Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

the low vowel is realized peripherally, rather than as schwa. Degree 2, exemplified above
in the second pretonic syllable does reduce /a/ and /o/ to [], and therefore is analyzed as
prominence-reducing. Note that the reduction of the result of the merger of /a/ and /o/
from [a] to [] is non-neutralizing. The merger takes place in all unstressed syllables,
with different realizations depending on the position of the vowel relative to the stressed
syllable. No additional mergers take place in Degree 2 reduction.
The details of the case, however, are more complicated than the picture sketched
above would lead one to believe. The first complication concerns the realization of what
is transcribed [a] in the first pretonic syllable. While speakers of some dialects, at least in
certain circumstances, realize a pretonic [a] with little if any reduction 24 , standard
handbooks describe a first pretonic realization of this /a/ (