Positional Neutralization - Linguistics - University of California ...

discussion of devoicing, above, that if the subglottal pressure drop associated with
phrase-final vowels is strong enough that they are routinely being realized as all or partly
voiceless, no amount of supralaryngeal "sonority enhancing" tongue-body lowering, lip
opening or gestural slowing will be effective in creating the conditions for the accurate
perception of the quality of the final vowel. The following example is highly suggestive
in this regard.
In Standard Malay as described by Teoh 1994, final syllables license no contrast
between mid and high vowels, while elsewhere such a contrast exists. Realization of final
syllable vowels, however, varies: in final open syllables, the three possibilities are /i, u,
/, while in final closed syllables, there are only [e, o, a], where [e] and [o] are actually
realized somewhere between mid vowels and laxed high vowels. Certainly closed
syllable laxing/lowering of high vowels is common enough in Austronesian languages of
the area, but it is usually accompanied by raising of the low vowel as in, e.g. standard
Indonesian (Macdonald and Darjowidjojo 1967). Here, however, in the final closed
syllable the /a/ stays low. A possible, though strictly hypothetical solution is this:
contrasts between mid and low vowels were neutralized in all final syllables, but with the
results varying depending on syllable structure. In final closed syllables, we have an
example of the type of final lowering discussed above, possibly an effect of final
lengthening and sonority-enhancement. This may or may not have originally affected
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