Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

3.6.3. Mixed Systems
It has been demonstrated above that both allophonic devoicing and glottalization
can coexist within a given system in measured doses. In Russian, however, glottalization
clearly has the upper hand in terms of salience, with any devoicing that takes place
phrase-finally being durationally small and sporadic in realization. Other systems,
however, have developed differing distributions of the two. Some languages, for
example, appear to use one or the other in free variation. Gordon (1998) cites Apinaye as
having both lengthened, devoiced and creaky allophones of phrase-final vowels, but
mentions no specific distribution. Afar (Bliese 1976) in addition to its final stressed-
vowel devoicing, is said to have glottalization before certain boundaries, though the
distribution is again not clear. Isthmus Veracruz Nahuat has a free variant of its junctural
glottal stop called “fricative”, which is a glottal stop, after which “an ‘h’-like release is
heard” 99 .
The distribution of the variants can be phonologically conditioned, as in Koyra
(Hayward 1982: 217-218), an Omotic language in which utterance-final vowels (all of
which are short - see below) are realized voiced but “terminating with a glottal closure”
lower level phrase boundaries gradient irregular phonation was still being realized. To show this
conclusively an aerodynamic study of the type Slifka performed would be most desirable.
99 This wouldn’t necessarily be the phonologization of final vowel devoicing though.
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