Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

(Brame 1972), and D’irayta (Hayward 1998) exhibit this pattern 103 . Gilbertese represents
a compromise variant, in which all final long high vowels shorten, but only short high
vowels after nasals are deleted (Blevins 1997). The remaining logical possibility,
glottalization of both long and short vowels (with retention of the contrast) is attested, but
in only one instance I have found so far (Isthmus Veracruz Zapotec, Wolgemuth 1969).
Again, it is possible that such a system would be inherently unstable, if the glottal
adduction gesture were to shorten the long vowels enough that the durational difference
became less robust 104 .
In the above sections I have detailed aspects of the phonetics of phrase-final
position which can be characterized as “weakening” or “prominence-reducing” in nature,
at least in their unphonologized state. I have presented a typology and developmental
analysis of the phonological patterns which arise from these phonetic trends. I have also
argued that the presence of these phonetic weakening patterns is in no way
implementationally antagonistic to the presence in the same system of phonetic patterns
of phrase-final lengthening and gestural enhancement along some dimensions. The
103
In the case of full deletion, of course, and absent comparanda or historical records, such a system would
be indistinguishable from a system in which the quantity distinction is neutralized, but reflexes of both
vowels are retained, described below.
104
The result of the combinations attested above does seem to be that those patterns which would best
preserve the quantity contrast are the ones which are best attested. This does not imply teleology, however,
or “intelligent design” as wags have put it. These systems are the best attested simply because the other
combinations however often they may emerge, are simply less likely to remain observable over the long
term, resulting in their comparative rarity. The logic here is evolutionary, in the spirit of Blevins (in prep),
Blevins and Garrett (1998), and Ohala (passim).
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