to cultivate' —> (ku-) lim-aa - lim-a [ku.li.maa.li.ma]

(ku-) gul-a 'to buy' —> (ku-) gul-aa - gul-a [ku.gu.Iaa.gu.la]
b. (ku-) saab-a 'to smear' —> (ku-) saab-a - saab-a [ku.saa.ba.saa.ba]
(ku-) siig-a 'to smear' —> (ku-) siig-a - siig-a [ku.sii.ga.sii.ga]
c. (ku-) lagir-a 'to command' - » (ku-) lagir-a - lagir-a [ku.la.gi.ra.la.gi.ra]
(ku-) sasul-a 'to pay' —> (ku-) sasul-a - sasul-a [ku.sa.su.la.sa.su.la]
As seen in (75a), if the verb root is monomoraic, the FV that links the two
stems is lengthened. However, as shown in (75b,c), the FV does not lengthen if
it is preceded by two (or more) moras. In other words, the FV is lengthened just
in those cases where it is in M2 position in a stem. Now consider the verb stems
with NC in (76).
(76) a. (ku-) lind-a 'to wait' -> (ku-) lind-a - lind-a [ku.lii.nda.lii.nda]
(ku-) bing-a 'to chase' -> (ku-) bing-a - bing-a [ku.bii.qga.bii.qga]
b. (ku-) anj-a 'to spread out' —> (ku-) anj-a - yanj-a [kwaa.nja.yaa.nja]
(ku-) end-a 'to fornicate' -» (ku-) end-a - yend-a [kwee.nda.yee.nda]
c. (ku-) ambal-a 'to wear' —> (ku-) ambal-a-yambal-a

[kwaa.mba.la.yaa.mba.la]
(ku-) onger-a 'to increase' -» (ku-) onger-a - yonger-a
[kwoo.nge.ra.yoo.nger.a]
As seen, there is no lengthening of the first FV in any of these forms. What this
means is that the -VNC- roots in (76b) must not be monomoraic. The nasal
counts as a mora in determining that the following FV will be short.
Given this fact, there must be another explanation as to why in (74b,c) the
M2 tones are assigned to the second syllable of stems beginning with VNC.
Somehow verb roots such as -anj- and -end- must be bimoraic (because of FV
non-lengthening in (76)), but have only one tone-bearing unit (TBU). As ar-
gued by Hyman (1992), TBU's are defined in Luganda and several other Bantu
languages as either (a) the first mora of a syllable, or (b) the second mora of a
syllable if it dominates a [-cons] root node. Adopting Zee's (1988) strong/
weak labeling of the moras, we thus have the mora/TBU counts in (77).
(77) a. σ b. σ c. σ d. *σ
C V V V N Ν V Co
[2 TBU's] [1 TBU] [1 TBU]
As indicated in (77a), a syllable will be bimoraic and consist of two TBU's

only if it is C W . This includes cases where the second mora is the first half of
a geminate consonant, and it includes CVN syllables which have undergone the
RVS.65 What it excludes is the configuration in (77b): a bimoraic VN syllable
will count as one TBU, because RVS does not apply to it. Consequently, the
second mora in (77b) is [+cons] and fails to meet either of the conditions for
being a TBU.66 The nasal in (77c), on the other hand, is a TBU, because it is the
first (hence strong) mora of its syllable - and thus escapes the condition on
consonantality, which applies only to the second (weak) mora.
The question to be addressed now is why RVS should be sensitive to
whether a trigger syllable has an onset. The answer to this question is that
Luganda has the constraint in (77d): a bimoraic, bivocalic syllable that lacks an
onset is prohibited. We thus add the above facts to the list of phenomena moti-
vated by the *a[VV(C) constraint in Luganda.
5.2. A problem
Now that we have analyzed the moraic nasal and determined that a bimoraic
VN sequence constitutes a single TBU, we return to our analysis of the y / 0
alternation. Recall that we have assumed in this analysis that unstable-^ is ex-
trametrical at the left edge of a stem (=stratum 1) and thus does not become
visible until word level (stratum 2), when either a prefix is added or there is no
prefix in the case of the bare imperative. In this stratally segregated approach,
the stratum 1 phonology takes place prior to the introduction of information
from stratum 2. That is, we have thus far followed the classical model of lexical
phonology (Kiparsky 1982).
In this section, we show that this model cannot be maintained. Specifically, a
problem arises in the tonal realization of roots that alternate between -VNC...
and -/VNC.... Compare the forms in (78) with those in (79).
(78) a. (guno gwe tu-) anj-â 'it's this that we spread out' [twàà.nj-â]
(tutyo bwe tu-) end-â 'it's thus that we commit adultery' [twèè.nd-â]
1 2
b. (zino ze tu-) ambâl-a 'it's these that we wear' [twàà.mbâ.là]
(eno gye tu-) ongêr-à 'it's this that we increase' [twòòqgé.rà]
1 2
(79) a. (guno gwe a-) yarij-a 'it's this that he spreads out' [gwàà.yàânj-à]
(bwatyo bwe a-) yeñd-a 'it's thus that he commits adultery' [bwàà.yéénd-à]
12
b. (zino ze a-) yambal-a 'it's these that he wears' [zàà.yààmbà.là]
(eno gye a-) yoñger-á 'it's this that he increases' [gyàà.yôcrçgè.rà]
12
In all of these verb forms, a HL contour is assigned to the second TBU of the
verb stem, which is always the second mora (M2). In (78), repeated from (74b,
c), the HL is assigned to the second syllable because the initial VN counts as a
single TBU. In the forms in (79), which involve the same verb stems, the HL is
assigned to the nasal since it is preceded by a CV mora and thus counts as a
TBU.
These data demonstrate that the realization of unstable-^ has an important
effect on the tonology. If it is preceded by a CV- prefix, e.g. tu- 'we' in (78), it
will not be realized and the initial VN will count as one TBU. If it is preceded
by a V- prefix, e.g. a- 'he/she' in (79), unstable-^ will surface, and the / V N se-
quence will count as two TBU's.
(80) a. b. c. d.
σ σ σ σ σ σ ΗL
Λ I
μ μ
Λ
Λ μ
Λ μ μ μ μ
V
μ μ
<y> a η j a y an
Λ y/Va η Α
j a j a
/ν
y a η j
[
As shown in the derivation in (80), unstable-^· must be syllabified prior to RVS
and M2 stem-tone assignment. The representation in (80a) shows the extra-
metrical unstable-^ in angled-brackets, as we have thus far assumed. Hence the
first syllable has the shape VN. In (80b), the unstable-^ becomes visible and
joins the first mora of the initial syllable. This is followed in (80c) by RVS and
relinking of the nasal to the next mora. Finally, the HL contour is assigned to
the second TBU in (80d), which, as seen, is the M2 of the first syllable. Had
unstable-^ continued to be extrametrical throughout the steps in (80), RVS
would not have applied to VN, and the M2 HL would instead have been as-
signed to the second stem syllable.
The problem of course is that one doesn't know if unstable-^ will surface, as
it does in (80), until leaving stratum 1, i.e. until knowing what the shape will be
of the preceding prefix (if any). We assume that the assignment of HL to the
second mora of the stem is a stratum 1 rule, since it makes specific reference to
the stem domain. We thus appear to have a situation where stratum 1 M2 tone
assignment must look ahead to see what will happen at stratum 2.
This would appear to create a paradox: The fate of unstable-^ must await the
syllabification of the preceding prefix, and if the assignment of the stem M2 HL
tone must also await the fate of the unstable-^, it would appear that stem level
HL is assigned after prefixation, i.e. after we have passed from stem to word
level in the derivation. Consequently, the derivation would have to keep track
of what is within vs. outside the stem, even after the addition of a prefix, since
the latter is not calculated in the mora count. Also, we would have to make sure
that word-level RVS and prenasalization do not precede the assignment of the
M2 HL tone.
One way to maintain the lexical model and independent stratal morphology
and phonology would be to abandon a strictly phonological analysis in favor of
one in terms of allomorphy. In this analysis, we would assume that every so-
called vowel-initial verb root would have an alternate form with initial /y/ con-
ditioned by the subcategorization illustrated by means of the verb roots in (81).67
(81) a. 'sweep' : -er- / +CV +

-yer-
b. 'spread out' : -anj- / +CV +
-yanj-
As before, the vowel-initial allomorphs are restricted to occurring in a single

frame: when immediately following a CV prefix (informally represented by the
+ boundaries). By choosing the stem alternant that is appropriate, we can im-
mediately determine what will be the second TBU for the assignment of M2
tone. We will assume that the phonological conditioning of allomorphy pro-
posed in (81) can still be motivated by the syllable structure considerations for
which we have argued above. This analysis, however, has several undesirable
consequences:
First, since the advent of generative phonology, other things being equal,
phonological analyses have been preferred over morphological ones. In this
case every root that begins with unstable-^ will have to be entered with two
allomorphs. We have considered only verb roots thus far, but the same issues
pertain to noun roots as well (cf. sec. 5.3)®
Second, both allomorphs of these roots would have to be extended by deri-
vational suffixes and the FV morpheme before determining which 'allomorph'
is used with which preceding prefix. In other words, this is not a case of allo-
morphs but rather 'allostems', forms which consist of at least two, and poten-
tially many more morphemes. We know of no precedent for such a phenome-
non.
Finally, there is a potential third problem, depending on the validity and
interpretation of Carstairs' (1987) peripherality principle by which the shape of
inner morphemes cannot depend on the presence of outer morphemes. It is
expected that when there is allomorphy, the shape of an affix depends on the
base to which it is attached, not the reverse. In this allomorphy interpretation of
y / 0 alternation, the root allomorph (or allostem) is inserted on the basis of a
prefix, which appears to be quite unusual across languages.
We, therefore, disprefer an analysis with allomorphy and instead opt for one
where the strata are more integrated than usually assumed.69 Specifically, we
propose that the rules we have presented in this study are input-output relations,
some of which have specific requirements based on the domain of application.
For example, we summarized in (14) a difference in the gliding of mid-vowels
that was dependent on lexical vs. postlexical domains. In such a case, the input-
output relation must also be checked against whether a mid-vowel comes to be
followed by another vowel within the same word or across words.
Such input-output conditions are, of course, the cornerstone of non-deriva-
tional approaches to phonology such as optimality theory (Prince & Smolensky
1993, McCarthy & Prince 1993, 1994). Returning to the problem at hand, we
can say in this theory that the M2 HL must be assigned to the second stem TBU
of the output.10 Specifically, we don't count the vocalic mora that results from
RVS at stratum 2. Thus, the verb form [twaa.njâ] in (78a) has the input struc-
ture in (82a).
(82) a. b. HL
I
μι v-2 μ3 μ4 μι μ3 μ4
Λ
t U [ <y>
IIA
a η j a
Αt w/ a n/Κ
j a
Because the second stem mora (μ3) dominates a nasal and is not a TBU, the HL
tone is assigned to the FV in (82b). If we had counted the vocalic shape of μ3 in
the output in assigning the stem tone, then the HL would have been assigned to
it (and we would have obtained *[twáá.njá]). In the account proposed thus far
we have blocked this by referring to the input nasal that constitutes μ3. In our
earlier terms, μ 3 is not a TBU. Note, however, that reference to the output spon-
soring of moras by domains allows a different interpretation. If we maintain co-
indexing of μ3 and μ4 with the stem, then we can revise our account and say
that the HL must be assigned to the second stem mora of the output. This is
made possible by the fact that μ2 is stray-erased as per our proposed edge-in
syllabification of moras. So, in just the case where unstable-^ is not syllabified
and a stem begins with two non-branching moras, only one of these stem moras
will survive into the output.
We, therefore, assume stem-licensing of moras which carries through to the
output. The price we pay is having to identify which moras are sponsored by
the stem and which are not. However, the other pay-off, as we have seen, is that
we may be able to avoid having to refer to the nasal '...μ^...' in (77b) as dif-
ferent from other moras. In this revised account all moras are TBU's that make
it into the output.
5.3. A true case of allomorphy
In the preceding section we rejected an analysis with allomorphy to account for

y / 0 alternations. However, there is a clear case of allomorphy that intersects
with these alternations in an interesting way. This concerns the class 5 noun
prefix which Meeussen (1967) reconstructs as */ - in Proto-Bantu (PB). We
have mentioned in passing (cf. also the Appendix) that PB */ has a geminating
effect on following consonants. This effect is evidenced in the class 5 nouns in
(83a).
p-péèsà 'button' (< Sw.) b. pi- ma-péèsà

t-tâmà 'cheek' pi ma-tàmà
c-cúpá71 'bottle' Pi- ma-cùpà
k-kúbó 'road' pi. ma-kùbò
b-bálá 'stain' pi- ma-bàlà
d-dibà 'skin, hide' pi- ma-libà
j-joola 'length of cloth' Pi- ma-joola
j-jibâ 'dove' pi. ma-yibâ
g-gùùmbà 'bone' pi- ma-gùùmbà
g-gwáági 'centerpost of house' pi. ma-wààgi
f-fiimù 'spear' Pi- ma-fiimù
v-vííví 'knee' pi. ma-viivì
s-sàvù 'fat, lard' pi- ma-sàvù
z-zikè 'chimpanzee' pi. ma-zikè
j-jubâ 'dove' pi ma-yubâ
The geminate is not present in the corresponding plurals in (83 b), which are
marked by the prefix ma-. These plurals also show that /I y w/ geminate as [dd
jj ggw], respectively.
Now consider the class 5 nouns in (84a-c).
(84) a. ly-ààto 'canoe' d. pl. mà-àto

ly-eenvû 'ripe banana' pl. m-eenvû
ly-óóvù 'acne' [no plural]
ly-anda 'piece of charcoal' pl. mà-nda
b. li-ggwâ 'thorn' e. pl. ma-ggwâ
lí-nnya 'name' pl. má-nnya
lí-miyo 'tooth' pl. má-ñnyo
c. lí-iso 'eye' f. pl. mà-àso
In these forms, the class 5 prefix is /li-/, which corresponds to PB *di-.12 This
allomorph of class 5 is used when the root begins with a vowel, as in (84a). It is
also used when the root begins with a geminate consonant in (84b). This fol-
lows from the fact that geminates derive from */', which is still possible as a
synchronic analysis, hence /jgwá/ 'thorn', etc. (cf. Clements' 1986 VC repre-
sentation of geminates; also Borowsky 1983a). The one noun in (84c) recon-
structs as *-icò and should therefore have produced *[lisso], but geminate [ss]
is avoided here (also in the plural in (84f)), although it is found elsewhere in the
language (cf. s-sàvù 'fat, lard' in (83a)).
Comparing the class 5 nouns in (83) with those in (84) we discover that there
is a completely general allomorphy: the geminator j- is used if the noun stem
begins with a consonant, the prefix lì- is used if the noun stem begins with a
vowel (or geminate, which functions like a vowel). The relevance of the data in
(84) to our study is that these vowel-initial noun stems all derive from the un-
stable-j phenomenon. Since there are no noun class prefixes of the shape V-,
this can only be shown when such stems are preceded by the N- prefix of sin-
gular class 9 or plural class 10. Thus, consider the following nouns which are
marked by class 11 lu- in the singular in (85a) and class 10 N- in the plural in
(85b):
(85) a. lw-ààla 'fingernail' b. pi- n-jálá

lw-eeyo 'broom; brush' pi. n-jeyo
lw-óoka 'internal pain' pl. n-jókà
lw-ookyo 'red-hot iron' pl. n-jokyo 'tribal body marks'
c. 1Ù-ÙSO 'long glance' d. pl. n-zisò
As seen, the unstable-^ fails to appear after the CV prefix lu- in (85a), but ap-
pears in hardened form [j] after the prefix N- in (85b). In other words, unstable-
y fails to appear in classes 5/6 in (83) because the prefixes li- and ma- have the
shape CV-. However, if one compares the stem in (84c,f) with its related reali-
zation in (85c,d) one observes that in the latter the underlying unstable-^ of
-<y>V so- is realized as [z] in (85d). In addition, for reasons outlined in the
Appendix, unstable-^ may not be realized before the vowel [i]. We can thus
assume that all of the roots in (83) begin with an unstable-j which does not
surface in classes 5 and 6.
The question is: why doesn't it surface in class 5? Or, put slightly differ-
ently, given the two allomorphs of class 5, gemination (/j-/) and li-, why is it the
latter that is chosen for stems beginning with unstable-j? As seen in (86), stems
that begin with stable-^ undergo the same gemination as other stems that begin
with a consonant:
j-jamba 'small fish (sp.)' b. pi. ma-yamba

j-jêmbe 'horn, charm' Pi- mà-yêmbe
j-jibâ 'dove' pi. ma-yobâ
j-jinja 'stone, rock' pi. ma-yinja
j-jùtè 'boil' Pi- ma-yùtè
j-jùùga 'projecting jaws' pi. ma-yùùga
What is lacking is a single case in the language where a class 5 noun with initial
j-jV... obligatorily alternates with ma-V..., as would be expected of an unstable-
y. The only nouns that even hint at this possibility are the three indicated in
(87).
(87) a. j-jano 'wonder, marvel' pl. ma-wano or ma-ano

(< Nyoro i-hano, /i-panof)
b. j-jayo 'mouldy, musty smell' pl. ma-yayo or ma-ayo
(cf. lw-aayo = j-jayo)
c. j-jebe 'dried fruit of a tree' pi. ma-yébè or m-éèbe
The example in (87a) is a borrowing from Nyoro, where /p/ is realized as [h]
unless preceded by a homorganic nasal, in which case one obtains [mp], As
seen in the plural, the [h] is interpreted in Luganda either as [w], the normal
reflex of /p/ in this context, or is deleted, since Luganda doesn't have [h]. We
can thus dismiss this example. The noun j-jayo in (87b) shows a variation in its
plural. However, the singular also exists equivalently as class 11 lw-aayo. Since
some class 11 nouns have a plural in class 6, it is possible that ma-yayo is the
plural of j-jayo, while ma-ayo is the plural of lw-aayo. This leaves only (87c)
whose variation in the plural we cannot explain.
What we can explain is why the class 5 allomorph liis chosen with <y>-
initial nouns rather than /'-: By choosing li- one obtains forms such as [lii.so]
'eye', [lyàà.to] 'canoe' etc. Had /- been chosen instead, such nouns would have
been realized *[j.ji.sò], *[j.jàtò], etc. As seen, the choice is thus between a
single CVV syllable vs. two syllables C.CV. In (30c) we proposed a constraint
according to which a single CVV syllable is preferred over two CV syllables. If
we interpret this constraint in terms of moras we discover that it also covers the
current situation: A bimoraic syllable is preferred over two monomoraic sylla-
bles (other things being equal). Thus this class 5 allomorphy, rather than being
a problem, provides additional support for the approach taken here.73
6. Summary
In the preceding sections we accomplished the following: first, we expanded

the empirical base for the study of the syllable in Luganda. Second, we pro-
vided a characterization of Luganda syllabification within the context of the
morphological structures that affect the phonology of the language. We saw
that syllable-related phenomena may differ in their word-internal vs. word-
external manifestations (e.g. the gliding vs. deletion of mid-vowels when fol-
lowed by another vowel). We also saw that syllabification is edge-in and cyclic
in Luganda. We also proposed that the sponsoring of moras by the stem
(=stratum 1) be globally encoded in the output in order to handle a sticky prob-
lem involving unstable-^ and the assignment of M2 stem tone. Finally, we saw
that the choice of the class 5 allomorph li- before unstable-^ roots is predicted
by our analysis. Despite the fact that we have shown Luganda syllabification to
be considerably more intricate than Tucker (1962) and subsequent scholars
have described it, we believe (or at least hope) that we have not detracted from
the pleasing aesthetics that so inspired Tucker in the opening quotation.74
Appendix
In the above discussion we have had occasion to mention the role of geminate
consonants (henceforth geminates) in Luganda syllabification. What is lacking
from our study is a thorough study of gemination. In order to limit the length of
our study we shall provide only a schematic statement concerning geminates,
which, although usually functioning as vowels, do not always behave as ex-
pected. As we shall show, bimoraic VC¡ sequences behave slightly differently
from either W or VN ones. But first, as an attempt to understand their be-
havior, it is constructive to consider the various sources of geminate conso-
nants.
As has been pointed out in the literature (Meeussen 1955, Tucker 1962,
Clements 1986), a major source of geminates is from PB *jC sequences. Some
geminates in Luganda can be argued to have the synchronic representation /jC/.
In order to appreciate the full situation, we briefly list the seven sources of
gemination in Luganda:
(i) Tauto-morphemic geminates: e.g. ku-tippa 'to tie tightly', ku-kk-a 'to de-
scend', n-tugga 'giraffe' etc.
(ii) 'Ci prefixes' such as class 5, as we saw in (83), e.g. t-táma 'cheek', f-fúmu
'spear', as well as some class 9 nouns, including borrowings such as b-bàsì
'bus', s-saffààli 'safari'.
(iii) Nasal prefix + root-initial nasal consonant, e.g. class 9 m-mésè 'rat(s)', n-
nákü 'trouble(s)' and first person singular subject and object prefixes on verbs,
e.g. m-manyi Ί know', a-n-nenya 'he blames me'.
(iv) Meinhof s rule, whereby a N-DVN sequence generally becomes N-NVN
(where D = a non-strident oral voiced consonant), e.g. m-màànja Ί demand
payment' (cf. ku-bàànj-a), a-n-nùmà 'he bites me' (cf. ku-lúma), n-nimì
'tongues' (cf. sg. lu-limï) (see Katamba & Hyman 1991).
(v) Perfective allomorph -/'/- after a CV verb roots (e.g. a-gu-fl-e < a-gù-dd-è
'he has fallen') and fused or 'imbricated' allomorph -j- before polymoraic stems
ending in IV, e.g. a-sasûl-j-e —» a-sasûjl-e —» a-sasûddè 'he has paid' (cf. a-sâl-
j-e —> a-sàz-è 'he has cut').
(vi) Optional infinitival ku- truncation (Katamba 1977), e.g. ku-pàkàs-a ~ p-
pàkàsa 'to work for hire', ku-bala ~ b-bala 'to count' etc.
(vii) 'Prothetic gemination' (see below).

In cases (i)-(vi), consonant gemination results from either the concatenation of
like or near-like consonants or from the leftward spreading of a consonant onto
an available vocalic mora (either from Proto-Bantu */' or from the deletion of
the infinitive prefix ku-). The seventh and last source of gemination is quite
different and problematic. However, before dealing with it, it will be necessary
to consider the interaction of gemination with unstable-^.
Compare the imperative and present tense paradigms of the two verbs
'sweep' and 'descend' in (88).
a. yer-a 'sweep!' kk-a 'descend!'

b. n-jer-a Ί sweep' n-zik-a Ί descend'
c. o-yer-a 'you sg. sweep' o-kk-a 'you sg. descend'
a-yer-a 's/he sweeps' a-kk-a 's/he descends'
d. tw-éèr-a 'we sweep tû-kk-a 'we descend'
mw-éèr-a 'you pi. sweep' mû-kk-a 'you pi. descend'
b-éèr-a 'they sweep' bâ-kk-a 'they descend'
In the case of-<y>er- 'sweep' the unstable-^ surfaces in the imperative in (88a),
after the first person singular prefix n- in (88b), and after the vocalic prefixes o-
and a- in (88c). Unstable-^ fails to surface after the CV prefixes tû-, mû- and
bâ- in (87d). Now consider the -kk- 'descend'. In the right hand column we see
that this verb surfaces with a geminate in all forms except after the nasal prefix
in (88b). As mentioned, such verbs historically had the vowel */. Thus compare
Luganda ku-kk-a with Rukiga kw-ika, both meaning 'to descend'. Now, we
have pointed out that all vowel-initial roots have an unstable-^. What this
means is that the underlying representation of root-initial Q Q should be -<y>¡
C. The <y> surfaces after n-, but not as [j], rather as [z], the expected 'fricated'
reflex before *i.This latter vowel of course also surfaces as the [i] in n-zik-a Ί
descend'. But why don't we obtain the form -zik- in the imperative (*zik-a) or
after the vocalic prefixes o- and α-Ί It is clear that we have a parallel represen-
tation with -<y>er-, but with a different output, as indicated in (89).
(89) Parallel representation of CiC¡ as /<y>¡ C/, but with different output
[k.ka] [ak.ka] [η. zi.ka]

a. σ σ b. σ σ σ c. σ σ σ
1ι I1 ιI
μ-
II
μ
ιι ιι ιι ιι
μ μ
μ μ μ μ
" Ί
j k Λa
ι
a-
/Ί
y j
Λ
k a
I
η-
Λ Λ
k a
y i
i
*[yi.ka] *[a.yi.ka] j
(cf. [ye.ra]) (cf. [a.ye.ra]) (i.e. y becomes i
obstruent and strident:) ζ
As indicated, if the input of the imperative in (89a) were to follow the same
principles as we invoked for [ye.ra] 'sweep!' in (50a), 'descend!' would incor-
rectly surface as *[yi.ka]. Similarly, the input in (89b) would incorrectly surface
as *[a.yi.ka], In (89c), however, the unstable-^ does surface. In order to see
why, let us first consider a possible serial solution in (90).
(90) A serial solution
a. a- <y> er-a b. a- <y> \t-a c. n- <y> it-a UR

a-yer-a a-yit-a n-yjt-a Link <y>
n-jjt-a C-hardening
n-z\t-a C-frication
a-it-a y-absorption
a-tt-a Gemination
Each of the inputs show unstable-^ as <y>. The first step in the derivation is to
link unstable-}', since it is preceded by either a vowel or nasal prefix. This pro-
duces a-yer-a in (90a). In (90c) lyl hardens to [j] and then 'fricates' to [z] be-
fore l\l. This frication process applies to all lingual consonants in the language
except /y/.75 It therefore does not apply in (90b). Instead [y] deletes before /j/ by
an OCP-related process of absorption, formalized in (91a).
(91) a. μ b. μ, μ2
y i i [aF]
Finally, as schematized in (91b), /j / delinks from its mora μι and the following
consonant is compensatorily lengthened (Clements 1986) by leftward
spreading.76 Note, however, that μι must not be branching, as it is in (90c), or

we would obtain something like *nzta or *ntta, depending on the ordering of
hardening with respect to (91a) and (91b). What this means is that gemination
will occur either after a vowel or after pause.
Within a direct mapping approach such as the one we advocate, instead of
the rules in (92), we would introduce the analogous constraints in (92).
(92) a. Avoid [yi]0

b. Avoid [i
The first says that one should avoid [yi] syllables. Since stable-^ may surface
before [i], e.g. ku-yiimb-a 'to sing', this constraint is violable. The constraint in
(92b), which prohibits bracket-initial [i], is however undominated, and counter-
evidenced only by a handful of exceptions (see note 11). Returning to the input
of (89b) unstable-^ fails to link because of (92a) and / is delinked because of
(92b). In fact, we can propose one amendment which may have value in ex-
plaining why Luganda has consonant gemination. Recall that the 'geminator' j,
is an Iii that causes gemination or frication, depending on the context. Our
proposal is that it is an Ν which is not pre-linked to its mora. Because of the
constraints in (92), it will fail to link (and hence be stray-erased) if preceded by
a vowel or null, but will otherwise be reassigned to a preceding consonant to
cause frication. The reason why an empty mora is preferentially filled by the
consonant to its right rather than by the vowel to its left is that right-to-left
directionality takes precedence over left-to-right directionality in Luganda. In
other words, we don't think the language prefers geminate consonants to long
vowels, other things being equal.
With this treatment of geminates, we are now ready to consider what we
have termed 'prothetic gemination'. This concerns the development of [ggw]
and [ggy] geminates from PB *-ρό- and *-ρί-. The two verbs in (93), originally
cited in (13a,d), illustrate this phenomenon:
(93) a. Infinitives
i. ii.
kû-ggw-a 'to be exhausted' kû-ggy-a 'to get burnt'
kù-ggw-aa=kô '...a little' kù-ggy-aa=kô '...a little'
b. Present tense (habitual)

i. ii.
n-zigwà Ί am exhausted' n-zigyà Ί get burnt'
ó-ggwà 'you (sg.) are exhausted' ó-ggyà 'you (sg.) get burnt'
à-ggwà 's/he is exhausted' à-ggyà 'he/she gets burnt'
tù-ggwà 'we are exhausted' tù-ggyà 'we get burnt'
mù-ggwà 'you (pl.) are exhausted' mû-ggyà 'you (pi.) get burnt'
bà-ggwà 'they are exhausted' bà-ggyà 'they get burnt'
c. Perfect tense
m-pwêddè Ί have become exhausted' n-jîddè/m-pîddè Ί have got burnt'

o-wêddè 'you (sg.) have bee. exhausted o-yîddè 'you (sg.) have got burnt'
a-wêddè 's/he have bee. exhausted a-yîddè 'he/she has got burnt'
tù-wèddè 'we have bee. exhausted' tù-yìddè 'we have got burnt'
mù-wèddè 'you (pi.) have bee. exhausted' mu-yìddè 'you have got burnt'
bà-wèddè 'they have bee. exhausted' bà-yìddè 'they have got burnt'
As seen in the infinitives in (93a), the two verbs have a geminated [ggw] or
[ggy]. The second line shows that the FV of these verbs is long, but undergoes
FVS when not followed by an enclitic, here class 17 =kô 'a little'. The same
geminates are found in the present tense in (93b), except when the subject is
first person singular. From the first person singular subject forms in the perfect
tense in (93 c), we can see evidence that the initial consonant was *p (although
there is variation in (93c.ii.)). We also see from the vowel that precedes perfec-
tive -dde that 'become exhausted' has an underlying loi (cf. (13) and note 14),
while 'get burnt' has an underlying I'll. As mentioned in note 40, when not
preceded by [m], PB *p weakens to [w] in Luganda, which then assimilates to
[y] before front vowels. In an abstract analysis we can thus can set up /-pi-/ and
/-po-/.
We now are ready to show in (94) how the geminates [ggw] and [ggy] arise
in these forms:
(94) a. /po-a/ —> wo-a —> ww-aa —> ggwaa

b. /pi-a/ -» wi-a —> yy-aa -> ggyaa
First /p/ weakens to [w] or [y], as appropriate. Then loi and /i/ glide to [w] and
[y], respectively, with compensatory lengthening of the FV. (Recall from (13)
and (14) that mid-vowels glide before another vowel lexically.) As seen, this
produces [ww] and [yy] sequences. The final step is for these to undergo hard-
ening to [ggw] and [ggy].77 What is of concern in the derivation in (94) is that
the input contains two moras, while the output contains three! That is, assuming
that the [wwaa] and [yyaa] stage can be treated the same as other Cwaa and
Cyaa bimoraic syllables, when [ww] and [yy] harden to [ggw] and [ggy], an
additional mora has to be inserted to carry the first half of the geminate. For this
reason, we view this mora as 'prothetic' and the resultant hardened consonants
as 'prothetic gemination'. That the first half of the geminate is moraic is seen in
the following derivatives of these verbs:
(95) a. kw-é-ggw-èès-a 'to exhaust oneself < ku-eê- [wô-es-j-a]

b. kw-é-gg-ììr-a 'to be burnt for oneself < ku-eê- [yî-ir-a]
The verb -wô- 'become exhausted' is causativized in (95a), while the verb -yî-
'be burnt' is applicativized in (95b). In both cases, the three vocalic moras of
the ku-ee- infinitive prefix + reflexive sequence are pared down to one. This of
course is the result of the edge-in syllabification of the first and last of the four
moras in sequence, the last being that of geminate -ggw- and -ggy-.
In the interest of space we will refrain from providing a fancy synchronic
account of this essentially diachronic problem. We note that this is an area
where the language is in flux (note the two possible forms of Ί have got burnt'
in (93.C.Ü)). Also note in (93b) that the forms obtained with a first person sin-
gular subject are not *m-pw-â and *m-py-&, but rather n-zigw-à and n-zigy-à -
as if their underlying representations should be -<y>jgo- and -<y>jgi-, like
other initial geminates. Finally, note that we do not obtain geminates in the
perfect tense in (93c). We can explain the non-gemination in (93c.ii.): The
development of the geminate -dd- from an input such as o-yi-j l-e bleeds the
environment for the gliding of the preceding /i/. Hence there is no [yy] stage to
produce the geminate. However, in (93c.i), there is an extra -e-, as we noted in
note 14. Thus, even when an input such as o-wo-e-jl-e becomes o-wo-e-dd-e,
this still should become o-ww-e-dd-e, which should then become *o-ggw-e-dd-
e, which it doesn't (cf. [o.wêd.de]). This too we will leave for further research.
Acknowledgments
This chapter is the result of a collaboration between the two authors since 1983.
It was first presented at the XXth Annual Conference of African Linguistics at
Ohio State University in July 1993 under the title "The Luganda Syllable Re-
visited". Subparts of the chapter have also been presented at the Annual Confe-
rence on African Languages, Leiden University, September 1993, the Trilateral
Phonology Weekend at the University of Santa Cruz, the Université Lumière
Lyon2, the Université de Paris III, the Pézenas conference on the Syllable in the
World's Languages, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford Uni-
versity. We are grateful for the many helpful comments we received at these
numerous presentations, particularly from Nick Clements, Harry van der Hulst,
Sharon Inkelas and Paul Kiparsky. Special thanks are due to John Rennison for
his numerous insightful comments on the final draft of the chapter. We would
also like to thank Oxford University Press for allowing us to transfer Snoxall
(1967) to electronic form as part of the Comparative Bantu On-Line Dictionary
(CBOLD) project. Research on Luganda was supported by National Science
Foundation grants BNS89-96111, BNS91-09234 and SBR93-19415.
Notes
1. In this study we use the term 'stem' in the traditional Bantu sense to include a root plus
any suffixes. Prefixes, however, fall outside the stem, with which they combine at the
word level.
2. Though phonologically the two parts of a geminate consonant belong to separate sylla-
bles, phonetically a geminate consonant is a single unit which differs crucially in length
from its non-geminate counterpart. Geminates are normally between one and half to
two times longer than their non-geminate counterparts (cf. Katamba 1974).
3. The tone marking conventions used here follow Hyman and Katamba (1993). In lexical
(underlying) representations Luganda contrasts tonic moras, which bear a HL ( Λ ) me-
lody, and toneless moras which have no underlying tone. We interpret underlying to-
nicity as HL complex with geometry depicted below:
μ (Tone Bearing Unit = mora)
I
o (Tonal Root Node)
Λ
0 o (Tonal Nodes)
1 I
H L (Tones H, L)
The assumption that underlying tonic syllables have HL melodies simplifies the analy-
sis of Luganda tonology considerably.
In surface representations the language has H(igh) ('), L(ow) (') as well as F(alling)
( Λ ) tones. All surface moras have one of these tones but only high and falling tone are
always marked. Low tone is only shown where it is especially helpful to do so.
4. The fourth source is the rule of lengthening that applies to a vowel that is followed by a
nasal + consonant cluster (cf. sec. 5.1).
5. In (4b) and elsewhere below, three dots (...) indicate that this vowel length is main-
tained before an enclitic, e.g. [ku.lyàà =kô] 'to eat a little'. When an appropriate enclitic
does not follow, the form is subject to a rule of final vowel shortening (FVS), e.g.
[ku.lyâ] 'to eat' (cf. Hyman & Katamba 1990).
6. Also possible is an alternative Government Phonology inspired analysis where one
assumes that there is a floating underlying I (palatality) melody or U (labiality) melody
which ultimately attaches to the consonant preceding it.
7. Where the gliding vowel is preceded by a consonant in the syllable onset, as in all the
examples in (4), compensatory lengthening is mandatory. The one exception from
Snoxall (1967) is [kwété] 'beer made from maize meal', a drink (and hence a word?)
which is borrowed from Northern Uganda. Note, however, that there are two complica-
tions. First, compensatory lengthening is absent when the gliding vowel is syllable-ini-
tial (cf. the examples below in (48)). Second, in stems, compensatory lengthening is ac-
cent sensitive. Hyman & Katamba (1993) have shown that heteromorphemic stem
vowel sequences yield a long vowel ONLY if the second vowel - the one that surfaces
- is in an accented position (marked by ' "'):
χ χ
(a) (ku-)gu-i r-a -» ku-gw-iir-a 'to fall for/at' (-ir-/-er- 'for at')
λ: X
(b) (ku-)tá-e r-a —> ku-t-éèr-a 'to let go for/at'
χ χ
(c)(ku-)wà-e bu-agan-a —> ku-w-éèbw-agan-a 'to be given (to) each other'
(-eiu-'passive', -agan- 'reciprocal')
In all these examples, the expected compensatory lengthening of the accented second
mora of the stem is observed. By contrast, in (c) the first /a/ vowel of the reciprocal suf-
fix which follows the /u/ of the passive fails to undergo compensatory lengthening be-
cause it is in an unaccented position.
8. Clements (1986) actually views (5b) as a result of a 'linking convention' which gua-
rantees that all empty V slots will be targeted by spreading from an adjacent vowel.
9. These represent the only possibilities of [-high] # V, since words cannot begin with a
high vowel in Luganda. The examples in (8c) also show word-internal deletion of the
/a/ of /a-ba-o/. The resulting vowel is short because of a rule of final vowel shortening
(Hyman & Katamba 1990).
10. This naturally follows from our assumption that onset consonants link to the first mora
of a syllable. If instead we followed Hayes' (1989) proposal that onset consonants link
directly to the syllable node, then all vowel sequences could be said to undergo LVS
and delinking of the first vowel. In cases where the delinked vowel is f+high], it would
relink as part of the onset to the syllable node. Delinked [-high] vowels would not re-
link as onsets (but cf. below). This alternative analysis within moraic theory mirrors the
approach taken by Halle & Vergnaud (1980) within the CV framework.
11. These are the only relevant combinations, since other than the exceptional negative
prefix te- (see sec. 4.2), prefixes cannot have the shape Ce- or Co-. In addition, mor-
phemes cannot begin with high vowels. There are a very few noun roots which excep-
tionally begin (or appear to begin) with a high vowel. We know of only four: mu-îko
[mwH.ko] 'trowel', bu-ûgi [bûù.gi] 'maize meal', ki-ûma [kyûù.ma] 'iron' and lu-ûyî
[lúú.yi] 'side', the first three of which are borrowed from Swahili. A different kind of
exception is the class 5 noun [Iii.so] 'eye', whose class 6 plural is [mààso]. In this case
we can factor out the li-/ma- singular/plural prefixes and establish the root as /fiso/, i.e.
beginning with a HL tone empty mora to which the vowel of the prefix spreads.
12. The lack of gliding in [lù.kêd.dè] 'it has dawned' (*[lù.kyêd.dè]) in (13c) is unexpected.
It seems the pressure to follow the broader surface pattern of having gliding and pala-
talization only before [i] overrides the gliding and palatalization rules that would
otherwise apply here.
13. We tentatively recognize 'defecate' as -ne-, because it takes an [e] in its perfective
form. In order to predict the /ny/ sequence, however, we would either need to set up
-nie- instead, or else consider that the Id of a -Ce- root glides in the prefective if the C
is coronal. (In the case of -se-, t h e y of intermediate -syedde would undergo regular ab-
sorption after /s ζ c j y/.) Guthrie's (1967-71) starred form for this root is *nj- (here -/'
= a tense high front vowel), while Meeussen (1980) reconstructs it as *-ne-. The un-
derlying vowel cannot be i\ / in Luganda, because this vowel automatically mutates Ini
to [p], e.g. -fun- 'get' vs. /mu-fun-j/ [mu.fu.jii /'rich person' (i.e. a getter). It is possible
that it was /-ne-/ in Luganda, but that the ny sequence that one gets in the infinitive and
elsewhere was analogized into the perfective. As pointed out by Katamba (1980), the
sequence ny, written nj> (as opposed to the palatal nasal [p], written ny) is used exclu-
sively in words relating to relieving the bowels, e.g. ki-nyago 'rectum'. Also note-
worthy is the gemination obtained in the infinitives of the last forms in (13a) and (13d).
These are treated in the appendix.
14. Whether an additional suffix of the form -e- is involved here, e.g. -mo-e-dde, as we
believe, or /o/ undergoes an otherwise unattested 'breaking' process to become [we] be-
fore -dde, what is important for us is that the following vowel is [e], rather than [i]. This
follows from the height harmony conditions in Luganda which disallow [i] from fol-
lowing the mid-vowels /e/ and loi (see Katamba 1984).
15. As seen in (38b) below, the onsetless subject prefixes e- 'class 9' and o- '2 person sg.'
do glide to [y] and [w] before a vowel, suggesting word-level gliding of mid-vowels.
However, since Luganda morphemes do not begin with [i] or [u], these prefixes can
equally well be set up as li-l and /u-/ with an initial vowel lowering rule, or as under-
specified /I-/ and /U-/ with morpheme-initial [-high] redundant specification.
16. A possible consequence of this analysis is that morpheme-internal [Cwee] can be set up
with an underlying /oe/ sequence, e.g. /ku-koek-a/ [ku.kwee.ka] 'to hide'. If we set up
/ue/, the sequence would be disharmonie. There are two caveats, however. First, there
are few sequences of morpheme-internal luil in the language, e.g. no verbs of the shape
-CuiC- that would surface with a [Cwii] syllable. Second, the normal rule of height
harmony operates differently when two vowels are in direct sequence. While a suffix
such as the applicative appears as -ir- after -CiC-, -CaC- and -CuC-, and as -er- after
-CeC- and -CoC-, it appears as -er- when preceded not only by -Ce-, and -Co- but also
by -Ca-. Similarly, for the causative morph -is-/-es-, one might consider an alternative
by which root lei and loi first raise to [i] and [u] before another vowel and then glide by
the general rule that affects only high vowels. In this case it would first be necessary to
spread their [-high] onto the following applicative or causative suffix and then delink
the [-high] from the root vowel, thereby bleeding the NHD rule. (The [+high] specifi-
cation of the resulting glide would presumably be supplied by default.)
17. Since all but the last two V slots will ultimately be 'trimmed', a variant on this analysis
would be to restrict Clements' leftward vowel spreading to apply only to the preceding
V slot. If we assume that V-trimming applies to non-syllabified V slots, and that it is
only the last two V's that are syllabified, LVS could be said to apply only when the
landing site is prosodically licensed by a syllable.
18. The notion of edge-in association is due to Yip (1988) and it has been applied to syl-
labification by Macken (1990). In section 4.3 below we suggest that edge-in association
is an automatic consequence of the cyclic nature of syllabification in Luganda.
19. Interestingly, this is the one case where Meeussen's Rule (MR) does not apply in
Luganda. MR delinks a H from a mora that is immediately preceded by a HL contour
(Hyman & Katamba 1993a). As seen in the second example of (22b), this fails to apply
when the H in question is in the same syllable as the preceding HL. If MR had applied,
we would have obtained *[bâd.du.ka].
20. The HL melody is definitely associated with the first rather than the second mora of
-nâa-. This is clear when we consider a verb with a non-tonic root e.g., -som- 'read'
whose first person singular future form is anààsoma 'he will read'. If the HL melody
were underlyingly associated with the second mora of -naâ-, the surface form would be
the incorrect *anaásoma (or *anáásoma after the simplification of a rising tone to H;
rising tones are strictly disallowed and typically simplify to H, cf. /mu-âmi/ [mwá:mi]
(*[mwä:mi]) 'chief).
21. High tone plateauing is motivated by the OCP. It converts adjacent HL contours on the
tonal tier into a single HL melody with a multiply linked H as depicted below:
tu-ba-yita 'we call them' —> tu-ba-yit-a
i l w / ι
HL HL H L
A detailed justification of this analysis is to be found in Hyman & Katamba (1993a).
22. In both examples we show ltd linked to the following mora. This can be seen either as a
relinking process, or can be avoided altogether if one assumes, contra our view, that on-
sets link directly to the syllable node as discussed by McCarthy & Prince (1986) and
Hayes (1989). In our analysis, where there is stray-erasure of medial non-syllabified
moras, this onset-relinking problem does not arise.
23. For evidence of free H tones linking to the left, consider the fate of the H tone that
delinks from its prefix in demonstratives as when ká-no -» "ka-no 'this' (class 12). A
sequence such as a-ka-sâale 'arrow' + * ka-no 'this' is pronounced a-ka-sààlé kàno
'this arrow', with the H linking to the left.
24. See especially Kenstowicz & Kidda (1987) for an explicit discussion of this prediction,
based on Tangale.
25. The symbol h/ indicates the historical tense high front vowel which in Luganda either
(a) geminates a following consonant (as in (28)) or (b) mutates a preceding consonant
(obstruents —> s, ζ; η —>ji). When realized as [i] it is otherwise non-distinguishable from
instances of /i/ which do not have these effects.
26. In a moraic framework what this means is that you cannot begin a syllable with a non-
branching mora. This also rules out a syllable consisting of a syllabic nasal. As in the
case of V syllables, a syllabic nasal syllable is only tolerated after pause in Luganda.
27. As we discuss in section 5.1, vowels are otherwise automatically long before NC.
28. There is considerable confusion in the literature on this subject. Cole (1967: 5), for
instance, speaks of word-initial vowels: "In word-initial position (except when preced-
ing geminate consonant clusters) vowels appear always to be phonetically longer than
medial single vowels. We tentatively assume therefore that, except when preceding CC,
all word-initial vowels are phonemically double ( W ) . " Tucker (1967: xvi), on the
other hand, seems to imply that such vowels are short, but that initial vowels followed
by a NC cluster are long. It is clear from our investigations that the initial vowels in
both (44a) and (44b) have two distinguishable realizations: one where the vowel is
relatively short (in fact, sounds exactly like a short vowel to us) vs. one where the
vowel is quite long (i.e. having the length of a C W syllable). It is also occasionally
claimed that forms such as the following are distinct for some speakers (cf. Stevick
1969):
(i) /a-lâb-a/ -> [a.là.bà] 'he sees'

(ii) /a-lâb-â/ —> [aa.là.bà] 'he who sees' ( < /a-a-lâb-â/?)
In our own investigations with several informants we have found both of the underlying
forms in (i) and (ii) to vary between the two outputs. That is, either can be [a-là.bà] or
[aa.là.bà].
29. Note that -â FVs are regular and dealt with in section 5.1.
30. The portion in parentheses is discounted. The mora count starts with the first tone
bearing unit not in parentheses; 1 = first mora; 2 = second mora.
31. In the case of CVVCV stems, the HL tonicity is assigned to the second V of the CVV
syllable. By the general contour simplification processes, the entire CVV becomes H
and the drop to L occurs on the following syllable, as indicated.
32. Snoxall (1967: 269) lists the single potential counterexample ku-ôtt-a 'make off, go
away', adding, however, that the verb is 'usually' ku-yôtt-a (which alone is acceptable
to the second author). The only other apparent counterexample in the Snoxall dictionary
is ku-aNNang-a 'to approach, accost'. However in this case the root is underlyingly
/-angang-/. The geminate velar nasal will be derived by a rule known as either Mein-
h o f s Rule or the Ganda Law (Meeussen 1962, Herbert 1977, Schadeberg 1987,
Katamba & Hyman 1991). In Luganda this rule converts sequences of NDVN to
NNVN in the relevant domain (where D = a non-strident voiced consonant). Underly-
ingly the root in question thus begins with initial +VNC, not +VNN.
33. For many speakers, the vowel of this tense prefix may harmonize with the vowel of the
pronominal prefix that precedes it where that vowel is mid, resulting in e-néé-láb-a 'it
will see' (cf. ο-ηάά-láb-a = ο-ηόό-láb-a 'you will see').
34. This interpretation also explains why the augment (or initial vowel) in the relative form
is pronounced [e]: [e.ya.là.bà] 'he/she who saw'. Where (37a) does not apply, class 1
surfaces as [a]. If an augment is posited in relative forms such as /a-a-Iâb-â/ —> [a-láb-á]
'he/she who sees', it too must remain as /a-/ (cf. /a-sib-a/ -> [a.sib.a] 'he/she ties' vs.
/a-a-sib-â/ —> [a.si.bâ] 'he/she who ties', where the main and relative forms differ in
tone because the root -sib- is underlyingly toneless). Given the complexity of the reali-
zation of the augment in Luganda (see Hyman & Katamba 1993b), it would however
also be possible to say that there is a 0 spell-out in this case.
35. There are, however, other possible interpretations of this fact. First, as we have already
indicated, the only vowels that appear after a left morphological bracket in Luganda are
[e o a], i.e. [-high]. For this reason, it would be possible to represent the class 9 SM as
/i-/, which would in fact glide before /e/, but which would lower to [e] in case it didn't
glide. To get gliding only before unlike vowels, it would be necessary, however, to
keep the representation of the reflexive as -eê- and the copula in (39b) as -e even
though these too could be represented as -it- and -/- (with predictable lowering). Or, we
could keep /e/ and let it glide by the same lexical rule that we observed in (14b). That
the applicative of a verb such as -kê- 'dawn' is -ke-er-, i.e. without gliding, is no prob-
lem. In this case the vowel of -kê- is underlyingly [-high], since it contrasts with ίϋ, but
the non-contrastive height of the applicative vowel is underlyingly underspecified (and
acquires its [-high] by spreading from -kê-). In our view, gliding is not obtained here
because it is not needed: a CVV syllable is acceptable in Luganda.
36. An alternative would be to propose that /e-/ and /o-/ are underlyingly non-moraic /i/ and
/u/, but acquire a mora when followed by a consonant. This solution, equivalent to the
proposal offered in Hyman (1985), will not be pursued here.
37. We assume that the underlying length of a vowel-initial morpheme manifests itself
directly on the surface after e- or o-. This criterion establishes two morphemes as un-
ambiguously short (past tense -a- and copular -e) and the following as unambiguously
long: genitive -aa, subject cleft -ee, reflexive -eê-, WH-yet tense -âa-, just finished past
-aaka-, and -aalcu-, an archaic variant of conditional -andi-, whose length cannot be
determined because of the NC sequence, which independently conditions CL (see sec.
5.1).
38. Note that the class 1 prefix is the regular o- concord in this case. The rule of referral in
(37a) only replaces the verbal prefix a- with e-.
39. The underlying representations given to the right dramatically confirm that syllabifica-
tion must proceed cyclically, applying first within words, then across. The last example
appears to have seven vowels in a row which, however, must be independently syllabi-
fied in the three forms /m-bûa/, /e-ee=/ and /e-â-gu-â/.
40. The requirement that constituents should start with a CV syllable is by no means uni-
versal. This is an area where cross-linguistic variation can be observed.
41. Only three verbs have been found that have the shape -yVC¡C¡: -yîgg- 'hunt', -yagg-
'lament' and -yôtt- 'make o f f . Concerning the frequency of the sequence [yi], it should
be noted that when not preceded by a nasal, Proto-Bantu *p weakens to [w], which then
is fronted to [y] before Iii. This creates present alternations such as ku-yit-à 'to pass' vs.
m-plt-à Ί pass' (cf. Proto-Bantu *-píl-).
42. Cf. Cole (1967:119): "In summary, the yV allomorphs occur when there is no prefix,
and after all prefixes other than those whose canonical form is CV, i.e. those consisting
of Ν, V, VV, C W . " Borowsky (1983b) and Clements (1986) also deal with some of
the issues discussed here.
43. Recall from (34) that the FV of the first stem is long in the second, third and fourth
examples in (45e) because it is preceded by exactly one mora. The form tû-er-aa-yer-a
thus shows that this length must be calculated before the SM tû- is prefixed or else two
moras will precede the FV. While the second stem in reduplication invariably begins
with [y], the forms in (45e) show that the y vs. 0 realization of the first stem remains
sensitive to the nature of the preceding prefix.
44. Or, put slightly differently, vowel-initial roots may not begin with a long vowel or a
vowel + geminate, although they may begin with VNC. We have allowed this by saying
that the mora bearing nasal is consonantal and, hence, may be syllabified without vio-
lating the constraint against VV syllables. Since we do not have roots beginning -VC¡C¡,
the first half of the geminate functions as a vowel. Discussion of this is presented in the
Appendix.
Our survey of verb roots in Snoxall (1967) reveals the following statistics:
-yaCV... 3 -yaaCV... 1 -yaNC... 4 -yaCCV... 1 -aCV... 48 -aNCV... 12
-yeCV.... 4 -yeeCV... 2 -yeNC... 5 -yeCCV... 0 -eCV... 4 -eNCV... 7
-yiCV.... 22 -yiiCV... 8 -yiNC... 11 -yiCCV... 1
-yoCV... 2 -yooCV... 3 -yoNC... 7 -yoCCV... 1 -oCV... 12 -oNCV... 2
-yuCV... 4 -yuuCV... 5 -yuNC... 3 -yuCCV... 0
Apart from the many instances of 'unstable-/ before /a/, the statistics also show a
preponderance of 'stable-/ before Iii that suggests that the missing 'unstable-/ before
I'll is (for whatever reason) stable.
46. The name of the country ' Uganda ' looks like a counter-example. But it is not because it
is pronounced [yúgáándá], with an initial glide. See the Appendix, however, for the
analysis of geminates, where initial superclosed l\l is proposed.
47. The lack of compensatory lengthening here should be noted. It is normal (cf. 38b) and
(39b). Where the gliding vowel is in syllable-initial position there is no compensatory
lengthening. Cf. /tû-â-lâba/ [twààlàbà] 'we saw' vs. /o-â-lâba/ [wàlàbà] 'you (sg.) saw'.
(SeeHyman 1985: 81-83, Clements 1986).
48. Interestingly, close by Haya, which is otherwise virtually identical to Luganda in its
unstable-^ properties, does provide a [y] before the reflexive, e.g. tu-eê-lêet-â
[twee.léé.ta] 'we bring ourselves' vs. o-eê-lêet-â [o.yee.léé.ta] 'you bring yourself. No
other prefix acquires a [y] in this way in Haya. There are at least two ways one could
account for this difference. One is to recognize a domain difference, e.g. if [y] depends
on stem-initial position in both languages, the reflexive may belong to the stem in
Haya, but not in Luganda. Or, perhaps the [y] depends on stem-initial position in
Luganda (which would exclude the reflexive) but on macro-stem-position in Haya
(which would include the reflexive). Alternatively, one could just give a different un-
derlying representation to the reflexive in Haya vs. Luganda (e.g. initial lyl vs. 0 ) .
Other languages show considerably different variations, e.g. Olutsootsoo (Dalgish
1974), Kikerewe (Odden 1995), etc.
49. Note that if they applied simultaneously, one would also obtain an incorrect output,
•[e.ye.ra].
50. This last point naturally raises the question of whether the y / 0 alternation should be
seen as phonological or morphological. As we discuss below, it would be possible to
make the alternation one of allomorphy by entering each vowel-initial root with a y-ini-
tial allomorph in the lexicon. In this case the conflict in (49) would be over which allo-
morph takes precedence over the other.
51. In a moraic framework what this means is that one can't begin a syllable with a non-
branching mora. As seen in (52b), this also rules out a syllable consisting of a syllabic
nasal. As in the case of V syllables, a syllabic nasal syllable is only tolerated after pause
in Luganda.
52. Note that reflexive -eê-, like other OM's other than the lsg. OM «-, requires the FV -e
in the imperative. Unlike the other OM's, however, it also requires a 2 pers. SM: /o-eê-
er-ê/ -> [wee.ye.rê] '(you) sweep yourself!'.
53. As we can tell from forms such as nn-a-làb-à Ί saw', for those speakers who geminate
the first person morpheme, the 1st person sg. prefix is underlyingly a moraic /n-/ which
will be realized as an alveolar before a vocalic prefix. (For other speakers, this mor-
pheme is realized by a non-geminate, non-moraic /η-/ η-a-lab-a). We need, therefore, to
add to the output in (52b) that we do not obtain *n-nera (or *nera in parallel to nalaba)
because parsing of the underlying extrametrical <y> is preferred to creating an onset
from gemination.
54. See Bagemihl ( 1991 ) for the notion of moraic licensing.
55 Cf. Tucker (1967: xvii): "Finally, it is important, in reading the examples in the text, to
remember that the final vowel of a word is always assimilated by the initial vowel of
the following word, which is then pronounced long."
56. Even in this case it is not clear why a post-pausal vowel must be considered a syllable
in Luganda. Starting with Hyman (1985) there have been various proposals to recognize
syllabicity without having to build a syllable (cf. Bagemihl 1991, Hyman 1985, 1990,
Mutaka & Hyman 1990, Downing 1993, 1994). The one awkwardness of this move is
that the length observed in reduplications such as tû-er-aa - yer-a 'we sweep hear and
there' is presumably syllable-related: A perfect iamb [μ μμ] is required if it exactly co-
incides with the stem. But what does it mean to be a [μ μμ] iamb if not a foot consisting
of a light followed by heavy syllable? Finally, in at least one other language, Kinande,
an initial vowel must be a syllable. Contrasting with the bare verb stem tum-à 'send!',
which is the normal realization of the imperative, is the presence of the 2nd sg. subject
prefix u- whenever the verb stem would otherwise be monosyllabic: u-sw-à 'grind!'
Mutaka & Hyman (1990) show that the initial vowels of verb roots such as -oh- 'pick'
and -es- 'play' do not constitute syllables at the stem level. However, their imperatives
are oh-à and es-à, not *w-oh-à and *w-es-à (where the 2nd sg. prefix «-, if present,
would have glided to [w]). We must conclude from this example at least that an initial
vowel counts as a syllable in meeting the bisyllabic minimality of verbs.
57. Disallowing past tense *twéèrà also has the desirable effect of avoiding homophony
with the present tense form twéèrà 'we sweep'.
58. Besides the allomorphy account of the irregularity of te- we have assumed, one could
consider one or another morpheme-specific rule that would apply only to the negative
prefix:
a. te- -> t- / V b. t- - > t e - / C
Another possibility is to set up this morpheme with the representation /te/, but without
any underlying mora. When followed by a consonant, a mora is inserted to parse the
CV sequence. When followed by a vowel, the /t/ joins its mora and the /e/ is stray-
erased.
59. Treating similar data in Swahili, Stump (1992) proposes that si- is in the pre-SM nega-
tive slot, while Stump (1993) presents a reanalysis with si- occupying two slots.
60. Recall that a geminate consonant has the structure VC, ultimately /jC/, as discussed in
the appendix.
61. Other alternatives such as forming more than one syllable out of the préfixai sequence
are blocked by Luganda's lack of C-epenthesis to provide the required onset(s), perhaps
also by its preference to minimize structure.
62. One issue not addressed is what to do about a CV # V sequence that come together in
the absence of an intervening pause. Recall from the examples in (3b) and (4c) that on-
setless moras coalesce into a single bimoraic syllable also across word boundaries, e.g.
/o-mu-limi + o-mû/-» [o.mu.li.myoo.mûl 'one farmer'. In an example such as this one,
we choose not to assign both the final CV mora /mi/ of the first word and the initial V
mora /o-/ of the second word to separate syllables. Otherwise, it would be necessary to
undo some of the syllable structure created at an earlier stage of the derivation. An ad-
ditional constraint would seem to be needed if we insist on keeping all syllabification as
structure-building rather than structure-changing. One possibility is to block the forma-
tion of a V syllable at the left edge of a word. In this case, we would not invoke stray-
erasure but rather we would wait to see if this V joins a preceding CV syllable - or, if
occurring instead after pause, forms its own syllable.
63. When the nasal is itself geminate, it behaves exactly as other geminates - e.g. requiring
that the preceding vowel be phonetically short. Thus, tû-eê-mm-a ~> [twém.mà] 'we be-
grudge ourselves'.
64. We know that the nasal is underlyingly alveolar, since it surfaces as such when fol-
lowed by a vocalic prefix, e.g. n-eê-lâb-a [n.néé.là.ba] Ί see myself. The fact that it
surfaces as geminate before a vowel is due to its moraicity (cf. Hyman 1985). We will
indicate the moraic nasal as /n/ in all positions, aware however that if coronality is un-
derspecified, this is equivalent to an archiphone /N/.
65. What this automatically implies is that RVS must precede tone rules that need to refer
to the second mora of the underlying CVNC sequence. It also is the case that the first
half of a geminate is a TBU in the lexical phonology. As will be shown in section 5.3,
this follows from our proposal to treat it as an underlying vowel (cf. Clements' VC
analysis) which is converted to a consonant postlexically.
66. As discussed in Hyman (1992), this account is preferable to two alternative explana-
tions: (i) that moras are simply counted differently for tone than for quantity, i.e. that
there are two different moraic 'projections'; (ii) that initial VN starts out as bimoraic
(e.g. for the purposes of verb stem reduplication), but then undergoes a mora deletion
process to become monomoraic.
67. The alternative assumption that unstable-^ belongs to the prefix rather than the root will
not be entertained. Given the structure of Luganda, it is much more plausible to assume
that an unstable-_y is part of the root rather than the prefix. Roots and affixes of various
kinds are each restricted to a few canonical phonological shapes. For instance, the ca-
nonical shape of verb roots in Luganda, and in Bantu in general, is -CV(V)C- (e.g.,
-gul- 'buy', -suubir- 'hope'). Some longer verb roots with frozen suffixes e.g. -wûlir-
'hear' are also attested. (There is no related verb *-wûl- from which -wûlir- is derived.)
As we noted earlier, -VC- roots are also relatively rare and when they occur after a CV-
prefix, they always start with /y/ and thus conform to the -CVC- canonical shape of
verbs. The only exception to the requirement that a verb root must minimally contain
-CVC-, perhaps followed by a frozen (extension) suffix, is constituted by the 18 -CV-
verb roots listed in (13). No less important is the fact that prefixes with the shape CVC-
are not found elsewhere in the language. For subject pronouns, for example, the only
possibilities are CV-, Ν-, (N) and V-. Nowhere else is a CVC- subject prefix similar to
the putative *tuy- found. It would be an odd coincidence if the only such prefixes that
existed happened to be just those that had the unstable-}».
68. A relevant comparison with nouns concerns the H of a final HL on nouns with bisyl-
labic stems such as ki-sikt 'log', which is retracted when the augment or initial vowel
morpheme is added, hence e-ki-siki. The generalization is that this H falls on the third
TBU (=mora) of the noun form in both augmented and non-augmented forms. Now
consider a noun such as n-vubû 'hippopotamus', which differs from ki-sikî only in that
its prefix is the class 9 nasal rather than class 7 ki-. When these nouns are augmented,
an initial V-N- sequence is obtained - and the H is not retracted, hence e-n-vubû. This
is because the initial VN sequence, although bimoraic, constitutes a single TBU, as in
(77b). Similarly, consider a noun such as li-envû [lyee.nvû] 'banana' whose stem begins
with VN and has a final HL. If the underlying stem /-envû/ counted the nasal as a TBU,
the third mora of the noun would be the nasal, and the augmentless form would be pro-
nounced *[lyéé.nvù] (simplified from lyeê.nvu). Similarly, the third mora of the aug-
mented form would be vowel /e/, and we should obtain *[e.lyéè.nvù]. Here too, then,
the nasal of an initial VNC sequence must not count as a TBU.
69. Odden (1993) discusses other possible cases of cross-stratal reference. However, the
model he presents favors complex derivations with apparently any kind of cross-refer-
encing of components and domains. We favor a model that would minimize derivation-
ality, though allowing in at some price the kind of stratal interference we document in
this study.
70. Care must be taken to work in the kinds of alternations mentioned in note 67, whereby
the H is subsequently retracted one mora to the left. This happens also in verbs, e.g. a-
gul-â 'he who buys' -> a-bi-gùl-à 'he who buys them'. Hyman & Katamba (1993a) as-
sume extrametricality of the initial toneless syllable, in which case the H is still on the
second TBU of the form. This phenomenon might raise the possibility of another analy-
sis where one starts with V-initial stems, assigns H to their second TBU, and then ad-
justs this H if and when the unstable-}' is realized at stratum 2, i.e. <y>anj-â —> yaânj-a.
There are two reasons to reject this analysis. First, it is not in fact related to the 'third
mora phenomenon' illustrated by a-bi-gùl-à. This latter is possible only when all pre-
fixes preceding the verb stem are toneless. Thus, compare a-bà-giil-â 'they who buy'
and a-bá-bí-gúl-á 'they who buy them' (from a-bâ-gul-â and a-bâ-bi-gul-â with H tone
plateauing), where the HL remains on the FV. In the case of an input form such as bi-e
â-<y>anj-a 'the ones he spreads out', realized [byá.yáá.njá], the HL must be assigned
412 Larry M Hyman & Francis X. Katamba
to the nasal, -yañ j-a. Now if this began as -anjâ, the retraction would have to take place
despite the fact that the prefix â- is tonic. So this is would have to be a unique, hence ad
hoc, process of tone retraction conditioned by the introduction of the onset [y]. The
second argument against it is that it is not needed: Our input-output analysis produces
the same results without having to have an intermediate representation with the HL as-
signed to the wrong mora.
71. As pointed out by Cole (1967: 31), this noun, from Swahili chupa, typically takes class
9 concord rather than class 5.
72. Meeussen (1967) reconstructs the augment as *dl- and suggests that the augmented
prefix for class 5 was therefore *di-j- However, class 5 nouns all take the augment e-,
hence e-p-péèsa 'button', e-ly-ààto 'canoe'. It is hard to see how this latter form could
derive from *di-j-jàtò, where *j is the source of the unstable-}' of our study. Our sug-
gestion is that both *j-deletion and class 5 allomorphy are archaic, *di- being used be-
fore V-initial roots, /- before C-initial roots.
73. We of course have not explained - and cannot explain - why j (rather than ft) is used
with C-initial stems. This seems to be a historical fact, although we believe that even
the diachronic situation is far from clear. Synchronically, there are at least two reasons
why a ft- syllable should be preferred to a C¡- (i.e. geminate) one: (i) As we have ar-
gued, geminates are vocalic. Hence, an initial C¡C, sequence begins with an onsetless
syllable, (ii) Geminates are themselves more 'marked' than non-geminates. As shown
in the Appendix, however, Luganda has a great affinity toward gemination.
74. One last comment: In some of our presentations of this work we have approached
Luganda syllabification as an exercise in how to avoid structure-changing rules (or in-
put-output relations). Whether this is important depends of course on one's theoretical
outlook. In the present account, we have attempted to present the syllabification of mo-
ras as strictly structure-building. That is, we have had no reason to delink any moras
from syllable nodes. In order for this to hold throughout the language, since moras join
into a syllable across words, we would have to avoid assigning both a word-final mora
and a word-initial vowel or first-half-of-geminate to their own syllables. We also would
have to redo gliding and some of the other processes so that instead of being prelinked
to their moras, they would be co-indexed with those moras with which they are affili-
ated. Finally, we have not gone into the consequences that would arise if, as suggested
to us by Harry van der Hulst (personal communication), we were to have only moras
and no syllables, as in Hyman (1985), or, as he suggested, only syllables and no moras.
75. That is, Λ c k/ -> [s] and /d 1 j g/ -> [z], /n/ 'fricates' to |ji] (cf. note 25).
76. We assume that all consonants in Luganda are [+cons]. This includes both stable- and
unstable-}*, although Paul Kiparsky (personal communication) suggested to us the pos-
sibility that one of them, presumably unstable-}', might be identified as [-cons] as a way
of distinguishing the two, as has been proposed for French to account for differences
such as in l'hiérarchie vs. le yoga. Alternatively, unstable-}' could be underspecified for
[cons], explaining why it doesn't automatically link as an onset, and why syllabification
therefore may occur across it. This seems equivalent to the proposal briefly considered
in section 4.1 that unstable-}« lacks a root node, which we rejected primarily because it
did not give us the left-edge property that extrametricality provides.
77. Hardening to [ggw] is completely regular. Thus compare class 5 g-gwààgi 'centerpost
of house' with its class 6 plural ma-wààgi. However, as seen in (85), /y/ typically gemi-
nates to Qj], e.g. class 5 j-jibâ 'dove', class 6 pl. ma-yibâ. Diachronically we suspect
that *p> h first (as it does in neighboring languages such as Runyankore and Rukiga),
possibly [x], which could have voiced to [γ]. This then would have produced the inter-
mediate forms -ywaa and -yyaa. Now if these were to geminate and harden, -ggwaa
and -ggyaa would automatically result. In the absence of gemination, [γ] is lost. Syn-
chronically what we have to say is that [y] from /p/ geminates as [ggy], while [y] from
lyl geminates as [jj]. Other examples of the former is the adjectival stem -ggyâ 'new'
from PB *-pla (cf. class 9/10 realization as m-pyä) and the class 11 noun lù-ggyâ
'courtyard', class 10 pl. 'm-pyâ. Perhaps this is a good place to invoke Kiparsky's sug-
gestion that Luganda might have both a [+cons] and a [-cons] [y] (cf. note 73). Finally,
we should perhaps note that there is some confusion in Luganda, a language with velar
fronting (and dialectal affncation), between [g] and [j], particularly before high front
vowels. Thus Snoxall (1967) gives gg/jj variants for the following class 5 nouns: g-
gindù/j-jindù 'spur of fowl', g-ginirizi/j-jinirizi 'hair along spine on back of animals', g-
girì/j-jirì 'mat with spiral pattern', g-girikiti/j-jirikiti 'Red-shot Poker Tree, Uganda
Coral'. The last noun has the plural ma-yirikiti. Other nouns that are entered solely with
initial [gg] in class 5 also have ay-initial class 6, e.g. g-giririzi 'a skin disease', pi. ma-
yiririzi. This is clearly an area for further lexicographic research.
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13 Kihehe syllable structure
David Odden & Mary Odden
1. Introduction*
This chapter discusses a number of general issues in the phonology of Kihehe,

which is a Bantu language spoken in southwestern Tanzania, focusing on as-
pects of the language which relate to the structure of the syllable. After an
overview of the basic syllable typology of the language, we move to two areas
involving syllable readjustment and compensatory lengthening: the resolution
of vocalic hiatus in section 2, and lengthening of vowels before NC sequences
in section 3. The question of the underlying length of stem-initial vowels is
taken up in section 4, and a restriction against word-final long vowels is investi-
gated in section 5. Section 6 shows how gemination of nasals is sensitive to
tone, and the final section investigates the phonetic and phonological properties
of two kinds of syllabic nasals in the language. One of the conclusions to be
drawn in this study is that while there is evidence in Kihehe for certain sub-
syllabic constituents such as the mora and the onset, there is no evidence for the
syllable itself as a phonological constituent.
As a Bantu language, there is a considerable degree of similarity between the
syllabic phonology of Kihehe and that of related languages such as Luganda
(Hyman & Katamba, this volume) or Kimatuumbi (Odden 1996). We begin
with the basic typological question of what kinds of syllables are allowed in
Kihehe. Syllables in this language can be partitioned into two sets. The most
general type is the basic CV syllable, composed of an optional onset which may
be any consonant of the language and a single vowel, illustrated in (1). The
vowel of the syllable may be any one of the 5 vowels /i e a o u/, which may be
short or long.
418 David Odden & Mary Odden
(1) Basic syllable types: (Ons) + Nue = (N)(C)(G)V(V)

V: a-teléka 'he will cook'
VV: ií-ta 'he will spill'
CV: tu-teléka 'we will cook'
CW: vií-ta 'they will spill'
NCV: nzí-ta Ί will spill'
NCVV: ndii-teléka Ί will cook'
CGV: mí-twe 'heads'
CGVV: myeé-zi 'months'
NCGV: lufuú-mbwi 'chain'
N C G W : ii-mbwaa-gwá 'it will be repeatedly
On the surface, syllables usually have onsets, and a fair amount of Kihehe
phonology concerns itself with guaranteeing that syllables do have onsets, in
light of the fact that the morphology allows the concatenation of multiple
vowels which would otherwise lead to many onsetless syllables. The only con-
texts within the word where an onsetless syllable is allowed are at the very
beginning of the word, and in certain reduplicated forms such as ititeiitite 'he
spilled all over the place'.
The syllable onset may contain as many as three consonants. In the maximal
syllable onset, the first consonant is a nasal, which is always homorganic with
the following consonant. The second consonant in the onset forms the core
segment of the onset, and may be any consonant of the language, though there
are segmental co-occurrence constraints holding between this core consonant
and either the preceding nasal or a following optional glide. Thus the core C of
the syllable cannot be a nasal if C is preceded by a nasal, so *nm is not a pos-
sible onset, and the core C cannot be a glide if a glide follows, thus *yw is also
not a possible onset. There are also more specific constraints on the segmental
content of consonant sequences in the onset, so that a nasal cannot be followed
by I (*nl) or a voiceless consonant (*nt, *ns).
The second type of syllable in Kihehe is one composed of just a syllabic
nasal, as in (2).
(2) Nasal syllable

[rj.go.da] 'sticks' (orthographic ñgoda)
[ή.de.la] 'roots'
[m.bwa] 'dog'
[q.qo.ño] 'maggots' (orthographic ñng'onyo)
(Subtype: m.twaángo 'pestle')
Kihehe syllable structure 419
Unlike the more general CV syllable, the nasal syllable has an extremely re-
stricted distribution. This nasal is always followed by a consonant in the next
syllable, and it shares place of articulation with that consonant. It surfaces only
at the beginning of a phrase, is always H toned, and never has an onset conso-
nant. There is a phonetic variant of this surface syllable type, composed of a
surface syllabic m as exemplified in the word m'twaángo, which is quite dif-
ferent from the more general syllabic nasal. This nasal syllable has a much less
restricted distribution, interacts with other segments in a very different way
from the general syllabic nasal, and is phonetically distinct from the regular
syllabic nasal. We will discuss these two minor syllable types in greater detail
later in this paper.
2. Vowel-vowel sequences
In this section, we investigate how sequences of vowels that arise in underlying

representations are eliminated on the surface. As we have noted, syllables gen-
erally have onsets in surface representations. However, a number of morphemes
in the language underlyingly begin with a vowel, so underlying vowel-plus-
vowel sequences can easily be constructed by morpheme concatenation. Such
sequences are resolved in various ways. Glide formation is one common way to
eliminate vocalic sequences. Some examples of glide formation are shown in
(3), which illustrates different surface forms of the infinitive prefix. When
placed before a stem that begins with any non-syllabic segment, the infinitive
prefix has the shape ku, but before a vowel-initial stem, it is realized as kw.
(3) kú-fuga 'to keep animals in house'

kú-gohomóla 'to cough'
kú-haáta 'to be fermenting'
kw-áala 'to open palms'
kw-éenda 'to love'
kw-iita 'to pour'
Similarly, as (4) shows, the class 5 subject prefix li- shows up as li- before a
consonant-initial stem, but before a vowel-initial stem, li- becomes ly-. The
class 9 prefix is realized as the vowel i- before a consonant-initial stem, but as
the glide y- before a vowel-initial stem.
(4) li-telekwá 'it (cl. 5) will be cooked'

ly-oogópa 'it (cl. 5) will fear'
ly-eeheéla 'it (cl. 5) will breath'
ly-aáka 'it (cl. 5) will burn'
i-lúma 'it (cl. 9) will bite'
y-oogópa 'it (cl. 9) will fear'
y-uúsa 'it (cl. 9) will come'
y-aáka 'it (cl. 9) will burn'
It should be noticed that, in all of the above examples, the initial stem vowel is
long on the surface where there is an underlying vowel-plus-vowel sequence.
There is no contrast in Kihehe between stem-initial long vowels and stem-initial
short vowels, so we will assume that all vowels that appear at the beginning of
the stem are uniformly the same length. At this point, we have not considered
any evidence that argues whether these vowels are underlyingly short, but we
will later show that underlyingly stem-initial vowels appear as short when they
are not preceded by a prefix vowel, which gives a clue as to the underlying
length of such vowels.
In the examples of glide formation seen above, the two vowels have not been
homorganic, i.e., they have not involved combinations of front vowel plus front
vowel, or back vowel plus back vowel. When the two vowels agree in place of
articulation, the expected glide from the first vowel is generally lacking. Rele-
vant examples are seen in (5). Thus, when i combines with i, the result is a long
/, but no glide y : glide formation alone would predict the incorrect result *yii, as
in the middle column of representations in (5). Similarly, when u combines with
u or o, the result is not *wuu and *woo, but rather uu and oo, exhibiting only
vowel lengthening and no surface glide.
(5) [Ι-iitwá] 'it (cl. 5) will be spilled' lyiitwá <— /li-itwa/

[k-óogópa] 'to fear' <— kwóogópa <— /kú-ogópa/
[k-úusa] 'to come' <— kwúusa <— /kú-usa/
This sort of glide deletion process, where a glide deletes if it would appear
before an identical vowel, is fairly common in Bantu languages. For example,
deletion of a glide before a homorganic vowel is found in Luganda (Clements
1986) and Kimatuumbi (Odden 1996). Kihehe takes this process a bit further,
though, and prohibits w before the similar but not identical vowel o. Interest-
ingly, though, Kihehe does allow y before e.
(6) ly-eeheéla 'it (cl. 5) will breath' <— /li-eheéla/

ly-eendwá 'it (cl. 5) will be loved' <— /li-endwá/
This deletion of a glide before a homorganic vowel is motivated by the OCP,

and the consequence of this deletion is the elimination of a somewhat difficult-
to-parse sequence of vocalic elements. A sequence such as wu, wo is difficult to
parse because the acoustic cues for the glide and the following vowel are highly
similar, whereas with dissimilar glide-vowel sequences such as wi and yu, there
is a more significant change in formant structure between the segments.
This deletion of a glide before a similar vowel only takes place when another
consonant precedes the would-be glide. When the glide is initial in its syllable,
then there is no glide deletion. Thus, the Class 9 prefix / surfaces as a y before
stem-initial i in yiitiitwe in contrast to the Class 5 prefix li where préfixai /
disappears in liitiitwe. Similarly, the 2nd singular prefix u appears as w before
stems beginning with u and o, in contrast to the 1st plural prefix where the
underlying vowel u is lost before these vowels, as it is in the analogous ex-
amples of (5).1
(7) y-iitiitwe 'it (cl. 9) was spilled' <— /i-itw-ite/

1-iitiitwe 'it (cl. 5) was spilled' <— /li-itw-ite/
w-oógwiipe 'you feared' <— /u-ógwiipe/
t-oógwiipe 'we feared' <— /tu-ógwiipe/
The dependence of glide-deletion on a preceding consonant makes sense if

glide formation is seen as part of a conspiracy to eliminate onsetless syllables.
When a prevocalic vowel is turned into a glide, it surfaces in the syllable onset,
thus avoiding an undesirable onsetless syllable in favor of a highly desirable
onsetful syllable. If the glide were deleted in a case like yiitiite where there is
no other onset consonant, deletion of the glide would make the result more
desirable from the segmental perspective, but would also move away from this
ideal prosodie target: deletion would take away an onset from a syllable that
was, syllabically speaking, quite well-formed. The consequence of not deleting
the glide is that the OCP is violated, and a relatively hard-to-parse segmental
sequence is retained: evidently, violation of the onset principle is held as more
serious in Kihehe than a violation of the OCP. The stakes are different if the
glide is preceded by a consonant. In the case of underlying tu-ógwiipe, while
glide formation alone eliminates the onsetless syllable, it also results in a viola-
tion of the OCP, whereas eliminating the expected vocoid entirely still leaves
no onsetless syllable, and in addition would get rid of the problematic sequence
wo.2
In some instances, the result of glide formation is a more substantial change
in the preceding consonant. Thus, in (8), when the class 7 object prefix ki un-
dergoes glide formation, we find ch instead of the predicted sequence k+y.
(8) a-ki-téliike 'he cooked it (cl. 7)'

a-ch-aánwiike 'he received it (cl. 7)' <— /a-ki-ánwiike/
a-ch-eéndite 'he loved it (cl. 7)' <— /a-ki-éndite/
The language does not have any surface sequences of plain velar plus y, and
instead has the alveo-palatal affricate ch where ky would be expected. The
voiced velar g is also subject to palatalization as seen in (9), but this is a pho-
netically different type of palatalization, where g becomes a true palatal stop.
(9) kú-gi-lúma 'to bite them (cl. 4)'

kú-j-oogópa 'to fear them (cl. 4)'
kú-j-eénga 'to prepare them (cl. 4)'
Notice, though, that neither k nor g palatalize before the vowel i, even in a case
involving an i+i sequence where expected y deletes before z.
(10) a-ki-téliike 'he cooked it (cl. 7)'

a-gi-téliike 'he cooked them (cl. 4)'
a-k-iitite 'he spilled it (cl. 7)' <— /a-ki-itite/
a-g-iitite 'he spilled them (cl. 4)' <— /a-gi-itite/
Prefixes in the language never contain mid vowels, and all roots and suffixes
are either consonant-final, or else cannot be followed by any suffix, so it is
impossible to test what would happen when a mid vowel precedes another
vowel. However, underlying sequences of low vowel plus vowel do exist.
Generally, when a low vowel precedes another vowel, the low vowel deletes,
with compensatory lengthening of the second vowel. This process is illustrated
in (11) with combinations of a plus a, e, o and /; in the latter case, note in par-
ticular that contrary to the more common pattern cross-linguistically and in
Bantu languages (found in Luganda, Makua, Nguni, and Kimatuumbi inter alii),
the resulting vowel is not a mid vowel. Thus, the subject prefix for 3rd person
singular is a, and the subject prefix for class 6 nouns is ga-.
(11) a-bitite 'he went' ga-bitite 'they (cl. 6) went'

eéheelye 'he breathed' g-eéheelye 'they (cl. 6) breathed' /-eheel-/
oógwiipe 'he feared' g-oógwiipe 'they (cl. 6) feared' /-ogop-/
aániike 'he dried' g-aániikwe 'they (cl. 6) were dried' /-anik-/
iitite 'he spilled' g-iitiitwe 'it (cl. 6) was spilled' /-it-/
When these prefixes appear before a consonant-initial root, they retain their
underlying form, but before a vowel-initial stem, the vowel a disappears from
the prefix, and instead, one finds a long version of the stem-initial vowel.
The case of a plus u is harder to illustrate, since only one root begins with u.
Nevertheless, it turns out that the sequence a plus u is resolved by the deletion
of u, not the deletion of a. When the stem usa meaning 'come' is preceded by
the vowel a, initial u deletes and préfixai a is retained.
(12) k-úusa 'to come' /kú-usa/

t-uúsite 'we came' /tu-úsite/
y-uúsite 'it (cl. 9) came' /i-úsite/
aásite 'he came' /a-úsite/
v-aásite 'they came' /va-úsite/
One fact which emerges clearly from the above discussion is that when there
is vocalic syllable merger, either glide formation or vowel deletion, there is
always compensatory lengthening of the following vowel. The pattern of com-
pensatory lengthening associated with glide formation is extremely common,
perhaps universal, among Bantu languages with a vowel length contrast.3 Such
compensatory lengthening is found in Kihehe even if the vowel which becomes
a glide is not preceded by an onset consonant. Thus, the onsetless prefix u for
2nd singular subjects undergoes glide formation before another vowel, and that
vowel is lengthened. In this respect, Kihehe is typologically like Kimatuumbi,4
and unlike the Lacustrine languages Luganda and Kikerewe. In the latter two
languages, compensatory lengthening fails just in case the first high vowel is in
an onsetless syllable, whereas in Kimatuumbi, as in Kihehe, an onsetless vowel
does contribute a mora to the process of compensatory lengthening.
Kihehe: u-itite —> wiitite 'you spilled' (+CL)

tu-itite —> twiitite 'we spilled'
Kimatuumbi: μ-a-límite -» waalimite 'you cultivated' (+CL)
ty-a-limite —> twaalimite 'we cultivated'
Kikerewe: o-a-bálá -» wabálá 'you counted' (-CL)
tu-a-bálá -» twaabálá 'we counted'
Luganda: o-a-laba -» walaba 'you saw' (-CL)
tu-a-laba —» twaalaba 'we say'
Related to the persistent lengthening associated with glide formation is the

fact that vowels are always long after a sequence composed of a consonant plus
glide.5 There are many verbs like kúfiviíma with a long vowel after a consonant-
plus-glide sequence, but there are no verbs like hypothetical *kúfivata, with a
short vowel after such a sequence.
(14) kú-fwiíma 'to hunt'

*kú-fwata
This generalization could be expressed at the cost of some abstractness, if we

assume that underlyingly, surface post-consonantal glides actually derive from
vowels, in which case, kúfiviíma would derive from kúfuíma by glide formation,
with concomitant compensatory lengthening.
(15) /ku- fu i ma/ -» kú-fwiíma
This might lead one to think that all glides should derive from underlying
vowels; but this assumption cannot be made across the board. While all vowels
are long after a sequence of a consonant plus a glide, there are short vowels
after a simple glide, that is, a glide not preceded by a consonant.6
(16) kú-yaga 'to get lost' kú-yava 'to harvest roots'

(/ku - i a ga/ *kúyaága) (/ku - i a va/ -> *kúyaáva)
Thus to derive the glide of kúyaga from an underlying high vowel, we would be
faced with the problem of explaining why there is no compensatory lengthening
when glide formation turns putative kúiaga into kúyaga.
A simple solution to this problem would be to allow underlying glides, and
thus derive kúyaga from kúyaga. However, this leaves us with no account of the
fact that vowels are systematically long after a sequence composed of a conso-
nant plus glide. In order to capture the generalization that vowels are long after
CG sequences, we would need to maintain an underlying representation for
post-consonantal glides where the surface glide derives from a vowel. This
raises the question of what the distribution of vowels and glides is in underlying
representations. This has a very simple answer. We may assume that, underly-
ingly, glides exist only as the core consonant in a CV syllable, as shown in
(17).
(17) σ σ σ σ σ σ σ
k U f u i m a k u i a g a
Thus assuming underlying kúfuima, u could not be parsed as the core consonant
of its syllable, since / necessarily occupies that slot, and therefore, u can only
be parsed as a vowel. In kúyaga, on the other hand, the vocoid / is parsed as a
glide since no other segment occupies the core consonant slot. Once we have
this contrast in underlying representations, we can derive the correct surface
length by applying glide formation with its compensatory lengthening con-
comitant to the underlying ui sequence.
There is an alternative theory for onset glides in Bantu, proposed by Rosen-
thall (1994), namely that there are no post-consonantal glides in Kihehe. In-
stead, one might analyze kw and ly as single consonants with secondary articu-
lations.
(18) k u [Γ ii] m a
σ
r r
I I
Place [i]
Labial^^X^
Vocalic
I
Labial
It is a relatively small matter to account for glide formation under this approach.
In case a prevocalic vowel is not preceded by an onset consonant, there would
be glide formation as usual. But if the vowel is preceded by a consonant, then
on the assumption that there is no syllabic position in the onset for a post-con-
sonantal glide, the place features of the underlying high vowel will attach to the
existing onset consonant. Since Kihehe does not have secondarily articulated
consonants which contrast with consonant plus glide sequences, the secondary
articulation theory is at least empirically tenable.
Given that secondary articulations within a segment are not internally order-
able (see Sagey 1990), one way to falsify this theory would be to discover a
contrast between post-consonantal yw versus post-consonantal wy, and Kihehe
does not have such a contrast. However, it is worth noting that Kikerewe does
distinguish these two sequences. At the phrasal level, there is rampant glide
formation in Kikerewe, and as shown in (19), when a word ends in the se-
quence consonant plus y plus round vowel, the result is a sequence of glides, in
the expected order yw. But if the underlying post-consonantal glide is w fol-
lowed by a front vowel, then the glide y is deleted.
(19) Kikerewe
Cyo#e ebilyó 'food'
ebilyw' eébyo 'that food'
Cwi#o omumwi 'barber'
omumw' oogwo 'that barber'
If the consonant and glide are really separate segments, then they are orderable,
and thus we can state the generalization that post-consonantal w deletes before
a glide, without incorrectly affecting the sequence yw. The secondary articula-
tion theory would not be able to capture this generalization, since labialization
and palatalization on a preceding consonant would be unordered. While we
cannot make this same argument for Kihehe since such potential contrasts can-
not be generated, the problem which we noted regarding post-consonantal
glides and the distribution of length exists in Kikerewe, showing that the secon-
dary articulation account cannot be a general solution to the problem that can
be applied throughout Bantu.
3. Pre-NC lengthening
There is another context in which long vowels are generally required, and that
is when a vowel precedes a sequence of a nasal plus a consonant. For example,
as (20) indicates, in verb and noun stems, whenever there is a sequence com-
posed of a vowel plus NC, the vowel is always long.
(20) kúfuungúla 'to untie' kúsuúmba 'to jump'

kúhoómba 'to pay' váhiínza 'girls'
kúkalaánga 'to fry' m'goóngo 'back'
kúlaambalála 'to lie down' lífiinga 'rock shelter'
kúnyelegeénda 'to tickle' kíduunda 'hill'
kúnaánga 'to destroy' nyeéngo 'scythe'
kúpuundúla 'to shoot'
There is a phonological alternation which further motivates vowel lengthen-

ing before NC sequences,7 since underlyingly short vowels can be combined
with hetero-morphemic nasal plus consonant clusters. There are morphemes
whose content is just a nasal, and when such a morpheme is combined with a
consonant plus a preceding vowel, vowel length alternations result. For in-
stance, the prefix marking the 1st person object on a verb is -η-, and the
Kihehe syllable structure All
prefixes for 2nd singular and 3rd singular subject, and for the infinitive, are
respectively u-, a- and ku-. As seen in (21), each of the latter set of prefixes has
a short vowel, as demonstrated by forms where the prefix immediately precedes
the verb stem, or when it precedes an object prefix other than 1st person -«-.
(21) -η- 1 sg object u- 2 sg subject

a- 3 sg subject ku- infinitive
a-dágite 'he chased'
u-dágite 'you sg. chased'
kú-daga 'to chase'
a-ki-dágite 'he chased it (cl. 7)'
u-ki-dágite 'you sg. chased it (cl. 7)'
kú-ki-dága 'to chase it (cl. 7)'
a-va-dágite 'he chased them'
u-va-dágite 'you sg. chased them'
kú-va-dága 'to chase them'
When the prefix precedes the 1st singular object prefix -η-, however, the re-
sulting nasal plus consonant sequence causes the vowel of the prefix to
lengthen.
(22) aa-n-dágite 'he chased me'

uu-n-dágite 'you chased me'
kúu-n-dága 'to chase me'
Similar alternations can be found in the shape of the locative prefix on

nouns. The locative prefix pa- meaning 'at' has a short vowel, as seen in (23),
whenever the noun following it begins with something other than the sequence
nasal plus consonant. However, when the noun begins with an NC sequence,
the vowel of the locative is lengthened.
(23) pa-máfiga 'at the stones'

pa-chuúla 'at the frog'
paa-mbéva 'at the rat'
paa-ngwáada 'at the calf
paa-nzogólo 'at the rooster'
One does not normally associate vowel lengthening with a sequence of con-
sonants, a context which is in fact more likely to be a context for vowel short-
ening. And yet this pattern of lengthening is extremely common in Bantu lan-
guages. Such lengthening before NC sequences is found in Kikerewe (Odden
1995), Luganda (Cole 1967; Stevick 1969; Hyman & Katamba, this volume),
Jita (Downing 1990, 1991), Kinyarwanda (Kimenyi 1979), Kikamba (Roberts-

Kohno, in progress), Kikuria (Cammenga 1994), Luhya (Dalgish 1976) and
Bukusu (Mutonyi 1992), to name a few languages. There are a number of pos-
sible explanations for this lengthening. One analysis often given to this phe-
nomenon, which will be adopted here, starts with the assumption that the nasal
is underlyingly moraic in such examples. Since the nasal eventually is syllabi-
fied as part of the onset of the following syllable, it cannot be moraic on the
surface, and therefore the nasal's mora must be detached from the nasal and
reattached to the preceding vowel, resulting in compensatory lengthening of the
preceding vowel.
(24) σ σ σ
μ μ μ μ /μμ / μ /μ
I I ι ι / V / / I / I
p a m b e v a —> ρ a m b e v a
The problem with this approach is that it does not directly capture the generali-
zation that all vowels are long before NC sequences. The generalization is
captured indirectly by the fact that all preconsonantal nasals are presumed to be
underlyingly moraic, but then the question is why that should be true - nothing
in the analysis explains that regularity. An alternative analysis, which does take
into account the fact that all NC sequences trigger lengthening, is to assume
that the nasal receives a mora by Weight-by-Position. The problem with this
analysis is very simple, as pointed out in Downing (1991): Weight-by-Position
only works if these nasals are part of the syllable coda, but, in fact, there are no
coda consonants in the language at all.
(25)
μ μ μ /μ μ /μ /μ /μ μ / / μ /μ
I I I /I i / ι /ι V / / 1 / ι
p a m b e v a p a m b e v a ρ a m b e v a
One could assume that codas are temporarily well-formed, at least long enough
for Weight-by-Position to kick in, and then they are ruled out, causing the mora
to detach from the vowel. This would be suspicious since we know of no lan-
guage which allows codas at a more abstract level but systematically disallows
them on the surface. To be fair, our account of the exceptionlessness of the
generalization that vowels are long after consonant plus glide sequences cru-
cially relies on a more restrictive underlying syllable canon than is found on the
surface, so we certainly cannot require that deep and surface syllabification
principles be the same. Whatever the mechanism is for deriving the result, it
remains a fact that vowels are long before NC sequences.
4. Stem-initial vowels
Having presented the two major sources of lengthening in the language, that is,
vocalic fusion and pre-NC lengthening, it is time to turn to a special property of
vowel length of stem-initial vowels in Kihehe. A basic question that needs to be
resolved about stem-initial vowels, such as that of kwiita in (26), is whether
they are underlyingly long or short (or perhaps contrast in length in this posi-
tion). In the infinitive, they appear as long on the surface, but that length might
either be because the vowels are underlyingly long, or because of the glide-
formation and compensatory lengthening effect of the infinitive prefix.
/Λ ι
(26) σ σ σ
/ι
ku
ν 7/ν
/μ μ μ
i t a
μ
ι
kw
->//μ μ /μ
i t a
It is impossible to tell from the infinitive whether the initial vowel of the stem
-ita is basically long or short: if it were short, it would still get lengthened be-
cause of the preceding vowel. The morphology of the language conspires so
that there is no way to have a bare stem, i.e. one not preceded by a prefix.8
However, the prefixes for a 1st singular subject and 1st singular object do not
end with vowels - recall that they are composed solely of a nasal - so after
these prefixes we do not encounter the usual vowel-plus-vowel fusion problem,
with its automatic concomitant, compensatory lengthening.
When a nasal prefix is placed before a vowel-initial stem, an epenthetic ζ
appears, as shown in (27).
(27) kw-íiwúka 'to remember' nz-iwiike Ί remembered'

k-óogópa 'to fear' nz-ógwiipe Ί feared'
kw-áasá 'to burn (tr.)' nz-ásiise Ί burned (tr.)'
kw-éeheéla 'to breathe' nz-éheelye Ί breathed'
Notice also that the initial vowel surfaces as short. This then gives us evidence
that bears on the question of whether these initial vowels are long or short.
First, the fact that all vowels appear as short in this context indicates that there
is no vowel length contrast in this position, unlike the case of Kimatuumbi,9
where initial long vowels freely contrast with initial short vowels.
(28) Kimatuumbi
yna 'harvest' i¡ii¿na 'spit'
Thus, typologically, Kihehe is like Luganda, Kikerewe, Luhya, Bukusu, Ki-

kamba and most other Bantu languages on this score, since in these languages
too, there is no length contrast for stem-initial vowels. Second, since the vowels
appear as short, this suggests that the vowels are underlyingly short, and that
the surface length found in the infinitive and elsewhere after a vocalic prefix is
the result of the compensatory lengthening concomitant of vowel fusion pro-
cesses in the language.
However, additional evidence suggests that something else may be going on.
As we have noted, vowels are long before a sequence of nasal plus consonant.
In light of that fact, notice that when a stem is vowel-initial, and if the initial
vowel is followed by a nasal-plus-consonant sequence, then in case the stem is
preceded by the non-vocalic 1st singular prefix, the stem-initial vowel surfaces
as short. Relevant examples are given in (29).
(29) kw-áandíka 'to write' nz-ándiike Ί wrote'

kw-éenga 'to brew' nz-éngite Ί brewed'
kw-iimba 'to sing' nz-imbite Ί sang'
So, underlyingly, we have the 1st singular prefix n, followed by a stem-initial

vowel, which is itself followed by a nasal-plus-consonant sequence. On the
surface, the vowel is short, even though the vowel is followed by an NC se-
quence. The problem then is this: suppose that all there were to say about vowel
length is that stem-initial vowels are underlyingly short. In that case, stems like
ita can be explained, since their surface long vowel comes about only because
of the compensatory lengthening effect of a vocalic prefix. When these stems
are preceded by the prefix n, they surface with a short vowel, reflecting their
underlying form.
(30) σ σ
'μ^μ / μ
k U + i ta kw i t a
In this analysis, it would simply be an accident - perhaps captured by mor-

pheme structure conditions - that there are no stems with an underlying long
vowel that surfaces as long after the prefix n.
With vowel-initial stems having an NC sequence after the vowel, the matter
is more complex. In such stems, the initial vowel remains short when the stem
is preceded by the prefix n. If there is a process lengthening a vowel before an
NC sequence, that process should still be operative in nzéngite. Or, if pre-
consonantal nasals are underlyingly moraic, we must still explain the failure of
that mora to attach to the preceding vowel, resulting in a long vowel.
(31)
pre-NC Lengthening
η z + e n g i t e *nz + e n g i t e
moraic readjustment of nasal

μ μ -» μ μ
η z + e n g i t e ,*η ζ + ν e n g .i t e
This suggests that there is a higher-priority constraint against having stem-

initial long vowels, which overrides whatever mechanism yields long vowels
before nasal-plus-consonant sequences. However, the compensatory lengthen-
ing principle for vowel fusion has even higher priority, and thus stem-initial
vowels remain long in that context.
5. Final syllables and shortening
There is one further context where a vowel would be expected to be long, and
yet the vowel surfaces as short. All word-final vowels in the language are short,
reflecting a general ban on final long vowels throughout Bantu. We have seen
that vowels are systematically long after a consonant-plus-glide sequence, and
yet (32) shows that just in case such a glide appears word finally, the vowel
surfaces as short.
(32) kúlya 'to eat'

situsópya 'we won't cause to put in'
sisikálaangwa 'they won't be fried'
mitwe 'heads'
mbwa 'dog'
Thus, there is a conflict between the principle that final vowels are short and
the principle that post-glide vowels are long, and evidently the no-final-long
principle wins out. It is important to note, though, that the post-glide-long prin-
ciple does not give up without a trace. A look at tone patterns reveals that the
expected extra mora connected with the glide is in some sense present in final
syllables.
Verbs in Kihehe have no lexical tones: instead, an H tone is assigned to an
appropriate position as a function of verb tense. For instance, as indicated in
(33), in the fixture tense and the remote past, an H tone is assigned to the penul-
timate mora.
(33) tu-lima 'we will cultivate'

tu-fuúnya 'we will spit'
tu-teléka 'we will cook'
tu-kalaánga 'we will fry'
tu-laambalála 'we will lie down'
tukáa-limíte 'we cultivated (rem)'

tukáa-teliíke 'we cooked (rem)'
tukáa-kuungwiíne 'we beat the drum (rem)'
tukáa-nyelegeendíte 'we tickled (rem)'
Targeting the penultimate mora rather than syllable is an appropriate descrip-

tion for this pattern, since in case the penultimate syllable has a long vowel, the
H tone appears as a rising tone in that syllable.
Just in case the last syllable has a sequence of a consonant-plus-glide, as in

(34), then notice that the H tone appears on the surface final vowel, not the
penult.
(34) gu-limwá 'it will be cultivated'

tu-lemwá 'we will be unable'
a-pamyá 'he will touch'
tu-seemwá 'we will forget'
w-oogofyá 'they will frighten'
This suggests that the final syllable is phonologically long in some sense, as
predicted by the post-glide-length principle: possibly, the final vowel is length-
ened as expected (so /gu-lim-u-a/ -> gulimwaa), tone is assigned to the penul-
timate mora which happens to be in the final syllable (gulimwaa), and subse-
quently the final vowel is shortened. These insights can also be captured with a
more abstract surface structure which avoids positing intermediate derivational
stages, as sketched in (35). This structure, where the word-final mora is not
parsed syllabically, would satisfy the requirement that the glide sponsor an
additional mora by indeed having a bimoraic sequence, and tone is assigned on
the basis of moraic structure. This structure also satisfies the constraint against
final long vowels, so that the final syllable is not literally long.
(35) H
g u 1i m w a
Nevertheless, the second mora would still be visible to the tone process which
searches for the penult.
6. The phonology of moraic nasals
We now turn to the question of syllables composed solely of a syllabic nasal,

focusing on alternations in the nasal and the following consonant. Here, we will
use nouns from class 11-10, where the singular selects the class 11 prefix lu and
434 David Odden &Mary Odden
the plural selects the class 10 prefix η. In such sequences, the nasal is always
homorganic with the following consonant, as we see in (36).
(36) [qgotfa] 'sticks' [lúcforfa] 'stick'

[ndali] 'powers' [lúcfali] 'power'
[mbáva] 'wings' [luBáva] 'wing'
Nasal consonants appear on the surface only before a stop. If the following
consonant is a voiceless fricative, the nasal deletes, as in (37).
(37) 'simo10 'stories' lú-simo 'story'

'fwa 'deaths' lú-fwa 'death'
However, the nasal does not delete without a trace. If there is a vowel that
precedes the sequence of nasal plus fricative, the vowel is lengthened, just as it
is before all nasal plus consonant sequences.
(38) paá-simo 'where the stories are' pa-lú-simo 'where the story is'
paá-fwa 'where the deaths are' pa-lú-fwa 'where death is'
This same pattern of deletion of a pre-fricative nasal can be demonstrated using

the 1st singular object prefix -n- as in (39); the indirect evidence for the pres-
ence of this prefix is the vowel lengthening effect of that consonant on the
preceding vowel.
(39) asákite 'he wanted'

aasákite 'he wanted me' /a-n-sákite/
asúpiise 'he made relax'
aasúpiise 'he made me relax' /a-n-súpiise/
afwíimite 'he hunted'
aafwí imite 'he hunted me' /a-n-fwíimite/
afuungulye 'he opened for'
aafuungulye 'he opened for me' /a-n-fuungulye/
When the nasal precedes I or v, these consonants become respectively d, and b.
(40) kú-liváta 'to step' n-divasile Ί stepped'

kú-lima 'to cultivate' n-dimite Ί cultivated'
kú-viíka 'to put' m-biikite Ί put'
kú-vyaála 'to plant' m-byáalite Ί planted'
kú-yaga 'to get lost' n-zágite Ί got lost'
If the initial consonant is a voiced stop, there is a surface alternation between

implosive and plain voiced stop. The voiced stops of Kihehe generally appear
as implosives, but they have a non-implosive allophone when they are preceded
by a nasal that assimilates in place of articulation. Thus, the addition of the 1 sg
subject prefix η results in the initial implosive being realized as a non-
implosive.
(41) [kú-cfela] 'to try' [qgélite] Ί tried'

[kú-deta] 'to lie' [ndétite] Ί lied'
[ku-ßita] 'to go' [mbitite] Ί went'
Further examples of the alternation between plain voiced and implosive stops is
seen in (36).
If the nasal precedes a voiceless stop, the stop nasalizes after the nasal pre-
fix. On the surface, there may either be a single nasal, or else a syllabic nasal
followed by an identical non-syllabic nasal - i.e. a geminate nasal, the first half
of which serves as an independent syllable and the second half serving as the
onset for the following syllable. The choice between a single nasal and a gemi-
nate nasal depends on two factors, namely tone and the presence of a preceding
vowel. First consider examples where the nasal is utterance-initial in (42).
(42) a. lu-teéfu 'reed mat' neéfu 'reed mats'

lu-kaánzi 'wall' ng'aánzi 'walls'
lu-páva 'ladle' máva 'ladles'
b. lú-tego 'trap' rmego 'traps'

lú-kaani 'message' nng'aani 'messages'
lú-kemeélo 'call' ñng'emeélo 'calls'
As these data show, there is a relation between gemination/syllabicity of the

nasal and whether or not the nasal is Η toned. The nasal will be geminate if and
only if it has an Η tone. The nouns in (42b) have the lexical property that an Η
tone is assigned to the vowel preceding the stem, in contrast to the stems in
(42a) where the prefix has no such Η tone. Consequently, the nasals in (42b)
are geminated.
To further support this connection between gemination and tone, we will
consider verbal forms, where tone is predictable by general rules which refer to
tense-aspect distinctions. In the imperative inflected for an object prefix, the
initial mora of the stem generally bears the Η tone; therefore, the object prefix
is usually toneless. This can be seen in (43).
(43) tu-táange 'help them!' náange 'help me!'

ki-kálaange 'fry it!' ng'álaangile 'fiyforme!'
tu-tégulile 'take for us' négulile 'take for me'
Notice that just where an object prefix such as ki or tu is toneless on the sur-
face, when the 1 sg. object prefix is combined with a stem-initial voiceless stop,
the nasal-plus-stop sequence surfaces as a single nasal. Under certain circum-
stances, seen in (44), the expected stem-initial H shifts to the left. Specifically,
when the stem is bimoraic, and therefore the stem-initial H would land on the
penultimate mora, then the H tone shifts to the left and appears on whatever
prefix comes before the stem. Therefore, object prefixes like tu- and ki- show
up with H tones in the imperative before CVCV stems.
(44) tú-tove 'beatus!' rinove 'beatme'

tú-kase 'dry us!' nng'ase 'dry me!'
tú-poke 'grab us!' mmoke 'grab me'
In exactly that circumstance, the result of fusing a nasal plus a voiceless stop is
a geminate nasal.
So as a first approximation, we can say that a nasal will be geminate just in
case it is tone-bearing, given that tone-bearingness is something independently
determined in the grammar. The picture is complicated further by the fact that
when the nasal is preceded by a vowel, the mora of the nasal and the H tone,
which it might bear, get transferred to the preceding vowel.
(45) Noun Locative

neéfii paaneéfu 'reed mats'
ng'aánzi paang'aánzi 'walls'
máva paamáva 'ladles'
nnego paánego 'traps'

ñng'aani paáng'aani 'messages'
ñng'emeélo paáng'emeélo 'calls'
These patterns can be understood in terms of a hierarchy of well-formedness

goals, some of which have to be sacrificed in favor of others. What drives these
processes is a constraint that requires moraic elements to be vocalic in nature,
and thus a nasal is not an optimal mora-bearer. If a nasal's mora can be trans-
ferred to a preceding vowel, then it will be; therefore, there is nasal degemina-
tion post-vocalically, as in paánego. For non-postvocalic nasals, retention of
the nasal mora will be required when the nasal is H toned as in nnego, since
preservation of H tones is a high-ranking priority in the language. Were the
nasal to lose its mora and thereby become non-syllabic, then the prosodie sup-
port for the H tone would be lost, so we would lose the H tone. But if the nasal
does not bear an H tone (neéfu), then nothing compels the nasal to be moraic,
and therefore the constraint requiring moraic segments to be vocalic takes over,
causing demoraification (desyllabification) of the nasal.
7. Two types of syllabic nasals
As mentioned earlier, there are two surface types of nasal syllables. The first is
the structure which we have just seen, with a moraic nasal that assimilates in
place of articulation to the following consonant, deletes before fricatives,
causes nasalization of voiceless stops and blocks implosivization of voiced
stops, and prefers to abandon its moraicity unless compelled to retain it because
of the presence of an H tone. There is another type of nasal syllable in the lan-
guage, illustrated in (46), syllabic m, which has none of these properties: it
never assimilates to the following consonant, never abandons its tone or mora,
and causes no changes in the following consonant. Finally, it may stand at the
end of the word, where it is followed by no consonant.
(46) [mtelési] 'cook' [mlacfúsi] 'witch'

[mfwiimi] 'hunter' [mdesi] 'liar'
[nißi] 'bad (cl. 1)' (cf. [níbi] 'bad (cl. 9)')
[pamdesi] 'at the liar' [súrp] 'poison'
This syllabic nasal derives from the reduction of the syllable mu, by a pro-
cess that is quite common in Bantu languages. The underlying form of this
syllable can be deduced indirectly, by considering the noun class prefixes for
classes 1 and 3, which are underlyingly mu. The evidence for underlying mu
derives in part from looking at the variation in the shape of these prefixes when
they appear before consonant-initial stems versus vowel-initial stems in (47).
Before a vowel-initial stem, we find that mu becomes mw, and it compensa-
t o r ^ lengthens the following vowel. Before a consonant-initial stem, we find
the syllabic nasal m, which does not assimilate to the following consonant, and
which causes no changes in the following consonant.
(47) Class 1 Class 3

mwéendi 'loving person' mwiína 'hole'
mwéegási 'fertile woman' mwíigíigi 'shadow'
mwíimbi 'singer' mwéenda 'cloth'
mkwaángu 'last-born' mnego 'dipper'
[mdesi] 'liar' mteela 'porridge spoon'
The reduction of mu takes place only when that syllable is short, so when the
2nd plural subject prefix precedes the 1st singular object prefix, which is -η-,
the lengthening effect of the nasal-plus-consonant cluster lengthens the vowel
u, keeping it from deleting. Before other prefixes, though, mu regularly reduces
to m.
(48) muu-n-dimye 'you pi. cultivated for me'
muu-négye 'you pi. trapped for me' /mu-n-tégye/
cf. m-gu-límite 'you pl. cultivated it (cl. 3)'
Another indication that this syllable derives from mu is the fact that it is actu-
ally pronounced in its unreduced form, mu, on occasion.
(49) [mdesi] ~ [mútfesi] 'liar'

mhuúfu ~ muhuúfu 'ugly person'
The question is whether one can phonetically distinguish between reduced

mu and the inherently moraic nasal N. Before non-labials, as in (50), it is easy
to distinguish between these two, since the syllabic nasal always assimilates in
place of articulation to the following consonant, so a dis-homorganic sequence
reflects mu, while a homorganic sequence reflects moraic N.
(50) /mu/ /N/

/g/ [mcfaáqga] 'doctor' [qgúwo] 'leather child strap'
/dJ [mdesi] 'liar' [ndunwi] 'lizard'
Ν [mlacfúsi] 'witch' [ndimi] 'tongue'
/k/ [mkáaqgafu] 'strong person' [qquku] 'chicken'
/t/ [mtwa] 'chief [nnego] 'trap'
Before labials, place of articulation would not be an effective cue to the nature
of the nasal. If the following consonant is / or p, it is still easy to distinguish
these two nasals, since with reduced mu one finds the sequence mf or mp,
whereas with the syllabic nasal, the nasal deletes before / and causes nasaliza-
tion of following p.
(51) /mu/ /Ν/

lí¡ [mfwiími] 'hunter' f'fuçfwa] 'domestic animal'
/ρ/ [mpuvá] 'stupid person' [mmeembe] 'horn'
The two most challenging contexts for distinguishing the two nasal syllables
are before b and before m. In the case of nasal plus b, in (52), the distinction is
audible in that with mu plus b, the labial stop is an implosive, whereas with the
moraic nasal, the labial stop is non-implosive.
(52) /mu/ INI

Ibi [mßi] 'bad (cl. 1)' [mbi] 'bad (cl. 9)'
[mfieéta] 'throat' [mbeéta] 'bucket'
[mBétele] 'harvest for him!' [mbétele] 'harvest for me!'
In the case of following m, one might expect that there couldn't be any phonetic
difference between geminate m and the sequence reduced mu plus m. In fact,
the two sequences are still audibly different, since there are minimal pairs such
as mmile meaning 'swallow me!' and m'mile meaning 'swallow him'. The
difference between these two lies in the duration of the nasal: this extra dura-
tion is indicated with a raised plus.
(53) /mu/ /Ν/

Imi [m + mile] 'swallow him!' Φ [mmile] 'swallow me!'
+
[m minye] 'squeeze him!' # [mminye] 'squeeze me!'
(Orthographically: m'mile 'swallow him!' vs. mmile 'swallow me!')
To test the claim that there is a durational difference between reduced mu

followed by m versus geminate m, we measured the duration of both kinds of
nasals. The first point to establish is that indeed there are geminate nasals, i.e.
nasals which are longer than short nasals. Recall that geminate nasals only
appear utterance-initially, that is, when they are not preceded by a vowel, and
they also only surface when they are H toned. Looking at simple, non-geminate
onset nasals, we can see that neither the environmental difference between
word-initiality versus post-vocalicity, nor the difference between being post-H
versus being post-L, has an effect on the duration of a single nasal. Single
nasals have an average duration of 98 ms.
(54) The lack of effect of word-initial vs. post-vocalic position on duration

Word-initial = 94 ms Post-vocalic = 99 ms
After H = 94 ms After L = 98 ms
Single nasal = 98 ms
But comparing the duration of a single onset m and geminate m, we can see that
the length of the geminate is significantly greater, averaging around 119 ms.
(55) Comparison of single vs. geminate m (mmile vs. mile)

Single nasal = 95 ms Geminate = 119 ms (p < ,16e"5)
Then the question is, what is the difference between a geminate m, versus what
we refer to as a double m, which results from reduction of mu in the underlying
sequence mu+m. The difference lies in the clearly greater duration of the
double m, with an average duration of 204 ms, as opposed to the true geminate
nasal m, with an average duration of 113 ms.
(56) Comparison of geminate m vs. double m (mmile vs. m'mile)

Geminate m = 113 ms Double m = 204 ms (ρ < . le"32)
Having established the phonetic reality of the contrast between the two kinds
of nasal, we turn to the question of how this difference is to be represented in
the grammar. In terms of a surface phonological representation of the contrast,
the essential fact about the nasal which derives from mu is that it does not inter-
act phonologically with the following consonant, and therefore we propose that
it should be, structurally speaking, completely autonomous from any following
syllable, if indeed there even exists a following syllable. On the other hand, the
essence of the assimilating nasal is that it is phonologically highly entangled
with the following consonant. One way to represent this difference is with the
structural contrasts in (57a) for the nasal derived from mu versus (57b) for the
essentially moraic, assimilating nasal.
(57) a.
r r r
μ
r r r
τ r
η
r
I I I I
place place place place
I I
m ß i
m m i ny e
• A
r r r r
I
place
I
m i ny e
Another possibility is to represent the reduction of mu as in (58), where m

serves both as onset and as nucleus for the syllable.
(58)
I 1 Γ \
r r r r r r
place place place place
m Β i m m i ny e
8. Conclusion
While it is evident that some prosodie representation above the level of the
segment is necessary to adequately account for Kihehe phonology, the question
must be asked as to what kinds of prosody are motivated in Kihehe. We have
nothing to say about higher level units such as the foot and phonological word
in this chapter: their status in the language is at best marginal, and only play a
role in reduplication and final shortening. On the other hand, the mora plays a
major role in Kihehe. Moras are crucial to representing contrasts in vowel
length which exist at all levels of the language, and are essential in accounting
for the phonology of geminate nasals which appear in surface structures. The
mora is central to explaining pervasive compensatory lengthening phenomena
in the language, which involve the preservation of moraic structure, as well as
various aspects of the tonal system, especially the fact that contour tones only
appear on long vowels.
The onset constraint, whereby syllables are required to have onsets, might
seem to motivate the syllable in Kihehe. We have noted that vocalic sequences
are avoided in Kihehe, and that, following Rosenthall (1994), one might ac-
count for avoidance of vowel sequences by invoking the onset principle. It has,
furthermore, been shown that homorganic glide deletion is sensitive to the onset
condition, in that glide deletion is blocked just in case an onsetless syllable
would result. Since there is good evidence for the onset condition, one might
conclude that the syllable itself is motivated by this condition. But an argument
for the onset does not automatically entail that the syllable itself is needed.
Note in particular that in Government Phonology (Kaye, Lowenstamm &
Vergnaud 1990), syllables do not exist; instead, strings are organized into alter-
nating sequences of onsets and nuclei, without invoking the syllable node.
Sequencing restrictions, such as the fact that a nasal must be homorganic
with the following consonant, or the fact that *nl is impossible and one finds nd
in its place, also provide no motivation for the syllable. Such facts can be ex-
pressed as constraints on possible phoneme sequences, with no reference at all
to prosodie structure. The one aspect of nasal-plus-consonant sequences which
comes closest to motivating the syllable is the contrast between [m'], which
derives from /mu/, versus a syllabic nasal. The different phonological properties
of these nasals (e.g. the fact that the syllabic nasal causes nasalization of a
following voiceless stop whereas the reduced nasal [m'] does not) are best
explained by reference to the derivational status of the nasal - the non-inter-
acting nasal derives from /mu/, so the nasal and following consonant are not
underlyingly adjacent. As far as maintaining a surface representation of the
contrast is concerned, structures such as (57) and (58) demonstrate that there
are other means available for distinguishing these nasals without requiring the
syllable itself.
Clements & Sezer (1982) argue for the syllable as the domain of velar pala-
talization in Turkish, where linear order of segments and adjacency do not
provide an adequate substitute for reference to the syllable. What emerges from
our discussion of Kihehe phonology is that the language provides evidence for
certain traditional sub-syllabic prosodie structures such as the onset or the
mora, comparable evidence for the syllable itself in the language has so far
avoided detection.
A cknowledgmenls
Data for this chapter comes from the late Dr. Margaret Fivawo and from J.A.
Tenge, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for their patience and intuitions.
We would also like to thank the audience at the OUP-Pézenas workshop on the
syllable for helpful comments. This study was funded in part by NSF grant
SBR-9421362.
A note on transcription
Transcription of examples is straightforward, with the following orthographic

conventions noted: <ng'> = [η]; <nng'> = [ηη]; <ng> = [qg]; <ny> = [ñj; <ch>
=
[c]; <j> = [j]; , <d>, <g> = [B], [<f], [<f] except when preceded by an
assimilating nasal where etc. = [b]; <m'> = syllabic m derived from /rau/.
Vowels marked with an acute accent have H tone, and <' ...> indicates a float-
ing H tone, which phonetically perturbs pitch of the following syllable.
Notes
1. All examples motivating glide deletion involve underlying sequences of vowel plus
vowel, and thus all deleted glides are derived. There is no evidence in the language for a
lexical contrast between glide and vowel in post-consonantal position, so for example
there is no contrast between prefixes of the shape Cy- versus Ci-, or a contrast between
verb roots ending in Cw- versus verb roots ending in Cu.
2. A reviewer has raised the question of whether there is any independent evidence for an
intermediate stage such as lyiitwá where a post-consonantal glide stands before a homor-
ganic vowel. The answer to that question depends very much on the theoretical perspec-
tive adopted. If a rule-based perspective is assumed, the motivation for the intermediate
stage is the fact that it affords a more general statement of glide formation, requiring
high vowels to desyllabify irrespective of the presence of a preceding consonant or the
nature of the following vowel; at the same time, the postulation of a rule deleting a glide
before a homorganic vowel directly captures a generalization about possible segment se-
quences in the language. If, on the other hand, one assumes a theory such as Optimality
Theory, where underlying forms are directly mapped into surface forms, then necessarily
there are no intermediate forms at all, rather the correct surface form liitwá would be se-
lected because it alone best satisfies the OCP at the segmental level and the onset prin-
ciple at the prosodie level.
3. In fact, compensatory lengthening associated with glide formation is responsible for the
re-emergence of vowel length in the Makuoid languages and the Shímákonde dialect of
Makonde spoken in Mozambique.
4. Other languages which have compensatory lengthening when an onsetless vowel desyl-
labifies include Makua and Kikamba.
5. An exception is at the end of the word where no long vowels are allowed, as discussed in
section 5. Thus the final vowel of kúlimwá 'to be cultivated' is short on the surface.
6. Stems may also begin with w on the surface, as in kuwona 'to see', kùwulàga. However,
w appears almost exclusively before round vowels, to the exclusion of v, so one may
suspect that stem-initial w derives from v.
7. Analogous to the possibility of analyzing CG sequences as single segments with vocalic
secondary articulations, one might treat NC sequences as 'prenasalized consonants', i.e.
as single segments with two specifications for nasality. In fact, if one adopts the ap-
proach advocated in Steriade (1994), it may be that there is no way to distinguish be-
tween a prenasalized consonant and a nasal-plus-consonant sequence in the onset.
8. The imperative is one category which commonly involves no prefixes in Bantu lan-
guages. Kihehe does not have an imperative form of the verb in the same fashion that
other Bantu languages do, namely a stem plus final vowel -a. Instead, one truncates the
syllable of the subject prefix from the subjunctive, so ugohomole 'you should cough'
forms the basis for the Kihehe imperative form gohomole 'cough!'. With a vowel-initial
verb, the subject prefix becomes phonologically entangled with the stem, hence deletion
of the subject prefix syllable is impossible, and therefore the imperative for vowel-initial
verbs is not distinct from the subjunctive, viz. wiite 'you should spill; spill!'
9. A similar pattern, where there is a length contrast in vowel-initial stems, is found in
Makua, Elomwe and Ekoti.
10. The surface form ['simo] indicates that there is a floating H tone present in the output of
the phonology. When a floating H precedes an L toned (toneless) syllable, the pitch at the
beginning of the syllable is raised, and then falls rapidly. This initial falling pitch is dis-
tinct from a surface phonological falling tone, which does not appear on short vowels, as
in 'stìngo 'neck', sóone 'point at me!'. Phonetically, the initial falling pitch after a float-
ing tone is identical to the H-to-toneless transition which appears after a phonetically as-
sociated H tone, as in liisimo.
References
Cammenga, J.
1994 Kuria phonology and morphology. PhD dissertation. Vrije Universiteit Amster-
dam.
Clements, G.N.
1986. Compensatory lengthening and consonant gemination in LuGanda. In W.L. Wet-
zels & E. Sezer (eds.), Studies in compensatory lengthening. Dordrecht: Foris,
37-77.
Clements, G.N. & E. Sezer
1982 Vowel and consonant disharmony in Turkish. In H.G. van der Hulst & N.S.H.
Smith (eds.), The structure of phonological representations, part II. Dordrecht:
Foris, 213-255.
Cole, D T.
1967 Some features of Ganda linguistic structure. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand Uni-
versity Press.
Dalgish, G.
1976 The morphophonemics of the OluTsootso dialect of OluLuyia: issues and impli-
cations. PhD dissertation. University of Illinois, Urbana.
Downing, L.
1990 Problems in Jita tonology. PhD dissertation. University of Illinois, Urbana.
1991 The moraic representation of nasal-consonant clusters in Jita. In F. Katamba (ed.),
Lacustrine Bantu phonology. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 25, 105-130.
Hyman, L. & F. Katamba
this volume The syllable in Luganda phonology and morphology.
Kaye, J., J. Lowenstamm & J.-R. Vergnaud
Kimenyi, A.
1979 Studies in Kinyarwanda and Bantu phonology. Current Inquiry into Language
and Linguistics 33. Carbondale, Illinois: Linguistic Research.
Mutonyi, N.
1992 Cs and Vs or moras: the case of Bukusu prosodie structure. OSU working papers
in linguistics 41, 46-84.
Odden, D.
1995 Onsetless syllables in Kikerewe. OSU working papers in linguistics 47, 89-110.
1996 The phonology and morphology of Kimatuumbi. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Roberts-Kohno, R.
in progress Kikamba phonology and morphology.
Rosenthall, S.
1994 Vowel/glide alternation in a theory of constraint interaction. PhD dissertation.
Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts.
Sagey, E.
1990 The representation of features in non-linear phonology. New York: Garland
Publishing.
Steriade, D.
1994 Complex onsets as single segments: the Mazateco pattern. In J. Cole & C. Kisse-
berth (eds.), Perspectives in phonology. Stanford: CSLI Publications, 203-291.
Stevick, E.
1969 Pitch and duration in Luganda. Journal of African languages 8, 1-28.
14 Dschang syllable structure
Steven Bird
1. Introduction
Dschang is one of about ten Bamileke languages, spoken by over 300,000

people in Cameroon (Grimes 1988).1 The considerable interest in the language
has focused almost solely on tone, stemming from work by Hyman & Tadadjeu
(1976). However, the language is also interesting for its syllable structure. The
purpose of this chapter is to give a detailed description of the syllable in
Dschang and show how syllable structure aids the understanding of a diverse
range of diachronic, phonotactic and morphophonemic evidence.
A striking property of Dschang syllables is aspiration, which can accompany
most segments (including voiced stops) and which, I shall argue, does not oc-
cupy a position in the syllable onset. Aspiration behaves in a curious way in the
morphophonology of the language, as illustrated in (1). As an aid to the reader,
verb roots have been underlined.
(1) Infinitive Imperative

xíg'ík gìk'e 'be intelligent'
qghi ghie 'fly'
ñzct zète 'be heavy'
ritshé tshè c 'transplant'
Observe that the nasal prefix which marks the infinitive is not present in the
imperative, and instead a low vowel suffix is added. The situation becomes
more complex when we examine the CV roots shown in (2). Note that ρ and b
are allophones.

mbj gii 'smell'
mbe pié 'take'
From (1) we would have expected to find pi'e 'smell!' and ρέε 'take!' but we
find instead that the suffix vowel is raised in pl i 'smell!' while the root vowel
is raised in pié 'take!'. From the perspective of (2), the form tshê'c 'transplant!'
now looks odd. Why do we not have tshì'é instead? In order to address such
448 Steven Bird
questions, we shall first study the phonotactics of the language, using syn-
chronic and diachronic evidence to construct a model of the syllable. Once
syllable structure is understood, it will be possible to explain a variety of seg-
mental phenomena that arise in the imperative construction.
This chapter is structured as follows. In section 2, I present the segmental
inventory and give an overview of the basic distributional facts of the language,
including a discussion of a range of segmental alternations. With this back-
ground we shall be ready to move on to the structure of the syllable, first with
the rhyme in section 3 and then the onset in section 4. Next I demonstrate in
section 5 how, equipped with an understanding of syllable structure, we can
understand the interesting morpho-phonological behavior that appears in the
imperative construction. Loanword phonology is considered in section 6. Fi-
nally, the major proposals of previous sections are harmonized in section 7.
2. Segmental inventory
This section will give an overview of the inventory of vowels and consonants,
along with some of the phonologically conditioned segmental alternations
which affect them.
2.1. Consonants
Dschang has six series of (phonetic) consonants with six places of articulation,
as shown in (3).
(3) Plosives p/b t/d c/j k q ?

Fricatives ffv s/z Í/3 Υ κ h
Affricates pf ts/dz
Liquids 1/r/r
Nasals m η Ji q
Glides w M j «I
Not all of these segments are phonemes, and one aim of this chapter will be to
explain some of the alternations and distributional asymmetries in terms of
syllable structure. The only consonant clusters which occur have the form
(N)C(G)(h) (where Ν is a homorganic nasal and G is a glide), or have the form
(N)OL (where O is an obstruent and L i s a liquid), as is characteristic of Niger-
Congo languages in general (Maddieson 1981: 89). Some complex articulations
Dschang syllable structure 449
have not been entered into (3) since they are treated as sequences. The trill r
only occurs in loanwords, while the flap r is the intervocalic allophone of t.
Unless accompanied by the h segment, voiceless stops are unaspirated. The
uvular place of articulation arises only when a velar obstruent follows a low
back vowel in the same syllable. Although the palatals β, f , 3 and j are just
palatalized versions of their alveolar counterparts, and the palatal stops are
probably palato-alveolar affricates, we still need a palatal series for the sake of
c, since it patterns with the stops and not with the affricates. Other Bamileke
languages also require a palatal series in addition to palatalization rules
(e.g. Fe'fe', Hyman 1972: 17, 30).
2.2. Aspiration
It is a striking fact about Dschang, and Bamileke languages in general, that all
(oral) obstruents can be aspirated. For example, in Dschang we find aspirated
voiced stops in the words mbhu 'dog' and rìdhù 'descendents'. Aspirated
nasals, attested in some dialects of Dschang, are rare in Bafou, and only one
example has been found: lànhó 'lay'. Although referred to as aspiration, it is
widely noted that aspiration in Bamileke languages often appears as a homor-
ganic fricative.3 In Dschang, aspiration is realized as either a voiceless ap-
proximant, homorganic with a following high vowel (e.g. /mbhu/ = [mbuju]), or
simply by [h], when followed by a low vowel. In either case, when a fricative
precedes, a voiceless version of the fricative is coarticulated with the aspiration
(e.g. /afhute/ = [afyiyute]). Consequently, words like zhtc 'give birth!' and zhec
'know!' are both pronounced [zsé], but the difference in vowel quality (/ vs. c)
is clearly discernable on the s. The presence of aspiration reduces the duration
of voiceless stops, while leaving voiced stops unchanged. Aspiration on a
voiceless fricative appears to lengthen the fricative (while sometimes still
leaving a small amount of aspiration), e.g. /àshó/ [àssó] 'fish', versus /àsó/ [àsó]
'friend'. In all cases, aspiration significantly reduces the length of the following
vowel, so that a ChV syllable has similar duration to CVV syllables. Aspiration
appears with a variety of vowels, always in open syllables, as shown in (4).4
(4) làphì 'sow' làvhò 'sew'

làphó 'promise' làzhé 'know'
làph!ù 'sky' làzhò 'achieve'
làsh'y 'resemble'
It is reasonable to view Dschang aspiration in terms of vowel devoicing. How-

ever, unlike other languages having voiceless vowels (such as Japanese), vowel
devoicing in Dschang is lexically contrastive. Evidence for this is given in (5).
450 Steven Bird
The data in (5a) concern voiceless onsets, and those in (5b) concern voiced
onsets.
(5) Lexical contrastiveness of aspiration
Unaspirated Aspirated
bpi: 'lose' taphi 'sow (vb.)'
btu: 'intestines' tathu 'extremity'
lacy: 'announce' lachy 'name (vb.)'
teku: 'flee' bkhti 'trap (n.)'
mbi: 'smell' mbhi 'lose'

ndu: 'raffia string' ndhu 'stomach ache'
Jijui 'debt' jijhu 'nut'
qgi: 'fertile ground' qghi 'voice'
2.3. Vowels
At least superficially, the vowel inventory contains eight vowels, as displayed

in (6). A ninth vowel, the high front rounded vowel y, is also included although
it plays a very marginal role.
(6) i/y u u
9 o
ε a o
Note that the high central unrounded vowel / will be represented everywhere as
a, following the orthography and the phonology literature (e.g. Hyman 1985).
Similarly, the semi-high back rounded vowel ω will be represented as o. In
open syllables, the high vowels are often characterized by frication. A regular
exception to this is the vowel i which cannot be fricated in some positions
(e.g. in the verbal suffixes -ni and -ti), an issue still requiring investigation.
Haynes (1989: 214), following Anderson (1977: 52f.), analyzes [u] as /iu/.
This is an extension of the way that [y] can be analyzed as /ui/. However,
treating y o n a par with a ignores the fact that y is in free variation with ui (e.g.
rìzy ~ rìzwì 'panther'), while a is stable.5 Furthermore, if we set up a as a pho-
neme, then we can show later how palatalization and aspiration are in comple-
mentary distribution. If u is analyzed as /iu/ then hu becomes the sole case of an
aspirated palatalized vowel, and the analysis of aspiration as a kind of palatali-
zation breaks down.
2.4. Diphthongs
Dschang allows sequences of two vowels in a single syllable: a high vowel

followed by a low vowel. Whether the sequence appears as a diphthong or as a
glide-vowel sequence depends upon the number of moras available. So the con-
trast between W and GV will be treated as a structural property. I have written
the glides using the IPA vowel symbols, since there is no symbol for the glide
which corresponds to IPA [i] (orthographic a).
(7) ε a ο
kiele 'bow' làkià 'plough' —
àkiet 0 'necklace' às'ìàknì 'thanks' —
làkùè 'wear' — kùò 'slope'

làkùèt 0 'penis' — kákúók 'thin'
àkùe 'bone' àkùà 'cholera' àp'ùó 'hunt'
àkùèt° 'latrine' lák!úáp 'catch' áp'úá? 'part'
2.5. Some phonologically conditioned alternations
Since a number of segmental alternations affect the transcriptions and may

cause confusion, they will quickly be dispensed with here. Other alternations
will be treated later on. Consider first the consonantal alternations shown in (8).

mb í pì!i 'smell'
ndi líí 'sleep'
ÁJÚ 3ÚÚ 'uproot'
jígáp Yápá 'be poorly cooked'
jígwu wùû 'rot'
Jígjá jáá 'give'
I shall not treat this as lenition of voiced stops, as (Hyman 1972: 22) did for
Fe'fe'. Rather, I take the opposite approach, following Odden's analysis of
Kimatuumbi, which sets up p/l/w phonemes with rules for voicing of stops,
delateralization of / and post-nasal hardening of w to gw (Odden 1996: 90, 89,
94). The fortition rules appear in (9).
452 Steven Bird
(9) a. labial voicing ρ -» b / Ν

b. delateralization 1 —» d / Ν
c. despirantization γ -» g / Ν
d. intrusive stop formation 0 -» d / Ν {ζ, 3}
e. post-nasal hardening 0 -» g / Ν {w, y}
Each of these rules is assimilatory in nature. Rule (9a) involves the spreading of
[+voice], while the rest all involve the spreading of [-cont]. Rule (9e) merits
further comment. In Dschang it is not possible to attribute the velar place of
articulation to the glide as (Odden 1996: 95) proposes for Kimatuumbi, since
this rule applies to y and not just w (as in Kimatuumbi). Rather, we take η to be
the default realization of a coda nasal when the following onset is not specified
for place of articulation.
(10) Default Place of Articulation
ORAL
\ s
s
s
\
DORSAL
Now we can state a completely general version of the intrusive stop formation
rule (11), covering (9b-e), using the technique proposed by (Clements 1987).
(11) Intrusive Stop Formation
Root Root
[-cons]
Another consonant alternation is witnessed in the context of vowel raising,

when o raises to u and a raises to u, as shown in (12).

ήζό 3ÚÓ 'buy'
ásá Júé 'desire'
Note that despite this palatalization, there still remains good evidence for a
palatal series, given minimal pairs like ήζ ó 'insult', fyó 'see' and as ó? 'raise',
àjó? 'peel'. It is striking that the front vowel i does not also condition this
palatalization. However, i does condition the affrication of t to ts, despite the
presence of the ts affricate in the phonemic inventory. High vowels are strongly
spirantized in open syllables. Before w, consonants are rounded.
3. The structure of the rhyme
Dschang syllables may be either open, or closed by a single consonant. The

coda inventory is p, t, k, ?, m and η. This gives an inventory of 56 possible syl-
lable rhymes.6 Examples are displayed in Table 1, where numbers indicate the
lexical frequency of the rhymes.
The table also shows that there are many VC combinations which are unat-
tested. The purpose of this section is to attempt to explain the gaps and arrive at
a fuller understanding of the vowel inventory. In section 3.1 and section 3.2, I
argue that o and 3 in closed syllables ought to be viewed as allophones of u and
«respectively, based on distributional evidence. This accords with Voorhoeve's
approach to Bangangté, another Bamileke language, where "the distinction be-
tween closed and half-closed vowels... is a slight degree of aperture, that might
be less distinctive than the distinction between the allophones of the preceding
consonants" (Voorhoeve 1965: 323). However, my approach (after Hyman
1972) will be to connect this allophony with the following rather than the pre-
ceding consonant.
In section 3.3, we see how this approach extends to open syllables. Finally,
in section 3.4, I discuss the constraints on the rhyme which arise when a syl-
lable contains aspiration.
454 Steven Bird
Table 1 Syllable rhymes

$ /p/ M /k/ /?/ /m/ /q/
20 5 10 24 9 32
i làp'i làpip làp'ik làp!i? làp'im làpìq
'lose' 'keep' 'erase' 'water (vb.)' 'boast' 'return'
47 9 38 1 9
u làkù làpàp làpà? làgùmti làkùq
'flee' 'powder (v)' 'compensate' 'crisp' 'pot'
57 14 60 10 39
u làwù lòwùp làwù? làp úm làpùq
'rot' 'layer' 'prosper' 'beat' 'be poor'
33 15 41 75
làpà làpàk láíám làpàq
'climb' 'spoil' 'choke' 'lick'
63 31 12
0 lòpò làpòk làpfò?
'complete' 'soil (v)' 'mortar'
27 51 14
ε làpè làp'ét làfè?
'take' 'heal' 'sacrifice'
49 30 1 46 61 76
a làp!à làpàp làb'àt làpàk làpà? làpài)
'hide' 'wing' 'bad' 'break off 'weave' 'be ripe'
36 15 1 12 36 49
0 làp'ó làpàp làf'ót làp'ók làpò? làpàq
create 'deceive' 'fail' 'worry' 'gourd' 'possess'
3.1. o as an allophone o f «
First, consider the rows of Table 1 which correspond to the vowels o and u. We
begin by treating [ok] as underlying /uk/. Next we consider cases with glottal
stop in coda position.
Table 2 o and u with glottal stop

onset consonant
wppfbtts d c j k g f v s z m n q l
£ u? 6 8 1 16 1 6 4 5 3 5 2 4 1 1 5
§ o? 1 6 1 1 3
From Table 2 we see that /u/ is realized as [o] after ts, s and ζ onsets, which we
independently know to be phonemically distinct (see section 4.1). The pf and ν
onsets in Table 2 still indicate a n o - « contrast. The corresponding words are
listed in (13).
(13) mpfu?° 'blood pact'(mpfò?)

làpfò?° 'mortar' (lìpfò?°)
mvò?° 'space between bed and wall'
àvù?° 'remainder' (àvò?)
làv!ù?ti 'kitchen woodpile' (liv ò?ti)
It turns out that speakers have great difficulty distinguishing o and u in some of
these forms when it comes to writing the language. The southern dialect forms,
given in parentheses in (13), add to the doubts about the phonemic status of the
contrast. We shall leave these exceptional cases for further study and turn to the
situation in open syllables, where a stronger case for phonemic contrast be-
tween o and u can be made. Some minimal pairs are shown in (14).
(14) o rhymes u rhymes

pò 'weevil' àp ú 'hand'
btó 'send' làtù 'overturn'
ndò 'rat' ñdú 'stream'
làkò 'falsely accuse' làkù 'snore'
! làk'ù
làk ó 'enter' 'seize'
So we conclude that the only clear case for the o/u contrast is in open syllables.
Before attempting an explanation for this in section 3.3, we first turn to the case
of 3 vs. ti.
3.2. 9as an allophone of a
Consider again the data in Table 1, this time focusing on those rows which
correspond to the vowels a and u. Observe that just as [ok] could be analyzed as
456 Steven Bird
/uk/, we can treat [ak] as underlying /ak/. Unlike the case of o/u, for s/a the
nasal codas seem to have a lowering effect. So we have [am] from /«m/, with a
single exception làgwntì 'crisp'. However, if [aq] comes from /«η/, there are
still seven exceptional cases of [uq] rhymes to account for. All of these occur
with a k or g onset, as shown in (15).
(15) làkùq° 'cooking pot' làg'óq 'shore'

làkàqnì 'refuse (v)' làgèqnì 'twisted'
làkùqti 'roll (v)' làgùqtì 'skirt around'
qk«q° 'peace tree'
One way to describe these exceptional forms is with the following constraint on
height across a syllable, where velar consonants are taken to be high.
c V C
(16)
+ high -high + high
It is not clear why velar stops in the coda lower the vowel, but velar stops in the
onset raise the vowel (for certain codas).
Again, as with o/u, there is a clear contrast between a and « in open sylla-
bles. Some minimal pairs are shown in (17).
(17) 3 rhymes α rhymes

làpà 'climb' làpù 'clear (vb.)'
ñdá 'vampire' ndu 'raffia string'
àkà 'piece' làkù 'flee'
qgá 'pasture' àgó 'piece of calabash'
làl!à 'say' làl!ó 'rot'
The discussion of the vowels up to this point has led us to the tentative conclu-
sion that in closed syllables there is only a six-way contrast, involving /, a, u, ε,
a, o. However, in open syllables there is a full eight-way contrast, with the
addition of 3 and o. Table 3 summarizes the findings so far in the discussion.7
Table 3 Syllable rhymes

$ /ρ/ It/ Ikl /?/ Imi lr¡/
Iii 20 5 10 24 9 32
lui 9 9 15(ak) 39 41 (am) 73 ( V )
Zu/ 24 14 59 (o?9) 10 36
hl 26
loi 23
Id 30 51 14
lai 49 30 1 46 61 76
hl 36 15 1 12 36 49
In the next section we shall turn to the problem of the eight-way contrast in
open syllables.
3.3. Analysis of open syllables
According to Hyman, Proto-Bamileke morphemes generally had the structure

CVC (Hyman 1972: 199). However, "for quite some time, Bamileke dialects
have been modifying final vowels and consonants in VC sequences, often with
the loss of the final consonant" (Hyman 1972: 197). Hyman's reconstructed VC
sequences are based on the segments shown in (18).
(18) a. PBke Vowels b. PBke Codas

*i *u *b *d *g *?
*e *o *m *n *q
*a
Hyman began his analysis of sound change in Fe'fe' with the assiunption that
in Proto-Bamileke, any of the vowels in (18a) could appear before any of the
consonants in (18b). Although this assumption is not a priori necessary, since
Proto-Bamileke may not have had a perfectly symmetrical system, I shall adopt
it since it is convenient for the analysis of the observed distribution of segments
in Dschang, and it helps in understanding some morpho-phonological pheno-
mena to be discussed later. Moreover, as Coleman reminds us, "the desire for
system symmetry derives from the usual scientific goal of finding maximally
general, exceptionless descriptions of the data ... [and] from the foundation of
phonological analyses on combinatorial systems of oppositions or regular cor-
respondences between classes of phonological units, and not just relations
458 Steven Bird
between isolated pairs of units, and is therefore to be expected, whereas asym-

metries stand in need of explanation" (Coleman 1997).
We can observe the process of coda loss by comparing Dschang forms with
certain Proto-Grassfields forms reconstructed by (Hyman 1979). Example (19)
illustrates this for open syllables with the vowel o.
Proto Grassfields Hyman number

qgó 'gun' *qgád' 178
ñd ó 'husband *lúm' 206
làt'ó 'send' *túm" 252/322
làg'ó 'ask help' *kó-ti/*gàm-ti 190/191
(nà àthó) qgò 'porcupine *qgùm 283
màkó 'bean' *kún' 21
àkó 'bed' *kún' 23
ndò 'rat' *ndùm 253
làk'ó 'enter' *kún 131
làpò° 'egg' *bùm' 128
We see that o in open syllables derives from *um and *un. Since um is attested
in Dschang, I shall treat o as /un/, though in section 5 this will be reanalyzed
non-segmentally. The same approach works for a in open syllables. Consider
the forms in (20).
(20) Proto Grassfields Hyman number

ñt'á 'heart' *tim ' 186
ál'á 'tongue' *lim ' 392
làp'à 'breast' *bén ' 50
qgò 'host' *gèn ' 363
Here we see that 9 in open syllables may derive from *im or *en. Since im is
already attested in Dschang and e is actually absent, I take 9 in open syllables to
be /an/. The synchronic function of η codas will be simply to lower a high
vowel, since η is never attested in coda position. Accordingly, we can now
create a column for η codas in our table, and drop the rows for s and o. We
have now completely eliminated 9 and o, although there are still just as many
gaps in the table and the treatment of open syllables is not uniform. However,
the process begun with a and o can equally well be applied to the other vowels
in open syllables, although the diachronic and synchronic justification for doing
this is weaker. The result is shown in Table 4, where a tick indicates an attested
combination, while a blank entry indicates a gap. If there are allophonic
changes, these are specified (instead of a simple tick). A point indicates a sylla-
ble boundary, to clearly indicate where the open syllables arise.
Table 4
¥ IxJ Ikl /?/ Imi /η/
/i/ • i. S S ε. y
M • u. 9k • am 9. uq/aq
lui u. ok u?/o? ·/ 0. •
Id ^ •
/a/ / si • V a.? a.? •
hi • si S 3. •
The open syllable forms are then related to these underlying forms by the rules
shown in (21).
(21) a. d 0/
V
b. [-high] / _ η , η -> 0 / _
+ high
Two aspects of Table 4 require further comment. First, observe that c in open
syllables is analyzed as /in/. The morpho-phonological ramifications of this will
be discussed in section 5. Second, observe that the row for ε is almost empty,
and that c might even be an allophone of a. There is only one word with an at
rhyme, namely níbát 'bad'. Moreover, εt is usually found as at in the southern
dialect, as the following examples show:
(22) southern dialect

jìkèt° 'mortar' jìkàt°
àmèt° 'boubou' àmàt°
làkwèt 'fight' lìkwàt
vet 0 'wildcat' vàt°
mètà?° 'snail' màtà?°
However, ε is still attested in the southern dialect, and it would be premature to

collapse ε with a until the allophony in both dialects has been studied, along
with an assessment of the diachronic evidence for such a move.
This concludes our discussion of CV syllables and their relationship to CVC
syllables. In the following two sections, I incorporate ChV and CVV syllables
into the picture.
460 Steven Bird
3.4. Aspiration
There is another kind of open syllable, having the form ChV, which resists the
approach taken above. Aspiration must properly be thought of as occupying a
position in the rhyme rather than the onset for several reasons. First, the pre-
sence of aspiration in a syllable forces the syllable to be open. Thus aspiration
is in complementary distribution with syllable codas, and we can say that aspi-
ration helps to saturate the rhyme. Second, aspiration does not add to the com-
plexity of the syllable onset, since the inventory of onset clusters is not reduced
when aspiration is present. Finally, aspirated syllables behave durationally like
CVV syllables.
In this section, I shall claim that this aspiration is moraic, using evidence
from the distribution of segments within a syllable in section 3.4.1 and evidence
from reduplication data in section 3.4.2.
3.4.1. Deriving aspiration from a high vowel
Aspiration in Bamileke probably derived historically from a high vowel (An-

derson 1982). There is still good evidence for this in the phonotactics of
Dschang. The following table is a summary of onset sequences (omitting most
of the onsets which have just a single consonant, and omitting the labialized
onsets). These onset sequences are stops and fricatives, which may be option-
ally palatalized. Surface forms are given in parentheses where they differ from
what we would expect. Where more than one form is given, it is to display
allophones of the vowel (selected by the rhyme structure as already discussed).
Question marks indicate forms whose position in the table is unclear.
Table 5 Syllable initial clusters with aspiration

Ν /«/ /u/ /e/ /a/ hi
/bi/ 1 (phi) 9 (phu/(m)bhu) 8 (phu/(m)vho) 8 (pue) 3 7 (può)
/ti/ 5 (tshi) 3 (thu) 8 (thu/tsho) 2 (tshe) 3 (tsia) 3 (tuo)
/li/ 1 (lhu/(n)dha) 1 (lhu/(n)dhu) 2 (due/dhue?) 2 (duo)
/si/ 3 (Ita) 2 (sho) 4 (sie/she?) 7 2 (Juo)
/zi/ 1 (zhi) 5 (jhu) 3 (zho/fhu?) 8 (zie/zhe?) 13 1 (zho)
/ci/ 3 (chu) 2 (chu) 1 (cuo)
/ki/ 4 (khu) 2(khu) 11 (kie/kue) 6 10 (kuo)
/gi/ 7(ghi) 2(ghu) 2 5 (guo)
The distributional evidence in Table 5 is the basis for treating most ChV sylla-
bles on a par with CVV syllables, where the aspiration in ChV corresponds to
the first vowel of CVV.10 The distributional similarity will then be accounted
for structurally, using the representation in (23).
(23) bhu
This 'palatal' mora, symbolized μι, is introduced to account for the comple-
mentary distribution of palatalization and aspiration, which must in turn be kept
distinct from the segment Ν itself. Further support for this approach will be
presented in section 3.4.2. (It will be generalized in section 7 in a manner that
avoids the use of a diacritic feature on the mora.)
Returning to Table 5 again, recall that the alternations t ~ is, u ~ o, a~ a, and
s ~ f were dealt with in section 2.5. However, if we are going to treat ChV
syllables as bimoraic, then there is no coda position available for storing the
extra consonant that we need in order for rule (21) to work. In fact, the u ~ o
alternation in the /u/ column of Table 5 (and Table 6 in section 4.1) is best
explained in terms of the syllable onset. The vowel Ini appears as the [o] allo-
phone in an aspirated syllable if and only if the onset contains a fricative or an
affricate.
The only other alternations in Table 5 are dealt with in (24).
(24) a. i retraction i -> [+back] / D
b. i devoicing i —> h / {iuu}$
Note that (24a) does not account for puo and will be replaced in section 4.2.
Also, note that (24b) has the further requirement that the second vowel is syl-
lable final. This is because there are forms involving sie and zie which do not
undergo devoicing, and this can be attributed to the fact that they are closed.
See example (25).
(25) a. ásíét 'squeeze' b. áshé 'deep'

nz!íét 'club (vb.)' ñzhé 'know'
Possible representations for the open and closed forms are given in (26).
462 Steven Bird
(26) a. s'et σ b. she σ

l\μ
μι μι
Κμ
/I ι
s e t s e
Thus, aspiration and palatalization are taken to be complementary.11

Another problematic detail in Table 5 is the contrast between kidkuc. How-
ever, the i/n distinction here seems to be subject to free variation.
3.4.2. Aspiration in reduplicated forms
There is an unproductive reduplication pattern which involves the prefixation of

the minimal syllable to the word followed by transfer of enough segmental
material to satisfy the template. We shall see that only segments - and not
prosodie structure - are mapped onto the reduplicative prefix. We observe that
syllable onsets are fully transferred, but that the rhyme is simplified. In example
(27) we see cases which do not involve aspiration. The reduplicated syllable is
underlined.
sàsà 'squirrel' b. àkàkà 'statue'

gáqá 'bell' (ideophone) àsysy 'bleeding'
9SJS 1 'abdomen'
àkùkùlù0 'maize cereal'
àkìkìà 'ceiling' d. à|u|ui) 'elephant grass'
àtutùù 'bird' àfùfù?° 'scum'
àn ini á 'raven' àsòsóq 'fern'
sìsìà 'long' àpùp um 'fruit (sp.)'
f|kùr|kùm 'cassava fufu' f. ñtsíñtsín 'earthworm'
mbìmbim 'cockroach' àtsòtsòq 'silliness'
mbùmbùm 'albino' tsìtsìà 'mouse'
ntùntùèt 0 'maggots' papale 'sulphur'
ntuntuq 'needle'
gkòqkò 'hideous'
In (27a) we see the simplest pattern involving CV roots. Example (27b) shows
that the noun prefix is extraprosodic. The next examples show that the segment
of the second mora is lost in the transfer; this segment can be a vowel (27c) or a
consonant (27d). Nasal prefixes, though syllabic, are transferred with the root
(27e) as if they were part of a complex onset. Other complex onsets are fully
copied in reduplication (27f).
Returning to aspiration now, (28) shows how aspiration is lost in the redupli-
cative prefix. If aspiration formed part of the syllable onset then an additional
restriction on reduplication would be required, so that it did not map aspiration
onto the prefix. However, since aspiration is analyzed as a non-segmental prop-
erty of the first mora, we can maintain the idea of full onset copy.
(28) kíkhí 'breast of bird' pfòpfhù 'sheep'

ggyqghy 'condiment' syshye 'vegetable (sp.)'
JHJM 'aubergine' àçùchà 'caterpillar'
àfòfhó 'plant (sp.)' ajyjhue 'plant (sp.)'
An example of the operation of reduplication is shown in (29), where c and a

are mapped onto the prefix while the aspiration is left behind.
(29) σ μ + achu acacha
σ„ + σ -» σ σ
ι \ ι Κ
μι μ μ μι μ
(a)
/ Ι / "
c « (a)
Λ .. '
c u c 4
This concludes the discussion of the syllable rhyme. I have established that
o~u and ti are allophones and that aspiration is moraic. We have seen how
open syllables are systematically related to closed syllables. These properties of
syllable structure go a long way towards explaining the asymmetries in the
phonotactics of Dschang. In the next section, we shall take a look at the syllable
onset, exploring its interactions with the nucleus.
4. Onset-nucleus sequences
In this section, we consider three kinds of onset-nucleus interactions. The first

concerns fricatives and affricates and the second concerns rounding.
464 Steven Bird
4.1. Fricatives and affricates
Table 6 shows the inventory of phonemic fricatives and affricates, and shows
the alternations which account for the observed forms.
Table 6 Fricative and affricate onsets

/i/ Id Id Id Id hl
Ipfl 2 8 (pfu/pfho) 3 2
m 2 (flu») 17 (fu/fho) 8 17 8
M 4 5 (vu/vo) 5 1
/ts/ 10 14 11 (tso) 4 16 8
/dz/ 6 1 6 5
/s/ g 14 (sa/Jy) 17 (so/Ju) 8 21 8
/ζ/ 13 20 (za/jtì) 20 (zo/3u) 7 13 11
Id 5 18 12
/γ/ 11 24 18 4 26 11
As in Fe'fe', an aspirated fricative is treated as an allophone of a plain fricative

when followed by a short high vowel in an open syllable (Hyman 1972: 73).
We see this in the pf and / rows in Table 6. This is a problem for the present
analysis, since there is no clear mechanism whereby the aspirated allophones
[pfh] and [fh] can acquire a mora to host the aspiration. The phonetic data
shows no clear juncture between the affricate and the h, since the h is usually
fricated (see section 2.2). Clarification of this problem must await the results of
an ongoing duration study.
Observe also how the o ~ u and o ~ u alternations (conditioned by the coda
consonant as explained in section 3) in turn condition onset alternations in the
p f , f , s and ζ rows.
4.2. Rounding
Observing Table 5 again, it will be noticed that fpuo] is analyzed as /pio/. In

fact, all cases of [uo] can be treated this way. By what mechanism does /i/
become ut Although we can attribute the backing of the /i/ to the second vowel
o, as expressed in (24a), it is less clear where the rounding comes from.
Rounding does not come from the following vowel, given the numerous cases
of no in Table 5. Nor does it come from the labial onset, given the existence of
ραε. We could propose a highly specific rule of regressive rounding assimila-
tion in the presence of a labial onset, but this would not account for some other
curious properties of labialization given in (30). Here, a plus in the labiality

column indicates a labial consonant or a round vowel.
(30) g
.2 -fr
xs — —
Λ Λ Λ
1-1
'ë -s
•4—t CO W
1)
en ι_]
—ι t—ιj
Ö κΓ*
o > >
a. + + + ápúá 'hunt η.'
b. + - - àpùèni 'soft'
c. - + - àkùc 'bone'
d. - - + kòò 'slope'
e. - - - màqkàèni 'measles'
(30) shows a rather striking pattern of labialization across the syllable.12 Ac-
cordingly, we can make the descriptive generalization in (31). It is not presently
clear how such a constraint ought to be formalized.
(31) Labial dissimilation: Unless every segment in a syllable is labial, then at

most one segment is labial.
The only other cases of rounding permitted by (31) in W sequences are uc, ua
and ao, since all sequences are high-low and the only round vowels are u and o.
Recall that no has been analyzed as /io/ in Table 5 along with a rule of i retrac-
tion (24). However, if we analyze ao as /uo/ instead, then we get a nearly com-
plete paradigm for rounding in CuV sequences (where C is any consonant and
V is any low vowel). Moreover, the highly specific rule (24a) can now be
dropped, since /uo/ will be subject to the more general dissimilation rule (31).
With this treatment of rounding and the revision of Table 5, the new situation is
shown in Table 7. Note that I have dropped the voicing and vowel height alter-
nations from the entries.
Table 7 incorporates a new pattern for the high front rounded vowel y. It uses
the ui column, given that y is in free variation with ui (see section 2.3). An
unresolved problem for this analysis is the set of aspirated forms listed in (32).
466 Steven Bird
Table 7 Palatalization and labialization

/mi/ Imi /iu/ lid /ia/ /ui/ /ue/ /ua/ /uo/
Ibi phi bhu bhu pue bia pus
Ν tshi thu thu tshe tsia tue tua tuo
Ν Ihn lhu lue iy lue lúa lU3
Is/ Jhu sho sie sia sy sue sua Juo
/ζ/ zhi jhu zho zie zia zy zue zúa zho
Ici chu chu cy cue cua CUD
Μ khtt khu kie kia ky kue kua kuo

/g/ ghi ghu già gue guo
/η/ qia que qua
(32) a. àch'y 'attitude' b. àsh'y 'new'

ñchy 'grow' àshy 'resemble'
ñchy 'name' àsh!y 'pull'
c. àzhy 'kill'
This concludes the discussion of syllable structure insofar as it is informed by

phonological considerations. Next we move on to some morpho-phonological
data.
5. Vowel alternations in the imperative
In this section, we shall examine some verb paradigms involving the imperative
construction. 13 Consider the data in (33). Each possible root-final vowel is
given on the left, after which there are two groups of three columns each, the
first group involving stops and the second involving fricatives. Vowel alterna-
tions to be explained are underlined. We can take the imperative suffix to be an
empty mora which receives [+low] by default, and which receives backness and
roundness from the previous vowel.
Notice the following alternations: o ~ uo, ε ~ i ε, and 3 ~ αε. Although this
looks like glide formation, the raised vowel is not noticeably shorter in the
imperative form, as would be expected if the vowel had been devocalized
through being moved into the onset. Furthermore, this approach does not ex-
plain why ε participates in the alternation while o does not.
Imp. Inf. Imp.

i mb ί pi'i 'smell' ήζί zìi 'begin'
3«!ú
s ! -
tí mbu pò a 'clear' ñjú 'steal'
ε mbé pié 'take' ásé síé 'trim'
" ι ..
a mbá pue 'climb' asá Júé 'desire'
a ñtá táá 'divine' ñzá záá 'be numerous
Ν 1 ,
3 áfá íóó 'be greasy' ήζό ZO 0 'insult'
0 mb!ó pùó 'be complete' ήζό 3Ú5 'buy'
u ñtú tú'ú 'overturn' ñjú 3úú 'dig up'
We have a rather different situation for closed syllables and aspirated sylla-
bles, as shown in (34). (Recall from section 2.2 that in C h W syllables the first
vowel is coarticulated with the aspiration and appears as a voiceless vowel.)
Closed syllables Aspirated syllables

Inf. Imp. Inf. Imp.
i qg'ik gìk!é 'be intelligent' qghi ghie 'fly'
u ñcó? cù?!é 'filter' mbhú pháé 'announce'
ε ñzét -J '
zete 'be heavy' ñtshé tshè έ 'transplant
3 áfám fáme 'choke'
a qk'áq káq'á 'choose'
3 ñtáq tóq 6 'read' ñzhá zhòó 'achieve'
0 ñzók zókó 'pass the day' mvh'ó vhòó 'arrange'
u qgúp wúpó 'bark' nth'ú thù'ó 'season'
Observe that for the roots which are closed or aspirated, the root vowel is
stable. For the CVC roots this is hardly surprising. Why this should also be the
case for aspirated roots is less clear. Note that whereas the imperative of Ιόρε
'undress' is pie, an aspirated form with the same final vowel such as làtshè
'transplant' does not have ishi έ but tshc c in the imperative. Nevertheless, the
form tshìé would have been acceptable phonotactically given the existence of
parallel forms such as ghìe 'fly'. To facilitate the discussion, the vowel patterns
of (33) and (34) are tabulated in (35).
468 Steven Bird
(35) Infinitive Type

CV ChV CVC
_
υ i ii hi.e i.Ce
»
O U uu hux Η^ε
> ε ϊε Ιιε.ε ε^ε
.S 3 — o.Ce
UH
a aa — a.Ca
3 00 ho.o D.CO
0 uo ho. o o.Co
u uu hu.o u.Co
Given the account of aspiration as moraic, it is not surprising to see the ChV
and CVC forms patterning together in the above table. Neither the ChV nor
CVC form shows evidence of any perturbation of the root vowel. The represen-
tation of h employed in (26b) works here too. Except for the oCo form which
remains unexplained, the suffix vowel remains low and harmonizes for back-
ness and roundness. The remaining interesting case concerns the imperative of
CV forms. Here we can put the analysis of /Vn/ codas (section 3) to work. The
display in (36) is arranged according to the vowel space. Each cell contains the
infinitive followed by the imperative. The cells of particular interest contain
underlined segments.
(36) Backness
/N-pi/ [mbi] /N-pu/ [mbu] /N-tu/ [ntu]
/pi-V/ [pii] /pu-V/ [puu] /tu-V/ [tuu]
/N-pun/ [mbo] /N-pun/ [mbo]
/pun-V/ [Ρ«ε] /pun-V/ [puo]
/N-pin/ [ηΛε] /N-ta/ [nta] /N-fo/ [ofo]
/pin-V/ [pie] /ta-V/ [taa] /fo-V/ [foo]
Observe that the /CVn/ forms are characterized by a lowered vowel in the in-
finitive: /in/ = [ε], /«η/ = [a] and /un/ = [o]. In the imperative, these forms mani-
fest a suffix vowel identical to the imperative suffix for CVC roots (cf. the
CVC column in (35)). Accordingly, the representation of these /Vn/ codas has
to incorporate vowel lowering, and block the vowel height assimilation that
would create ii, an and uu. Rather than treating « as a real segment, I propose to
represent its vowel lowering function as a higher level prosodie feature. For
present purposes the syllable level will suffice. We shall adopt the following
definition: σ ~ is a syllable containing a [-high] vowel. The interpretation of
this device is illustrated in (37).
(37) a. [pa] b. [pue] c. [pa] d. [pau]
σ~ σ σ σ
I Γ \ I l \
μ μμ μ μ μ
/I /I /I Α " "
pu pu pu pu
The form in (37a) shows the lowering effect, whereby the [-high] allophone of
u is selected. In (37b) the [-high] is manifested as the vowel e on the second
(empty) mora. How does this happen? By definition, one of the moras of (37b)
must be linked to a [-high] vowel. Recall from section 2.4 that no diphthongs
involve a, and so the /u/ of (37b) must be realized as the high allophone a.
Given the requirement (stated above) that the imperative suffix must agree in
backness and rounding with the preceding vowel, the only possibility for (37b)
is pae.
Example (37c) shows the representation of pu while (37d) gives the corre-
sponding imperative form. In (37d) the suffix mora can be linked to the previ-
ous vowel, giving rise to a long syllable. This was not an option in (37b) given
the need to have a [-high] vowel and the non-existence of 33.
6. Loanword phonology
In this section, we take a brief look at the phonological readjustments that occur
when a word (usually a noun) is borrowed from another language (usually
pidgin English). We see the almost ubiquitous addition of a noun class prefix,
although there is no particular gender reserved for loanwords. The noun class
prefix comes through addition (e.g. àkàlóòt0 'carrot'), replacement ( m ò t i t à °
'potato'), or reinterpretation (mssfìq 'machine'). The English stress is usually
preserved in the tone melody of the word (38a), though not always (38b).
(38) a. àkàs!àlà° 'cassava' b. àkàlóòt 0 'carrot'

àl ! ésà 'razor' àkàlàtùsi° 'eucalyptus'
àlàbà/àlóbà 'rubber' àfrèpéèn 'frypan'
kcsiq 'kitchen'
kápíndá 'carpenter'
Generalizing across these two cases, we can observe that high tone is assigned
to the penultimate vowel.
470 Steven Bird
Loanwords are responsible for the introduction of a new segment type, the
apico-alveolar trill (39a), a new onset cluster (39b), putting r on a par with /,
and a new syllable type CV:C (39c).
mctorási 'mattress' b. àkrâtà" 'grater'

mbàréàk0 'brick' mbrè 'bread'
mbrùsi 'brush'
ndràpò 'flag (Fr. drapeau)'
mbrè 'bread'
àfrùwà 'flower'
155η 'long trousers' dààk 'debt'
mààk 'mark (scarification)' ρέεη 'pan'
sàlààd 'lettuce' lùùm 'room'
j55k 'demijohn' kùùm 'comb'
lààm 'lamp' céèn 'chain'
Concerning diphthongs, observe in (40a) that diphthongs are still possible in an

open syllable, though es is mapped onto the more extreme ia in order to con-
form with the phonotactics of the language.
(40) a. bià 'beer (RP: bis)' b. làà 'garlic (Fr. Vail [laj])'
pía 'avocado pear (RP: pes)' tela 'tailor'
àk è n ù 'canoe'
However, we can observe that rising diphthongs cannot be so interpreted, and

appear as monophthongs (40b). See also the final three words in (39c).
We can observe a range of strategies for dealing with illegal coda conso-
nants. First, we see the addition of a vowel to allow the consonant to be syllabi-
fied into the onset (41a), which might be necessary more than once in the same
word (41b).
lési 0 'rice' qglási 'glass'

metà 0 'mat' jVjakási 'jackass'
nánási 'pineapple (Fr. ananas)' riibrúsí0 'brush'
téwèlè 'towel' àsàkùù 'school'
wási 'watch' mbásákú 'bicycle'
mètaràsi 'mattress'
mètisì 'match'
c. qgòyà 'guava (Fr. goyave)' sásá 'scissors'

zíiq 'zinc' láám 'lamp'
nùbàtisì 'rheumatism' dóòk 'debt'
àplèqg'é 'blanket' póke 'pocket'
qg'ále 'garden'
d. téblè° 'table'
e. àklèsiìq 'kerosene'
We can also observe the loss of a final consonant (41c) or its metathesis into
onset position (4Id). Finally, in (4le) we see the loss of a vowel when a re-
duced form satisfies the syllable structure of the language, possibly in order to
mimic the stress pattern of kerosene. We can be certain that the k in (4le) is in
the onset, since it is not realized as [q] as would be expected in coda position
following a low back vowel (cf. section 2.1).
Other more marginal observations about loanwords are that the dark t is
reinterpreted as the vowel u (42a), while η (which is banned from the coda) is
reinterpreted as η (42b). This is consistent with the default velar place of ar-
ticulation claimed in (10).
(42) a. mbásákú 'bicycle' b. àklèsiiq 'kerosene'

ñdókfáwú 'duck fowl'
àsàkùù 'school'
Another interesting source of information on the syllable structure is found in

Bamileke French. In (43a,b) we see coda r appearing as k (the nearest conso-
nant to κ), while in (43b) the nasalized vowel is interpreted as a velar nasal.
And in (43 c) the final wi appears as the high front rounded vowel (see section
2.3).
(43) a. merci [meksi]

b. version [vcksjoq]
c. aujourd'hui [oûidy]
This evidence from the loanword vocabulary and from Bamileke French dem-
onstrates that the constraints on syllable structure (allowable codas, diphthongs,
length, etc.) are not only part of the diachrony, they are active in the synchrony
of the language.
472 Steven Bird
7. Harmonizing the proposals
Recall that aspiration was argued to be moraic because: (i) it does not contrib-
ute to the complexity of onsets; (ii) it is not copied along with the onset in re-
duplication; (iii) it restricts the possibilities for the rhyme, only permitting short
vowels and open syllables; (iv) it originates from a high vowel; and (v) aspi-
rated syllables pattern with bimoraic syllables in the imperative construction.
So what is, phonetically, a voiceless fricative is best treated phonologically as a
(devoiced) vowel. It is represented as a diacritic feature on the first mora node.
Another prosodie diacritic was proposed in section 5 to account for the vowel
height alternations in the imperative construction. This diacritic was repre-
sented on the syllable node as o~.
It is possible to harmonize these proposals for representing aspiration and
vowel height, as shown in (44). As before, σ~ represents a syllable with a
[-high] feature, which percolates down to the rightmost mora.
(44) a. [sa] b. [sue] c. [stet] d. [she]
σ~ σ~ σ+ σ+
ι ι \ ι \ i \
Χ Χ X I
s u s a s e
The mora diacritic for palatalization and aspiration has now been shifted up to
the syllable, leaving the mora as a weight unit pure and simple. The symbol σ+
represents a syllable with a [+high] feature which percolates down to the left-
most mora. Apart from producing a more symmetrical system, this puts the two
properties in complementary distribution with each other. This is a substantive
claim which we can check.
Now σ + represents both aspiration and palatalization, and we know from
section 3.4.1 that these are in complementary distribution. How does the distri-
bution of aspiration and palatalization compare with that of lowering? Are there
any cases of overlap? Table 5 demonstrates that palatalization and lowering
never co-occur; palatalization only appears on the syllables with ε and a, while
lowering only relates to u and u. We must also consider aspiration vs. lowering.
Where does aspiration co-occur with 9 or o? Observe in (35) that while there is
a gap for Aa, the ho form is actually attested. This would be a counterexample,
since we would simultaneously have σ~ and σ + , a contradiction. But recall
from section 3.4.1 that [ho] is just an allophone of /hu/ after onsets containing a
fricative or an affricate. So aspiration and lowering are opposite sides of the

same coin.
8. Conclusions
The discussion of Dschang syllable data has shown how diachronic processes,
such as the loss of final consonants and the devoicing of high vowels, are still
in evidence in the synchronic system of the language. However, while the ana-
lysis incorporates insights from the history of the language, it does not reca-
pitulate the historical processes directly. It is simpler to treat the distributional
and morpho-phonemic evidence as manifestations of an abstract contrast be-
tween two syllable types a~ and σ + .
The proposal of a distinctive feature on a non-terminal node (i.e. a prosodie
feature) is plausible both theoretically and formally. As a theoretical device, it
connects with other proposals to decorate the non-terminal nodes of prosodie
structure with distinctive features (Vincent 1986, McCarthy 1988, Coleman
1992), and has been heavily exploited outside of phonology in feature-based
grammar formalisms (Pollard & Sag 1994). Formal methods for interpreting
prosodie features and propagating the associated constraints down to the seg-
ments are described in (Bird & Klein 1994, Bird 1995). However, in this chap-
ter the focus has been primarily empirical. I have shown how the use of a pro-
sodie feature at the syllable level is able to explain some phonological and
morpho-phonological phenomena which are manifested in the curious distribu-
tion of aspiration, palatalization and lowering in Dschang.
A cknowledgments
The data in this chapter are based on my own fieldwork in Bafou village near
Dschang, and with Bafou people living in Yaoundé. My principal informant,
Blaise-Pascal Kemda, is a male speaker aged 26 who lived in the village until
the age of 23 and whose parents grew up in the same neighborhood.
This material was first presented at the colloquium The Phonology of the
World's Languages: The Syllable, held in Pézenas, France (June 1996) and
organized by Jacques Durand. I am thankful to SIL Cameroon for funding my
visit to the colloquium, to the participants for their helpful feedback, and espe-
cially to Larry Hyman for helping me see the central importance of the syllable
rhyme in understanding the vowel inventory. I am grateful to the editors and to
San Duanmu for comments on an earlier version of this chapter. I am also
474 Steven Bird
grateful to audiences at U. Edinburgh, U. Pennsylvania and Northwestern U.

for insightful feedback on this material.
The data in the chapter draws heavily on a dictionary (Bird & Tadadjeu
1997) and a hypertext lexicon (Bird 1997) incorporating digitized speech files,
available on the Internet at http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/hyperlex.
This work is supported by the U K Economic and Social Research Council,
grant R 0 0 0 2 3 5540. M y activities in Cameroon (January 1995 - June 1997)
were covered by research permits with the Ministry of Scientific and Technical
Research o f the Cameroon government.
Notes
1. Bamileke is a subgroup of Grassfields Bantoid in the Niger-Congo language family

(Watters & Leroy 1989: 435). The primary difference between Grassfields and Narrow
Bantu is that Grassfields languages have a much simpler morphology. The name
Dschang is pronounced [tjaq]. Data in this chapter comes from the main northern dia-
lect, spoken in Bafou and elsewhere.
2. In this and subsequent displays, acute and grave accent symbolize high and low tone
respectively. The exclamation point symbolizes downstep. Final low tones are falling
unless marked with a degree symbol. When referring to data in the text, I have avoided
use of the // and [] marks in places where the phonemic status of the segments con-
cerned is not at issue, or where I do not want to prejudge the status of the segments
ahead of a later discussion.
3. Hyman (1972: 23), Nissim (1981: 134), Anderson (1982), Haynes (1989: 225).
4. The data in (4) contains counterexamples to Anderson's claim that aspiration in
Dschang only occurs before short high vowels in open syllables (Anderson 1982: 63).
5. This y ~ ui alternation is even apparent from Bamileke French, where aujourd'hui
'today' can sometimes be heard as [o3u:dy] and sud 'south' may be pronounced [swid],
6. Note that the term rhyme is used descriptively to refer to that part of a syllable which
excludes the initial consonant(s), rather than to refer to a hierarchical constituent in the
onset-rhyme theory, which has usurped the older meaning.
7. Note that (Haynes 1989: 207) sets up a and i as allophones (of /e/), while retaining was
the realization of /yu/. However, I do not see the need to distinguish ο and i in this way.
Nor do I agree that «should be linked with u, as explained in section 2.3.
8. except after k/g.
9. after stridents.
10. Note that the presence of a nasal (in parentheses) in Table 5 conditions the 'voiced'
allophone of the onset consonant, as explained in section 2.5. Note also that this ap-
proach to aspiration differs from Hyman's approach to aspiration in Fe'fe', which treats
aspirated consonants as allophones of plain consonants when they are followed by a
short high vowel in an open syllable (Hyman 1972: 73).
11. This approach seems to be at odds with Haynes' treatment of aspiration and palatali-
zation in Dschang (Haynes 1989: 230f). She views the [hu] sequence as an aspirated,
palatalized /u/. However, in section 2.3 I argued that treating u as palatalized u is un-
desirable and that u should be set up as a phoneme in its own right. Therefore, the fact
that Haynes did not take aspiration and palatalization to be complementary does not
lead to problems here.
12. This pattern of labialization may even continue into the coda, since if a C W C syllable
has a labial coda, every other segment in the syllable must also be labial (e.g. rftb'úóp
'billygoat', lap uàpnì 'twitter').
13. Kouesso (1989) gives an SPE-style treatment of similar alternations in some other
grammatical constructions.
References
Anderson, S.C.
1977 Aphonology ofNgyemboon-Bamileke. Ms. Yaounde, Cameroon: SIL.
1982 From semivowels to aspiration to long consonants in Ngyemboon-Bamileke.
Journal of West African linguistics 12, 58-68.
Bird, S.
1995 Computational phonology: A constraint-based approach. Studies in natural lan-
guage processing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1997 A lexical database tool for quantitative phonological research. In J. Coleman
(ed.), Proceedings of the third meeting of the ACL special interest group in com-
putational phonology. Somerset, NJ: Association for computational linguistics,
33-39.
Bird, S. & E. Klein
1994 Phonological analysis in typed feature systems. Computational linguistics 20,
455-91.
Bird, S. & M. Tadadjeu
1997 Petit dictionnaire Yémba-Français (Dschang-French dictionary). Cameroon:
National Association of Cameroon Languages Committees.
Clements, GN.
1987 Phonological feature representation and the description of intrusive stops. In A.
Bosch, B. Need & E. Schiller (eds), Parasession on autosegmental and metrical
phonology. CLS 23: II. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society, 29-50.
Coleman, J.S.
1992 The phonetic interpretation of headed phonological structures containing overlap-
ping constituents. Phonology 9, 1-44.
1997 Phonological representations - their names, forms and powers. Cambridge
studies in linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grimes, B.F. (ed.)
1988 Ethnologue - Languages of the World. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguis-
tics.
Haynes, N.
1989 Esquisse phonologique du Yemba. In D. Barreteau & R. Hedinger (eds.), De-
scriptions de langues Camerounaises. Paris: ACCT/ORSTOM, 179-238.
Hyman, L.M.
1972 A phonological study of Fe?fe?-Bamileke. Studies in African linguistics, supple-
ment 4.
1979 Index of Proto-Grassfields Bantu roots. Ms. University of Southern California.
1985 Word domains and downstep in Bamileke-Dschang. Phonology yearbook 2, 45-
83.
476 Steven Bird
Hyman, L.M. & M. Tadadjeu

1976 Floating tones in Mbam-Nkam. In L.M. Hyman (ed.), Studies in Bantu tonology.
University of Southern California occasional papers in linguistics 3, 57-112.
Kouesso, J.-R.
1989 Analyse de principes orthographiques du Yemba. MA thesis. University of Ya-
oundé.
Maddieson, I.
1981 Unusual consonant clusters and complex segments in Eggon. In W.L. Leben
(ed.), Précis from the J 2th conference on African linguistics. Studies in African
linguistics, supplement 8, 89-92.
McCarthy, J.J.
1988 Feature geometry and dependency: A review. Phonetica 43, 84-108.
Nissim, G.M.
1981 Le bamiléké-ghomálá ' (parler de Bandjoun Cameroon: Phonologie - Morpholo-
gie nominale - Comparison avec des parlers voisions. Tradition orale, vol. 45.
Paris: SELAF.
Odden, D.
1996 The phonology and morphology of Kimatuumbi. The phonology of the world's
languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pollard, C. & I.A. Sag
1994 Head-driven phrase structure grammar. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Vincent, N.
1986 Constituency and syllable structure. In J. Durand (ed.), Dependency and non-
linear phonology. London: Croom Helm, 305-18.
Voorhoeve, J.
1965 The structure of the morpheme in Bamileke (Bangangté dialect). Lingua 13, 319-
34.
Watters, J R. & J. Leroy
1989 Southern Bantoid. In J. Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages.
Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 430-49.
15 The syllable in Chinese
San Duanmu
1. Introduction
Most analyses of the Chinese syllable assume that it has a variable length,
ranging from one segment (C or V) to four (CGVC or CGVG). This chapter
argues that while the input segments to a syllable can range from one to four,
there are only two syllable structures, the heavy syllable CVX and the light
syllable CV.
Section 2 compares the traditional representation of the Chinese syllable
with the present one. Section 3 presents evidence for the present analysis. Sec-
tion 4 gives conclusions.
2. Two analyses of the Chinese syllable
2.1. The traditional analysis
In the traditional analysis (e.g. Chao 1968, Yuan 1989, Beijing University
1989), the Chinese syllable has a variable length, ranging from one segment, C
or V, to a maximum of four, CGVC or CGVG, where C is a consonant, V a
vowel, and G a glide or a high vowel. Since there is no contrast between the
glides [j w q] and the high vowels [i u y] in Chinese, a glide will be used in the
prenuclear position and a high vowel will be used in the nuclear or the coda
position. (1) shows some examples in Standard Chinese (hereafter Mandarin),
transcribed in phonetic symbols without tone, and (2) shows some examples in
Mainstream Shanghai (e.g. Xu et al. 1988, hereafter Shanghai), where * indi-
cates a missing form.
(1) Mandarin syllable types

C V GV VC CV VG
m τ wa an ta ai
'yes?' 'goose' 'frog' 'peace' 'big' 'love'
478 San Duanmu
CVG GVG CVC CGV CGVC CGVG

fei wai tVi kwa hwar) khwai
'fly' 'outside' 'pain' 'melon' 'yellow' 'fast'
Shanghai syllable types

C V GV VC CV *VG
η a ja a? du
'fish' 'short' 'wild' 'duck' 'big'
*CVG *GVG CVC CGV CGVC •CGVG

thoq k h wa kwa?
'pain' 'fast' 'scrape'
In both dialects, V can be followed by C. However, G can follow V in Manda-

rin but not in Shanghai. Syllables without an initial C or G usually have some
consonant articulation at the beginning, to be discussed below. In some dia-
lects, VGC rhymes can be found in final position, such as [pheiq] 'invite' in
Fuzhou. However, in non-fmal positions VGC rhymes become VC rhymes;
thus there is no need to consider VGC a new rhyme type (Tao 1930, Chao
1931, Duanmu 1990: 42-47).
2.2. The present analysis
The present analysis follows the proposal of Duanmu (1993), according to

which there are two kinds of Chinese dialects. In the first, represented by Man-
darin, there is a distinction between full syllables and weak syllables. Most
lexical words are full syllables, such as those in (1). Weak syllables are usually
function words, such as the aspect marker [ta]. Full syllables have stress and
tone, and weak syllables have no stress or tone. Duanmu (1993) proposes the
uniform structure (3 a) for full syllables, which has two rhyme slots and is
heavy. Weak syllables have the structure (3b), which has one rhyme slot and is
light. In Chinese dialects of the second kind, represented by Shanghai, all syl-
lables have the structure (3b) underlyingly. (A moraic representation of (3a)
and (3b) is of no consequence for the present discussion.)
The syllable in Chinese 479
σ b. σ Syllable
Λ Λ
0 R OR Onset/Rhyme
1 A 11
XXX XX timing slots
CVX CV
For convenience, (3 a) will be called CVX, where C is the onset, V is the nu-
cleus, and X is the coda, and (3b) will be called CV. A full Mandarin syllable is
CVX both underlyingly and at surface. A Shanghai syllable is CV both under-
lyingly and at surfaces except when it occurs in isolation or in initial position,
where it is lengthened under stress (cf. Zhu 1995). According to (3), (1) and (2)
should be analyzed as (4) and (5) respectively, where the symbol [0] represents
a zero onset and V' represents a laryngealized vowel.
(4) Mandarin (full syllables): CVX

0mm 0Y¥ waa 0an taa 0ai
'yes?' 'goose' 'frog' 'peace' 'big' 'love'
fei wai thoq kwaa hwaq khwai

'fly' 'outside' 'pain' 'melon' 'yellow' 'fast'
(5) Shanghai (non-initialpositions): CV

0q 0a ja 0a' du
'fish' 'short' 'wild' 'duck' 'big'
thö khvva kV
'pain' 'fast' 'scrape'
The zero onset has several manifestations (cf. Chao 1948, 1968, Li 1966).
When there is no vowel, it is usually the same as a syllabic consonant. When V
is a high vowel, the zero onset is often realized as the corresponding glide.
When V is a mid or low vowel, the zero onset is usually one of [y ? η fi] in
Mandarin, depending on speakers (Chao 1968). Example (6) shows four alter-
native forms of the same word in Mandarin.
(6) yaw / ?aw / η aw / flaw

'concave'
480 San Duanmu
In Shanghai, when V is a mid or low vowel, the zero onset is [?] if the syllable
has an upper register tone (fall or high rise) and [fi] if the syllable has a lower
register tone (low rise).
There are two major differences between the traditional analysis and the
present one. First, in the traditional analysis the prenuclear G is an independent
sound. In the present analysis, the prenuclear G is an independent sound only
when there is no initial C. When there is an initial C, CG together form a single
sound, where G is the secondary articulation of C (see below). Second, in the
traditional analysis full syllables have different rhyme lengths. In the present
analysis, full syllables are all heavy (bimoraic), and all Shanghai syllables are
light (monomoraic) (except in initial position or in isolation).
3. Arguments for the present analysis
This section presents evidence for the present analysis (cf. also Woo 1969,
Duanmu 1990, 1993, Ao 1992, Yip 1992, 1994, J. Wang 1993, 1995). The
argument will again be focused on two representative dialects: Mandarin and
Shanghai.
3.1. Mandarin
The argument in Mandarin consists of six parts. First, there is an obligatory

onset. Second, the prenuclear G is in the onset, and there is only one onset slot.
Thus, when there is no initial C, G is an onset segment by itself, but when there
is an initial C, CG together form a single segment. Third, the present analysis
gives a better account of CG combinations. Fourth, the present analysis gives a
better account of palatals. Fifth, an open full syllable has a long vowel and a
closed full syllable has a short vowel. Finally, weak syllables have CV only.
3.1. ]. The obligatory onset
The idea that there is an obligatory onset in all full Mandarin syllables is shared
by some traditional analyses. For example, both Chao (1968) and Beijing Uni-
versity (1989) include the 'zero consonant' in their phonemic inventory. In
addition, the phonetic realizations of the zero consonant have been carefully
discussed in such works as Chao (1948, 1968) and Li (1966). But the status of
the zero consonant is somewhat problematic in traditional analyses. If it is a
phoneme, then all full Mandarin syllables have an onset. But then there is the
question of why the distribution of the zero onset is defective and predictable,
namely, it occurs only in the onset and it occurs only if there is no other onset
nor a prenuclear glide. In particular, in the traditional analyses, the prenuclear
glide is in the rhyme, so there is no explanation why the zero onset does not
occur with a prenuclear glide (see below). If the zero onset is not a phoneme,
and if the Mandarin syllable does not require an onset, then there is the ques-
tion of why the zero onset is there. The only good solution is to say that the
zero onset is not a phoneme but required by syllable structure, namely, all full
Mandarin syllables have an obligatory onset slot. This is what the present
analysis assumes.
3.1.2. Prenuclear G is in the onset
The traditional analysis assumes that the prenuclear G in Mandarin is a separate

sound and that it is in the rhyme. However, there is both phonological and
phonetic evidence that suggests the opposite, namely, that the prenuclear G is
in the onset and that CG form a single sound. Let us look at the evidence. First,
for two syllables to rhyme in Chinese, what matters is the nuclear V and the
coda (if any), and not the prenuclear G (cf. Chao 1927, L. Wang 1957). If the
prenuclear G is in the rhyme, one must explain why part of the rhyme is ig-
nored in rhyming. Second, the zero onset cannot be used with a prenuclear
glide. This is shown in (7).
(7) waa (*fiwaa *ywaa *?waa *qwaa) 'frog'

jaa (*fijaa *yjaa *?jaa *>ijaa) 'crow'
Here, none of the phonetic realizations of the zero onset can be used with the
prenuclear glide. In the traditional analysis, the prenuclear glide is in the rhyme
and the zero consonant is in the onset; so the lack of their combination is unex-
pected. In the present analysis, the prenuclear glide is in the onset. In addition,
the zero consonant is not an independent phoneme; it is called for only when
the onset slot is empty. It is expected, therefore, that when the onset is filled by
a glide, no zero consonant will occur.
With regard to phonetics, Chao (1934) observed that the Mandarin syllable
[swei] 'age' is pronounced differently from the English syllable [swei] 'sway'.
In English, [s] and [w] sound like separate segments, but in Mandarin [sw]
sound like a single segment.
The above facts are known to the traditional approach. Still, the prenuclear
G is analyzed as a separate sound and as part of the rhyme. The reason, ac-
cording to Chao (1934), is phonemic economy. If CG is a single sound, one
482 San Duanmu
would have to assume many more consonants, as well as more onset types. On
the other hand, if G is a separate sound (which has to be assumed anyway), the
consonant inventory can be reduced, with no increase in the glide inventory. In
addition, if G is in the rhyme, one can reduce the number of onset types with
only a small increase in the number of rhyme types.
The economy based on the total number of onset and rhyme types is not
obvious. For example, in the present analysis there is just one onset type C and
one rhyme type VX, whereas in the traditional analysis there is one onset type
C (or zero) but four rhyme types, V, GV, VX, and GVX. In this regard, the
traditional analysis is more complicated. The argument based on phonemic
economy is addressed in the next section.
3.1.3. Distribution of CG and the consonant inventory
Let us now consider what additional consonants need to be assumed if CG is a

single sound. According to Beijing University (1989: 6), Mandarin has twenty-
one Cs (ignoring the zero consonant) and three glides. Chao (1968) gives a
similar inventory. The list is shown in (8). The voiced retroflex is transcribed
as [r], although [X J] have also been used by others.
Mandarin consonants and glides

Labial Ρ Phh m f
Dental t th η 1
Palatal tç t9 h
Ç
Velar k kh χ
Retroflex t§ t?h 5 r
Glides j w Η
As Chao (1934) points out, the palatal series are not independent phonemes but
can be derived from another series (dentals [ts tsh s], velars [k k x], or retro-
flexes [tg t§h g]) when they occur before [i y] or [j q] (see below). For the re-
maining eighteen Cs, if CG is a single sound (where G is the secondary articu-
lation of C), there are potentially 54 additional consonants. Of the 54, only 29
are found. This is shown in (9), where a minus sign indicates a missing CG.
(10) gives examples of good CG combinations, where tones are omitted.
(9) Mandarin CG combinations

J w
labial
Ρ
m mJ
f
dental t t1 tw _
th tHj jhw
—
η n" nw n"
JW
1 V
ts tç tsw tçw
tsh tçh tshw tç hw
s Ç sw çw
velar k kw _
hw
kh _ k
—
W
X X
retroflex tg
15 tgw _
t?h - tghw -
g - -
r - rw -
(10) Examples of Mandarin CG combinations

.J w
p'an
labial
'change'
p hj an
'cheat'
m mJan
'noodles'
dental ân tan

'store' 'broken'
t" t hj an thwan
'sky' 'roll'
η n*an nwan
'year' 'warm' 'cruel'
|W
1 Fan 1 an l 4 ee
'link' 'disorder' 'omit'
484 San Duanmu
ts tçan tswan tçwan

'sharp' 'drill' 'donate'
tsh tçhan tshwan tçhwan
'owe' 'usurp' 'persuade'
s çan swan çwan
'thread' 'garlic' 'select'
velar k - kwan -
'close'
kh - khwan -
'broad'
χ - xwan -
'joyful'
retroflex tg - tgwan -
'brick'
t?h - t?hwan -
'boat'
5 5wan -
'bolt'
r rwan -
'soft'
The gaps call for an explanation, not just in the present analysis but in any
other theory. Before a solution is discussed, several remarks are in order. First,
the lack of [f] is probably accidental, since all other labials can combine with
[j]. Second, where one expects palatalized dentals [ts1 tshj s"], one finds palatals
[tç tçh ç]. It will be discussed below that the two series have identical articula-
tors and that both series are found in real speech. Third, where one expects [tsM
tshq sq], one finds [tçw tçhw çw]. In addition, the palatalized nasals [rf n q ] can also
occur as palatals [p jiw]. It will be argued, again, that the two series have identi-
cal articulators. Finally, of the seven dentals, five combine with [q] but two do
not. It is more reasonable to assume that dentals can in principle combine with
[q] and that the lack of [ty thy] are accidental gaps. If one assumes that dentals
cannot in principle combine with [q], then there is no explanation for the pre-
sence of [nM lq tçw tç1™ çw].2 Under such considerations, (9) can be generalized
in (11).
(11) Mandarin CG combinations (generalized)

j w q
Labial + - -
Dental + + +
Velar +
Retroflex _ + -
To my knowledge, there has been no previous account of (11). In the present

analysis, a solution is as follows. First, consider retroflex sounds. In a retroflex
the tongue tip is curled back, which tends to push the tongue body back, yet [j]
and [q] require the tongue body to be fronted. The lack of retroflex-[j] and
retroflex-[q], therefore, is probably due to articulatory ease. 3 The other cases
can be explained in terms of articulators in feature geometry. Let us assume
that Mandarin glides have the articulator structures in (12), where Dor means
Dorsal, Cor means Coronal, and Lab means Labial.
(12) Articulators of Mandarin glides

Ü] [w] [q]
Dor-Cor Dor-Lab Dor-Cor-Lab
I I I I
[-back] [+round] [-back] [+round]
The Dor part of a palatal has been the standard assumption in feature theory
(cf. Halle & Clements 1983). The representation of [w] is also standard. Argu-
ments for a Cor part of a palatal can be found in Clements & Hume (1995).
Finally, [q] is a rounded [j], as traditionally assumed. Now when C and G have
different articulators, such as in [p]+[j], all articulators can be kept, as shown in
(13), where * indicates the major articulator (the one with greater constriction).
(13) [p] + [j] -> M

•Lab Dor-Cor Dor-Cor-*Lab
I I
[-back] [-back]
When the articulator of C is the same as an articulator of G, such as in [t]+[j],

the latter is replaced (because CG is primarily a consonant). This is shown in
(14).
(i4) [t] + m -> M

•Cor Dor-Cor Dor-*Cor
I I
[-back] [-back]
However, since the Cors of [t] and [j] are the same, both being on the teeth in
Mandarin, the replacement does not destroy the palatal elements, namely, Dor-
[-back] and Cor. So the result is still a palatalized C. Now consider [p]+[w],
shown in (15).
486 San Duanmu
(15) [ρ] + [w] -> ?

•Lab Dor-Lab Dor-*Lab
I
[+round]
Because [ρ] is not [+round], when the *Lab of [p] replaces that of [w], the
[+round] of [w] is lost. The result, therefore, is not [pw] (it might be interpreted
as [pv], but Mandarin does not have a glide phoneme [γ]). With this back-
ground, let us return to the CG distribution pattern, analyzed in (17), where lost
features during articulator replacement are shown in parentheses.
(17) Articulator analysis of CG combinations
[)] [w] ω
Dor-Cor Dor-Lab Dor-Cor-Lab
[-back] [+round] [-back] [+round]

•Lab + ([+round]) ([+round])
•Cor + + +
•Dor ([-back]) + ([-back])
In this analysis, the four missing combinations correspond to those where a

feature is lost. The five remaining combinations are all found.
Let us now consider how CG can be analyzed in the traditional analysis,
where CG is a cluster of two sounds. First, the lack of retroflex-[j] and retro-
flex-[q] can be attributed to articulatory ease, similar to the present analysis.
Second, the lack of other CG combinations can be attributed to articulator
dissimilation. Specifically, one can assume that [j] is Dor, [w] is Lab, and [q] is
Lab-Dor, and that there is a constraint against a sequence of two identical ar-
ticulators. The constraint is stated in (18) and illustrated in (19).
(18) Articulator dissimilation:

Identical articulators cannot occur in succession.
(19) Mandarin CG combinations (in terms of articulatorsj

[j] [w] [q]
Dor Lab Lab-Dor
Lab +
Cor (dental) + + +
Dor (velar) - + -
It can be seen that the bad combinations involve two identical articulators: Lab-
[w] and Lab-[q] involve two Labs, and velar-[j] and velar-[q] involve two Dors.
Leaving aside the question of whether palatals also have Cor, there is still a
problem. While (18) can account for CG combinations, it does not apply to CV,
GV, or across syllables. This can be seen in (20).
(20) Lab-Lab Lab-Lab Dor-Dor Cor-Cor

CV GV CV CVC.CV
muu woo krr çan.tai
'female' 'me' 'song' 'present time'
Such cases are problematic if G is in the rhyme, as the traditional analysis

assumes. The reason is that, for (18) to hold over CG, it must be able to apply
across the onset-rhyme domain; but then one expects (18) to apply across CV,
which it does not. In addition, if (18) can apply across the onset-rhyme domain,
it perhaps also ought to apply to a smaller domain GV, which, in the traditional
analysis, is within the rhyme; yet, (18) does not hold there either. Thus, com-
pared with CV and GV, CG has a special status. In the traditional analysis, this
special status must be stipulated. In contrast, in the present analysis, there is no
such problem. Since CG is a single sound, the CG combinations follow from
feature geometry, according to which each articulator can only occur once in a
CG. Since CV and GV are not single sounds, they are not subject to the same
restriction.
A reviewer suggests that the lack of Lab-[w] or Lab-[q] is due to perceptual
reasons. There is not much of a transition of F2 and it is well known that salient
transitions are important for perception. However, while phonetic salience may
play a role, the lack of Lab-Lab over CG must also have a phonological moti-
vation, namely, CG is a single sound, as the present analysis argues. The reason
is that there is no Lab-Lab constraint against CV or GV, as seen in (20). If
phonetic salience is the only factor, one would expect CV and GV to be subject
to the Lab-Lab constraint, too.4
Let us now consider the cost of the present analysis. If CG combinations are
single sounds, it seems that 29 more phonemes must be added. But the cost is
only apparent. Given an independent role of syllable structure, the additional
sounds can be derived without an increase in the underlying consonant inven-
tory. For illustration, consider the representation of the Mandarin syllable [swei]
'age' in (21).
488 San Duanmu
(21) σ -> σ
Λ Λ
OR 0 R
IA 1 A
XXX XXX
Λ I I
sw e ι sw e ι
/swei/ [swei]
The syllable has four input segments /swei/. However, because there are only
three slots in the syllable, [sw] must share the onset slot, giving three surface
segments [swei].
In summary, the present analysis accounts for more phonetic and phonolo-
gical facts, with no increase in underlying consonant inventory. There is, there-
fore, no motivation for considering the prenuclear G to be a separate surface
segment or to be part of the nucleus.
3.1.4. The palatals
In the preceding discussion two proposals were made about palatals. First, [tç
tçh ç] are derived by combining [ts tsh s] with [j], Second, [tçw tç hw ç w ] are de-
rived by combining [ts tsh s] with [q]. The first case is shown in (22).
(22) Places Articulators

Dental ts tsh s Cor
Dental-[j] ts" tshj s" Cor-Dor
Palatal tç tç h ç Cor-Dor
The articulator of a dental is Cor, and those of [j] are Cor-Dor. The combina-
tion of the two is still Cor-Dor (see (14)). The palatals [tç tçh ç] are Cor-Dor
because there is both a dental contact (by the tongue tip) and a palatal contact
(by the tongue body) at the same time. Since both [ts* tshj s*] and [tç tçh ç] are
Cor-Dor, both series are expected as far as articulators are concerned. In fact,
there are two varieties of pronunciations. Variety A uses palatalized dentals,
and variety Β uses palatals. This is exemplified in (23).
(23) C+G Variety A Variety Β

[ts]+Lj] [ts"an] [tçan] 'sharp'
[ts]+D] [tshjan] [tçhan] 'owe'
[s]+[j] [s*an] [çan] 'thread'
[ts]+[q] [tsqan] [tçwan] 'donate'
[tsh]+[n] [tshqan] [tçhwan] 'persuade'
[s]+[q] [sqan] [çwan] 'select'
Variety A has been known for a long time. It is common among children and
female speakers, as well as among some males (cf. Xu 1957, Cao 1987, Hu
1991). According to Cao (1987), in a 1986 survey of 200 speakers, 85% fe-
males and 29% males used variety A at various degrees. The presence of the
two varieties suggests a phonological link between dentals and palatals. The
link can be shown in terms of articulators. In feature geometry, every sound has
at least one major articulator (indicated with *). A sound can also have one or
more minor articulators. The major articulator assumes the given stricture of
the sound, and the minor articulator typically assumes the default stricture of
[+continuant]. The stricture of affricates is [-continuant] (cf. Steriade 1989). In
palatalized dental affricates, such as [ts1], there is complete closure (i.e. [-con-
tinuant]) at the dental place (for Cor), but no closure (i.e. [+continuant]) at the
palatal place (for Dor). Thus, palatalized dentals are *Cor-Dor. In palatal affri-
cates, such as [tç], there is complete closure at both the dental place and the
palatal place. Thus, palatals are *Cor-*Dor. This is shown in (24).
(24) Articulator analysis of palatalized dentals vs. palatals

Variety A Variety Β
[ts ts h s] + [j] [ts1 tshj s*] [tç tçh ç]
Dor-*Cor *Dor-*Cor
The difference between the two varieties of speech therefore lies in whether the
newly incorporated Dor (from [j]) acts as a major or a minor articulator. The
alternation between [rf n q ] vs. [p ji w ], also noted above, can be explained in the
same way. Next, consider [tçw tç hw çw], which are shown in (25).
(25) Places Articulators

Dental ts ts h s Cor
Dental-[q] tsq tshq sq Cor-Dor-Lab
Palatal-[w] tçw tç hw çw Cor-Dor-Lab
When dentals combine with [q], one expects dental-[q], but palatal-[w] is also
found. The difference between them, once again, lies in the role of the articu-
lators. This is shown in (26).
490 San Duanmu
(26) Articulator analysis ofpalatalized dentals vs. palatals

Variety A Variety Β
[tsts h s] + [q] [ts11 tshq sq] [tç w tç U ç w ]
Dor-*Cor-Lab *Dor-*Cor-Lab
In variety A, the newly incorporated Dor (from [q]) is a minor articulator,

whereas in variety Β it is a major articulator.
Chao (1934) uses Mandarin palatals to argue that there is sometimes inde-
terminacy in phonemic analysis. In the present analysis, Mandarin does not
have phonemic indeterminacy.
3.1.5. An open full syllable has a long vowel
Most Mandarin syllables are full syllables. In the traditional analysis, there are
three rhyme types (excluding the prenuclear G), V, VC, and VG, as seen in (1).
Compared with weak syllables, all full syllables are long and carry stress. Pho-
nologically, full syllables show no difference in their stress or tone bearing
abilities. With regard to the weight of full syllables, there are three possibilities.
First, all full syllables are light. Second, V is light and VC and VG are heavy.
Third, all full syllables are heavy.
If full syllables are light, one cannot explain why they all have greater stress
and longer duration than weak syllables. For the second possibility, it is rele-
vant to note that in languages like English, VC and VG are heavy and V is
light. However, one cannot explain why the full V patterns with full VC and
VG and not with weak rhymes. For the third possibility, not only are VC and
VG heavy, but V is a long vowel [V:] (assuming that a heavy syllable has two
moras, or two timing slots in the rhyme). And if full Mandarin rhymes are
heavy, it is natural they are all stressed, either because Mandarin has moraic
feet, or because of the Weight-to-Stress Principle (Prince 1990). The fact that
all full Mandarin syllables are stressed has been pointed out by many people
(e.g. Luo & Wang 1957, Chao 1968). Similarly, the fact that full syllables are
longer than weak syllables is well known (cf. Woo 1969, Howie 1976, Lin et
al. 1984, Lin & Yan 1988). For example, Howie (1976) found that, when read
in a carrier sentence, full Mandarin V, VG, and VN rhymes are all about 200
ms in duration. In view of such facts, one would wonder why the open rhyme
has traditionally been written as [V] instead of [V:]. The reason is phonemic
economy. Since vowel length is predictable, namely, short in closed rhymes
and long in open rhymes, there is no need to mark it. However, while the tradi-
tional transcription is economical, the fact that full syllables are heavy is often
passed in silence. In contrast, in a multi-tiered analysis, both phonemic eco-
nomy and syllable structure can be represented. This is shown in (27).
(27) σ σ Syllable
Λ Λ
0 R 0 R Onset/Rhyme
1 A 1 A
XXX XXX timing slots
I ν
m a m a
/ma/ [maa]
Underlyingly there is no long vowel. However, because a full syllable has two
rhyme slots, a vowel will fill both of them if there is no other coda, giving a
surface long vowel.
3.1.6. Weak syllables are CV
Besides full syllables, Mandarin has a small number of weak syllables. The V
in a weak syllable is usually a schwa, but other vowels are also possible in this
syllable type (see below). Weak syllables are unstressed, and as such do not
carry underlying tones, and do not occur in phrase- or foot-initial positions.
According to Lin & Yan (1988), the average rhyme duration of a weak syllable
is about 50% of that of a full syllable. Similar results were found by Woo
(1969). There is little doubt that weak CV syllables are light. But, it is less clear
how to analyze weak syllables that are traditionally written as CVC and CVG,
such as [t h ou] (literally 'head') in [muu t h ou] 'wood'. In particular, if weight is
related to the number of timing slots in the rhyme, as the present analysis as-
sumes, CVC and CVG should be heavy.
A solution to the dilemma comes from the phonetic study of Lin & Yan
(1988). What they found was that when CVC or CVG was unstressed, it either
dropped its coda or shortened its vowel. This fact was observed in other works.
For example, Gao & Shi (1963: 84-85) gave the examples in (28).5
(28) Rhyme reduction in weak Mandarin syllables

muu t h ou —» muu tho 'wood'
ñau tai —> nau te 'head'
When the second syllable in each expression is unstressed, its rhyme is short-
ened accordingly. Such evidence suggests that the weak syllable has just one
rhyme slot and is metrically light.
492 San Duanmu
3.1.7. Summary
To summarize, there are two kinds of syllables in Mandarin. All full syllables
are heavy (CVX) and all weak syllables are light (CV).
3.2. Shanghai
As in Mandarin, the prenuclear G in Shanghai is also in the onset and CG is a

single sound. However, Shanghai differs from Mandarin in two ways. First,
unlike Mandarin, Shanghai does not show a distinction between full and weak
syllables.6 For example, while full Mandarin syllables are considerably longer
than weak syllables, such a contrast is not found in Shanghai. This can be seen
in (29) and (30) (V' = laryngealized V, to be explained below).
(29) Mandarin
khwai \ΎΎ khwai la
fast happy fast ASP
'joyful' '(have become) fast'
(30) Shanghai
k a lo' khwa fa-
fast happy fast ASP
'joyful' '(have become) fast'
In Mandarin, the full syllable [IVY] 'happy' is considerably longer than the
weak syllable [la], but in Shanghai, the contrast is absent.
Second, while Mandarin has diphthongs and maintains a contrast between [n
q] in the coda, Shanghai has neither diphthongs nor coda contrasts. The rhyme
inventories of Mandarin and Shanghai are shown in (31) and (32). There is
some variation across different transcriptions, such as whether the Mandarin
retroflex rhyme is [r] or [zj, but the variation should not affect the present dis-
cussion. Prenuclear glides are not shown, since they are in the onset.
(31) Mandarin rhymes

a. z r i u y a e r
b. ai ei au ou in an an yn iq aq uq aq er
(32) Shanghai rhymes

a. m q z i u y r a o o e ö v ä
b. an in yn oq a? o? i?
Shanghai lacks all diphthongs and several VN rhymes. The cognate words in
(33) show this difference.
Mandarin Shanghai
a. [ai] [e]
lai le 'come'
tshai tshe 'guess'
b. [an] [e]
lan le 'blue'
fan ve 'rice'
c. [aq] m
lâq 'wolf
lag
thar) tâq 'sugar'
d. [ou] [τ]
lou 1Υ 'floor'
tsou tSY 'walk'
e. [au] [3]
lau b 'old'
t h au to 'peach'
f. [ei] [e]
mei me 'coal'
pei pe 'cup'
With regard to the weight of Shanghai rhymes, there are again three possibili-
ties. First, all Shanghai rhymes are heavy. Second, those in (32a) are light and
those in (32b) heavy. Third, all Shanghai rhymes are light.
The first hypothesis predicts that rhymes in (32a) are long and that the codas
in (32b) are moraic. This hypothesis has three difficulties. First, it cannot ex-
plain why Shanghai lacks weak syllables. Second, it cannot explain why
Shanghai has no diphthongs and few nasal codas, even though all its rhymes
are supposed to be heavy. Third, there is no phonological evidence that all
rhymes in Shanghai are heavy. The second hypothesis is based on the tran-
scription in (32), with the assumption that VC is heavy. However, it predicts a
weight contrast between (32a) and (32b), which is not found. The third hy-
pothesis claims that the VC rhymes are light. However, there is the question of
why VC rhymes are heavy in Mandarin but light in Shanghai. If the rhymes in
(32b) are light, they should ideally be V instead of VC. It will be argued they
are indeed V.
To begin, consider the glottal coda [?]. First, it should be noted that the nu-
clear vowel is always laryngealized in such syllables. Second, as Xu et al.
(1988: 8) point out, the glottal coda in Shanghai is present only if the syllable is
in final position; in non-final positions, [?] is dropped, while the vowel stays
494 San Duanmu
laryngealized. This is generally true of other Wu dialects, of which Shanghai is

a member (Chao 1967). Third, when [?] is dropped, there is no lengthening of
the vowel in Shanghai, in contrast to Taiwanese (Southern Min), where [Î]
deletion leads to compensatory lengthening (Chiù 1931, Tsay 1990). For these
reasons, it is more appropriate to analyze [V?] underlyingly as a laryngealized
vowel (written as [V']).
Next consider the remaining VC rhymes [an in yn oq], which all end in a
nasal. First, it is relevant to note that the rhyme [ä] is written as a nasalized
vowel and not [a] with a nasal coda. The nasal coda is used only for non-low
vowels, where [q] is used with the back [o], and [n] is used with the non-back
[a i y].7 Phonemically, then, [an in yn oq] can be analyzed as nasalized vowels
[5 ï y δ]. This analysis also agrees with the phonetic fact that [an in yn oq] are
often pronounced as [à ï y ö] (Xu et al. 1988: 73).
If Shanghai has nasalized vowels, one may wonder why there are just [à a î y
δ], instead of a full set (one for every oral vowel). The answer is that the na-
salized vowels derive from historical VN rhymes, but not all historical VN
rhymes gave rise to a nasal vowel. For example, the Shanghai cognate for the
Mandarin [lan] 'blue' is not [là] but [le], and the Shanghai cognate for the
Mandarin [man] 'full' is not [mä] but [mo].
In summary, all Shanghai syllables can be analyzed as underlyingly simple,
namely, no diphthongs or codas. This is shown in (34), where [a' o' i'] are
laryngealized vowels.
(34) Shanghai rhymes (present analysis)

a. m n z i u y r a o o e ö Y ä
b. 5 ΐ y δ a' o' i'
Since all rhymes are simple, it is natural to say that they are all underlyingly
light. This agrees with the fact that Shanghai rhymes do not bear inherent stress
that is expected of a heavy rhyme, such as a full Mandarin rhyme (cf. the
Weight-to-Stress Principle of Prince 1990; see Duanmu 1995 for stress assign-
ment in Shanghai). A Shanghai rhyme is stressed only in initial position (in-
cluding in isolation), where it will also be lengthened.
3.3. Further evidence for the proposed syllable structures
The claim that all full Mandarin syllables are heavy and that all syllables in
Shanghai are light leads to a rather unusual prediction: under similar condi-
tions, Shanghai speakers speak faster than Mandarin speakers, in terms of syl-
lables per unit time. The stereotypical Shanghai speaker is indeed often said to
speak fast. The phonetic study by Duanmu (1994) confirms the prediction (and
the popular observation). In the study, four Mandarin speakers and five Shang-
hai speakers read five nearly identical sentences, written in Chinese characters.
A significant difference was found between the average syllable duration of
Mandarin speakers, which was 215 ms, and that of Shanghai speakers, which
was 162 ms. This result offers further support for the proposed syllabic analy-
sis.
4. Conclusions
It has been argued that there are two kinds of syllables in Chinese, the heavy
syllable CVX and the light syllable CV. In Chinese dialects like Mandarin,
both types are present. In particular, all full syllables are CVX and all weak
syllables are CV. In Chinese dialects like Shanghai, all syllables are CV (ex-
cept when stressed, in which case they become heavy). This analysis differs
from the traditional view that the syllable in both Mandarin and Shanghai is
flexible, ranging from a minimal of C or V to a maximal CGVX. The present
analysis accounts for more facts both phonologically and phonetically.
Acknowledgments
For helpful comments, thanks to Harry van der Hulst, Nancy Ritter, the audi-
ence at the OUP-Pézenas conference, and the anonymous reviewers.
Notes
1. Although [pw phw m w f ] are generally missing, there is one special exception. For many
Mandarin speakers, [poo p h oo moo foo] are pronounced as [p w oo p hw oo m w oo f o o ] , A
solution is as follows. First, the constraint against [pw phw m w F ] can be stated in (i),
namely, Mandarin avoids the structure in which the articulator Labial dominates the
feature [+round],
(i) *C (i.e. *[pw], *[phw]> *[mw], *[f"])
Labial
I
[+round]
The Labial part of [p w oo p hw oo m w oo f o o ] is shown in (ii).
496 San Duanmu
(lì) XXX
I V
C V
\/
Labial
I
[+round]
It can be argued that (ii) need not be a violation of (i). The reason is that in (i) Lab is
linked to C alone, whereas in (ii) it is linked to both C and V. In other words, (i) can be
seen as a constraint against a short feature, namely, one that occurs on one segment
slot, but not against a long feature, namely, one that occurs on more than one segment
slot.
2. A reviewer suggests that it would have been of interest to conduct some psycholinguis-
tic experiments to see which of these gaps reflect real constraints for the speaker and
which are simply accidental gaps. In English, for example, accidental gaps such as
[blik] still sound good, but real gaps such as [qlik] sound outright bad. However, there
is a possible complication. English has tens of thousands of possible syllables (about
8,000 by counting CVC alone). In contrast, Mandarin has only about 400 syllables (ex-
cluding tone). Thus, while no English speaker will perhaps have heard all the possible
syllables, any gap in Mandarin is immediately identified as non-existent. As a result,
the difference between accidental and real gaps is likely to be less obvious in Mandarin.
3. This is not to say that retroflex-[j] is impossible, but that it is hard. Retroflex-[j] does
occur in Russian, for example. In addition, some languages of the Indian subcontinent
have palatalized t-retroflex, as a reviewer points out.
4. The reviewer also suggests that the absence of Dor (velar) plus [j] is due to diachronic
factors, since these velars changed to palatals. At one stage in the history of Chinese,
then, Dor + [j] was possible. In the present analysis, a Dor-[j], like [Id], has the articu-
lators *Dor-Cor (where * indicates a major articulator), and a palatal has the articula-
tors *Dor-*Cor. Thus, the change from a palatalized Dor to a palatal is a change of Cor
from a minor articulator to a major articulator (see section 3.1.4 below).
5. The process shown here, where an originally full syllable loses stress and reduces to a
weak one, is not productive in Mandarin. This process is more common with idiomatic
or frequent usage. When an emphasis (such as a contrastive stress) is put on a reduced
syllable, it will be restored to a full syllable.
6. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for this point. However, Selkirk & Shen (1990)
noted that Shanghai pronouns are more likely to lose underlying tones than other
words. This suggests that even among light syllables, a difference may exist in their
ability to retain stress.
7. There is some phonetic reason for why [ä] is transcribed as a nasalized vowel but [an in
yn oq] are transcribed as vowels followed by a nasal coda. According to Whalen &
Beddor (1989), lower vowels are more likely to be perceived as nasalized than higher
vowels.
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16 The syllable and syllabification in Modern Spoken
Arabic (SancänT and Cairene)
Janet C.E. Watson
1. Introduction
In this chapter, I examine the syllable structure and syllabification of §an c ânï
Arabic (SA), an urban dialect of North Yemeni Arabic, in comparison to that of
the more widely documented Cairene Arabic (CA). Within the consideration of
syllable structure, I discuss the analysis of apparent CVCCC syllables in SA in
view of the fact that syllables in Arabic are held to be maximally bimoraic.
Here I support the proposal that syllables in Arabic are maximally bimoraic and
claim that CVCCC syllables in SA can be properly analyzed as marked variants
of CVCC syllables: the only two consonants which occur in final position in
CVCCC syllables, ts, are exceptionally linked to a single consonant slot. Under
syllabification I consider three syllable-related processes in the dialects: epen-
thesis, closed syllable shortening and syncope. While syllable-related processes
are strictly structure-preserving in CA, closed syllable shortening and syncope
do not appear to be structure-preserving in SA: word-internal CVVC syllables
are attested optionally, and syllables with initial 'clusters' of up to three conso-
nants (many of which disobey the Sonority Sequencing Principle) arise as a
result of syncope. I demonstrate, however, that syllables are maximally bi-
moraic at the postlexical as well as the lexical level in SA as in CA, and that
word-internal CVVC syllables arise from Adjunction to Mora (Broselow 1992:
14) by which a syllable-final mora comes to dominate two constituents, VC,
exceptionally. In the case of derived initial consonant 'clusters', I argue that
syncope frequently deletes the vowel of a syllable, but not the mora; where the
initial consonant (the consonant to the left of the syncopated vowel) is more
sonorous than the following consonant (the consonant to the right of the synco-
pated vowel), the floating mora reassociates with the initial consonant which
functions as the syllable peak of the initial syllable. Postlexically, then, syllabic
consonants are attested in SA, as are syllable onsets with clusters of two conso-
nants, but onsets with more than two consonants are not attested.
502 Janet C.E. Watson
2. Syllable structure
Most Arabic dialects exhibit a fairly limited range of syllable types. Three
basic syllables are attested in CA and SA: CV, CVV and CVC. CV counts as a
light syllable, while C W and CVC count as heavy in both dialects. Of these
syllables, CV does not occur in utterance-final position in SA, and C W does
not occur in phonological word-final position in CA. That CA does not usually1
allow word-final CVV syllables is a result of the history of the dialect when
long final vowels were reduced to short final vowels (Birkeland 1952: 25). In
addition, in utterance-final CV syllables where V is /, in words such as katabti
'you f.s. wrote', masri 'Egyptian' and tardi 'my parcel', / is often elided or
reduced to schwa in CA (Fischer 1969: 67). In terms of moraic theory, the
minimal syllable is monomoraic, as in:
(1) μ e.g. wi 'and' (CA) wa 'and' (SA)

I
c ν
The maximal syllable in both dialects is bimoraic. There is no weight distinc-

tion between CVV and CVC2 syllables; however, only vowels are assigned
moras lexically. In the case of CVC syllables, the final consonant is assigned a
mora by Weight-by-Position (see (16) below):
(2) σ σ
C V C V C
In domain-final position, final consonants in canonical syllables (i.e. CVC) are

extrametrical. That is to say, although it is syllabified, the final consonant of a
domain-final syllable is invisible to the weight-by-position condition and is
therefore not assigned a mora (Kager 1995: 455). Thus, in a word like katab
'he wrote', no mora is assigned to b of the final syllable, rendering the final
syllable monomoraic and not bimoraic.
Syllable and syllabification in Modern Spoken Arabic 503
3. Superheavy and 'super-superheavy' syllable types
In addition to the basic syllable types considered above, there is a third syllable
type, a 'superheavy' syllable, which is usually restricted to domain-final posi-
tion.
(3) CA SA
c w c cvvc
cvcc cvcc
*** cvccc
Of these, CVVC is usually restricted to phonological-word-final position in SA

and always to phonological-word-final position in CA; CVCC is always restric-
ted to phonological-word-final position in SA and to utterance-final position in
CA; and CVCCC is restricted to phonological-word-final position in SA, but is
not attested in CA.
Domain-final consonants in superheavy syllables are prosodically licensed
as extrasyllabic, as opposed to extrametrical, and thus superheavy syllables of
the structure CVCC and CVVC are analyzed as bimoraic and not as trimoraic,
as in:
(4) σ <σ> <σ>
/ Ν = cvvc = CVCC
c ν <C>
C ν <c>
An apparent problem arises with the analysis of SA final CVCCC syllables. If
we claim that only the final consonant in the domain is extrasyllabic, we end up
with an apparent trimoraic syllable, as in (5):
(5) σ <σ>
/Try
C V c c <c>
e.g. (ma k)unts Ί was not'
The CVCCC syllable type is, however, extremely restricted in occurrence, and
almost all potential sequences of CVCCC (including CVVCC) yielding trimo-
raic syllables are avoided in the dialect: where the morphology concatenates a
word ending in CVVC with the negative suffix -s, the long vowel VV is op-
tionally (cf. section 4.2 below) reduced to V to give CVCC, as in:
504 Janet C E. Watson
(6) ma + kan + s > ma kans (/mä kans) 'he was not'

mä + yikün + s > ma ykunä (/ma yküns) 'he is not'
Where the morphology concatenates a verb or pronoun with the feminine plural
ending -ayn with the negative suffix -s, the diphthong -ay- is shortened and
simplified to -a- to give CVCC, as in:
(7) mä + absarayn + s > ma bsarans 'they f. didn't see'

mä + tistayn + s > mä tistans 'you f.pl. don't want'
mä + antayn + s > mantans 'you f.pl. are not'
And where the morphology concatenates a verb ending in CVC'C' with the
negative suffix -s, the geminate consonant C'C' is degeminated to C' to give,
once again, CVC'C, as in:
(8) mä + yihibb + s > ma yhibs 'he didn't like'

mä + bi-nihtamm + s > mä bi-nihtams 'we don't care'
CVCCC syllables are restricted, therefore, not only in terms of phonological

position, but also in terms of which consonants may occupy the fmal two posi-
tions. The only surface tokens of final CVCCC syllables in SA3 involve final ts
from the concatenation of the morphemes {first singular (perfect verb)} or
{second masculine singular (perfect verb)} + {negative}, as in:
(9) mä + absart + s > ma bsarts Ί / you m.s. didn't see'

mä + gult + s > mä gults Ί / you m.s. didn't say'
We have two options: either we say that syllables are maximally bimoraic in
SA unless the concatenation of the morphemes {first singular (perfect verb)} or
{second masculine singular (perfect verb)} + {negative} occurs in domain-final
position, in which case the maximal syllable is trimoraic; or we mark the occur-
rence of final ts as special in some way. In this chapter I propose that final ts is
analyzed as an affricate, [ts]; that is to say, although ts is derived from two
different morphemes (/t/ from {first singular} or {second masculine singular}
and /s/ from {negative}), on the surface it counts as a single consonant in SA
and probably in other dialects of Arabic for which CVCCC syllables are at-
tested. This analysis allows us to admit no more than one extrasyllabic position
and to admit the coronal afíncate to occur as a marked option in this position
(cf. Wiese 1996: 48). Thus (mä) kunts 'I/you m.s. was/were not' is represented
as in (10):
(10) σ <σ>
μ If
k u η t§
Arabic has a very rich derivational morphology. Most content words (nouns
and verbs) in Arabic are formed from a triconsonantal root inserted into a mor-
phological pattern. In addition to basic verbs formed on the pattern CVCVC, as
in katab 'he wrote' and Iibis 'he wore/put on', dialects of Arabic have a num-
ber of derived verb forms produced by geminating the middle consonant (form
II), lengthening the left-most vowel (form III), prefixing /a/ (form IV), prefix-
ing consonants {/Xl for forms V and VI, /s+t/ for form X), or infixing Ν (form
VIII). The development of syllable-final Is in SA mirrors that of stem-initial ts,
tz, ts and Is, where the forms V and VI prefix t produces syllable-initial 'clus-
ters' with the sibilants far more readily than with other consonants, as exempli-
fied in (11):
(11) tsärar 'to talk secretly'

tsä c ad bi- 'to be happy with'
tsa c dar 'to become confused'
tsa cc al 'to cough'
tsarsaf 'to wear the sirsaf
tzawwaj 'to get married'
tsaddag 'to tell the truth'
The examples given in (11) compare with form V and VI verbs where the ini-
tial stem consonant (the first consonant after the prefix t) is not a sibilant, as in
(12):
(12) tahäkä 'to talk, converse'

ta c assä 'to have dinner'
atbäsar 'to make love'
atjäbar 'to converse'
atna cc am 'to enjoy'
Evidence for the analysis of ts as an affricate at some level in the phonology is

seen in the pronunciation of loan words in SA. It is well known that when loan
words are adopted into a language they are adapted to the phonological system
of the borrower language. Thus, the word 'television' is adapted into SA as
taliviziyün with the sounds -ziy- replacing the voiced post-alveolar fricative of
the source language. Here we see that the English word 'sandwich' is adapted
into SA as sanda*wits, with the unsyllabified d triggering epenthesis to con-

form to SA word-internal syllable structure and the final syllable attracting
word stress. Interestingly for the argument at hand, the / of the final syllable is
lengthened to produce a phonological-word-final C W C C syllable. The length-
ening of the vowel can be explained if ts is felt to constitute a single consonant
(the voiceless equivalent of /j/) at some level in the phonology. In this case the
final, unlengthened syllable -wits would have the syllable structure CVC and
would fail to attract word stress (cf. (25) below). In order to add prominence to
the final syllable, word-final vowel lengthening is invoked to produce a super-
heavy syllable, C W C , as in:
(13) σ <σ>
w ts
Further evidence for the analysis of ts as a single consonant is seen in the pro-
nunciation of the loan word 'jelly' as either jïlï or tsïlï. Furthermore, utterance-
final devoicing and geminate devoicing of voiced obstruents regularly produces
the affricate [ts] as a voiceless allophone of/j/, as in:
(14) ran[ts] 'paint'

haftsts] 'pilgrimage'
In contrast to SA, CA does not have the sound [ts] as an allophone of any pho-
neme since the CA equivalent of the SA phoneme /j/ is the voiced velar obstru-
ent /g/, and CA has no other palato-alveolar affricate in its phoneme system. In
CA, whenever the negative morpheme s is concatenated with the {first singular
(perfect)} or {second masculine singular (perfect)} morpheme t, the sequence t
+ s is broken up by epenthesis, as in (15):
(15) ma + kunt + s >makunt[i]s Ί / you m.s. was/were not'
For CA and other dialects of Arabic for which syllable-final Cts is either not
attested or is broken up by epenthesis, ts is not analyzed as an affricate at any
level in the phonology.
Syllable and syllabification in Modem Spoken Arabic 507
4. Syllabification and the moraic model
The domain of syllabification is the phonological phrase / utterance in CA, and

the phonological word in SA. In CA, and to a lesser extent in SA, several syn-
tactically linked words can be grouped into a single accent group (Woidich
1980: 213-214). In this chapter I assume the moraic model proposed by Hayes
(1989) in which underlying short vowels are assigned one mora, underlying
long vowels are assigned two moras, and a coda consonant is assigned a mora
in languages where CVC constitutes a heavy syllable under the weight-by-
position condition. This is summed up under Sources of Syllable Weight in
(16):
(16) Sources of Syllable Weight

a. Short vowels contribute one mora and long vowels two moras (univer-
sal).
b. Weight-by-Position: a 'coda' consonant is assigned a mora in the
course of syllabification (parametric) (Piggott 1995: 287, 284).
Syllabification takes place as in (17):
(17) a. Consonant extrametricality: C > <C>/ ] word;

b. Associate moraic segments to a syllable node;
c. Given Ρ (an unsyllabified segment) preceding Q (a syllabified seg-
ment), adjoin Ρ to the syllable containing Q iff Y has a lower sonor-
ity rank than Q (iterative);
d. Given Q (a syllabified segment) followed by R (an unsyllabified
segment), assign a mora to R (Weight-by-Position) [Z/fR has a lower
sonority rank than Q (iterative)];
e. Adjoin moraic R to the syllable containing Q (iterative) (cf.
Clements 1990: 299).
Consider the stages of syllabification of Cairene wallet 'he lit' in (18a-e):
(18) a. Domain-final consonant extrametricality:
μ μ
I I
w a l l a <c>
b. Association of moraic segments to a syllable node:
σ σ
I
μ μ
I I
w a 1 1 a <c>
c. Association of onset to a syllable node:
σ σ
w a l l a <c>
d. Assignment of mora through Weight-by-Position:
σ σ
w a l l a <c>
e. Adjunction of Weight-by-Position mora to syllable node:
σ σ
w a l l a <c>
4.1. Epenthesis
In CA, epenthesis of / (u in the environment of u) occurs between the second

and third consonant whenever three consonants are potentially juxtaposed
within the utterance, as in:
Syllable and syllabification in Modem Spoken Arabic 509
(19) bint + wi-walad bint[i]4 w-walad 'a girl and a boy'

sa c b + suriya sa c b[i] sunya 'the Syrian people'
kull + sana kull[i] sana 'every year'
In SA, epenthesis of a occurs whenever three consonants are juxtaposed within

the phonological word, as in (20):
(20) hajj + nä hajj[a]nä 'our pilgrim m.'

ba c d + mä ba c d[a]mä 'after'
gabl + mä gabl[a]mä 'before'
gult + lih gult[a]lih Ί told him'
Epenthesis also occurs across phonological word boundaries but within the
phonological phrase (i.e. within a genitive structure or between two identical
nouns) in SA when an initial word ends in a geminate consonant or in two
consonants which share a single zone of articulation and is followed by a word
beginning with an oral consonant (i.e. not ?or h), as in (21):
(21) ahamm + say ahamm[a] say 'the most important thing'

kull + wähid kuH[u]5 wähid 'everyone'
ayy + häjih ayy[i]6 häjih 'anything'
jamb + jamb jamb[a]jamb 'side-by-side'

sigg + sigg sigg[a] sigg 'side-by-side'
Epenthesis also occurs within set (usually genitive structure) phrases where the
initial word ends in two consonants which violate the sonority hierarchy and
the following noun begins with an oral consonant (i.e. not ? or h)\
(22) bi-sakl + c amm bi-sakl[a] c amm 'in general'
A number of analyses of epenthesis have been proposed recently (Itô 1989,

Broselow 1992, Archangeli 1991, etc.). In this chapter, I follow Piggott (1995)
in claiming that epenthetic syllables in Arabic are weightless and that epen-
thetic vowels are assigned no mora. Evidence for the weightlessness of epen-
thetic syllables in CA is based on the facts of pre-suffix lengthening. CA has a
productive rule of pre-suffix vowel lengthening (Broselow 1976 and others),
but only underlying vowels are lengthened; an apparently identical (but epen-
thetic) vowel in the same position is not subject to lengthening, as illustrated in
the sets of minimal pairs in (23):
(23) xussi 'goinf.s.!' ma-txussïs 'don't go in is.!'

versus
xuss 'goinm.s.!' ma-txussis 'don't go in m.s. !'
kunti 'you f.s. were' ma-kuntls 'you f.s. were not'
versus
kunt 'you m.s. were' ma-kuntis 'you m.s. were not'
Long vowels are represented as bimoraic. The epenthetic vowel in the second
example of each pair fails to undergo vowel lengthening because vowel length-
ening can add no more than one mora to the representation (Piggott 1995: 316),
and the epenthetic vowel has no mora to either initiate mora projection or to
make the sum total of moras two. Pre-suffix vowel lengthening can be repre-
sented as in (24):
(24) Pre-Suffix Vowel Lengthening
μ -> μ μ / SUFFIX
I i'-''
ν ν
In SA, pre-suffix vowel lengthening does not take place. This is due to the fact
that morpheme-final long vowels have not been shortened historically and
therefore short vowels (as the input to the Pre-Suffix Vowel Lengthening rule)
are not attested in pre-suffixal position (see section 2 above). Word stress facts,
however, suggest that epenthetic vowels are to be considered mora-less7 in SA,
as in CA; the unmarked word stress rules8 of the dialect are as in (25) (cf. also
Watson 1996: 70):
(25) Sarfânî Word Stress
A. Where the ultimate syllable is CVVC, stress a penultimate, or, if no

penultimate, antepenultimate CVV or CVC'(C') syllable:
e.g. ba*sâtïn 'gardens', *säbün 'soap', *xârijïn 'going out m.pl.',
*däriyät 'knowing f.pl.', *xuttâf'clasp', *jazzär 'butcher', mu*xaz-
zinïn 'chewers m.'
B. Otherwise, stress an ultimate superheavy syllable (CVCC or CVVC) or
ultimate CVV syllable in verbs:
e.g. dis*män 'poor; rebel', ba*nat 'girls', bi*yüt 'houses', sä*fart Ί
travelled', ma b*sarts Ί didn't see', yihib*bü 'they m. love', tis*tay
'you f.s. want'
C. Otherwise, stress the right-most non-final heavy syllable up to the an-

tepenultimate:
e.g. mi*dawwar 'rounded', *maklaf 'woman', *madrasih 'school',
ma*kâlifih 'his women', a*sâmï 'names',
D. Otherwise, stress the left-most light syllable:
e.g. *katab 'he wrote', *darasat 'she learnt', *facilih 'problem',
*ragabatih 'his neck', mak*tabatl 'my library'
However, when an initial closed 'heavy' syllable takes an epenthetic vowel and
there are otherwise no heavy syllables in the word 9 , the following syllable is
stressed regardless of whether it is the final, penultimate or antepenultimate
syllable in the word, as in:
(26) it*la c 'go out!'

is*rab 'drink!'
is*tagal 'he worked'
is*tabahu 10 'they m. had breakfast'
4.2. Closed syllable shortening
In CA, when a domain-final syllable of the structure CVVC is juxtaposed to a

second syllable within the phonological word, long vowels are shortened to
prevent structure violation (i.e. the appearance of non-phonological-word-final
CVVC syllables). This is Closed Syllable Shortening (CSS) and can be under-
stood as the final (once extraprosodic) consonant crowding out the vowel from
the second mora to escape Stray Erasure (Kenstowicz 1994: 297). Morpheme-
final consonants are extrasyllabic. When a consonant-initial suffix is concate-
nated to a word ending in CVVC, the final consonant C is no longer licensed
and so maps onto the second mora, while the vowel melody is delinked from
the second mora (Broselow 1992: 17):
(27) μ μ μ μ
μ μμ μ
μ
ν
s ä <f> + k u m safkum 'he saw you pl.'
(28) μ μμ μ μ μ μ μ
I. V
k i t a + n a k i t a b n a 'our book'
512 Janet C. E. Watson
In SA, CSS takes place within the phonological word between the stem of
verbs with a medial glide (known as hollow verbs) which are realized in their
non-suffixed form and before vowel-initial subject pronouns as CVVC, and
consonant-initial subject pronouns (level one suffixes)11, as exemplified in (29)
and (30):
(29) gal gäl 'he said'

gäl + t gult 'I/you m.s. said'
gäl + nä gulnä 'we said'
cf. gäl + ö gälü 'they m. said'
(30) sär sär 'he went'

sär +1 sirt 'I/you m.s. went'
sär + nä sirnä 'we went'
cf. sär + ü särü 'they m. went'
CSS also occurs between verbs and clitics (level two suffixes - prepositions
and the negative suffix s), as in:
(31) gal + li galli 'he said to me'

yigöl + lanä yigullanä 'he says to us'
yibî 0 + lak yibiclak 'he sells to you m.s.'
(mä +) kän + s (mä) kans 'he was not'
(mä +) diiït + s (mä) dirits Ί didn't know'
CSS also takes place between initial particles of the shape CVV and words
with initial consonant clusters (usually resulting from syncope, see below), as
in:
(32) sa + (a)srah sasrah Ί shall explain'

lä + titawwulïs la ttawwulïs 'don't f.s. be long'
idä + rajamathä idarjamathä 'if she threw it f. '
mä + nigül + s ma nguls 'we don't say'
CSS also takes place in the third masculine singular of hollow auxiliary verbs
(also known as linking verbs) when followed by a main verb. This has the
effect of cliticizing the auxiliary verb to syllabify within a larger phonological
word12, as in:
(33) gäm + rahlih gamrahlih 'he got up and went'

gäm + yi c sablahä gamyicsablahä 'he went and gave her money
(as a present)'
Diphthong shortening occurs in similar contexts to CSS in SA, and can also be
considered an instance of CSS: in this dialect a restricted number of particles of
the structure CayC may reduce the diphthong -ay- to -a-. This again has the
effect of cliticizing the particle to syllabify within a larger phonological word.
Thus, the diphthong -ay- of the question particles 'ayn 'where' and, less com-
monly, kayf 'how' is reduced to -a- when followed by a word beginning with
an oral consonant (i.e. not h or /), as in:
(34) ayn + gadak angadak 'where are you m.s.?'

w-ayn + c ädak wancädak 'and where are you still?'
sala + ayn + särat salansärat 'where did she go?'
kayf+kän kafkän 'how was it m.?'
Similarly, the diphthong -ay- of the feminine plural pronoun is often reduced to
-a- in an auxiliary verb followed by a main verb, as in:
(35) jayn + nitwälah jannitwälah 'come f.pl., let's have fun!'

jayn + yijlisayn janyijlisayn 'they f. came to sit'
In contrast to CA, CSS does not take place in SA between verbs/nouns and
object/possessive pronouns (level three suffixes). At this level when the object
or possessive pronoun takes initial h or η there are two options: either the once
domain-final C' in C W C ' induces epenthesis to produce a CVVCVC(V) se-
quence; or, more commonly, C' does not induce epenthesis and a phonological-
word-internal C W C syllable is attested.13 Compare the paired examples in
(36):
(36) epenthesis CWC' + C

kitäbanä kitäbnä 'our book'
niswänuhum niswänhum 'their m. women'
aswätuhum aswäthum 'their m. voices'
yizürahä yizürhä 'he visits her'
Where the object or possessive pronoun takes an initial consonant which is

neither h or η (i.e. k), however, C' almost always induces epenthesis, as in:
(37) epenthesis CWC' + C

baytukum baytkum 'your m.pl. house'
aswätakin aswätakin 'your f.pl. voices'
As in the case of domain-final CVCCC syllables discussed in section 3 above,

we could claim that syllables are normally maximally bimoraic, but that tri-
moraic CVVC syllables are optional in restricted circumstances. However, I

follow Broselow (1992, cf. also Broselow, Chen & Huffman 1997) in assuming
that surface CVVC syllables are in fact bimoraic and are derived from an ad-
junction rule that creates moras dominating two segments (Broselow 1992: 14-
15):
(38) Adjunction to mora
σ σ
^
V C
" M V C
Adjunction to mora occurs optionally to produce CVVC syllables for reasons

relating to sonority since "subsyllabic constituents whose elements are widely
separated on the sonority scale are less marked than constituents with closer
sonority distance" (ibid: 14); therefore, while a syllable-final mora may domi-
nate two constituents VC exceptionally because of the greater sonority distance
between V and C, it is unlikely that a mora could dominate two identical con-
stituents CC (or, indeed, VV). Adjunction to mora thus accounts for the marked
occurrence of word-internal CVVC syllables beside the non-occurrence of
word-internal CVCC (or CVVV) syllables.14 If there
were a language which
allowed adjunction to mora to create a CC mora we could predict that it would
also permit adjunction to create the less marked VC mora (ibid: 15).
4.3. Syncope
In both CA and SA, syncope of unstressed short vowels occurs, but in CA the
vowel affected is high, //h,15 and syncope does not take place if the resulting
structure would create an impermissible syllable (Broselow 1992). In SA, by
contrast, any of the short vowels a, i, u may be subject to syncope, and the
output of syncope frequently produces structure-violating initial consonant
clusters. In this section I shall begin by discussing the CA data.
4.3.1. Syncope in CA
In CA, syncope of high vowels in non-final, monomoraic syllables occurs

whenever the output does not violate structure preservation. Thus, ζ in risala
'letter' and kibïr 'big' is subject to syncope after li and ...di in the following
phrases, and the mora of the syncopated vowel is assigned to the r of r(i)sala
'letter' and the k of k(i)bïr 'big', respectively:
(39) kän yiktib Ii rsäla 'he was writing me a letter'

tardi kbïr 'my parcel is big'
However, ; in risala is not subject to syncope after yiktib 'he writes' in the
example below because this would create an impermissible syllable-initial
consonant cluster, rs:
(40) kan yiktib risala 'he was writing a letter'
Similarly, syncope of i in kibir does not occur after hajar 'stone' since this
would result in an impermissible initial consonant cluster, kb:
(41) hajar kibïr 'a big stone'
Syncope often occurs after, and in consequence of, epenthesis, as in:
(42) bint + kibïra bint[i] kblra 'a big girl'

hubb + kitlr hubb[i] ktïr 'a lot of love'
bint + wi-walad bintfi] w-walad 'a girl and a boy'
Syncope also occurs within the phonological word, as in:
(43) madrasa + u madrastu 'his school f. '

cf. madrasa + na madrasitna 'our school f.'
Where syncope does not take place (because the resulting structure would
violate structure preservation), unstressed short vowels are often reduced to
schwa (here transcribed as e), but they are not deleted, as in:
(44) mehammad 'Muhammad'

medrasa 'school'
Broselow (1992) argues that the strong preference of dialects for bimoraic
syllables underlies a number of phonological processes in Arabic including
syncope. The preference for bimoraic syllables is expressed in terms of the
Bimoraicity Constraint:
516 Janet C. E. Watson
(45) Bimoraicity Constraint

Syllables are maximally and optimally bimoraic (Broselow 1992: 10).
Broselow assumes that syncope applies blindly in all Arabic dialect types to
destroy vulnerable monomoraic syllables (ibid: 35), and that structure is then
restored where necessary by epenthesis (ibid: 36-37). This apparently works for
CA and the other dialects (Iraqi, Sudanese, Makkan, Syrian) Broselow exam-
ines, but it cannot account for dialects in which syncope is partially lexical,
where syncope is optional and restricted to a certain portion of the phonological
word, and where syncope applies within bimoraic syllables as well as in mono-
moraic syllables, and this is what we find in SA.
4.3.2. Syncope in SA
In SA, as in CA, syncope affects monomoraic syllables across words to reduce

the number of syllables and maximize bimoraicity (see above). In contrast to
CA, however, any of the short vowels a, i, and u may be subject to syncope:
(46) mä + bilä ma blâ 'only'

mä + rajamathä + s ma rjamathäs 'she didn't throw it f.'
gadü + kisil gadu ksil 'he is lazy'
However, syncope in SA not only reduces the number of monomoraic syllables

to maximize bimoraicity, it also affects unstressed vowels at the beginning of
the phonological word to produce apparently structure-violating clusters of up
to three consonants in syllable onset position. Moreover, syncope in SA does
not tend to affect unstressed vowels at the end of the phonological word. The
unmarked rules for SA word stress assignment are given in (25) above; how-
ever, in contrast to CA, word stress fluctuates markedly in SA, particularly
when a word receives main sentence stress in utterance-final position. There is
also some evidence that contextual stress is partially determined on morpho-
logical grounds. Disyllabic words of the shape CVCVC or those taking the
feminine singular nominal suffix -ih are most affected by stress fluctuation (cf.
note 8 above), with the final CVC syllable frequently attracting stress in utter-
ance-final position. Trisyllabic verbal forms, particularly the third feminine
singular inflection in the perfect aspect, of the shape CVC VC VC are also sus-
ceptible to stress fluctuation. Thus the words given in (47) can be stressed on
either the first or the second syllable, with syncope of the vowel of the first
syllable occurring whenever the second syllable is stressed:
first second
sikmih skmih 'feast of parturient on 40th day'
fitsih ftsih 'unveiling'
marih mrih 'woman'
xasab xsab 'wood'
hatab htab 'wood'
hiribat hribat 'she fled'
libisat lbisat 'she got dressed'
In the following words the first syllable is never stressed, and the word may be
pronounced as alternative (a) or (b):
(48) a. b.
fihimtï fhimtï 'you f.s. understood'
katabt ktabt Ί wrote'
hiribt hribt Ί fled'
jilist jlist Ί stayed'
kabïr kblr 'big; old m.s.'
sitärih stärih [colored women's cloak]
muhammad mhammad 'Muhammad'
muganniyät mganniyät 'singers f.'
yinaggisühä ynaggisühä 'they tattoo her'
In addition, lexical syncope takes place optionally in (almost exclusively) plu-

ral and second feminine singular inflections of the medial geminate form II
verbs (cf. above), particularly where the final consonant of the verbal stem is
more sonorous than the middle consonant (the geminate). In this case syncope
is accompanied by degemination of the middle consonant:16
(49) with syncope/degemination

talla c ü tal c ü 'they m. took up'
ragga c ü rag c ü 'they m. sewed'
yiwassulü yiwaslü 'they m. make (s.o./s.th.) arrive'
yijamma c ü yijam c ü 'they m. collect'
yikammilü yikamlü 'they m. complete'
yilabbisü yilabsü 'they m. dress (s.o.)'
Where the first consonant of the verbal stem is a sibilant, syncope often also
removes the vowel of the following bimoraic syllable, and is therefore not
restricted to the final syllable of the stem:
(50) yisakkimü yiskmü 'they m. feast the parturient'

yisaffitù yisftù 'they m. make sfut'
c c
a-nsaffit a-nsfit 'we make sfut'
If syncope were to apply blindly in SA to maximize bimoraicity it would not be

possible to predict where 'structure-restoring' epenthesis would occur, par-
ticularly since syncope is not restricted to vowels in monomoraic syllables (see
sikmih > skmih, yisakkimü > yiskmü, and tistay > tstay above).
5. Consonant clusters and the Sonority Sequencing Principle
According to the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP), the sonority profile of

preferred syllable types rises maximally at the beginning and drops minimally
at the end. Initial consonant clusters resulting from syncope in SA can be di-
vided into those which obey the sonority sequencing principle: occlusive (O) <
fricative (F) < nasal (N) < liquid (L) < glide (G) (Clements 1990: 290), and
those which flout it, as in (51):
Sonority obey flout Sonority

O<G s.t c äs nxaz.zin Ν> F
O<L trab mgan.niyât
drît n.xrij
O<F tsa c msaj.jilât
F<Ν zmur ynag.gisûhâ G>N
F<L drubnï ftïlih F> 0
skub
stârih
xsab F=F
sfut
fhimtï
shir
zgïr
yir.tkiz 0 = 0
bi-n.tkï'
Of sequences which flout the SSP in SA, there are sonority 'plateaus' F = F,
and O = O, and sonority 'reversals' Ν > F, and L > Ν (Clements 1990: 310).
Sequences which flout the SSP result partially from the type of initial conso-
Syllable and syllabification in Modern Spoken A rabie 519
nants available in the derivational and inflectional morphology: nasal m to

derive participles from verbs, and glide y, nasal η and occlusive t in the verbal
inflectional morphology, and partially from the prevalence of coronal conso-
nants (y, rt, s, s, t, ζ) in the phonology, thus increasing the likelihood of coronal
consonants in initial position in consonant clusters (cf. Clements 1990, cf. also
Yip 1991).
In a representative sample of five hours thirty minutes of recordings, I came
across 120 instances of syllable-initial consonant clusters resulting from syn-
cope. Within these I found the hierarchy of preference in initial clusters given
in 50. In the left-hand column I have put the order of consonant types; in the
middle column I have put the number of occurrences of the cluster type; in the
right-hand column I have written the abbreviations S = obey sonority hierarchy,
R = sonority reversal, Ρ = sonority plateau:
(52) 1. F - 0 21 (of which F = sibilant in 16 instances) R

2. N - F 15 R
3. F - L 13 S
F-F 14 (one F = sibilant in 13 instances) Ρ
5. 0 - F 11 S
6. O - L 9 S
O-G 10 S
8. N - G 8 S
9. 0 - 0 5 (all tokens involve combinations t and k) Ρ
10. Ν - 0 3 R
11. F - N 2 S
F-G 2 S
G- 0 2 R
F-G 2 S
15. O - N 1 S
L-F 1 R
G-F 1 R
Within this collection I did not include all instances of tokens when tokens
were repeated successively, as in: slï gâl stï Ί want, he said, I want'. The ma-
jority of repeated tokens were instances of F - O combinations. In word-list
readings I would expect a higher number of glide + occlusive/nasal/liquid
combinations since y is the prefix consonant for third person inflections in the
imperfect verb (e.g. ygûl 'he says', ysäfir 'he travels', ydrub 'he hits'). Inte-
restingly, the highest proportion of consonant clusters resulting from syncope
involves sonority 'reversals' and 'plateaus'.17 The two most commonly attested
combinations are sonority 'reversals' which account for 30% of the total con-
sonant clusters. Of the 'reversals' and 'plateaus', a high number involves initial
or, less commonly, medial sibilant s 18 (16 out of 21 F - O combinations involve

initial S, and 13 out of 14 F - F combinations have s as one of the two frica-
tives). Where syncope results in a sonority 'reversal' or 'plateau', native
speaker informants judge that the initial syllable remains even though the
vowel has been lost through syncope. I assume that the moraic content of the
syncopated syllable is not lost and that after syncope applies to delink the
vowel, the initial consonant associates with the disassociated mora, as illus-
trated in (53) and (54):
(53)
'safut
[Yemeni dish]'
(54)
μ
I
h a t a b h 'wood'
Where syncope deletes the vowel in a CVC bimoraic syllable, the 'coda' con-
sonant retains its mora and serves as the coda to a syllabic consonant iff the
initial consonant of the original CVC syllable is more sonorous than the final
consonant, as in the derivation oiskmih in (55):
(55) σ σ σ
// μ / /μ
κ
μ μ
/ ι I I / I
m i h s k m i h
'feast of parturient on 40th day'
However, when the final ('coda') consonant of a syncopated CVC syllable is

more sonorous than the initial consonant, the initial mora is lost after dissocia-
tion from the vowel, while the 'coda' consonant of that syllable retains its mora
and functions as the syllable peak of the syllable, as in the derivation of tstay19
in (56):
(56)
4 μ μ μ
t i s t a y t s t a y
'you f. s. want'
6. Conclusion
In this chapter I have considered syllabification in Cairene and San c ânï Arabic.
Within the discussion I addressed four key problems: the analysis of
phonological-word-final CVCCC syllables in SA; the representation of epen-
thesis as weightless, mora-less syllables in Arabic; closed syllable shortening;
and syncope. The issue of trimoraic syllables arose twice in this chapter: firstly
in the analysis of CVCCC syllables, and secondly in the discussion of word-
internal CVVC syllables in SA. For both CVCCC syllables and word-internal
CVVC syllables an analysis of bimoraicity was proposed. In the first case it
was demonstrated that CVCCC syllables are avoided wherever possible, that
they are restricted to phonological-word-final position, and that they occur
usually only where the morphemes {first singular} or {second masculine sin-
gular} and {negative} are concatenated. A bimoraic account of CVCCC syl-
lables is possible by analyzing final is (derived from morpheme concatenation)
as a surface affricate which is extrasyllabic in domain-final position. In the case
of internal CVVC syllables, it was argued that CVVC syllables are a marked
option and usually occur only where the following object or possessive pro-
noun suffix begins with either h or η. I concluded that CVVC syllables can be
analyzed as bimoraic and not as trimoraic on the basis of VC sharing a mora
through adjunction to mora as Broselow (1992) proposed for other dialects of
Arabic. In the discussion on syncope, I suggested that Broselow's assumption
that syncope applies blindly in all Arabic dialect types to destroy vulnerable
monomoraic syllables cannot fully account for dialects such as SA in which
syncope applies optionally at the beginning but not at the end of the
phonological word, is partially lexical, and deletes vowels in bimoraic as well
as in monomoraic syllables. Furthermore, I show that in SA, syncope produces
initial consonant clusters, a large percentage of which flout the sonority hier-
archy principle. In the majority of these cases the mora of the syncopated syl-
lable is retained and re-associates with the relatively sonorous initial consonant.
When the vowel of an originally bimoraic (CVC) syllable is subject to syncope
the final C retains its mora (assigned by the weight-by-position condition),
while the initial C associates with the mora of the syncopated vowel i f f the
initial C is more sonorous than the final C. When the initial C of the original
CVC syllable is less sonorous than the final C, the disassociated mora is lost
and the final moraic C functions as the syllable peak of a vowelless syllable.
Thus, while word-initial CCC clusters are attested in SA, syllable onsets of the
shape CCC are attested neither at the lexical nor at the postlexical level in
San c ânï Arabic.
Acknowledgments
Thanks are due to the attendees of the "Phonology of the World's Languages:
The Syllable" conference held in June 1996 in Pézenas for comments and sug-
gestions on an early version of this chapter. My attendance at the "Phonology
of the World's Languages: The Syllable" conference was made possible by a
British Academy Overseas Conference grant. Thanks also to Judith Broadbent,
Harry van der Hulst, Nancy Ritter and to an anonymous reviewer for sugges-
tions on later versions, and a special thanks to Abd al-Gabbar al-Sharafi for
help with some of the SA data.
Notes
1. In CA, long final vowels are only found in loan words, such as gatô 'gateau'.
2. There is no moraic constraint in either dialect (cf. Zee 1995: 115), but only vowels (i.e.
[-cons]) are assigned moras lexically; however, in SA, as shall be seen below, conso-
nants can surface as syllable peaks and thus can be assigned moras derivatively in the
postlexical component:
CA and SA CA and SA
moraicity constraint syllabicity constraint
μ μ
I I
[-cons]
3. As in other modern dialects of Arabic for which domain-final CCC holds.

4. ; of wi is deleted through syncope following epenthesis.
5. « as a result of assimilation to u of kull.
6. ; as a result of assimilation to y of ayy.
7. In CA, unlike in SA, open epenthetic syllables can be stressed, as in:
'ab*l[i]ma 'before'
This, however, follows from the fact that stress assignment is phrase-based in CA,
whereas it is word-based in SA.
8. Due to the privileged status of penultimate or, if no penultimate, antepenultimate CVV

or CVC'(C') syllables, the rules of word stress are complicated by one rule in SA.
Problems with the analysis of word stress are complicated further by contextual stress
fluctuation due partly to the degree of emphasis a word receives within the utterance,
and partly to the fact that stress assignment is morphologically determined in certain
cases: thus, the nominal feminine singular ending -ih often attracts stress in disyllabic
words in word-final position, as in: m(a)*rih 'woman', haflih 'party'; when it takes a
possessive pronoun suffix, however, and has the allomorph -at-, it fails to attract stress;
thus, the words xälathä 'her maternal aunt' and jâratnà 'our neighbour f.' stress gener-
ally falls on the initial syllable - *xâlathâ, *järatnä - and not, as predicted from the
stress algorithm in (25) on the penultimate syllable, xâ*lathâ and jâ*ratnâ (cf. Naïm-
Sanbar 1994, Watson 1996).
9. No medial heavy epenthetic syllables are attested in SA.
10. In utterance-final position this is usually pronounced as istaba*hû.
11. Here there are rather complex morpholexical rules of vowel alternation within the
verbal stem (cf. Abu-Mansour 1992: 57). Basically, the shortened vowel takes the
quality (round or palatal) of the underlying medial glide: for example, gal 'he said' has
the root consonants /g-w-1/, while sâr 'he went' has the root consonants /s-y-r/.
12. A phonological word may not exceed five syllables.
13. Recall also that in SA verbs of the structure C W C are only optionally reduced to CVC
when concatenated with the negative morpheme 5 giving either mä kanS or ma kànS 'he
was not', ma ykunS or maykunS 'he is not' (cf. (6) above).
14. I assume that adjunction to mora occurs in CA across phonological words within the
utterance to account for the presence of C W C syllables in utterances such as hiwâr
bên samt wi-maha 'a dialogue between Sami and Maha' and gôzik mawgûd kamân 'is
your husband here as well?' (examples from Woidich & Heinen-Nasr 1995: 8).
15. By contrast, a remains stable and is not subject to syncope (Fischer 1969: 67), as in:
tardi tawîl 'a long parcel', Pinta katabt 'you wrote' and huwwa katab 'he wrote'.
16. Recall that between syntactic and phonological words, geminates are maintained in SA,
as in CA, and induce epenthesis, as in: kull + nd > kit/lana 'all of us', hagg + Sayx >
haggfaj Sayx 'belonging to a shaykh'.
17. Wherever sonority plateaus are involved in syllable-initial consonant clusters, the
distance between the respective places of articulation of the two segments is crucial: in
no instances of sonority plateaus in the SA data are identical places of articulation at-
tested. Instances of 0 - 0 involve combinations of t + k (usually in that order). To this
can be added less common, but nevertheless permissible, combinations: b + t, b + d, b
+ g, but never k + g, t + d, g + g, d + d, t + t, etc.
18. "Clusters of s + stops are a well-known pattern in the world's languages in the sense
that these segments typically cluster together even if a language does not have the Ob-
struent Sequencing Principle" (Rubach 1993: 218)
19. In contrast to domain-final tS in CVCCC syllables considered above (section 3), tS is
not analyzed as an affricate in the case of tStay 'you f.s. want'. This is because ί has
been independently assigned a mora through the weight-by-position condition (cf. 16
above) prior to the application of syncope. It retains its mora and functions as the syl-
lable peak of a vowelless syllable owing to its relative high sonority.
References
Abu-Mansour, M.
1992 Vowel shortening in two Arabic dialects. In E. Broselow, M. Eid & J. McCarthy
(eds.), Perspectives in Arabic Linguistics IV. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John
Benjamins, 47-76.
Archangeli, D.
1991 Syllabification and prosodie templates in Yawelmani. Natural language and
Birkeland, H.
1952 Growth and structure of the Egyptian Arabic dialect. Oslo: Jacob Dylwald.
Broselow, E.
1976 The phonology of Egyptian Arabic. PhD dissertation. Amherst, MA: University
of Massachusetts.
1992 Parametric variation in Arabic dialect phonology. In E. Broselow, M. Eid & J.
McCarthy (eds.), Perspectives in Arabic linguistics IV. Amsterdam and Philadel-
phia: John Benjamins, 7-45.
Broselow, E., S.-I. Chen & M. Huffman
1997 Syllable weight: convergence of phonology and phonetics. Phonology 14, 47-82.
Clements, G.N.
man (eds.), Papers in laboratory phonology J: Between the grammar and phy-
sics of speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 283-333.
Fischer, W.
1969 Probleme der Silbenstruktur im Arabischen. Proceedings of the international
conference on Semitic studies. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Hu-
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Hayes, B P.
Ito, J.
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Kager, R.
1995 Review article. Phonology 12, 437-464.
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1994 Phonology in generative grammar. Cambridge, Mass.: ΜΓΓ Press.
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Naïm-Sanbar, S.
1994 Contribution a l'étude de l'accent yéménite: le parler des femmes de l'ancienne
génération. Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik 27, 67-89.
Piggott, G L.
1995 Epenthesis and syllable weight. Natural language and linguistic theory 13, 283-
326.
Rubach, J.
1993 The lexical phonology of Slovak. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vennemann, Th.
1988 Preference laws for syllable structure and the explanation of sound change.
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Watson, J.C.E.
1993 A syntax of SancäriiArabic. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
1996 Sbahtü! A course in Sarfani Arabic. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Wiese, R.
1996 The phonology of German. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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1980 Das Ägyptisch-Arabische. In W. Fischer & O. Jastrow (eds.), Handbuch der
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Woidich, M. & R. Heinen-Nasr
1995 Kullu Tamâm: Inleiding tot de Egyptische omgangstaal. Amsterdam: Bulaaq.
Yip, M.
1991 Coronals, consonant clusters, and the coda condition. In C. Paradis & J-F. Prunet
(eds.), The Special Status of Coronals: Internal and External Evidence. New
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Zee, D.
1995 Sonority constraints on syllable structure. Phonology 12, 85-129.
17 The Romansch syllable
1. Introduction
The first part of this chapter presents a general picture of the syllable in Ro-
mansch 1 , as I describe its vowel distribution, its surface structures and conso-
nant phonotactics and focus on the right edge of word-final syllables which
undergo processes of devoicing and epenthesis. In the second part (section 3), I
propose a mora-building algorithm which interacts with syllable-building and
on the basis of which the trochaic Romansch stress system can be determined.
Section 4 reanalyzes a particular process that has been viewed as problematic
for a moraic representation of the Romansch syllable: glide-hardening in Sur-
miran. I argue that the glide-to-velar hardening process can be shown to target
only non-moraic glides, and thus provides a phonetic support for the validity of
the moraic structures proposed in section 3.
2. Syllable overview
2.1. Vowels: surface generalizations
The general shape of the vocalic system of Tujetsch Romansch offers no sur-
prises within the context of Romance languages. It displays an Italian-like
seven vowel distribution under stress, and three vowels in unstressed position,
with reduction patterns reminiscent of Catalan:
(1) a. stressed b. unstressed c. reduction patterns

i u
e o i>i
ε o i u e, ε, a > a
a a u, o, o > u
However, lax [ι] and [υ] do occur, and may have to be given phonemic status.2
Lax [i] is rare. It can be found before vowels: [bialts] 'beautiful', and it does
not occur under stress, [υ] does: [buk], [tut]. This results from the asymmetry
528 Jean-Pierre Montreuil
observed in many Romance languages, whereby Latin closed loi in checked

syllables was raised, whereas Latin closed Id was lowered, as shown in (2):
(2) CUPPA > [kupa] 'cup' vs. SICCU > [sek] 'dry'
TUSSE > [tus] 'cough' PISCE > [ρεJ] 'fish'
The interplay in contrasts between long / short, tense / lax, diphthongs / mono-
phthongs, and stressed / unstressed works in intricate patterns, as none of these
contrasts can be totally dismissed as derived. Consider length:
- Length and the lexicon: Length is clearly phonemic, as shown in (3), but
also in some contexts is predictable. For instance, in closed syllables, long high
vowels can be found only before fricatives and [r]: [di:r] 'hard', [parvi:s]
'heaven', [nu:J] 'nut'. Yet length cannot be contextually derived since we find
in high back vowels an underlying short / lax vs. long / tense contrast, as in
[tus] 'cough' vs. [vu:J] 'voice', or [tur] 'tower' vs. [fluir] 'flower'. 3
(3) [ajiif] 'nest' [rondili] 'renewal

[zura] 'over' [gris] 'grey'
[guita] 'throat' [gaveta] 'rim'
[galero] 'gravel' [ci:J] 'ewe'
- Length and diphthongs: There is a clear relationship between long vowels

and diphthongs, as expected in this Romance territory. But length does not
occur outside of stress, while diphthongs do.
- Length and stress: Vowel length does not occur outside of stress, and yet it
is not derived from it. Rather, it often constitutes the basis for stress placement.
In section 3, we present a moraic analysis of Tujetsch Romansch.
- Length and tenseness: [i] and [u] cannot be long, but [e] and [o] can, when
stressed. Additionally, [i] and [u] occur only in surface closed syllables; see
above [kupa] vs. [tus].
- Length and syllable structure: A vowel can be long even though the sylla-
ble is closed by a consonant: [jaluis] 'jealous', [ci:J] 'ewe', but this can only
occur in word-final syllables. Words that contain a long vowel have the shape
..CV:, ,.CV:C, or ..CV:Ca. There are no ,.CV:C.Ca. This would normally be
interpreted as evidence for a bimoraic upper limit with word-final extrametri-
cality, but we will see later that stress placement does not support extrametri-
cality (i.e. word-final consonants do count for stress placement). We thus fall
back on stipulating a tolerance for a super-heavy syllable in word-final position.
Let us note, however, that if the final consonant in CV:C final syllables is re-
presented as an appendix, there seem to be no featural restrictions attached to it
in Tujetsch Romansch.
The Romamch syllable 529
2.2. Nuclearity and syllable-building
Nuclearity is a problem, since we find both [j] and unstressed [i] before vowels,
as in the word [patsiéntsja] 'patience'. Caduff comments on the difficulty of
assigning syllabicity in diphthongs, as he hesitates between [éi] and [ej], [ie]
and [je], etc... or even on the site of stress: [ie] or [jé], as in HIBERNU > [um-
viern] or [umvjérn]; cf. similar hesitations on Spanish muy. There is apparently
no such hesitation for [u] / [w],
Tujetsch Romansch displays falling diphthongs: [ej], [aj], [äj] ([ej] in Stan-
dard Surselvan), [aw], as well as rising diphthongs: [je], [je]. The sequences
[we], [wa], [wi] seem to occur only word-initially or after [k], suggesting that
they be analyzed as part of the onset. There are also two diphthongs with a
schwa off-glide: [ua] and [io], as shown in (4). Finally, the tautosyllabic / he-
terosyllabic status of the [ie] sequence is not clear.
(4) SCOPA > [Jkua] 'broom'

CODA > [kua] 'tail'
SPICA > [Jpia] 'ear'
Rising diphthongs are much rarer than falling diphthongs, and they do occur
occasionally with a long vowel, as in [bje:] 'very much', [je:d], 'each time',
[je:] 'yes'. On the other hand, there are no occurrences of V:G ([e:j], or [ä:j]).4
This distribution invites an analysis in which on-glides are analyzed as non-
moraic and off-glides (which in a constituent analysis probably would not be
nuclear at all) as moraic. This is consistent with most recent claims concerning
the status of glides in Romance. We do find [i:a], in words like [buaniia]
'epiphany' < EPIPHANIA, but it is quite possible that [i:] and [a] may be hetero-
syllabic vowels.
Finally, we do not find tautosyllabic V:GC sequences, either word-finally or
internally.
It appears clearly that, while most of syllable structure does not have to be
lexical (to the extent that it can be built on a sonority basis), nuclearity needs to
be lexical and cannot be determined by position.
2.3. Consonant phonotactics
The 28 consonantal phonemes of Tujetsch Romansch are given in Caduff

(1952), as shown in (5). However, the alveolar [g] fails to show up in any of
CadufFs examples. Caduff (1952: 85-86) mentions that the historical source of
[g] is G + [e, i], and that it has merged in that context with prepalatal /g/ in
Tujetsch Romansch. Voiced dental [dz] is also very marginal.
(5)
labial labiodental alveolar pre- palatal velar guttural
dental palatal
stops p/b t/d k/g
fricatives f/v s/ζ J/3 ç/j h
affricates ts/dz c/g c/g
nasals m n Ji η
liquids 1 r 1
2.3.1. Onset well-formedness
Of the 28 consonantal phonemes, only 23 can be onsets (to which one should
add [w]). The following cannot be single onsets: [dz], [g], [ç], [ρ] and possibly
[η]. As an onset, |ji] is very marginal: we note hesitations between [parva] and
[niarva] 'nerves' and common epenthesis before initial [p]: NIDU > [ajiif] 'nest'.
In two-consonant onset clusters, out of 784 combinatorial possibilities, we
find very few attested in CadufFs data. They are only two kinds: obstruent +
liquid, and [J-] + consonant5, i.e. the Latin types, and this gives Romansch a
very conservative appearance. Word-initial two consonant clusters include:
[pr], [br], [ f i r ] , [vr], [tr], [dr], [kr], [gr], [pi], [bl], [fl], [kl], [gl], [kw], [gw], [Jp],
Lfm], [Jt] [Jn], [Jc], [Jk] and by assimilation [3g], as in: bgovlá] < EXDIABOLA-
RE 'to curse'. Initial three-consonant clusters are limited to: [Jpr], [Jpl], [Jtr],
[Jkr]·
Word-internally, the general principles of Romance syllabification are fol-
lowed, on the Latin model. As in many other Romance varieties, word-initial
clusters form a subset of word-internal, syllable-initial clusters, with the notable
exception of [s]+consonant clusters, which are heterosyllabic word-internally.
In Romansch, however, the two sets are almost co-extensive: there is only one
type of cluster which does not exist word-initially, but can surface word-inter-
nally: [tl]. Indeed, the co-occurrence of coronal stops + [1] is avoided, yet it is
also attested.
(6) »PATELLANA > [patláwna] 'a kind of cake'

PATELLARIU > [patle:] 'three-legged stool'
SCATULA > [Jkátlo] 'box'
Historically, avoidance is achieved through two common therapies:

- non-deletion of unstressed vowel: [talé] < TELARIU
- velarization: [tl] > [kl]
The Rotnansch syllable 531
(7) MARTELLARE > [marklá:] 'to hammer'

BARTHOLOMAEU > [borklomíw] 'Bartholomew'
ROTOLARE > [ruklá:] 'to fall'
SETOLA > [säjkb] 'pigskin'
germ. REDLICH > [rekli] 'honest'
•TITULARE > [teklá:] 'to listen' alongside with [tetlá:]
If /JV is treated as an appendix, consonant clusters in onsets only need to obey a

two-degree sonority scale: [-sonorant] > [+son, -nas].
2.3.2. Coda well-formedness
Only 20 consonantal phonemes can be found in coda position. The following

cannot be proper single codas: [b], [v], [d], [z], [dz], [g], [3], [g], [g] and [h] (in
other words, all the voiced obstruents plus [h]), except word-internally, by
assimilation: e.g. [razge] 'to saw'. The following two-consonant, word-final
coda clusters are attested in Caduff: [It], [lm], [φ], [rm], [rf], [rt], [m], [rl], [rj],
[rc], [rk], [Je], [Jt], [mf], [ns], [nts], [nc], while only [rms] can be found as a
three-consonant cluster.6
In codas, a major class sonority scale is insufficient to build the syllable, as
the appropriate scale needs to distinguish between two different degrees of
sonorancy in liquids: (1 > r), to predict lack of epenthesis in words like [Jtiarl];
see section 2.3.3 below. Peripheral /s/ may be analyzed as an appendix in codas
as it is in onsets.
Voice assimilation follows the most common pattern of Romance languages,
as it is triggered by obstruents only. Sonorants appear unspecified for voice.
2.3.3. Epenthesis
Word-finally, a German-like situation obtains, whereby forms, whose under-

lying representations end in obstruent + sonorant, display consistent schwa-
epenthesis:
(8) [gâter] 'grid' [pá:dar] 'father'

[cérkal] 'iron-ring' [pecan] 'comb'
[pájvar] 'pepper' [áwqgal] 'angel'
[flájval] 'feeble' [Jtátan] 'they stay'
[ázan] 'donkey' [tsiagsl] 'brick'
contrasting with
[badél] 'shovel'
[gatéX] 'kitten'
[satél] 'thin, subtle'
These final sonorants7 cannot be incorporated into the syllable, because of

sonority. Epenthesis applies as a therapy. Predictably, there is disagreement as
to whether these final sonorants should be analyzed as syllabic or co-articulated
with (or preceded by) schwa. Traditional sources all transcribe [gátar] rather
than [gátr].
As predicted by sonority, we find no schwa between [r] and other sonorants:
[Jtíarl], *[JtÍ3rol] 'calf; [viarm], *[vk>ram] 'worm'; [cern] *[ceran] 'horn'. We
should find a schwa between nasals and liquids, and we do, but this is obscured
by homorganic consonant epenthesis: [brumbal] 'flowerbud'.
Epenthesis occurs within words in stress-governed alternations like [cerkol] /
[cerklá:] 'circle' / 'to circle', but it functions as a post-lexical rule and is bled
by resyllabification: [Jtrukl o:ra], *[Jtrukal o:ra] 'to wring out (clothes)'.
This post-lexical process stands in contradistinction to two cases of lexical
'minor' epenthesis:
1. before [J], after [d] and [1], where the epenthetic schwa is often raised
in anticipation of the palatal:
(9) [kó:dij] 'book'

[pólli η 'thumb'
[sáilij] 'willow'
[dó:dij] 'twelve'
[séidij] 'sixteen' or [se:daj"]
but
[forj] *[fora/] 'scissors'
[mar/] •[maraj] 'lazy'
[λύη|] •[XúnaJ] 'far'
2. in CC-C contexts, as in [diarvat] 'patch' and [dájvat] 'debt', [cejpot]

'grass'.
In both of these cases, analyzing schwa as anything but epenthetic would dis-
rupt the stress rule.
The Romansch syllable 533
2.4. Devoicing
I propose to analyze devoicing in Romansch as the result of a constraint limit-

ing the licensing of Laryngeal (LAR) nodes, in the spirit of Lombardi (1995).
The formulation of the Laryngeal Constraint is the following:
(10) Laryngeal Constraint (Lombardi 1995)
[-son] ([+son]) V
I
LAR
This constraint stipulates that a laryngeal node is only licensed in an obstruent

if it precedes a ([+son]) V segment in the same syllable. It is responsible for the
limitation on coda consonants and coda clusters noted earlier. It creates alterna-
tions of the kind: [go:p] / [g^:bo] 'hunched-masc./fem.', [lare] / [larga] 'wide-
masc./fem.'.
Lombardi explains that conceiving of devoicing as neutralization by the
laryngeal constraint naturally allows for what is traditionally called voicing
assimilation and voicelessness assimilation without the need for [-voice].
Voice is privative, and the mechanism is simple enough: 1) unlicensed LAR
nodes are deleted by virtue of the laryngeal constraint in 'non-prevocalic' posi-
tion, and 2) voice spreads leftwards. In this fashion, "if the right-most, pre-
vocalic obstruent is voiced, the feature [voice] will spread, yielding a cluster of
all voiced consonants. If the right-most consonant is voiceless, there is no fea-
ture to spread, but the result is exactly the correct one: a cluster of voiceless
consonants".
In discussing the domain of the laryngeal constraint across languages, Lom-
bardi (1995) notes that it "may be operative only at certain points in the
phonological derivation" (Lombardi 1995: 50). Thus, in Swedish, it applies in
the early phonology, while in Klamath, it kicks in only late in the derivation.
Devoicing in Tujetsch Romansch can be reinforced by German influence, since
most speakers of Romansch are bilingual with German, yet Romansch devoic-
ing differs from German devoicing in that it does not affect words in the phrasal
phonology. It is post-lexical, bled by resyllabification and strictly phrase-final:8
(11) [el karg el pe 1 gúlo] 'he grabs him by the neck' *[..karc...]
[ir äjn ad o:ra] 'to come in and out' *[...9t...]
3. Syllables and moras
3.1. Mora-building
It will be my contention that moras play a crucial role in the phonology of

Tujetsch Romansch, and that their interaction with syllables can be formally
captured in a systematic fashion. This will be demonstrated here in two ways:
first, at the supra-segmental level, by showing how stress recognizes moraic
structure and applies to it in a simple and productive fashion, in spite of the
surface complexity of syllable shapes; secondly, at the segmental level, by
showing that specific processes of phonology can be sensitive to the moraic
value of segments. This section addresses the first of these two points.
The moraic value of vowels in Romance falls in accordance with the tenets
of moraic theory (cf. Hayes 1994), but the moraic value of glides and coda con-
sonants is a matter of parameterization. While the stress patterns of the lan-
guage clearly suggest that coda consonants are moraic, since CVC is consis-
tently treated as heavy (Zee 1995), as will be shown later, the parameterization
of glides merits further discussion. Two questions emerge: in which context are
glides moraic? Is moraicity predictable?
In a phonology that believes that redundant information should be excluded
from the lexicon, it should first be determined whether all moras have to be
lexical, and to what degree it is possible to make use of an algorithm to deter-
mine their location. Moras can be used for two immediate purposes: lexically,
to encode the phonemic contrast between long and short vowels; and algo-
rithmically, to discriminate between two kinds of high elements. To perform
the latter task, sonority contours again provide the appropriate starting point 9 .
To assign moras to words in isolation, we only need a subset of the sonority
scale, i.e. a three-degree scale that will distinguish between non-high vowels
(here, = V), high vowels (= H), and consonants (= C). The symbol # indicates
silence or lack of articulation.
(12) [-cons, -high] -> V = 3

[-cons, +high] -> H = 2
[+cons] -»· C = 1
no articulation # = 0
The mora-building algorithm we propose goes as follows:

(13) Mora-building algorithm:
a. All non-high vowels are inherently moraic (pan-Romance):
μ
I
[-cons, -high]
b. High vowels: [-cons, +high] can be moraic by position; specifically:
i. all peaks are moraic. Given (13a), Η will receive μ in:

CH# (=120), #H# (=020) or CHC (=121), but
ii. in non-peak position, it will receive μ only when final, i.e.

HH# (=220), VH# (=320)
and not in VHV (=323), VHC (=321) or HHC (=221).
In other words, whenever Η is involved, a differential of at least 2 must sepa-

rate the last two digits. In (14), we show how various syllable shapes are af-
fected by mora-assignment. A direct application of this model is discussed in
section 4.
(14) μ μ μ μ μ μ μ μ
I I I I I I I I
(C) Η Η Η (C) Η C V Η (C) Η V V ΗC ΗΗ C
3.2. Relationship between syllabicity and moraicity

In her attempt to establish a typology of weight systems, Zee (1995) is led to
examine the implications concerning the sonority of post-nuclear elements.
This approach allows for statements of the kind: "If a language has heavy CVC
syllables, it also has C W syllables" because the second mora of CVC is less
sonorous than the second mora of C W . Typically, a language will select one
of several options concerning syllabicity and moraicity, only three of which are
shown in (15). They can be syllabic / moraic: only vowels (option a), vowels
and sonorants (option b), all segments (option c). Out of the possible set of
moraic segments given by Zee (1995: 122), Tujetsch Romansch selects option
c.
(15a) Possible set of moraic segments
a. b.
μ μ
I I
[-cons] [+son]
Out of the possible set of syllabic segments given by Zee (1995: 122), Tujetsch
Romansch selects option b.
(15b) Possible set of syllabic segments
a. b. c.
σ σ
I I
1 1
[-cons] [+son]
We observe that Tujetsch Romansch verifies the general prediction that "the set
of syllabic segments is a subset of the moraic set" (Zee 1995: 85). Furthermore,
although not all segments can be codas (cf. section 2.3.2), all coda segments
function as moraic. Thus, in the typology proposed by Zee (1995: 113),
Tujetsch Romansch belongs to Type 3.
(15c) a. Type 1 : syllabic set < moraic set < segment inventory
b. Type 2: syllabic set = moraic set < segment inventory
c. Type 3: syllabic set < moraic set = segment inventory
d. Type 4: syllabic set = moraic set = segment inventory
So far, the approach that I have taken is characterized by the following features:
- both syllabic structure and moraic structure are derived from considera-
tions having to do with sonority. This is a desirable result since both of them
should be viewed as predictable. What is not predictable, and presented here as
lexical, is nuclearity (although we have not sought to formalize it here to any
degree).
- syllables and moras are derived separately, yet they do interact. Their
interaction results from the fact that moras have been assigned on the basis of
the sonority of tautosyllabic sequences, implying that one knows where syllable
boundaries are. Moreover, as we now proceed to see, there is an upper limit of
mora content within the syllable.
3.3. Lexical stress
The Caduff(1952) data substantiate an analysis supporting transparent assign-

ment of moraic trochees without any extrametricality or iterativity. The
Tujetsch Romansch stress rule simply reads:
(16) Within the prosodie domain, stress the penultimate mora.
This is based on the following observations:

- Typical word endings take the following shape:
- VO, as in [umblíe], foalúis]
- VG, as in [firáw], [kopíw], [duméj]
- VN, as in [mulin], [karjcáwn], [kalkáji]
- VR, as in [fuméÁ], [badél]
- VO[a, i], as in [ráj39], [hónta], [frávi], [nájdi]
- VN[a, i], as in fvéjia], [Jpéma], [sjémi]
- VR [a, i], as in [tandera], [mozíra], [kbvéta], [hontseli]
- V[a], as in [Jpío]
- V:, as in [fané:], [rejtí:] (nouns); [muri:], [samná:] (verbs)
- There do not exist words ending in CV where V is short and stressed,
except in very few monosyllabic verb forms: [gó], [sé] (there are no light
monosyllabic nouns or adjectives).10
- The only short vowels that can occur at the end of words are unstressed [a]
and [i]: [mjárvi], [válti] vs. [izi:], [rajti:]
- Quantity-sensitivity is confirmed by the absence of *CVCV (i.e. stressed
on the last syllable although it is light) and *CVCV: (i.e. stressed on the penult
even though the last syllable contains a long vowel).
- There do exist words that are stressed on the penult even though the last
syllable is CVC. This results from the interaction of prosody and morphology
and constitutes evidence that the domain of stress-assignment is not the word,
but a morphological unit smaller than the word. It does not include information
brought in at later levels of morphological concatenation. In a word like
[wáfans] 'tools', stress is assigned on /wafii/, prior to the assignment of num-
ber. If final /s/ counted toward stress assignment with a mora of its own, stress
would fall on moraic Ini (*[wofáns]?). Similarly, we find [nosiws] rather than
*[nosjús], etc... . In nouns, assignment occurs regularly on the stem, i.e. after
the concatenation of gender markers, but prior to plural inflection. Similarly, in
verbs, early morphology (theme vowels, etc...) is included within the domain,
but not late verbal inflection (e.g. person markers): [téjios] 'you hold'. The
basic Romance character of this type of morphology / prosody interaction, and
the variations it can adopt, is discussed in Montreuil (1995) (and references
therein). In Tujetsch Romansch, there are no forms ending in *CVCVC unless

the second vowel is epenthetic or the final consonant is inflectional.
- Finally, assignment of a moraic trochee is not iterative, as shown by the
full reduction of the first vowel in words like:
(17) ancali: 'to temper (steel)'

amvarnáwn 'pig'
ambii dà: 'to forget'
kacadúr 'hunter'
4. Glide-hardening in Surmiran
4.1. Background and description
Problematic areas include the hardening of glides in Surmiran, a dialect closely

related to Surselvan. Surmiran is sometimes refeiTed to as a central dialect
within the Romansch group, intermediary between the Western group (Sursel-
van + Sutselvan) and the Eastern or Engadinese group (Puter + Vallader). Sur-
miran has very much the same vocalic phonology as Sursilvan, except that
length-related generalizations are somewhat less clear.
Hardening can be defined rather broadly as a process by which consonants
function as allophones of glides. The phonetic effect is to cut short the trailing-
off of the glide, as in the familiar yep and nope of American English (a slightly
misleading example, however, since such parasites are overwhelmingly velar
rather than labial, across languages). In the tradition of Indo-European philol-
ogy, this is commonly referred to as the 'Verschärfimg' (=sharpening) effect,
and it specifically refers to the obstruentization in Gothic and in Norse of Proto-
Germanic geminate glides /jj/ and /ww/. Velar parasites in Romance and Ger-
manic (German, Dutch and Danish) have been studied by Andersen (1988),
whose discussion includes consideration of other parasitic effects such as velar
friction and glottal stops.
In Romance languages, hardening occurs in irregular patterns, in areas as
diverse as Wallon, Island Norman and Vendéen. Only in Franco-Provençal,
Raeto-Romance and some Northern Italian dialects does it attain any degree of
systematicity. In these areas, so-called 'parasitic velars', i.e. [k], [g] and [q],
develop as excrescences of (usually stressed) syllables, yielding forms like
Surmiran [lukf] ' w o l f , [durmekr] 'to sleep', Engadinese [ugre] 'hour', [Jtygva]
'room', Valaisan [dugra] 'hard-fem.', [kraqma] 'cream' (see Gauchat 1906,
Gerster 1927, Krier 1985, Montreuil 1990, and Hajek's 1992 study of [η] para-
sites in Bolognese). In Raeto-Romance, hardening is most frequent in Surmiran
and Higher Engadine. Surmiran glide-hardening is well-documented in Lutta

1923 and Grisch 1939.
Compare forms from Central Surmiran (Bravuogn) to their cognates in the
peripheral Sursès" dialect of Stierva, which has only sporadic hardening, only
before /t/ ([r] and [J] mean devoiced [r] and [1]):
(18) Hardening in Bravuogn (data from Grisch 1939: 27)
ETYMON Bravuogn Stierva

ME(N)SE meks mejs 'month'
NIVE nekf nejf 'snow'
MELU mekj mejl 'apple'
DIGITU dekt det 'finger'
FRIGIDU frekt frekt 'cold-masc. '
FRIGIDA fregda frejda 'cold-fem. '
COLLEGERE klikr kulejr 'collect'
PEJUS piks pejs 'worse'
DURU dikr dejr 'hard-masc. '
DURA digra dejro 'hard-fern. '
HORA ogre 3WTO 'hour'
VOCE vokj" vowj 'voice'
JUGU dzukf gowf 'yoke'
LUPU lukf lowf 'wolf
LEPORE Xakr /(ojr 'hare'
We observe in (18) that the Bravuogn words display velar obstruents, while
their cognates in the related dialect display a preponderance of glides in the
same position. As a result, the Bravuogn words will often end in clusters which
defy proper sonority sequencing. We also observe that these velar obstruents
occur only in pre-consonantal position (in fact, only before coronals and [f]).
This is only one of the processes which contribute to the creation of heavy
consonant clusters in word-final position (e.g. [krekfp] < CRISPU, [uvekjtc] <
*OBISPU). Thus, in words like those in ( 1 9 ) , which end in a four-consonant
cluster, only the second and fourth consonants are underlyingly consonants
(and etymological), while [k] is an underlying glide and [t] is epenthetic.
(19) [iXdz bokfts] 'the oxen'

[iXts pokrts] 'the farmers-masc.'
[las flukrts] 'the flowers'
We will see that, phonologically, there is every reason to analyze these velar
obstruents as glides. Hardening thus creates an unusual situation, wherein pho-
netics and phonology are at odds, because some phonological activity will
respond to the fact that these segments are phonological glides, while other
processes respond to the fact that they are phonetic obstruents. It is a challeng-
ing situation for phonological analysis, as is often the case every time we see a
change in major category (here: from G to C). Furthermore, in an autosegmen-
tal framework, this segmental change is accompanied by a structural change or
re-association at the suprasegmental level. The challenge is to determine which
of the two caused the other, i.e. whether the phonetics or the phonology is in
control.
It is accepted, since Gartner (1893), that these obstruents arose historically as
the result of a two-step strengthening process:
1. obstruentization, as glides strengthen into fricatives. E.g.: ej > eç and ow >
ox;
2. occlusion, as fricatives become stops. This occlusion is accompanied by a
Place merger to the velar position, since there does not exist a phonemic palatal
/ velar contrast in stops as there does in fricatives. E.g.: eç > ek and ox > ok.
These velar obstruents do not occur after [a] (e.g.: [brat], 'arm', not
*[brakt]), since the low vowels that did diphthongize historically were raised to
mid-vowels, but they resurface in alternations such as [razge:r] / [regzgo] 'to
saw' / '(s/he) saws'.
Positing underlying glides for these velar segments is motivated by a number
of synchronic facts:
- the presence of new sonority-violating clusters, as indicated above.
- the presence of alternations, where pre-vocalic glides alternate with pre-
consonantal velars. This affects both [j] and [w], but there are more instances of
[j] than of [w]. This occurs mostly in the verbal morphology; in nouns, mor-
phological alternations are hard to come by (but there are prosodie alternations,
as will be shown presently).
(20) / kovrej+r / —» [kuvrekr] vs. / kovrej + a / -» [kogvro]

'to cover' (he/she) covers
- the fact that these velars fail to trigger the same processes that other conso-
nants trigger. Most specifically, a final cluster deriving from a final /jl/ or /jr/
will not be broken up by epenthesis as the glide hardens. Instead, the entire
cluster devoices. Compare [krekr] 'to believe' and [mekj] 'apple', both with a
hardened glide and devoicing, to [meter] 'to put' and German borrowing
[tsiagal] 'tile', both with an underlying stop and epenthesis:
(21) /krej+r/ [kreki], not *[krekar]

/ mejl / [mek|], not *[mekal]
vs.
/ met + r / [metar], not *[metr]
/ tsi:gl / [tsiagal], not *[tsiagl]
- the fact that only those velar segments which can be analyzed as hardened
glides may alternate with zero in unstressed position. These reduction patterns
are difficult to capture, for several reasons. First, because even under full stress,
these velars are apparently subject to variations in strength. Thus Lutta (1923)
is careful to point out that to a fine ear there are several distinct degrees of
salience, although he says that his system of transcription indicates only the
absence or the presence of [k / g] (which is not quite true, since he will occa-
sionally use superscript or parenthesis notation: [vegva] or [vcBva] or
[ve(g)va]). Secondly, reduction in unstressed position is apparently optional,
since along with examples like (22a), we find forms like (22b), and Lutta will
frequently indicate the possibility of an alternative pronunciation (22c):
(22) a. [amplekr] / [ampler o:r] 'to fill' / 'to fill up'

[dzukr] / [dzur nwits] 'over' / 'overnight'
[ekr] / [er a Jkota] 'to go' / 'to go to school'
b. [trikt] / [trigd meks] 'bad' / 'bad month'
[treks] / [tregz e:vnos] 'three' / 'three weeks'
c. [rik] / [ri3dukja] or [rigsdukja] 'carrot' / 'sweet carrot'
[trigda] / [trid o:ra] or [trigd o:ra] 'bad-fem.'/ 'bad weather'
The proper generalization must obviously be diluted to not much more than a
tendency: the stronger the stress, the higher the likelihood of having glides
surface as velars. The point remains that these velars are susceptible to alterna-
tion with zero, while underlying glides, which a traditional analysis would ana-
lyze as codas, show no tendency to delete: [amej] 'friend' never shows up as
*[9me].
In addition, we must make note of the alternations in voicing which the
hardened glides undergo, as they show up as [k] in word-final clusters and as
[g] whenever they precede a voiced consonant word-internally. This alternation
can most readily be observed in the gender morphology of nouns and adjectives
(23a), the number morphology of collective nouns (23b), and diminutives in
which the first syllable does not fully de-stress (23c).
(23) a. [frekt] / [fregda] 'cold-masc.' / 'cold-fem.'

[dikr] / [digra] 'hard-masc.' / 'hard-fem.'
[pokr] / [pogrs] 'farmer-masc.' / 'farmer-fem. '
b. [iX pckf] / [la pegra] 'the pears-sing.'/ 'the pears-coll.-pl.'
c. [pokr] / [pogret] 'farmer-masc.' / 'farmer-dim.'
The syntax of devoicing and voice assimilation reveals an unexpected degree of

complexity and deserves a separate treatment. Generally, we find that Sur-
miran, like Tujetsch Romansch, displays phrase-final devoicing, but that voice
assimilation and voicing (before a vowel) across word-boundaries is syntactic-
ally controlled. Voicing occurs in (24a) and fails to occur in (24b):
(24) a. [tre:z a tre:s] 'through and through'

[taz amdzegras] 'the measures'
[εtaz aq az de:das] 'they fought'
[iXdz ard,3cqts] 'rinse water'
b. [tje:arp da katar pletjas] '(a type of) salamander'
[tjantameqts da drets] 'legal statutes'
[XuntJ davent] 'far ahead'
However, final clusters involving hardened glides surface as voiced in the

phrase before any voiced elements, be they voiced obstruents, sonorants or
vowels, even in syntactic contexts similar to those in (24b), as shown in (25).
(25) [klikr] / [kligr amdjas] 'to gather' / 'to gather raspberries'

[mikfj / [migr vi:/( ts] 'mouse' / 'field mouse'
[dikr] / [digr da ko:r] 'hard' / 'hard-hearted'
[santekr] / [santegr me:l] 'to hear' / 'she is hard of hearing'
[svekf] / [svegr or dad o:r] 'to know' / 'to know by heart'
[sekf] / [la segv vegva] 'fence' / 'hedge'
[Xokr]] / [la Xogr alva] 'hare' / 'snow hare'
Furthermore, Lutta (1923: 317) notes several examples, which he calls "re-
markable", in which a voiced [g] surfaces in unstressed position before a
voiceless obstruent or a sequence liquid + voiceless obstruent, instead of the
expected [k]. This creates unexpected voice contours within clusters; these
contours are absent from clusters containing underlying velars and are only
documented where hardened glides occur.
(26) [jiekr] / [ferjiegrpi b m ] 'to come' / 'to soften up'

[krekjte] / [kregjte gronda] 'crest' / 'Big Hill' (a place name)
[savekf] / [savegr tôt pi beq] 'to know / 'to know everything better'
4.2. Analysis
Working within a constituent-based framework, Kamprath (1985) posits a

structural distinction between VG sequences in branching rimes (27a) and VG
sequences in branching Ν (27b). Only the latter harden, and only the latter
reduce outside of stress:
(27) a. R b. R
A I
Ν Co Ν
I I A
V G V G
regular hardening
Thus, the phonology of hardening and reduction is viewed as a nucleus phe-

nomenon. While codas remain unaffected by their segmental and prosodie
environment, branching nuclei are unstable constructs which sometimes harden
(on the right edge before a consonant) and sometimes reduce (prosodie reduc-
tion: no branching Ν except under stress). This analysis makes good sense of
reduction, which is thus viewed as configurational simplification. It does not in
itself explain hardening, but it has the merit of providing a structural basis for
selecting appropriately the candidates for hardening.
This structural distinction, which Kamprath dubs "post-peak", is obviously
not available in moraic phonology. Off-glides cannot subdivide into nuclear
glides vs. coda glides. Consequently, Kamprath (1989) analyzed hardening as
evidence against moraic theory. It was subsequently reanalyzed in Montreuil
1990, as part of a broader study of hardening that included Franco-Provençal.
But another distinction is available: off-glides can be moraic or non-mo-
raic.12 One would naturally assume, given a bimoraic norm, that a final vowel +
glide sequence would have a moraic glide, as shown in (28), whereas the same
sequence in a non-final position would have a non-moraic glide13 (recall that
final consonants are moraic), as in (29):
544 Jean-Pierre Monireuil
(28) μ μ
I I
V G
(29) μ μ
I I
V G C
This is precisely what our mora-building algorithm has determined. Our algo-
rithm in (13) derived glides from high vowels ( G < H), leaving a subset of H
unaffected and these are precisely the ones that display a fluctuating behavior.
(30)
LË IM. i
i VHC H H C i
hardening glides
I contend that the correlation with stress is simple: unassociated glides, as in

(29), do not surface outside of stress, due to the application of the stray erasure
convention. Only under stress do they reassociate to a prosodie node and escape
erasure; and in doing so, they harden. Stress thus functions as a factor of pre-
servation.
The next question is: exactly which prosodie node do unassociated glides
reassociate to? A possible candidate, often the target of late adjunctions, is the
upper node, here: σ. This leads to positing somewhat ambiguous structures
such as the one illustrated in (31):
(31) σ
A
μ μ
I I
V G C
The alternative would be to convert (29) into (32) or (33) through mora-shar-
ing:
(32) μ μ
I \ I
V GC
(33) μ μ
ι / I
V GC
To the extent that it reassociates G to the mora of V, left-readjunction, as in

(32), emphasizes the nuclear-like aspect of the process, which works well with
reduction. It also has the advantage of respecting the historical derivation and
not forcing historical linguistics to motivate a structural change. From the theo-
retical point of view, it is consistent with the spirit of Kamprath's analysis. It
also would be quite congruent with models that maintain a level of nucleus
representation even within moraic theory.14 It does not work so well with the
idea that diphthongs are the shape that long vowels take in Surmiran (according
to Kamprath, there are no long vowels15, and, as we have seen, V:G before a
consonant does not occur). If length is represented by μ \ we should avoid the
'short diphthong' representation for VG.1
Right-readjunction, as in (33), is more in touch with the consonantal, "coda-
ish" phonetic behavior of hardening glides. Right-readjunction is obviously the
surface representation which best accounts for epenthesis vs. devoicing, as
explained earlier. However, I will contend here that there is no reason to even
consider hardening glides as changing their moraic allegiance, i.e. there is no
reason to think that the syllable-structure undergoes a synchronic shift from
(32) to (33). What is needed is to distinguish two types of glides, and I propose
that this be done through the difference in association to μ (28 vs. 29) - again,
not a lexical distinction, but one derived by algorithm, as explained earlier.
Hardening glides are unassociated glides which reassociate rightwards to μ late
in the derivation. In this fashion, G in (29) will reattach only after stress has
applied and disappear by convention when unstressed.
(34) Verschärfung
- Under stress, reassociate G rightwards:
μ μ
I -> A
G C G C
- Phonetic consequence: G > C

Even though, in this case, most phonological activity is motivated and ex-
pressed by constraints, this approach retains a sense of a derivation, which I
summarize in (35). Stress and epenthesis are early processes, which precede
hardening. The laryngeal constraint, however, applies post-lexically, after hard-
ening. 17 Words like [metar] undergo only the early processes, while words with
an underlying glide like [jdeky] are affected by the activity that takes place in
the post-lexical component.
(35)
Early phonology \ Stress and Epenthesis
\ Verschärfung
iG>C
Late constraints 1 laryngeal constraint
Ι/metr/ / z d r e j r/
Early phonology ! stress, epenthesis stress
Verschärfung ;- yes
!-
Laryngeal constraint LI™*»:! l3dckr] I
Viewing the G > C change as the phonetic consequence of rightward associa-

tion should not be interpreted as a mere matter of stipulation. I suggest that this
change in major category should be related to a more general licensing princi-
ple, which would state that a mora can license only one value of a major cate-
gory feature. In this case, the licensing condition can simply take the represen-
tation given in (36). Right-readjunction means that G will reassociate to a mora
which dominates C, and in doing so, it will see its consonantal value turn to
positive, since no contour in consonantality is tolerated in this branching struc-
ture:
(36)
[-cons] [+cons]
5. Conclusion
In this chapter, I have presented an analysis of the Romansch syllable which

deals with the various patterns of relationship that obtain between the segmen-
tal level and syllabic structure. A number of descriptive generalizations
concerning these relationships (length, stress, tenseness, glides) were first e x -

pressed through reference to the traditional constituents o f the syllable. Stating
such generalizations in these terms may easily create the illusion that a c o n -
stituent-based v i e w o f the syllable allows for the best analysis. I claim on the
contrary that moraic structure is an integral part o f the phonological s y s t e m o f
Romansch. This is first demonstrated in general terms b y facts concerning
stress assignment. But moraic structure is also responsible for m e l o d i c pro-
cesses, as s h o w n b y the behavior o f hardened glides in Surmiran. I proposed a
sonority-based algorithm for mora-assignment and outlined the relationship that
moras entertain with other elements o f prosody (syllables and feet). It appears
that the facts concerning hardening f o l l o w naturally from the moraic algorithm
since they can all be captured under one generalization: non-moraic glides
harden under stress. Hardening is interpreted as the phonetic c o n s e q u e n c e o f
the re-association o f a non-moraic glide to a C-dominating μ. This in turn f o l -
l o w s from the more general principle that a mora can license only one value o f
[cons].
Notes
]. The generalizations made in the first part of this chapter are not meant to refer to Dolo-
mitic Ladin or to Friulan, but they can apply, with some adjustments, to all five dialects
of Romansch: Western (Surselvan, Sutselvan), Central (Surmiran), and Eastern, or En-
gadine Ladin (Puter, Vallader). However, to prevent confusion, and because there is
such a fragmentation of dialects in that area, I will refer mostly to Tujetsch Romansch,
a variety of Surselvan. My reference is Caduff (1952), who provides us with a descrip-
tion of the subdialect of the Tujetsch Valley. It is a very good reference for our pur-
poses, since thousands of words can be found in detailed phonetic form, and both stress
and length have been carefully transcribed.
Because Tujetsch Romantsch is little-known even by Romance specialists, I often
include Latin etyma. This should not be interpreted as a sign that alternations are his-
torical when the context indicates otherwise.
2. The tense / lax distinction in high vowels carries a small functional load. With phone-
mic Iii and /u/, the stressed system is identical to that of Sutselvan (Haiman & Benincà
1992: 31).
3. The historical source of this vocalic contrast does reside in the nature of the following
consonant in the sense that vowel shortening (and laxing) only occurred before a gemi-
nate ([tus] < TUSSE, [tur] < TURRE) or a cluster. Montreuil (1990) analyzes a similar
situation in Milanese and reviews arguments for and against the synchronic status of a
mora-spreading rule deriving vowel length from coda weight.
4. - except for one occurrence [a:j] ([3a:j] 'to lie'), which may well be a 'false diphthong'
if [j] is analyzed as a coda.
5. /s/ has palatalized before another consonant, a feature common to all Romansch dia-
lects. It functions as an appendix, which does not trigger epenthesis. Word-internally,
548 Jean-Pierre Montreuìl
pre-consonantal [J] is a coda, so this analysis of word-initial /s/ preserves the invariant
or apositional character of the Romansch syllable.
6. - to which we should add a few clusters ending in [s] preceded by an adventitious [t], as
in words like bialts. Also, the word [herpjt] displays a four-consonant cluster, in which
the final [t] is non-etymological: < HERPICE.
7. Caduff says [m η 1 r], but gives no examples with [m].
8. A parallel should be established here with the facts concerning the domain of voice
assimilation. Unfortunately, Caduff provides too few examples of words in phrasal
context for us to determine these facts with clarity. Within words, clusters are always
homogeneous for voice. Across words, it appears, from the few examples given, that no
assimilation takes place between obstruent and sonorant: [piare máskal] 'wild boar'
(which comes as no surprise in the context of Romance), but also that no regressive as-
similation takes place between two obstruents, a much more unexpected observation:
[ε dáws go] 'he fell'
[los vákas] 'cows'
[lak de tú ma] 'Turna lake'
We shall see in section 4 that Surmiran differs from Tujetsch Romansch in this respect.
9. Whether sonority must be understood as a primitive or can be derived from structure (as
suggested in Rice 1992) - and in the latter case, what exactly the advantages are - goes
beyond the scope of this chapter.
10. This generalization does not hold so well for standard Surselvan, which has second-
class verbs ending in short [é] (e.g. [turné]), while Tujetsch Romansch and Surmiran
have diphthongs or long vowels ([tumäj] and [turné:], respectively).
11. Sursès, or Oberhalbsteinisch, is a subdialect of Surmiran.
12. Kamprath (1989) examines the possibility of characterizing hardened glides as non-
moraic, but rejects it ultimately, because of the lack of parallelism between hardened
glides and other final non-moraic elements which fail to reduce when unstressed. This
leads her to defend an x-based analysis in which she posits abstract final x's to account
for contrasts like [pevsl] / [pefj] 'fodder' / Ί feed'. We would contend that the parallel-
ism she alludes to is unwarranted and that, given correct assumptions regarding pro-
sodie domains - as sketched out earlier - , a moraic analysis is not threatened by such
morphological contrasts.
13. The term 'non-moraic glide' is used here to refer to a glide which does not have a mora
of its own.
14. If we re-instate within moraic theory the level of nucleus (as suggested in various
places in the literature, notably in Shaw 1994), then a distinction can be made between
two types of bimoraic syllables: one where Ν dominates both moras, the other where Ν
dominates only the first mora. We can thus achieve the same effect as we did with the
branching vs. non-branching mora: structurally, branching is just pushed up one notch
(a desirable move, to the extent that the notion of branching Ν might be preferred to -
or judged less controversial than - that of branching μ).
15. Kamprath (1989: 2) states that "there is no contrastive length in Romansch" (she means
strictly Bergüner Romansch, i.e. Central Surmiran, not Romansch in general). This is
too strong a statement, for two reasons: (1) it contradicts Thöni (1969: 16, 275), who
gives minimal pairs such as: [er] ' also' vs. [e:r] 'field', [got] 'drop' vs. [go:t] 'forest',
[bot] 'hill' vs. [boi] 'early', and (2) even in the absence of long vowels, in Central
Surmiran, length is directly manifested by diphthongs: compare the systems given for
Surmiran by Haiman & Benincà (1992: 31):
Surmiran vocalic system under stress:

7 vowels: [i], [e], [e], [a], [o], [o], [u]
7 diphthongs: [ij], [ej], [ej], [aj], [aw], [ow], [uw]
2 triphthongs: [jow], [wej]
16. Should we want to formalize a connection between stress and length, it would be im-
perative that we reattach G in (29) early, and furthermore, that we do it as in (32). But
the stress rule in Surmiran is identical to that of Tujetsch Surselvan: stress the penulti-
mate mora. Consequently, (29) or (32) are identical as far as stress is concerned.
17. The relative place of Hardening within this derivation appears well justified on all
counts. However, it would be less easy to pinpoint its absolute place within a lexical
phonology model. The facts illustrated in (22) seem to indicate that it is not a late lexi-
cal process and that it belongs to the post-lexical component, but nothing in our analysis
crucially depends on the validity of that perception.
References
Andersen, H.
1988 Center and periphery: adoption, diffusion and spread. Trends in linguistics 37,
39-85.
Caduff, L.
1952 Essai sur la phonétique du parler roman de la vallée de Tavetsch. Bern: A.
Francke Verlag.
Gartner, T.
1893 Rätoromanische Grammatik. Heilbronn: Henninger.
Gauchat, L.
1906 Sprachgeschichte eines Alpenübergangs (Furka-Oberalp). Archiv für das Studium
der neueren Sprachen 117, 345-361.
Gerster, W.
1927 Die Mundart von Montana (Wallis). Aarau: H.R. Sauerlander.
Grisch, M.
1939 Die Mundart von Surmeir. Droz: Paris.
Haiman, J. & P. Bénincà
1992 The Rhaeto-Romance languages. London: Routledge.
Hajek, J.
1992 The hardening of nasalized glides in Bolognese. Certamen phonologicum 2.
Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 259-279.
Hayes, B P.
1994 Metrical stress theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kamprath, C.K.
1985 Suprasegmental structures in a Raeto-Romansch dialect. PhD dissertation.
Austin, Texas: The University of Texas.
1987 Morphological constraints on epenthesis and adjunction. Publications in the lan-
guage sciences 28, 201-217.
1988 The syllabification of consonantal glides: post-peak distinctions. Proceedings of
NELS 16.
1989 Moraic theory and syllable-internal structure. Paper presented at the LSA Meet-
ing: Washington, DC.
Krier, F.
1985 La zone frontière du francoprovençal et de l'alémanique dans le Valais. Vols. 1
& 2. Forum Phoneticum 33, 2. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
Lombardi, L.
1995 Laryngeal neutralization and syllable wellformedness. Natural language and
Lutta, C M.
1923 Der Dialekt von Bergün und seine Stellung innerhalb der Rätoromanischen
Mundarten Graubündens. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, 71.
Halle: Niemeyer.
Montreuil, J.-P.
1989 Non-moraic codas in Romance. Paper presented at the second colloquium on
Romance linguistics. University of Texas at Austin, October 14, 1989.
1990 Length in Milanese. In D. Wanner & D. Kibbee (eds.), New analyses in Romance
linguistics. Current issues in linguistic theory 69. Amsterdam: John Benjamins,
32-48.
1990 On parasitic velars. Proceedings ofWECOL 20. University of Oregon.
1991 The diachronics of coda weight in Western Romance. Paper presented at the
Ninth International Conference on Historical Linguistics. Vrije Universiteit, Am-
sterdam, August 14-19, 1991.
1995 The evolution of Romance prosody. Paper presented at the international phonol-
ogy conference at Royaumont, France, June 20, 1995.
Rice, K.
1992 On deriving sonority: a structural account. Phonology 9, 61-99.
Shaw, P.A.
1994 The prosodie constituency of minor syllables. 12th West Coast Conference on
formal linguistics. Stanford University: CSLI, 117-133.
Thöni, G.P.
1969 Rumänisch Surmeir: grammatica per igl idiom surmiran. Coirà: Ligia Romon-
tscha.
Zee, D.
1995 Sonority constraints on syllable structure. Phonology 12, 85-129.
Part IV: Optimality Theory
18 Syllables and phonotactics in Irish
Maire Ni Chiosáin
1. Introduction
The account of the phonotactics of Irish presented in this chapter deals prima-
rily with the distributional patterning of consonants. The first section focuses on
facts of syllable and word-initial onsets. Inventories of simple and complex
onsets are provided, including the additional onsets found only in morphologi-
cally and syntactically conditioned initial consonant mutation environments.
The additional clusters permitted in the latter environments are of interest since
they generally reflect a relaxing of requirements on the sonority profile of onset
clusters. The second section focuses on the patterning of post-vocalic conso-
nants and includes an account of an epenthetic vowel that results from restric-
tions on the sonority profile of such clusters.
The consonant system of Irish is given in (1).
Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal

Ρ Ρ' t t' k k'
b b' d d' g g'
f f s I χ x' h h'
v/w v' Y Y'/j
m m' η η' q q'
1 Γ
r r'
A number of comments are in order concerning this set of consonants: (i) There
is a 'palatalization' contrast in the consonants of Irish. The palatalized member
of the opposition is - with the exception of s/J - represented as C' in order to
circumvent questions of realization of this contrast which varies between pala-
talized/'plain' (co-produced) and 'plain'/velarized according to the vocalic
environment. The reader is referred to the relevant dialect descriptions for de-
tails (e.g. de Bhaldraithe 1945 (on a western dialect); Ó Cuiv 1944, Breathnach
1947 (on southern dialects of Irish); Wagner 1959, Ó Dochartaigh 1987 (on
northern dialects of Irish)) and to Ni Chiosáin & Padgett (1997) for an account
of the variable realization. The transcriptions provided throughout the paper are
thus broadly phonemic transcriptions, (ii) The dorsal and the palatalized
552 Mài re Ni Chiosàin
laryngeal fricatives occur only in certain morphologically conditioned environ-

ments, see section 2.1.2 below, (iii) The phonetic symbol [J"] is used in prefer-
ence to s' to highlight the patterning of this member of the palatalized series in
onsets, while labial and dorsal fricative-glide alternations are indicated by v/w
and y'/j, respectively, (iv) The three major dialects of Irish differ with regard to
the inventory of coronal nasals and laterals. The Old Irish tense/lax contrast in
the sonorant consonants is retained to different degrees in the coronal nasals
and laterals only in the northern and western dialects; this contrast is tradi-
tionally represented by e.g. Ν (tense) vs. η (lax). The northern dialects have the
full inventory of contrasts, i.e. in both non-palatalized and palatalized coronal
sonorants, while the western dialects have retained the contrast only in the pala-
talized series. However, the distribution of the different ('tense/lax') variants in
the latter dialect is positionally determined (commented on in the relevant sec-
tions below) and the contrast given in the inventory in (1) is therefore limited to
a non-palatalized/palatalized one. The contrast has been lost in the southern
dialects. The original contrast is reflected in vowel length alternations preced-
ing certain sonorant consonants in both the western and southern dialects which
can be viewed as quantitative transfer; for discussion of these alternations see
e.g. Ó Baoill (1979, 1980), Ni Chiosàin (1991), Cyran (1996).
2. Onsets
2.1. Simple onsets
Not all of the consonants in (1) above occur in onset position - certain restric-
tions apply. Not all consonants, for example, occur word-initially, and not all
consonants that occur word-initially do so in all morphological and syntactic
environments - some are restricted to environments where an initial consonant
mutation occurs (the terms non-mutation and mutation environments are used
below). The facts concerning the distribution of simple onsets are set out in the
following subsections. Examples throughout the paper are given in the follow-
ing format: transcription - Irish orthographic form in italics - gloss. The forms
cited generally reflect the pronunciation of western dialects. Where dialectal
variation is relevant, it is noted.
2.1.1. Word-initial simple onsets in non-mutation environments
The term non-mutation environment is used to refer to a (word-initial) environ-

ment in which no morphologically or syntactically conditioned consonant
Syllables andphonotactics in Irish 553
mutation applies. The initial consonant mutations in Irish are Lenition - essen-
tially 'weakening'/loss of stricture: spirantization of stops, loss of oral stricture
or segmenthood in the case of fricatives, and Eclipsis - voicing of voiceless ob-
struents, nasalization of voiced stops. Word-initial onsets in non-mutation envi-
ronments are given in (2).
(2) Word-initial onsets, non-mutation environments:1
Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal

Ρ Ρ' t t' k k'
b b' d d' g g'
f f s J h
m m' η η'
1 Γ
r
Of the consonants missing from the inventory in (1), r1 occurs only word-inter-
nally - the secondary articulation distinction is thus neutralized in word-initial
position, e.g. /ri:/, ri 'king', /ri/ rith 'run', /riv'/ roimh 'before'; compare with
/fir'an1 foireann 'team, /kir'i/ cuireadh 'invitation'. The other consonants mis-
sing from the inventory in (1) occur word-initially only in mutation environ-
ments of lenition and eclipsis, see sections 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 below.
Examples of simple word-initial onsets are given in (3).
pa:r'k' páirc 'field' p'a:n peann 'pen' to:g tog 'take'

t'o:xt teocht 'warmth' ko:ta cota 'coat' k'o:l ceol 'music'
bo: bo 'cow' b'o: beo 'alive' do: dò 'burning'
d'o: deo 'ever' gi:l gaol 'relative' g'i:l giall 'jaw'
foil' fòlli 'yet' foil' feoil 'meat' si: saoi 'a wise
person'
Ji: si 'fairy' hata hata 'hat'
m'o:n meon 'attitude' ni: nao i 'nine' mo:n' mó i η 'turf
lo:n Ion 'lunch' l'o:n león 'lion' n'i: ni neg prt
554 Máire Ni Chiosáin
2.1.2. Word-initial simple onsets in lenition environments
The consonant alternations in lenition environments are given in (4).2
(4) Consonant alternations in lenition environments:
Labial Coronal Dorsal

NON-LENITED ρ p'b b'f f t t' d d' s J k k' g g'
LENITED f f v/w v' 0 0' h h ' y γ'/j h h' χ χ' γ γ'/j
NON-LENITED m m'
LENITED v/w ν'
The consonant alternations in lenition environments increase the inventory of

possible word-initial onsets, adding / χ χ' h' ν' γ γ'/j v/w /. However, the set of
consonants that appears in word-initial position in lenition environments is in
other ways clearly a reduced set, excluding as it does the oral stops, the coronal
fricatives and the bilabial nasals.3
Representative examples of the alternations are given in (5). Note that the
dorsal fricatives and the palatalized laryngeal fricative occur only in word-
initial position and only in lenition environments, as the lenited reflex of the
voiced coronal and dorsal stops, and of the voiceless palatalized coronal obstru-
ents, respectively.4
(5) p/f pa:r'k' / s(n) fa:r'k' pài re / an pháirc

'field nom sg indef / nom sg def
t/h to:g / ho:g tóg / thôg
'take / took'
k/x kat / a (n) xat' cat / an chait
'cat nom sg indef / gen sg def
b'/v' b'oila / mav'orb beola / mo bheola
'lips / my lips'
d/Y dalto / ma γ alta dalta / mo dhalta
'pupil / my pupil'
m/ w mails / 9 (η) wa:b mála / an mhála
'bag nom sg indef / gen sg def
2.1.3. Word-initial simple onsets in eclipsis environments
The consonant alternations in eclipsis environments are given in (6).5

(6) Consonant alternations in eclipsis environments:
Labial Coronal Dorsal

NON-ECLIPSED ρ p' b b ' f f tt'd d' k k' g g'
ECLIPSED b b' m m ' v / w v' dd' nn' g g ' η q'
The consonant alternations in eclipsis environments increase the set of possible

word-initial onsets, adding /v' q q' w/, but reduce the set of word-initial conso-
nants that appears in these environments by excluding the voiceless stops and
the voiceless labial fricatives.6 It should be noted that - in contrast to lenition -
words undergoing eclipsis must always be preceded by phonological material.
Representative examples of the alternations are given in (7).7
(7) p/b pa:r'k' / er'abair'k' páirc / ar an bpairc

'field / on the field'
k/g kat / er'ogat cat / ar an gcat
'cat / on the cat'
b/m bo: / er'amo: bo / ar an mbó
'cow / on the cow'
g'/q' g'a:l / er'oq'a:l geall / ar an ngeall
'pledge / on the pledge'
f/w faib / er'awaib fadhb / ar an bhfadhb
'problem / on the problem'
2.2. Complex onsets
2.2.1. Word-initial CC onsets in non-mutation environments
The set of possible complex onsets in non-mutation environments comprising

two consonants is given in (8). Secondary articulations are in most cases shared
by consonants in clusters. A notable exception to this generalization concerns
the coronal fricatives /s J"/: (i) The palatalized member of this opposition does
not occur preceding palatalized labials, rather the occurring clusters are /sp'/,
/sm'/. (ii) Although /r'/ can occur in a palatalized onset cluster (see the palatal-
ized obstruent-liquid clusters in (8)), /Jr'/ is not a possible onset cluster.8
(8) Word-initial CC onsets in non-mutation environments:
obstruent-liquid pi p'l' pr pY bl b'l' br b'r' ti tT tr t'r' di d i' dr d'r'

kl kT gr g'r' fl fT fr fr' si JT sr
stop-nasal tnkn k'n' gn g'n'

generally η > r following dorsal obstruents in onsets in
the western and northern dialects
s, J -stop sp sp' st Jt' sk Jk1
s, J - nasal sm sm' sn Jn'
nasal-liquid mr
nasal-nasal mn
(in southern dialects only; mn > mr in the western and
northern dialects)
Representative examples are given in (9). Where two forms are given for the
same word, the first is the form found in western and northern dialects, the
second is the form found in southern dialects.
(9) pTaik'i pleidhce 'idiot' b'l'a:n bleán 'milking'

b'r'a: breá 'fine' tlu: tlúth 'poker'
tnu: tnúth 'long for' d'l'i: dli 'law'
Jl'is slios 'slice' Jl'i: sii 'way'
sm'e:ra sméara 'berries' mra:/mna: mm 'women'
sp'a:l speal 'scythe' gra:/gna: gnáth 'usual'
Jn'axte sneachta 'snow' krap'i/knap'i cnaipe 'button'
2.2.2. Word-initial CC omets in mutation environments
The additional word-initial CC onsets allowed only in mutation environments

are listed in (10). (Thus not included here are clusters that result from lenition
or eclipsis but which can also occur in non-mutating environments, e.g. br/b'r'
which can occur in non-mutation environments but which are also the result of
eclipsing pr/p'r')· These, for the most part, comprise the clusters in (8) with
lenition of the initial consonant. The increased inventory generally reflects a
relaxing of requirements on the sonority profile of onset clusters, most notable
in the reduction of sonority distance in the nasal-liquid and nasal-nasal clusters
that occur in eclipsis environments.
(10) CC onsets that occur word-initially only in mutation environments:
Lenition:
vl/wl vT wr/vr v'r' xl χ ΐ xr x'r' yl
Fricative/glide-liquid: yr jl' jr'
bl/ml b'lVm'l' br/mr b'rVm'r' kl kT kr k'r' dl/gl
which result from leniting: dr/gr d'l'/g'l' d'r'/g'r1
Fricative/glide-nasal : xn x'n' γη jn1

which result from leniting: kn k'n' gn g'n'
In those dialects in which η > r when preceded
in an onset by a dorsal obstruent, these clusters
are realized as xr, x'r' etc.
h -liquid/nasal: hn hn' hi hi' hr hr'

which result from leniting:
sn/tnjn' tl/sl tl'/JT tr/sr fr-
Eclipsis:
inì m'l' (mr) m'r' nl n'l' nr n'r' ql qT qr q'r'
Nasal-liquid:
which result from eclipsing: bl b'l' br b'r1 d'I d'l' dr d'r' gl g'l' gr g'r'
Nasal-nasal: qn q'n'
which result from eclipsing: gn g'n'
Representative examples are given in (11).
(11) Lenition:
bias / vlas blas/bhlas 'taste/tasted'

b'r'ij / v'r'ij bris/bhris 'break/broke'
k'l'axt / x'l'axt cleacht/chleacht 'practice/practiced'
krom / xrom crom/chrom 'bend/bent'
g'r'ama / jr'ama greamaigh/ghreamaigh 'stick/stuck'
g'n'i:wo / jn'iiwa gníomhaigh/ghníomaigh 'act/acted'
sna:v / hna:v snámh/shnámh 'swim/swam'
Jl'auna / hl'auna sleamhnaigh/shleamhnaigh 'slip/slipped'
srix' / hrix' sroich/shroich 'reach/reached'
558 Maire Ni Chiosàin
Eclipsis:
b'r'is' / a m'r'istia: bris/an mbrisfeà

'break/would you break (Q-prt VERB-cond-2sg)'
g'l'e:s: / a q'l'e:sha: gléas/an ngléasfeà
'dress/would you dress'
g'r'ad / 9 q'r'adha: gread/an ngreadfà
'leave/would you leave'
g'n'irw / a q'n'i:wo:ha: gníomhaigh/an ngíomhófá
'act/would you act'
2.2.3. Word-initial CCC onsets
Word-initial onset clusters containing three consonants (the maximum permit-

ted in onset position) are listed in (12).
(12) Word-initial CCC onsets:9
s, J -stop-liquid spi spT spr sp'r' str Jt'r' ski JkT skr Jk'r'
Representative examples are given in (13).
(13) splaqk spiane 'flash' spT a x spleách 'dependent'

spri: spraoi 'fun' sp'r'ag spreag 'inspire'
Jt'r'i:k strioc 'streak' JkTuixas scliúchas 'rumpus'
Jk'r'ad scread 'scream'
The clusters in (12) are unaltered in mutation environments. This holds also of
/s JV + stop and /s/ + labial nasal clusters (see (8)). Initial coronal fricatives are
not affected by eclipsis in any case. The failure of lenition, on the other hand, to
apply to these clusters can be attributed to the fact that the sonority profile of
the clusters that would result from lenition, e.g. /h/ + stop (+liquid), is not toler-
ated.
3. Post-vocalic consonant clusters
Most of the consonant clusters in (8) and (10) can occur word-internally,
though no longer necessarily exclusively as onsets. Word-internal branching
onsets are permitted; however, when preceded by a short stressed vowel, the
initial consonant in certain clusters may form the coda of the preceding syllable
or be perceived as ambisyllabic. Relevant clusters include /gn, kn, g'n', k'n', qr,
q'r'/10, e.g. /ag'.n'i, a(g')n'i/ aigne 'mind', /mak.nas, ma(k)nas/ macnas 'playful-
ness' (<C)= ambisyllabic). Voiced fricatives in coda position are generally
vocalized, resulting in the absence of e.g. /-vl-/ and /-yl-/. Of the consonant
clusters in (12), /str, st'r', skr, Jk'rV occur word-internally, /ski, Jk'17 less fre-
quently and /spi, spT, spr sp'r'/ not at all.
Nasal-stop clusters occur word-internally (and hetero-syllabically) with a
range of optional lengthening of certain pre-cluster stressed vowels in different
dialects, e.g. /lampa, laumpo/ lampa 'lamp', /kunte, ku:nte/ contae 'county'.
Other heterosyllabic homorganic (coronal) clusters occur word-internally:
liquid-liquid, liquid-nasal, nasal-liquid and liquid-stop clusters, e.g. /olro/ iolra
'pillai', /ortax, aurtax, o:rtex/ orlach 'inch', /anro, aun ra/ anraith 'soup',
/bairdal/ bardal 'drake'. Stressed vowels preceding a subset of the latter clusters
(r + liquid/nasal/voiced stop) are generally long. (See e.g. Ó Siadhail 1989 for
descriptive details, and Ni Chiosáin 1991, Cyran 1996 for formal accounts.)
Of particular interest are post-vocalic clusters comprising a sonorant fol-
lowed by a non-homorganic consonant. The facts concerning these clusters
require reference to both sonority and prosodie structure. Certain of these clus-
ters - which are characterized in terms of their sonority profile - are disfavored
post-vocalically in monomorphemes in Irish resulting in epenthesis. However,
epenthesis occurs only if consistent with requirements on prosodie structure:
Irish favors prosodie structure at the left edge of the word - stress is initial in
the western and northern dialects; the southern dialects are characterized by a
stress retraction to heavy syllables in certain prosodie structures, see e.g. Ó
Siadhail & Wigger (1975), Ó Siadhail (1989), Ó Sé (1989), Doherty (1991),
Gussmann (1995). Even when they contain the disfavored clusters, words that
satisfy the relevant prosodie requirements, discussed below, do not undergo
epenthesis. Thus the requirements on prosodie structure constrain epenthesis.
The facts of the relevant post-vocalic clusters and epenthesis are set out in
section 3.1. The case for establishing that the consonant sequences considered
form input clusters rather than non-adjacent consonant sequences is made in
section 3.2. An account of the data is proposed in section 3.3 within the theo-
retical framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993) and the
role of prosodie structure is considered in section 3.4."
3.1. Post-vocalic clusters and epenthesis
Pairs of forms are given in (14) which are traditionally regarded as having
undergone epenthesis, and in which the (input) clusters occur both word-finally
or word-internally.12 The nature of the cluster is indicated in the leftmost
560 Màire Ni Chiosàin
column abstracting away from whether the cluster is palatalized (indicated by

C ) or nonpalatalized. The epenthetic vowel is /a/ in a nonpalatalized environ-
ment, /i/ in a palatalized environment.
(14) Non-homorganic clusters which undergo epenthesis:
-rb borab borb 'abrupt'

bar'ib'r'i Bairbre (name)
-rm goram gorm 'blue'
d'aramad dearmad 'mistake'
-rf d'arafa dearfa 'certain'
-rv Jarav searbh 'bitter'
Jer'iv'i:J seirbhis 'service'
-rw karawat carbhat 'tie'
-rg farag fearg 'anger'
ar'ig'ad airgead 'money'
-rx doraxa dorcha 'dark'
-lb bolab bolb 'caterpillar'

dalaba dalba 'bold'
-lm kolam colm 'dove'
kalama calma 'brave'
-lv Jalav sealbh 'possession'
sil'iv'ir soilbhir 'pleasant'
-lw g'alawan gealbhan 'sparrow'
-ig Jk'el'ig' sceilg 'crag'
alaga alga 'algae'
-lx tulaxax tulchach 'hilly'
-nb b'in'ib' binb 'venom'

bañaba Banba (a name for Ireland)
-nm an'im' ainm 'name'
m'anama meanma 'mind'
-nv l'anav leanbh 'child'
an'iv'i: ainmhi 'animal'
-nx donaxa Donnchadha (name)
The cluster ImJ forms an exception to the general non-homorganicity of the

consonants seen above. This cluster does not occur word-finally - (15a) - but
does occur word-internally, with lengthening of a preceding stressed vowel in
certain western dialects (15b).
(15) Word-final vs. word-internal /-rn/:
doran dorn 'fist'

karan cam 'mound'
karna:n/ka:ma:n carnán 'mound'

darna/dairna dama 'second'
urni:/u:rni: urnaí 'prayer'
Epenthesis does not occur within clusters consisting of a sonorant consonant

followed by a voiceless stop:
(16) Sonorant-voiceless stop clusters - no epenthesis:
a.-rp korp corp 'body'

kir'p'sx coirpeach 'criminal'
-rt gort gort 'field'
gorto gorta 'famine'
-rk k'ark cearc 'hen'
kir'k'i coirce 'oats'
b.-lp 13 spalp spalp 'burst forth'
-It alt alt 'joint'
altu: altu 'thanksgiving'
-lk oik ole 'evil'
kil'k'i cuilce 'quilt'
c.-nt kant' caint 'talk'
kantdl cantal 'irritation'
Epenthesis does not generally occur in homorganic clusters either. The relevant
set of clusters, mentioned at the beginning of section 3, is exemplified in (17). 14
The vowel preceding the cluster in (17) is long in the western and southern
dialects (marked W and S, respectively), and short in the northern (N) dialects.
(17) Homorganic liquid cluster-no epenthesis:
-rl aurla:r (W) u:rla:r (S) urlar (Ν) urlár 'floor'

aurbx (W) o:rtax (S) ortax (N) orlach 'inch'
562 Maire Ni Chiosáin
3.2. The case for input clusters and epenthesis
Since there are no vowel-zero alternations involving forms like those in (14), a
case must be made for assuming the relevant consonants are adjacent at some
level of representation. The arguments in favor of this assumption are distribu-
tional ones. First, word-final instances of the 'epenthesizing' clusters pattern
with true clusters with respect to final palatalization which marks certain mor-
phological categories. Irish has alternations like /fo:d/fo:d'/ fód/fóid 'sod/sods',
/o:ra:n/o:ra:n'/ amhrán/amhráin 'song/songs'. The vowels preceding the final
consonant in these forms are long vowels which do not interact with the fol-
lowing consonant. However, when the vowel is a short one, its quality is deter-
mined by the following consonant, e.g. /kol/kil'/ col/coil 'prohibition nom
sg/gen sg', /alas/alijy allas/allais 'sweat nom sg, gen sg' (see e.g. Ni Chiosáin
1994). Spreading of [back] in Irish (which represents the distinctive palatal-
ized/nonpalatalized contrast in consonants) is strictly local: between consonants
and short vowels, as illustrated in the preceding forms, or within clusters, e.g.
/gort/ger't'/ gort/goirt 'field/fields', /alt/al'tV alt/ailt 'article nom/gen', /korp/
ker'p'/ corp/coirp 'body/bodies', where both consonants are affected by final
palatalization. In contrast, the consonants in a CVC sequence do not affect each
other as can be seen from forms like /b'otar/b'olir'/ biolar/biolair 'watercress
nom/gen', /gandol/gandil'/ gandal/gandail 'gander/ganders', /brat/brat'/ brat/
brait 'flag/flags', where the penultimate consonant is not affected by final
palatalization. Apparent exceptions to this generalization involve forms con-
taining 'epenthesizing' clusters where final palatalization affects both the final
consonant and the preceding non-adjacent consonant. Thus, final palatalization
of /borab/ borb 'abrupt', for example, yields /bir'ib'/, */borib'/ boirb, i.e. both
the ultimate and the penultimate consonants are palatalized (reflected also in
the quality of the short vowel preceding the penultimate consonant). Deriva-
tionally, this could be represented as follows: /borb —> bir'b' (final palataliza-
tion) —> bir'ib' (epenthesis)/. Other examples include /kolam/kel'im'/ colm/coilm
'dove/doves', and /lorog/ ler'ig'/ lorg/loirg 'trace nom sg/gen sg'. Thus, since
the consonants in the 'epenthetic' forms pattern with true clusters they must be
represented as clusters at some level.15 Second, there are a number of distribu-
tional gaps to be accounted for: there are no words of the prosodically relevant
type that contain the disfavored clusters, e.g. there are no words of the form
/d'arg/, /bolg/, i.e. monomoraic words with the relevant clusters in word-final
position.
3.3. Intrinsically ranked sonority constraints on clusters
An account of the distribution of consonant clusters and epenthesis in Irish is

proposed in this and the following section. The account is pursued within the
constraint-based framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993).
In order to account for the permissible and impermissible clusters in Irish, the
notion of 'minimal sonority distance' (e.g. Greenberg 1978, Steriade 1982,
Harris 1983, Selkirk 1984, and van der Hulst 1984) is adopted, which requires
that linearly adjacent segments be a certain distance from each other along a
defined sonority hierarchy. The notion of a universal theory of sonority distance
is implemented here with intrinsically (universally) ranked cluster constraints
mnemonically called *RG and *RK, representing all sonorant-voiced consonant
clusters and all sonorant-voiceless consonant clusters, respectively.
Since, in Irish, RK clusters are permissible in words of varying prosodie
structure, they are preferred to RG clusters which, in examples like those in
(14), are impermissible. Put differently, we state that RG clusters are 'more
disfavored'/less 'harmonic' than RK clusters, a fact captured by the constraint
ranking *RG » *RK. Since epenthesis occurs in the RG clusters, the constraint
disfavoring these clusters must, in turn, be ranked higher than a constraint
which disallows epenthesis: DEP-IO: Every segment of the output has a corre-
spondent in the input (McCarthy & Prince 1995: 264). The relevant ranking is
therefore *RG » DEP. Since *RG cannot be satisfied by underpaying one or
other constituent consonants, a high-ranking constraint is explicitly assumed
which requires that all input material be in the output, i.e. disallowing
phonological deletion: MAX-IO: Every segment in the input has a correspondent
in the output (McCarthy & Prince 1995:264).
Candidate forms for /fareg / 'anger' and /ar'ig'od / 'money' are given in (18).
Note: (i) *RG is not a constraint on complex codas (thus accounting for the
illicitness of /farg/), as illustrated by forms like ar'ig'ad below, where an intact
cluster would be hetero-syllabic; (ii) *RG and *RK are used to refer to both non-
palatalized and palatalized sonorant-voiced consonant and sonorant-voiceless
consonant clusters, respectively. This convention is adopted throughout the
present paper.
(18)
Input = farg *RG DEP
a. ®3*fa.rag *
b. farg *!
c. far.go *! •
d. fa:rg •I
Input = ar'g'ad
e. «s'a.r'i'.gad *
f. ar'.g'od *!
Assuming the input form contains the cluster /rg/, the optimal candidate is (18a)
which contains an epenthetic vowel and obeys *RG but violates DEP.16 The
faithful candidate in (18b), however, violates *RG, as do the remaining forms
(18c,d) which both contain an additional mora (contributed by the epenthetic
vowel and included in part to illustrate that a minimal foot requirement, e.g.
FTBIN (requiring bimoraicity), is not the impetus behind epenthesis).17
The forms in (18) should be compared with similar forms containing the
clusters /rk/ and /r'k'/, e.g. /k'ark/ cearc 'hen' and /kir'k'i/ coirce 'oats', which
do not undergo epenthesis. The cluster constraint *RK, along with the family of
sonorant-voiceless stop cluster constraints, is therefore ranked below DEP and
the optimal form is thus the input form.
(19) .
Input = k'ark *RG DEP *RK
a. w k'ark *
b. k'a.rok *!
c. k'ar.ka *!
d. k'a:rk *! *
Input = kir'k'i
e. »^kir'.k'i *
f. ki.r'i.k'i *!
The input forms discussed so far are short forms, comprising one or two moras.
(Note that only vowels contribute moraic structure in the forms under consi-
deration here.) However, when longer input forms comprising three or more
moras are considered, the role of prosodie constraints in constraining epenthesis
patterns in Irish becomes apparent.
3.4. The role of prosodie structure in constraining epenthesis
3.4.1. Epenthesis patterns and prosodie constraints
The prosodie factors that constrain epenthesis are (i) syllable weight and (ii)
word-length. As to the first of these, epenthesis occurs in the relevant clusters
following a short vowel but not following a long vowel. Examples of forms
containing a pre-cluster long vowel are given in (20).
(20) Forms containing a long vowel or diphthong preceding the cluster - no

epenthesis:
-rb farrbri fáirbre 'wrinkle'

-rm t'e:rma téarma 'term'
-rg l'e:rgos léargas 'insight'
-ig dualgas dualgas 'duty'
The forms in (20) should be compared with those in (21) (repeated from (14))
in which short vowels precede the (same) clusters and which undergo epenthe-
sis.
(21) Forms containing a short vowel preceding the cluster - epenthesis:
-rb bar'ib'r'i Bairbre (name)

-rm d'aramad dearmad 'mistake'
-rg ar'ig'ad airgead 'money'
-lg alaga alga 'algae'
Turning to word-length, epenthesis does not occur in trisyllabic or longer

monomorphemic words of a certain shape, e.g. words containing three light
syllables in which the cluster occurs between the first and second syllables. It
should be pointed out that longer words are not common in Irish, and many of
those found are borrowings from English. The forms in (22) are considered
native, while some of those in (23) clearly are not and are therefore marked
with an asterisk. While it can be argued that borrowings are not subject to the
same constraints as the native vocabulary (and the exceptions given in footnote
20 to the generalization illustrated in (25) would support that argument) the
marked forms in (23) are included since they are consistent with the relevant
generalizations.
(22) Trisyllabic words containing the relevant clusters - no epenthesis:
-r'm' fir'm'imin't' flrmimint 'firmament'

-rb barborax barbarach 'barbarian'
-lg skolgarnax scolgarnach 'cackle'
The prosodie structure of monomorphemic words is clearly at issue. 18 Exam-

ples of monomorphemic forms containing the relevant clusters are given in
(23). These examples involve only those clusters where epenthesis can be com-
pelled, e.g. /rm, rb, lg! etc. They do not involve words containing clusters that
appear intact in all prosodie environments, e.g. /rk, lp/ etc. 19 The prosodie
structure is represented in the left-most column, L = light syllable, H = heavy
syllable, and the location of the relevant cluster is indicated by a subscripted
CC.
(23)
a. LccLL: rm' firm'imint' flrmimint 'firmament'
lg skolgarnax scolgarnach 'cackle'
rb barbarex barbarach 'barbarian'
b. LccLH lg sm'olgadain smiolgadán 'throat'

rg purgado:r' purgadóir 'purgatory'
r'm' t'er'm'in'a:l teirmineál* 'terminal'
c. LLccH: rw/v kajarwa:n caisearbhán 'dandelion'
d. LccLHL r'm' kar'm'il'i:t'9x cairmilíteach 'Carmelite'

1 1
rm d'er'm'it'iit'as deirmitíteas* 'dermatitis'
The forms in (23) are all forms in which the optimal foot - a non-final initial
bimoraic foot (see below) - can be constructed, as illustrated in (24).
(24) HccL (μμ)μ (20)

LccLL (μμ)μ (23a)
LccLH (μμ)μμ (23b)
LLccH (μμ)μμ (23c)
LccLHL (μμ)μμμ (23d)
Furthermore, / ( μ μ ) μ . . / Ϊ 8 also the structure obtained by epenthesis in the

shorter forms given in (14), as illustrated in (25a, b), along with the longer form
in (25c).20
(25) Input Output

a. LccL (LL)L karobad carbad 'chariot'
tar'ifi tairbhe 'benefit'
ar'i'g'ad airgead 'money'
b. LccH (LL)H purago:d' purgóid 'purgative'

an'iv'i: ainmhí 'animal'
karowain carbhán 'caravan'
c. LccHL (LL)HL Jarawomta searbhónta 'servant'

Jaravo:nt9
(Note: Epenthesized syllable indicated by L)
In the following account, constraints on foot structure in Irish are argued to

constrain the emergence of the epenthetic vowel in Irish.21 The prosodie con-
traints at issue are ALIGN-L, PARSE-SYLL and NONFINALITY as defined in ( 2 6 )
(McCarthy & Prince 1993a,b, and Prince & Smolensky 1993).
(26) (i) ALIGN-L (Foot, Word): Align the left edge of each foot to the left
edge of a word
(ii) PARSESYLL: Syllables are parsed into higher prosodie structure
(iii) NONFINALITY 2: Feet should not occur in word-final position
With regard to the first of these constraints, ALIGN-L, it may be noted that
stress in the western and northern dialects of Irish falls on the initial syllable -
thus left-alignment is justified in this account. As mentioned previously, South-
ern Irish dialects, on the other hand, have a more complex stress system where
in certain cases stress is attracted by a heavy syllable. Arguably, a constraint
such as WEIGHT-TO-STRESS (Prince 1990) compels additional foot-structure
beyond an initial, left-aligned foot in these dialects. As regards the third con-
straint in ( 2 6 ) - NONFINALITY - it is clear, from the generalization that epen-
thesis does not occur (for example, in words of the structure /( μ μ )μ/), that
Irish favors only left-aligned non-final feet. As will be illustrated in the fol-
lowing sections, an epenthetic syllable in such forms would result in a foot that
is not left-aligned, if footed, and if unfooted, would result in an additional vio-
lation of PARSESYLL.
568 Maire Ni Chiosàin
3.4.2. Non-epenthesizingforms
Consider candidate output forms for /l'eirgos/ léargas 'insight' (20), /skolgar-
nax/ scolgarnach 'cackle' (23a). The optimal forms are those in which epenthe-
sis does not apply and which best satisfy the prosodie constraints. As illustrated
in the tableau below, once the prosodie constraints are ranked higher than the
cluster constraints, violations of the lower-ranked constraints are not relevant.
Thus although (27a), the optimal form for léargas, contains the disfavored
cluster /rg/, it satisfies the prosodie constraints better than (27b) which contains
an additional (unfooted) syllable as a result of epenthesis. (27c) avoids viola-
tions of PARSESYLL by footing the additional syllable, but as a result violates
both N O N F I N (by virtue of having prosodie structure at the right edge) and
A L I G N - L (since the second foot is not left-aligned). Note that N O N F I N and
PARSESYLL are not ranked with respect to each other in (27) - the motivation
for this becomes apparent only when shorter, epenthesizing forms are discussed
(section 3.4.3 below).
(27)
Input: l'elrgas, skolgarnax ALIGN-L NONFIN PARSESYLL *RG DEP •RK
* *
a. ( l'eir ). gas
*
b. ( I'd ). re. gas **!
c. ( l'e: ) . ( re gas ) *! * *
* *
d. ( skol. gar ). nax
*
e. ( sko . la ). gar . nax **!
* *
f. ( sko . la ). ( gar . nax ) •I
In order to complete the account of non-epenthesizing forms, one further,

longer, prosodie form should be considered. Two candidate forms for
/karm'il'iit'ax/ cairmiliteach 'Carmelite' are considered in (28). The penultimate
heavy syllable is footed in both candidates considered although this does not
directly bear on the discussion. As in the case of the forms in (27), the addi-
tional syllable that results from epenthesis in (28b) yields a fatal violation of
PARSESYLL.
(28)
Input: kar'm'il'ilt'ax ALIGN-L NONFIN I PARSESYLL *RG DEP *RK
* * *
a. •»* ( kar'.m'i ) . ( l'i: ) . tax
* **!
b. ( ka.r'i ) m'i. ( l'i: ). t'ax
3.4.3. Epenthesizingforms
Assuming the ranking adopted above, i.e. ALIGN-L » NONFIN, PARSESYLL »

*RG » DEP » *RK, we can compare the forms considered in (27) which do
not undergo epenthesis with a form that does and that contains the same cluster,
namely /ar'ig'ad/ airgead 'money'. As seen in (29), the optimal (non-final initial
bimoraic) foot can be constructed only with the additional vowel supplied by
epenthesis. Note, however, that both candidates considered below violate one
prosodie constraint. Since the optimal form is clearly determined in this case by
the lower-ranked cluster constraints, candidate evaluation must pass down from
the prosodie constraints. This is possible if the two prosodie constraints in
question are unranked. Although an account in which the two prosodie con-
straints in question are ordered - i.e. NONFIN » PARSESYLL - would be
equally satisfactory for forms of the type given in (29), it is not tenable in the
case of shorter forms, as seen in (30), where the prosodie constraints would
favor a non-optimal candidate if ranked.
(29)
Input: ar'g'ad ALIGN-L NONFIN PARSESYLL *RG DEP •RK
* *
a. a . r'i ) . g'ad
b. ( ar'. g'ad) * *!
As seen in the tableau below, the cluster constraints, along with the faithfulness
constraint that disfavors adding material to input forms, determine the optimal
forms of all shorter words, that is, input mono- and bimoraic forms. The rele-
vant input forms for /fareg/fearg 'anger', /k'ark/ cearc 'hen' and /kir'k'i/ coirce
'oats' in (30) are /farg/, /k'ark/ and /kir'k'i /. (30c) and (30f), which contain two
epenthetic vowels (one (word-internally) to avoid the relevant cluster, another
(word-finally) to facilitate the assignment of the optimal foot), are included to
broaden the candidate set considered.
570 Màire Ni Chiosàin
(30)
Input: farg, k'ark, kir'k'i ALIGN-L NONFIN P a r s e S y l l *RG DEP *RK
* *
a. » ( f a . n>g )
*
b. (farg) *!
c. ( f a . ra ) . g» * • •I
* *
d. ·*•( k'ark)
e. ( k'ar . ak) * +!
*
f. ( k'a . ra ) . ko *!*
g. » ( kir'. k'i ) * •
*
h. ( ki. r'i ) . k'i *!
3.5. Conclusions
The pattern of epenthesis in Irish discussed in this section, reveals an interest-

ing interaction between prosodie and segmental constraints. The optimal forms
of relatively longer inputs (perhaps best characterized in terms of their moraic
constituency) are determined by constraints on prosodie structure: disfavored
clusters are tolerated in such forms in preference to either additional unfooted
material or additional footed material which is non-optimal. The optimal forms
of shorter inputs, on the other hand, show instead the effects of constraints on
segment sequences. Disfavored sequences in these forms are avoided by epen-
thesis. Thus the distribution of post-vocalic clusters in Irish is best accounted
for in a framework in which the conflicting requirements of prosody and
phonotactics are seen to emerge.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Jaye Padgett for extensive discussion of all aspects of this
chapter, also audiences at HILP3, the Pézenas Colloquium (June 1996), and the
editors for valuable comments and suggestions.
Notes
1. The variants of the palatalized coronal sonorants that appear in word-initial position in
simple onsets in non-mutation environments are the 'tense' variants (represented by e.g.
de Bhaldraithe 1945 as palatals). As seen in the following section, the 'lax' variant
(represented as palatalized alveolars by de Bhaldraithe) occurs word-initially in lenition
environments and also in most initial clusters.
2. Not all consonants are altered in lenition environments - the laryngeal fricatives and the
coronal sonorants remain unchanged, although see footnote 1. For a formal account of
the alternations in lenition, see Ni Chiosáin (1991, 1995). Labiodental fricatives are
deleted in lenition environments. However, a secondary palatalization specification is
retained (as indicated in (4) by 0') which is realized on a preceding consonant in certain
environments, e.g. non-lenited: /fo:l'/ feoil 'meat', lenited: /in'o:l'/ an flieoil 'the meat'
(</anI).
3. The coronal obstruents occur unchanged in lenition environments when preceded by an-
other coronal consonant in certain syntactic configurations, e.g. in compounds and cer-
tain prefixed forms, /JandinV, VJanyin'i/ sean + duine 'an old person' (compound) cf.
/Janayin'i/, /in'd'emta/, */in'je:nta/ in + déanta 'do-able' (see Ni Chiosáin 1991).
4. Lenition is indicated orthographically by the addition of 'h' following the consonant in
question, e.g. ρ (non-lenited) = [p] / ph (lenited) = [f].
5. Of the obstruents, the coronal and laryngeal fricatives are not affected by eclipsis. Since
eclipsis would involve voicing of these segments, it can in this sense be regarded as
structure preserving.
6. The coronal stops occur unchanged in eclipsis environments when preceded by a coro-
nal consonant in certain syntactic configurations, e.g. definite NPs in PPs marked by
eclipsis: /er' an tab/*dab/ ar an talamh 'on the ground'.
7. The final nasal of the definite article /an/ is optionally elided preceding consonants.
8. In addition, in the western dialects, the palatal variants of the palatalized coronal sono-
rants occur following the palatalized coronal fricative, rather than the palatalized al-
veolar variants (see de Bhaldraithe 1945).
9. Although tl/tT and st/ft' are permitted onsets (the former pair yielding only a handful of
forms), stl/JtT are impermissible onsets.
10. There is, in addition, one example of the (hetero-syllabic) cluster /k'm'/ word-internally,
/ak'.m'i/ aicme 'class'.
11. For alternative approaches to these data, see e.g. Ó Baoill (1980), Ni Chiosáin (1991),
Cyran (1996), Green (1997). For accounts of comparable data in Scottish Gaelic, see,
e.g. Clements (1986), Sagey (1987), Bosch (1991, 1995), Bosch & de Jong (1997), and
Green (1997).
12. The epenthesis discussed in this section differs from a 'secondary epenthesis' in south-
ern dialects which occurs in certain onset clusters, e.g. /eb'r'a:n/eb'ir'a:n/ Aibreán
'April', /agla/agola/ eagla 'fear'. The pre-cluster vowel in such forms is lengthened in
certain western dialects, e.g. /aib'r'a:n/, /a;gb/. See e.g. Sjoestedt (1931) for descriptive
details, and Green (1997) for a formal account.
13. The form /kolapn/ colpa 'calf (of leg)' does, however, occur.
14. Note that some of the non-epenthesizing clusters in (16) are also homorganic.
15. Some interesting distributional patterns occur in the data. For most of the relevant
consonant sequences there are few forms that are structurally identical to the surface
epenthetic forms that are arguably not the result of epenthesis. For example, in the case
of the sequence /rg/, there is only one form that corresponds in shape to surface forms
like /d'arag/ dearg 'red' (i.e. comprising two monomoraic syllables), that is, /karig'/
carraig 'rock'. (Note the different orthographic representations of the relevant conso-
nant sequences: represented as a cluster in one class of words (the epenthesizing forms)
and as a non-adjacent sequence of consonants in the other). However, the forms that do
exist can be argued not to be the result of epenthesis: (i) in /karig1/ carraig 'rock',
/noligV nollaig 'Christmas' and /tir'av/ tuireamh 'lament', the relevant consonants differ
in secondary articulation, (ii) in contrast to 'epenthesizing' forms e.g. /tarav/ter'iv'/
tarbh/tairbh 'bull/bulls', only the final consonant in forms like /tabv/taliv'/ ta-
lamh/talaimh 'land mase nom sg/gen sg' and /obv/oliv'/ ollamh/ollaimh 'professor nom
sg/gen sg' is affected by final palatalization, rather than both.
16. An alternative account, adopting Lexicon Optimization (Prince & Smolensky 1993:
192), would assume the optimal form to be also the input. However, recall that the
clusterhood of the relevant sequences must be accessible at some level. The alternative
approach would then require a representational difference at the output level between
true CVC and epenthesized CVC. One possibility would be to treat the epenthesized
vowel as the realization of a mora affiliated in the input to the sonorant (see Ni
Chiosàin 1991 for an account along these lines).
17. That FTBIN is not what drives epenthesis in Irish is apparent from parallel forms con-
taining the cluster rk - see (16a) - where epenthesis does not occur. Furthermore, there
are numerous examples of monomoraic lexical (non-closed class) forms in Irish which
do not undergo any form of augmentation, e.g. /t'ax/ teach 'house', /kat/ cat 'cat', /lag/
lag 'weak', /k'axt/ ceacht 'lesson', /ab/ ab 'abbot', /pu/ puth 'breeze', Ib'il bith 'exis-
tence'.
18. Note that epenthetic vowels are normally retained in morphologically complex forms
regardless of prosodie structure; for example, in the related forms /ar't'g'od/ airgead
'money' and /ar'i'g'sdas/ airgeadas 'finance'.
19. It is useful, however, to be aware of parallel examples containing these clusters, e.g.
examples in (16) above, /korp/ corp 'body' (light syllable), /kir'p'ax/ coirpeach 'crimi-
nal' (light, light), as well as forms like /kar'p'e:d/ cairpéad 'carpet' (light, heavy).
20. There are exceptions to most of the word-types listed in (25). These are generally
relatively recent borrowings from English and could be argued to form a separate sub-
lexicon (see e.g. Itô & Mester 1994, 1995 on the structure of the lexicon of Japanese);
e.g. exceptions to (25a): /targad'/ targaid 'target', /pel'v'is/ peilbheas 'pelvis'; to (25b):
/hormo:n/ hormón 'hormone', /sir'v'e:/ suirbhé 'survey', /orga:n/ orgán 'organ'; and to
(25c): /morga:Jt'a/ morgaiste 'mortgage', /norma:lta/ normálta 'normal', /al'g'e:bsr/
ailgéabar 'algebra'.
21. Green (1997) proposes an alternative account of these data within optimality theory,
albeit one that also focuses on the role of prosodie structure.
22. NONFINALITY in (26iii) disfavors prosodie structure at the right-edge of a word. Cf.
Spaelti (1994: 577) for a different formulation of this generalization, i.e. WEAKEDGE
(P-Cat): The right periphery of P-Cat /prosodie category/ should be empty.
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19 A preliminary account of some aspects of Leurbost
Gaelic syllable structure
Norval Smith
1. Introduction 1
The syllable structure of Scottish Gaelic is extremely involved, and so poses a

significant problem for existing models of the syllable. In particular, the struc-
ture of the rhyme is highly complex, involving epenthetic vowels that are felt
by some speakers to have an atypical status. In this chapter I will address the
problem of the analysis of the rhyme in the dialect of the crofting township of
Leurbost on the island of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland. All data is
from Oftedal (1956). 2 The phenomena I will deal with in this chapter include
vowel-epenthesis in sonorant clusters, syncope of schwa, and vowel-diphthong-
ization before tense sonorants.
Gaelic belongs to a typological group of Northern European languages pos-
sessing complex syllable structure, including at least the Celtic, Germanic,
Baltic and Slavic languages. Other less closely related languages spoken in
adjacent areas appear to have similarly complex syllables, such as Romansch,
Albanian, and Northern Greek. Cf. Fikkert (1994) for the most far-reaching
description of the complexities of the Dutch syllable - see also Smith et al.
(1989). Compare Rubach & Booij (1990) for a description of the Polish sylla-
ble, as an illustration of the complexities found in Slavic.
The model of the syllable I will employ here incorporates two important
insights. The basic framework for my model is provided by Levin's X1 model
of the syllable (Levin 1984, 1987). Further, I utilize the notion introduced by
García-Bellido (1997) that parasitic vowels may be situated as it were in
syllables within syllables. I will not adopt her somewhat complex model in its
entirety, however, but restrict myself to making use of the important notion of
recursion within the syllable.
This chapter will not deal to any extent with constituents larger than the
syllable. Conceivably, however, the notion of recursion has a part to play there
too. There are also indications that the phonotactic hierarchy is not to be
identified with the prosodie hierarchy (Everett 1997, Bolognesi 1998). In other
words, the phonotactic hierarchical structure within which the constituent
structure of the syllable is defined is not necessarily the same as the prosodie
hierarchical structure within which the weight of the syllable is defined,
578 Nerval Smith
although clearly it could (and presumably should) be stated in Optimality

Theoretic (OT) terms that these two structures are usually aligned in some
sense. Foot structure can be defined directly in terms of morae (see the two
authors cited above, and also Clements & Keyser (1983) and Halle & Vergnaud
(1979) for the concept of separate planes of representation or projections.
Clements & Keyser recognize a syllable plane and a nucleus plane for
instance). Everett (1997) assumes a constraint-hierarchy for Banawá whereby
the constraint S Y L L A B L E L N T E G R I T Y is dominated by P A R S E M O R A ( I N F O O T ) . In
other words syllables are constructed from segments, and feet from morae. The
SYLLABLElNTEGRITY constraint states that syllables cannot be split between
feet, but the higher ranking assigned to P A R S E M O R A ( I N F O O T ) in Banawá over-
rides the effects of this constraint. For most languages, SYLLABLElNTEGRITY
will however be ranked above P A R S E M O R A ( I N F O O T ) .
The question of the existence of possible phonotactic relationships above the
syllable level has been obscured by the persistent conception of the syllable as a
constituent intermediate between the mora and the foot. The positing of two
separate hierarchies will, I suspect, allow the statement of the phonotactic prop-
erties to be represented in a more satisfactory manner. So the question of the
place of word-edge phonotactic restrictions, such as the extra word-initial and
word-fmal /s/ normally allowed in English, was so far only amenable to
unsatisfactory syllable-dependent explanations in terms of appendices, extrasyl-
labicity, stray-erasure or the like.
Similarly, there are phonotactic restrictions as to the second consonant in
(maximally bisyllabic) morphemes in some languages, such as !Xü with 92
consonants allowed in Ci position and only 4 in C2 position (Snyman 1975),
and !Xôo with ca. 115 consonants allowed in Ci position and only 5 in C2 posi-
tion (Traill 1985). It is not certain how these should be stated. We may even
have to recognize two word-sized hierarchical constituents - a prosodie
phonological word and a phonotactic phonological word. This may have some
relevance for unresolved problems surrounding the phonological word, and its
relationship to compounding and cliticization.
The recognition of the problems connected with the vexed relationship be-
tween the phonotactic and the prosodie aspects of the syllable led van der Hulst
(1996) to appeal to the distinction between lexical and postlexical phonology.
Van der Hulst posited a distinction between the phonotactic (or logical) syllable
with constituent structure, and the prosodie syllable with moraic structure,
whereby the latter is closer to the phonetics and therefore postlexical. This
would necessitate the reformulation of all constraints defined at the word-level
which make reference to moras. For the moment I favor a parallel approach to
this problem (two parallel hierarchies) rather than the serial approach suggested
by van der Hulst.
Leurbost Gaelic syllable structure 579
In this chapter I will refer further to syllabic and moraic structure on the as-
sumption that two different types of entities are involved which do not have any
direct hierarchical relationship to each other. However, as I have stated above,
these will frequently be aligned with each other, quite likely in terms of a con-
straint such as Everett's SYLLABLEINTEGRITY.
The general framework adopted here is that of optimality theory, in its
Correspondence Theory manifestation (McCarthy & Prince 1995). I will utilize
a revised version of Levin's X'-model of the syllable (Levin 1982, 1984, 1987).
2. A revised X' model of the syllable
Levin's X' model of the syllable (Levin 1984, 1987), generates syllables in
terms of the following steps:
(1) N"-Projection (Χ) X - » (Χ) X

I \ I
Ν \ Ν
Ν
Ν"
This projection is assumed to be universal. Language-particular is the following

step:
(2) N'-Projection Χ X -> Χ X

I ι /
Ν Ν /
I I-'
Ν" N'
N"
Further rules of incorporation and/or adjunction may apply. In conformity with
the general spirit of the times, I will assume that both of these aspects of syl-
labification are universal, being given by GEN. The variation in syllable types
found is a consequence of constraint-ranking.
I revise Levin's model to admit recursion, replacing at the same time the
symbol X - standing for X-slot or skeletal slot - with the symbol R (= Root). I
recast the syllabification rules in the form of a formal X-bar schema in Speas's
terms (Speas 1990):
580 Norval Smith
n
(3) a. Ν = (R )
b. Ν' = Ν (R/N")
c. N"= (R/N") N'
Part (3 a) of the schema defines the nucleus as consisting of zero or more roots
(X in Levin's terms). I have decided not to limit this to a maximum of two
units, as is often done. I consider this to be a task for the constraints.
Part (3b) of the schema defines the rhyme (N') in terms of a nucleus (N) -
the head - and an optional coda. The coda is conceived of by Levin as the
complement of the syllable. Here I create the option of recursion - the coda
consisting either of a root (a segment) or a syllable (an N"). In itself the addi-
tion of recursion brings this approach closer to the general spirit of the X'
model, which of course allows for recursion in syntax.
Part (3c) of the schema defines the syllable (N") as consisting of an optional
onset and a rhyme - the head. The onset is conceived of by Levin as the
specifier of the syllable. Once again recursion is possible - the onset consisting,
like the coda, either of a root (a segment) or a syllable (an N").
If we consider the phonotactic possibilities of nuclei 3 , it is obvious that three
types are of frequent occurrence:
(4) a. Vi
b. ViV,
c. ViVj
Does this mean that we have to assume that every other constituent of the sylla-
ble must also be allowed to contain two segments. The answer is "not neces-
sarily". In dependency terms, it is normal to allow heads to be more complex
than dependents (Dresher & van der Hulst 1995). In the case of the syllable, the
head is of course the nucleus, and the dependents the margins (onset and coda).
I will return to this point below.
An additional consideration is whether we should actually set an upper limit
of two on the number of segments in the nucleus. In other words, do such things
as triphthongs really exist, or to put it another way, are triphthongs really triph-
thongs, or are they diphthongs plus some coda element?
As an example, we can consider what are referred to as triphthongs in RP
Standard English of Southern England (SESE). How should these be analyzed?
Let us consider two triphthongs of English, /aia/ and /aus/.
(5) phonemic phonemic

a. waio 'wire' b. baua 'bower'
haia 'higher' flaua 'flour'
Either we have a nucleus with three elements, or the schwa-element must be in

the coda, given that high /hai/ must be assumed to have a bimoraic nucleus. On
what basis could this question be settled? One criterion could be freedom of
distribution. Is final schwa free in its occurrence in polyphthongs in RP?
(6) phonemic
bra 'beer'
weo 'where'
foa 4 'four'
Jua 5 'sure'
An examination of the putative diphthongs containing [a] as second element

shows that this is not the case. In (6) we see that schwa occurs following a
number of lax vowels, but this is certainly not the complete list of lax vowels of
RP. [ae] and [λ] are missing, as are [a] and [υ] too, in fact, for all but the most
conservative speakers. This would tend to indicate that [a] is probably not to be
regarded as a coda-element.
A second criterion might be that any coda-element has a high likelihood of
occurring as an onset. This is not a 100% waterproof implication 6 , but in gen-
eral, the set of segments occurring in the coda is a subset of those occurring in
the onset. By this criterion [a] should not be regarded as a coda-element, as it
does not occur in onsets in RP.
A third criterion might be that [a] is just too sonorous an element to occur in
a coda - or onset for that matter. Only (relatively) high glides are allowed in
marginal positions in syllables in languages in general. In at least some of the
environments it occurs in, in RP [a] is actually more open than a neighboring
nuclear element. 7 Compare [ra], [on], [ara], [aus].
On the basis of these criteria we can fairly confidently affirm that /aia/ and
/auo/ are indeed triphthongs. 8 And, therefore, that nuclei cannot be restricted to
two elements at most. In other words, it must be an aspect of typological varia-
tion whether languages allow nuclei corresponding in weight to one, two, or
three (or more) morae.
The 'rules' or algorithms of syllabification given in (3) are assumed to form
part of GEN and will deliver syllabified outputs to the phonology. Constraint-
ranking will determine the optimal output of course. The constraints that have
to do with syllable structure will clearly have to be supplemented to take ac-
count of my revised model of the syllable. One obvious additional constraint
will be * RECURSION. This will disfavor clusters, and other recursive structures.
In the course of this chapter, I will suggest that other new constraints are also
required.
Obviously, my model would allow the potential infinite nesting of clusters.
In fact constraints will prevent such infinite nesting, I will assume. In general
582 Norval Smith
the choice will be between a single syllable containing recursive syllables, and
sequences of syllables. I will assume that the trade-off between recursive sylla-
bles and sequences of syllables will be mediated by additional constraints such
as those concerned with the sonority hierarchy and similar phonotactic princi-
ples, and that the greater the amount of syllable-nesting, the lesser the likeli-
hood of a syllable being chosen by an evaluation procedure as an optimal out-
put.
Without utilizing the optional elements in (3a-c), the following basic syllable
will emerge. This would normally correspond to a syllable consisting only of a
single vowel:
(7) N" syllable

I
N' rhyme
I
Ν nucleus
I
R root (of segment)
For many languages, this result will be blocked, however, by other constraints
such as WEIGHTTOSTRESS which will insist on (open) stressed syllables having
nuclei corresponding to two morae.
Consonant clusters will be defined as involving recursive syllables appearing
at the onset and coda positions as defined by Levin's X' approach.
(8) N"
/ I
N" N'
Ν Ν"
The dependent N"-nodes represent consonant clusters. As noted by García-

Bellido (1997) there is a contrast in Spanish between the following forms:
(9) a. prado [parado] 'prairie'

b. parado [parado] 'stopped'
There is a parasitic vowel appearing between the members of the initial cluster
in (9a). In terms of my approach these two words would appear as follows:
(10) a. N" N"

1 / I
N" Ν' R N'
/ K I
RN R Ν R
I
R Ν
p a r [parado]
Ν" Ν" Ν"

x i / I x i
R Ν' R Ν' R Ν'
Ν Ν Ν
I I
R R R
I
a [parado]
In other words what is being stated here is that there is always a potential for
such secondary epenthetic elements in clusters. It will depend on the constraint-
ranking in the language concerned how these clusters are realized - with or
without an epenthetic vowel. In itself, the occurrence of such an epenthetic
vowel will not alter the status of the syllable concerned as a recursive syllable.
When such epenthetic vowels appear or not will depend on language-specific
factors. They may be compulsory in certain clusters, and disallowed in others.
They may be restricted to certain speech-styles. In English, there is even an
informal spelling convention representing the appearance of certain epenthetic
vowels in case of extreme emphasis. This is seen in the "uh" in (11).
(11) Normal Orthography Extreme Emphasis Orthography

/pli:z/ 'please' /pali:z/ 'puhlleezzz' 9
The above statement on clusters will not apply however to "clusters" only
appearing in word-marginal positions. Those initial and final elements analyzed
in terms of appendices and/or extrametricality will not be regarded in this ap-
proach as present in the internal structure of the syllable at all, but as external to
the syllable - for instance, in terms of positions within a phonotactic phonologi-
cal word constituent as suggested above.
At this point, the reader will be tempted to ask if there are any clusters that I
would treat as real (tautosyllabic) clusters. As I see it, there are two options
584 Nerval Smith
here. We must in any case assume that syllable structures are assigned by GEN.
This would allow us to state that onsets or codas could only contain a singleton
consonant. Alternately, we could allow clusters, but penalize these by means of
constraints.
I will proceed here, as I indicated above, on the basis of the conclusion in
Dresher & van der Hulst (1995) that heads must have the possibility of being
more complex than dependents, with the corresponding implication that de-
pendents may not be more complex than heads. However, since syllables like
the following are allowed in languages like English:
(12) /prik/ 'prick'

/kamp/ 'camp'
/kramp/ 'cramp'
we would apparently be faced with structures involving greater complexity in

dependents than in heads if we assumed that the clusters here were actually
tautosyllabic, in the normal sense of multiply attached onset or coda elements.
If, however, we assume that recursive syllables are involved, then the complex-
ity of the directly dependent elements in the syllable can be defined as maxi-
mally 1. I will proceed further on the assumption that this is the correct stra-
tegy.
3. Gaelic syllable structure
Work on Scottish Gaelic syllable structure carried out within the generative
framework has largely been restricted to a single aspect of a single dialect. The
single aspect involved is the forecasting of the quality of epenthetic vowels, and
the single dialect involved is that of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides.
The first major study of this phenomenon is found in Clements (1986). Basi-
cally, all subsequent work takes Clements as a starting-point, and provides
some reinterpretation of it. The only significant subsequent work on Barra
Gaelic is that of Ni Chiosáin (1994) who demonstrates that fewer aspects of the
epenthetic vowel depend on assimilation from the previous vowel, some as-
pects being dependent rather on the consonantal environment.
The relevance of all this work to the present chapter is minimal, as Leurbost
always displays an epenthetic vowel that is an exact copy of the previous
(stressed) vowel. Considerations of which features of the epenthetic vowel
derive from the stressed vowel and which from the consonantal environment
are therefore irrelevant, although what happens in other dialects is obviously of
great interest for the full analysis of those dialects. Whether a vowel is epen-
thetic or not in the Leurbost dialect is fully determinable on the basis of its tone,
as is the situation in other North-Western Gaelic dialects.10
Some Irish Gaelic dialects display a similar patterning of epenthesis (usually
the epenthetic vowel is either hi or /i/ depending on the consonantal environ-
ment), and lengthening or diphthongization before tense sonorants to that which
we will shortly see occurs in Leurbost Gaelic (see Ni Chiosáin 1991, and also
Ni Chiosáin, this volume, where the second phenomena is described as quanti-
tative transfer). Apparently the combination of syncope and svarabhakti also
found in Leurbost (see below) either does not occur, has been lost, or has not
been recognized in Irish Gaelic due to the lack of tonal and quality distinctions
between unaccented and epenthetic vowels. Here, I will attempt to provide an
account of this phenomenon in Leurbost. In general syncope appears to have
been ignored in recent work on Scottish Gaelic. Cyran (1996), who employs a
Government Phonology approach, assumes that epenthetic vowels in Irish, as
well as unstressed syllables with vowels Ν or hi, involve underlying empty
nuclei. This comes close to my interpretation, except that the tonal and quality
differences are not explained. Furthermore, my account agrees better with the
intuitions of speakers.
3.1. The intuitions of speakers regarding epenthetic vowels
These intuitions are of considerable interest. Oftedal says of the dialect of

Leurbost (1956: 29):
"... that svarabhakti groups are recognized as monosyllabic by educated native

speakers. This may be partly due to the spelling, where the second vowel of a
svarabhakti group is left out (orm,falbh); but it is significant that in songs, even
local drain that have never been written down, a svarabhakti group is sung on
one note."11
Similar sentiments were expressed by Borgstrom's informants in Barra, where

the tonal distinction between epenthetic and (unstressed) non-epenthetic vowels
is absent. Borgstrom states (1940: 153):
"In conclusion I give some remarks by Mr. Neil Sinclair, of Barra, regarding the
two types [aran] and [rrârajv],12 Comparing the two words [faeNak] 'a crow'
(feannag, type [aran]) and [/¡aLajk] 'hunting' (sealg, type [mlara]v]) he said: in
[faeNak] there is a 'space' between the two syllables, so that he could pronounce
[faëN - ak].13 In [f[aLa]k] the [L] and the following [k] are so 'close together' that
such a separation is impossible; the word is "nearly monosyllabic, but not quite
monosyllabic". He declared that the word [f^raj-atasr'] 'towel' ([Jiœrai] tasr'])
contained three syllables, which he wrote down in the following manner: seara-
586 Norval Smith
ad-air, in phonetic spelling U[®ra]-3t-asr']; he said that the first 'syllable' seara-
is long and stressed. The ordinary spelling of the word is searbhadair or seara-
dair. Miss Annie Johnson, unacquainted with Mr. Sinclair's views, also divided
the word into the same three syllables. From this it is evident that for native
speakers the type [mjarajv] is equivalent to a monosyllable."14
3.2. Epenthesis - synchronic or diachronic
There are two basic approaches regarding the epenthetic vowels of Scottish
Gaelic dialects. Either one assumes that epenthesis is a diachronic phenomenon
of no synchronic significance, or one assumes that it is still a synchronic pro-
cess. The first view is popular among students of Scottish Gaelic dialects, who
by and large either take a very phonetic view of things (cf. Holmer 1938, 1957,
1962), and to a lesser extent Borgstrem (1937, 1940, 1941), or apply strictly
(surface) phonemic principles in their analyses (Oftedal 1956, Watson 1974,
Dorian 1978, O Murchú 1989, and particularly Ternes 1973). Whether or not
morphophonemics are discussed, they have no influence on the actual analyses
which remain purely surfacey, whether phonemic or phonetic. Kenstowicz &
Kisseberth (1979) follow Borgstrem (1937) in regarding epenthesis as a purely
diachronic phenomenon, with the result that they state that Barra Gaelic syllabi-
fication must be partly pre-specified.
The reason for this is that Borgstrom, whom they follow, claims that epen-
thetic disyllables are distinguished from inherited disyllables by the position of
the syllable boundary.
(13) /ar.an/ aran 'bread'

/ma.rav/ marbh 'dead'
Clements (1986) does not believe that the epenthetic vowels are underlying
(lexicalized). Generative phonologists who have examined this question subse-
quently are, in general, in agreement with this position (cf. Ni Chiosáin 1994).
For Irish Gaelic, the same holds true (cf. again Ni Chiosáin 1991, this volume).
Cyran (1996), with his Government phonology approach, regards them as re-
presenting underlying nuclei however.
3.3. Syllable division in Scottish Gaelic svarabhakti groups
Borgstrom (1940) claims the distinction he claims exists between the svara-
bhakti and non-svarabhakti cases in terms of syllable division (see (13)) is not
only present in Barra, but in all the dialects of the Outer Hebrides he investi-
gated, those of South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Harris, as well as the dialects
of Bernera, Swanibost15 and Eoropie in Lewis. In Borgstram (1941), he also

states that the dialects of Skye and Wester Ross exhibit the same feature, with
the one exception of the dialect of Applecross.
Ternes (1973), in his description of the dialect of Applecross, is critical of a
number of aspects of Borgstrom's work. For example, he points out a number
of errors in Borgstram's account of vowel nasality in his descriptions of the
dialects of Barra and Bernera. He states:
"After a brief account of Borgstrom's interpretation, Oftedal (1956: 40) simply

states: "In Leurbost, the distribution of vocalic nasality is different." W e do not
know whether Oftedal really believed that Borgstrom's dialects are different with
respect to vowel nasality, or whether he did not like to state explicitly that
Borgstrom was wrong."
The relevance of this is that of course since Ternes was familiar with the dia-
lects of Barra and Bernera, he was also in a position to confirm or disconfirm
the observations made by Borgstrom on the subject of syllable-division. Ternes
seems, however, also not to like to state explicitly that Borgstrom was wrong in
his typologically odd claim. What he does say is of some interest, however
(Ternes 1973: 106) (with respect to the situation in the dialect of Applecross):
"Comparing the two words <aran> 'bread' and <arm> 'army', one can distin-
guish in both cases two syllables separated by /r/. All four syllables have the
same [a]-quality. Both words are stressed on the first syllable and have the same
intonation contour. In particular there is no difference in the placement of the
syllable cut as was held by Borgstram (1937: 77f, 1940: 55f). In both words the
/r/ initiates the second syllable. Cf. Oftedal (1956: 27): "Borgstrom holds that, in
the dialect of Bernera, there is an additional difference in the placement of the
syllable cut ... I can hear no such difference in Lb., where an intervocalic [r] or
[L] always belongs - phonetically spoken - to the following syllable."
Because of his introduction of Oftedal into the discussion, I interpret this as an

oblique rejection by Ternes of Borgstrom's analysis of syllable-division. Note
that Borgstrom is claiming that the normal position in Scottish Gaelic as to
syllable-division (for the epenthetic cases are a small minority) is VC-V. Note
that the claim that a language possesses vowel-initial syllables as its favored
pattern is very rare. The most radical case of such a statement known to me
from the literature is that of Sommer (1969, 1970) who claims that this is the
only pattern occurring in Kunjen, a small group of languages/dialects spoken in
Australia. This claim generated a controversy (cf. Dixon 1970). However, the
less extreme claim that syllable division between a stressed syllable and a fol-
lowing unstressed syllable is between a stressed syllable-final consonant and a
following unstressed syllable-initial vowel has been made several times in the
588 Nerval Smith
literature (cf. Hoard 1971 and Selkirk 1982 for English, and Tranel 1987 and
Noske 1992 for French).
The case of Applecross must be excluded from the present discussion further
since, as both Ternes (1973) and Borgstrom (1941) remark, in this dialect the
distinction between the svarabhakti and non-svarabhakti cases is determined in
purely quantitative terms.
Otherwise, the North-Western dialects all distinguish between the two types
in basically non-quantitative terms - whether they make use of tone or not.
Possibly Ternes' reluctance to criticize Borgstrom in respect of his discussion
of the Barra case was related to the problem of determining how the distinction
was in fact made.
Before drawing this discussion of syllable-division in the svarabhakti and
non-svarabhakti cases to a close, I would like to mention facts revealed by that
much-maligned student of Gaelic dialects, Nils Holmer, concerning the dialect
of Islay (Holmer 1938). Whatever one may think of some of his other work on
Scottish Gaelic dialects16, there is no doubt that Holmer knew this particular
dialect well (cf. also MacLean 1959). The difference between svarabhakti and
non-svarabhakti cases is as follows:
Svarabhakti18
aran arm 'army'
bolügam bolgam 'a drink'
d'al^v dealbh 'picture'
d'er^v dearg 'red'
donoxsy Donnchadh 'Duncan'
Non-svarabhakti
a?ran aran 'bread'
ba?lax balach 'boy'
bo?l3Y boladh 'smell'
kro?nal cronail 'mischievous'
du?nja duine 'man'
Note that there is no question of distinguishing the two cases in the way
Borgstrom claims happens in dialects further north. Here it is certainly out of
the question that the second syllable of aran could be vowel-initial.
The Islay Gaelic glottal stop does not just function as a distinguishing
marker between svarabhakti words and non-svarabhakti words, however. It has
a more general function, which is to close (i.e. supply a coda to) two other
classes of accented syllable which would otherwise also only have a short
vowel in their rhyme. Both monosyllables with short vowels, and disyllables
with sequences of two short vowels are also marked by the presence of a glottal
stop.
(15) a. Monosyllable
t'e? teth 'hot'
me? maith 'good'
u? ugh 'egg'
lje? leth 'half
gru? grulh 'curds'
b. Disyllable
go?ur gobhar 'goat'
t'i?inj tighinn 'come'
be?ax beathach 'beast'
bo?u bodha 'submerged rock'
bu?i buidhe 'yellow'
In other words the [?]19 is necessary to close the first syllable, both here, and in
the non-svarabhakti cases in (14b) as well. The presence of the glottal stop is
not forcing the intervocalic liquid into the onset, it would end up there anyway.
The svarabhakti cases do not require this therapy. Therefore we can at least be
certain that they do not involve open syllables. Note that this is precisely the
opposite of the situation Borgstom was claiming existed. According to him,
the non-svarabhakti case involved a closed syllable, while the svarabhakti case
involved an open syllable. Here, however, we have cast-iron evidence of the
opposite situation.
To conclude, Clements (1986) provides an interesting possible solution to
the Barra syllabification problem, which has obvious parallels to the Islay
situation. He quotes Borgstram (1937) who suggests that words of the aran
type actually have a "consonant without oral articulation" in the onset of the
second syllable - /ar.Can/. Clements reinterprets this as a "silent consonant".
He does not identify this with the glottal stop often appearing in hiatus situa-
tions in words like nighean [ni(?)an] 'daughter', preferring to see its influence
in the slightly longer first syllable in such words. However, I would suggest
that no distinction should be drawn between a glottal stop on the one hand, and
the break in tension occurring between the syllables in words like [ar-an]. Cer-
tainly there is no phonological difference. 20 Furthermore, Borgstrom refers to
the glottal effects himself in hiatus situations.
3.4. Syllable division in hiatus groups
In Leurbost Gaelic, Oftedal describes the syllable as "not in itself a phonemic

or prosodie entity" (1956: 25). Later on, discussing the syllabicity of certain
forms he provides a statement of this "in strictly phonetical terms" (1956: 26).
Here Oftedal is in error, however. Phonetically there is no failsafe means of
590 Norval Smith
either identifying the number of syllables in a word, nor of identifying the

boundaries of these syllables (cf. Ladefoged 1967). The syllable is indeed a
prosodie unit - that is a unit of the phonological organization. So the intuitions
of speakers are indeed more important than any piece of experimental phonetic
apparatus, or even a linguist who has not had much exposure to a language.
Scottish Gaelic has preserved a number of cases of hiatus going back to the
Old Irish stage of the language. Additionally, various intervocalic consonants
have been lost giving rise to newer cases of hiatus. Oftedal discusses the re-
flexes of these types in Leurbost, comparing them with non-hiatus diphthongs
and long vowels.
(16) hiatus group non-hiatus

bo-o bodha 'underwater rock' bo: bo 'cow'
fi-9x fltheach 'raven' fi9x fiach 'debt'
Of these words Oftedal says (p. 26):
"In strictly phonetical terms, all four words seem to vacillate between
monosyllabic and disyllabic pronunciations; all contain a long vocalic
segment the total duration of which appears to be approximately the same
at a constant rate of speech, and, according to my impression, all may or
may not have two peaks of dynamic stress...
There is never a glottal catch or constriction, nor intermission of voic-
ing in either word pair. The chief difference is one of pitch, the words for
'cow' and 'debt' being always pronounced on a level or rising tone:
(17) a.
b o o b o o
or
f i a χ f i 9 χ
while the words for 'underwater rock' and 'raven' begin on a rising or
high level note and end in a rather abrupt fall:
b.
Λ \
b o o b o o
or
f i 9 χ f i 9 χ
The difference in pitch is completely parallel to that between a svarabhakti

group and a normal disyllable. Because of the intuitions of native speakers
regarding the syllabic make-up of these latter cases, I will treat the structures in
(17a) as monosyllables, and those in (17b) as disyllables. I regard the high tone
as diagnostic for the extent of the accented syllable, treating the phonological
tonal patterns of the two types as respectively H and HL.
4. Rhyme structure in Leurbost Gaelic
I will now attempt to provide an account of the following syllabic phenomena

in Leurbost Gaelic.21
(18) a. the occurrence of svarabhakti vowels

b. vowel syncope
c. simultaneous syncope and svarabhakti
d. vowel 'lengthening' before 'tense' sonorants
The basic rhyme types in the Leurbost dialect can be illustrated as follows:
a. VC kLax clach 'stone'

b. VCC k'erk cearc 'hen' [Type A cluster]
c. VCvC 22 ânàtn 23 ainm 'name' [Type Β cluster]
d. vvc brag bròg 'boot'
e. vvcc k'aiRd ceàrd 'tinker'
I distinguish between Type A clusters and Type Β clusters following short vow-
els. Type A clusters do not involve a svarabhakti vowel, while Type Β clusters
do. Svarabhakti vowels never occur following long vowels.
Before proceeding further, it is necessary to address certain questions of
underlying representation. The surface consonant-system of Leurbost Gaelic is
as follows.
592 Norval Smith
(20) Labial Coronal Coronal Dorsal Dorsal Glottal

palatalized palatalized
Aspirated stops Ρ t t' k' k
Unaspirated stops b d d' g' g
Voiceless fricatives f s s' x' X
Voiced fricatives V Y' y
Tense nasals m Ν Ν'
Lax nasals η
Tense laterals L L'
24
Lax laterals r
Tense rhotics R
Lax rhotics r r'
Semi-vowels j (w)
I have used symbols which indicate the structural relationships in a more satis-
factory fashion. Phonetically some phonemes have deviant realizations:
(21) /n/ = [h] /L/ = [}] /R/= [*,']

/t'/=[tç] /d'/ = [d?] /s'/ = [Q] /N'/ = [ p ] / l 7 = "[X] /r'/ = [ ö ' ]
Ini = [η] IVI = [l y ] /r/ = [r]
To fully account for vocalic morpho-phonemic alternations (cf. Smith et al. in

prep.), it will be necessary to posit an underlying consonant system where the
feature of palatalization permeates virtually the whole consonant system:
(22) Labial Coronal Dorsal Glottal

palatalized palatalized palatalized palatalized
Aspirated stops Ρ Ρ' t t' k k'
Unaspirated stops b b' d d' g g'
Voiceless fricatives f / s s' χ x' h h'
Voiced fricatives ν ν' y y'
Tense nasals m m' Ν N'
Lax nasals η ri
Tense laterals L V
Lax laterals / Γ
Tense rhotics R
Lax rhotics r r'
Semi-vowels (w) j
(Segments which do not appear in some form as surface phonemes
are given in italics)
For a justification of these underlying relationships see Smith & Naeff (in
prep.) for initial consonants, and Smith et al. (in prep.) for non-initial conso-
nants.
4.1. Svarabhakti vowels
I will claim that the "v" element in (19c) is a parasitic vowel of the same type
as that identified by García-Bellido in Spanish words such as prado [p a rado], It
is described in the literature as a svarabhakti vowel. In the Leurbost dialect such
structures differ tonally from disyllables in that in (accented) syllables contain-
ing svarabhakti vowels, both the main and svarabhakti vowels bear a high tone,
while in disyllabic structures only the accented vowel bears a high tone. In
other words the whole accented rhyme - including recursively dominated syl-
lables, I will claim - falls under the scope of the same high tone.
Only in accented syllables with short vowels do we find svarabhakti struc-
tures; equally it is only in accented syllables that the circumstances occur in
which svarabhakti may arise.
In accented syllables, two types of post-nuclear clusters occur - Type A
clusters without epenthesis, and Type Β clusters with epenthesis. In unaccented
syllables, only a subset of Type A clusters occur. Type A clusters, as I will
argue below, are the less marked of the two types. I will return below to the
question of what precisely the difference between the two types is, and why
svarabhakti vowels do not occur in syllables with long vowels. 2
When a suffix with the structure VC is added to the structures given above in
(19a-e), the result is as follows:
a. CV.C + VC.. kLax + an > kLaxan 'stones'

b. CVC.C + V C . . k'erk + an > k'erkan 'hens'
c. CVCv.C + VC.. 26 ànòm + axay > ànòmaxay 'mention'
d. CVV.C + VC.. bra:g + an > bra:gan 'boots'
e. CVVC.C + V C . . k'aiRd + an > k'a: Rdan 'tinkers'
Note that the parasitic vowel in (19c) remains in evidence in (23c) despite the
fact that the second consonant in the coda cluster now effectively becomes the
onset of the second syllable. Note also that due to the historical loss of certain
consonants, parasitic vowels may occur both word-finally and prevocalically.
(24) a. CVCv fai.o falbh 'go!'

b. CVCv. + VC màLà-an mailghean 'eyebrows'
Such structures are not only amenable to description in terms of our model,
they would be forecast to occur.
I will now give some sample examples of Type A and Β clusters. Type A
clusters involve two important types of structure - a) underlying lax sonorant-
voiceless stop combinations 27 , and b) homorganic sonorant-obstruent clusters. 28
594 Norval Smith
(25) Type A clusters

a. faLt fi/ fait 'hair'
3Lk Ν ole 'evil'
ul'k' /17 uilc 'evil (gen.)'
sg'aLpiç Ν sgealpaich 'dandruff
b. L'âNtiN /η/ leantuinn 'follow (inf.)'
tràqg /η/ trang 'busy'
bjaRsd Irl beart 'loom'
I give below examples of all the Type A clusters:
(26) i. Type A liquid-clusters

a. liquid-stop
[sgarp] Sgarp 'Scarp'
[k'erk] cearc 'hen'
[uô'k'an] uircean 'young pig'
[sg'aLpiç] sgealpaich 'dandruff
[faLt] fait 'hair'
[3Lk] ole 'evil'
[uL'f] uilt 'knuckle (gen.)'
[ul'k'] uilc 'evil (gen.)'
b. liquid-fricative
[bÍRsamad] biorsamaid 'spring balance'
[aRsbag] arsbag 'sp. seagull'
[bjaRsd] beart 'loom'
c. liquid-nasal
[pjYRna] piorna 'reel'
d. liquid-liquid
[krRl'ax] - 'curly'
e. liquid-glottal
[N'd'erhaö'] an earar 'the day after tomorrow'
[juLhiN] iothlainn 'cornyard'
[kö'el'hag] creithleag 'wasp'
ii. Type A nasal-clusters

a. nasal-stop
[L'âNtiN'] leantuinn 'to follow'
[baqko] banca 'sandbank'
[bfdal] - 'bundle'
[trâqg] trang 'busy'
b. nasal-fricative
[Ν kaNsar] - 'the cancer'
Type Β clusters consist basically of non-homorganic sonorant-consonant clus-

ters. Here we find svarabhakti vowels. Only structures not derived by syncope
will be given here.
(27) Type Β clusters

uirtwrar urchair 'a shot'
baLag balg 'bellows'
aLtfba Alba 'Scotland'
brr'im beirm 'yeast'
Once again, following these sample cases, I give the full range of epenthesized
clusters:
(28) i. Type Β Liquid-clusters

a. liquid-stop
[kuRukag] curracag 'sp. bird'
[karabad] carbad 'wagon'
[aragamad] argumaid 'argument'
[faRürg'a] fairge 'sea'
[meó eg ] meirg 'rust'
[kaLop(a)] calpa 'calf of leg'
[aLaba] Alba 'Scotland'
[baLtìrg] balg 'bellows'
[til'/gal] tilgeil 'to throw'
b. liquid-fricative
[barafas] Barbhas 'Barvas'
[uiroKar] urchair 'a shot'
[taras'g or] toirbhsgear 'peat iron'
[duö'wx'a] duirche 'darker'
[aravar] arbhar 'com'
[morgan] morghan 'shingle, gravel'
[sgrö'rv] sgairbh 'cormorant (pi.)'
[suiöajy'] suirghe 'to court'
[saLoxar] salchar 'dirt'
[kaL 'oxan] cailleachan 'wives, old women
[baLovan] balbhan 'dumb person'
[d'vl'rv] deilbh 'to warp'
[dal'jY'as] doilghios 'sadness'
596 Norval Smith
c. liquid-nasal
[t'uiraanaxsY] tiormachadh 'to dry'
[bvö'nn] beirm 'yeast'
[kaLoman] calman 'pigeon'
[il'/mag] imleag 'navel'
d. liquid-zero
[mara-ay] marbhadh 'to kill'
[faLûf] falbh 'go!'
ii. Type Β nasal-clusters

a. nasal-stop
[kanap] cainb 'hemp'
[xûNwkas] chunnacas 'was seen'
b. nasal-fricative
[dÜNöxav] Donnchadh 'Duncan'
[s'ïnyxss] seanchas 'story'
[gruim im adsr] Grimsiadar 'Grimishader'
[k'aNax'i] ceannaichidh 'will buy'
[XYN'YXSS] choinneachas 'will meet (rei.)'
c. nasal-nasal
[t'uimíonay] tiomnadh 'testament'
[änömox] anmoch 'late '
d. nasal-liquid
[im/ray] iomradh 'to mention'
Type Β clusters do not occur after long vowels:
(29) L'u:rbosd *i,'u:rabosd Liiirbost 'Leurbost'
4.2. The difference between Type A and Type Β clusters
It is clear from a rapid examination of these two lists of clusters that there are a
few (types) of clusters occurring in both lists. Let us first, however, clear the
ground a bit by noting the obvious differences that are present between the two
lists.
Firstly, we can state that if the same place of articulation is maintained as in
most Type A clusters, then no parasitic vowel is inserted. Additionally, for the
clusters involving IhJ, it is of course the case that these are irrelevant, since /h/
does not have a place of articulation. Secondly, with a single exception all the
cases of Type Β clusters - those with parasitic vowels - involve clusters of
consonants with different places of articulation.
I will partially repeat (26) below as (30), retaining only the clusters involving
different places of articulation. The cluster marked bold occurs also as a Type Β
cluster.
(30) Type A clusters involving different places of articulation

a. rhotic-stop plain [ipK") WW
palatalized [ö'k'](-)
b. lateral-stop plain [Lp](-) [Lk]
palatalized [lk]
Similarly, I will partially repeat (28) as (31), retaining only the clusters invol-
ving identical places of articulation.
(31) Type Β clusters involving the same place of articulation

rhotic-fricative palatalized [r-s'g]
In order to understand why the phonetic cluster [Lp] can appear both as a Type
A and as a Type Β cluster (and why [Lk] is possible as a Type A cluster), we
have to consider a matter of some complexity - the sonorant-system of Leur-
bost Gaelic.
Note that Old Irish 29 had the following system of sonorants:
(321
Labial nasal Coronal nasal Lateral liquid Rhotic liquid
Plain M μ Ν η L 1 R r
Palatalized M' μ' Ν' η' L' Γ R' r'
In Leurbost Gaelic the sounds in the shaded cells have - superficially at least -
merged with others: the palatalized labials have largely merged with their non-
palatalized counterparts 3 ; /n'/ has merged with /Ν'/; Ν has merged with /L/; /R'/
has merged with /R/; /μ/ has merged with /v/; and /r'/ has merged with IT/, or
become shifted in articulation to [δ ], except in medial clusters following pala-
talized consonants where it is still [r ]. These last two are assumed here to
represent two allophones of a rump phoneme k'L
As some of these mergers are still partially synchronically visible and func-
tional, we can make use of this to a degree to solve certain problems concerned
with the appearance or not of parasitic vowels.
I will claim that the four oppositions of tense and lax, and plain and palatal-
ized are still underlyingly present for the coronal sonorants, with the exception
of the tense palatalized /R'/, of which no trace is recoverable. Some evidence is
given in (33):
598 Nerval Smith
(33) (bold symbols represent neutralized underlying segments)

a. Nasal (morphological processes involving palatalization)
gLän 'clean' giüN'a (comp.) *n'> ν'
Lä:n 'full' LälNS (comp.) *n'> ν '
blo-an 'to milk' v1o-ìn' (prêt.) *n > Ν'
L'eina 'shirt' L'eiN'ten (pi) *n > Ν'
b. Lateral (non-diphthongization before surface-tense laterals)

aLt 'knuckle' UL t' (gen.) *1, Γ > L, L'
sgOLtay 'to split' SgYL't' (prêt.) *1, Γ > L, L'
c. Lateral (morphological processes involving palatalization)

kui:L 'narrow' XUI.1' (gen.m.) *1 > L
kuirl'a (comp.)
3Lk 'evil' ul'k' (gen.) *1 > L
baLtfg 'bellows' bui'Mg' (gen.) *1> L
d. Rhotic (morphological processes involving palatalization)

fnrgaRd 'to answer' rvgaö' (prêt.) *r> r
taxoRd 'to happen' haxaö' (prêt.) *r> r
So, in the cases of [Lp] appearing in Type A clusters, and in fact also in [lIc] in
(30b), and of course the [Lt] and [ i / t ] in (33b), the surface-tense laterals are in
fact underlyingly lax, as can be seen from the fact that diphthongization does
not take place, as it does with their underlying tense congeners. There has been
a partial surface replacement of lax sonorants by tense sonorants.
The case in (31) where svarabhakti takes place in a homorganic environment
is isolated. In fact, this is a Norse loan, from which a labial fricative has been
lost subsequent to its incorporation in Gaelic, as the orthography tells us.
(34) Leurbost Orthography Old Norse
taras'g'ar toirbhsgear torfskeri (lit. 'turf-shear') 'peat-iron'
Temes (1973) supplies a partially similar case from Applecross:
(35) Applecross Orthography

toRJs'g'in ~ toirsgian < toirbh-sgian 'peat-knife'
tDRJs'g'an
This makes it clear that what we are dealing with here is a frozen compound
structure. The Leurbost form can perhaps be represented underlyingly as /tarv-
s'g'ar/, since liquid-/v/ clusters exhibit /ν ~ 0/ alternations:
(36) Final/v/ V-suffix C-subj. clitic V-subj. clitic

marov mara-ay vara mi varov a
marbh marbhadh mharbh mi mharbh e 'dead, die'
faLa(v) faua-u yaLtf mi yaLov a
falbh falbhaibh dh 'flialbh mi dh'flialbh e 'go'
Before a C-initial subject clitic M is not realized. This seems to be the most
relevant environment in connection with (34).
What causes svarabhakti in Type Β clusters after short vowels? Firstly let us
return to my qualification of Type A clusters above. Type A clusters are:
i) clusters exhibiting nasal assimilation, i.e. involving a lax nasal.
ii) clusters involving a lax liquid combined with a simplex stop
iii) clusters involving a liquid with the coronals /s, η, V.
iv) clusters of lax liquids plus fhJ.
The cases under (i) involve linked structures, sharing Place. The cases under (ii)
involve combinations of the simplest liquids with the simplest obstruents. The
cases under (iii) involve coronal second consonants - these never involve epen-
thesis. Similarly, in case (iv) the placeless /h/ never causes epenthesis.
When do we find Type Β behavior? Type Β clusters are:
i) clusters involving a (coronal) sonorant followed by a non-coronal ob-
struent
ii) clusters involving a (coronal) sonorant followed by a non-coronal sono-
rant
iii) clusters involving a labial nasal followed by a coronal obstruent
iv) clusters involving a labial nasal followed by a (coronal) sonorant
This characterization ignores the surface factors filtered out in the discussion in
the previous section.
5. Syncope
Stems of the shape of (19c), whose apparent disyllabicity is due to the presence
of a svarabhakti vowel, must be distinguished from true disyllables of the type
in (37).
(37) CVCVC
When such a structure acquires a vowel-initial inflectional suffix, there are two
types of result, depending on the manners of articulation of the last two conso-
nants.
600 Nerval Smith
(38) CVCC + VC fiakii/ + an > fiakLan flaclan 'teeth'
with syncope, and
(39) CVCVC + VC SNäihad + an > sNâ:hadan snàthadan 'needles'
without syncope.
If both the consonants concerned are obstruents, as in (39), no syncope will

take place. Basically, under all other circumstances syncope will take place.
These include obstruent-sonorant cases like in (38), as well as sonorant-obstru-
ent cases, sonorant-sonorant cases, and cases involving hiatus plus a final sono-
rant.
I will ignore the last two types as being of minor importance. I give a num-
ber of examples of the other two types. The sonorant-obstruent cases I postpone
until the next section, as these also involve svarabhakti. Note that the length of
the accented vowel does not affect matters:
obstruent-•sonorant
tobaô' tobair + ax > tobrax tobrach 'well (gen.sg.)'
tax3R-d tachairt + i > taxri tachraidh 'happen (ind.fut.)'
i:b9R iobair + 9Y > i.'brey iobradh 'sacrifice (inf.)'
fVsgal ' fosgail + 9Y > fVsgLay fosgladh 'open (inf.)'
koKxal' caochail + ay > kunxLay caochladh 'die (inf.)'
fiakii/ flacail + an > fiakLan flaclan 'tooth (pi.)'
The second type is illustrated in (44) in section 6. Note that the variety of un-
stressed vowels is extremely limited. To all intents and purposes only [i, u, a, a,
a] occur outside cases of hiatus where repetition of the stressed vowel is the
rule. In the closed syllables we are interested in here, the situation allows a
reduction to a contrast between /a/ (with [o] as a variant following labials and
the velarized /R/) and hi, which appears in general as [i] preceding palatalized
consonants, [u] is possibly also a variant of hi following labials and IR/. In all
probability then, we have only one basic opposition among non-initial vowels -
between underlying /a/ and hi.
Syllables with /a/ are never subject to syncope, while those with hi are. A
classical problem thus arises with the latter category. A stem CVCaL will ap-
pear in this form in final position, and before C-initial inflectional suffixes; and
as CVCL- before V-initial inflectional suffixes. Is the underlying root CVCaL
or CVCL? Inasmuch as the syncopatable vowel appears to be forecastable, one
might prefer the latter, in which case of course there would strictly speaking be
no real question of syncope, but rather of epenthesis. An argument to be
considered here is that there are apparently exceptional items which do not
undergo syncope when it would be expected. This in itself is evidence for an
underlying structure CVCVL. Anyway we know already that 'epenthesis' (of a
segment, not a nucleus - this is already structurally present in the recursive
syllable) in the dialect of Leurbost gives rise to svarabhakti vowels marked by
their tonal quality. Epenthesis only occurs in certain sonorant-obstruent
combinations. Here the vowel-zero alternations involve a much larger set of
combinations of consonants, and lack the tonal characteristics of epenthetic
vowels.
(41) Exceptional cases of obstruent-sonorant

kus'ii/ cuisil + s n > kus'ii/an cuislean 'vein (pi.)'
frvgaR-d freagairt + i > f r r g a ö ' i freagraidh 'answer (ind.fut.)'
Note that the orthography of Scottish Gaelic indicates that these words would
be normally expected to have syncope. The fact that they do not in this dialect
is exceptional. This requires to be marked in the lexicon. Obviously there can
be no question of epenthesis (of a segment) here.
It could also be argued that no consistent distinction should be made between
obstruent-obstruent cases and those in which one of the two consonants is a
sonorant.
We find the following cases:
(42) a. CVCoVCo CVCoVCo+VC

CVCQCO CVCoCo+VC
b. CVCoVCs CVCoCs+VC Syncope/No epenthesis
•CVCqCS
c. CVCsVCo CVC s Co+VC
CVCsCo CVCsCo+VC
d. CVCsVCs CVCsCs+VC
CVCsCs CVCsCs+VC
This distribution of types indicates fairly clearly that (despite the lack of
CVCoCs structures due to sonority requirements) syncope has to be assumed in
CVCoCs+VC rather than epenthesis in CVC0VCS. This is in addition to the
arguments already provided.
There are also certain suffixes which never cause epenthesis, such as the
adjective-forming suffix -ach /-zxJ.
(43) boö'oN boirionn + ax > boö'aNox boirionnach 'woman'

fiö'oN firionn + ax > fiö'aNax flrionnach 'man'
sasiN' Sasuinn + ax > sasaNax Sasunnach 'Englishman'
602 Nerval Smith
6. Syncope and svarabhakti
The regular combination of syncope and svarabhakti is a hitherto unexplained

feature of Scottish Gaelic phonology. On the face of it, it seems a rather irra-
tional combination of events. Why delete a vowel only to insert one again? In a
non-derivational model like OT (in the sense of a model lacking rule order) this
becomes even less comprehensible. Now in effect, we delete and insert a vowel
simultaneously. Such a procedure is also completely incomprehensible in terms
of the Theory of Constraints and Repair Strategies (Paradis 1988a, 1988b) and
similar approaches making use of repair strategies.
The only way to understand what is happening here is to assume that syn-
cope reduces the basic number of syllables, and that svarabhakti involves not
the creation of a new external syllable but rather an internal recursive one. The
obvious question is of course which syllable the recursive syllable belongs to -
the first or the second.
(44) sonorant-obstruent
bai.ax balach + u > vai.úrxu balachaibh 'boy (voc.pl.)'
k'äNix' ceannaich + 9S > x'àNôx'as cheannaicheas 'buy (rei.)'
anix' aithnich + i > an αχ'i aithnichidh 'recognize
(ind.fiit.)'
taftig' tarruing + i > taRög'i tarruingidh 'pull (ind.fiit.)'
taRog tarrang + 9n> taRag'an tairngean 'nail (pl.)'
fuL9g fulang + i > ful'wg'i fuilngidh 'suffer (ind.fiit.)'
Note that this syncopation introduces new combinations of consonants around a

svarabhakti vowel that do not naturally occur in non-derived structures, such as
combinations differing in palatality (superficially in some cases and truly in
others), and various non-homorganic nasal-consonant combinations.
There are actually three obvious structural possibilities for having recursive
syllables in these cases:
(45) a. [va [ ω χ ] ] [u]

b. [va] [[Lax] u]
c. [va [La]] [xu]
The first option is unlikely because it involves an onsetless syllable. The second
seems unlikely, too. Svarabhakti appears to be a phenomenon of accented sylla-
bles. The third option has the advantage that it involves no unexpected syllable
types. Recursive syllables lacking codas have been illustrated already. And the
unstressed syllables do not lack onsets.
A further possibility is really just a variation on the theme of (45c), i.e. that
the /x/ is ambisyllabic rather than belonging solely to the second syllable. I will
ignore this possibility, as there is no data that would seem to be relevant to the
issue.
This solution gains direct support from the following facts from the Islay
dialect (Holmer 1938). There we also find the same syncope plus svarabhakti as
we do in Leurbost, with the added evidence of the glottal stop (see 14a,b).
(46) a. Disyllable
t'ui?ram tioram 'dry'
b. Syncopated
t'uirama Horma 'drier'
Note that the distribution of the glottal stop in this case is parallelled by other
cases of syncope where the syncopated structure has a heavy first syllable:
Disyllable
u?ul ubhal 'apple'
go?ur gobhar 'goat'
do?rost doruis 'door'
u:bn ubhlan 'apples'
gourix'an gobhraichean 'goats'
dors an 'doirsean,32 'doors'
I would claim that the syllable structures of (46a,b) are as follows:
(48) a. [t h jtu?] [ram]

b. [t h jiu [ra]] [ma]
Note that, as I observed above, we have clear evidence that Irl is an onset in
(48a), since we know that /?/ only appears when an accented syllable with a
short vowel would otherwise have no coda, or, i.e., be monomoraic. Note that
the first syllable in (48b) is not open - its coda is formed by the recursive
syllable. Because of the presence of the epenthetic vowel in (48b), this syllable
is also bimoraic. We have evidence that /r/ in the second form cannot be an
ordinary onset - we would expect a glottal stop in that case. The attentive
reader will now point out that /r/ is an onset in an open syllable - but one that is
not closed by a glottal stop. However, this syllable is an unstressed syllable, and
unstressed syllables may be open. Compare the final syllable in tiorma.
604 Norval Smith
7. Vowel lengthening before 'tense' sonorants
A very striking alternation found in some Gaelic dialects (including Leurbost)

involves short vowels preceding 'tense' II, L', N', N, m, m' 3/. When these two
segments are tautosyllabic the vowel is diphthongized, according to a regular
pattern.
(49) auL ~ 3LV käüm ~ kàma 'crooked (simplex + comp.)'

DUL ~ 3LV x5üm ~ kümal 'hold (prêt. + inf.)'
3UL ~ ULV R5üm ~ Rumoran 'room (sg. + pi.)'
aii/ ~ ai/V xaÍL' ~ kaL'i 'lose (prêt. + fut.)'

eii/ ~ ei/V bëïN' ~ bèN9 'mountain (nom. + gen.)'
eii/ ~ ii/V tëïN' ~ tÌN'a 'ill (simplex + comp.)'
T I L ' ~ TI/V kvÌL't'an ~ kvi/a 'wood (pl. + sg.)'
TÍL' ~ UIL'V klrÌN'd'an ~ kLÙIN'i 'hear (inf. + fut.)'
(L here stands for II, N, or m/)
There is another alternation involving IRI preceded by /a/. In syllable-final po-

sition the /a/ is lengthened. This appears to be found in all Scottish Gaelic dia-
lects, unlike the alternation illustrated in (49), and is, as is stated, restricted to
/a/ (also hi in some dialects). Because of the restricted nature of this alterna-
tion, I will not attempt to account for it here.
7.1. Historical background and synchronic syllable structure
The tense sonorants descend historically from old geminate sonorants. How-
ever, this aspect has been totally lost in the Leurbost dialect phonetics, in the
sense that these sounds are not any longer than the so-called 'lax' sonorants. It
can be assumed, however, that the so-called tense sonorants still represent
heavy structures in some sense. They fit easily into onsets, as can be seen from
the cases in which they are intervocalic. However, when they are tautosyllabic
with the preceding vowel, the nucleus is lengthened with a mora. In the case of
/m, m', N, n', l, l'/, the mora in question is a vocalic glide agreeing with the
velarity or palatality of the tense sonorant. Imi is preceded either by /iJ or /u/
depending on its morphophonemic status, parallel either with /L\ Ν 7 or /L, Ν/.
The presence of the /u/-glide will be accounted for later on.
Clearly these sonorants can only be located in the coda. There are presuma-
bly already two vocalic elements in the nucleus. However, they also have a toe-
hold in the nucleus in that the glide is a reflection of the sonorant.
In more conservative dialects (with respect to this feature at least) like the
dialect of East (Highland) Perthshire (O Murchú 1989), and that of Islay (Hol-
mer 1938) what we find following short vowels in the case of the 'tense' sono-
rants in coda position is a short vowel followed by a long sonorant. In more
innovative dialects, we find either a long vowel or a diphthong preceding a
short sonorant. Here I illustrate the diphthongal reflex from Leurbost, and the
long vowel reflex from Cois Fhairrge Irish (de Bhaldraithe 1945):
(50) E Perthshire34 Islay Leurbost Cois Fhairrge

am: em: äüm a:m am 'time'
drrim: drim: dirîra dri:m' dru im 'back'
kam: kern: käüm ka:m cam 'crooked'
k'an: k en: k'äÜN k'a:N ceann 'head'
t'an: t en: t'äÜN t'arN team 'tight'
How are we to regard the E. Perthshire and Islay tense sonorants? 35 In Islay the
tense sonorants are also long intervocalically, enabling us to assign the first half
to the coda of the accented syllable, and the second half to the onset of the
second syllable.
We find the following distribution of final vowels and sonorants in E. Perth-
shire (using IV to represent all the sonorants):
(51) a. VI (= Leurbost VI)

b. V:1 (= Leurbost V:L)
c. VI: (= Leurbost VUL)
In the first case, I assume that both the short vowel and the liquid are to be
situated in the nucleus and coda respectively. I consider the second case to
consist of a long vowel nucleus and a sonorant coda. This is uncontroversial.
How about the third case? I will claim that the nucleus consists of a short vowel
and a sonorant, followed by a sonorant coda. Note that I proceed from the axi-
om that the coda can only consist of a singleton consonant (cf. (3b)).
606 Nerval Smith
(52) (a) N" (b) N" (c) Ν"

Λ /I Λ
R Ν'
R N' R N'
Ν
N R
Κ
N R
Κ
Ν R
R
Κ
RR
Κ
RR
k a n g ω: k' ìn'
coin gaol cinn
'dogs' 'love' 'heads'
To understand this fully, we have to look at things slightly more carefully:
(53) (a) N" (b) Ν" (c) Ν"

XI /I /I
R N' R Ν' R Ν'
Ν Κ Ν
N R Ν R Ν R
I Κ Κ
R RR RR
c
I
o r g
V
ω k'
IN
i Ν
coin gaol cinn
Note that this solution explains a number of distributional facts. If the only
consonants occurring in nuclei are sonorants, then it is obvious that the occur-
rence of tautosyllabic long sonorants but no other tautosyllabic long consonants
can be explained. This will only be possible following short vowels, however.
What is the relevance of this for the Leurbost data? Can we assume the same
syllable structures in the Leurbost surface forms? In other words, do we have:
(54) (a)
/ I
R N'
N"
<b)
R Ν'
Λ (e) Ν"
κΐ
R Ν'
Ν Κ Ν
N R Ν R Ν R
Κ Ν
R RR RR
k 5 Ν
36
g
Vui ι k' ê ï ν'
coin gaol cinti
The third form is not yet obviously parallel. To discover the parallelism we
have first to consider some aspects of the structure of the segment. For a justifi-
cation of this analysis I refer the reader to Smith (1998).
I will assume that all secondary articulations are represented as full seg-
ments, standing in a dependency relationship to a primary (head) segment. So,
without going into too much detail on the internal featural structure of seg-
ments, I will assume that in the case of /n'/ we have a structure which could be
informally represented as follows:
(55) R>37
r \
R R
Now we can re-examine case (54c). The following analysis is one of the possi-
bilities (ignoring the purely phonetic nasalization3 ).
(56) N"
R N'
Κ f \
R R Ν R
N / 1
R R R
I I I
k i e i Ν
/k'ëÏN'/
608 Nerval Smith
How is this structure to be read? As in (53), palatalization is expressed in terms

of a dependent Iii with its own root node. The initial /k'/ also involves the same
dependent ίϋ interpretation of palatalization.39 The nucleus has two vocalic
elements - one the organic vowel, and the second another /¡/-palatalization ele-
ment - this time associated with the final nasal, which is however also directly
linked to the nucleus node, and as such40, appears as a separate segment in the
nucleus.
Now we require to re-examine the corresponding E. Perthshire structure yet
again. Taking account of what I have said about the analysis of palatalized seg-
ments, we then must have the following structure (I provide the Leurbost struc-
ture again here to facilitate comparison):
(57) (a) (b)
1 1 1 Ν k i e i Ν
/k'iN':/ /k'ëïN'/
E. Perthshire: cinti Leurbost: cinn
So, in fact, the syllable structures of the two dialects can be described in mini-
mally different terms. The glide that forms the second part of the diphthong in
the Leurbost examples is merely the palatalization of the final consonant, which
by reason of its direct domination by the nucleus node appears to take on a life
of its own. The overall complexity of the structure has in fact not altered - in
terms of geometry at least. I assume of course that various aspects of marked-
ness have changed.
The second (dependent) branch of the nucleus has changed from dominating
the superordinate root node of the final complex consonant, to only dominating
its dependent root node (the secondary articulation). The length of the final
tense sonorant in E. Perthshire Gaelic is determined by the double domination
of the superordinate root node. This forces a double root interpretation of the
situation (cf. Selkirk 1988). The effective downgrading, in the Leurbost dialect
(as in many others) of what is dominated by the dependent branch of the nu-
cleus from the superordinate root node to the subordinate dependent root node
of the final nasal shifts the extra length from being consonantal to being
vocalic. My pretheoretical intuition, then, that the final tense sonorant appeared
to have a toehold in the nucleus now turns out to have been a plausible inter-
pretation of the data.
What this does not tell us is what the underlying difference between tense
and lax sonorants is in Leurbost. Is it a featural difference, or is it a contrast be-
tween a geminate and a singleton sonorant, or both? In Leurbost the contrast
between tense (but short) and lax sonorants has basically been retained. What
can be said is that the contrast between equivalent lax and tense sonorants is
one of moderate versus extreme articulation. If we take the contrast between Λ'I
and /L'/, for example, the contrast is between a clear (palatalized) alveolar and a
palatal lateral. The contrast between Ini and /N/ is that /n/ is a plain alveolar,
while /N/ is a (slightly) velarized postdental causing preceding vowels to be
retracted and sometimes also lowered.
I will leave the situation regarding the difference unresolved here, returning
to it in section 8.
8. OT solutions
8.1. Svarabhakti vowels
In terms of OT, how can we define a constellation of constraints such that can-
didates with svarabhakti vowels emerge as the optimal candidates in the rele-
vant cases? This seems trivial to achieve, since we can assume that all syllables
- including those recursively contained in other syllables - are required to
contain an explicit nucleus in terms of the syllabification schema which I as-
sume forms part of GEN. SO, our problem is inverted. We have to explain how
the Type A clusters arise. In other words, can these recursive syllables be pre-
vented from having filled nuclei?
Once again the answer appears to be fairly simple. To begin with, the struc-
tures involving epenthesis are in violation of a DEP-IO constraint (=The output
should not contain segments that are not in the input).
Additionally, consonantal assimilation is in general local, which can be
reasonably couched in a constraint. LOCALASSIMILATION (=consonantal assimi-
lation is strictly local). If we have assimilation, then this favors structures
lacking explicit nuclei. How do we get assimilation? I would claim that nasal
clusters optimally involve assimilation41. This situation is referred to by Hum-
bert (1995) as 'snatching', which we can also adopt as the name of the
constraint: SNATCHING (=A nasal must assimilate to an immediately following
consonant). Note that in the following tableau, I proceed on the assumption that
in the case of a final sonorant-obstruent cluster, the basic options are either a
610 Nerval Smith
nuclear element followed by a coda, or a recursive coda-syllable. I indicate

nuclei containing more than one segment with the Greek letter v, and recursive
syllables by [..]„.
/trang/ 'busy' SNATCHING LocAss j »RECURSION DEP-IO
«•tr(aq) v g
tr(an)vg !»
tra[qg]„
42 1»
!* *
trafng] 0
!* *
tra[nag]„
!* * * •
tra[qög] 0
This gives us a provisional result.

The other main type of non-svarabhakti structure, that of underlyingly lax
liquids followed by voiceless stops and illustrated here by /ul k'/, appears to
emerge from the same ranking of constraints. Note that in both cases, the opti-
mal output does not involve a recursive syllable.
(59)
/ul'k'/ 'evil (gen.)' SNATCHING | LocAss | »RECURSION DEP-IO
»(ul'Xk'
u[l'k]
1
uP'uk'l 1* »
! !
N o w our problem is turned round once again. What makes the clusters with the
more complex second (non-homorganic) elements get a svarabhakti vowel? In
the lack of anything else, such structures would be evaluated as in the following
tableau.
m/sgvr'v/43 'cormorant (pi.)' SNATCHING LOCASS •RECURSION DEP-IO
» *sg(vr')vv
sgv[r'v] !*
!* *
sgv[r' >v]
As it stands, this would give us the wrong result in this case, although it would
produce the right result in (58). The relatively high ranking of * RECURSION
would effectively prevent svarabhakti from ever having a visible effect. We
must assume some kind of constraint on complex sequences of consonants in
the rhyme. The following types of complex sequences appear to occur:
(61) Dutch: son-voiceless stop, <son-voiced stop44>, son-fricative, son-sonorant

Gaelic: son-lax stop, son-fricative, son-sonorant
Scots: son-sonorant
Scottish English: son-liquid
English: none
For the moment, I will assume the existence of a constraint type ""SONORITY-
SEPARATION (cf. Jones 1989: 175 for the term 'sonority separation') to explain
the appearance of these vowels. More research is required to establish the pre-
cise nature of the constraints involved under this cover term. However, note
that I do not mean by *S0N0RITYSEPARATI0N a constraint necessarily operat-
ing within the domain of the syllable, but just between two adjacent consonants.
This constraint has a clear relationship to a pair of constraints posited for the
parallel process in Irish Gaelic by Ni Chiosáin (this volume) - *RG and *RK.
*RG forbids all sonorant-voiced consonant clusters, and *RK all sonorant-
voiceless consonant clusters. Voicing as such would actually appear to be ir-
relevant if we examine things in the larger context of the Gaelic-speaking
world, as the relevant distinction in the stops in Scottish Gaelic (for most dia-
lects, at least) is not voicing but aspiration. However, whether voicing or aspi-
ration is the relevant distinction, the epenthesis behavior appears to remain the
same throughout Goidelic. We require a different distinction here. I wish to
avoid the term 'tense' in the domain of obstruents. So how do we describe the
parallellism between the two forms of Gaelic? Let us briefly turn to a conside-
ration of the phonetics.
In Scottish Gaelic, we basically have a distinction among the stops that in-
volves aspiration (pre- or post-) for the 'strong' stops, and plain (lax) voice-
lessness for the 'weak' stops. For the fricatives, however, we have a distinction
of voicelessness for the 'strong' fricatives as against voicing for the 'weak'
fricatives. For Irish Gaelic, the distinction is voicelessness for the 'strong' and
voicing for the 'weak' congeners. It is useful to bring English into the equation
here, as voicing is not obviously the correct distinction in this language either,
despite the fact that this is usually how it is described. In English, the 'strong'
stops are aspirated foot-initially, except when preceded by an /s/, unaspirated
otherwise word-internally, and preglottalized in word-final position in many
types of British English. The 'strong' fricatives are voiceless everywhere.
'Weak' obstruents of all types are basically voiceless initially and finally, and
612 Nerval Smith
voiced intervocalically. The voiceless variants of the weak obstruents are de-
scribed as 'lax'. Finally, in Dutch we also have a skewed situation. The distinc-
tion among stops is one of voicing, except that voiced stops are not possible
word-finally. Among fricatives there is a varied situation, with speakers of
Standard Dutch in the south of the countiy also using voicing as the distinction,
but speakers in the west using (normally) rather a distinction between weak and
strong voiceless fricatives initially, between voiced and voiceless intervocali-
cally. Only strong voiceless fricatives are allowed word-finally.
The common aspect present in all the 'weak' obstruents, then, is not that they
are voiced, as this is plainly not the case, but that the vocal chords are slack.
Whether or not voicing will occur depends on the distance they are from each
other. I propose to introduce the feature [lax] to describe such stops, and cha-
racterize the opposition in languages like the above. Aspiration, in languages
with two types of obstruents, I regard as a redundant feature, used for en-
hancement of the pre-existing contrast. I will restate (61) using the term 'lax'
instead of 'voiced'. 45
(62) Dutch: son-nonlax stop, <son-lax stop46>, son-fricative, son-sonorant

Gaelic: son-lax stop, son-fricative, son-sonorant
Scots: son-sonorant
Scottish English: son-liquid
English: none
I will assume that there are three constraints involved here. All forbid clusters
whose first element is a sonorant. However, two constraints - *RG and *RK -
involving respectively voiced and voiceless second elements will not do, even
if we replace voicing by laxness, as suggested above. The data from Irish re-
veals that voiceless fricatives may trigger epenthesis. Rather the distinction is
between a situation where all manner types may trigger epenthesis (abstracting
from considerations of place), and a situation where all types except for the
prototypical consonant-type - the non-lax stop - do this. In any case, in other
languages such as Dutch, even the non-lax stops trigger epenthesis.
I will treat these two situations slightly differently from Ni Chiosáin. Rather
than forbidding the cluster as such, I will hypothesize the existence of con-
straints47 forbidding the occurrence of such 'consonant clusters' without a
realized intervening nucleus.
(63) SONCSEP: A cluster of a sonorant consonant and any non-syllabic must be

separated by an epenthetic vowel, i.e. must form a recursive
syllable with an explicit nucleus. One of the two elements in
the cluster must be non-coronal.
SONVSEP: A cluster of a sonorant consonant and any non-syllabic con-
taining a manner feature [V]48 must be separated by an epen-
thetic vowel, i.e. must form a recursive syllable with an explicit
nucleus. One of the two elements in the cluster must be non-
coronal.
SON2SEP: A cluster of two sonorant consonants must be separated by an
epenthetic vowel, i.e. must form a recursive syllable with an
explicit nucleus.
These represent families of constraints. Each may operate at the level of the
syllable rhyme, and at the level of the phonological word (PWd). So we have
SONCSEP [PWD] and SONCSEP[RHYME]·
(64) Dutch: SONCSEP ( P w d / R H Y M E μ SON2SEP [ P W d / R H Y M E ]

G a e l i c : SONVSEP [PWD)
Scots: SON2SEP [RHYME]
Note that the Scots and Dutch SON2SEP epenthesis takes no account of Place,
while the Gaelic and Dutch SONVSEP and SONCSEP do. 49
Note that SONCSEP is not in all cases a constraint with tautosyllabic scope,
as I have stated above. In Western Dutch there is a clear contrast between
SONCSEP[RHYME] being significant for many speakers of Standard Dutch, and
SONCSEP[Pwd] being significant for speakers of Substandard Dutch. This differ-
ence can be seen in the following example:
(65) Dialect variant Simplex stem Suffix Complex word

help plural helpen 'help, vb. '
Standard: hefp +a > helps
Substandard: hefp +3 > hel'pa
In Leurbost Gaelic, the constraint that is operative is SONVSEP|PWd], just as

Substandard Western Dutch has SONCSEP[PWd]·
614 Nerval Smith
(66)
/sgvr'v/ 'cor- SNATCHING LocAss SONVSEP(PW<I1 •RECURSION DEP-IO
morant (pi.)'
«3* Sg (ττ')ν V !*
*
sgv[r'v] !*
* *
sgrfr' rv]
Compare (67), where uilc contains a sonorant-voiceless stop sequence which

does not violate SONVSEP[Pwd].
(67)
/ul'k'/ 'evil SNATCHING LocAss SONVSEP PWD] •RECURSION DEP-IO
(gen)'
•er (ul') v k'
u[l'k] !*
u[l'«k'l !*
8.2. Syncope
Here I have to explain the alternation between allomorphs of the form CVCL
before V-initial inflectional suffixes, and CVCVL in isolation, as well as before
C-initial inflectional suffixes. In section 5 I gave a number of reasons for
regarding the underlying structure of such forms to be CVCVL. A first attempt
to evaluate the various output forms results in the wrong output being chosen as
the optimal one in the case of the inflected form. I make use of the well-known
MAX-IO constraint forbidding deletions here.
(68) Input form CVCVL

a.
/fiokoi.'/ 'tooth' •RECURSION MAX-IO
[fi 9 [kL]] !» *
[fis ] [kiL ]
[fia [kiL']] !*
b.
/fiakaL + an/ 50 'tooth (pi.)' »RECURSION MAX-IO
[fink] [i on] !*
*
[fía] [[kL] an] !*
» *[fb] [ko] [Lan]
[fia] [[koL] an] 1*
The correct output for the inflected plural form is the second candidate [fía]
[[kL] an]. Let us re-examine the above tableau, but now incorporating the
constraint PARSEMORA (Everett 1997; cf. also Alderete 1995: 37).
(69) PARSE-μ: All morae have to be parsed into feet.

(this is computed on the output)
As Gaelic words can be regarded as having a single initial syllabic trochaic

foot, clearly anything that shortens the number of syllables (by shifting addi-
tional morae into the stressed syllable) will tend to produce a more optimal
structure, as long as no essential information is lost. In fact, it turns out that
only vowels that are underlying schwa may be deleted.
/fiakai. + an/ PARSE-μ •RECURSION MAX-IO
•sr *[fiak] [Lan] •
[fía] [[kL] an] ι» *
[fía] [ka] [Lan] !*

[fía] [[kaL] an] !*
This is not the correct result. This can be explained in terms of head-depen-
dency relationships within the word. In Gaelic, no stressed syllable may be
more than bimoraic, if possible. To take account of this I introduce a constraint
•OVERWEIGHT:
(71) "OVERWEIGHT: NO stressed syllable may be more than bimoraic.
The elements that count towards OVERWEIGHT are those contained in rhymes.
As far as recursive syllables are concerned, only those involving rhymes within
rhymes count. Rhymes within onsets do not count towards OVERWEIGHT -
616 Norval Smith
onsets do not contain morae. In Gaelic both vowels and consonants may be
morae.
(72)
/fiakaL + an/ •OVERWT PARSE-μ •RECURSION MAX-IO
1« *
[fiok] [Lan]
[fia] [palan] • ι*
[fia] [ka] [Lan] !*
« *[fia] [[ka L] an] •
This is still the wrong result. In Leurbost we never find vowels in recursive
syllables in onsets.51 So some constraint is required against the occurrence of at
least certain nuclei in recursive syllables. And, even under extreme emphasis a
coda cluster is never split up in English. So 'help' is never pronounced [helap],
* S C H W A (=No placeless vowels) might be a candidate. This would be too
drastic in its effects in Leurbost Gaelic however. There is a stronger tendency to
avoid schwa in recursive syllables, it would seem. I will assume that there is a
related constraint * R E C U R S I V E S C H W A .
(73)
/fiakaL + an/ •RECSCHWA •OVERWT PARSE-μ •RECURSION MAX-IO
[fiak] [Lan] !*
* *
«s- [fia] [[kL]an]
[fia] [ka] [Lan] !*
[fia] [[kaL] an] !* •
The corresponding form with a short vocalic nucleus will be forecast to have a
different syllable-division. Whether this corresponds to reality is an empirical
question I am not in a position to answer here.
(74)
/tobar + ax/ 'well •RECSCHWA •OVERWT PARSE-μ »RECURSION MAX-IO
(gen.sg.)'
[to] [ba] [rax] !*
[to] [[barjax] !* *
œr [tob] [rax]
[to] [[br]ax] !* *
Note that for words where syncope results in sonorant-obstruent structures

the syllable division will always be between the two consonants, even if this
results in overweight. I will not illustrate this case.
Another fact bearing on the resolution of the question of the underlying
structure in words of this type is the behavior of certain items involving two
adjacent vowels, with no apparent intervening consonant. Because the tone
drops between these two vowels they must be interpreted as being in successive
syllables. 52 The simplest interpretaton of such words is with an intervening
onset element with no place features (cf. Clements 1986 on Barra Gaelic). Such
items are also subject to syncope, when the putative onset element now adds a
mora to the first syllable. This is interpreted as the least marked type of syllable
- one lacking a coda, i.e. the extra mora is now interpreted as vocalic.
( 7 5 ) L'a-ar leabhar + ix'an > L'a:rix'an leabhraichean ' b o o k (pi.)'

SO-9L sabhal + ix'an > soiLix'an sabhlaichean 'barn (pi.)'
U-3L ubhal + an > uxan ùbhlan 'apple (pi.)'
The schwa must be interpreted as organic in these cases.

Yet another argument against the underlying cluster interpretation of syn-
cope-structures is that indubitably underlying clusters generally agree in palata-
lity, unless one of the elements is a labial. The surface clusters (potentially)
arising from syncope also tend to agree in palatality. However, the pairs of
consonants separated by schwa often disagree in this regard, so that the direc-
tion of neutralization can be established as proceeding from unsyncopated to
syncopated.
(76) karid' caraid + an > kaiRdan càirdean 'friend (pi.)'
It is important to point out that only structures with underlying schwa display
syncope, and also that syncope does not take place between two obstruents.
(77) CVCVC + VC sNä:had + an > SNä:hadan snàthadan 'needle (pl.)'

618 Norval Smith
An additional constraint is required to handle this case.
(78) "IDENTMANNER: NO sequences of non-syllabics with identical manners

are allowed.
Obstruent-obstruent cases will not undergo syncope, and sonorant-sonorant

cases will undergo epenthesis.
(79)
SNäihad + an/ 53 •IDENTMAN *OVERWT PARSE-μ •RECURSION MAX-IO

'needle (pi.)'
[sNä:][ho][don] *
[sNä:h][dan] !» * *
Syncope is frequently seen as a consequence of the operation of a WEIGHT-TO-

STRESS constraint. Support for the importance of WEIGHT-TO-STRESS in Leur-
bost Gaelic might be claimed to be observed in the fact that lexical monosylla-
bles with final short vowels get a final caducous ña!. This does not happen to
long open syllables or diphthongs. Compare the following items:
(80) a. kroh crodh 'cattle'

duh dubh 'black'
b. ku: cù 'dog'
kö'ia crè 'clay'
The first group of words - originally with a closed syllable - has a lexical re-
presentation with a short vowel rhyme. The final Ihl is absent in inflected forms
of these words, which either involve a complex rhyme or a second syllable.54
(81) kruij cruidh 'cattle (pi.)'

yuijs dhuibhe 'black (gen.sg.fem.)'
However, this effect is only visible at the word-level, and thus must be seen as
a word-minimality effect. Word-internal rhymes may consist of short vowels
only - cf. the examples in (75) above.
8.3. Syncope and svarabhakti
It is not the case that all structures of the form CVLaC display both syncope and
svarabhakti when conjoined with a V-initial inflectional suffix. Example (82) is
a case in point. If C2 is a coronal then no svarabhakti is found unless L is a

labial.
By chance, all the examples of this type found in Oftedal are somewhat ir-
regular, e.g.:
(82) daros do rus + an > doRsan dorsan 'door (pi.)'
Most cases of the type CVLsC, however, involve different places of articula-
tion, and therefore mostly display vowel epenthesis in addition to syncope.
Compare the following tableau:
(83)
/vai.ax + u/ 55 PARSE-μ SONVSEP [PWD| •RECURSION DEP-IO MAX-IO

'boy (voc.pl.)'
[va][L3][xu] !*
[vai.][xu] 1* *
® [va[i.a]][xu] • * *
[va[L]][xu] * *
!*
8.4. Vowel lengthening before 'tense' sonorants
Before addressing in detail the subject of vowel 'lengthening' phenomena of

various types that occur preceding 'tense' sonorants, I will attempt to provide a
more or less complete set of constraints governing the manner types that are
possible in the rhyme. This will prove to be useful.
There is evidence from the phonological acquisition of Dutch that, in that
language, rhymes comprising a short vowel plus a sonorant are nuclear struc-
tures, rather than rhymes involving a coda consonant (Fikkert 1994). So this
type of structure has to be allowed for.
Clearly, constraints are required to restrict the segmental content of the nu-
cleus. A number of possible candidates come to mind:
(84) NUCLEUSSONORANT: The segments in the nucleus are sonorant.

NUCLEUSCONTINUANT: The segments in the nucleus are continuant.
NUCLEUSVOCALIC: The segments in the nucleus are vocalic.
All three 'features' demanded of nuclei correspond to interpretations of the

feature [V] in the account of segmental structure found in Smith (1998). This, I
620 Norval Smith
assume, is not accidental. The most unmarked nuclei satisfy all three con-
straints.
Fikkert (as well as others) also demonstrates that the first codas to appear are
fricatives. The content of the coda requires being constrained also. A first ap-
proximation might appear to be:
(85) CODAOBSTRUENT: The segment in the coda is an obstruent.

CODACONTINUANT: The segment in the coda is a continuant.
CODACONSONANT: The segment in the coda is a consonant.
The coda-constraint CODACONTINUANT is a reflection, not only of what first

appears in the codas of child-language, but also of the evidence for 'weakening'
or lenition in syllable-final position. Compare, for example, the change in the
English dialect of Liverpool of final Dd to a uvular fricative (i.e. back is [bax]).
The other two constraints demand that 'features' be present in the coda that
correspond to two interpretative aspects of the feature [C] in the account of
segmental structure in Smith (1998). The third prototypical aspect of [C] - non-
continuance - is however absent. It is the precise opposite of what is suggested
by the coda-constraint CODACONTINUANT. This suggests a possible revision of
coda constraints to:
(86) CODAOBSTRUENT: The segment in the coda is an obstruent.

CODANONCONTINUANT: The segment in the coda is a non-continuant.
CODACONSONANT: The segment in the coda is a consonant.
The coda constraints now strive for the presence of a maximum of consonantal
aspects, in order to achieve the maximum contrast with a prototypical nuclear
segment (for this notion of maximal contrast in binary constituents see also
Bolognesi (1998)).
How do we then account for the weakening often observed in codas. I sug-
gest this is an aspect of the higher order constituent rhyme as an aspect of the
contrast between onsets and rhymes.
(87) RHYMECONTINUANT: Segments in rhymes are continuants.
As far as codas are concerned there will be a potential conflict between CODA-
NONCONTINUANT and RHYMECONTINUANT. This seems to be an accurate
description of the state of affairs.
In addition to restricting the types of manner occurring within rhymes, we
also require restrictions to be put on the length of elements in the rhyme. For in-
stance, it has often been stated either that rhymes have to be bimoraic, or that
accented rhymes have to be bimoraic. These are constraints that are not abso-
lutely followed in Leurbost Gaelic, however (see the discussion at the end of
the preceding section).
One constraint that is always obeyed is the following:
(88) NUCLEUSBINARYMAXIMUM: The nucleus is maximally binary.
With this battery of constraints I will now turn to the question at issue -
vowel 'lengthening' preceding 'tense' sonorants.
Let us recall the facts that have to be explained:
auL ~ ELY käüm ~ kâma 'crooked (simplex + comp.)'

OUL ~ DLV x5üm ~ kùmal ' h o l d (prêt. + inf.)'
DUL ~ ULV RDÜm ~ RÛmaNan 'room (sg. + pi.)'
aii/ ~ ai/V xaiL' ~ kaL'i ' l o s e (prêt. + f u t . ) '

eil/ ~ ei/V bêÎN' ~ bëN'a 'mountain (nom. + gen.)'
eil/ ~ Î L ' V têïN' ~ tÏN'a 'ill ( s i m p l e x + c o m p . ) '

TIL/ ~ TL'V krii/t'an ~ kvL3 ' w o o d (pl. + s g . ) '
TIL' ~ Uli/V klïïN'd'an ~ knîïN'i 'hear (inf. + f u t . ) '

(L h e r e s t a n d s f o r /L, N, o r m / )
I have argued for syllable structures of the following type in Leurbost, contras-
ting with the more conservative East Perthshire dialect.
(90) (a) (b)
k i i i k i e i
/k'iN':/ /k'ëïN'/
E. Perthshire: cinn Leurbost: cinn
I assume the input here to be / k ' i N ' / without explicit length. I also assume the
existence of a constraint TENSESONORANTLONG which ensures that, all other
622 Norval Smith
things being equal, tense sonorants are long in all environments in which this is
possible. There are three relevant environments:
(91) a. Syllable-initial: Here length is excluded - there is only one onset posi-
tion.
b. Syllable-final: Here length is possible following a short vowel only, in
languages which restrict the nucleus to two segments.
One portion of the tense sonorant will be in the nu-
cleus, and the other occupies the single coda position.
c. Inter-syllabic: Here length is possible - the tense sonorant is spread
over successive coda and onset positions.
Further constraints that are potentially of relevance here are an alignment con-
straint linking syllable margins to segmental margins: AL(SEGSYLL) (this will ex-
clude cases like the third one), and a constraint on geminates, which will ex-
clude both the second and the third cases.
(92)
/k'iN'/ cinn 'heads' NUCBINMAX NucVoc AL(SEGSYLL) TNSSONLONG
k'tÍN'jNucLEUS [k'LN'] *! *
k'i[N']C0DA [k'ÏN] *!
k [ÌN']N[N ]C [k'iN':] *!
k'[iN':]N [k'iN':] *! *
«®>k'[ëï]N[N']c56 [ k W ]
The East Perthshire solution is impossible in this dialect because of high-ranked

NUCVOC. The length of the final sonorant is realized as a glide + sonorant
sequence. It is possible then to realize the glide part within the nucleus without
violating NUCVOC. The AL(SEGSYLL) constraint, preventing segments from
overlapping syllable boundaries, will prevent the same resolution of the inter-
vocalic case, as illustrated in (93).
(93)
/kaL'i/ caillidh NUCBINMAX NucVoc AL(SEGSYLL) TNSSONLONG
'will lose'
<®"ka] [L'Ì *
k a ] N L ' ] [L'Ì M H ·
kaL'] N L'] [i *!
kaL'] N [L'Ì *
kai] [L'Ì *!
The ranking of AL(SEGSYLL) above TNSSONLONG will block the last case,
which is parallel to the successful candidate in the previous tableau in that the
first portion of the tense sonorant is realized as a glide.
Finally, the relevance of the /u/-glide in the non-palatalized cases in (89)
now becomes visible. NUCVOC and TNSSONLONG combine to prefer a glide-
sonorant in these cases too, but which glide should be chosen? Underlyingly, it
does not seem correct to assume any phonological velarization, which would be
indicated by the vocalic feature [U], in the non-palatalized consonants of Scot-
tish Gaelic in general. If the relevant DEP constraints are kept sufficiently low-
ranked, then there will be a choice between two minimally-marked one-place-
feature glides: one with the feature [A] or [low], and one with [U] or [back/
round]. 5 Without going into unnecessary detail, it can be stated that a [U]-glide
is much less marked than an [A]-glide. There may be some historical phonetic
connection with the Old Irish three-way situation of phonological contrast
among palatalized, labialized and plain consonants, but this has presumably
been radically re-interpreted.
9. Parallel analyses in other languages?
Similar epenthetic vowels have been reported from other languages. I will
restrict myself here to mentioning the only case that appears to have been the
subject of an OT analysis, that of Dorsey's Law (DL) in Winnebago (Alderete
1995), where we find the inverse of the Leurbost Gaelic situation. Of great
interest is Alderete's interpretation of the syllabic status of vowel epenthesis
structures.
Alderete qualifies Dorsey's Law as follows:
624 Norval Smith
(94) a. Sonorants never follow voiceless obstruents

b. Where (a) is violated, an epenthetic vowel is inserted
c. The epenthetic vowel is colored by the quality of the following vowel
Voiced obstruents followed by sonorant consonants do not give rise to epenthe-

sis, nor do clusters of voiceless obstruents and either voiced stops or voiceless
fricatives. Alderete's explanation for epenthesis is that the two consonants in
the cluster may not differ too much in sonority. Of the cases we have examined,
it would seem rather that the problem is too great an agreement in sonority. In
Scots, epenthesis only takes place between sonorant consonants, while in Scot-
tish and Irish Gaelic the combination of a sonorant consonant and a voiceless
stop is the only environment that does not give rise to epenthesis. Clearly there
is work still to do on questions of sonority.
The most interesting aspect of Alderete's analysis is his conclusion that the
CVLV sequences resulting from epenthesis are monosyllabic bimoraic struc-
tures. His reasons for this interpretation include the phonetic brevity of the
vowels, evidence from homorganicity restrictions, behavior under reduplica-
tion, and the accent facts.
He posits a constraint SYLLABIFYPLACE (=A11 morae dominating the same
place node must be dominated by the same syllable). Disregarding the mention
of morae here, which is not strictly essential, this constraint would appear to be
too loosely formulated. However, the point Alderete is attempting to make is
that in this kind of consonant+sonorant combination, the vowels must be iden-
tical. As we have seen above, this is probably only one of the available options.
Leurbost Gaelic works this way, and Spanish, but other systems, like Islay
Gaelic, and Dutch, have some kind of schwa-vowel as the svarabhakti vowel.
Yet other systems, like Barra Gaelic reveal influence from the consonantal
environment on top of what is basically the identical vowel option.
An important parallel in the analysis is that the syllables containing the
epenthetic structures are bimoraic.
10. Conclusion
While it is obvious that I have only scratched the surface of the complex phe-
nomena of Gaelic syllabification, I feel that the notion of recursion will provide
a valuable analytic tool in the future. What is urgently needed is much more
work on the syllable structure of the various Northern European languages and
other languages of equivalent complexity.
Notes
1. I have normalized the transcriptions of Scottish Gaelic dialects to remove purely ortho-
graphic distinctions, and make things easier for the reader unfamiliar with the variety of
notational conventions.
2. I have used Oftedal's phonetic conventions except for /ö, J, ç, j/, for which I use /r', s',
χ ' , γ'/ for the sake of structural symmetry.
3. Disregarding the possibilities of consonantal nuclear elements.
4. More usually [f o:].
5. More usually [Jo:].
6. Consider /η/ which only occurs as a coda, or as an ambisyllabic element in SESE.
7. This is not an absolute criterion either, of course. In Leurbost Gaelic itself, as we will
see, the diphthongs /ia, is, ua, ua/ occur.
8. Note that this only applies to SESE. In other (rhotic) forms of English, triphthongs do
not exist. For instance, in the Scottish Standard English spoken by the author we have a
contrast between monosyllabic /hae:r/ 'hire' and disyllabic /hae:-sr/ 'higher'. In SESE
these would both be [hab].
9. I am grateful to whomever it was who put this on a notice on the library door at the
Department of Linguistics of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. This spelling
with 'uh' represents a fairly general convention in American English, however, ap-
pearing frequently in comics, for example.
10. In other Scottish Gaelic dialects there are other means of distinguishing between epen-
thetic and organic vowels.
11. This is presumably connected to the fact that a svarabhakti vowel is pronounced with
basically the same tone as the preceding short stressed vowel.
12. The notation with a subscript [..] indicates the assumed extent of the syllable nucleus,
¡araj indicates a svarabhakti-group, or a combination of a short stressed vowel followed
by a sonorant consonant and an epenthetic vowel.
13. For a discussion of the relevance of the syllable division given here see below.
14. Ternes (1973), with his strict structuralist views on phonology, is not prepared to allow
the intuitions of mere informants to affect his analysis.
15. While not explicitly referring to syllable-division in his discussion of the dialects of
Swanibost and Eoropie, he states that he only mentions points in which they differ from
the dialect of Bernera, implying that syllable-division takes place according to the same
principles.
16. Modern linguistic opinion is sometimes very severe: "There is no need to emphasize
that Holmer is helpless in view of these problems" (Ternes 1973 in reference to Hol-
mer's syllabification problems in his study of the dialect of Kintyre, Holmer 1962).
17. I have modified Holmer's transcription to bring it more into line with that used by
Oftedal.
18. The svarabhakti vowels are /a, a!.
19. Presumably the cases in (15b) involve an ambisyllabic glottal stop.
20. Some kind of support for this possibility can be gathered from the highly phonetic
transcriptions in the Linguistic atlas and survey of Irish dialects Vol. IV (Wagner & O
Baoill 1969) from the Gaelic dialect of the Isle of Arran. This dialect is one which
makes use of a phonetic glottal stop in many more situations than the other dialects
described here. Next to numerous transcriptions of the sort [va'?tex] bhalach 'boy', we
also find some like [ÎeûsNh] fea rann 'land'.
62 Norval Smith
21 Note that this account will not be completely applicable to other central-western dia-
lects of Scottish Gaelic.
22. I will indicate svarabhakti vowels by putting them in italics.
23 I will note nasalization when Oftedal does. Sometimes it appears to be phonemic,
sometimes allophonic, but the conditioning is not always certain.
24. Oftedal reports that he was told in 1950 that some of the oldest Gaelic speakers in
Leurbost had a fourth surface lateral phoneme /l/. He was however unable to interview
any of the people concerned.
25. Note that long vowels only occur in stressed syllables in Leurbost Gaelic.
26 Here, and subsequently, I give svarabhakti vowels in italics.
27. Many such combinations have a surface tense sonorant (as a result of a postlexical
phase in the phonology. They are identifiable as underlyingly lax by consonantal alter-
nations under palatalization, or by shortness of the vowel in situations where diphthon-
gization would otherwise be expected.
28. A third type comprises clusters of sonorant plus /h/. I will ignore these here.
29 The ancestor of Irish (Gaelic), Scottish Gaelic and Manx (Gaelic).
30 This was, along with its palatalized congener, a nasalized voiced fricative - a phonolo-
gical unit of extreme rarity. It has merged with Ivi everywhere.
31 What has actually happened is quite complicated, but is of no further relevance to this
paper.
32. The normal Gaelic spelling of this word is dorsan.
33. Underlying I m i . / i m Ί does not appear to diphthongize, however - giving [i:m'] -
although this can be interpreted as diphthongization to [iim'].
34 In E. Perthshire Gaelic, onsets /m, n, L, 1, r/ and codas occur.
35 Note that /r/ does not occur long in E. Perthshire Gaelic, and only does so intervocali-
cally in Islay.
36. Underlying Ini plus palatalization (floating [I]) indicating the genitive singular, as can
be seen from the genitive plural con [kan] and vocative plural conaibh [xonu].
37 Where (R)oot recursively dominates a Head R(oot) and a Dependent R(oot), simultane-
ity of phonetic instantiation is implied. This means that whether the dependent is loca-
ted to the right or to the left graphically does not make any difference.
38 Oftedal states that allophonic nasality seems to him to be weaker than phonemic nasa-
lity.
39. I leave open here the question of whether the fact that virtually only front vowels are
preceded by palatalized consonants might not be accounted for by linking the consonant
and following vowel to the same feature [I].
40. As this (R)oot node is not recursively dominated by another R(oot) node, but is directly
dominated by the N(ucleus) node, it must be interpreted in the nucleus as a separate
segment following the first Nuclear Root node. In the coda, however, it is recursively
dominated by another R(oot) node, and so as the dependent is interpreted as a
secondary articulation on the Head R node in the coda.
41. The nasal clusters involving assimilation are assumed to be underlyingly placeless,
while those involved in svarabhakti are assumed to have explicit place specifications.
42. I assume that locality is defined on the segmental output, not on syllabic positions.
43. Here I abstract away from the details of the phonetic output of the segment Irl as a pala-
talized dental fricative [ö'] in this case.
44. This sequence never arises in Standard Dutch because of a restriction on syllable-final
obstruents disallowing voice. In Substandard Dutch, however, where the domain of
epenthesis is the foot, we find epenthesis in cases like arbeid [Ar*beit] 'labor'.
45. Note that we still require [voiced] in surface forms for various Scottish Gaelic dialects.
For instance the definite article /N/ added to either voiceless lax or non-lax stops results
in a voiced lax stop, e.g. in E. Sutherland Gaelic (Dorian 1978).
46. While this sequence never arises in Standard Dutch because of a restriction on syllable-
final obstruents disallowing voice. In Substandard Dutch, however, where the domain
of epenthesis is the foot, we find epenthesis in cases like arbeid [AR*beit] 'labor'.
47. The three constraints given here are provisional, and insufficient - they cannot describe
the Scottish English svarabhakti-vowel in world [wAr'ld] or whorl [ΜΟΓ'1], for example.
48. In terms of Smith (1998), lax stops, all fricatives, and all sonorants contain a [V] man-
ner feature in segmental structure.
49. This can be explained in terms of the model of segmental structure described in Smith
(1998), since it is assumed there that sonorants have a head structure that does not
dominate place features - i.e. sonorant consonants involve placeless heads.
50. The syncopated plural exhibits stem-final depalatalization. In Leurbost, word-medial
clusters always display assimilation if no epenthetic vowel is present. I have ignored
this factor in the tableau.
51. Although this does occur in non-initial recursive onsets in south-western Scottish
Gaelic dialects (in Argyll and Arran), as in many Irish dialects.
52. Recall from section 3.4 that the persistence of a high tone was interpreted as evidence
that vocalic elements belonged to the same syllable.
53. /h/ must be regarded as an obstruent in Gaelic phonology - as a placeless fricative.
54. There are also lexical items with an organic final /h/ such as /dah/ dath 'color', with the
plural form /dahon/ dathan.
55. The underlying form of the stem is actually /bal,ax/ (cf. (44)). I ignore the lenition of Ibi
to Ivi here.
56. The vowel quality of the diphthong here is tangential to the question at issue and will
not be dealt with here.
57. See further Smith (1998).
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20 Quantity in Norwegian syllable structure
Gjert Kristojfersen
1. Introduction
In this chapter I shall discuss a long-standing problem in Norwegian (and

Swedish) phonology on the basis of data from East-Norwegian. The problem is
how to account for vowel length and consonant gemination in stressed syl-
lables. Both are limited to environments where only one consonantal melody
intervenes between the stressed vowel and a following unstressed vowel, and
they are in complementary distribution in the sense that we obligatorily find
either a long vowel or a consonant geminate in this environment, but never
both. If we see vowel length and consonant gemination as each fulfilling the
requirement that stressed syllables must be heavy, and furthermore accounted
for independently of the surface weight of the syllables that have been so ex-
panded, then the expansion itself is predictable and follows from stress. But the
expansion type, vowel lengthening or consonant gemination, is not predictable,
and must in some way be marked in the lexicon. If this is done directly, by as-
signing underlying length to vowels and consonants, this will at the same time
represent a redundant prespecification of stress placement in the lexicon.
The chapter is organized as follows. In the remainder of section 1 I shall pre-
sent the relevant data, and present the problem in more detail. In section 2, I
shall give a synopsis of earlier analyses, and in section 3 a new, but ultimately
doomed Optimality Theory analysis will be developed. An alternative to this
analysis might be full marking of quantity in the lexicon, but in section 4 I will
sketch an analysis of stress placement in Norwegian where I shall try to show
that stress placement can and should be evaluated without vowel length and
consonant gemination being present in the input and therefore in the candidates
submitted for evaluation. Section 5 will contain a tentative discussion of how
the shortcomings of the analysis from section 3 may be remedied.
1.1. Syllable structure in simplex words
Syllabic well-formedness conditions vary somewhat between morphologically

simplex words and words that contain cohering suffixes. In this chapter, I shall
632 Gjert Kristoffersen
deal only with the constraints on well-formedness governing the former type,
whose members will be referred to as simplex words in the following.
In the table under (1) a representative set of examples of simplex words of
native origin is given. Notice first the distribution of vowel length. It occurs
only in stressed open syllables, and at word end also when followed by at most
one consonant. But not all stressed vowels followed by one consonant are long,
as can be seen from the contrast between examples (lb&c). This means that the
distribution of long vowels is dependent on stress, but not predictable from
stress.
(1) Syllable structure in simplex, native words1

Syllable Surface Segmental Orthography
structure structure of
input
a. CV: C'sti:] /sti/ sti 'path'
b. CV:C [*ho:t] /hat/ hat 'hate'
C. : CVC [•hat] /hat/ hatt 'hat'
d. CVCC ['hast] /hast/ hast 'haste'
e. CVCCC ['falsk] /falsk/ falsk 'false'
f. CV:.CV [Tiai.ka] /hake/ hake 'chin'
g CVCi.CiV ['hak. ko] /hake/ hakke 'pickaxe'
h. CVCi.CjV [Tis.te] /liste/ liste 'list'
i. (C)VCi.CjV ['al. ka] /ulke/ ulke 'kind o f f i s h '
j- (C)VCi.CjV [ ερ lo] /eple/ eple 'apple'
k. CVCi.CiCj| + s o n j ['syk.kl] /sykl/ sykkel 'bicycle'
I CVr. CiCj( + s o n j ['kœ.bl] /kabl/ kabel 'cable'
The same restriction holds for geminate consonants. These occur only after a
short vowel in a stressed syllable, and straddle the syllable boundary by sup-
plying the stressed syllable with a coda as well as the following unstressed
syllable with an onset. 2 Gemination and vowel lengthening can therefore be
seen as alternative ways of securing that a stressed syllable in Norwegian is
heavy. In the following I shall refer to this as morale expansion.
The syllable structure found in simplex words can be seen as the unmarked
type, which also extends beyond the native part of the vocabulary. Due to the
stress shifting influence of different derivational suffixes, data of this type show
even more clearly that both vowel length and gemination are dependent on
stress. When stress is shifted from a syllable that contains a long vowel or is
closed by a geminate, the syllable is automatically changed from heavy to light.
The table under (2) gives examples of such alternations.
Norwegian syllable structure 633
(2) Influence of stress shift on vowel length and gemination

Surface Segmentai Orthography
structure of input
a. [ba.'ru:n] /barn η/ baron (id.)
b. [ba.ru.'ni:] /barun-i/ baroni 'barony'
c. ['drar.ma] /drama/ drama (id.)
d. [dra.'mai.tisk] /drama-tisk/ dramatisk 'dramatic'
e. [dra.ma.'tik] /drama-tik/ dramatikk 'dramatic literature'
f. [tas.'ras. sa] /terase/ terrasse 'terrace'
8· [tas. ra.'se:, re] /teras-er-e/ terrassere 'to make a terrace'
h. [gra.ma.'tik] /gramatik/ grammatikk 'grammar'
i. [gra.ma.'tik.kn] /gramatik-n/ grammatikken 'the grammar'
j· [gra. ma. ti. ka. li. 'te :t] /gramatik-al-itet/ grammatikalitet 'grammaticality'
1.2. The problem
The data in (1) and (2) show that a stressed syllable in Norwegian must be
heavy. Since both vowel length and consonant gemination are dependent on
stress, a plausible interpretation of their function in Norwegian phonology is
that they represent two alternative ways of expanding a light, stressed syllable
in cases where the segmental string does not supply enough postvocalic mate-
rial for a one-to-one mapping between segments and the second mora and the
following onset. This implies that neither vowel length nor geminated conso-
nants should be present in the input, and that the underlying representation of
the stem in for example (2c-e) therefore should be /drama/.
Or to be more general, if stress can be assigned independent of syllable
weight, then vowel length and gemination should be assigned after stress has
been assigned. If this is correct, then examples such as (lf&g) should both be
represented in the lexicon with the segment string /hake/. Marking of vowel
length in (f) or gemination in (g) would be equivalent to prespecifying the
location of stress. In non-alternating morphemes such as those in (1) this would
represent a redundancy in the sense that stress is located both in the input form
and by the stress rules, but for the alternating morphemes in (2) we would, in
addition, have to delete the prespecified stresses on the syllables where the
stress rules do not assign stress in a given word. The most parsimonious hy-
pothesis is, therefore, that quantity is not marked in the underlying forms.
But this leads to the following problem within any derivational framework.
The differences in prosodie structure in the non-alternating ['hart] and [licit],
and ['ha:.ka] and ['hak.ko] are correlated with differences in meaning, hence the
prosodie difference must in some way be encoded in the underlying forms. If
we assume identical segment strings in the underlying forms, the prosodie dif-
ferences must therefore be encoded in some other way.
2. Earlier analyses
In this section I shall briefly review earlier analyses of the relationship between
stress and syllable structure in Swedish and Norwegian. Eliasson (1985) was
the first to introduce the vowel-length alternations exemplified in (2) into the
discussion of how to account for Norwegian and Swedish quantity. The parallel
alternation between geminated and non-geminated consonants, which in my
opinion is crucial for an understanding of how quantity works in these lan-
guages, has to the best of my knowledge not been drawn upon in previous
discussions, even if the dependency between stress and gemination was pointed
to as early as in 1881.3
The data type that earlier analyses have been built upon is therefore the non-
alternating morphemes exemplified in (1). Both for vowels and consonants the
contrast involved was one of length, and consonants were assumed to be long
not only intervocalically, but also at word end when they followed a short,
stressed vowel. 4 Within the structuralist framework, the discussion was cen-
tered around the question of how the phonemic length contrast should be repre-
sented. If vowel length was defined as phonemic, consonant length was allo-
phonic, and vice versa. No unanimous conclusion was reached, which can be
attributed to the fact that the opposition in question derives from a prosodie
constraint that could be met by means of two equivalent mechanisms. Some
authors, such as Vogt (1942) saw this, and used the term prosodeme instead to
capture the opposition. The prosodeme comprises the VC sequence, and has
two different realizations, VC: and V:C.
The discussion, and the indeterminacy of analysis, were carried over into the
generative analyses that started to appear around 1970. Given the absence of
the syllable as a theoretical unit, the analyses couched within the SPE-frame-
work had to assume that quantity was grounded in segmental differences, basi-
cally either vowel length or consonant gemination.5 The vowel length alterna-
tions exemplified in (2), which were explored in Eliasson (1985), suggested
that long vowels should be derived, and that the environment where lengthen-
ing takes place is stressed, open syllables.
The derivational analysis based on the moraic theory of Kristoffersen (1991,
1992) is an attempt at such an analysis. Final consonant extrametricality is
called upon to account for lengthening before single consonants at word ends,
and lexical moraicity of single intervocalic and final consonants is assumed in
order to block lengthening in environments where the normal syllabification
rules which give onset formation priority would have created open syllables. 6
Geminates are derived when another syllabic head follows a moraic consonant,
because the need to supply syllables with onsets will link the latter to the
second syllable as well. In word-final position no geminate is derived, however,
but the moraicity of the consonant will block extrametricality from being as-
signed. This analysis has the advantage over previous analyses in that it sees
lengthening of vowels as prosodically induced. Stress is the driving force, only
in stressed syllables does vowel lengthening take place in open syllables in
order to meet the requirement that a stressed syllable must be heavy.
When developing the analysis just sketched, I did not take into account the
data given in (2f-j). But as soon as we realize that gemination is also induced by
stress, and governed by the same principles as vowel lengthening, we are forced
back to square one, where the indeterminacy with respect to how quantity
should be marked in underlying structure remains unresolved. Vowel length-
ening as well as gemination occur in the same restricted environment, and it
does not seem possible to find clear evidence for one of them being basic and
therefore the primary candidate for being marked underlyingly. If we stick with
underlyingly moraic consonants, we are forced to assume an otherwise unmoti-
vated demoraification rule applying in unstressed syllables, just as we would
have to state a shortening rule for underlying long vowels in the same environ-
ment.
It seems, in other words, that derivationally based analyses of the types
sketched in this section, do not permit a redundancy-free analysis. Any marking
of quantity cum length in underlying structure is at the same time a lexical
marking of stress which will duplicate or even blur the constraints governing
stress placement. 7 We are, in other words, faced with an ordering problem. If
quantity is dependent on stress, it should be derived from stress. But direct
marking of quantity in the lexicon turns this derivational relationship around,
with the unwanted consequences pointed out in this section as a result.
3. An Optimality Theory account of Norwegian syllabification
Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince & Smolensky 1993, McCarthy & Prince 1993a
& b, 1995) assumes a set of universal, violable constraints on representational
well-formedness, which can be conflicting. Different grammars derive from the
assumption that these constraints can be ranked on a language-particular basis.
Furthermore a GEN function is assumed, which from a given lexical input

generates a set of output candidates. These are evaluated in parallel against the
set of ranked constraints, and the form that represents the minimal violation
(including no violation at all) of the highest ranking constraint(s) in the lan-
guage-particular hierarchy, comes out as the winning form, that is, the optimal
surface form.
Within this approach, where the set of input forms is evaluated simultane-
ously, stress and syllable structure must in other words be evaluated at the same
time. This might, at least at first blush, seem to offer a possible solution to the
ordering problem at hand. But upon closer examination one will realize that the
problem is one tied to the relationship between the underlying form in the lexi-
con and the optimal surface form, in the sense that constraint ranking alone is
not able to account for a contrast that is not encoded in the lexical represen-
tation.
But underlying forms where long vowels or geminate consonants have been
marked, will also under OT represent a prespecification of the pattern defined
as optimal by the constraints evaluating stress. In other words, if stress place-
ment can be accounted for by means of a constraint grammar which does not
require evaluation of vowel length or consonant gemination in the input, it
should ideally follow that syllable weight is induced by the constraint ranking
and not by faithfulness with respect to the input form. It will likewise be diffi-
cult to account for stress and quantity shifts in roots like /drama/ in (2) without
marking both vowels as underlyingly long.
Note that there is nothing inherent to OT that forbids full specification of
quantity in underlying forms, since no constraints governing input forms are
assumed in OT. 8 1 would therefore like to stress that the point of this chapter is
not to show that no coherent OT analysis of Norwegian quantity can be de-
veloped. That is certainly possible, but as far as I can see only at the cost of
including redundant information in input forms. The topic of this chapter is
therefore how this specific problem can be dealt with within OT. Independent
of theoretical considerations, this seems to me to be a question of linguistic
significance. The fact that it can be reduced to an epiphenomenon within OT,
does not by itself refute this point.
Even if it is not strictly necessary to develop a full analysis in order to prove
that if we submit two different, but formally identical, lexical items to the same
set of constraints, the winning candidates must also be identical, I shall now
develop a preliminary analysis of Norwegian syllable structure based on the
premise that quantity is not marked in underlying structure. The result will be a
set of constraints where one single ranking cannot account for both prosodie
types. This follows from the simple fact that we try by this analysis to account
for a phonemic difference by means of constraint ranking, a solution which is
equivalent to trying to predict a phonemic difference by means of a rule within
a derivational approach. But a possible improvement of the analysis can be

based on the fact that two different rankings will render two partially overlap-
ping sets of winning candidates whose union will cover the full range of data as
presented in (1) and (2).
A preliminary set of constraints is given in (3):
(3) ONSET: Syllables have onsets

NO CODA: Syllables lack codas (= syllables are open)
'σ = μμ: Stress-to-Weight (= stressed syllables are heavy)
Ranking: 'σ = μ μ , ONSET » NO CODA
The first two constraints in (3), ONSET and No CODA, are the usual constraints
needed to derive the unmarked CV-syllable. We also need a metrically moti-
10
vated constraint to the effect that stressed syllables are heavy, i.e. bimoraic.
This constraint is surface true and therefore unviolated in most Norwegian
dialects.
The tableau under (4) shows how these constraints, on the basis of the un-
derlying form /hake/, make the candidate with the long, stressed vowel come
out as the winner in the competition with two other candidates. 11
(4)
/hake/ 'σ = μμ ONSET N o CODA
.'hai.ks.
.'hak.ka. *I
.'ha.ka. *I
*
These constraints select the forms with a long vowel, but not those with an
ambisyllabic, geminate consonant, which fail on the NO CODA constraint. As
(5) shows, the constraints are not able to distinguish between the monosyllabic
CVC inputs.
(5)
/hat/ 'σ = μμ ONSET N O CODA
*
.'ha:t.
.'hat. *
(6)
/liste/ 'σ = μμ Onset NO CODA

.'li.sta. *!
s«" *.'li:.sta.
.'liis.ta. *!
.'lis.ta. *|
.'list.3. *!
(6) shows that the constraint set also fails in other respects. In inputs with more
than one intervocalic consonant where these consonants may form an onset, the
constraints incorrectly select the candidate with long vowel and maximal onset
as the winner. The form in boldface is the occurring form. This means that long
vowels are not optimal in all environments where an open syllable can be
formed without the sequencing constraints on onsets being violated, a fact that
suggests that long vowels or geminates can be seen as default structures ap-
pealed to when no free consonant is available as coda candidate for the stressed
syllable. To account for the limited distribution of long vowels that follows
from this, we need an (obviously violable) constraint banning long vowels,
stated in (7).12 As coda + non-maximal onset is preferred to long vowel plus
maximal onset, NO V: should be ranked higher than No CODA, as shown in (8),
in order to derive the correct form with intervocalic /st/
(7) NO V: : Vowels are short

Ranking: 'σ = μμ, ONSET » NO V: » NO CODA
/liste/ 'σ = μμ Onset NOV: NO CODA

,'li.sta *!
.'li:.st3.
.'Ii:s.t3. *! •
«a1 .'listo. *
.'list.a. *!
As shown in (9), this constraint hierarchy will select a winner among all the
input types listed in (1). But because of the ranking of No V: over N o CODA,
candidates with short vowel and the second mora linked to a coda consonant
will win in all cases. In other words, the grammar cannot account for all the
possible output forms, and is therefore inadequate. Occurring, but losing, sur-
face forms not selected by this ranking because of their long vowels, are shown
in boldface in (9).
The hierarchy in (7) will in fact block long vowels in all but one type, which
is vowel-final, monovocalic words, as shown in (10). In all other types, candi-
dates with long vowels lose.
'σ = μμ ONSET NOV: N o CODA
/hat/
*
w .'hut.
.'ha:t. *! #
/hast/
«Ρ .'hast. **
,'ha:st. •**
/hake/
.Tia.ka. *!
.'hak.9. *
.'ha:.ka.
«a* .'huk.ks. *
/sykl/
,'sy.kl. *!
*
.'syk.1.
(.'sy:.kj.) 13 »I
*
« " ,'syk.kl.
(10)
/sti/ 'σ = μμ ONSET NO V: N o CODA
β* .'sti:. *
.sti. *!
The prosodie types that cannot be accounted for by the constraint ranking in (7)
are listed in (11):
(11) a) = (lb) [CV:C] ['ha:t]

b) = (If) [CV:.CV] ['hai.ks]
c) = (ll) [CV:. CiCj [+son] ] ['ka:.bl]
By reranking No Coda and No V: we can account for the types represented by

( l i b ) and (11c). But this grammar is not capable of selecting (11a), and the
reranking will also lead to the exclusion of all short stressed vowels in polysyl-
labic forms. The effect of this reranking is shown in (12), where again, losing,
but well-formed candidates are shown in boldface. Note also that the winning
candidate of/liste/ is now ill-formed.
'σ = μμ ONSET NO CODA NO V:

/hat/
*
«a- .'hat.
.'hat. * *!
/hast/
«3a .'hast. **
**
.'ha:st. *!
/hake/
.'ha.ka. *!
.'hak.3. »! *
*
•H? .'hcu.ks.
hak.ka. »!
/kabl/
,'ka.bl. *!
,'kab.l. *! *
*
.'ka:.bl.
(.kab.b!.) 14 »Ι
/liste/ 'σ = μμ ONSET N o CODA NO V:
.'li.sto. *! •m>mmí'mgrMm
lililí
*
«ä" * ,'li:.st3.
.'liis.to. *! *
•'lis.to. *!
,'lÌSt.3, *! **
The form that neither of these grammars can derive, CV:C, can be accounted
for if we assume another constraint to be active in Norwegian syllabification.
This constraint enforces a maximal size on syllable rhymes, saying that the
right boundary always should be placed after the final mora. Within a non-OT
framework I have argued that this is necessary in an analysis of Norwegian
syllable structure in Kristoffersen (1991: 87-98) and (1992). As part of an
analysis based on OT, this constraint can be stated as one of the Alignment
family (McCarthy & Prince 1993a: 3 If, 1993b), which requires that the edges
of different constituent types be aligned. The constraint is stated in (13), and
says that the right edge of a syllable must coincide with the rightmost mora
within that syllable. 15
(13) ALIGN (μ, R; σ, R)
The effect of (13) can only be detected in monosyllabic words. It is obeyed

when another syllable follows, irrespective of (13), because post-moraic conso-
nants will always syllabify as onsets of a following syllable if they get the
chance. 16 Combined with the two possible rankings of NO CODA and ONSET, it
will also account for all types of monosyllabic words in (1). ['ha:t] with a long
vowel and the final IXl syllabified as a non-moraic coda, will fail on this con-
straint, because the syllable final Ixl is not linked to a mora, ['hat] will pass it,
since the final IXl is moraic, and so will ['ha:.t], since the !\1 is extrasyllabic and
the final mora is linked to the vowel. (14) and (15) show that ALIGN (μ, R; σ,
R) must be ranked above NO CODA and NO V:.
(14)
/hat/ 'σ = μμ ONSET 1 ALIGN (μ, R; σ, R) NO V: N o CODA

1
«p .liât. *
,'ha:.t. *!
* *
.'hart. *!
(15)
'σ = μμ ONSET j ALIGN ( μ , R ; σ , R ) N o CODA NO V:
/hat/
.'hat. *!
«s- ,'ha:.|t •
* *
.'ha:t. . »!
We can now state two subgrammars, given in (16), which differ minimally on
the ranking of NO V: and NOCODA:
(16)
Grammar 1: 'σ = μμ, ONSET, ALIGN (μ, R; σ, R) » No V: » NO CODA
Grammar 2: 'σ = μμ, ONSET, ALIGN (μ, R; σ, R) » NO CODA » NO V:
Jointly, they can account exhaustively for the data, but neither of them can
account for the whole set alone. This means that in order to develop an analysis
where one ranking can account for all the types listed in (1), the input forms
suggested there are not satisfactory. The lexical input must in some way be
enriched in order for the grammar to be able to account for all the data. Con-
straints and constraint ranking alone are in other words not sufficient if we
assume input forms that are neutral with respect to quantity.
Let us therefore once more return to the possibility of marking quantity in
the lexicon, now within an OT framework. The problem with such a move
would still be that if we encode quantity as either vowel length, gemination or
both, this entails lexical prespecification of stress. If stress placement can be
predicted independently of such prespecification, it would also be an analysis
with a certain degree of redundancy. It would be outright problematic if it can
be shown that such lexical marking will interfere with the constraints governing
stress placement. So before we develop this possibility further, we must take a
brief look at the constraints that account for stress placement in Norwegian.
4. Stress placement17
As in other Germanic languages, such as English, German and Dutch, stress is

constrained by a three syllable window at the right edge (van der Hülst, Hen-
driks & van de Weijer in press: 2), and by morphology. In a recent analysis of
Norwegian stress, Rice (in press) shows that stress placement in Norwegian is
quantity sensitive, and can be accounted for by building a moraic trochee near
the right side of the word. In order to predict the exact location within the three
syllable window, he assumes full marking of quantity on the final syllable. A
final CVC syllable may therefore underlyingly have a short vowel and a final
geminate, or a long vowel. In both cases it attracts stress. If it is represented
with a short vowel and a non-geminate final C, on the other hand, it will not
attract stress. This is, in other words, a translation of the traditional analysis
outlined in section 2 above, into an optimality theoretic framework.
In Kristoffersen (1996) I show that the location of the moraic trochee in sim-
plex words is predictable to a considerable extent without gemination and
vowel length being underlyingly marked. The analysis is based on a database
consisting of polysyllabic simplex words, which was built by the author. In the
database, all syllables that surface with long vowels or geminates are encoded
as light non-finally, while final CVC-syllables were consistently coded as
heavy, irrespective of their being realized with long vowels or not.
A computation of the stress patterns found in the 324 entries with three syl-
lables or more, gave the pattern shown in the table under (17) overleaf. It can
be seen that close to 80% of the sample can be accounted for by building a
moraic trochee on the right edge, which will give final stress when the final
syllable is closed, and penultimate when the final is open. 56 tokens, that is,
17.3% of the sample, contained in those cells which are framed, can be ac-
counted for by the same rule if the final syllable is assumed to be lexically
marked as extrametrical. In this case, a closed penult attracts stress, and if the
penult is open, stress goes to the antepenult. The shaded cells contain the few
examples where lexical marking of stress is necessary. These amount to 3.4%
of the total sample.
The same pattern emerges in disyllabic words. All the data in (1), monosyl-
labic words and disyllabic words ending in a light syllable, can be accounted
for by building a moraic trochee on the right edge. In disyllabic words with a
closed final, the same proportional distribution as in trisyllabic words is found:
about 20% have initial stress and must be accounted for by final syllable ex-
trametricality.
(17) Stress pattern in morphologically simplex words of three syllables or more
Syllabic structure Antepenultimate Penultimate Final stress
of the final 3 stress stress
syllables Ν % Ν % Ν % Ν
1 CV.CV.CV 114 25.4% 29 71.9% 82 2.7% 3

2 CVC.CVCV 30 20.0% 6 76.7% 23 3.3% 1
3 CVCVC.CV 41 0 100.0% 41 0
4 cvccvc.cv 3 0 100.0% 3 0
5 cvcvcvc 70 12.9% 9 10.0% 7 77.1% 54

6 cvc.cvcvc 32 18.7% 6 0 81.3% 26
7 cv.cvccvc 11 0 27.3% 3 72.7% 8
8 cvc.cvc.cvc 2 0 50.0% 1 50.0% 1
9 cvcv.cvcc 17 0 0 100.0% 17
10 cvccvcvcc 3 33.3% 1 0 66.7% 2
11 cvcvc.cvcc 1 0 100.0% 1 0
12 cvccvccvcc 0
324 15.7% 51 49.7% 161 34.6% 112
If vowel length and gemination are encoded in lexical entries, this pattern
will not appear. It will be unexplainable why few vowels in final, open sylla-
bles are long, and therefore stressed, and the rarity of the CV:.CVC, as in
[me.'sii.jas] Messias (id.), will likewise be a coincidence, because there is no
reason why a long vowel should be so much rarer before a closed final than in
any other environment. The pattern that emerges from (17) therefore suggests
that long vowels and geminates should not be encoded in the input.
The conclusions reached in section 1.2, where the problems under discussion
were stated, are therefore supported by the principles that seem to govern stress
placement. Encoding geminates and long vowels in underlying forms will trivi-
ally derive the correct stress pattern in most cases, because they can be looked
at as a diacritic device to mark stress underlyingly. The cost is that a set of
deeper generalizations will remain hidden by the analysis.
It can also be shown that lexical marking of vowel length will lead to wrong
predictions in some cases. If we assume that quantity is maximally encoded in
the lexicon, all vowels that can surface as long in some environment, must be
long in the input, and all consonants that may surface as geminated must be
geminates. The stress placement rules themselves will then identify the
environment where the underlying length may surface. In all other environ-
ments the underlying length would presumably be subject to a constraint ex-
pressing what is traditionally referred to as the Quantity Sensitivity parameter:
all unstressed syllables must be monomoraic.
On this reasoning, the input of (2c-e) above would be /dra:ma:/, given that
both vowels can surface as long, dependent on environment. A set of con-
straints selecting a form with a moraic trochee on the right edge would be
unable to "reach" the penult in this form; it would be consistently realized with
final stress, contrary to facts. A parallel example, involving geminates, is the
alternation found in male first names such as Hénrik and Frédrik, where the
stress pattern suggests that the final /k/ is a non-geminate. But when female first
names are derived by adding /-e/, we get Henrikke and Fredrikke. This suggests
that the common root underlying the pairs should have a final geminate. This
geminate will attract stress also in the male form, resulting in *Henrik and
*Fredrik.
The force of these two examples is somewhat weakened by the fact that we
need some version of the optimality theoretical counterpart of (lexical) ex-
trametricality in the analysis of stress placement. By invoking this, we could
explain why stress is on the first syllable in the non-suffixed forms, but on the
penultimate when the derivational suffixes are added. But there is at least one
example where extrametricality cannot be appealed to in this way. Canada has
antepenultimate stress, and therefore presumably an extrametrical final syllable.
The adjective kanádisk, with long stressed penultimate vowel, suggests that the
second syllable must have an underlying long /a/. This vowel cannot be de-
clared extrametrical, because it is not final. It will therefore be visible to the
stress rules, and we would incorrectly derive *Canáda.
I therefore conclude that direct encoding of vowel length and consonant
gemination on underlying forms not only conceals the fact that both are de-
pendent on, and not prerequisites for, stress assignment, but also that a con-
sistent marking of quantity in the input will make the constraints governing
stress placement more difficult to state.
5. Expansion types analyzed as co-phonologies
We now seem to have reached an impasse. An analysis of syllabification based

on optimality theory cannot succeed without the input being marked for gemi-
nation or vowel lengthening. But the fact that moraic expansion itself is de-
pendent on stress and the way it interacts with stress placement, strongly sug-
gests that quantity is not present in the input in the form of moraic structure that
expresses it directly.
The conclusion that this leads up to is that some kind of indirect marking of
'expansion type' would be preferable. Such marking can be thought of as a
diacritic added to each relevant lexeme. One possible analysis that falls under
this type, and which will be discussed shortly here, is the positing of co-pho-
nologies within the grammar. The basic property of co-phonologies is that they
apply to different parts of the lexicon: If a grammar contain two co-phonolo-
gies, each morpheme in the lexicon must be assigned to one of these.
Co-phonologies, as a formal means of accounting for exceptions in the
grammar, are discussed in Inkelas, Orgun & Zoll (1997). Their conclusion is
that co-phonologies are undesirable for conceptual reasons, and they show that
pre-specification of input forms allows for a better analysis of exceptions
within OT. While I agree with their conclusions that co-phonologies do not
seem to be called for in order to account for lexical exceptions, the problem
under discussion in this article is of another sort. We are not dealing with ex-
ceptional patterns, but with two main patterns that divide the relevant part of
the lexicon into two major, non-exceptional classes, one where the quantity
constraint on stressed vowels is enforced by vowel length, and another where it
is enforced by gemination. For reasons already given, the redundancy problem
cannot be solved by pre-specification of quantity type. Co-phonologies on the
other hand, which by the definition given above divide the lexicon into classes,
each subject to a specific phonological sub-grammar, appear as an appropriate
analytical tool for this kind of problem. The two grammars under (16), repeated
here for convenience as (18), can in other words be posited as two co-phonolo-
gies of Norwegian.
(18)
Co-phonology 1: 'σ = μμ, ONSET, ALIGN (μ, R ; σ, R ) » No V: » No CODA
Co-phonology 2: 'σ = μμ, ONSET, ALIGN (μ, R ; σ, R ) » No CODA » No V:
Lexemes that are realized with short, stressed vowels will be assigned to co-
phonology 1, while co-phonology 2 will take care of the forms with long vow-
els.
The obvious advantage of positing co-phonologies that will account for the
different patterns represented by the conflicting prosodie types, is that it enables
us to evaluate quantity and stress simultaneously. We thereby avoid the prob-
lem of stress pre-specification that a direct encoding of quantity implies. But
one may ask if the price is too high. As pointed out by Inkelas, Orgun & Zoll
(1997), co-phonologies represent a very powerful device. By combination of
several co-phonologies one can create a very large number of sub-grammars.
The use of co-phonologies therefore has to be severely constrained if they are

to be allowed as part of phonological theory.
While I have no proposals at this point as to how such constraints can be es-
tablished on principled ground, I would like to point out that different sub-
grammars within the same phonology are not new to OT. One example is the
relationship between Complete Phase and Incomplete Phase in Rotuman, as
analyzed in McCarthy (1995: 65). Here the relationship between Umlaut and
constraints evaluating [back] in the Incomplete and Complete Phase in Rotu-
man is analyzed by means of different, local ranking of the constraints. A
similar point is made in Booij (1997: 276) with respect to stress assignment in
native vs. non-native words in Dutch.
In a more general vein it should be noted that languages admit arbitrary mor-
phological classes such as gender and inflectional classes, so corresponding
arbitrary divisions of the lexicon with respect to phonology seem difficult to
block on principle.
6. Conclusion
The main point that emerges from this chapter is that because stress clearly
should be handled in the grammar, quantity must also be handled in the gram-
mar because of its systematic and predictable dependency on stress. But since
stress-dependent quantity can be instantiated in two different ways, the choice
of which is not predictable, the choice itself must be encoded in the lexicon,
even if the moraic expansion itself is predictable. Positing two co-phonologies
formalizes this insight. The need for lexical marking is taken care of, because
the relevant lexemes must be explicitly marked for the co-phonology that se-
lects forms with long vowels as optimal forms. At the same time, stress and
thereby the environments where the constraints and the critical ranking of NO
CODA and NO V: are relevant, are accounted for in the grammar and not posited
as underlying vowel length or gemination.
Acknowledgments
This chapter was written during a sabbatical leave spent at the Vrije Univer-
siteit in Amsterdam in 1996. The ideas that are developed were discussed in
talks given at the University of Utrecht in May 1996, at the OUP-conference on
syllable structure in Pézenas in June 1996 and at the Vrije Universiteit in Sep-
tember 1996. Thanks are due to René Kager, Geert Booij, Curt Rice, an
648 Gjerl Kristoffersen
anonymous reviewer and the editors of this volume for valuable comments,
which all have improved the text considerably. I am of course still responsible
for all shortcomings.
Notes
I. signifies that the following syllable bears main stress. The final sonorant in examples
(k) and (1) are syllabic. The examples where vowel length contrasts with gemination or
a short vowel followed by a single consonant at word ends are shaded.
2 For reasons that will be made clear below, I do not regard a consonant that closes a
stressed syllable with short vowel at word ends, such as in (le), as a geminate.
3 Brekke (1881: 66f), see also Alnass (1925: 18).
4. Although these consonants were (constrastively) long in Old Norse, the old length
contrast is no longer present. In addition, investigations on duration show that while
long vowels are more than two times as long as short vowels, 'short' consonants are
between 70 and 90% of long consonants. Differences are greatest in bisyllabic struc-
tures (Elert 1965 (Swedish), Jensen 1962, Fintoft 1961, Vanvik 1972: 148ff.). Analyses
based on contrast between long and short consonants are therefore weakly motivated by
independent phonetic and phonological arguments.
5. See Eliasson (1978) and (1985) for an overview and a discussion of different solutions,
both in the pre-generative and the SPE-based literature.
6. By the term Lexical moraicity is implied an underlying marking as moraic, of those
post-vocalic, single consonants that occur after short vowels. Thus, in the representation
underlying ['hat], 'hat', the final /t/ is assumed to be moraic. Being metrified in under-
lying structure, it will not be affected by the rule making word-final consonants ex-
trametrical. Consequently, open syllable lengthening cannot apply. In ['hai], 'hate' on
the other hand, the final consonant is non-moraic in underlying structure. It will there-
fore be made extrametrical, and the surface long vowel can be accounted for by open
syllable lengthening.
7. Constraints governing stress placement will be discussed in section 4.
8. An anonymous reviewer reminded me of this. See also the discussion of Lexicon
Optimization in Itô, Mester & Padgett (1995) and in the chapter 'Afterword' in Archan-
geli & Langendoen (eds.) (1997).
9. ONSET may be marginally violated in Norwegian. As the focus here is on syllabifica-
tion of postvocalic consonants, this will not be discussed here and I will assume that it
is unviolated with respect to the other constraints discussed in this chapter.
10. For reasons that will become clear when the stress assignment constraints are discussed,
this constraint is not equivalent to the more familiar constraint FOOTBIN, because stress
feet can be built on two light syllables in the input, whose head is then subject to moraic
expansion.
II. As usual, only those candidates, from the much bigger set of possible candidates sub-
mitted by GEN, that come close to the correct surface form are considered in the tab-
leaux in order to avoid unnecessary cluttering.
12. This can be seen as a constraint that accounts for the universal fact that long vowels
have a more restricted distribution than short vowels.
13. The parentheses around this form signify that it is a non-existent, but prosodically well-
formed surface form.
14. See footnote 13.

15. Note incidentally that this is an example where a sub-syllabic constituent is aligned, a
case that McCarthy & Prince (1993b: 84) speculate should be excluded, limiting the
prosodie categories that can be subject to alignment constraints to segments, syllables,
feet and prosodie words.
16. The constraint "derives" the appendix effect which can be observed in many Germanic
languages (cf. Booij 1995, and Wiese 1996), but in a somewhat different form because
the coronality constraint observed in these languages does not hold in Norwegian. In-
stead, appendices in Norwegian are post-moraic, stray onsets left at the end of prosodie
words by (13).
17. I shall not try to state actual constraints in this section, but informally discuss some
important requirements that they must meet. The reader is referred to Rice (in press) for
proposals of what the actual constraints might look like.
References
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1925 Norsk uttale-ordbok, 2nd edition. Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co.
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1881 Bidrag til dansk-norskens lydlœre. Kristiania. Reprinted in Jahr & Lorentz (eds ),
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Eiert, C.-C.
1965 Phonologic studies of quantity in Swedish. Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksell.
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1978 Swedish quantity revisited. In Gàrding et al. (eds ), 111-122.
1985 Stress alternations and vowel length: new evidence for an underlying nine-vowel
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1995 The handbook of phonological theory. Oxford & Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
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1999 Word prosodie systems in the languages of Europe. Berlin and New York:
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1999 A survey of word prosodie systems of European languages. In van der Hulst (ed.)
(1999), 425-475.
Inkelas, S., C O. Orgun & C. Zoll
1997 The implications of lexical exceptions for the nature of grammar. In Roca (ed.),
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Wiese, R.
Part V: Other approaches
21 A syllable-level feature in Finnish
Richard Ogden
1. Introduction
In this chapter, I present an analysis of rounding dissimilation in Finnish plural

stems. Although I concentrate on plural noun and adjective stems, the same
dissimilation process is observed for past tense stems of verbs. I argue that this
dissimilation phenomenon is best treated by stating constraints on sequences of
[±round] at the syllable level. Using the Head Feature Convention (Gazdar,
Klein, Pullum & Sag 1985: 50; Broe 1991) I treat [±round] as a property of
both the nucleus and the syllable.
The analysis I present therefore assumes, in the manner of Firthian Prosodie
Analysis (FPA) (Firth 1948; Ogden & Local 1994; Ogden 1995a) that phonolo-
gical contrasts have domains over structures bigger than the "segment", or ter-
minal nodes in a tree. The more general framework within which I work is
Declarative Phonology (DP) (Bird 1990, 1995; Coleman 1992, 1995; Scobbie
1991; Scobbie, Coleman & Bird 1996), which is compatible with FPA since
both "encode the effects of rules exhaustively within a theory of static repre-
sentations" (Anderson 1985: 193 - see also Sprigg 1957a,b), and both view the
phonology-phonetics relation as one of interpretation - or, in Firthian terms,
exponency - rather than derivation.
I will now outline some of the assumptions about phonological analysis that
I make in this chapter, highlighting the parallelisms between FPA, DP and
other mainstream approaches.
1.1. Polysystemic analysis
FPA is committed to a polysystemic approach to language. This implies that at

different places in structure, different systems of contrast occur. For example,
Henderson (1951) shows that in a number of southeast Asian languages, sys-
tems of contrast in loan words are not the same as in native items. Other
Firthian work (see the collections Studies in Linguistic Analysis 1957, Bazell et
al. 1966, Palmer 1970) provides evidence for syllable constituents and the
necessity to relate a phonological statement to other levels of linguistic state-
ment such as lexical class, or place in the syllable or some larger "piece". In
652 Richard Ogden
more recent times, polysystemic accounts are given by e.g. Itô & Mester (1995)
for Japanese, and by Inkelas (1995) for Turkish. For English, Simpson (1992)
applies a polysystemic approach to English auxiliary verbs, and Coleman
(1995) argues that level 1 and level 2 items of Lexical Phonology can be de-
claratively recast in terms of different but parallel linguistic systems.
Identically notated terms in different systems may have different phonetic
interpretations depending on the system in which they are located (see Sprigg
1957a,b and Ogden 1995a for a more thorough discussion of this and associ-
ated issues). Thus phonetic interpretation is also polysystemic under the
Firthian view. This is how FPA handles what in other theories is treated as
allophony.
The Finnish plural stem is formed by suffixing Iii to the singular stem. The
stem allomorphy is, however, complex, and different systems exhibit different
behavior. Nouns behave differently from adjectives; disyllabic [+back] har-
monic stems behave differently from trisyllabic stems, where the harmonic
class is irrelevant; and the rounding dissimilation process described is not a
general property of the phoneme I'll, but a property of the phoneme Iii that
counts as the phonological exponent of the morphosyntactic categories {plural}
and {past}. It can be seen, therefore, that the various systems which need to be
referred to in the analysis are at different levels: [±back] is, I argue, a property
of the phonological word in Finnish; stems need to be classed as di- or trisyl-
labic; and morphosyntactic information is needed to constrain the analysis
correctly. As Itô & Mester (1995) and Scobbie, Coleman & Bird (1996) show,
constraints generally apply to items in the intersection of various sets. This is
also true of the Finnish data presented in this chapter.
1.2. Domains of contrast
One of the key insights of FPA is that phonological contrasts are not all punc-
tual. This has led some (e.g. Goldsmith 1992) to interpret FPA as being an
early form of autosegmental phonology, a view refuted in Ogden & Local
(1994). FPA makes a distinction between prosodies and phonematic units. The
precise distinction between the two is not always clear, although Robins (1957)
claims there are two sorts of prosody: demarcative and extensional. Demarca-
tive prosodies are those which are particular to certain structural locations, such
as word-initial or syllable-final. Thus [?] in German is a demarcative prosody
because it marks the start of a vowel-initial word (Firth 1948); and stress in
Finnish is also a demarcative prosody because it marks word-initial. Exten-
sional prosodies are features that have extent over a stretch of material, such as
the well-known examples of nasalization in Terena (Bendor-Samuel 1960), or
vowel harmony in Turkish (Waterson 1956); Ogden (1995b) treats palataliza-
A syllable-level feature in Finnish 653
tion in Tundra Nenets prosodically; and Local & Ogden (1998) give an analysis
of Swedish where retroflection is treated as a property of the rhyme. Robins's
classification can easily be criticized as simplistic (Ogden 1995a: 7ff), but for a
newcomer to FPA, it is illustrative nonetheless.
Broe (1991), Coleman (1992) and Local (1992) treat prosodies (in the
Firthian sense) as corresponding to phonological contrasts that, in a hierarchic-
al phonological structure, are not placed at a terminal node. I treat [±round] in
Finnish as a property of the syllable as a whole, and [±back] as a property of
the word as a whole; in Firthian terms, my claim is that [±back] and [±round]
are prosodies in Finnish, with different domains (and, correspondingly, differ-
ent extents in phonetic interpretation; cf. Coleman 1992).
1.3. The syllable as a domain of contrast
The syllable in FPA and in the analysis presented here is not merely a way of
organizing segments as it is in much of modern phonology. Already in some of
the earliest papers in the Firthian tradition (e.g. Firth & Rogers 1937, Firth
1948, Henderson 1949), phonological features - more specifically, prosodies -
were allotted to the syllable level. In fact, the starting-point for most Firthian
analyses is not the terminal places of structure such as the onset, nucleus and
coda, but the higher-level places in structure which capture syntagmatic rela-
tions (Robins 1957). Firth & Rogers (1937) and Henderson (1949) proposed
that certain phonological features were properties of the syllable, rather than
some lower 'segmental' level of hierarchical organization.1 The Firthian tradi-
tion, then, assumes that phonological information is distributed throughout the
whole syllable.
This view of the syllable contrasts with many branches of generative pho-
nology, where syllables are seen as a way of organizing segmental material
(e.g. Blevins 1995, Goldsmith 1990). Along with this goes a number of as-
sumptions, namely that there are segments to be organized, that segments are
primary and syllables secondary, and that syllable structure is not a part of
underlying representations. From the viewpoint of FPA, where features are
distributed over the whole syllable and where there are no discrete segments as
such, it does not make sense to interpret the syllable as a means of organizing
segments. Hierarchical structure, of which the syllable forms a part, is how the
Firthian concept of structure - which captures syntagmatic relations - can be
represented.
The syllable structure I adopt here is based on the one proposed by Fudge
(1969, 1987). I use tree representations throughout this chapter, although it
would be equally possible to describe the syllable in terms of "attribute-value
matrices" in the manner of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG)
654 Richard Ogden
(Pollard & Sag 1987, 1994; cf. Bird & Klein 1994, and Local & Ogden 1998). I
use the device of co-indexing to show the sharing of features through structure.
Co-indexing, which forces the identity of two feature values, is marked by a
number in square brackets, thus: [1]. Co-indexing appears immediately after
the relevant feature. Since contrasts can be expressed over domains other than
the terminal nodes of the syllable, nodes in the trees also bear features. Exam-
ple (1) shows the syllable-structure I adopt. Only the nucleus, as head of the
syllable, is compulsory; all non-heads are optional. I have marked optional con-
stituents with dashed lines for ease.
(1) Syllable structure assumed in this paper:
O R
Ν C
1.4. Headedness in prosodie structure
A crucial element of the analysis I present is the idea that syllables are headed
structures. Coleman (1992: 3ff.) gives a more detailed discussion of headedness
in phonological analysis, and here I present a summary of the arguments in
favor of headedness in syllable structure.
Structurally, heads are obligatory elements. Since the only obligatory ele-
ment of a syllable is the nucleus, the nucleus is the head of the syllable. This
observation has another aspect to it: heads can be independently phonetically
interpreted, while non-heads (also variously called dependents or comple-
ments) cannot (Bach & Wheeler 1981). In other words, onsets and codas,
which typically have contoids as their phonetic exponents, cannot be inter-
preted without an accompanying nucleus. Coleman (1992) uses this as an ar-
gument for treating nuclear head information as being shared by all constitu-
ents in a syllable, and it is by this mechanism that coarticulation is handled.
Heads play an important role in the way in which information can be shared
around structure. In a declarative formalism, the appropriate metaphor is one of
sharing information; but a procedural interpretation of the sharing of informa-
tion would use metaphors like "percolation", "spreading" or "copying" (Cole-

man 1992: 8).
I adopt a version of the head-feature convention of Generalized Phrase
Structure Grammar (GPSG) (Gazdar, Klein, Pullum & Sag 1985: 50), proposed
by Broe (1991: 35):
(2) Head-Feature Convention (HFC)

The head features of the mother must be an extension of the head features
of the head daughter.
Essentially, this is a description of how information is shared around structure.

Since the nucleus is the head of the rhyme, which is the head of the syllable, it
follows by the HFC that head properties of the syllable, rhyme and nucleus will
all be shared (cf. (3)):
(3) Sharing of information between nucleus (N), rhyme (R), and syllable (S):
S
^ ^ afeature
O R
. afeature
lâfeature
X X X
This mechanism is used in section 2, and I will show that the domain of
[±round] in Finnish is the syllable. Using the HFC, I will show how the dis-
similation facts of Finnish can be neatly handled by treating the domain of
[±round] as at S rather than as merely a property of the terminal node.
1.5. Exponency
Exponency is a Firthian term expressing a non-derivational relation between

any two levels of linguistic analysis. Thus phonological features have phonetic
exponents; and phonological features and structure themselves serve as the
phonological exponents of other linguistic categories. Phonetic exponency is
broadly the same as phonetic interpretation (cf. Pierrehumbert 1990). In this
chapter, I will be concerned with the phonological exponents of the morpho-
656 Richard Ogden
syntactic category {plural}, which in phonemic terms is Iii. Ogden (1995a) sets
out the theoretical basis for phonetic exponency in FPA.
2. Prosodie structure in Finnish
In this section, I set out the theoretical grounds which provide the basis for the
analysis, and present some of the assumptions I make about the phonological
structure of Finnish.
2.1. Foot and word in Finnish
Phonological words in Finnish can be established by two criteria: (1) they form
harmonic domains for front/back vowel harmony; (2) every Finnish word has
its main stress on the leftmost syllable. There are structural constraints on
words, too. Noun, verb and adjective stems are generally disyllabic. (Trisyl-
labic native stems have rather severe constraints on the form of the third syl-
lable.) The stems of nouns and verbs may be monosyllabic, in which case they
must be heavy syllables, generally of the form CVV, as in pää, suit, syy, tie}
Word-final consonants must be coronal, i.e. one o f / n s r 11/.3 Words are left-
headed.
Feet in Finnish consist of at least one syllable, and up to three syllables. Feet
are left-headed. Monosyllabic feet can only occur leftmost in the word, and
must form a monosyllabic stem.
The structure of Finnish words is as in (4), where [±back] is a property of
the prosodie 4 word (W), and each W consists of at least one foot (F), up to an
indefinite number. Headedness is marked in the representations by vertical,
rather than slanting, lines. Therefore, the illustration in (4) shows that the left-
most F is the head of W.
(4) The structure of prosodie words in Finnish
W
[±back]
F F F
Feet are as in (5); that is, they consist of one and up to three syllables (S), with
the leftmost S as head of F. The composition of the two structures in (4) and (5)
gives words whose leftmost syllable is the head of the leftmost F, which is the
head of W: i.e. stress is always word-initial in Finnish.
(5) The structure of feet in Finnish
F
[±back]
S S S
Example (6) shows the structure of a minimal noun or verb stem in Finnish.
(6) The minimal structure for a noun or verb stem in Finnish
/I
O R
Κ
X X X
2.2. Syllables in Finnish
Having set out the hierarchy into which syllables fit, I will now explain some
of the properties of syllables in Finnish.
Much of Finnish phonological structure is centered around the syllable. The
range of contrasts available in the initial syllable of the word, and the range of
syllable structures available, are greatest in number in the initial syllable, i.e.
the head syllable of the word. Long vowels, while possible in almost every
syllable of Finnish words, generally have a different status in the initial sylla-
bles of words, where they carry lexical, rather than morphological contrast. The
658 Richard Ogden
phonetic interpretation of long vowels is also different in initial syllables. For

example, /e:/ has the exponent [ie] in initial syllables, but [e:] in non-initial
syllables.4 The explanation for this patterning is that historically Finnish had no
vowel length contrasts outside the first syllable, and modern long vowels out-
side the initial syllable arise from -VCV- sequences where both Vs were in
weak syllables and the medial -C- was lost (Rapóla 1966).
Onsets and codas in Finnish have different contrastive systems. The onset
has a larger set of contrasts than the coda, allowing /p t k m η s h j υ 1 r/, while
in coda position only /p t k s h 1 r N/ are allowed, where Ν is a nasal under-
specified for place of articulation. What is more, the constraints on coda-onset
sequences in clusters are very restrictive. See Karlsson (1982: 104ff.) for a full
account of Finnish consonant clusters. Onsets never branch, except in loan
words. Codas can only branch in the initial syllable of a word stem, giving rise
to -CCC- clusters as inpalsta 'column', or myrsky 'storm'.
The nucleus in Finnish can be simple or branching. When branching, the nu-
cleus is left-headed.
2.3. Representation of nuclei
The phonemic vowel inventory of Finnish is /i e a α o o u y/. Nuclei in Finnish

can be simple or branching. If they are branching, they are left-headed. The
complement contains either a copy of the head, or it contains the features
[±round, +hi, -low]: i.e. in the complement, rounding is the only contrastive
feature. In my account of Finnish, I treat [±back] as a property of the word, and
the 'neutral' vowels /i e/ are [-round, -low].
This gives the representation in (7) for long vowels:
(7) Representation of long vowels
[±hi][l] [±hi][l]
[±low][2] [±low][2]
[around] [3] [around] [3]
Diphthongs have the representation as in (8):

(8) Representation of diphthongs
Ν
[ a r o u n d ] [1]
±hi] +hi]
±low] -low]
around][l] ±round]
The HFC forces the feature [around] to be shared by the head of the nucleus
and the nucleus node (and so also by the syllable node): this is indicated by the
co-indexing. Therefore if the head of the nucleus is [+round], so must its
mother be. Note, however, that the complement of the nucleus need not have
the same value for [±round] as the head of the nucleus in the case of diph-
thongs. This turns out to be a key fact in the analysis of the dissimilation facts
presented in section 3.
3. Rounding dissimilation in Finnish
In Finnish, the plural stem of nouns and adjectives, as well as the past tense
stem of verbs, is formed by adding /i/. This induces a dissimilation involving
[±round] in adjacent syllables in disyllabic [+back]-harmonic words whose
singular stem has an open vowel in the second syllable. Examples are given in
the table in (9) where data are given in the nominative singular and the essive
plural. (The essive case is marked by /-nA/. 5 )
(9) Dissimilation of [±round] in disyllabic [ + back]-harmonic plural forms
nom sg. ess. pi. Si s2

ruma rumina [+round] [-round]
kuva kuvina [+round] [-round]
sola solina [+round] [-round]
kala kaloina [-round] [+round]
mela meloina [-round] [+round]
silta siltoina [-round] [+round]
660 Richard Ogden
As can be seen, the second syllable of the plural form has the opposite value for
[±round] from the first syllable, i.e. in this class of words, only the two struc-
tures in (10) are possible exponents of the plural:
(10) Possible disyllabic {plural} stems for [+ back] harmonic words:
W W
[+back] [+back]
S S S S
[-round] [+round] [+round] [-round]
For [-back] harmonie disyllabic stems, the second syllable of disyllabic words
is always [-round], regardless of what the first syllable contains (11).
(11) Front harmonic stems
ess. pl. SI S2
kynä kyninä [+round] [-round]
märkä märkinä [-round] [-round]
3.1. Structural allomorphs of IM
The {plural} morpheme, then, has as its phonological exponents [-low, +high,
-round]. However, there are two different structural configurations across
which these features can be distributed: one where they appear in the head of
the nucleus, and another where they appear in the complement of the nucleus
(12). The phonological exponents of the {plural} morpheme appear in the
nuclear head when the syllable is [-round], and in the complement when the
syllable is [+round].
(12) Structural allomorphs of ///
S S
[+round][l] [-round][l]
R R
Ν Ν
[1] [-low] [-low]

[+hi] [+hi]
[-round] [1]
Having established the basics of the analysis, I will now present it in more
detail, starting off with an analysis based on spreading [±round], I will show
that this does not account for the data in a principled way, but only by stipula-
tion. I will then show that the most satisfactory analysis of the data is to treat it
as the result of a constraint on sequences of [±round] at the syllable level.
3.2. A spreading account
Autosegmental phonology treats features on separate tiers associated with x-

slots on the melodic, or timing, tier, syllable structure is constructed on top of
melodic structure. Autosegmental material is associated to x-slots, which are
the terminal nodes of prosodie structure. I will now show that an autosegmental
account based on spreading [±round] is only superficially appealing.
Let us start with simple cases such as ruma- (sg.), rumi- (pl.), 'ugly', and
vanha- (sg.), vanhoi- (pl.), 'old'. The plurals contain a sequence of two auto-
segments with opposite values:
(13) Autosegmental account of dissimilation
r u m i v a n h o i
[+round] [-round] [+round] [+round] [-round]
In this analysis, the plural marker always has [-round] as one of its features,
and it is always immediately preceded by [+round], Since ruma-trumi- contains
a [+round] vowel in the first syllable, the second syllable need only contain a
662 Richard Ogden
[-round] Vowel; whereas vanha-hanhoi- has a [-round] vowel in the first

syllable, and therefore the vowel in the second syllable is [+round].
This analysis is less convincing if we consider words with diphthongs in the
first syllable. In these diphthongs, the second element of the vowel in the first
syllable may be [+round] while the first elements is [-round], as in sauna-
Isaunoi-, 'sauna', see (14).
(14) Autosegmental account where the first syllable contains a diphthong:
s a u η o i
[-round] [+round] [-round]
Here again, there is a [+round][-round] sequence, as in the other cases. This

case is different though: this time [+round] is associated to the second part of
the diphthong in the first syllable and the first vowel of the second syllable.
There is nothing in this account to explain why the plural of sauna- should not
be *sauni-, since this also conforms to the constraint that the plural marker is
immediately preceded by [+round], as (15) shows.
(15) Non-occurring plural stem for sauna-
s a u η i
[-round] [+round] [-round]
Since this form does not occur, it must be ruled out by a stipulative rule that
forces [+round] to associate to V2 of the diphthong in Si and Vi in S2.
The situation with diphthongs where the diphthong is [+round][-round],
such as /ui/, causes a similar problem. Kuiva- has the plural stem kuivi-: this
means that [-round] would have to spread from the second part of the diph-
thong to the nucleus of the second syllable, and the non-occurrence of the form
*kuivoi- is ruled out again only by stipulation; this time by a stipulation that
[-round] must be associated with both the second part of the diphthong in Si
and the nucleus of the second syllable. This is therefore the opposite of the
stipulation ruling out *sauni-.
In summary, then, the spreading account is not satisfactory because it rules
out particular forms only by stipulation, and not according to some more gen-
eral principle. I will now present an analysis which makes use of headedness
and accounts for the facts by stating constraints on the sequence of [±round] at
the syllable level.
3.3. A syllable-based account
In section 3.2, it was the diphthongs that caused problems for the spreading
account. I will therefore start by looking at how diphthongs are represented
under my analysis, and show that their behavior is no different from the mono-
phthongs, assuming the HFC.
According to the HFC, the head features of the nucleus are also features of
the rhyme and of the syllable. I take [±round] to be a head feature. The com-
plement, on the other hand, need not have features shared with rhyme and
syllable. This means that for diphthongs such as /ou ui yi/, with [+round] heads,
the partial description will be as in (16).
(16) Description of diphthongs with [+round] in the nucleus head:
S
[+round][l]
R
[1]
[1] [±round]
Diphthongs such as /ei ai ay/, with [-round] heads, will have the representation
as in (17).
664 Richard Ogden
(17) Description of diphthongs with [-round] in the nucleus head:
S
. [-round] [1]
R
[1]
[1] [±round]
This means that the domain of [±round] is the syllable, and the nuclear com-
plement may have a different value from the head. Therefore, words like ruma-
Irumi- or kuiva-lkuivi-, which exhibit the a/i alternation, will have the descrip-
tion in (18). (Irrelevant information about onsets and codas has again been left
out.)
(18) Description of a/i alternating stems:
W
[+back]
S S
[+round][l] [-round] [2]
R R
Ν Ν
[1] [+hi] [2]

[-low]
[±round]
Words with the a/oi alternation like vanhoi- and saunoi- will have the descrip-
tion in (19), where both words have [-round] for the initial syllable. (The op-
tional nuclear complement in the initial syllable is marked with a dashed line.)
(19) Partial description of plural a/oi alternating stems:
W
[+back]
S S
I [round][l] ^ [+round][2]
R R
Ν Ν
[1] [+hi] [2] [+hi]

[-low] [-low]
[±round] [-round]
The dissimilation facts can now be neatly captured in (20) below:
(20) Plural Rounding Constraint (PRC) (I)

In disyllabic, [+back]-harmonic plural stems, the [±round] feature for the
first and second syllables must have opposite values:
Si [±round] [1] ->· S2 [±round] -, [1]
As can be seen, the syllable-based account does not encounter the problems of
the spreading account. The feature [±round] is treated as a property not just of
the nucleus but of the syllable as a whole: the sharing of information is a result
of the HFC. The next task is to work out the structural configuration in which
the phonological exponents of {plural} occur.
In DP, constraints are not violable. Therefore, for plural stems, the PRC
must always obtain. In the case of the a/oi alternating stems, the {plural} fea-
tures [+hi, -low, -round] cannot therefore be placed in the head of the nucleus,
since doing this would violate the PRC: there the head of the nucleus, and
therefore the syllable, would be [-round], but [+round] is required in the head
of the second syllable. Therefore the plural marker must be placed in the com-
plement of the nucleus. In the case of the ruma-lrumi- stems, the second syl-
lable is required by the PRC to be [-round], and therefore the bundle of fea-
666 Richard Ogden
tures which are the exponent of {plural} can be placed in the head of the nu-
cleus since there is no clash.
3.4. Loanwords
Loan words with three or more syllables in Finnish provide evidence that the
PRC is more general. The precise behavior of native stems longer than two
syllables is rather complex, but Karlsson (1982: 342) claims that the rounding
process observed in native [+back]-harmonic disyllabic stems is productive for
nouns. The data in (21) is taken from Karlsson (1982: 341f.).
(21) Plural stem formation in loan words:
Stem-final syllable Stem-final syllable

[+round] in plural: [-round] in plural:
a/oi alternation a/i alternation
panoraama aksiooma
kampanja legioona
ooppera madonna
paprika leijona
komitea metafora
idea tsasouna
basilika synagoga
As can be seen, the words which exhibit the a/oi alternation are those whose
penultimate syllable is [-round], and those which exhibit the a/i alternation are
those whose penultimate syllable is [+round]. Therefore it looks like the PRC
applies to these loan words too, giving credence to Karlsson's claim that the
PRC is productive.
The behavior of native stems is more complicated than that of loans, and to a
certain extent the choice of plural stem is lexicalized. Some more conditions
for the a/oi and a/i alternations are detailed in Karlsson (1982: 340ff.). Most of
these other constraints are outside the scope of this chapter, and their applica-
tion seems variable.
Example (22) shows the structural description for the plural stems of loan
words with the a/oi alternation and (23) the description for the a/i alternation.
The dashed lines indicate that the two syllables must both be daughters of the
same foot.
(22) Description of plural stems for loan words with the a/oi alternation:
[-round] [+round][l]
[-hi] [-round]
[1] [+hi]
[-low]
(23) Description ofplural stems for loan words with the a/i alternation:
[+round] ^ [-round][l]
[+hi]
[-low]
[1]
This finding, that loan words obey the PRC, indicates that the PRC needs re-
formulating somewhat to account for the fact that it is not just a constraint
applicable to disyllabic stems, as shown in (24). However, the general pattern
is the same in both cases: the final and penultimate syllable have opposite val-
ues for [±round].
668 Richard Ogden
(24) Plural Rounding Constraint (PRC) (2)

In disyllabic, [+back]-harmonic plural stems, and in polysyllabic loan
words, the [±round] feature for the penultimate and final syllables must
have opposite values.
Sn-i [±round] [1] —> Sn [±round] —. [1] ; η = stem-final S.
A further extension of the PRC is possible, covering a few more cases of

rounding dissimilation in native words of more than two syllables, this time
when the penultimate syllable of a stem contains I'll. In this case, the stem-final
vowel is rounded in the plural, even when the stem is [-back]-harmonic. This is
illustrated in (25).
(25) Behavior of stems where S2 contains /if
S2 contains /i/: S¡ does not contain ///:

a/oi ä/öi alternation a/i a/i alternation
etsintä isäntä, emäntä
kahvila, kynttilä jumala, jäkälä
lukija, juoksija laulaja, tupakoija
In these cases, the A/Oi alternation is conditioned by /i/ in a preceding syllable.

This provides more evidence that the PRC applies only to certain structures and
is therefore, in a declarative treatment, best handled polysystemically. The
structural description for the plural stems of these trisyllabic words is given in
(26) below.
This evidence does not, however, provide conclusive evidence for the over-
all generality of the PRC, since other explanations of the data may be possible
(see Karlsson 1982: 34If.), involving stem-final consonants and the lexical-
ization of plural stems.
(26) Structural description for trisyllabic stems shown in (25):
W
[±back]
S S
I [-round][l] ^ [+round][2]
R R
Ν Ν
i Κ
[-low] [-hi] [+hi]
[+hi] [2] [-low]
[1] [-round]
4. Conclusions
In this chapter, I have argued that Finnish provides evidence for treating the
feature [±round] as a property of the syllable as a whole. This is in line with the
Firthian notion that systems of phonological contrast are not necessarily placed
at terminal nodes of hierarchical structure, but may have a domain over larger
pieces of structure. My analysis, while using conventional elements of structure
such as the syllable, foot and word, differs from the commonly accepted prac-
tice of treating phonological features as spreading across adjacent stretches of
material ordered on a melodic tier, to which all autosegmental material must
associate. Instead, it treats all nodes in structure as potential places of contrast.
Finnish rounding dissimilation also provides evidence for a polysystemic
analysis that refers to phonological and morphosyntactic information. While
the formal ramifications of this are not explored in this paper, the analysis is
compatible with constraint maps of the sort proposed by Scobbie et al. (1996).
By limiting the application of constraints to particular linguistic structures, it is
possible to provide accounts of phenomena, such as rounding dissimilation,
which are based on representations and constraints on those representations.
670 Richard Ogden
Acknowledgments
My thanks to Gill Atkins, Steven Bird, Paul Carter, John Local, Ros Temple,
and an anonymous reviewer for their help in improving this chapter and earlier
versions of it. Any remaining faults are my own.
Notes
1. The credit for this almost certainly belongs to Hjelmslev (1937), who, in a paper at the
Phonetics Congress in 1935, proposed an analysis of aspects of Danish and English
which distinguishes prosodies and phonematic units (Abercrombie 1991: 8).
2. Finnish orthography is used for convenience. <a> = [a], <a> = [a], <y> = [y], <ö> =
[0]. Other letters of the orthographic system correspond to IPA symbols, except that
<n> stands for [η] before velars, and assimilates to the same place of articulation as the
following consonant when word-final; and <d> stands for a variety of sounds including
[d r 1], See Ogden (1996) for further details of Finnish phonetics. Double letters repre-
sent long sounds.
3. Note however that M assimilates to the same place of articulation as a subsequent C.
This is a more general property of syllable joins.
4. However, in loan words such as [te:], tea the exponents are different. Arguments for
treating loans as forming a separate phonological system are given in Henderson (1951)
and Itô & Mester (1995).
5. I have used A as a shorthand for a [+low] vowel unspecified for [±back].
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672 Richard Ogden
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22 Sievers' Law in Vedic
Andrea Calabrese
1. Introduction
Sievers' Law deals with the syllabification of high vocoids appearing before a
vowel and after a consonant in Indo-European languages. The present article is
concerned with the instantiation of this law in Vedic Sanskrit.1
Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, the earliest of which is the
Rigveda, and the Brähmanas, the later prose theological treatises. Classical
Sanskrit represents the later stage of this language. Vedic Sanskrit differs from
Classical Sanskrit primarily in the use of pitch accent and of forms like the
subjunctive, the pluperfect and the conditional. Another difference between
Vedic and Classical Sanskrit is the syllabification of high vocoids which, with
the exception of some morphological contexts, are quite consistently treated as
glides in prevocalic position in the Classical language. In Vedic Sanskrit, in-
stead, their syllabification is governed by Sievers' Law. According to this law,
in a position before a vowel and after a consonant, high vowels are in comple-
mentary distribution with their glide counterparts, with the vocalic variants
appearing after heavy syllables and the glide variants after light ones. This is
shown in (1) (a transitional glide appears between the high vowels and the
following vowel):
(1) a. VCCiyV b. VCyV

V:CiyV
An analysis of this phenomenon will be proposed in the constraint-and-repair

framework proposed by Calabrese (1988, 1995), Paradis (1988). The analysis is
crucially based on the assumption that the UG constraint in (2) which disallows
complex onsets ending in a glide is active in Vedic phonology:
674 Andrea Calabrese
(2) σ
Χ Χ
I
[-cons]
The constraint in (2) interacts with a process of glide formation which charac-
terizes Vedic syllabification. In particular, the constraint in (2) blocks the appli-
cation of this process whenever its output creates a complex onset ending with
a glide. This occurs only after heavy syllables where the preglide consonant can
only be syllabified as the onset of the following sequence. This will provide a
basic account for the facts in (la). 2
The account of (lb) will require additional assumptions. Crucial to this ac-
count is the recognition of the presence of ambisyllabic structures such as that
in (3) in Vedic. The proposal is that, in this language, consonants appearing
before a sonorant are syllabified both as the coda of the preceding light syllable
and as the onset of the following syllable.
(3) σ σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
b u dh y a t e
Several results can be obtained once the ambisyllabic structure in (3) is postu-
lated for Vedic. First of all, it accounts for why a cluster such as /dhy/ makes
the preceding syllable heavy as we see in the metrical system and in morpho-
logical processes sensitive to syllable quantity. This occurs because /dh/ be-
longs to the coda of this syllable. At the same time (3) accounts for why the
voiced aspirate is not affected by the process of laryngeal neutralization which
applies to coda consonants in Vedic. In this case, in fact, laryngeal neutraliza-
tion cannot apply to /dh/ because it belongs also to the onset position. Applica-
tion of a rule to segments linked to different syllable positions is blocked by the
Uniformity Applicability Condition (UAC) of Schein and Steriade (1986) which
states that rules and constraints must apply exhaustively to their targets (see
(41)). By assuming the UAC and structures such as that in (3) we also have an
account of (lb). Given the UAC, the constraint in (2) cannot apply in (lb) - or
Sievers ' Law in Vedic 675
the medial syllable in (3) which has the structure in (lb) - since the first conso-
nant - /dh/ in (3) - is also part of the coda of the preceding syllable.
The chapter is organized as follows. In section 2, I will introduce the theo-
retical apparatus necessary for my analysis of the Vedic facts. A detailed dis-
cussion of the process of resyllabification, and in particular of the process of
glide formation, will be provided in this section with an example from modern
French. Sections 3 and 4 deal with the Vedic facts: section 3 is concerned with
the facts of Sievers' Law; 3 section 4 deals with the zero grade formation, a
morphophonological syncope process which is fundamental to understand
Vedic syllabification. An analysis of this process will be provided. In section 5
a first account of Sievers' Law will be introduced. This account reformulates
Murray's (1988) analysis of Sievers' Law in Germanic and is based on the idea
that superheavy syllables and complex onsets ending with glides are disallowed
in Vedic. Section 6 provides evidence that this account cannot be maintained:
not only are superheavy syllables possible in Vedic, but also complex onsets
with glides appear to occur under special structural conditions. With regard to
this latter issue, this section also points out that there is apparent contradictory
evidence in favor of and against this type of onset: in intervocalic clusters of
rising sonority (e.g. VCyV) the first consonant seems to be syllabified both as
the coda of the preceding syllable (pointing to a syllabification VC. yV) and as
an onset of the second syllable (pointing to a syllabification V. CyV). Section 7
deals with the special conditions under which complex onsets with glides can
appear. In particular, it takes the above mentioned contradictory evidence at its
face value, thereby solving it: in this section, it is in fact argued that the first
consonant of a cluster such as VCyV is ambisyllabic; it is at the same time the
coda of the first syllable and the onset of the second. Evidence for this assump-
tion from the doubling of consonants found in Vedic manuscripts is also pro-
vided in this section. Various consequences follow from this hypothesis, among
them, a more adequate account of Sievers' Law. Section 8 deals with the excep-
tions to Sievers' Law and shows that an underlying distinction between high
vowels and glides must be postulated for Vedic. Section 9 deals with the so-
called Lindeman's Law, a law which is concerned with the syllabification of
word-initial clusters ending with a glide which behave differently than those
found in word-medial positions.
2. A theory of syllabic constraints and repairs
Before discussing Sievers' Law in Vedic, I will outline the theoretical frame-
work adopted in this analysis (for detailed discussion see Calabrese 1996). This
chapter is couched in the constraint-and-repair model developed in Calabrese
(1988, 1995) (see also Paradis 1988). The general architecture of this model is
provided in (4). It assumes a markedness module containing universal con-

straints and repairs which adjust violations of these constraints. In addition to
this module, there is a Phonological/Morpho-phonological component which
contains a more traditional system of rules which can be ordered among each
other and also with respect to the markedness module. At every stage of the
phonological derivation, i.e. after morphology and after the application of each
rule, the phonological string is checked for well-formedness by the relevant
constraints and wherever there is a violation, a repair procedure will fix up this
violation.
Surface Representations
2.1. A theory of syllabic constraints
In Calabrese (1995) the notion of phonological complexity is formalized by

using ranked negative constraints called Marking Statements. Each configura-
tion characterized by a certain degree of complexity is to be formulated as a
marking statement. 4 These constraints are contained in the Markedness Module.
Marking statements may be active or deactivated. If a marking statement is
active in a given language, a configuration that violates it is not allowed and

when speakers of this language have to deal with this violation, for example in
speaking a foreign language, it is repaired by a set of procedures called simpli-
fication procedures.
In this chapter we will be concerned with the subcomponent of the marked-
ness module dealing with syllable structure. It contains syllabic constraints and
syllabic repair procedures. I begin with syllabic constraints. It is well known
that syllabic configurations can be organized in hierarchies of complexity (see
Clements 1990, Vennemann 1988, Romani & Calabrese, in press, Calabrese &
Romani 1998 for more discussion). In this chapter, we will be concerned
mostly with complex onsets. Thus I focus on them here. A simplified complex-
ity ranking for bisegmental onsets is provided in (5) (see Clements 1990 for a
complete one) (0=0bstruents, N=Nasals, L=Liquids, G=Glides, V=Vowels):
(5) Complexity ranking for complex onsets

Bisegmental onsets:
a. ONV (e.g. tma, tna) most complex
b. OGV (e.g. tya, twa)
c. OLV (e.g. tra, pia) less complex
Following the complexity rankings in (5) we can formulate the different mark-
ing statements in (6) for bisegmental complex onsets:
(6) a. *
σ (=*CnV)
Ν
X X
[+ cons] +cons
+ son
+ nas
b. *
σ (=*CyV)(=(2)), 5
Ν
X X
[+cons] [-cons]
c. * σ (=*CrV)
^ / R
/ Ν
X X
I I
[+ cons] + cons
+ son
-nas
Different languages allow different degrees of complexity. Italian, for ex-

ample, does not allow onsets made up of an obstruent and a nasal (e.g. /pn/).
This configuration, however, is allowed in classical Greek. In terms of the
marking statements in (6), we say that (6a) is deactivated in Greek, but active in
Italian.
2.2. Syllabic repairs and resyllabification
When a syllabic configuration is blocked in a given language by an active

marking statement of this language, the disallowed configuration will be sim-
plified to an acceptable degree of complexity by a syllabic repair procedure. I
now turn to the issue of syllabic repairs and resyllabification.
It is assumed here that syllabification is lexical (see Calabrese 1996, Sloan
1991 for evidence). Therefore, morphemes enter the phonological component
fully syllabified. This lexical syllabification is subject to modification as the
morphology puts morphemes together and phonological rules change the syl-
lable structure of the string.
As in Calabrese 1996, it is hypothesized that at every stage in the derivation,
the string is checked for well-formedness by relevant constraints and wherever
there is a violation, syllabic repair procedures are invoked to remove the viola-
tion. This results in a resyllabification of the string. The full set of syllabic
repair procedures forms what I will call the resyllabification module. This
module is part of the markedness component.
In this chapter I will deal only with the repair procedures of onset incorpora-
tion, a subcase of syllabic incorporation, and peak assignment. Other syllabic
repair procedures not discussed here are deletion, metathesis, and epenthesis.
Let us begin with onset incorporation which is given in (7). Observe that onset
incorporation as formulated in (7) can resyllabify a segment contained in a
syllable but cannot erase this syllable. The consequences of this move will be
discussed below.
As an instance of this resyllabifícation procedure, we can consider a simple

example from Vedic. When we put together the root [vac] and the suffix [-as],
we obtain the configuration in (8):
(8) σ σ
X X X X X
ν a c - a s
The configuration in (8) is disallowed by the constraint in (9) (cf. Vennemann

1984, Murray & Vennemann 1983, Murray 1988):6
(9) Syllable contact law
* σ σ
I I
Χ X if α is less sonorous than β
I I
α β
The rule of onset incorporation in (7) applies to repair the disallowed configu-
ration in (8), producing (10):
(10) σ σ
/R
N
/
X X X X X
v a c a s
Let us consider the repair procedure of peak assignment which assigns a nu-
cleus position to segments in syllabic margin position. The basic modification
implemented by this procedure is given in (11):
(Π) σ
R
I
Ν
I
X -» X
As an example of the application of this repair procedure, consider the resyl-

labification of an underlying onset glide as a nucleus, a type of resyllabification
which will be discussed in more details later (see section 8). As will be dis-
cussed in that section, several morphemes in Vedic must be characterized as
containing an underlying onset glide. When this glide appears after a consonant
preceded by a heavy syllable, it is resyllabified as a syllabic nucleus. This re-
syllabification removes a complex onset ending in a glide, a configuration
which is disallowed in Vedic (cf. (2)=(6b)):
(12) σ σ σ σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
V C C y V -> V C C i V
peak assignment (Other rules discussed later also
apply at this point)
I end this section by discussing the process of glide formation by which a

high vowel is resyllabified into a glide as roughly shown in (13). This process
will play an important role in the analysis of Sievers' Law in Vedic. Thus it is
important to clarify the different theoretical aspects of my analysis of it. A
sample analysis of the application of this process from modern French will also
be provided;
(13) σ σ σ
ι A
1 I
R R
/
I ι
1 I
Ν Ν Ν
ιI I
X X -» X X
I1 I1 I1
i a y a
First of all, I assume that glide formation is a process of «syllabification

which is triggered by a constraint against hiatus such as that formulated in
(14):7
(14) * σ σ
I I
R R
I I
Ν Ν
I I
X X
In the cases relevant to our discussion here, the constraint in (14) triggers the
application of onset incorporation as a syllabic repair procedure. The rule of
onset incorporation in (7) fixes up the disallowed configurations, as shown in
(15):
σ σ σ σ
I ι ι
1 I I
R R R / R
I ι ι / ι
1 I I /' I
Ν Ν Ν / Ν
I1 ιI ιI
X Χ -* Χ Χ
Crucially in this case, onset incorporation does not remove the previous syllabic
association of its target. Thus the first segment in (15) remains associated with
the nuclear position. I propose that onset incorporation cannot erase a previ-
ously assigned syllable. The removal of the previously assigned syllable struc-
ture can be done only by another special merger rule formalized in (16). The
rule in (16) erases the syllable containing the nucleus target of onset incorpora-
tion. Subsequently the segments in the onset of the erased syllable (if there are
any) are incorporated into the onset of the remaining syllable - or as a coda of
the preceding syllable, if the first move is not allowed (see discussion below) -
by other applications of the resyllabification procedure:
σ σ σ
A / R
A
¡V
/
'
1\
Ν / n
I1 // 11
(X) X X (X) X X
Glide formation occurs when the target configuration of (14) contains a high
vocoid as in (17).8 Given (14), a configuration such as that in (17) is disal-
lowed:
σ σ
1 ι
1 I
R R
I ι
1 I
Ν Ν
I ι
1 I
X Χ
ι1 ιI
i a
Thus the sequence in (17) is resyllabified as in (18): i.e., glide formation is

therefore an instance of the onset incorporation process in (7) followed by
merger (16).
As we will see, in some cases the rule of syllabic merger will fail to apply
either because it would create a disallowed onset cluster or because of idiosyn-
cratic reasons (see section 8). In this case, we preserve the ambisyllabic vowel
in (18b). An ambisyllabic vowel is phonetically implemented as involving a
transitional glide in the onset subcomponent (for a discussion of ambisyllabic
structures such as this, see also McCarthy & Prince 1993b, and Rosenthall
1994). This is what is traditionally called glide insertion. This structure is repre-
sented in (19) (çi=a glide):9
Let us now consider some synchronic alternations involving high vocoids in

French, which will provide a good example for my theoretical analysis of glide
formation. In French, glide-final complex onsets are possible only when biseg-
mental, as can be observed in (20) (cf. Tranel 1987):1
(20) a. miette [myet] 'crumb' fouet [fwe] 'whip'

nier [nyer] 'to deny' jouer [3wer] 'to play'
pierre [pyer] 'stone' Louis [lwi] proper name
biniou [binyu] 'bagpipes'
biologie [byolo3i] 'biology'
b. crier [kriye] 'to shout' clouer [kluwe] 'to nail'

peuplier [pœpliye] 'poplar' prouesse [pruwes] 'prowess'
ouvrier [uvriye] 'worker' éblouir [ebluwir] 'to dazzle'
sucrier [sükriye] 'sugar bowl'
propriété [propriyete] 'property'
c. *[krye] *[klwe]
*[pœplye] *[prwes]
*[uvrye] *[eblwir]
*[sükrye]
*[propryete]
We can account for the contrast in syllabification between (20a) and (20b) by
assuming the constraint in (21) which disallows complex onsets where a glide
is preceded by more than one consonant:
Observe that given the constraint in (21), the syllabification in (20b) where the
post-consonantal high vocoid appears as a syllabic peak and is separated from
the following vowel by what appears to be a homorganic glide is the only pos-
sible syllabification of this sequence. Consider the form [kriye]. If the high vo-
coid were syllabified as a glide, we would obtain (22) which is disallowed by
(21):
(22) * σ
k r y e
Syllabic repair strategies such as segmental deletion or epenthesis are not al-
lowed in this case in French. The high vocoid is thus assigned to a syllabic
nucleus. In this way, however, a hiatus configuration is created. Hiatus configu-
rations containing a high vowel are disallowed in French. The disallowed hiatus
configuration is repaired by syllabic incorporation thus producing an ambi-
syllabic configuration, as shown in (23):
(23) σ σ
X X X χ
If syllabic merger applied in this case, it would create the configuration in (22)
which is blocked by (21). Thus syllabic merger fails to apply and we are left
with the ambisyllabic structure in (23).
As proposed above, the ambisyllabic configuration in (23) is phonetically
implemented as [kriye].
Now observe the alternations in (24): before vowel-initial suffixes, roots
ending in high vowels undergo a process of onset incorporation changing the
vowel into a glide:
(24) loue [lu] lou+é, lou+er [lwe]

tue [tü] tu+é, tu+er [tqe]
lie [li] li+é, li+er [lye]
The process is formally represented in (25):
(25) σ σ σ σ σ σ
h
/ ι
I
AI1 Á
/
R ! /R // ι
R
ι / ι / ιI
I I
'
/ Ι / '
Ν Ν Ν Ν Ν
I ι / / ι ι
1 / Ι I I I
X X Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
I1 ι1 ιι ιι ιI ιI Iι ιI ι ι ιI
I I
1 i > 1 i + e - » 1 i y e > i y e
onset incorporation (7) syllabic merger (16)
Now let us consider the forms in (26):

(26) a. troue [tra] trou+é, trou+er [truwe]

plie [pli] pli+é, pli+er [pliye]
b. *[trwe] *[plye]
As observed above, in these forms, syllabic merger does not apply since it
would create a disallowed trisegmental onset. The active constraint in (21)
blocks the syllable merger operation:
(27)
X X X X -> X X X X
I I I I onset incorporation | | | | syllabic merger—> ||
ρ 1 i + e p l i y e blocked by (21)
Observe that there are also cases in which a configuration disallowed by (21)
is removed by applying a rule of peak assignment. Let us consider these cases.
When the suffix -ier [-ye], which is found, for example, in the word banquier
[bäkye] 'banker' (derived from banque [bäk] 'bank'), is attached to a noun
ending in a consonant + liquid cluster, it is not the sequence [CLye] which is
finally produced, but rather [CLiye] (cf. Tranel 1987). This is shown in (28):
(28) sable [sabl] 'sand' sablier [sabliye] 'hourglass'

sucre [sükr] 'sugar' sucrier [sükriye] 'sugar bowl'
The same phenomenon can be observed in the speech of many French

speakers when the endings -ions [-yö] and -iez [-ye] are added to verb roots
ending in a consonant + liquid cluster (cf. Tranel 1987):
(29) souffler: nous soufflions [nusufliyö] 'we were blowing'

souffrir: vous souffriez [vusufriye] 'you were suffering'
Tranel (1987) reports that in the conditional first and second person plural of
first conjugation verbs whose stems end in a consonant (e.g. demand- nous
demanderions [nudcemädceryö], 'we would ask', aim-: vous aimeriez
[vuzemœrye] 'you would like'), some speakers delete the vowel which follows
the stem. But significantly, they use the same strategy as that mentioned above
to avoid [CLyV] sequences, hence the pronunciations [nudcemädriyö],
[vuzemriye].
All of these cases can be accounted for by assuming that when morphologi-
cal composition or another phonological process creates a configuration dis-
allowed by (21), peak assignment then acts as a syllabic repair procedure and
resyllabifies the sequence by assigning a syllabic peak to the high vocoid in
onset position. The hiatus situation thus created is repaired by the rule of onset
incorporation in (7). Rule (16) crucially cannot apply since it would recreate the
disallowed configuration that was removed by the peak assignment rule. As an
example, let us consider the derivation of [nudcemädriyö] 'we would ask'. We
begin with the intermediate representation in (30):
(30) σ σ σ σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ X Χ X+X X X X
η u d œ m à d œ r y ô
A rule deleting the suffix-initial /oe/ applies as shown in (31):
(31) σ σ σ σ
t k t n
/
/ AÁ
1
A
/ / / /// 1 / 1 / / 1
X X X X X X X X X X
η u d œ m à d r y o
The consonant Iài left unsyllabified by the application of the vowel deletion
rule must be resyllabified in the onset of the following syllable because of the
constraint in (9) forbidding heterosyllabic sequences in which the second con-
sonant is more sonorous than the first one. This is the case in (31) since /r/ is
more sonorous than /d/. We thus obtain the configuration in (32):
(32) σ σ σ σ
η
t\ t\ t\
I I
x
u
I
x
d
I
x
œ
I
x
m
I
x x x
I I
à d r
x x
I I
y ô
But now a violation of the constraint in (21) is created. This disallowed syllabic
configuration is repaired by resyllabifying the high vocoid as a syllabic peak as
shown in (33):
Onset incorporation accounts for the surface shape of the sequence:
Μ/
σ» σ σ σ σ
λ
/R
ι
hΝ kΝ hΝ
X
/ / /
/
χ
I
Χ
/
χ X
/I
χ
I // ' ίΓ V/
Χ χ χ
Ν
Χ
I
ι
I
I ι ι ι ι ι ι ι I ι
1 I I I I I I I I I
η U d œ m ä d r i y ö
The same output form CLiyV/CLuwV can thus be obtained both by blocking
the merger rule, as in (27), and by applying peak assignment to a high vocoid in
onset position, as in (33). We have a so-called "conspiracy" situation in which a
disallowed configuration is being avoided by using different means.11 As we
will see in section 8, the same type of situation arises in Vedic. Conspiracies of
this type provide evidence for the use of constraints in phonological theory. The
constraint characterizes the disallowed configuration that the language tries to

avoid in different ways.
2.3. Rule blocking
The notion of rule blocking will play an important role in my analysis. Let us
consider again the cases in (26), where I proposed that the rule of syllable
merging applying after onset incorporation is blocked when it would create a
disallowed configuration. Observe that in this case the application of peak
assignment would create the very ill-formed output which was removed by the
rule of onset incorporation. Going through peak assignment would thus lead to
a circular derivation.
(35) σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ
XXX Χ Χ Χ + Χ X X X χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ
pli—> ρ 1 i e-» p l i y e —> p l y e p l i e —>...

(onset incorp.) (syllable merg.) (peak assignment) (onset incorp.)
We can exclude this type of derivation if we allow the possibility of evalu-

ating a derivation involving the application of repair procedures. Insofar as
syllabification is concerned, this means that the application of a rule can be
blocked if resyllabification (with which I mean all of the processes that are
available in the resyllabification module) fails to provide a well-formed syllable
structure for the output of the rule. That is, the derivation that would start with
the application of that rule is blocked if it crucially involves processes in the
resyllabification component and these processes fail to provide a correct syl-
lable structure to the output of that rule. 2
As a further example, let us consider a case in which the syncope rule cha-
racterizing Vedic zero grade is blocked. Zero grade is a morpho-phonological
process by which vowel [a] is deleted in certain morphological contexts (see
section 4 for further discussion of zero grade in Vedic). In Vedic, roots con-
taining only obstruents do not undergo the syncope process in certain morpho-
logical categories where it is otherwise expected. This is the case of the form
/sap-tá/ 'curse-PP' shown in (36):
(36) σ σ
X
Á X X χ χ
s a ρ - t a
If the root /sap/ underwent syncope, we would obtain (37), where, as we will
see later, the structure of the syllable affected by syncope is deleted:
(37) σ
X X X X
I I I I
s ρ - t a
/s/ and /ρ/, being obstruents, cannot be assigned to a syllable peak by the Vedic
resyllabification procedure. Only sonorants can be syllabic peaks in Vedic. At
the same time, they cannot be resyllabified in any other way. In particular, no
epenthesis or deletion is available in this case in Vedic. Therefore, in the case
of (37), we are unable to repair the ill-formed sequence into a well-formed
syllable. Hence the sequence that we would obtain by applying syncope to the
root /sap/ cannot be syllabified in any way. Thus the resyllabification module
fails to provide a well-formed structure to the output of the syncope rule. I
propose that under these conditions, the application of syncope is blocked.
2.4. Relaxation of constraints
Another crucial aspect of the analysis proposed here involves the idea that the
application of a constraint can be relaxed if the target configuration occurs in
certain structural conditions. Let us consider a concrete example of such re-
laxation. It is well known that in many languages having geminates, such as
Italian or Japanese, the first component of a geminate can be syllabified as a
coda, in violation of the constraints holding on this position in these languages.
For example, let us consider Italian. In the native Italian lexicon, obstruents are
disallowed in coda position. Thus the forms in (38) are not possible native
Italian words:
(38) *pakto *apto
We can account for this fact by assuming a constraint that disallows obstruents
in coda position such as that in (39):
(39) * R
X
I
+ cons
-son
However, the constraint in (39) can be violated in Italian if the coda position
dominates the first component of a geminate as we can see in (40).
(40) pakko 'package' atto 'act'
This fact is usually accounted for by assuming that a constraint can be violated
when its target is part of a linked structure (cf. Itô 1986, Itô and Mester 1993;
see also Goldsmith 1989 and Harris 1990 for alternative explanations). Here we
explain this fact by assuming that a constraint does not hold if it cannot apply
exhaustively to its target configuration. Following Schein and Steriade (1986),
we can obtain this result if we hypothesize the principle in (41) (a modified
version of what they call the uniformity applicability condition): 13
(41) Given a node η and a set S consisting of all nodes directly dominating n,
and given a rule or a constraint T, if Τ refers to η and any member of S, it
must refer to all members of S to be active.
Let us consider the syllabification of the form /pakko/ given in (42):

(42) σ σ
χ
/κ χ χ χ χ
The constraint in (39) cannot target the first component of the geminated ob-
struent which is syllabified as a coda because this obstruent is at the same time
syllabified as the onset of the following syllable. Therefore the otherwise dis-
allowed configuration with a coda obstruent is allowed to surface.
After this brief theoretical introduction we can now turn to Sievers' Law.
3. Sievers' Law in Vedic: the treatment of post-consonantal high vocoids in

Vedic
It is well known that in many cases, segments represented in the traditional text
of the Rigveda as y and ν must be scanned as vowels / and u in order for the
otherwise very regular syllable count to work correctly. For example in a hymn
whose meter (trstubh) requires lines of eleven syllables with a caesura after the
fourth or fifth syllable, the line is conventionally written and chanted as in (43)
(in which it is indicated where the post-consonantal high vocoid is treated as a
syllabic nucleus and where it is not):
[i] [y]
(43) á: sastyá: saptatyá: so:mapé:yam (2.18.5c) (quoted from Kiparsky 1971)
'[come] here with sixty, seventy to drink soma'
The only way this line can fulfill the metrical requirements of the verse is by
reading the word ('sixty') as trisyllabic sastiái, whereas the morphologically
parallel form meaning 'seventy' has to be read with non-syllabic y {saptatyá).
Sievers (1878) observed that the syllabic i, u scannings of y, ν are especially
frequent after a heavy syllable, that is, when the vowel of the preceding syllable
is either long or followed by two or more consonants.14 This observation was
the basis for his "law". We can reformulate this law as stating that in a se-
quence where it appears before a vowel and after a consonant, a high vocoid is
syllabified as a vowel when this sequence is preceded by a heavy syllable, and

as a glide when this sequence is preceded by a light syllable.15
Some good examples of Sievers' alternations appear in the zero grade of
verbal roots containing a high vocoid and the zero grade of the suffix [-nau].
Let us begin with the former alternations. If a root begins with a consonantal
cluster, the high vocoid is always assigned a syllabic nucleus (throughout the
text I will use the traditional symbol ν to represent the labiovelar glide [w]):16
(44) With reduplication: root base/zero grade

pipriyé /pi+pri:+é/ prai/pri: 'please-PF-Md'
sisriyé /si+sri+é/ srai/sri 'resort-PF-Md'
tustuvúh /tu+stu+ús/ stau/stu 'praise-PF-Act'
susruve /su+sru+e/ srau/sru 'hear-PF-Md'
With augment:
ásriyan /á+sri+an/ srai/sri 'resort-AO.'
If the root begins with a simple consonant, the high vocoid is non-nuclear when
the sequence consonant + high vocoid is preceded by a light syllable:
(45) With augment: root base/zero grade

ávyan /á+vi:+an/ vai/vi: 'enjoy-AO.'
áhyan /á+hi+an/ hai/hi 'impel-AO.'
With reduplication
cikyé17 /ci+ci+é/ cai/ci 'gather-PF'
juhvati /ghu+ghu+ati/ ghau/ghu 'sacrifice-PR'
susvati /su+su:+ati/ sau/su: 'bring forth-PR'
pipyuh /pi+pi+us/ pai/pi 'swell-PF'
mimyuh /mi+mi+us/ mai/mi 'fix-PF'
ninyathuh /ni+ni:+athus/ nai/ni: 'lead-PF'
bibhyuh /bhi+bhi:+us/ bhai/bhi: 'fear-PF
vivye /vi+vi:+e/ vai/vi: 'enjoy-PF'
dávidhvatah /dháv+i+dhu:+atas/ dhau/dhu: 'shake-PT'
If the sequence is preceded by a heavy syllable, then the high vocoid is as-
signed a syllabic nucleus.
ju:juvuh /ju:+ju:+us/ jau/ju: 'speed-PF'

su:suvuh /su:+su:+us/ sva:/su: 'swell-PF'
su:suve /su:+su:+e/ id. id.
su:suvat /su:+su:+at/ id. id.
di:dhiyuh /di:+dhi:+us/ dhai/dhi: 'shine-PF'
diidhiye /di:+dhi:+e/ id. id.
(but also di:dhye)
jo:huvat 18 /ghau+ghu:+at/ ghau/ghu: 'call-INT'
nó:nuvanta /náu+nu+ant/ nau/nu 'praise-SB'
nó:nuvuh /náu+nu+us/ id. 'praise-PF'
The same cluster of facts is found with verbs containing the stem-forming suf-
fix -nu- (zero grade of -nau-). This suffix is added to the zero grade of the root.
Before endings beginning with a vowel, the high vocoid of the suffix is non-
nuclear if the suffix is preceded by a light syllable.
root + suffix base forms

(47) rnvánti /r+nu+ánti/ ar+nau 'go-PR'
krnvánti /kr+nu+ánti/ kar+nau 'make-PR'
minván /mi+nu+án/ mai+nau 'fix-IMP'
vrnváte /vr+nu+áte/ var+nau 'cover-PR-Md'
srnvánti /sr+nu+ánti/ sar+nau 'hear-PR'
sunvánti /su+nu+ánti/ sau+nau 'press-PR'
sprnvaté /spr+nu+até/ spar+nau 'win-PR'
However, if the suffix is preceded by a heavy syllable, the high vocoid is as-
signed a syllabic nucleus, as in (48):
(48) asnuvánt /as+nu+ánt/ ans+nau 'attain-PT'

dabhnuvánti /dabh+nu+ánti/ dabh+nau 'harm-PR'
prusnuvánti /prus +nu+ánti7 praus+nau 'sprinkle-PR'
saknuvánti /sak+nu+ánti/ sak+nau 'be able-PR'
4. Zero grade in Vedic
Before beginning to account for Sievers' Law, we have to discuss the process
of zero grade which plays an important role in the examples in (44-48). Zero
grade accounts for alternations in the shape of roots such as those given in (49):
root full grade zero grade zero grade

baudh bu-báudh-a bu-budh-úr budh-tá 'wake'
[bubó:dha]
yaj i-yáj-a i-ij-úr ij-tá- 'worship'
[iyája] [i:júr] [ísta-]
auc u-áuc-a u-uc-úr uc-i-tá 'please'
[uvó:ca] [u:cúr]
vac u-vac-a u-uc-úr uc-tá 'say'
[u:cúr] [uktá]
vrasc va-vrásc-a va-vrsc-úr vrsc-ná 'cut up'
[vrkná-]
vardh va-várdh-a va-vrdh-úr vrdh-tá 'grow'
[vrddhá]
Along the lines of Kiparsky (1973, 1982), Sarma (1994), Steriade (1988), we
can say that it involves a syncope rule deleting the nuclear vowel /a/ under
certain morphological conditions.
(50) The syncope rule:
X —> 0 / in certain morphological environments
Observe the behavior of the sonorants that are left after the syncope of nu-
clear /a/ of the root. If the root syllable contains a sonorant in the rhyme, then
only this sonorant can be assigned a syllable peak.19
(51) full grade zero grade

srau 'hear' sru not *srv
dhvar 'injure' dhvr not *dhur
syand 'move on' synd [syad] not *sind
However, if there is no sonorant in the rhyme, a sonorant in the onset can be

assigned a peak as shown in the forms in (52):2
(52) full grade zero grade

svap sup- ' sleep'
myaks miks- 'be situated'
grabh grbh- 'seize'
grah g?"h- 'seize'
vac uc- 'speak'
vad ud- 'speak'
Otherwise, the process of deletion is blocked unless the consonants of the root
can be resyllabified in the adjacent syllabic context:
(53) root full grade zero grade 1 zero grade 2

(resyllabification) (blocking)
a. pat pa-pá:t-a pa-pt-úr pat-itá 'fly'
b. sad sa-sá:d-a séd-us sat-tá 'sit'
(< sa-sd-us)
c. sap sa-sap-a sep-ús sap-tá 'curse
(< sa-sp-us)
A detailed analysis of the behavior of sonorants in zero grade is given in

Calabrese (1996) (who develops the analysis proposed by Steriade 1988). Here
I will give a simplified account of it. A fundamental hypothesis of this analysis
is that postvocalic sonorants are in nuclear position. This is obtained by the rule
of nucleus incorporation in (54) which Chomsky-adjoins a coda sonorant to a
directly preceding nucleus (see Calabrese 1996 for supporting arguments).21
This is shown in (55):
(54) R R
I
N'
ΝI
χ χ
I
[+son]
(55) σ
X X X X X
s y a η d
The syncope rule (50) targets only /a/ which is in the nuclear head position
as shown in (56):
X X -> 0 X
I I I
a [+son] [+son]
By removing the nucleus head, (50) causes an automatic restructuring of the

nucleus by which a postnuclear sonorant, if there is any, becomes the leftmost
constituent of the nucleus and therefore the nucleus head as in (57):22
X
I
s
i X X
I I
y η
X
I
d
The syllabic status of the sonorant is therefore immediately accounted for. 23 ' 24
At this point, let us consider cases in which there is a postnuclear obstruent,
and the application of syncope, therefore, does not lead directly to another nu-
cleus candidate. We know that in this case an onset sonorant, if present, can be
assigned peak, as shown in (52). We can obtain this result by proposing that if
syncope deletes the only nuclear constituent, the syllable structure is deleted.
The idea is that if the nucleus does not dominate a skeletal position after syn-
cope, the whole syllable structure is erased. A subsequent application of resyl-
labification assigns nuclear status to the onset sonorant and a syllable is built
around it. Let us consider the form susupúr 'sleep-PF' from the root svap/sup.
After the application of syncope we obtain the impossible structure in (58)
where the nucleus constituent does not dominate a skeletal position, and there-
fore the entire syllable structure is deleted:
(58) σ σ σ σ σ σ
Χ Χ - Χ Χ Χ Χ - Χ Χ Χ Χ - Χ Χ Χ - Χ Χ
su s v a p ur su sv ρ u r
σ σ
Χ Χ - Χ Χ Χ - Χ Χ
II II I II
su sv ρ u r
The onset consonants of the erased syllable cannot be incorporated into the
coda of the first syllable since they form a sequence of rising sonority. Nor can
they become the onset of the following syllable.25 A candidate for peak assign-
ment is, however, found among these consonants: the labiovelar glide /w/
(=orthographic v). Therefore peak is assigned to this glide as shown in (59):
(59) σ σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
I I I I I I I
s u s u ρ u r
We thus obtain the correct syllabification of this form.26

Let us now consider what happens when a sonorant is not found either in the
rhyme or in the onset of the syllable affected by syncope, as in the form /pat-itá/
'fly-PP'. In section 2.3, we have already discussed the reason why zero grade
fails to apply in this context. I repeat the analysis here. This form is underly-
ingly represented as in (60):
(60) σ σ σ
Κ
k
I
/
R
I
N\ Ν / Ν
/
\\ I / I
X X X X X X
I1 I1 I I I
Ρ a t i t a
If the root /pat/ underwent syncope, we would obtain (61):
(61) σ σ σ/
Λ
Λ I
/ /
ι /ί
ν\ ν Ν
/ \ I /
X Χ χ Χ Χ
ι ι ι ι ι
1 I I I I
Ρ t i t a
/t/, not being a sonorant, is not part of the nucleus. Therefore syllable structure
is deleted, as shown in (62):
(62) σ σ
ί /ί
Ν / Ν
Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
I I I I I
ρ t i t a
Neither /t/ nor /p/, being obstruents, can be assigned syllable peak by resyllabi-
fication. Ν can be resyllabified as the onset of the following /i/; however, there
is no way of resyllabiiying /p/. Therefore, the sequence that we would obtain by
applying syncope to the root /pat/ cannot be syllabified exhaustively. As pro-
posed in section 2.3, if the ^syllabification module cannot assign a well-
formed representation to the output of a given rule, then the application of this
rule is blocked. This would be the case here, and therefore zero grade is pre-
vented from applying to the root /pat/.
In the form [pa-pt-úr], however, the output of the zero grade of this root can
be resyllabified properly in the context as shown in (63). Therefore, the rule
applies normally.
(63) σ σ
X X X X
λ
X X
I I I I I I
p a - p t - u r
We thus have an account of zero grade in Vedic.
5. A first account of Sievers' Law
Let us go back to the examples in (44-48). As we can see in (44-48), applica-

tion of zero grade to the roots in (44-46) and to the suffix /nau/ in (47-48) be-
fore vowel-initial suffixes creates hiatus configurations. Sievers' Law deals
with the resolution of these hiatus configurations. Remember that no hiatus
configuration is ever found in this language, at least in surface representations.
We account for this fact by saying that it is characterized by a constraint against
hiatus such as that formulated in (14) (repeated as (64)):
σ σ
J ι
1 I
R R
I
1
Ν Ν
I ι
1 I
X Χ
Thus a configuration such as that in (65) is disallowed:27

(65) * σ σ
I I
R R
I I
Ν Ν
I I
X X
I I
i a
As discussed in section 2.2, the constraint in (64) triggers the application of

onset incorporation as a syllabic repair procedure. Application of the rule of
onset incorporation in (7) fixes up the disallowed configurations that are thus
created, as shown in (66):
The outcome configuration in (66) may then undergo syllabic merger, if pos-
sible, as shown in (67):
When the rule of syllabic merger fails to apply for whatever reason, the ambi-
syllabic vowel in (67b) is preserved. As discussed in section 2.2, an ambisyl-
labic vowel is phonetically implemented as involving a transitional glide in the
onset subcomponent.
We can now begin to deal with the facts in (44-48). I will first discuss a
reformulation of the account of Sievers' Law proposed by Murray (1988) for
Germanic and Proto-Indo-European, which also holds for Vedic. This account
is based on the assumption that Vedic always excludes superheavy rhymes and
complex onsets ending in a glide. Unfortunately, as we will see in section 6,
this account, although successful, cannot be maintained insofar as Vedic does
have superheavy syllables and allows complex onsets with glides under certain
structural conditions. A different solution will be proposed in section 7.
Let us begin with this first account. Following and reformulating Murray
(1988), we could account for Sievers' Law through an interaction between the
glide formation process in (67) and the constraints in (68) (=(2)) and (69).
*
(68) σ
X X
I
[-cons]
(69) A rhyme cannot contain more than two timing units.
The constraint in (68) disallows complex onsets composed of a consonant fol-

lowed by a high vocoid and prevents any complex onset of this type from sur-
facing. The constraint in (69) disallows rhymes containing more than two
timing units. This account then assumes that whereas light and heavy syllables
are allowed in Vedic, superheavy ones are not.
Let us consider the forms [ásriyan] and [ávyan]. We start with the underlying
representations in (70-71):
(70) a - vai - an28
(71) a-srai-an
After the application of zero grade (see section 4 and Calabrese 1996), elimina-
tion of the morphological boundaries, and resyllabification, we obtain the in-
termediate forms in (72-73). Remember that after the application of zero grade,
the post-consonantal high vocoids in (72-73) are treated as syllabic peaks:
(72) a . vi. an
(73) a . sri . an
The glide in the form [ávyan] results from the application of the rule of glide
formation. By the process in (67), the prevocalic high vocoid is incorporated as
the onset of the following vowel. The issue is now what to do with the
consonant that was the onset of the syllable containing the prevocalic high
vocoid. Following Murray (1988) (see also Marchand 1958), we could assume
that the constraint in (68) is active in Vedic. Therefore, the consonant cannot
become the onset of the syllable containing the glide, because in that case a
violation of this constraint would be created. The coda of the preceding syllable
is available, however, and thus we could say that the consonant is resyllabified
as a coda of this syllable, as shown in (74):2
(74) a . v i . an —» a . vyan -> av . yan

(glide formation) (coda incorporation)
We thus have an account for the forms that display a glide variant of the suf-
fixal high vocoid. The problem now is to account for the syllabic variant of this
segment that appears after a heavy syllable. We can assume that the appearance
of the syllabic variant indicates that the glide formation process is blocked in
this case. The issue then is why there is such blocking.
Following Murray (1988) (see also Seebold 1972), we could suppose that the
constraint in (69) is also active in Vedic. This constraint, in conjunction with
the constraint against complex onsets, blocks the application of the glide for-
mation process after a heavy syllable. In particular, it blocks the process of
syllable merger in (16). In this case, in fact, the preglide consonant cannot be
syllabified in the coda of the preceding syllable because of the constraint in
(69), and, at the same time, it cannot be syllabified as part of the onset of the
following syllable because of the constraint on complex onsets in (68). There-
fore the rule of syllable merger is blocked since its output would result in a
structure that could not be syllabified. As proposed in the introduction, when
the resyllabification module fails to provide a well-formed structure to the
output of a rule, the application of this rule is blocked. The ambisyllabic struc-
ture created by the onset incorporation rule is therefore preserved.
(75) σ σσ σ σ σ σ σ σ
χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ -> χ χ χ χ χ
a s r i a a s r i y a a s r i y a
(onset inc.) (syllable merger (16) is blocked)
An account for the forms we observed in (44-48) is thus obtained.

6. Problems
The analysis just proposed relies on the hypothesis that both complex onsets
with glides and superheavy syllables are disallowed in Vedic. Unfortunately,
there is evidence that complex onsets and superheavy syllables are both actual-
ly possible in this language. This analysis must therefore be rejected.
Evidence showing that superheavy syllables are allowed in Vedic is immedi-
ately provided by the sample forms in (76):
(76) ka:rtsnya- 'in full, entirely' (syllabified: ka:r. tsnya)

uirjani 'strength' (syllabified: u:r. jani)
u:rdhvátha: 'upwards' (syllabified: u:r. dhvátha:)
mairstu 'wipe-IP V' (syllabified: ma:rs . tu)
yunkté 'join-PR' (syllabified: yunk. té)
yungdhvam 'join-AO' (syllabified: yung. dhvam)
bhinttá 'split-IPV' (syllabified: bhint. tá)
bhunkté 'enjoy-PR' (syllabified: bhunk. té)
The forms in (76) - which are quite common in Vedic - are all violations of
(69) insofar as the rhyme constituent contains more than two timing units. This
shows that there is no problem in having superheavy syllables. Therefore, we
can conclude that (69) cannot be maintained for Vedic.
Evidence that complex onsets with glides are possible is more complex and
is reviewed in the next section.
6.1. Evidence for complex onsets
The analysis proposed in the preceding section was based on the assumption
that complex onsets with glides are not possible. In this section, I investigate
the behavior of consonant + high vocoid sequences. I focus on sequences of this
type occurring in word-medial position, putting aside until section 9 word-
initial sequences, which display peculiarities of their own. Here we will be
dealing with cases of the type in (77):
(77) VC(C)IV (V=Vowel, C=Consonant, I=High vocoid)
My goal will be to determine whether or not the high vocoids form a complex
onset with the preceding consonants. As we will see later, Vedic displays evi-
dence both in favor of and against syllabifying these sequences as complex
onsets. An apparent contradiction will therefore arise. In section 7 a solution for
such contradiction will be proposed. This solution will provide a direct account
for the alternations in the syllabicity of the high vocoids which characterize
Sievers' Law in Vedic. For now, let us consider the facts that support the exis-
tence of complex onsets.
A. Evidence for complex onsets with glides is provided by the behavior of

30
the labiovelar high vocoid before a palatal glide in the forms in (78):
(78) gavya- 'relating to cows' (< gau + ya-)

návya- 'praise-gerundive (< nau + ya-)
plaivya- [Skr.] 'float-gerundive' (< plau + ya-)
bhávya- 'be-gerundive' (< bhau + ya-)
divyá- 'heavenly' (< diu + ya-)
Observe that a postvocalic high vocoid before a nonsyllabic segment merges by

rule with the preceding vowel into a diphthong (or monophthong when the
vowel is short) as shown in (79):
(79) gó:bhih 'cow-instr. pl.' (< gau + bhis)

ánu:not 'praise-aorist' (< a + nu + nau +1)
plo:s yáti 'float-future' (< plau + sya + ti)
bodhí 'be-aor. imp.' (< bhau + dhi)
juhóti 'pour a libation-PR' (< ju + (g)hau + ti)
In order to account for the forms in (79), we rely on the process of nucleus
incorporation in (54). This process incorporates the coda high vocoid into the
preceding nucleus, as shown in (80). The application of a rule of monophthon-
gization merging a nuclear sequence of [a] + following high vocoid - a rule
which is not discussed here - accounts for the surface shape of the forms in
(79):
(80)
(plus a further rule of monophthon-

gization: /a+i/->e, /a+u/->o)
[+son]
If the labiovelar high vocoids occurring before the palatal glide in (78) were
actually in coda position, we should expect them to merge with the preceding
vowel, as in (81a). This is incorrect. Therefore, the labiovelar glide in (78) can-
not be in coda position, but must be in the same onset as the following glide, as
in (81b). We must then conclude that complex onsets with a glide as the last
member must be possible (see Varma 1929: 77-78 for an enlightening discus-
sion of the syllabification of clusters of high vocoids).
(81) a. *gáu . ya- [góya-] 'relating to cows' (<gau + ya)

*náu . ya- [nóya-] 'praise-gerundive' (< ñau + ya-)
*plau . ya- [ploya-] 'float-gerundive' (< plau + ya-)
*bháu . ya- [bhóya-] 'be-gerundive' (< bhau + ya-)
b. gá. vya- 'relating to cows' (< gau + ya-)

ná. vya- 'praise-gerundive' (< ñau + ya-)
pía:. vya- 'float-gerundive' (< plau + ya-)
bhá . vya- 'be -gerundive' (< bhau + ya-)
The syllabification we obtain in (81b) is accounted for by assuming a syl-

labification rule incorporating a preceding sonorant into an onset of a syllable
beginning with the glide [y] as stated in (82) (see Calabrese 1996: section 4.1
for more discussion of this rule, and in particular for why it cannot be reduced
to a resyllabification process triggered by (9)):
(82)
X X X X
I I I I
[+son] [-cons] [+son] [-cons]
I I
[-back] [-back]
B. Further evidence suggesting that complex onsets with glides are possible
in Vedic is provided by neutralization rules that affect consonants in coda
position.
The obstruent system of Vedic is given in (83).
(83) Ρ t t c k
b d d j g
ph th th ch kh
bh dh dh jh gh
s s s
We will focus on the restrictions on the distribution of voiced and aspirated

consonants in root-final position, illustrated in (84) (from Steriade 1987):
(84) C
/s/ Ixl V [+son]
raudh/rudh rot-sya-ti (B.) rud-dhá á-ralut31 á-rodh-at á-rudh-ma
'obstruct' rudh-yá-te
yaudh/yudh yot-syá-ti yud-dhá yódh-at yúdh-ya-ti
'fight'
ra:dh ra:t-syá-ti (Β.) ra:d-dhá ra:dh-ati rá:dh-ya
'succeed'
dah dhak-syá-ti dag-dhá a-dha:k31 dáh-ati dah-yá-te
'burn'
dagh dhak-tám dhak dagh-as (B .) dagh-yá:s
'reach' dagh-ma
grath gj-na-t-ti grath-ná:-ti
'tie' grath-ya-te
prach/pjch prak-sya- á-pra:t31 prch-áti prch-yá-te
'ask' [ch-s —» ks]
vaid/vid vet-sya-ti (B.) vit-tá vi-n-dá-ti vid-yá -te
'find'
bhaid/bhid bhet-syáte (B ) bhi-ná-t-ti á-bhet bhédati -bhíd-ya
'split'
Putting aside the alternations due to Grassmann's and Bartholomae's Laws (see
Calabrese & Keyser 1996 for discussion), we can observe that in (84) there is
loss of aspiration and devoicing in an obstruent in word-final position or before
another obstruent. Crucially, no such loss occurs before a sonorant consonant or
a syllabic peak. If we focus on the deaspiration process, we can observe that an
analysis which does not refer to syllable structure to account for this process
needs two independent rules of deaspiration, such as those in (85a-b):
(85) a. X / ##
[-son]
+
Laryngeal
b. X X
[-son] [-son]
t
Laryngeal
There are two obvious problems with these two rules. First of all, there is some
duplication between them, insofar as an essentially identical operation is split
up into two different processes. Secondly, the two rules in (85) are not very
explanatory, and essentially amount to a description of the facts, given that they
do not account for why there should be deaspiration both in coda position and
before obstruents, but not before sonorants.
However, if we assume that the deaspiration process is sensitive to syllable
structure, a single and more explanatory analysis of the facts can be proposed.
In fact, the deaspiration and the devoicing we observe in word-final position
and before obstruents can be accounted for by hypothesizing that obstruents
before a sonorant are in onset position and that the loss of laryngeal features
observed in (84) is due to a neutralization process affecting obstruents in coda
position (see Lombardi 1991 for a similar proposal). In particular, we can as-
sume that only unmarked feature values (in particular unmarked laryngeal
features) are possible in coda position in Vedic Sanskrit, as in many other lan-
guages. This is obtained by assuming that the following constraint, disallowing
marked laryngeal features in coda position, is active in Vedic Sanskrit:
(86) * X / ]σ (where aF is a marked feature value)

I
[-son]
Laryngeal
I
aF
As proposed in Calabrese (1995), the marking statements in (87) govern the use
of laryngeal features [stiff vocal folds], [spread glottis]. The constraints in (87)
state that the features [-stiff vocal folds] and [+spread glottis] are marked in the
context of the feature [-sonorant] (italics indicate markedness).
(87) a. [-sonorant, -stiff vocal folds]

b. [-sonorant, + spread glottis]
The constraint in (86) is implemented by delinking the offending marked laryn-

geal features from a coda obstruent, as shown in (88), and replacing them with
the unmarked ones in (89) (see Calabrese 1995 for more discussion):
(88) * X / ]e
I
[-son]
I
Laryngeal
*
αF
(89) a. [+stiff vocal folds] /[ ,-sonorant]

b. [-spread glottis] /[ , -sonorant]
The delinking operation triggered by the constraint in (86) accounts for the
neutralization process we observe in the following cases where we have an
obstruent in word-final position, and thus in coda position:32
(90) Voiced aspirate: á-ra:udh -» árarut

I I
[-son, -stiff v.f., + spread glottis] [-son, +stiff v.f., -spread glottis]
Voiceless aspirate: á-pra:thι -> ápra:tΊ
[-son, +stiff v.f., + spread glottis] [-son, +stiff v.f., -spread glottis]
Voiced: á-bhed ábhet

I I
[-son, -stiff v.f., -spread glottis] [-son, +stiff v.f., -spread glottis]
Now, if we assume the syllabic parsings in (91), where an obstruent is syllabi-

fied in coda position when it occurs before another obstruent, but in the onset of
the following syllable when it occurs before a sonorant, we can account for the
distribution of neutralization in the forms in (84) (from Steriade 1987):
(91) Stop-sonorant clusters are tautosyllabic:

dagh-ma- -» da. ghma-
rurudh-ré —> ru . ru . dhré
vivid-ré -> vi. vi. dré
Obstruent - obstruent clusters are heterosyllabic:

ra:dh-syá- -> ra:dh . syá- (-> (by (88)) -» ra:t. syá- )
gr-na-th-ti gj·. nath . ti (-> (by (88)) gf . nat. ti)
vid-tá vid . tá (-> (by (88)) vit. tá)
This analysis of deaspiration and devoicing provides evidence for the existence
of complex onsets. Thus, for example, the presence of forms like those in (92),
where the laryngeal features of a consonant are unaffected before a glide, is
evidence for the existence of complex onsets with glides:
(92) ra:dh-yá -» ra:. dhyá- *ra:t. yá-

vid-ya- -> vi. dya- *vit. ya-
grath-ya- -» gra. thya- *grat. ya-
6.2. Absence of complex onsets
There is thus some evidence for the existence of complex onsets with glides in
Vedic. However, there are also facts that are apparently inconsistent with the
presence of complex onsets. Here we consider some of these facts:
A. Vedic meter appears to consider all intervocalic consonantal clusters as

heterosyllabic regardless of the relative sonority of their constituents.
Thus, in the Vedic metric system, all obstruent + sonorant clusters make
position. For example, the first syllable of words of the type in (93) are
metrically heavy:
(93) a. putráh 'son'

b. put. ráh
c. *pu. tráh
We can see this in the hendecasyllable in (94) ( , = caesura, | = cadence, L =

light syllable, H = heavy syllable):
(94) LH L H , LLL I H L HH
ami: t[u]va: jahati putra de:vá:h (RV4.18.lib)
'these gods are abandoning you, son'
The cluster /tr/ in (94) makes the preceding syllable heavy. This suggests the
syllabification in (93b), and not that in (93c). This holds for all intervocalic
clusters, in particular clusters such as those in (95):
(95) /ty, dy, dhy, py, by, etc./
This fact seems to point to a syllabification of clusters with a glide in which the
first member is a coda of the preceding syllable, thus making it heavy.
B. Evidence for the same type of syllabification is provided by the redupli-

cated aorist. This verbal form is characterized by the fixed prosodie tem-
plate in (96) with the reduplicated prefix heavy and the root syllable light.
If the préfixai syllable is not heavy by position, the template is satisfied by
lengthening its vowel as shown in (97). A consonantal cluster blocks this
lengthening, as shown in (98):
(96) [¿Prefix - aRoot]
(97) á-ni:nas-am (nas 'be lost') á-ji:jan-am (jan 'beget')

á-bu:bhuv-ah (bhu:'be') á-ci:krs-am (kars 'plough')
(98) á-cukrudh-at (kraudh 'be angry') á-titras-an (tras 'be terrified')

á-susruv-at (srau 'hear') a-dudruv-at (drau 'run')
The short vowel in the reduplicated syllable in the forms in (98) shows that
clusters of rising sonority make the preceding syllable heavy. This fact hints at
a syllabification of clusters of rising sonority in which the first member is a
coda of the preceding syllable, thus making it heavy. Clusters ending with a
glide also behave this way, as shown in (99):
(99) á-didyut-at (dyaut 'shine') sisvap-ah (svap 'sleep')

vivyath-ah (vyath 'waver') á-sisyad-at (syand 'move on')
C. According to Wackernagel (1896: 278), Kurylowicz (1948: 199), the an-

cient Sanskrit grammarians prescribe the following rules of syllabifica-
tion:
(100) a. A single consonant is the onset of the following syllable:

ta. pas-
b. In the same way, the last consonant of a bisegmental cluster.
tap . ta-, put. ra-, vid . ya-
c. The last two consonants of a cluster of 3 or more members are syl-
labified as part of the onset of the following syllable when the last
consonant is a sibilant (s, s, s), or a sonorant (r, 1, n):
astam . psi:t, can . drá
d. If the cluster contains a geminate, it is divided between the two
syllables:
ak . ks i-, ag . gra-, ark . ka-
Rule (b) explicitly states that bisegmental clusters, and in particular also clus-
ters of rising sonority such as -tr-, -dy-, are heterosyllabic. Observe, however,
that according to (c), in the case of polysegmental clusters, we can have
complex onsets when the final part of the cluster is of rising sonority.33 The
significance of this will become clear in section 7.
D. Saussure (1889: 426-427) observes that Sanskrit seems to display a sys-

tematic confusion between single stops and geminated stops before sono-
rant consonants. Saussure nicely describes the Sanskrit situation in the
following way:
"Devant liquide, nasale ou semi-consonne, les catégories de la consonne

double et de la consonne simple sont absolument confondues en sanskrit. Etant
donnés les composés sara-trayam (trois flèches) et sarad-trayam (trois autom-
nes), nous croyons devoir en Europe observer la differérence étymologique
dans l'orthographe, écrire l'un saratrayam et le second sarattrayam. Si nous
consultons la tradition indigène, nous apprenons qu'il faut écrire:
a. D'après nombre de manuscripts dans les deux cas saratrayam. Aucune
occlusive n'est marquée double devant [r, w].
b. D'après certains Prätisäkhyas: dans les deux cas sarattrayam. Aucune
occlusive n'est marquée simple devant [r, w],
c. D'après Panini (8, 4, 47; cf. avec critique 48 et 50-52): dans les deux cas
saratrayam ou dans le deux cas sarattrayam. Emploi à volonté de la let-
tre double ou simple devant [r, w].
Cette dernière doctrine, pour etre fidèlement rapportée, doit plutôt se
formuler comme suit: toute occlusive est supposée simple devant [r, w],
mais on peut toujours la redoubler."
The reasons for this systematic doubling before a sonorant will be discussed in
the next section. For now, let us focus on the fact that there is systematic confu-
sion between single stops and geminated stops before sonorant consonants.
Saussure argues that this systematic confusion is due to the syllabification of
clusters obstruent + sonorant in an intervocalic context as heterosyllabic se-
quences. Thus he proposes that we have the two syllabifications in (101) which
according to him are not phonetically contrastive.
(101) a. ...a + tra... -> ...at. ra...

b. ...ad + tra... -> (assimilation) -» ...at + tra... -> ...at. tra...
Thus, the absence of a contrast between single consonants and etymological

geminates before a sonorant suggests that a cluster obstruent + sonorant is not
syllabified in the same complex onset, but is heterosyllabic (see next section
and note 36 for further analysis of these cases).
6. Ambisyllabicity in Vedic
We are thus faced with an apparent contradiction for clusters of rising sonority.
There is evidence that they are syllabified as complex onsets; however, there is
also evidence that the first consonant is syllabified as the coda of the preceding
syllable. The behavior of clusters involving a voiced aspirate followed by a
palatal glide, such as those in (102), clearly illustrates this apparent problem.
When a voiced aspirate appears before a sonorant, the high vocoid in this case,
it remains unaffected by laryngeal neutralization, but it makes the preceding
syllable heavy. This indicates that the voiced aspirate is at the same time part of
the onset - it escapes laryngeal neutralization - and part of the coda - it makes
the preceding syllable heavy.
(102) rdhyate 'thrive-PS'

krúdhyati 'be angry-PR'
daghya:s 'reach to-AO'
budhyate 'know-PS'
rábhya- 'take hold-GD'
The same holds for the clusters labio-velar high vocoid + palatal high vocoid in
(103) (=78) (obviously only in their disyllabic scansion (cf. note 30)):
(103) gávya- 'relating to cows' (<gau + ya-)

návya- 'praise-gerundive' (< nau + ya-)
pla:vya- [Skr.] 'float-gerundive' (< plau + ya-)
bhavya- 'be-gerundive' (< bhau + ya-)
divyá- 'heavenly' (< diu + ya-)
The labio-velar high vocoid must be in the onset of the following syllable since
it otherwise would be monophthongized with the preceding vowel. However, it
makes the preceding vowel heavy (cf. Vanna 1929: 77). Therefore, it must also
be in the coda of that syllable.
Let us now attempt to account for this problem. In order to do so, let us
consider a completely different phenomenon. As already mentioned in Saus-
sure's passage in section 6.2.D, many Vedic and Classical Sanskrit manuscripts
are characterized by a doubling of consonants in clusters. The first consonant of
a cluster is written as double, except when it belongs to the set in (104). In the
latter case, it is the second member which is doubled, as shown in (105b) (see
Vaux 1992, Whitney 1868, Wackernagel 1896: 112 and especially Varma
1929: chapters II and V for a detailed discussion of the facts).
(104) {r, 1, ν, h}
(105) a. dádhy átra dáddhy áttra 'sour milk + here'

mádhv átra máddhv áttra 'delicious + here'
agni aggní 'fire'
b. arká- arkká 'light'

ártha árttha 'aim, purpose'
bráhman- bráhmman 'formulation, prayer'
jihmá jihmmá 'oblique'
Putting aside for now the issue of the phonetic/phonological reality of the pro-
cess underlying this graphic doubling, and whether or not it involves actual
phonological gemination, let us investigate the conditions under which this
doubling occurs.
First, Vaux argues that the doubling observed in (105b), that is, the doubling
occurring after liquids and /h/, involves a different process than that observed in
(105a), which occurs before sonorants. I will not consider the doubling ob-
served in (105b) here.34
Let us instead consider the doubling observed in (105a). All ancient Indian
grammarians agree that there is doubling of a stop before a sonorant. However,
there is disagreement concerning doubling of stops before other consonants.
Many grammarians explicitly state that there is no doubling in this case (see the
passage in (106)):
(106) Taittinya Pratisàkhya 14.27: sparsa sparsaparah

stops followed by stops [are not doubled]
I will therefore assume that there is no doubling before obstruents and that
doubling occurs only before sonorants, as shown in (107):
(107) putráh -» puttráh 'son, child'

satyáh —> sattyáh 'true'
Observe that doubling does not occur when the preceding syllable is heavy,
as shown in (108), and by the passages in (109) (quoted by Vaux 1992):
(108) ma:tra- —» *ma:ttra- 'measure'
(109) a. Panini 8.4.50: tríprabhrtisu sakatäyanasya

[There is no doubling] in consonant clusters of three
or more members, according to sakatäyana
b. Panini 8.4.52: dlrghäd âcâryânâm

[There is no doubling] after long vowels, according
to all teachers
In our discussion of intervocalic clusters of rising sonority, we noticed that the

first consonant of such clusters has a double identity: it seems to be the coda of
the preceding syllable, thus making it heavy, but at the same time, it behaves as
if it is in the onset of the following syllable. Observe now that it is precisely
this consonant that is doubled in the manuscripts. I propose that the graphic
doubling of an obstruent before a sonorant is actually a way of representing
ambisyllabicity: the obstruent in that context is syllabified both as part of the
coda of the preceding syllable and as part of the onset of the following syllable,
as in (110):
(110) σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
I I I I I
ρ U t r a
Is the ambisyllabic consonant actually lengthened and phonologically gemi-

nated? This is unclear. In many manuscripts, whose norm is followed in all
western editions of the Vedic texts, this consonant is not doubled; however, it
still has the ambiguous identity as coda and onset mentioned above. This sug-
gests that it could be ambisyllabic without being phonologically geminated. A
detailed discussion of this issue is not possible here (see Varma 1929: chapters
II and V for an excellent discussion of the gemination facts in ancient Indian
languages). Here I simply propose that phonological gemination may be a fur-
ther dialectal development of the ambisyllabic consonant. 35,36
To account for the syllabification in (110), let us assume that Vedic is cha-
racterized by a special rule of coda incorporation that applies after a short nu-
cleus and assigns a postnuclear consonant to a coda position when this conso-
nant is followed by another consonant in onset position. The rule represented in
(111) can apply despite the fact that the target segment is already associated
with the following syllable, and thus creates ambisyllabic segments (see Cala-
brese 1996 for an attempt to reduce (111) to some other simpler, more primitive
constraint or principle).
(111) σ
I
R
I
Ν
I
χ
If we assume (111), we then derive the form in (110) as in (112):
(112) σ
/t
X
I
X
I
P u
The contradiction noted above is thereby accounted for. Let us consider the
form /budhyate/ from (102) again. Given what is proposed here, it would be
syllabified as in (113):
(113)
/f σ
X X X X X X X
I I I I I I I
b u dh y a t e
In section 2.4, we have seen that a constraint does not hold if it cannot apply
exhaustively to its target configuration. Following Schein and Steriade (1986)
this was obtained by assuming the principle in (41). We can now account for
why the voiced aspirate is left unaffected by laryngeal neutralization when
ambisyllabic. In fact, given (41), the constraint in (86) fails to apply to the ob-
struent in coda position in (113) since this obstruent is also linked to the onset
position of the following syllable, and therefore the constraint in (86) cannot
apply exhaustively. At the same time, the voiced aspirate is in the coda of the
preceding syllable and therefore makes it heavy. Thus, forms like this are no
longer problematic.
If we assume (41), we can also account for the failure of rule (54) (see also
(80)) to apply to the labio-velar high vocoid in (114). In (114), the high vocoid
is not only linked to a coda position, but also to the onset position of the fol-
lowing syllable. Rule (54) refers only to high vocoids in coda position. There-
fore, it cannot apply in (114). Thus, forms like [gávya-] are no longer a prob-
lem. The labiovelar high vocoid is part of the onset of the following syllable
(by rule (82)) and thus avoids the nucleus merger rule because of (41), but at
the same time is also part of the coda of the preceding syllable, thus making it
heavy:
(114) σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
g a ν y a
Let us now consider Sievers' Law. As we know from section 2, this law
deals with the syllabic status of high vocoids before a vowel, and states that
they are assigned a syllabic nucleus after a consonant preceded by another
consonant or a long vowel; otherwise, they belong to the onset of the following
syllable.
The process of glide formation, which plays a crucial role in accounting for
the alternations in syllabic status of the high vocoids, is repeated in (115):
(115) σ σ σ σ σ
R R AA
/
I I / I/ I
NI N
I // ΝV / Ν\
X X X Χ Χ X X X X
I (onset inc.) | (merger) |
[-cons] [-cons] [cons]
I I I
[+high] [+high] [+high]
As in the analysis proposed in section 5, Sievers' Law can be characterized

as involving the avoidance of glide-final complex onsets in all contexts except
after an open syllable. This would suggest that the constraint in (68) disallow-
ing such complex onsets is active in Vedic. We could then say that after an
open syllable, when the first consonant of these clusters is also syllabified in the
coda of the preceding syllable, the constraint is relaxed. This relaxation is what
we expect once we assume the principle in (41). If the first consonant of a com-
plex onset with a glide also belongs to the coda of the preceding syllable, this
complex onset cannot be blocked by the constraint in (68) since this constraint
cannot apply exhaustively to its target configuration.
Then we can state that the constraint in (68) is active in Vedic, but it can be
violated if the initial consonant of a consonant + high vocoid cluster is also
syllabified as the coda of the preceding syllable. This is what occurs in (116a)
where rule (111) has also incorporated the obstruent as the coda of the pre-
ceding syllable, as shown in (116b).
(116) a. -sádya 'sit-gerundive' /sad + ia/

(The underlying form of the gerundive
suffix is disyllabic /i. a1 (see section 8))
b. σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ Χ
I I I I I
s a d y a
The issue is now how we obtain the structure in (116b) by application of the
rule of glide formation. Let us consider the underlying representation of the
form [sádya] in (117):
(117) σ σ σ
R R
Ν Ν
Χ Χ Χ + Χ χ
s a d a
Resyllabification of the root-final consonant as the onset of the suffixal /i/ will
produce (118):
σ σ σ
/ ι
I
A1 R
/
/ I ι
I
Ν Ν
/ 1
11 ι
I
X X X X Χ
I 1 I 1 I
1 1 1 1 I
s a d i a
Once onset incorporation (7) and syllable merger (16) apply to the form in
(118), they create the structure in (119), which is disallowed by (68).
σ σ
λ
A TR
/
/ ι
' I
Ν
ι
/ ι Ι
χ χ Χ Χ Χ
ιI ιI ιI ιι
s a d y a
However, at this point rule (111) applies. This application creates the linked
structure in (116b) which allows the violation of the constraint in (68). Rule
(111) acts essentially as a repair strategy in this case.
Given that rule (111) does not apply after long nuclei or another coda conso-
nant, we can now explain why glide-final complex onsets are not allowed after
heavy syllables. Let us consider a form like (120a), syllabified as in (120b)
after the last consonant of the root is syllabified as the onset of the initial Ν of
the suffix:
(120) a. márji[y]a 'clean-gerundive' /marj + ia/
b. σ σ σ
A I
A
1
R
/
j 1
/ N Ν
/ \ \ // 11 1
X X X X - X X -
m a r j i a
We can now apply onset incorporation (7) to this form, we thus obtain (121):
(121) σ»
fi
/ \
/ 1 \
X X X
ι1 ι1 ι1
m a r
However, if syllable merger (16) applies in this form, we obtain (122) where
rule (111) cannot apply to the preglide consonant. Thus, in (122), the constraint
in (68) blocks the complex onset with the glide since it applies exhaustively to
all members of its target configuration:
Therefore (16) cannot apply in (121) because its application would create a
disallowed configuration. We are thus left with (121) and we have an account
for the surface shape we see in (120a).
In (123-126), we derive the forms pipyús/pipriyús/asnuvánti. We start with

the underlying forms in (123):
σ
b. I
R
' κ
XX XXXX XX
II I I I I II
+ ρ a ι + u s p i + p r a i + u s
σ σ σ σ
XXX XXX XXXX
a n s + n a u + a n t i
The syncope process characterizing the zero grade - which is discussed in

section 4 - produces the forms in (124):
(124) Zero grade:

a. σ σ b.
XX XX XX
M II II
ρ i + ρ i + u s
c. σ σ σ σ
Ν
Ν
XX XX χ χ χ χ
n s + n u + a n t i
The two-step glide formation process in (115) can apply fully only in the form
in (124a), but not in the forms in (124b) and (124c), since only in the former
case, the application of coda incorporation (111) will allow the violation of the
constraint against complex onsets with a glide as a last member. In particular,
in the forms in (124b-c), the application of rule (16) is blocked. Therefore, we
obtain the surface forms [pipriyus, asnuvanti] in (125) (syllabic [n] is changed
into [a] by rule (i) of note 23). In the case of (124a), application of (16) after
onset incorporation, as in (125), and automatic application of the special coda
incorporation rule (111) give us the configuration in (126):
(125) Onset incorporation:

a. σ σ σ b. σ σ σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ XX Χ ΧΧ Χ Χ XX
ρ ι ρ ι y U s p i p r i y u s
c. σ σ σ σ
ΧΧΧΧ ΧΧΧΧ
n s n u v a n t i
(126) Rule (16) and rule (III):
a. σ σ b. n/a c. n/a
X X X X X X
I I I I I I
ρ i ρ y u s
In conclusion, the results of this section are the following: first of all, I pro-
posed that after a short vowel, the first consonant of a cluster of rising sonority
is ambisyllabic. The ambisyllabicity of this consonant explains the contradic-
tory behavior of clusters of this type which make the preceding syllable heavy,
but at the same time seem to behave as complex onsets.
Secondly, I proposed that a prevocalic high vocoid does not form a complex
onset with a preceding consonant unless this consonant is ambisyllabic, as
shown in (127). Thus in (127) the labiovelar high vocoid must be part of the
onset of the following syllable to avoid the application of the nucleus merger
rule, but at the same time, it must also be part of the coda of the preceding syl-
lable so that the second syllable survives the constraint in (68):
(127) σ σ
X X X X X
I I I I I
g a ν y a
Finally, I have proposed that Vedic is characterized by the two-step glide

formation process in (115). The idea that the constraint in (68) can block the
application of the syllabic merger rule in (16), which is a step in this process, in
conjunction with the idea that (68) can be relaxed in some circumstances, leads
to a straightforward account of Sie vers' Law in this language.
8. Exceptions to Sievers' Law
There are many exceptions to Sievers' Law. However, as Kiparsky (1971)

shows, a close look at the supposed exceptions suggests that the situation is
linguistically very systematic. In particular, we can identify two types of suf-
fixes that display systematic exceptions.
1. In the first class (which Kiparsky calls the i-, u- suffixes, in accordance with
the dominant variant of the high vocoid), the prevocalic high vocoid is regular-
ly assigned syllabic peak after heavy syllables and optionally after light syl-
lables. For example, suffixes such as those in (128a) belong to this class.
2. In the second class (which Kiparsky calls the y-, v-suffixes), the prevocalic
high vocoid is optionally assigned syllabic peak after heavy syllables and
regularly syllabified as an onset after light syllables. For example, suffixes such
as those in (128b) belong to this class.
(128) a. i-, u- suffixes (sample)

Present stem -nu- (-u-) before vocalic endings
This suffix was discussed in section 3. After heavy syllables, the high
vocoid is regularly assigned syllabic peak: pra\pnuvanti 'they arrive',
saknuvanti 'they are able' vs. sunvanti 'they press' and prahinvanti 'they
impel'. However, after a light syllable, the Rigvedic meter indicates that
it is in syllabic peak position in a number of instances, e.g. dhánuantu
'let them flow', srnuántu 'let them hear', alongside dhánvantu, srnvántu
(cf. Arnold 1905:°%)
Gerundive -ya
After a heavy syllable, the high vocoid of this suffix is regularly assign-
ed syllabic peak: e.g. váiria 'to be chosen', márjia 'to be cleaned',
samsia 'to be praised' andyóidhia 'to be fought'. After a light syllable, it
can be in either onset or peak position: hávya/hávia 'to be invoked',
gúhya/gúhia 'to be hidden', sòsia 'to be praised' and ayudhyá 'not to be
fought'.
b. y-, v-suffixes (sample)

Dat., Abi. pl. -bhyas
In the case of the heavy syllable, we have prajàibhyas/prajœbhia (praja:-
'offspring'); after a light syllable, there is no option, and the form
rsibhyas (rsi 'seer') is obligatory (see Arnold 1905: 94). After a light
syllable, the high vocoid is never assigned a syllabic peak. After a heavy
syllable, it is a syllabic peak a third of the time.
Inst. dat. abl. dual -bhyaim

The facts are completely analogous to those of /-bhyas/.
Present tense morpheme and passive morpheme -ya-

After a light syllable the scansion in onset position is obligatory; after a
heavy syllable, the scansion as a syllabic peak is possible, if rare: impf.
àsiat 'he threw' (Arnold 1905: 95).
Kiparsky shows that, with the exception of long or stressed high vowels,
every suffixal high vocoid falls into one of these two categories. 7 In other
words, as he puts it:
"Sievers' law is valid, in every suffix in which the conditions for its applica-
tion are met, either after heavy or after light syllables, but every suffix also
shows a sizable proportion of 'exceptions' to Sievers' Law in one of the two
environments" (Kiparsky 1971: 180).
What is the explanation for this division of suffixes into two classes and for
the behavior of each class? Following Kiparsky, let us hypothesize that in the
suffixes in the first class, the high vocoid is underlyingly syllabified as in peak
position (/i/ or /u/); in the suffixes in the second class, the high vocoid is under-
lyingly syllabified as in onset position (/y/ or Ivi). As we will see below, in
order to account for the behavior of these suffixes, one then needs to postulate
two processes: the two-step process of glide formation in (115) and a process
involving peak assignment which applies to onset high vocoids. Once this is
done, we can assume that Sievers' Law operated with complete regularity in the
Vedic period.
Let us develop this analysis. Following Kiparsky (1971), we can account for
the exceptions observed in the Rigveda texts by hypothesizing that poets need
not resort only to surface forms in their poetical work, but also to forms that do
not contain the effect of some phonological rule. Kiparsky calls this pool of
forms the metrical range. His idea is that the metrical range of the Rigveda
includes a level of representation prior to glide formation or peak assignment.
(129) (from Kiparsky 1971: 184 (i/y in (129) are representatives also for u/w))
Underlying Surface form Metrical value in RV
form (by glide formation
or peak assignment)
a. Ν [i] (after heavy i (pátnia:)

syllables)
b. Ill [y] (after light i,y (sacia:/sacya:)

syllables)
c. /y/ [i] (after heavy y, i (áyugdhvam/

syllables) áyugdhuam)
d. /y/ [y] (after light y (rsibhyas)

syllables)
Thus, the metrical value of a certain high vocoid in Vedic must agree with
either that assigned to it by its underlying syllabification or that assigned to it
by its surface syllabification. If, in both, the underlying and surface syllabifica-
tion the high vocoid is in peak position, the metrical value of the high vocoid
must be that of a syllabic peak; if in both the high vocoid is in onset position, its
metrical value must be that of an onset; if they differ, the poet has a choice.38
We have postulated that the suffixes must be underlyingly syllabified, so that
the high vocoid they include is specified as being a syllable peak or belonging
to the onset.
Observe that since we have high vocoids underlyingly syllabified in onset
position, we need to postulate a peak assignment rule that may affect post-con-
sonantal high vocoids before vowels, as in the French case discussed in section
2.2. I propose that it is the same constraint against glide-final complex onsets
which prevents glide formation from applying to /-suffixes and which triggers
peak assignment in the case of ^-suffixes. Thus peak assignment, like onset
incorporation, can be thought of as an instance of resyllabification that removes
a disallowed syllabic configuration. This process involves rule (11) which
assigns the high vocoid in the complex onset in (130) to a syllable peak position
(see (131)). Crucially, peak assignment in this case creates a hiatus configura-
tion which must be repaired by application of onset incorporation (see the
French example in section 2.2 for a similar situation). Such a sequence of ap-
plications of resyllabification procedures is allowed in the conception of the
resyllabification module proposed here. The internal derivation in this module
can be quite complex (see Calabrese 1996: section 4 for other examples). What
matters, however, is the fact that the output of this module must be syllabically
well-formed. A derivation involving the application of peak assignment is
shown in (132):
(130) σ
X X
[-cons]
(132) σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ
χ χ χ χ χ -» χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ χ
a C C y a a C C i a a C C i y a
peak assign. & resyll. onset incorp. (application of (16) blocked)
Thus the same constraint interacts with two different processes, blocking one
and triggering the other. The final outcome, however, is the same, as we can see
in (133) where we consider the derivations of different syllabic types:
V C i V V C i y V VCyV
onset incorp. σ-merger and (111)
V C C i V V C C i y V
onset incorp. σ-merger blocked 11
V C y V VCyV
(11 l)/no peak assignment
-> X X X X X ->
I I I II
V C C y V V C C i V V C C i y V
peak assign. & resyll. onset incorp. σ-merger blocked 11
9. Root and word-initial consonantal clusters and Lindeman's Law
We have thus far considered the behavior of clusters containing a glide in

word-internal position. In this section, we consider the behavior of these clus-
ters in word-initial position and observe that they behave differently.
Lindeman (1965) studied the behavior of obstruent-sonorant word-initial
sequences in roots. He observed that post-consonantal sonorants in this context
surface as syllabic peaks only if the root appears as a monosyllable. If the root
appears in a disyllabic or polysyllabic word, for example when it is inflected as
in (134a) or the first member of a compound as in (134b), the post-consonantal
sonorant is not syllabic after heavy syllables or in absolute initial position:
(134) after heavy syllables or in absolute initial position:

a. svábhis (cf s[u]ván in the same position) 'dog-inst.pl.'
dyúbhis (cf. d[i]yaus in the same position) 'sky-inst. pi.'
svá:na:m (cf. s[u]vás in the same position) 'own-gen. pi.'
tváya (cf. t[u]va:- in the same position) 'you-inst. sg.'
b. dyu-ks a- (cf. d[i]yaus in the same position) 'heavenly'

svá:-pada (cf. s[u]vá: in the same position) 'dog foot'
tvá:m-ka:ma (cf. t[u]va- in the same position) 'longing for you'
The same holds for di- or polysyllabic roots in (135) where no syllabic alter-
nants of the onset high vocoid are attested:
(135) svásura 'father-in-law' never *suvásura

svásar- 'sister' never *suvásar-
sva:du 'sweet' never *suva:du
The following roots display alternations in the syllabic status of onset high
vocoids:39
(136) a. Pronominals and numerals:

tvá/tuvá 'you'
tva-/tuva- 'many a one' (unaccented)
syá-/siyá- 'that'
tyá/tiyá- 'these'
svá-/suvá- 'own'
dvá-/duvá- 'two'
dvíh/duvih 'two' (in compounds and derivation)
b. Adverbial particles:
svah/suvah 'tomorrow'
jyók/jiyók 'long'
hyáh/hiyáh 'yesterday'
c. Radical nouns with paradigmatic ablaut:

dyau/diyau/div 'sky, day' (cf. dyúbhis)
svan-/suvan-/sun- 'dog'(cf. svábhis)
Also in this group:

duváira: 'door'
If root-initial clusters in monosyllabic words are considered more carefully,

one observes that not all of them show alternations in the syllabic status of high
vocoids (cf. Seebold 1972). Thus roots such as the following never display
alternations:
cyav- 'move, stir'

jvar- 'be hot'
dhvan- 'sound'
dhvans- 'scatter'
myaks - 'be situated
vyac/vic- 'extend'
vyath- 'waver'
sva:/su:- 'swell'
svap/sup- 'sleep'
svan- 'sound'
Observe that the roots in (137) are all verbal. The roots that display alternations
are either non-verbal (nominal/adjectival) or if verbal, the relevant cluster ap-
pears before a vocalic extension/suffix.40
I assume that the presence of a complex onset with a glide indicates that the
constraint in (68) is deactivated. The generalization seems to be that (68) can
always be deactivated in verbal roots and that it can be deactivated in a non-
verbal root in word-initial position in a polysyllabic word.
Let us consider the case of verbal roots first. There is evidence that all types
of complex onsets must be allowed in initial position in verbal roots in Vedic.
This evidence is provided by Steriade (1982, 1988). In these works, she argues
that complex onsets were allowed in Sanskrit based on her analysis of perfect
reduplication in this language. Consider the reduplication pattern in (139):
(139) Perfect reduplication in Sanskrit:

a. C taud tu-tud 'push'
raudh ru-rudh 'obstruct'
b. stop+sonorant jña: ja-jfta: 'know'
drau du-druv run
c. s+sonorant smai si-smi 'smile'
srath sa-srath 'slacken'
d. stop+s ksam ca-ksam 'endure'
psa: pa-psa: 'devour'
e. s+stop stau tu-stu 'praise'
scaut cu-scut 'drip'
f. stop+s+son. ksnau cu-ksnu 'whet'
Steriade argues that the reduplicating prefix is obtained by copying the root and
then adjusting the prefix according to certain parameters. The parameters active
in the case of Sanskrit perfect reduplication determine that the reduplicating
prefix, after undergoing syncope, must surface as a light syllable with a simple
onset. If the base has a complex onset, the simple onset of the reduplicating
prefix is obtained by deleting all the members of the complex onset except the
first one, as shown in (140):
(140) drau- -» (syncope) -» dru- -» (onset reduction) —» du-

psa- -» (syncope n/a) -» psa- -» (onset reduction) —> pa-
ksnau -> (syncope) -» ksnu- -» (onset reduction) —» ku-
The issue then is to account for the cases in (139e) where the first consonant
of the onset is deleted. Steriade argues that the forms in (141) possess a dif-
ferent onset structure:
(141) a. smi si-smi

b. stu tu-stu
She proposes that the cluster /sm/ involves a complex onset as in (142), /st/
involves a specially syllabified segment as in (143). The difference is that /sm1
has a rising sonority profile, whereas /st/ is of falling sonority. Only /sm/ can
form a complex onset according to the sonority sequencing principle according
to which, in a syllable, sonority must increases from the beginning to the peak
and then fall from the peak to the end (see Selkirk 1982). The /st/ cluster cannot
form a complex onset, and the /s/ is therefore either left unsyllabified as pro-
posed in Steriade (1982, 1988) (see (143b)) or syllabified as an appendix as
proposed in Calabrese (1996, section 2.3) (see (143a)).41
(142) σ
X X X
s m
b.
The reduplication process is sensitive to the different structures in (142-143)

producing the derivations in (144a-b). In the case of (144a), we obtain the sim-
ple onset of the prefix by deleting the second member of the complex onset. In
the case of (144b), we obtain the simple onset of the prefix, if we assume that
appendices (or unsyllabified segments) are disallowed in the reduplicating
prefix.
(144) a. [smi] -> [smi]-[smi] -> [si]-[smi]

b. s [tu] s[tu]-s[tu] -> [tu]-[stu]
The behavior of roots like the following, which pattern like /smi/, is there-
fore evidence that the root-initial consonant-glide clusters are possible complex
onsets:
(145) khya: 'see' ka-kyá:-thúr [cakyá:thúr]

dhya: 'think' dha-dhyá: -u [dadhyáu]
tyaj 'forsake' ta-tyaj-é
svaj 'embrace' sa-svaj-é
dhvans/dhvns 'scatter' dha-dhvns-é [dadhvasé]
To account for the fact that complex onsets with glides are allowed in root-
initial position in verbs, I propose that the constraint against glide-final com-
plex onsets is deactivated in verbal roots. This deactivation may be related to
the requirement that roots be monosyllabic (see Steriade 1988 on the require-
ment that Sanskrit roots be monosyllabic; see also Calabrese 1996: section 2.3).
In fact, if the prevocalic high vocoids of a verbal root were syllabified as peaks,
the root would be disyllabic and, therefore, the requirement of root monosyl-
labicity would be violated. This accounts for the syllabification of the root-
initial cluster of the verbal roots.
Crucially the constraint against complex onsets with glides is deactivated
only in root-internal position. Therefore, the constraint is active when there is
resyllabification across morphological boundaries. This is the case of the re-

syllabification of the zero grade of verbal roots, as in (146):
ciyántu cai 'gather-IPV'

suvé sau/su: 'generate-PR'
súvate id. 'generate-PR'
yuváti yau 'unite-PR'
viyánti vai/vi: 'enjoy-PR' (but also vyánti)
viyántu id. 'enjoy-IPV (but also vyántu)
or also in cases like the following:
(147) pipriyé prai/pri: 'please-PF-Md'

sisriyé srai 'resort-PF-Md'
pipyuh pai 'swell'
mimyuh mai 'fix-'
In all of these cases there is a morphological boundary between the high vocoid
and the following vowel, and thus we are dealing with a process of resyllabifi-
cation as shown in (148-149):
ci - ántu cai 'gather-IPV'

su - é sau/su: 'generate-PR'
sú - a . te id. 'generate-PR'
yu - áti yau 'unite-PR'
vi - ánti vai/vi: 'enjoy-PR'
vi - ántu id. 'enjoy-IPV'
(149) p i - p r i - é prai/pri: 'please-PF-Md'

si - sri - é srai 'resort-PF-Md'
pi - pi - uh pai 'swell'
mi - mi - uh mai 'fix-'
Thus we can account for the contrasting behavior between the forms in
(150a) and those in (150b) which, although segmentally similar in their initial
part, display different morphological structure:
(150) a. ciyantu (ci + antu) vs. b. cyavate (cyav + ate)

'gather' 'move'
a. viyanti (vi + anti) vs. b. vyáyati (vya + yati)

'enjoy' 'envelop'
The fact is that the constraint against complex onsets with glides is active in
the case of the forms in (150a) because in this case we are dealing with resyl-
labifícation across morphological boundaries, whereas in the forms in (150b)
the constraint is deactivated since it is contained inside the verbal root. An
immediate explanation for why complex onsets with glides are allowed in a
form like [cyavate] but not in a form like [ciyantu] is thus obtained.
At this point it would be important to study the behavior of the initial clus-
ters of verbal roots in medial position to see what happens in this environment
after heavy syllables. Crucially we need a form in the full grade so that the
initial cluster is exhaustively syllabified inside the root. Given the hypothesis
that the constraint in (68) is deactivated in verbal roots, we would expect a non-
syllabic treatment of a high vocoid in this cluster. Unfortunately, I was able to
fmd only a few cases all involving the intensive participle of the root /svas/sus/
listed in (151):
(151) sa:svasat svas/sus 'blow-PT-intensive'

sa:svasatas
sa:svasatadbhis
In all of these cases, however, the high vocoid is syllabified in onset position; it
is not treated as a syllabic nucleus. This fact can be used in support of the hy-
pothesis presented here that the constraint in (68) is deactivated inside verbal
roots.
Let us turn now to non-verbal roots. In the case of the forms in (152-154),
we can assume that there is no deactivation of the constraint as proposed for
verbal roots. This is shown by the syllabic treatment of the high vocoid in these
forms:
(152) Pronominals and numerals:

tu. á 'you'
tu . a- 'many a one' (unaccented)
si. á- 'that'
t i . á- 'these'
su . á- 'own'
du. á- 'two'
du . ih 'two' (in compounds and derivation)
(153) Adverbial particles:42

su . vah 'tomorrow'
j i . ók 'long'
h i . áh 'yesterday'
(154) Radical nouns with paradigmatic ablaut:

di. aus 'sky, day'
s u . an 'dog'
The issue now is what happens when non-verbal roots such as those in (152-
154) occur in polysyllabic words.
It is well known that the word-initial syllable is a position of prosodie
prominence, and that languages often display more phonological contrast in this
position than in other positions (cf. Steriade 1994). An increase in contrast in a
given position indicates that constraints are deactivated in that position. We can
therefore propose that the constraint against complex onsets is deactivated in
the word-initial syllable. I assume, though, that crucially, a monosyllable is not
counted as either initial or final, and, therefore, the constraint against complex
onsets is active in it. This gives the correct results allowing the complex onset
in the case of the polysyllabic words in (134-135), but not in the case of the
monosyllabic words in (152-154). This accounts directly for the so-called Lin-
deman's Law stating that syllabic treatment of post-consonantal high vocoids in
word-initial sequences occurs only if the word is monosyllabic, but not poly-
syllabic. An outstanding question remains to be answered however. Why does
the constraint seem to be active in the word-initial syllable of the polysyllabic
verbal forms in (146)? I do not have a clear solution to this problem at this
moment other than restricting the deactivation of the constraint in (68) only to
the word-initial syllable of non-verbal words. 43,44
10. Conclusions
In this chapter I have proposed an account for Sievers' Law. The pivotal as-
sumption of my analysis is that in intervocalic clusters ending in a sonorant, the
first consonant is ambisyllabic, if the preceding vowel is short. Evidence for
this assumption is found in Vedic manuscripts where precisely this consonant is
doubled. We can assume that graphic doubling was a way of representing ambi-
syllabicity. The fact that the first consonant of such clusters is ambisyllabic
explains why the constraint against onset clusters ending with a glide, which
otherwise characterizes Vedic, does not apply in this case. The first consonant
of such clusters is in fact also the coda of the preceding syllable, and the UAC
of Schein and Steriade (1988) prevents a constraint from applying to segments
which are not exhaustively contained in the same syllable. If the preceding
syllable is heavy, however, the ambisyllabic structure is not created and, there-
fore, the constraint against complex onsets with glides can apply and thus
blocks such onsets in that context. We thus have an explanation for the alterna-
tions due to Sievers' Law.
We also have seen that an underlying distinction between glides and high
vowels must be postulated for Vedic. This implies that two processes conspire
to create Sievers' Law cases. One is glide formation that solves hiatus configu-
rations with high vowels followed by another vowel. Another is a process of
vocalization - i.e., assignment of nuclear status - to high vocoids which elimi-
nates underlying glides in post-consonantal position.
Finally, we considered word-initial clusters ending with a glide. I have ar-
gued that the constraint against complex onsets ending with glides is deacti-
vated in word-initial position and in verbal roots. If we assume that monosylla-
bles do not count as initial syllables, we have an account for Lindeman's Law
which states that Sievers' alternations in word-initial clusters are found only in
monosyllables.
Acknowledgements
This chapter is part of a larger research project on the phonology of Indo-Euro-

pean on which I am working with Morris Halle. I thank Morris Halle, Tien-
Hsim Hsin, Jay Jasanoff, Calvert Watkins, Bert Vaux and an anonymous re-
viewer for comments and suggestions on previous drafts of this chapter. The
usual disclaimers apply.
Notes
1. This chapter was written in 1996 for the Conference: The Phonology of the World's
Languages: The Syllable (OUP, Pézenas 1996). A more recent article of mine (Cala-
brese 1997) deals with some of the Vedic facts discussed here, but thoroughly revises
the theoretical framework in which their analysis was couched, although not the gist of
it. In Calabrese (1997), it is shown that Optimality Theory provides a better way of
dealing with the resyllabification processes involved in the Vedic facts. It is also shown,
however, that OT cannot deal adequately with morphophonemic rules such as zero
grade syncope, or fossilized phonological processes such as change of syllabic nasals
into [a]. Developing further this distinction, Calabrese (1997) argues that OT is not a
theory of the whole phonological component, as currently assumed, but simply a theory
of one of the modules of this component, the repair module, which in the case of sylla-
ble structure deals with resyllabification processes.
2. As we will see in section 8, the presence of the active constraint in (2) also triggers a
resyllabification process in which onset glides are turned into nuclear elements, i.e.,
high vowels, in the same context.
3. In the first part of the chapter, I will focus only on word-medial consonantal clusters.
Word-initial clusters behave differently from word-medial clusters - they are the do-
main of the so-called Lindeman's Law. These clusters will be discussed in section 9.
4. In addition to marking statements, there are also constraints which I call prohibitions.
Prohibitions stipulate that certain configurations - featural or syllabic - are absolutely
excluded. For example, the configuration in (i) is impossible because it involves a pair
of actions that are physiologically incompatible:
(i) *[+high, +low]

5. This is the constraint that plays a fundamental role in our analysis. There is independent
motivation for this constraint. Its existence is for example required in many languages,
such as Latin, that do not have complex onsets with glides as the final member. Further-
more, Calabrese (1994) shows that this constraint plays a fundamental role in the pho-
nology of Gothic. Along the same line, Romani & Calabrese (in press) and Calabrese &
Romani (1998) discuss an Italian aphasie patient that has major problems with complex
onsets ending with glides, but not with other types of complex onsets.
6. Cases such as this are usually accounted for by resorting to a constraint requiring the
maximization of onset structure (see Selkirk 1982 or Clements & Keyser 1983, among
others). Here I assume that this constraint is just a corollary of the independently
needed syllable contact law in (9) and is therefore not needed. At the same time the
syllable contact law in (9) could be derived by other constraints dealing with syllabic
complexity as proposed by Clements (1990). I will not attempt to do that here.
7. The absence of hiatus configurations is often accounted for by assuming a constraint
against onsetless syllables (cf. McCarthy & Prince 1993a, among others). Onsetless
syllables are common in word-initial position in Vedic (e.g. ita 'go-PP' [i-] zero grade
of root /ai/, rdántu 'stir-IPV' [r]-zero grade of root /ar/). I assume that the presence of
such onsetless syllables is evidence that the UG constraint against onsetless syllables is
deactivated, and that thus it does not play any role in disallowing hiatus configurations.
(Observe also that the hiatus constraint in (14) is obviously connected to the syllable
constraint in (9) and could be reduced to it. I will not attempt to do this here.)
8. If the first vowel in (17) is non-high, the application of onset incorporation may be
blocked because of a constraint against non-high vowels in syllable margins, and other
repair procedures may apply instead. I will not discuss cases of this type in this chapter.
9. A further rule could apply in this case splitting the ambisyllabic segment as shown in
(i). Evidence for this rule should be established on a language-specific basis. Thus for
example, there is no evidence that such a rule applies in French or Vedic.
(i) σ σ σ
I ι
1 I
R R R
I κκ ι ι
1 /' ι I
Ν / Ν Ν
ι ι
I I
X Χ -> Χ
α çt ji
10. The homorganic glides [w] and [i[] are inserted in the context CLu/üV only in certain
varieties of French, such as Belgian French (C. Boeckx, p.c.). In standard French, no
such glides are inserted in that context (cf. Tranel 1987: 120), thus the relevant forms in
(20) are pronounced [klue], [prue], [eblui]. The peculiar behavior of rounded vocoids in
standard French may be due to the fact that their syllabification as part of the onset is
somewhat marked. In many languages, rounded glides are nuclear (see note 22 on Ita-
lian). The same may be true for standard French (see Tranel 1987: 117). Limits of space
prevent me from discussing this issue in greater depth; therefore, I focus on the French
varieties, such as the Belgian one, described in (20) where all of the high vocoids
behave in the same way.
11. The constraint in (21) is also needed to account for another fact. French possesses a
syncope rule that deletes medial reduced vowels when preceded by a consonant that can
be resyllabified in the adjacent context, for example as the coda of the preceding sylla-
ble in the cases in (i):
(i) grandement [grâdmâ] 'greatly
phonétiquement [fonetikmä} 'phonetically'
samedi [samdi] 'Saturday'
vs. brusquement [brüskcemä] 'abruptly'
fixement [fixscemä] 'fixedly'
vendredi [vâdrœdi] 'Friday'
Observe now that this process of vowel syncope does not apply in cases in which the
vowel is followed by a liquid + glide sequence:
(ii) atelier [atoelye] 'workshop'
Richelieu [rijcelyo] last name
nous chanterions [nujatœryô] 'we would sing'
vous aideriez [vuzedœrye] 'you would help'
There is a simple account for the non-application of the syncope rule in these cases. If
syncope were to apply, there would be no way of resyllabifying the consonant. It cannot
be in coda position because of the syllable contact constraint (9). Nor can it be resyl-
labified as the onset of the following syllable, since this would lead to the creation of a
complex onset disallowed by the constraint in (21).
12. Probably also some criteria of economy govern the evaluation of derivations. In
Calabrese (1995), I have argued that whenever we may have two possible derivations of
the same output form: one involving two steps-i.e., 1) the generation of a disallowed
form by a given rule; and 2) the repair of the disallowed form by a simplification pro-
cedure-and the other just involving the blocking of the relevant rule, the second deriva-
tion is chosen. I obtained this result by assuming the principle of economy of derivation
in (i) (cf. Chomsky 1991, 1992, Kiparsky 1982; see also Dell 1973, Stampe 1973, and
Myers 1991):
(i) Among alternative maximally simple grammars select that which has the shortest
derivations.
By (i), we are forced to adopt the shortest derivation which involves preventing the
process from creating the disallowed structure.
13. I refer the reader to Schein & Steriade (1986) for a criticism of Hayes' (1986) Linking
constraint which the UAC replaces.
14. Shortly after the publication of Sievers' Law, Osthoff (1884) proposed that this alterna-
tion was valid through the entire resonant system "Unstressed (non-epenthetic) i, u, m,
rj, ζ and I preceding a vowel are consonantal following a short syllable; in their place
appear iy, uw, mm, nn, ¿r, and II following a long syllable, regardless of the placement
of word stress."
This extension of the alternation to the entire resonant system is also proposed by
Edgerton (1934, 1943). He summarizes his views as follows: "IE prevocalic iy and y,
uw and w, after a consonant were each a single phoneme, varying automatically under
fixed phonetic conditions (essentially, y and w after a light syllable, iy and uw after a
heavy). This was equally true of liquids and nasals (rr/r, nn/n, etc.)."
In Seebold (1972), however, this extension of Sievers' Law to include all sonorants
is questioned. After a reconsideration of the evidence, he states (p. 51): "The situation
here is not the same as that of the glides (particularly of.y). Regularities are clearly evi-
dent in the latter case, although their implications are controversial. In the case of sono-
rants, there are only indications of parallel behavior. The question arises whether, along
with Edgerton, complete parallelism should be assumed as representing the original

conditions and the differentiated state considered secondary or whether the syllabic val-
ues and variants of the sonorants require a separate assessment (possibly involving
completely different factors). Edgerton based his study exclusively on the (undeniable)
parallelism with the glides while disregarding the (equally undeniable) differences"
(translation from Murray 1988).
15. There are many exceptions to Sievers' Law in the Rigvedic text, with syllabic variants
appearing after light syllables and non syllabic variants appearing after heavy syllables.
The issue of the exceptions to Sievers' Law will be discussed below (section 8) (see
Kiparsky 1973, Calabrese 1996 for more discussion).
16. Observe that roots such as vai/vix prai/pri:, svaVsu: with a long root vowel have long
high vowels in the zero grade. Root long high vowels are due to the presence of the so-
called laryngeal H in root-final position. In the analysis proposed in Calabrese (1996:
section 4), H in Vedic is an empty nuclear position which, when not resyllabified as the
onset of the following vowel, is merged with a preceding nucleus, thus creating long
nuclear vowels and sonorants. However, when an H is syllabified as an onset, it is al-
ways deleted, hereby creating the context for a new resyllabification. It follows that
when these roots occur before vowel-initial suffixes, as in the examples in (44), the
laryngeal does not interfere with the syllabification of the high vocoid. We can see this
in the following sample derivation:
σ σ σ σ σ
I ι ι ι ι
μh
1 I I I
R R R R
ι ι
1I I I II
Ν Ν Ν Ν
l \ I / ι I Ν
X X -> Χ χ χ Χ χ χ
ι 1 ιI Ι I ι ι ι
1 1 I I I I I
a η a + ν i Η + a η
(zero grade) (onset incor. (7)) + (merge (16))
σ
I
R
I
Ν
Κ
XX
I I
η a v i a n a ν
(Η-deletion) (onset incorp (7)) + (merge (16))
(The syllabic status of [v] will be discussed later)
17. The appearance of the velar stop instead of the palatal one in the base is accounted for
by a synchronic rule of dissimilation which applies between dorsal stops in adjacent
syllables (see also the next form where a palatal stop appears in the prefix instead of the
expected velar. Cf. Steriade 1988 for further discussion of this phenomenon).
18. The sequences /ai/, /au/ monophthongize into [e:], [o:] (see section 6.1 for some dis-
cussion).
19. Observe that some of the forms in (51) also contain a sonorant in the onset. This sono-
rant is not assigned a peak, although it may be more sonorous than the sonorant in the
rhyme. The failure to assign a syllabic peak to the sonorant in the onset in (51) is not
due to the syllable structure that we could potentially obtain in this case. In fact, if we
assigned syllable peak to the onset sonorant, we would obtain the forms in the rightmost
column in (51) which are potentially well-formed syllables in Sanskrit.
20. An onset may contain more than one sonorant as in the root in (i). In this case it is the
rightmost one that is assigned the syllabic peak, although the first one is apparently
more sonorous than the rightmost one
(i) vrasc 'cut up' vysc not *ursc
These sonorant onset clusters are typically found only in the initial position of verbal
roots (see Calabrese 1996: section 6 for more discussion). As argued there, in this case
there is a special rule changing the labiovelar into a non-sonorant consonant in root ini-
tial position before another sonorant. Assuming that this analysis is correct, the behav-
ior of roots such as those in (i) is not a problem since we would not be dealing with two
sonorants, but only with one.
21. By assuming the complex nuclear structure in (54-55), I am trying to capture the dis-
tinction between nuclear head (=N°), i.e., a full vowel, and a nuclear margin (=N'), i.e.
an on- or off-glide. This distinction is surely needed in the case of the prevocalic glides
of Spanish, which, as shown by Harris (1985) belong to the nucleus position, and in the
case of the prevocalic glide [w] in the rising diphthong [wo] of Italian. For the latter
case, Maretta (1988) forcibly shows that the glide component of [wo] behaves as a
vowel differently than the glide component of [ye] which behaves as a consonant; for
example, before [wo] we find the allomorph of the definite article which otherwise ap-
pears before vowels: l'uovo [wovo] 'the egg' (cf. l'ovulo 'the amanita cesarea (a type of
mushroom')) vs. lo ieri [veri] 'the yesterday' (cf. lo stivale 'the boot', lo gnomone 'the
gnomon' (gn=[ijq])). See also Tranel 1987 for French [wa].
There is also evidence that more nuclear structure is needed in the case of post-
vocalic glides. For example, Halle & Vergnaud (1987: 193) argue that the postvocalic
sonorants of Lithuanian belong to nuclear position, insofar as the sequence of vowel +
following sonorant behaves like long vowels and the sonorant part can carry stress and
tonal features.
I assume the complex nuclear structure in (54) for Vedic to capture the process of
"vocalization", i.e., the process by which sonorants are assigned syllabic peak in zero
grade, in the most straightforward way (see Calabrese 1996 for more discussion and
evidence).'
22. [n] in nucleus head position becomes [a] because of an independent rule given in (i):
Ν
(i) [η] -> [a] /
The phonological rule in (i) is quite striking and deserves some discussion. There are
compelling reasons to adopt it. First of all, only if one assumes it, it is possible to have a
systematic and unitary analysis of the behavior of postvocalic sonorants in zero grade.
The zero grade of roots such as those in (ii) which contain a postvocalic sonorant can be
accounted for only by assuming a rule that deletes the root vowel /a/ as discussed in the
text:
zero grade
(ii) baudh budh- 'wake'
pais pis - 'crush'
vardh vydh- 'grow'
dhvar dhvj- 'injure'
If we do not have a rule such as (i), we have to assume that a totally different rule deals
with the zero grade of roots with a postvocalic nasal such as /syand/. Since the outcome
of the zero grade of the sequences [an/am] is actually [a], one could propose a rule that
deletes a postvocalic nasal in zero grade, i.e. the rule in (iii):
(iii) X -> 0 / a in certain morphological environments
I
[+nasal]
Rule (iii) is as stipulative as (i). In addition, its context of application strikingly over-
laps with that of the syncope rule dealing with the zero grade forms in (ii) indicating an
obvious loss of generality in the analysis.
Secondly, there is strong evidence in support of (i) from the behavior of the zero
grade of nasal-final morphemes (roots and suffixes). For example, this is the case of the
suffix /-van-/ which has two variants in zero grade, /-va-/ and /-vn-/, the first occurring
in preconsonantal position and the second in prevocalic position, as shown in (iv),
where we are dealing with forms containing the zero grade of the suffix /-van-/ which
appears in the filli grade in (v):
(iv) a. grávnas 'pressing stone-abl./gen. sg.' b. graivabhis 'inst.pl.'
(v) gráivani 'loc. sg.'
If we assume a stage with a syllabic nasal which is later changed into [a] by (i), there is
no problem in accounting for the alternations in (iv). In particular, in the case of (iva)
we are dealing with the resyllabification of the prevocalic syllabic nasal as an onset as
shown in (via):
(vi) a. gra:-van-as —> zero grade (50) —> gra:-vç-as —> resyllabification - » gra:vnas
b. gra:-van-bhis-> zero grade (50) gra:-vç-bhis —> (i) - » graivabhis
If we account for the zero grade of the sequences [an/am] by assuming the rule in
(iii), there is no way to explain the form in (iva) as shown in (vii), and we would be
forced to assume that in this case a totally different rule is applying to this sequence, a
solution which is obviously implausible.
(vii) gra:-van-as - » (iii) - » gra:-va-as —> resyllabification -> *gra:va:s
In conclusion, there is evidence that rule (i) is needed. This rule, although quite
idiosyncratic, is not implausible and probably involves the "telescopic" fossilization of
various phonological processes which eliminated nuclear nasals diachronically. See
Calabrese (1997) for more discussion of this rule and for the problems it poses to stan-
dard optimality theory.
Observe that prenuclear sonorants cannot be part of the nucleus thus forming rising
diphthongs such as /ya, wa, la, ra, na, ma/, as can be argued for the sequences /ye, we/
in Spanish (cf. Harris 1985) and the sequence /wo/ in Italian (cf. Maretta 1988. Also see
note 21). Thus they cannot be syllabified as in (i):
(i)
I
R
n\
/ n \
X X X
I I I
y a j
The reason for not adopting the structure in (i) is that sequences sonorant + vowel never
count as heavy as one would expect if the prevocalic sonorant were part of the nucleus.
In addition, there is evidence that shows that prenuclear high vocoids must be con-
sidered as being part of the onset, as is shown by the behavior of prevocalic high vo-
coids in Sievers' Law.
Thus in Vedic we need the syllabification in (ii), instead of that in (i):
(ii) σ
X X X
I I I
y a j
24. It is assumed here that syncope applies before «syllabification redistributes consonants
across morpheme boundaries (see Calabrese 1996 for more discussion of this point).
25. Syllabifying only [s] as the coda of the preceding syllable would not solve the problem
either.
26. In Calabrese 1996, I argued against the traditional hypothesis that sonorants are vo-
calized by a peak assignment procedure applying from right to left to sonorants in inter-
consonantal position, according to the rule in (i) (from Schindler 1977, his (1)):
(i) +son [+syii] / jt-sy'Hj jHymj

-syll
(iterative from right to left)
For example the traditional model fails to account for the syllabification of the zero
grade of verbs with «α-infix. Verbs of this type are characterized by a nasal infix -Μα-
inserted before the last consonant of the root (or after the syllabic head, if we assume
that -na- is inserted in the zero grade of the root.):
(ii) root bhid- bhi-ná-d-ti [bhinátti] 'split-Act.PR'
This infixed -na- in turn undergoes zero grade before accented endings. The traditional
model assumes that the peak assignment rule in (i) applies from right to left to the string
which is the output of zero grade. Therefore, the syllabification in (iii) for the /-n-J infix
is predicted:
(iii) σ
Χ Χ Χ Χ
bh y η d + [ suff ]
The traditional model deals with this wrong prediction by stipulating that the infix -«-
can never be vocalized.
In the approach proposed here, there is no problem in accounting for the behavior of
the /na/-infix. Let us take the form bhinttá 'split-IPV'. We begin with the zero grade of
the root in which we infix -na- as shown in (iv):
(iv) σ σ σ σ
χ χ χ - > χ χ χ χ χ χ χ
bh i d bh i- η a- d- + t a
(na-infix)
After the syncope of the infixai /a/ we are left with the configuration in (v):
(ν) σ σ σ
/R
/
NI
/
/ I
X X X X X X
bh η d + t a
(syncope)
There is no sonorant in the rhyme of the affected syllable, therefore the syllable struc-
ture is deleted, as shown in (vi):
σ σ
h Α
/
/
Ν
/Á
/ ι
I
X Χ χ Χ χ χ
I Ι I ι ι I
1 I 1 I I I
bh i η d + t a
At this point /η/ can be syllabified as the coda of the preceding syllable and subse-
quently incorporates into its nucleus by (54). /d/ can also be syllabified as a coda of the
preceding syllable. Therefore the resyllabification module succeeds in resyllabifying
the sequence; no rule of peak assignment needs to apply to the nasal.
σ σ
L Á
η
/ / Ν'
Χ
/» V
I
χ
ι
ι I
χ Χ
ι
/
Χ
ι
Ν
Χ
I
ι
I I I I I I
bh i η d + t a
A further rule of voicing assimilation accounts for the surface form.

See Calabrese (1996) for other arguments against the traditional approach.
27. Crucially configurations such as that in (64) must be allowed in an initial stage of
syllabification (see Calabrese 1996 for evidence). Thus, we have to say that the con-
straint in (64) is not active in the initial stages of syllabification in Vedic. At a later
stage the constraint in (64), however, is reactivated.
28. The root /vai/ contains a root final laryngeal. As discussed in note 16, this laryngeal
does not play any role in the syllabification of this root before a vowel initial suffix
such as /-an/. Thus it will be omitted in the discussion of this root for the sake of sim-
plicity.
29. Observe that the output form in this analysis displays a violation of the syllable contact
law in (9). This is a problem for this analysis. Given that this analysis will be rejected in
the next section, I will not try to correct it here.
30. All of the forms in (78) often have a trisyllabic scansion in the Rigveda (e.g. gavi(y)a,
bhavi(y)a). Crucially disyllabic scansions such as those mentioned in (78) are also
commonly found (cf. Seebold 1972). Our analysis is based on these disyllabic scan-
sions. See section 8 for discussion of the variations in the syllabic scansion of high vo-
coids in the Rigveda. See also Calabrese (1996: sections 5 and 4.1) for more discussion
of the syllabification of these forms.
31. These forms were originally s-aorists with the shape in (i) :
(i) á-ra:udh-s-t
a-dha:gh-s-t
á-pra:ch-s-t (eh -» t in coda position)
32. This is the best synchronic analysis for the forms àrœ.ut, òpra:/. It is also the best analy-
sis from the historical point of view. As mentioned in note 31, these forms morphologi-
cally involve the suffixes in (i):
(i) á-ra:udh-s-t
á-pra:ch-s-t (eh -> th in coda position)
It is not clear whether or not the suffixal elements ever surfaced since forms with these
suffixes are not attested. If they did, we can hypothesize that the coda consonants un-
derwent neutralization. Thus, also in this case, the best way to account for this neutrali-
zation would be that proposed in the text.
33. Observe that, here, the Sanskrit grammarians also included the glides [y, v]. This holds
only for classical Sanskrit. In the Vedic texts, however, [y] and [v] cannot occur in this
position. In this position, high vocoids can only be syllabic peaks in Vedic.
34. Vaux proposes that the gemination triggered by liquids and M involves a type of com-
pensatory lengthening, occurring as the result of the incorporation of these segments
into the nucleus position from coda position. This account is based on the idea that the
structure of the syllable is preserved after the incorporation of the sonorant into the nu-
cleus position. Therefore, after the nucleus incorporation occurs, a branching rhyme
structure must be preserved. This branching rhyme structure is obtained by also incor-
porating the following consonant into the coda, as shown in (i) (R=[+sonorant]):
(i)
X X X
V R C V R C
An ambisyllabic consonant is thus created. As discussed below, orthographic doubling
could be a way of representing ambisyllabicity.
The same analysis could be extended to Dal, if we consider /h/ a [-consonantal]
sound. In this case, in fact, it would be incorporated into the nucleus as other [-conso-
nantal] sounds are such as glides.
Sibilants were not doubled after liquids. According to Vaux, this fact is to be related
to the epenthesis between /r/ and sibilants prescribed by the grammarians. If epenthesis
applied first, the conditions for doubling were not met. Also according to the ancient
Sanskrit grammarians, there is no doubling before the yamas, which are epenthetic syl-
labic nasals inserted in nasal+stop clusters. We will not discuss this type of doubling
further here.
35. Bengali, for example, consistently displays gemination of consonants before sonorants,
as we can see in (i) (from Chatteiji 1926: 447):
(i) Jukklo 'bright' cjokkro 'wheel'
This gemination could be considered as a way of eliminating ambisyllabicity by
splitting the skeletal position of the ambisyllabic segment into two different skeletal po-
sitions, one syllabified as a coda of the preceding syllable and the other as the onset of
the following syllable.
36. We can now account for the systematic confusion between single and geminated stops
observed by Saussure (1889) and discussed in the preceding section in different terms.
Given the underlying sequences in (i), we would predict the syllabifications in (ii):
(0 a. σ b. σ σ
I
A
Λ
I 1
R R
V
...
I
Ν
I
X
n\
1 \
X X
I
\ /
X
/ vi
!
Χ
I
χ
ι
I 1 I
a + a d + t r a
(Ü) a. σ σ σ
I
I 1
R R 7R
' I
I 1
Ν n\ Ν
I ι
I 1 1
Χ X X X X X X X
I I I I (Ill)
a + t r a
b. σ
(assim.)
If we assume that ambisyllabicity was represented orthographically by doubling,

there would be no way of distinguishing the two sequences in (iia) and (iib) from an
orthographic point of view. Consequently, they were transcribed in the same way in the
Vedic orthographic system. Therefore, we expect a systematic confusion between
single and geminated stops before sonorant consonants in the Vedic manuscripts.
37. Long stressed high vocoids, such as thematic /í:/, /ú:/ (e.g. vrki.h-type and tanúh-type
nouns), are always scanned syllabically in prevocalic position.
(i) nadyà: = nadía:, inst, of nadi: 'river'
38. Observe that the underlying forms in (129) could be considered as archaic forms be-
longing to a stage of Vedic where neither the hiatus constraint nor constraint (68) were
active. We would then have a different way of interpreting Kiparsky's proposal. One
can propose in fact that, in addition to the surface forms of their own language, the me-
trical range of the Vedic poets also included these forms with archaic syllabification,
which were especially used to satisfy the metrical requirements of the text. When this
occurred, we obtain the pattern of variation observed above.
39. Stressed high vocoids are always syllabic:
súvar 'light/sun'
kúva 'where'
40. This is the case of the following verbal roots which display alternations. In them, the
relevant cluster appears before a vocalic extension/suffix:
(i) a. Roots with group high vocoid + a: undergoing ablaut:
j[i]ya:- 'overpower'
b. The optative sya\
(zero grade of as- + optative ia:-)
There is however the following root, which is verbal and apparently monomorphemic
but displays alternations in some of its forms:
(ii)a. dyaut/dyut- 'shine'
but diyótana- 'shining'
diyuta:nám 'shine-AO'
su-diyó:tman- 'shining bright'
41. This is also reflected in the Middle Indie outcomes of these clusters as discussed by
Vaux (1992):
sm -> sim
st -> th
42. /svid/ 'emphatic enclitic particle' is monosyllabic.
43. Hale (1995) provides evidence that Lindeman's Law effects are not only found in
words which are polysyllabic because of compounding or because of the addition of an
inflectional or derivational suffix, but also by the addition of an enclitic. Thus the addi-
tion of a clitic to a monosyllable with an initial cluster consonant + glide allows the in-
corporation of this cluster into a complex onset in contexts where it would not other-
wise be possible. Hale studies the distribution of the word dyaus 'sky' in different pro-
sodie contexts. When it is monosyllabic and does not appear in a clitic group, the initial
cluster undergoes Sievers' Law as expected. We can see this in (i) when this word ap-
pears inside the line and in line-initial position:
(i) a. Line-internal position
i. pári dya\m anyad i:yate (RV 1.30.19c)
'the other one travels around the sky'
ii. ácha: diya\m arus ó dhu:má eti (RV 7.3.3c)
'the red smoke goes towards the sky'
b. Line-initial position
diyá\m án:gebhir arus ébhir i:yate (RV 1141,8b)
'he travels the sky with red limbs'
However, if a clitic such as ca in (ii) is attached to this monosyllabic word, the
initial cluster can be treated as a complex onset as we can see in (ii):
(ii) tad dyaus ca dhattá:m pjthiví: ca devi: (RV4.51.1 Id)
'Let heaven and the divine earth provide that'
We can account for this by assuming that enclitics are rebracketed as being part of
the phonological word as proposed for Italian by Benincà & Cinque (1991).
44. See Calabrese (1996) for arguments against Schindlers' (1977) where it is proposed that
the syllabic treatment of post-consonantal sonorants occurs only if the following vowel
is in the last syllable of the word.
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Index of authors
Abercrombie, D., 670 Bird, S. & E. Klein, 473, 654

Abu-Mansour, M., 523 Bird, S. & M. Tadadjeu, 474
Acs, P. & P. Siptár, 277 Bird, S.: see also Scobbie, Coleman &
Adewyck, W., 22 Bird
Alderete, J., 615, 623, 624 Birkeland, H„ 502
Allen, W.S., 285 Blevins, J., 44, 170, 206, 249, 274, 653
Alnass, I., 648 Bolognesi, R., 577, 620
Andersen, H., 538 Bolognesi, R.: see also Smith, Bolo-
Anderson, J.M., 45, 170 gnesi, van der Leeuw, Rutten & de
Anderson, J.M. & C.J. Ewen, 27, 114 Wit
Anderson, J.M. & C. Jones, 20, 27 Booij, G.E., 53, 56, 57, 647, 649
Anderson, S C. 450, 460, 474 Booij, G.E. & R. Lieber, 61
Anderson, S R., 22, 651 Booij, G.E.: see also Rubach & Booij
Anderson, S R. : see also DeChene & Borgstram, CH., 585-589
Anderson Borowsky, T., 117, 250, 349, 394, 408
Ao, B.X.P., 480 Bosch, Α., 571
Archangeli, D., 509 Bosch, A. & K. de Jong, 571
Archangeli, D. & T. Langendoen, 648 Breathnach, R.B., 551
Arnold, E.V., 724, 725 Brekke, K., 648
Ashton, E.O., E.M.K. Mulira & Brière, E. J., R.N. Campbell & M.
E.G.M. Ndawula, 349 Soemarmo, 95, 96
Awedyk, W., 93 Brink, L„ 69, 83, 88
Brink, L. & J. Lund, 83
Bach, E., 32 Brockhaus, W.G., 23, 44, 169, 219,
Bach, E. & D. Wheeler, 654 230, 236
Baghemil, B., 18, 25, 252, 274, 409 Bromberger, S. & M. Halle, 27, 349
Bárczi, G., L. Benkö & J. Berrár, 274 Broselow, E„ 501, 509, 511, 514-516,
Barnwell, T P., 94 521
Basb0ll, Η , 69, 75, 83, 85-89, 94 Broselow, E., S.-I. Chen & M. Huff-
Bauer, L., 82 man, 514
Baumann, M., 42 Bryant, P. : see Goswami & Bryant
Beddor, P.S.: see Whalen & Beddor Burzio, L., 278
Beijing University, 477, 480, 482 Bush, R., 17, 28
Bendor-Samuel, J.T., 652 Butt, M., 88
Benincà, P. & G. Cinque, 748
Benincà, P. : see also Haiman & Be- Caduff, L., 529-531, 537, 547, 548
nincà Cairns, C„ 45
Benkö, L.: see Bárczi, Benkö & Berrár Cairns, C. & M. Feinstein, 22, 28
Benveniste, E., 304 Calabrese, Α., 673
Berrár, J.: see Bárczi, Benkö & Berrár Calabrese, Α. & S.J. Keyser, 707
Bethge, W. & W. Flechsig, 186 Calabrese, Α. & C. Romani, 677, 737
Bhatia, K.C., 95, 100 Calabrese, Α. : see also Romani &
Bird, S., 447, 651,654 Calabrese
754 Index of authors
Cammenga, J., 428 Davidsen-Nielsen, N., 83

Campbell, R.N.: see Brière, Campbell Davis, S., 33, 34, 37, 45, 118, 249,
& Soemarmo 250, 274
Cao, Y., 489 de Bhaldraithe, T., 551, 571, 605
Carr, P., 170, 206 DeChene, B. & S R. Anderson, 45
Carstairs, Α., 366, 392 Dell, F., 14, 18, 738
Chalfont, C.R., 187, 200, 209 Dell, F. & M. Elmedlaoui, 18
Chao, 477-482, 490, 494 Derwing, B.L., 95-100, 107
Charette, M , 125, 126, 130, 131, 137, Derwing, B.L. & T.M. Nearey, 95
138, 160-162, 194, 195, 203, 208, Derwing, B.L., S.W. Cho & H.S.
211, 219, 221, 239, 245, 276, 278 Wang, 96, 97, 99, 102
Chatterji, S.J., 745 Derwing, B.L., Y.B. Yoon & S.W.
Chen, S.-I.: see Broselow, Chen & Cho, 97
Huffman Derwing, B.L.: see also Dow & Der-
Chiù, B.-M, 494 wing; Wang & Derwing
Cho, S.W.: see Derwing, Cho & Wang; Devine, A.M. & L.D Stephens, 307
Derwing, Yoon & Cho Diderichsen, P., 75
Chomsky, N., 19, 69, 738 Diffloth, G., 164
Chomsky, Ν. & M. Halle, 41, 53, 117, Dijk, E. van: see Smith, Humbert, van
170, 634 Dijk, Eestermans, Fleur, van Gijn,
Cinque, G. : see Benincà & Cinque Hulleman & Valstar
Clayton, M., 20 Ding, B.-Q.: see Read, Zhang, Nie &
Clements, G.N., 16, 95, 100, 108, 300, Ding
349, 352, 353, 357-360, 365, 367, Dixon, R.M.W., 587
383, 385, 386, 394, 397, 399, 404, Dogil, G., 209
405, 408-410, 420, 452, 507, 518, Dogil, G. & H C. Luschützky, 300
571, 584, 586, 589, 617, 677, 737 Doherty, C., 559
Clements, G.N. & E. Hume, 485 Dorian, N.C., 586, 627
Clements, G.N. & S.J. Keyser, 26, 36, Dow, M.L. & B.L. Derwing, 96
37, 95, 96, 250, 251, 352, 578, 737 Downing, L.J., 409, 428
Clements, G.N. & E. Sezer, 442 Dresher, B.E., 134, 139, 151
Clements, G.N.: see also Halle & Dresher, B E. & H.G. van der Hulst,
Clements 40, 117, 580, 584
Cole, D.T., 349, 352, 363, 406, 408, Dressier, W.U. & P. Siptár, 276
412, 427 Duanmu, S., 477, 478, 480, 494
Coleman, J.S., 202, 349, 457, 473 Durand, J., 88
Coleman, J.S.: see also Scobbie, Cole- Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, K., 188
man & Bird
Cyran, E., 219, 208, 552, 559, 571, Edgerton, F., 738, 739
585, 586 Eestermans, R.: see Smith, Humbert,
Cyran, E. & E. Gussmann, 212, 250, van Dijk, Eestermans, Fleur, van
274, 278 Gijn, Hulleman & Valstar
Elert, C.-C., 85, 648
Dalgish, G.M., 409, 428 Eliasson, S., 634, 648
Danis, C. : see Treiman & Danis Elmedlaoui, M., 18
Elmedlaoui, M.: see also Dell & El- Goldsmith, J A . , 41-43, 45, 170, 209,
medlaoui 287, 294, 299, 305, 652, 653, 692
Engelenhoven, A. van : see van der Golston, C. & H.G. van der Hulst, 37,
Hulst & van Engelenhoven 45, 161
Escure, G.J., 207 Goswami, U. & P. Bryant, 96
Everett, D.L., 577, 579,615 Green, A.D., 571, 572
Ewen, C.J. & H.G. van der Hulst, 44 Greenberg, J H., 62, 563
Ewen, C.J.: see also Anderson & Ewen Grimes, Β.F., 447
Grimm, J. & W. Grimm, 211
Fallows, D., 95, 107 Grimm, W.: see Grimm & Grimm
Fant, G M., 83 Grisch, M„ 539
Feinstein, M.: see Cairns & Feinstein; Guerssel, M., 18, 142
Lapointe & Feinstein Gussmann, E., 207, 211, 219, 229-231,
Féry, C., 207 242, 245, 559
Fikkert, P., 577, 619, 620 Gussmann, E. & J.D. Kaye, 204, 208,
Fintoft, K„ 648 212, 245
Firth, J R., 651-653, 655, 669 Gussmann, E. : see also Cyran &
Firth, J R. & B.B. Rogers, 653 Gussmann
Fischer, W„ 502, 523 Guthrie, M., 405
Fischer-Jergensen, E., 22, 80, 84-86
Fivawo, M., 443 Haiman, J. & P. Benincà, 547, 548
Flechsig, W.: see Bethge & Flechsig Hajek, J., 538
Fleur, F. : see Smith, Humbert, van Hale, M., 747
Dijk, Eestermans, Fleur, van Gijn, Hall, T.A., 175, 207, 210
Hulleman & Valstar Halle, M., 19, 69, 83
Foltin, R., 209 Halle, M. & G.N. Clements, 485
Fudge, E.C., 20, 22, 28, 96, 170, 206, Halle, M. & J.-R. Vergnaud, 21, 23,
208, 250, 653 96, 207, 349, 404, 578, 740
Fujimura, O. & J.B. Lovins, 37, 250 Halle, M. : see also Bromberger &
Halle; Chomsky & Halle; Vergnaud
Gao, M. & A. Shi, 491 & Halle
García-Bellido, P., 577, 582, 593 Hansen, Α., 69, 82, 83, 85
Gârding, E., 84 Harris, J., 23, 44, 125, 139, 181, 183,
Gartner, T., 540 194, 197, 198, 200-202, 208, 209,
Gauchat, L., 538 211, 219, 230, 236, 237, 249, 257,
Gazdar, G., E. Klein, G. Pullum & I. 274, 276, 278, 691
Sag, 651, 655 Harris, J. & J.D. Kaye, 208
Gerster, W„ 538 Harris, J. & G.A. Lindsey, 208, 209
Giannini, S. & G. Maratta, 302 Harris, J.: see also Lindsey & Harris
Giegerich, H.J., 189, 191, 207, 210, Harris, J.W., 299, 563, 740, 741
250 Hayes, B.P., 21, 29, 30, 33, 34, 44, 87,
Gijn, R. van: see Smith, Humbert, van 119, 132, 135, 207, 250, 276, 308,
Dijk, Eestermans, Fleur, van Gijn, 373, 404, 406, 507, 534, 738
Hulleman & Valstar Haynes, N., 450, 474
Goedemans, R.W.N., 44 Heike, G., 209
Heinen-Nasr, R. : see Woidich & Humbert, H.: see also Smith, Humbert,
Heinen-Nasr van Dijk, Eestermans, Fleur, van
Helsloot, K., 117 Gijn, Hulleman & Valstar
Henderson, E.J.A., 651, 653, 670 Hume, E.: see Clements & Hume
Hendriks, Β.: see van der Hülst, Hen- Hyman, L.M., 29, 30, 81, 87, 206, 349,
driks & van de Weijer 250, 447, 449-451, 453, 457, 458,
Heny, F. & D. Wheeler, 349 464, 474
Herbert, R.K., 349, 407 Hyman, L.M. & F.X. Katamba, 349,
Hirst, D., 37 351, 360, 367, 404, 406, 407, 411,
Hjelmslev, L., 670 417, 427
Hoard, J.E., 18, 20, 89, 588 Hyman, L.M. & M. Tadadjeu, 447
Hock, H.H., 29 Hyman, L.M. : see also Katamba &
Hockett, C., 18, 25 Hyman; Mutaka & Hyman
Holmer, N , 586, 588, 603, 605, 625
Hooper, J.B., 20, 53, 54, 69, 78, 170, Inkelas, S., 652
207 Inkelas, S., C.O. Orgun & C. Zoll, 646
Howie, J., 490 Itô, J., 55, 209, 253, 362, 374, 509, 691
Hu, M., 489 Itô, J. & R A. Mester, 572, 652, 670,
Hulleman, J. : see Smith, Humbert, van 691
Dijk, Eestermans, Fleur, van Gijn, Itô, J., R A. Mester & J. Padgett, 648
Hulleman & Valstar
Hulst, H.G. van der, 14, 15, 21, 23, 31, Jakobson, R , 83, 85, 207
3 2 , 3 4 , 3 7 , 4 2 , 44, 119, 127, 129, Jensen, M.K., 648
132-135, 137, 139, 140, 144, 145, Jensen, S., 209
151, 161, 345, 346,412, 563 Jones, C., 611
Hulst, H.G. van der & A. van Engelen- Jones, C.: see also Anderson & Jones
hoven, 14, 45, 161 Jong, K. de: see Bosch & de Jong
Hulst, H.G. van der & M.A.F. Klamer,
13, 14, 162 Kager, R„ 13, 62, 502
Hulst, H.G. van der & Ν. Α. Ritter, 1, Kahn, D.,20, 21, 170,250
13, 41-44, 113-115, 118, 158, 159, Kálmán, L , 277
161-163, 219, 316, 323, 344 Kamprath, C.K., 543, 545, 548
Hulst, H.G. van der & S. Rosenthall, Karl s son, F., 658, 666, 668
44 Katamba, F . X , 349
Hulst, H.G. van der & G. Rowicka, Katamba, F.X. & L.M. Hyman, 397,
160, 161, 163 407
Hulst, H.G. van der & N.S.H. Smith, Katamba, F.X.: see also Hyman &
19 Katamba
Hulst, H.G. van der, Β. Hendriks & Kawasaki, H.: see Ohala & Kawasaki
J.M. van de Weijer, 643 Kaye, J.D., 17, 18, 24, 28, 41, 45, 63,
Hulst, H.G. van der: see also Dresher 114, 117, 123-126, 129, 132, 139,
& van der Hulst; Ewen & van der 141-145, 150, 152, 160, 180, 183,
Hulst; Golston & van der Hulst 184, 190, 191, 193, 202, 203, 208,
Humbert, H., 609 210, 211, 219, 222, 224, 229, 231,
245, 249, 250, 274, 275, 278, 301, Ladefoged, P.: see also Maddieson &
330 Ladefoged
Kaye, J.D. & J. Lowenstamm, 23 Lahiri, A. & Koreman, J., 32, 33, 44
Kaye, J.D., J. Lowenstamm & J.-R. Lakoff, G., 42, 43
Vergnaud, 14, 23, 114, 160,219, Lamontagne, G., 57
249, 272, 274, 276, 278, 442 Langendoen, T.: see Archangeli &
Kaye, J.D.: see also Gussmann & Langendoen
Kaye; Harris & Kaye Lapointe, S. & Feinstein, M., 22, 28
Kelkar, A.R., 95, 107 Larsen, U.B., 89
Kenstowicz, M.J., 169, 170, 206, 287, Lass, R , 179, 207
294, 307, 511 Lausberg, H., 291, 292
Kenstowicz, M.J. & M. Kidda, 406 Leeuw, F. van der: see Smith, Bo-
Kenstowicz, M.J. & C. Kisseberth, 54, lognesi, van der Leeuw, Rutten &
63, 586 de Wit
Keyser, S.J.: see Calabrese & Keyser; Leroy, J.: see Waiters & Leroy
Clements & Keyser Leumann, M., 303, 307, 308
Kidda, M.: see Kenstowicz & Kidda Levin, J., 23, 26, 295, 577, 579, 580,
Kimenyi, Α., 428 582
Kiparsky, P., 207, 390, 412, 413, 692, Li, F., 479, 480
695, 724, 725, 738, 739 Liberman, Α., 85
Kiss, Z., 210 Liberman, M. & A.S. Prince, 20, 163
Kisseberth, C.: see Kenstowicz & Kis- Lin, M. & J. Yan, 490, 491
seberth Lin, M., J. Yan & G. Sun, 490
Klamer, M.A.F.; see van der Hulst & Lindeman, F.O., 675, 728, 736
Klamer Lindsey, G.A. & J. Harris, 208
Klein, E.: see Bird & Klein; Gazdar, Lindsey, G.A.: see also Harris &
Klein, Pullum & Sag Lindsey
Kloeke, W.U.S. van Lessen, 191 Local, J., 653, 654
Kluge, F., 192,211 Local, J. & R. Ogden, 653, 654
König, W., 186, 207, 210 Local, J.: see also Ogden & Local
Koreman, J. : see Lahiri & Koreman Lombardi, L , 533, 708
Kornai, Α., 275, 277 Lovins, J.B.: see Fujimura & Lovins
Kouesso, J.-R., 475 Lowenstamm, J., 28, 29, 43, 123-125,
Krakow, R.A., 94 139, 143-145, 150, 161, 316, 342
Krech, E.-M, 207 Lowenstamm, J.: see also Kaye &
Krier, F., 538 Lowenstamm; Kaye, Lowenstamm
Kristoffersen, G., 631, 634, 641, 643 & Vergnaud
Kubozono, H., 97 Lund, J., 88
Kurytowicz, J., 14, 16, 25, 220, 226, Lund, J.: see also Brink & Lund
711 Luo, C. & J. Wang, 490
Kutsch Lojenga, C , 63 Luschützky, H.C.: see Dogil &
Luschiitzky
LaCharité, D.: see Paradis & LaCharité Lutta, C.M., 539, 541, 542
Ladefoged, P., 88, 590
Macken, M., 405
MacLean, C.I., 588 Newman, P., 18, 23

Maddieson, I., 448 Ni Chiosáin, M., 551, 559, 562, 571,
Maddieson, I. & P. Ladefoged, 386 572, 584-586,611,612
Mann, V.A., 96, 99 Ni Chiosáin, M. & J. Padgett, 551
Marchand, J.W., 703 Nie, H.-Y.: see Read, Zhang, Nie &
Marin, D., 286 Ding
Maratta, G., 285, 740, 741 Niedermann, M., 301, 308
Maretta, G. : see also Giannini & Ma- Nissim, G M., 474
rotta Noske, R., 588
Martinet, Α., 76
McCarthy, J.J., 22, 40, 206, 473, 647 Ó Baoill, C.: see Wagner & Ó Baoill
McCarthy, J.J. & A S. Prince, 60, 61, Ó Baoill, D., 552, 571
392, 406, 563, 567, 579, 635, 641, Ó Cuív, Β., 551
649, 683, 737 Ó Dochartaigh, C., 551
McCawley, J.D., 20, 29, 77 O Murchú, 586, 605
Meeussen, A.E., 370, 379, 393, 397, Ó Sé, D„ 559
405-407, 412 Ó Siadhail, M. & A. Wigger, 559
Mehrotra, R.C., 95, 100, 107 Odden, D., 409, 411,417, 420, 427,
Mester, R.A., 308 451,452
Mester, R.A.: see also Ito & Mester; Odden, M., 417
Ito, Mester & Padgett Oftedal, M., 577, 585-587, 589, 590,
Misra, D., 108 619, 625, 626
Mohanan, T., 107 Ogden, R. 651
Molbœk Hansen, P., 69, 82, 83 Ogden, R. & J. Local, 651, 652
Montreuil, J.-P., 527 Ogden, R.: see also Local & Ogden
Mulira, E.M.K. : see Ashton, Mulira & Ohala, J.J., 70, 94
Ndawula Ohala, J.J. & H. Kawasaki, 300
Murray, R.W., 137, 675, 679, 701-703, Ohala, J.J.: see also Ohala & Ohala
739 Ohala, M„ 93
Murray, R.W. & Th. Vennemann, 679 Ohala, M. & J.J. Ohala, 106
Mutaka, Ng. & L.M. Hyman, 409 Olsson, M., 277
Muthmann, G., 209 Oostendorp, M. van, 15, 33, 43, 60,
Mutonyi, N., 428 162
Myers, S., 738 Orgun, C . O , 350
Orgun, C O.: see also Inkelas, Orgun &
Nádasdy, Á. & P. Siptár, 276, 277 Zoll
Naeff, R : see Smith & Naeff 0rum, H., 83
Naïm-Sanbar, S., 523 Osthoff, H., 738
Nasukawa, Κ., 210
Ndawula, E.G.M.: see Ashton, Mulira Padgett, J. : see Itô, Mester & Padgett;
& Ndawula Ni Chiosáin & Padgett
Nearey, T.M. : see Derwing & Nearey Pagoni, S., 195
Nepveu, D., 14, 17, 25 Palmer, F.R., 651
Nespor, M. & I. Vogel, 19, 21, 23, 31, Pandey, P.K., 95, 107
116, 209, 253 Panini, 712, 714
Papp, F., 277 Roberts-Kohno, R., 428

Paradis, C., 602, 673, 675 Robins, R.H., 652, 653
Paradis, C. & D. LaCharité, 374 Roca, I.M., 170, 206
Paradis, C. & J.-F. Prunet, 209, 299 Rogers, B.B : see Firth & Rogers
Peterson, D., 373 Romani, C. & A. Calabrese, 677, 737
Pierrehumbert, J., 655 Romani, C : see also Calabrese &
Piggott, G.L., 163, 507, 509, 510 Romani
Pike, E., 37 Rosenthal, S., 425, 442, 683
Pike, K.L., 37, 70 Rosenthall, S.: see also van der Hulst
Ploch, S., 210 & Rosenthall
Polgárdi, Κ., 14, 45, 146, 160, 161, 163 Rotenberg, J., 20
Pollard, C. & I.A. Sag, 473, 654 Rowicka, G , 16, 144, 145, 155, 160,
Porzio Gernia, M.L., 305 161, 246
Postal, P., 53 Rowicka, G : see also van der Hulst &
Prince, A.S., 32, 490, 494, 567 Rowicka
Prince, A S. & P. Smolensky, 28, 38, Rubach, J., 523
40, 55, 274, 350, 362, 374, 376, Rubach, J. & G E. Booij, 16, 242, 249,
392, 559, 563, 567, 572, 635 250, 276, 577
Prince, A S.: see also Liberman & Rumyanceva, I.M., 107
Prince; McCarthy & Prince Rutten, J. : see Smith, Bolognesi, van
Prunet, J.-F.: see Paradis & Prunet der Leeuw, Rutten & de Wit
Pulgram, E., 44, 95
Pullum, G. : see Gazdar, Klein, Pullum Safarewicz, I., 307, 308
& Sag Sag, I.A.: see Gazdar, Klein, Pullum &
Sag; Pollard & Sag
Qian, N.: see Xu, Tang, You, Qian, Shi Sagey, E., 425, 571
& Shen Sarma, V.J., 695
Saussure, F. de, 712, 713, 746
Rapóla, M., 658 Sawicka, I., 219
Read, C , Y.-F. Zhang, H.-Y. Nie & Schadeberg, Th., 407
B.-Q. Ding, 96, 99 Scheer, T., 28, 29, 161
Rebrus, P., 277 Schein, Β. & D. Steriade, 674, 691,
Rennison, J R., 37, 180, 209, 311 716, 735, 738
Revithiadou, Α., 119 Schindler, J., 742, 748
Riber-Petersen, P., 85 Scholz, H.-J., 207
Rice, K.D., 202, 209, 548, 643, 649 Scobbie, J.M., 651
Rifkin, J., 119, 159 Scobbie, J.M., J S. Coleman & S. Bird,
Rischel, J., 82 651, 652
Ritter, Ν.Α., 17, 24, 26, 44, 114, 115, Seebold, E., 703, 730, 738, 744
117, 119, 127, 129, 132, 137, 139, Selkirk, E.O., 16, 20, 22, 33, 45, 96,
140, 145, 161, 206, 208, 209, 211, 175, 207-209, 211, 563, 588, 608,
275-278 731, 737
Ritter, N A. & R M. Vago, 36, 161 Selkirk, E.O. & T. Shen, 496
Ritter, N A. : see also van der Hulst & Sezer, E. : see Clements & Sezer; Wet-
Ritter zels & Sezer
Shattuck-Hufnagel, S., 94 Stampe, D., 738

Shaw, P.A., 14, 25, 37, 148, 548 Stephens, L.D.: see Devine & Stephens
Shen, T.: see Selkirk & Shen Steriade, D., 210, 249, 251, 299, 444,
Shen, Y. : see Xu, Tang, You, Qian, Shi 489, 563, 695, 696, 707, 709, 730-
& Shen 732, 735
Sherer, T., 34, 45 Steriade, D.: see also Schein & Steri-
Sherzer, J., 100 ade
Shi, Α.: see Gao & Shi Stevick, E.W., 349, 363, 406, 427
Shi, R.: see Xu, Tang, You, Qian, Shi Stump, G.T., 366, 410
& Shen Sun, G.: see Lin, Yan & Sun
Shibatani, M., 20 Svantesson, J., 148-152, 154-156
Sievers, E., 673, 692, 693 Szigetvári, P., 209
Sigurd, B., 71 S zule, Α., 207
Simpson, Α., 652
Siptár, P., 249, 277 Tadadjeu, M. : see Bird & Tadadjeu;
Siptár, P.: see also Acs & Siptár; Hyman & Tadadjeu
Dressler & Siptár; Nádasdy & Sip- Tang, Ζ.: see Xu, Tang, You, Qian, Shi
tár & Shen
Sjoestedt-Jonval, M.-L., 571 Tao, Y., 478
Sloan, Κ., 678 Tekavcic, P., 286
Smalley, W.A., 164 Tenge, JA., 443
Smith, Ν.S.Η., 26,577 Ternes, E., 586-588, 598, 625
Smith, N.S.H. & R. Naeff, 592 Thöni, G.P., 548
Smith, N.S.H., R. Bolognesi, F. van Thornton, Α.-M., 54
der Leeuw, J. Rutten & H. de Wit, Törkenczy, M., 249, 250, 275, 277,
577 278
Smith, N.S.H., H. Humbert, E. van Torre, E.J. van der, 44, 161
Dijk, R. Eestermans, F. Fleur, R. Touratier, C., 307
van Gijn, J. Hulleman & M. Valstar, Tranel, B., 33, 121, 588, 683, 686
592 Treiman, R., 96, 97, 102
Smith, N.S.H.: see also van der Hülst Treiman, R. & C. Danis, 95
& Smith Treiman, R. & A. Zukowski, 95
Smolensky, P.: see Prince & Smolen- Trommelen, M., 14-16
sky Trubetzkoy, N.S., 29, 85
Snoxall, R.A., 372, 403, 404, 407, 408, Tsay, J.S., 494
413 Tucker, A.N., 349, 352, 357, 363, 397,
Soemarmo, M. : see Brière, Campbell 406, 409
& Soemarmo
Sommer, Β., 587 Vago, R.M., 255, 275, 277
Sommer, F., 307 Vago, R.M.: see also Ritter & Vago
Spaelti, P., 572 Valstar, M.: see Smith, Humbert, van
Spang-Hans sen, H., 75, 80 Dijk, Eestermans, Fleur, van Gijn,
Speas, M.J., 579 Hulleman & Valstar
Spencer, Α., 170, 206 Vanvik, 648
Sprigg, R.K., 651, 652
Varma, S., 93, 95, 100, 101, 706, 713, Wigger, Α.: see Ó Siadhail & Wigger
715 Williams, G., 210
Vaux, Β., 713, 714, 745, 747 Wiltshire, C , 349
Vennemann, Th., 20, 22, 53, 69, 89, Wit, H. de: see Smith, Bolognesi, van
137, 162, 170, 207, 677, 679 der Leeuw, Rutten & de Wit
Vennemann, Th.: see also Murray & Woidich, M., 507
Vennemann Woidich, M. & R. Heinen-Nasr, 523
Vergnaud, J.-R., 123-125, 143-145, Woo, N., 480, 490, 491
150 Wurzel, W.U., 207
Vergnaud, J.-R. & M. Halle, 21
Vergnaud, J.-R.: see also Halle & Xu, Β., 477, 489
Vergnaud; Kaye, Lowenstamm & Xu, Β., Ζ. Tang, R. You, N. Qian, R.
Vergnaud Shi & Y. Shen, 493, 494
Vijver, R. van de, 133
Vincent, N., 473 Yan, J.: see Lin & Yan; Lin, Yan &
Vineis, E., 307 Sun
Vogel, I. : see Nespor & Vogel Yip, M., 56, 57, 405, 480, 519
Vogt, H., 17, 634 Yoon, Y.B.: see Derwing, Yoon & Cho
Voorhoeve, J., 453 Yoshida, S., 24, 126, 127, 129, 130,
161, 219, 325
Wackernagel, J., 711,713 Yoshida, Y., 119
Wagner, H., 551 You, R. : see Xu, Tang, You, Qian, Shi
Wagner, H. & C. Ó Baoill, 625 & Shen
Wagner, J., 70, 73 Yu, S.-T., 191,207,210
Walther, M., 202 Yuan, J., 477
Wang, H S. & B.L. Derwing, 97
Wang, H S.: see also Derwing, Cho & Zamboni, Α., 286
Wang Zee, D„ 32, 36, 389, 522, 534-536
Wang, J. : see Lou & Wang Zhang, Y.-F.: see Read, Zhang, Nie &
Wang, L., 480, 481 Ding
Waterson, N., 652 Zhu, X., 479
Watson, J., 586 Zirin, R.A., 307
Watson, J.C.E., 501 Zoll, C., 373
Watters, J R. & J. Leroy, 474 Zoll, C.: see also Inkelas, Orgun &
Weijer, J.M. van de, 16, 128 Zoll
Weijer, J.M. van de: see also van der Zonneveld, W., 58
Hülst, Hendriks & van de Weijer Zukowski, Α.: see Treiman & Zukow-
Wetzeis, W.L. & E. Sezer, 45 ski
Whalen, D.H. & P.S. Beddor, 496 Zwicky, A.M., 366
Wheeler, D.: see Bach & Wheeler,
Heny & Wheeler
Whitney, W.D., 713
Wiese, R., 16, 169, 171, 174-179, 183,
185, 186, 191, 202, 203, 206-210,
504, 649
Index of languages
Albanian, 577 Substandard Dutch, 613, 626, 627

Arabic, 17, 22, 62, 96, 130, 140-142, Western Dutch, 613
320, 322, 501, 502, 516, 521
Cairene, 140, 501 Ekoti, 444
Iraqi, 516 Elomwe, 444
Makkan, 516 English, 17, 19, 20, 22, 28, 36, 53, 56,
North, 501 86, 93, 95-99, 101, 103-106, 108,
San'anT, 501 123, 128, 138, 141, 147, 156, 159,
Syrian, 516 160, 161, 163, 171, 172, 186, 189,
190, 194-197, 199, 200, 206, 210,
Baltic languages, 577 211, 220, 224, 250, 262, 290, 302,
Bamileke, 447, 449, 453, 460, 474 329, 346, 481, 496, 565, 578, 580,
Bangangté, 453 583, 584, 588, 611, 612, 616, 625,
Dschang, 447 643, 652, 670
Fe'fe', 449, 451, 457, 464, 474 American English, 538, 625
Proto-Bamileke, 457 British English, 184, 611
Banawá, 578 Liverpool English, 200, 620
Bantu languages, 349, 417, 420, 422, London English, 200
423, 425-427, 430, 432, 437, 444 New York City English, 200
Proto-Bantu, 393, 398, 408 pidgin English, 469
Bella Coola, 18, 252, 274 RP, 580, 581
Berber, Imdlawn Tashlhiyt, 18
Bukusu, 428, 430 Scottish English, 611, 612, 625, 627
Catalan, 527 Finnish, 651

Celtic languages, 577 Franco-Provençal, 538, 543
Chinese, 477 French, 26, 61, 78, 83, 86, 89, 121,
Fuzhou, 478 122, 160, 190, 194, 195, 200, 289,
Mainstream Shanghai, 477 292, 306, 320, 322, 329, 340, 470,
Standard Mandarin, 477 471, 675, 681, 683, 685, 686, 726,
Taiwanese, 494 737
Wu dialects, 494 Bamileke French, 471, 474
Cuna, 100 Saint-Etienne, 195
Standard French, 195
Danish, 69, 70, 73-76, 78-89, 538, 670 Friulan, 547
Copenhagen Danish, 69, 79, 88, 89 Gaelic, 577
Desano, 63, 142 Applecross, 587, 588, 598
Dolomitic Ladin, 547 Barra, 584-589, 617, 624
Dravidian languages, 107 East Perthshire, 605, 608, 621, 622,
Dschang, 477 626
Dutch, 14-17, 23, 32, 33, 43, 44, 53, Irish Gaelic, 585, 586, 611, 624
137, 138, 156, 162, 538, 577, 61 Ι- Islay, 588, 589, 603, 605, 624, 626
ό 13, 619, 624, 626, 627, 643, 647 Leurbost, 577
764 Index of languages
North-Western dialects, 585 southern dialects

Outer Hebrides, 584, 586 Milanese, 547
Scottish Gaelic, 571
Georgian, 17, 28 Japanese, 24, 97, 104, 119, 142, 157,
German, 70, 86, 137, 160, 162, 169, 449, 572, 652
220, 254, 302, 329, 346, 531, 533, Jita, 428
538, 540, 643, 652
Low German, 186, 188 Kammu, 115, 143, 145, 148-151, 154-
Middle High German, 186, 192, 207 157, 159, 164
New High German, 186, 188, 192, Kihehe, 417
210 Kikamba, 428, 430, 444
Northern Standard German, 173 Kikerewe, 409, 423, 425-427, 430
Old High German, 192, 207 Kikuria, 428
Germanic languages, 56, 78, 189, 538, Kimatuumbi, 417, 420, 422, 423, 430,
577, 649, 675, 701 451,452
Proto-Germanic, 538 Kinande, 409
Goidelic, 611 Kinyarwanda, 428
Gothic, 176, 538 Kirundi, 379
Grassfields Bantoid, 474 Klamath, 533
Proto-Grassfields, 458 Konkani, 108
Greek, 73, 86, 290, 297, 299, 303, 577, Korean, 96, 97, 99, 104, 195
678 Koromfe, Western, 311
Ancient Greek, 184, 249, 289 Koya (Dravidian), 34
Classical Greek, 678 Kwakiutl, 32
Modern Greek, 195
Gur languages, 142, 311 Lacustrine languages, 423
Latin, 86, 206, 254, 285, 528, 530, 547
Haya, 409 Leti, 14, 45, 161
Hindi, 34, 93 Limburgian, 210
Hua, 190 Lithuanian, 740
Hungarian, 14, 17, 24, 161, 249 Luganda, 349, 417, 420, 422, 423, 427,
430
Indian languages, 496 Luhya, 428, 430
Indo-Aryan languages, 95, 107
Indo-European languages, 538, 673 Makonde, 444
Proto-Indo-European, 701 Makua, 422, 444
Irish, 551, 626 Makuoid languages, 444
Cois Fhairrge, 605 Malayalam, 107
Kunjen, 587 Mohawk, 144, 145, 155
Manx, 626 Mòoré, 311, 315, 318, 320, 322, 323,
Old Irish, 552, 590, 597, 623 325, 329, 345
Italian, 54, 85, 87, 89, 117, 141, 184,
190, 249, 289-292, 301, 304, 306, Ngiti, 63
307, 527, 538, 678, 690, 691, 737, Nguni, 422
740, 741, 748 Niger-Congo, 448, 474
Index of languages
Norse, 538, 598 Tangala, 160

Old Norse, 648 Telugu, 190
Norwegian, 84, 85, 87, 89, 631 Terena, 652
East-Norwegian, 631 Tundra Nenets, 653
Nuxalk, 18 Tunica, 54
Nyoro, 396
Turkish, 26, 141, 146, 652
Occitan, 290
Olutsootsoo, 409 Umbrian, 289
Osean, 289
Vedic, 673
Passamaquoddy, 119 West Low Saxon, 186
Polish, 16, 28, 143, 144, 160, 194, 195, Winnebago, 623
204, 207, 219, 250, 577 Wolof, 17
Portuguese, 249, 289
European Portuguese, 184 !Xöo, 578
!Xu, 578
Raeto-Romance, 538
Romance languages, 78, 285, 287, 288, Yawelmani, 129, 141
290, 292, 306, 527, 528, 531, 534,
535, 538 Zulu, 190
Romansch, 527, 577
Rotuman, 647
Rukiga, 398, 412
Rumanian, 290
Runyankore, 412
Russian, 207
Sanskrit, 93, 95, 100, 210, 249

Classical Sanskrit, 673, 713
Scots, 611-613, 624
Semitic languages, 54, 62, 122, 142
Slavic languages, 220, 254, 577
Spanish, 188, 193, 210, 582, 593, 624,
740, 741
Surmiran, 527, 538, 539, 542, 545,
547-549
Central (Bravuogn), 539
Sursès (Oberhalbsteinisch), 539,
548
Swahili, 369, 404,410,412
Swedish, 82, 84, 85, 87, 89, 533, 631,
634, 648, 653
Taiwanese, 97
Index of subjects
A-licensing, 197-201, 211, 212 bimoraicity, 349, 356, 516, 518, 521,
absorption, 399, 405 581,603,615, 620, 624
accented syllable, 588, 591, 593, 602, bimoraicity constraint, 515, 516
603, 605 bimorphemicity, 379
accidental gaps, 484, 496 binarity, 15, 17, 25, 27, 34, 39, 1 Μ-
adjunction, 27, 28, 122, 128, 150 Ι 16, 120-121, 132, 153-156, 159
adjunction to mora, 501, 514, 521, 523 binarity principle, 116
affricates, 175, 183, 184 bisyllabic minimality, 410
AL(SEGSYLL), 6 2 2 , 6 2 3 bisyllabic stems, 411
ALIGN, 6 4 1 blends, 102, 104, 105, 108
alignment constraints, 60, 62, 67, 641 body-tail structure, 22, 29
allomorphy, 355, 365-66, 373, 380, branching onset, 176, 177, 187, 188,
391-394, 396-97, 409, 410, 412 194, 195, 208, 210, 212
allophony, 652 branching, 311, 315, 318, 319, 344
allostems, 392 break in tension, 589
alphabet, 97, 107, 289
alternating morphemes, 633 canonical form, 408
alveolar, 74, 76, 81, 82 canonical shape of verbs, 411
ambisyllabicity, 42, 57, 97, 107, 674, causative morpheme, 405
675, 683, 685, 701, 703, 715, 716, class I derivation, 189, 203
723, 735, 737, 745, 757 class II derivation, 189, 210
analytic morphology, 189 closed syllable shortening, 126, 161,
anchoring, 122 501, 511-513, 521
appendix, 14, 143, 160, 528, 531, 578, closed syllables, 13, 17, 19, 32, 33,
583 124, 126, 129, 139, 141, 161, 163
articulator dissimilation, 486 clusters, 16, 28, 79, 80, 113, 501, 505,
articulators, 485, 488, 489, 495, 496 512, 514-516, 518, 519, 521, 523,
aspirated voiced stops, 449 558, 563, 582, 591, 597, 609, 612,
aspiration, 447, 449, 450, 453, 460- 613, 616, 617, 624
464, 467, 468, 472-474 medial -CCC- clusters, 260, 269
assimilation, 302, 326, 336, 338, 339 cluster constraints, 563, 564, 568, 569
association, 329 coalescence, 355
ATR, 311,320, 325, 326, 345 codas, 22, 24-28, 31-35, 38, 76, 80, 96,
attribute-value matrices, 653 102, 123-127, 131, 132, 137, 141,
augment, 363, 407, 411, 412 143, 149-154, 156-158, 160, 161,
autosegmental licensing, 197 163, 164, 173, 185, 196, 300, 302,
autosegmental phonology, 287, 361, 304, 580, 616, 674, 675, 682, 690-
661 692, 696, 698, 703, 705, 706, 708-
711,713,715-719,722, 723, 735,
bimoraic maximum, 350, 351 738, 742, 744-746, 757
bimoraic syllable, 350, 351, 356, 360, branching codas, 266, 267, 270, 273
370, 374, 383, 384, 396, 402, 410 non-existence of, 344, 347
coda assimilation, 152, 156, 164
768 Index of subjects
coda cluster, 13, 303, 593 CV syllable, 362, 368, 374, 376, 379,
coda incorporation, 715, 722 380, 396, 408, 410, 491
coda licensing, 24, 28, 124, 126, 131, cyclic syllabification, 377, 382, 384
132, 137, 141, 163, 193-195, 220 cyclicity, 349, 362, 377-384, 382, 384,
coda weakening, 307, 308 396, 405
coda weight, 32
CODACONSONANT, 6 2 0 Declarative Phonology, 651
CODACONTINUANT, 6 2 0 degemination, 346, 517
CODANONCONTINUANT, 6 2 0 degenerate syllable, 14, 25, 148, 150
CODAOBSTRUENT, 6 2 0 deletion, 367, 396, 398, 404, 411
compensatory lengthening, 29, 30, 35, demarcative and extensional, 652
36, 161,351-353, 367,386,402, DEP-IO, 6 0 9 , 6 1 0 , 6 1 4 , 6 1 9
404, 408, 417, 422-425, 428-431, Dependency Phonology, 27, 114
442, 444, 494 dependent, 582, 584, 608
competence, 285 derivation, 251, 349, 350, 356-358,
complexity, 182, 209 360, 365, 366, 373, 374, 376, 378,
complexity condition, 182, 183, 187, 384,391,399,402,410,411
204 derivational morphology, 505
complexity parameter, 249 Devanagari, 97, 101, 102, 107
complexity slope, 187 devoicing, 533, 542
consonant gemination, 631, 633, 634, diachronic, 402, 412
636, 645 diacritic marking, 272
consonant gradation, 82 dialectal affrication, 413
consonant mutation, 551-553 diphthongs, 290, 292, 296, 297, 311,
consonantal strength, 300 323, 325, 339, 340, 343, 344, 469,
constituent structure, 577, 578 470, 471, 545, 547, 605, 608, 627,
constraints, 13, 20, 23, 28, 38, 39, 42, 658, 659, 662-664, 741
149, 159, 160, 294, 302-306, 362, diphthong shortening, 513
365, 381-384, 400, 651, 652, 656, diphthongization, 290, 577
658, 663, 665, 666, 669, 674-678, direct mapping approach, 400
688, 690, 702, 708, 735-737, 757 dissimilation, 62, 332, 333, 337, 346,
constraint-hierarchy, 578 651, 652, 655, 659, 661, 665, 668,
contour simplification, 407 669
contrast, 669 domains, 69, 70, 77, 78, 83, 87
cophonologies, 645-647 analytical domains, 257
copula, 367, 407 syllabification, 257
core syllable, 14, 36, 43, 95, 100, 174, - of contrast, 652
183 domain-final empty nuclei, 194, 200
coronal fricatives, 355 domain-final licensing, 141, 142, 163
coronal syndrome, 299, 302 duration, 439, 440, 648
correptio iambica, 297, 308
correspondence constraints, 66 early phonological processes, 533, 537,
CV framework, 352, 357, 404 546, 548, 549
CV prefix, 371, 379, 380, 392, 395, eclipsis, 553, 555, 557, 558
398 edge effect, 267
elision, 353 final devoicing, 57, 59, 64, 173, 174,

emergence of the unmarked, 40 177, 178, 193, 196-198, 200, 201,
empty category principle, 121, 125, 205, 207, 208
140, 190, 191, 202-206, 208, 211 final empty nucleus parameter, 190,
empty constituents, 311,316 199, 200
filling of, 311 final licensing
sandwiches, 316, 335, 336, 339, 344 flat, 96, 102, 104, 106
empty nuclei, 14, 25, 34, 36, 44, 45, foot, 578, 615, 626, 627
125, 126, 130, 131, 140, 141, 143- FOOTBIN, 648
146, 152, 160-162, 164, 190, 220, formative, 361, 379, 381, 382
264, 272, 273,311,312,315-317, frication process, 399
319, 320, 322-336, 339, 341-346 fricatives, 293
empty rhymes, 17 full syllables, 478, 479, 490, 492, 496
enclitic, 401, 404 fusion, 312
epenthesis, 256, 260, 271, 277, 501,
506, 508, 509, 513, 515, 516, 518, Ganda Law, 370, 407
521-523, 559-572, 577 geminates, 30, 32-37, 44, 45, 129, 131,
epenthesized cluster, 595 137, 142, 163, 164, 266,302,311,
epenthetic stems, 255, 275 335-338, 346, 350, 351, 357-359,
epenthetic vowel, 551, 560, 564, 567, 365, 370, 372, 385, 386, 389, 394,
577, 583-586, 601, 603, 613, 623- 395, 397, 398, 400, 402, 403, 406-
625, 637 410, 412, 604, 609
exceptions, 646 - as moraic, 402
experimental phonology, 96, 97, 102, gemination, 395, 397, 398, 400, 405,
104 409,412,413,417, 435
exponency, 655 in Luganda, 397
expressions, 182 geminator, 394, 400
extrametricality, 373-375, 378, 381, gender, 647
390, 391, 409, 411, 412, 502, 503, generator (GEN), 38, 41, 579, 581,
507, 635, 643, 645 584, 648
extraprosodicity, 14, 194 ghost /y/, 371
extrasyllabicity, 14, 16, 17, 176, 177, glides, 75, 76, 81, 82, 302, 350, 352,
503, 504, 511, 521, 578 353, 355, 367, 368, 402, 405, 407,
408, 424-426, 443, 527, 529, 534,
faithfulness, 28 538-545, 547, 548, 673, 675, 702,
feature geometry, 485, 487 704-706, 710, 732, 734-738, 740,
features, 288, 297 745, 757
feet, 13, 21, 23, 24, 31, 114, 115, 1 Π - glide formation, 419-421, 423-425,
Ι 19, 132, 134, 135, 149, 154, 155, 444, 466, 674, 675, 681-683, 702,
162, 656, 657 703, 717, 718, 722, 723, 725, 726,
fester Einsatz, 207 736
fieldwork, 473 glide insertion, 683
filling (of empty constituents), 311, gliding, 351-353, 355-367, 369, 373,
322, 329, 334, 341, 344, 345 386, 392, 396, 402, 404, 405, 407,
final consonant extrametricality, 634 408, 412
glottal stop, 588, 589, 603, 625 head-coda, 96, 102, 104, 105, 106
government, 14, 16, 18, 22-29, 34, 35, head-feature convention, 655
38, 3 9 , 4 1 , 4 2 , 44, 114, 119, 120, head/dependency principle, 115
123-128, 130-132, 135, 139-142, head/dependent relations, 44, 114, 116,
144, 147, 155, 160, 323, 330, 332, 120, 134, 136
333 headedness, 15, 22, 23, 26, 27, 114,
minimal c-command, 119, 120, 128 115, 121, 132, 143, 152, 654, 656
proper government, 29, 125, 140, heavy syllable, 409, 477, 478, 495
144, 160, 161, 190, 191, 203, 204, height harmony, 405
205,211,221,223 HFC, 655, 659, 663, 665
strict directionality, 127 hiatus, 269, 297, 417, 589, 590, 600,
strict locality, 127 685, 687, 700, 726, 736, 737, 746
government phonology, 14, 16, 18, 22- constraints against - , 681, 700
29, 34-36, 38, 39, 41-44, 114, 115, hierarchy of constraints, 385
117, 119-128, 132, 140, 141, 143- high tone, 591, 593,627
145, 160, 169, 179-191, 193, 194, high vocoids, 673, 683, 692, 702, 704,
196-199, 202, 203, 205, 206, 208, 705, 717, 725, 726, 729, 730, 732,
209, 212, 219, 251, 253, 254, 264, 735-737, 742, 744-747
272, 274, 275, 278, 301, 311, 315- high vowels, 528, 534, 535, 544, 547,
321, 323-325, 327, 328, 330, 332- 673, 675, 685, 725, 736, 757
335, 342-344, 585, 586 HL tonicity, 407
constituents in government phonol- hybrid models, 36, 37
ogy, 180
elements in government phonology, iambic shortening, 297
181, 320, 322, 328, 329, 340, 341, indeterminacy, 490
343-345 infinitive, 355, 359, 370, 371, 398,
ambient I, 335 402, 405
governing relations, 211 inflectional classes, 647
government licensing / license to input, 28, 3 9 , 4 1 , 4 3 , 45, 159
govern, 126, 127, 130, 204, 239 inter-constituent licensing relations,
GPSG, 655 181,209,211
grammatical morphemes, 365 interaction of constraints, 374
interlude, 76, 81
H plateau, 361 interonset government, 203, 221, 229
h-aspiré, 26, 122, 147 intervocalic, 13, 93, 587, 589, 590,
hardened consonants, 402 604, 622
hardened, 370, 395, 402 intonational features, 363
hardening, 371, 400, 402 intra-constituent licensing relations,
after a nasal, 371 180, 181
Harmonic Phonology, 305 intralevel rules, 41
harmony, 294 intuitions, 585, 590, 591, 625
heads, 96, 102, 180, 580, 627, 654
head feature, 663 labial dissimilation, 465
head orientation, 132 labial, 74, 77, 80
head-body structure, 22 labialization, 353
labiodental fricatives, 355 180-182, 184, 189, 190, 197, 198,

labiovelars, 293, 299, 302 202, 205, 208, 209, 211
Lachmann's Law, 305, 308 light syllables, 206, 477, 478, 495
laryngeal neutralization, 674, 713, 716 lingual consonants, 399
laryngeal ized vowel, 479 linking constraint, 738
laterals, 88, 293 loanwords, 94, 100,448, 449, 469,
lax sonorant, 593, 598, 609 471, 505, 522, 666
leftward spread, 353, 357, 386, 398, lower register tone, 480
400
length, 477 M-level (morpho-phonemic level), 42
lengthening under stress, 479 magic licensing, 140, 143, 211, 224
lengthening, 363, 364, 379, 385, 386, major articulator, 485, 489, 496
389, 403, 404, 409, 585, 591, 604, major syllables, 148, 149, 151-153,
619, 621 156
lenition, 553, 554, 557, 571 markedness, 676, 678, 708
levels, 13, 17, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 31, markedness principle, 40, 41
3 4 , 4 1 , 4 2 , 44, 45, 113, 115-117, marking statements, 677, 678, 708
120, 122, 123, 128, 133, 135, 155, MAX-IO, 614-619
156, 159, 162 medial moras, 362, 383
intermediate levels, 41, 128 melody, 312, 317, 318, 321, 322, 325-
lexical level, 43, 45, 117 327, 329-331, 333, 334, 336, 339,
phonological levels, 41 341, 342, 344, 346
surface level, 41 licensing of, 321, 322, 331, 336
underlying level, 41, 45 metathesis, 471
lexical marking of stress, 635 metrical theory, 21
lexical model, 391 minimal pairs, 287, 292
Lexical Phonology, 169, 174, 189, 191, minimal sonority distance, 563
210, 390, 410 minimization of structure, 410
lexical, 529, 534, 536, 545, 549 minor articulators, 489, 496
lexicon optimization, 40, 55, 56, 59, minor syllables, 115, 145, 148-153,
66, 648 155, 156, 158, 164
lexicon, 474 monomoraicity, 350, 351, 362, 367,
licensing, 180, 208, 209, 255, 264, 271, 380, 388, 389, 396, 411
273, 274, 311, 321, 322, 330-333, monophthongization, 306, 705
336, 343, 346 monostratal, 41, 43, 114
licensing inheritance, 197, 212, 230 mora, 19, 29-37, 44, 85, 86, 353, 356,
licensing mechanisms, 38, 114, 115, 357, 359-361, 364, 367, 369, 374-
117, 125, 139, 140, 149, 159 376, 378-380, 384-391, 393, 398-
licensing paths, 197 400, 402-404, 406-412, 417, 423,
licensing potential, 181, 196-201,211, 428, 431-433, 435-437, 442, 443,
212 461-464, 466, 469, 472, 578, 604,
licensing principle, 180, 193-197, 209, 617
211 vocalic-, 356, 357, 358, 402
licensing relations, 41, 122, 131, 133, mora bearing nasal, 408
134, 138, 148, 155, 159, 160, 163, mora truncation, 367, 369
mora-building, 534, 544 non-epenthesizing forms, 568

moraic analysis of Luganda, 352 non-mutation environment, 552, 553,
moraic consonant, 635 555, 556, 571
moraic expansion, 632, 645, 647, 648 noun stem, 354, 394
moraic framework, 30, 31, 33, 36, 45, nuclear structure, 740
353, 386, 406, 409, 493, 507, 534, nuclearity, 529, 536
543, 545, 548, 634 nuclei, 14, 22-26, 29, 36-38, 44, 45,
moraic licensing, 376, 409 117, 122-126, 129-133, 137-139,
moraic loss, 369 141, 142, 144-146, 148, 150, 152-
moraic trochee, 643, 645 156, 160-163, 180, 292, 295, 296,
moraic, 350, 352, 353, 357, 358, 361, 320, 580, 608
363, 369, 370, 375, 382, 383, 385- audible, 25, 126, 130, 132, 137, 155
387, 390, 404, 406, 409, 410 inaudible, 155, 160
morphemes, 352, 356, 368, 372, 380, unlicensed, 195
382, 385, 392, 404, 405, 407 nucleus incorporation, 696, 705, 745
morpheme boundary, 303 NUCLEUSCONTINUANT, 6 1 9
morpheme structure conditions, 53, 58, NUCLEUSSONORANT, 6 1 9
60, 66, 67, 98
morphemic structure of prefixes, 378 object marker, 366
morphological concatenation, 537 obligatory contour principle, 62, 406,
morphological context, 349 421,443
morphological process, 373 obligatory onset, 480
morphological rule, 366 obstruent, 72, 75, 77, 85
morphological structures, 396 Occam's razor, 179
morphology, 292, 329, 345, 349, 350, onsets, 14-19, 23, 25-29, 35-37, 39, 40,
361, 391 42, 44, 45, 73, 80, 81, 96, 102, 115,
morphophonemic alternations, 447, 122-124, 128, 131, 132, 135, 137,
473 138, 141-143, 146-149, 152-154,
158-161, 163, 164, 180, 292, 293,
nasalization, 312, 313, 326, 332, 345 298, 417-419, 421, 423, 425, 428,
nasals, 2 9 4 , 3 1 4 , 3 1 5 , 3 3 3 , 3 4 6 435, 439-442, 444, 529, 530, 551-
syllabic, 311, 313, 318, 325, 333- 558, 571, 580
335, 346 branching - , 13, 16, 22, 28, 29, 36,
moraic, 363, 375, 385-387, 390, 37, 39, 40, 123, 125, 135, 139, 143,
410, 433 144, 150, 152, 157, 161, 163, 254,
natural Principles of Syllabification, 78 273, 298, 673-675, 677, 680, 683,
negative paradigm, 381 684, 702-706, 710, 712, 713, 718-
negative relative marker, 381 720, 722, 723, 726, 730-732, 734-
negative, 355, 379-382, 404, 410 738, 747, 757
NO CODA, 6 3 7 s t r a y - , 16, 17
NOV:, 638 ONSET, 6 3 7
non-alternating morphemes, 633, 634 onset first principle, 95-101
non-analytic domain, 117, 153, 160 onset incorporation, 678, 679, 681,
non-concatenative morphology, 54 682, 685-687, 689, 701, 703, 719,
non-derivational framework, 253, 275 720, 722, 726, 737
onset licensing principle, 193 persistent non-heads, 208, 211

onset weight, 44 phonematic units, 652, 670
onset-nucleus interactions, 463 phonemic economy, 481, 482, 490
onset-rhyme structure, 102, 104, 105 phonemic indeterminacy, 490
onsetless moras, 410 phonemic length, 634
onsetless syllable, 362, 363, 368, 374- phonetic exponents, 654, 655
376,412 phonetic interpretation / phonetic im-
optimal syllable, 362 plementation, 28, 41, 42, 118, 122,
Optimality Theory, 28, 38, 274, 275, 129, 138, 145, 155, 160, 652, 653,
362, 363, 375, 376, 392, 559, 563, 655, 657
572, 627, 629, 631, 635, 645, 649, phonological geminate, 351
650 phonological strength, 181, 209
oral closure, 74, 88 phonological weight, 304
order class, 71-75, 88 phonological word, 115, 118, 119, 159,
orthography, 94, 99, 101, 102, 106-108 656
output, 39-41, 43, 45, 159, 350, 356, phonotactic constraints, 95-97, 99
359, 361, 363, 365, 367, 373, 375- phonotactic hierarchy, 577
378, 386, 393, 396, 398, 399, 402, phonotactic phonological word, 578,
409 583
phonotactics, 13, 36, 39, 44, 53, 144,
output constraints, 54, 350 148, 249, 257, 260, 270, 527, 551,
570
P-level, 42 phrasal level, 376
p-licensing, 190, 191, 197, 200, 203, phrase-final filling, 323, 328-330, 332-
204 334, 341, 344
palatals, 75, 77 polysystemic, 651
palatalization, 291, 353, 405, 449, 450, portmanteau morpheme, 382
453, 461, 462, 472-474, 551, 562, post-nuclear cluster, 593
571, 572, 592, 598, 608, 626 post-nuclear rhymal position, 185
paradigmatic relations, 134 postlexical, 352, 356, 385, 392, 532,
paradox, 349, 385, 391 533, 546
parameters, 21, 28, 38,44, 113, 114, pre-specification, 646
132, 139, 163, 200, 201 pre-suffix vowel lengthening, 509, 510
principles and, 38, 113, 114 preconsonantal nasal, 363, 364, 370,
setting, 40, 42, 114, 115, 141 386, 388
parametric variation, 200 preferred syllable, 376, 382
parasites, 538 prefixes, 354-356, 359, 362, 367, 370,
parasitic vowel, 577, 582, 593, 596, 371, 374, 375, 377-381, 384, 385,
597 390-395, 397-399, 402, 404, 406-
parse, 374, 380, 3 8 1 , 4 1 0 412
PARSEMORA(INFOOT), 5 7 8
prenuclear glides, 480, 481, 492
past tense, 356, 378, 408, 410
prependix, 14
peak, 70, 72, 73, 87, 88
principle of preservation, 374
peak assignment, 678, 680, 686-689,
principles and parameters, 38, 113, 114
698, 725, 726, 742, 744
privativity, 533
peripherality principle, 392
prohibition against VV syllables, 363, regular inflection, 189, 210

364 relative clause, 379, 381, 382
projection, 579 relative form, 407
projection principle, 202, 325, 342 resyllabification, 169, 179, 202, 203,
pronouns, 320, 322, 325, 334, 342 205, 212, 675, 678-682, 689, 690,
postclitic, 321 696, 697, 699, 702, 703, 706, 726,
proclitic, 314, 315, 320, 321, 325, 733, 734, 736, 739, 741, 744, 757
334 rhotacism, 293
prosodeme, 634 rhymes, 96, 102, 173, 180, 188, 305,
prosodie constraints, 565, 568, 569 448, 453, 459, 460, 462, 463, 472,
prosodie hierarchy, 20, 23, 30, 31, 36, 473, 474, 481, 577, 580, 582, 588,
117, 122, 123, 162, 250, 577 591, 593, 611, 613, 618-620
prosodie licensing, 253 rhyme duration, 491
prosodie minimality, 54 rhyme inventories, 492
prosodie output conditions, 56, 61 rhyme reduction, 491
prosodie phonological word, 578 RHYMECONTINUANT, 620
prosodie syllable, 578 rhyming, 481
prosodie templates, 13 rhythmic structure, 308
prosodie weight, 296, 306 richness of the base, 39, 41, 55
prosodie word, 57 rising tones, 387, 388, 406
prosodies, 652, 653, 670 root morphemes, 350, 363, 364, 365,
prothesis, 193 369, 370, 372
prothetic gemination, 400, 402 root node, 22, 29, 37, 45, 121, MS-
MS, 152, 164, 371, 373, 389, 412
quadrimoraic output, 356 root, 350, 351, 355, 359, 361, 363-365,
quantitative transfer, 552 369-374, 378-380, 389, 392, 394,
quantity, 631 403-407, 409, 411, 412, 582, 600
quantity sensitivity, 645 rounding, 463-465, 469
quasi-syllabary, 94, 101 rule blocking, 688, 689, 703, 727, 738
rule of referral, 366, 367, 408
ranking of principles, 240 rules, 19-21, 23, 33, 41, 127, 128
readjunction, 545, 546
real gaps, 496 s+C cluster, 16
recursion, 577, 579, 580, 624 sandhi, 78
recursive syllable, 582-584, 601-603, schwa epenthesis, 178, 202, 203, 205
609, 610, 613, 615, 616 schwa, 75, 76, 79-83, 87, 88, 311-313,
redundancy, 636 315, 317, 321-323, 325, 326, 329,
reduplication, 364, 365, 388, 408, 460, 330, 332, 335, 336, 344-346, 577,
462, 463, 472 581, 615, 617, 630
in Sanskrit, 730 schwa assimilation, 76, 87, 88
reflexive morpheme, 356, 358, 368, schwa deletion, 101, 108
375 schwa syllable, 75, 76, 88, 89
reflexive prefix, 356, 365, 372, 375, second mora, 353, 365, 384, 387-391,
384 404, 406, 407, 410
register, 286, 289, 290, 297, 306 segments, 477
complex segments, 16, 37, 293, 302 stray erasure, 358, 360, 362, 383, 511,
semivowel, 291 578
sharing of information, 654, 655, 665 stray erasure convention, 544
shortening, 297 strength hierarchy, 303, 304
sibilant + consonant clusters, 186, 187 stress, 21, 24, 33, 93, 106, 107, 118,
sibilant + plosive clusters, 184, 208 133, 144, 163, 300, 478, 490, 494,
sibilants, 300 496, 506, 510, 516, 522, 523, 631,
silent consonant, 589 633, 635, 636
simplex words, 631, 632, 643, 644 primary, 24
simplification, 265 secondary, 24
singleton, 584, 605, 609 stress placement, 631, 635, 636, 642-
skeletal tier, 288 645, 648
skeleton, 33, 121 STRESSTOWEIGHT, 6 3 7
snatching, 609, 610, 614 stress-bearing unit, 23, 44
SON2SEP, 613 strict CV theory, 29, 43, 139, 161
SONCSEP, 6 1 3 strict directionality, 181
sonorants, 70-72, 88, 293 strict layer hypothesis, 253
sonorant cluster, 577 strict locality, 181
sonority, 69, 70, 75, 80, 87-89, 302, structural analogy hypothesis, 27, 114
353, 551, 556, 558, 559, 563 structural relations
sonority hierarchy, 94, 95, 107, 174, domination, 116, 138, 164
175, 582 sisterhood, 23, 116, 119, 138
sonority hierarchy principle, 501 structuralism, 634
sonority scale, 292, 300, 531 structure paradoxes, 42
sonority sequencing generalization, subgrammars, 642, 646, 647
174, 175, 207, 220, 242, 254, 518 subject cleft marker, 368
sonority threshold, 32 subject marker, 354, 365
SONVSEP, 6 1 3 , 614, 6 1 9 subordinate, 608
sources of syllable weight, 507 suffricates, 175, 183-186, 188
specifier, 26, 123, 161 superheavy coda, 304
speech errors, 94, 106 superheavy syllable / rhyme, 14, 27,
spelling, 285, 294 30, 34, 130, 140, 141, 503, 506,
spoonerisms, 93, 94, 106 510, 675, 702, 704
spread glottis, 73 superordinate, 608
spreading, 655, 661-663, 665, 669 suprasegmental features, 20
stem, 349, 354, 362, 364, 365, 369, surface syllable preferences, 362
371-374, 384, 388, 390-393, 395, svarabhakti, 585, 586, 588, 589, 591,
396, 403, 404, 408, 409, 411, 413 593, 595, 598-603, 609-611, 618,
stem phonology, 374 624-626, 637
st0d, 69, 84-89 syllabary, 105, 107
st0d-basis, 84-86 syllabic consonants, 479
stops, 293 syllabic nasals, 350, 406, 409, 417, 437
stratum, 349, 365, 369, 378, 385, 390, syllabic nuclei, 680, 685, 692-694,
391, 393, 396, 411 717, 734
syllabic repair procedures, 677, 678
syllabicity, 349-350, 353, 363, 387, CVCCC, 501, 503, 504, 514, 521,
409 523
syllabification, 54, 69, 77-81, 83, 87, CVVC, 501, 503, 506, 510-514,
89, 93, 95, 97, 99, 100, 107, 349, 521, 523
350, 357, 358, 362, 376, 377, 379, syllable weight, 23, 295, 632
382-384, 391, 393, 396, 397, 402, heavy syllable, 135, 566-568
405, 408, 410, 412, 501, 507, 521, light syllable, 135, 566, 572
579, 581, 586, 589, 624, 625, 628, syllable with a complex bimoraic nu-
629 cleus, 362
SYLLABIFYPLACE, 6 2 4 syllable-building, 527
syllable, 13-15, 18-24, 26, 28-31, 33- syllable-nesting, 582
35, 37-39, 41-45, 117, 122, 127, SYLLABLEINTEGRITY, 5 7 8 , 5 7 9
130, 148-159, 162-164, 294, 349- synchronic phonology, 379, 394, 397,
351, 356-364, 366, 368-371, 373- 402
376, 379-381, 383-385, 387-392, syncope, 501, 512, 514-523, 577, 585,
396, 404-407, 409-412, 577-584, 591, 595, 600-603, 617-619, 675,
586-589, 593, 602-606, 608, 611, 689, 690, 695-699, 721, 731, 736-
615, 617, 618, 621, 622, 624, 625, 738, 741, 743, 757
627-629, 637 syntagmatic relations, 116
syllable appendix, 56 systematic gaps, 66
syllable as anchor, 20-22, 122 systems of contrast, 651
syllable as domain, 17-19, 20, 44, 117,
119, 141-143, 146, 152, 153, 159, takeover rule, 372, 373
162-164 tautomorphemic, 385
syllable as part of prosodie hierarchy, tense-lax distinction, 528, 547
20, 23, 30, 31, 36, 117, 122, 123, tense markers, 366, 378
162 tenseness, 288
syllable boundaries, 69, 76-79, 87 ternary feet, 119, 132
syllable contact law, 137, 737, 744, ternary structures, 44, 128, 159
757 theory of constraints and repair strate-
syllable division, 586, 587, 617, 625 gies, 602, 673, 675, 748
syllable hierarchy, 373, 384 therapy, 530, 532
syllable node, 376, 404, 406, 412 tonal evidence, 358, 365
syllable organization, 93 tonal realization, 364, 390
syllable schema, 174 tonality, 585, 591, 593, 601
syllable structure, 387, 392, 410, 447, tone, 360, 388, 389, 403, 406, 417,
448, 463, 466, 471, 501, 506, 577, 432, 433, 435-437, 443, 444, 478,
581, 584, 603, 604, 606, 608, 621, 490, 585, 588, 590, 593, 617, 625,
624, 628, 629, 631, 632, 634, 636, 637
641, 647 tone bearing unit, 365, 389-393, 407,
flat syllable structure, 253 410,411
moraic syllable structure, 253, 274 tonicity, 360, 403
syllable template, 304, 305 trisyllabic words, 565
syllable types, 502, 503, 518 trochee, 538
VCC, 501, 503, 504, 510, 514 truncation, 397
ultimate head, 117, 145, 153, 159 palatality, 345

unbounded feet, 119, 162 vowel length, 288, 528, 631-634, 636,
underlying forms, 349, 352, 356, 364, 642-648
372, 380, 398, 402, 407-409, 634 vowel lowering rule, 405
underlying level, 55, 63-67 vowel prothesis, 188
underlying long vowel, 351, 356, 364, vowel quantity, 287, 295, 306
368 vowel sequences, 419, 421, 442
underspecified, 59, 379, 405, 407, 410, vowel shortening, 427
412 vowel-zero alternations, 255
uniform applicability condition, 674, stem-external, 268
691, 735, 738 stem-internal, 255, 258, 266, 271,
unstable vowels, 255, 268 275
unstable-^, 369, 370, 372, 373, 376- VV syllables, 351, 362, 363, 365, 368,
379, 381, 390-393, 395, 396, 398- 384, 408
400, 408, 409, 411, 412
upper register tone, 480 W-level, 42
weak syllables, 478, 490-493
velarity, 77 weight units, 29, 32
verb root, 351, 354, 359, 361, 364, weight, 287, 490, 491, 493, 577, 581
366, 369, 370, 372, 374, 380, 381, weight-by-position, 31-34, 428, 502,
388, 389, 391, 392, 397, 408, 410, 507, 508, 521, 523
411 WEIGHT-TO-STRESS, 5 8 2 , 6 1 8
verb stem reduplication, 364, 371, 388, word accent, 82, 84
411 word edge / edge effects, 13-15, 17,
Verschärfung, 538, 545 144, 578
vocoid, 70, 88 word-level, 117, 133, 155, 159
voice assimilation, 542, 548 word-level parameter, 133
voiceless vowels, 449 X-bar theory, 26, 27
vowels, 15, 17, 18,31-34,36, 123, x-slot, 26
129, 130, 137, 144, 145, 150, 152,
154, 163, 164, 296, 311, 312, 314- y/0 alternations, 350, 363, 393
316, 318, 320, 322, 323, 326, 330, yers, 220
332, 340, 343, 345
lax, 33, 137, 162, 164 zero, 256, 268, 272
long, 17, 30-34, 36, 45, 120, 121, zero consonant, 480
127, 129-131, 161-164,311,312, zero grade, 675, 689, 693-696, 698-
323, 339, 345, 657, 658 700, 702, 721, 733, 737, 740-743,
nasal, 314, 321 747
tense, 33, 162 zero onset, 479
vowel harmony, 312, 315, 323, 324, zero-level head position, 122, 134
326, 329-333, 340, 344, 345, 652,
656
ATR, 311,320, 325, 326, 345
front/back harmony, 264
labiality, 345
Studies in Generative Grammar
Edited by Jan Köster and Henk van Riemsdijk
Mouton de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
1 Wim Zonnefeld, A Formal Theory of Exceptions in Generative Phonol-

ogy. 1978.
9 Noam Chomsky, Lectures on Government and Binding. The Pisa Lec-
tures. 1993.
10 Levels of Syntactic Representation. Edited by Robert May and Jan
Köster. 1981.
11 Luigi Rizzi, Issues in Italian Syntax. 1982.
18 Sergio Scalise, Generative Phonology. 1986.
19 Joseph E. Emons, A Unified Theory of Syntactic Categories. 1985.
21 Studies in German Grammar. Edited by Jindrich Toman. 1985.
23 Samuel J. Keyser and Wayne O'Neill, Rule Generalization and Option-
ality in Language Change. 1985.
25 Pieter Muysken and Henk van Riemsdijk, Features and Projections.
1986.
30 Jan Köster, Domains and Dynasties. The Radical Autonomy of Syntax.
1987.
32 Lars Hellan, Anaphora in Norwegian and the Theory of Grammar. 1988.
35 Günther Grewendorf, Ergativity in German. 1989.
37 Shosuke Haraguchi, A Theory of Stress and Accent. 1991.
38 Reineke Bok-Bennema, Case and Agreement in Inuit. 1991.
39 Case and Other Functional Categories in Finnish Syntax. Edited by
Anders Holmberg and Urpo Nikanne. 1993.
40 Carmen Dobrovie-Sorin, The Syntax of Romanian. Comparative Stud-
ies in Romance. 1994.
41 Studies on Scrambling. Movement and Non-Movement Approaches to
Free Word-Order Phenomena. Edited by Henk van Riemsdijk and Nor-
bert Corver. 1994.
42 Gereon Müller, A-bar Syntax. A Study in Movement Types. 1995.
43 Susanne Winkler, Focus and Secondary Predication. 1997.
44 The Mathematics of Syntactic Structure. Trees and their Logics. Edited
by Hans-Peter Kolb and Uwe Mönnich. 1999.
45 The Syllable. Views and Facts. Edited by Harry van der Hulst and
Nancy A. Ritter. 1999.

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The Syllable

wDE Mouton de Gruyter

The series Studies in Generative Grammar was formerly published by

® Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The syllable : views and facts / ed. by Harry VanDerHulst ; Nancy A.

February 1999, The Editors

1 Introducing the volume 1

Part I: General Issues

2 Theories of the syllable 13

3 Morpheme structure constraints and the phonotactics of Dutch 53

5 The syllable in Hindi 93

Part II: Government Phonology

6 Head-Driven Phonology 113

7 The syllable in German: Exploring an alternative 169

8 Consonant clusters and governing relations: Polish initial

9 Hungarian syllable structure: Arguments for/against complex

10 The Latin syllable 285

11 Syllables in Western Koromfe 311

Part III: Moraic Phonology

12 The syllable in Luganda phonology and morphology 349

13 Kihehe syllable structure 417

14 Dschang syllable structure 447

15 The syllable in Chinese 477

16 The syllable and syllabification in Modern Spoken Arabic

17 The Romansch syllable 527

Part IV: Optimality Theory

18 Syllables and phonotactics in Irish 551

19 A preliminary account of some aspects of Leurbost

20 Quantity in Norwegian syllable structure 631

Part V: Other approaches

21 A syllable-level feature in Finnish 651

22 Sievers' Law in Vedic 673

Index of authors 753

Index of languages 763

Index of subjects 767

Hans Basbell Eugeniusz Cyran

Francis X. Katamba David Odden

Gjert Kristoffersen Richard Ogden

Máire Ni Chiosáin john@ling.univie.ac.at

Péter Siptár Miklòs Törkenczy

Norval Smith Janet C. E. Watson

1 sg first person singular F, today future

INT intensive pi. plural

Harry van der Hulst & Nancy A. Ritter

1. Goal of the volume

This collection offers a fairly exhaustive presentation of current day approaches

2. Summaries of the contributions1

a number of fundamental questions regarding the level of grammar at which

2.3. Morpheme structure constraints and the phonotactics of Dutch (Geert

2.4. Syllables in Danish (Hans Basbell)

2.5. The syllable in Hindi (Manjari Ohala)

The authors defend an approach that is strongly inspired by insights developed

2.7. The syllable in German: exploring an alternative (Wiebke Brockhaus)

phonological phenomena. Alternatives are available. The author then shows

2.9. Hungarian syllable structure: arguments for/against complex constituents

This chapter examines whether complex constituents have to be recognized at

2.10. The Latin syllable (Giovanna Marotta)

The structure of the syllable in Classical Latin is investigated in this chapter,

2.11. Syllables in Western Koromfe (John R. Rennison)

This chapter investigates the syllable structure of Western Koromfe, a Gur

adopts the approach of Government Phonology. The author adopts a version of