Work

Deg Xinag Rounding Assimilation: A case study in phonologization

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Acoustic and video evidence suggest that Deg Xinag, an Athabaskan language, contains Rounding Assimilation, rounding of schwa before a stressed rounded vowel across uvular or laryngeal consonants. Although Rounding Assimilation has received no mention in previous Deg Xinag studies, it appears to be at stage II, phonologization, in the model of sound change proposed by Hyman (1976). Data from the related language Babine-Witsuwit'en is also presented, showing an absence of Rounding Assimilation in one of the contexts where it occurs in Deg Xinag. Babine-Witsuwit'en sheds light on how and why Rounding Assimilation may have developed historically in Deg Xinag.

Source: Laboratory Phonology Journal of the Association for Laboratory Phonology

DOI: 10.1515/lp-2012-0010

Author: Sharon Hargus

Institution: University of Washington

Language: English

Topic: Phonetics and Phonology Research

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Science Foundation

Award: Athabaskan Personal Histories of Climate Change in Alaska and Canada