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The phonology of several Kuki-Chin (South Central Trans-Himalayan) languages have been described well, and there are fragmentary sketches of numerous others. Extensive diachronic work has also been done for the languages of this group. However, there is no comprehensive survey of the synchronic phonologies of Kuki-Chin languages. This chapter attempts to fill that gap so that researchers working on one of these languages, or doing broader typological surveys, can easily grasp the broad sound patterns in, and phonological questions raised by, Kuki-Chin. The chapter covers syllable structure, onsets, rhymes, and morphophonology. Onsets and rhymes are illustrated with complete inventories for Proto-Kuki-Chin and six attested Kuki-Chin languages from various subgroups (Falam, Mara, Thado, Daai, Lemi, Sorbung, and Monsang) and a comparative perspective on each of these inventories. This is followed by a discussion of the broader issues in Kuki-Chin sound inventories and phonotactics. These issues include laryngeal contrasts in obstruents and sonorants, the special status of glottal stop, and vowel length distinctions. A range of morphophonological alternations are then addressed, including the widespread phenomenon of non-final shortening (illustrated with observations from Thado, Daai, Sorbung, Falam, and Zophei) and vowel harmony (attested in at least Lamkang and Hyow). Apophony in stem form alterations and transitivity alternations is also discussed, drawing largely on data from Hakha Lai.

Using an optimality theoretic analysis, this study offers a conception of the problem of plural realization in Eastern Andalusian Spanish (EAS) where plural suffix /s/ was deleted diachronically that differs from other accounts that assign the EAS plural an underlying suffixal /s/ synchronically. Using alignment constraints, we argue that plural /s/ does not appear in the underlying form synchronically in EAS, but that instead the plural morpheme is represented by a floating [–ATR]PL feature that aligns to the right edge of the word and spreads left. The [–ATR] feature, represented phonetically as a laxing or opening of vowels, applies to all mid vowels, low vowels in word final position, and combines with vowel epenthesis to explain Eastern Andalusian pluralization tendencies in words with final consonants. We discuss the behavior of high vowels, which can be transparent to harmony, and focus in particular on the plural of words that end in a final stressed vowel that have been rarely discussed in the EAS literature. We develop an optimality-theoretic analysis on the Granada variety and extend that analysis to other varieties with somewhat different patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the acoustics of vowels in the Imilike [ìmìlìkè] dialect of Igbo (Igboid, Niger-Congo), which has not previously been done. While Standard Igbo has eight vowels, previous auditorily-based research has identified eleven vowels in Imilike. Like Standard Igbo, Imilike contrasts vowels in Advanced/Retracted Tongue Root (ATR vs. RTR). We find that there are eleven vowels, distinguished most reliably by F1, B1, energy (dB) of voiced sound below 500Hz and duration. The results of this study also suggest that RTR vowels in Imilike might involve the laryngeal constriction and movement that accompany pharyngealization. The ATR and RTR schwas have similar phonological distribution and acoustic patterns as the other ATR and RTR vowels in the language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Motif Academy Journal of Folklore is the property of Motif Yayincilik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Jordanian Educational Journal is the property of Association of Arab Universities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Somali is well known to exhibit vowel harmony (Armstrong 1934), but linguists know remarkably little about how the system is implemented. Most presume that harmonic oppositions involve the tongue root and analyze the system relative to the feature [ATR], though the phonetic implementation of the contrast is complicated by a "quirky" (Krämer 2008) vocalic system. Reports also indicate that harmonic alternations vary between speakers and dialects, including in the bounds of the harmonic domain, but again, little systematic comparison has been pursued. To better understand the bearing that vowel quality and vocalic contrasts have on Somali vowel harmony, this paper reports the results of a study aimed at establishing details of the Djibouti Somali vocalic system. Our findings reveal that while a harmony system seems intact for all speakers studied, three consistent trends of acoustic (i.e., vowel space) overlap emerge from the data which may portend eventual mergers. These trends align in notable ways, but not entirely, with reports of harmonic decay elsewhere in the literature. They suggest that loss of harmonic distinctions in high vowels may be underway, but in different ways, in front vs. back vowels and that harmonic contrasts in long vowels are particularly susceptible to weakening. Our interpretation of these results, viewed alongside the typological literature on ATR harmony systems, is that Somali vowel harmony may be threatened or in decline as a result of these acoustic overlaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the results of an analysis of acoustic correlates to phonological contrasts in vowel length, quality and pharyngeal width with data from five native speakers of the Khalkh dialect. The study replicates Svantesson's (1985) discovery of a chain-shift rotation of the round vowels in their presumed evolution from Classical Mongolian. Analysis with VoiceSauce (Shue et al. in: Proceedings of the ICPhS XVII, 1846–1849, 2009) finds that in addition to the first formant, the harmonics-to-noise ratio is a reliable indicator of the ATR versus RTR contrast that has been hypothesized to be the basis of the language's vowel harmony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yeyi (Bantu, R41) is an endangered language spoken in northwestern Botswana and northeastern Namibia. Yeyi exhibits two peculiar processes of regressive vowel harmony. The first changes a high front vowel /i/ to a back vowel /u/ when followed by a syllable containing a back vowel /u/, as in ʃi-púndi > [ʃùpúndì] ‘brat’, or /o/, as in ʃi-bowuma > [ʃu-bowuma] ‘kind of snake’, or the glide /w/, as in ʃi-hweta > [ʃuhweta] ‘conversation’. This paper analyzes these two vowel harmony processes in Yeyi, using data from a wide variety of published sources on different Yeyi regiolects. I will show that the use of vowel harmony differs between regional varieties of Yeyi, with certain varieties using vowel harmony in more phonological contexts than others. The diachronic functioning of vowel harmony is also discussed, comparing vowel harmony involving affixes to vowel harmony involving only lexical roots. Finally, a comparative perspective is taken, showing that regressive vowel harmony as used in Yeyi is rarely seen in Bantu languages of Southern Africa, but occurs sporadically in Khoe languages, suggesting that regressive vowel harmony in Botswana may be an areal phenomenon.

This paper looks at the vowel harmony system of Ronghong Rma (Qiang). This system has previously been described in terms of synchronic vowel alternations. This paper takes a different approach to explore the diachronic element of vowel harmony. The finding is that 'harmonization' is epiphenomenal and that the vowel alternations are the results of regular sound changes from an earlier stage in the language. This diachronic perspective brings into focus a chain shift in the vowel system and clarifies the etymologies of forms that have undergone these changes. It also reveals the importance of uvular consonants as conditioning environments for vowel changes in Ronghong Rma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ideophones are believed to exhibit distinct phonotactic patterns compared to regular language, in their expressiveness. Vowel harmony can be observed in ideophones in Modern Korean. However, over time, Korean has gradually lost its regular vowel harmony process, due to the influx of foreign words, especially from Chinese, and historical sound changes like the vowel shift of /ɔ/ to different vowel types. Previous studies have mainly focused on the vowel patterns of ideophones without necessarily comparing the degree of vowel harmony between ideophones and other lexical strata. This lack of comparison makes it challenging to assess the level of corruption in vowel harmony specifically within ideophones, relative to other components of the lexicon. To address this gap, this paper examines vowel patterns extracted from the online dictionary of Korean, developed by the National Institute of the Korean Language (NIKL) with contributions from anonymous users and specialists. The analysis specifically explores vowel patterns across lexical items with varying syllable lengths, focusing on the lexical stratum, adverbial parts of speech, and the semantic meaning of the adverbials. This examination aims to assess the regularity of vowel sequencing and determine the extent of purity in vowel harmony patterns. The quantitative analysis of the compiled dictionary provides valuable insights into the degree of irregular phonotactics and its relationship to sound symbolism in Modern Korean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Linguistica Uralica is the property of Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Selçuk University Journal of Faculty of Letters is the property of Selcuk Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The research aims at studying a frequent phonological process in Persian. A phonological process that is supposed to act in many Persian words, enjoying the respective phonological arrangements. As a content-oriented process, the vowel harmony may not act in certain Persian words even in the speakers' informal pronunciation. The research method is a survey, qualitative content analysis and the data included in 100 words, gathered by purposive sampling to make a questionnaire. The interviewees include 150 speakers who are fluent in standard Persian. They pronounced the words in an informal style. The findings show that the vowel harmony acts in many Persian words, while being encounter by some restrictions in many others. The frequency, the loanwords, the age, gender and education of the speakers, the vowel harmony output takes a similar phonetic representation to local dialects and accents, the amplification of using writing language in speaking, the required phonetic arrangement stands in two morphemes, bleeding, closed syllable, and sometimes the grammatical category of the words stimulated the vowel harmony and blocked it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates substantive bias, a phenomenon wherein learners exhibit a preference for phonetically motivated patterns in language acquisition. The study presents evidence that variable input, rather than categorical input, can activate substantive bias. Native speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese were randomly assigned to categorical or variable training conditions for vowel backness harmony or disharmony, or to a no-training control condition. Results indicate that participants in the categorical and control conditions did not exhibit a bias towards either pattern. However, participants in the variable conditions displayed a bias towards vowel harmony, suggesting that input variability can strengthen the effect of substantive bias. These findings contribute to our comprehension of the role of input variability in phonological learning and the mechanisms involved in the acquisition of phonetically motivated and unmotivated phonological patterns.

This article expands on cophonologies by phase, a model of the interface between morphology and phonology, which was introduced in Sande & Jenks 2018. The crucial innovation of cophonologies by phase is the enhancement of lexical or vocabulary items to include morpheme-specific constraint weights. These weights modify the default phonological grammar of the language only in the domain of evaluation that contains the triggering morpheme, where domains are determined by syntactic phase boundaries. The interactions of the default grammar and morpheme-specific constraint weights function as cophonologies (Orgun 1996, Anttila 2002, Inkelas & Zoll 2005, 2007) in that they result in morphosyntactic construction-specific phonological grammars. Here, cophonologies by phase is shown to provide a unified account of syntactically, morphologically, and lexically conditioned phonological alternations, phenomena that have been analyzed using distinct theoretical tools in previous work. In order to demonstrate the application of cophonologies by phase to a diverse set of interface interactions, this article considers three case studies of phonological alternations in Guébie (ISO: gie), an endangered Kru language, each conditioned by a different set of extraphonological factors.

Vowel harmony denotes a class of phonotactic constraintswhich limit which vowels can co-occur in words. The charac-teristics of harmony systems have been well-researched fromtheoretical, typological, and developmental perspectives. Chil-dren are sensitive to harmony very early in their development,as young as seven months, so the mechanisms responsible forharmony acquisition must be able to identify its presence aswell as the specifics of individual vowel harmony systemswith little input. Prior computational work has sought eitherto detect the presence of harmony without describing the spe-cific implementation or to describe a specific implementationwhen the general details are known beforehand. We presenta new computational acquisition approach inspired by phono-logical notions of restrictiveness which succeeds in automat-ically detecting harmony in some language and describes thegross characteristics of the underlying harmony grammar with-out prior knowledge about the type of system to expect.

This study examines phonological and phonetic properties of ATR contrasts in the vowel system of Akebu (Kwa). The sum of descriptive evidence, including vowel harmony, vowel distribution in non-harmonising contexts, vowel reduction and typological and etymological considerations, indicates a rare vowel inventory with an ATR contrast in front/back vowels but a height contrast in the three redundantly [−ATR] central vowels /ᵻ, ə, a/. This analysis was checked against four common acoustic metrics of ATR: F1 and F2 frequencies, spectral slope and F1 bandwidth size (B1). As expected, the results for the last three metrics were variable across speakers and vowel types, and are therefore inconclusive. The results for F1 were consistent but do not distinguish between ATR and vowel height. Two results nonetheless suggest the [−ATR] status of central vowels: they occupy the same belt of F1 frequencies and show the same position of observed-over-predicted B1 values as front and back [−ATR] vowels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vowel harmony is a phenomenon in which the vowels in a word share some features (e.g., frontness vs. backness). It occurs in several families of languages (e.g., Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages) and serves as an effective segmenting cue in continuous speech and when reading compound words. The present study examined whether vowel harmony also plays a role in visual word recognition. We chose Turkish, a language with four front and four back vowels in which approximately 75% of words are harmonious. If vowel harmony contributes to the formation of coherent phonological codes during lexical access, harmonious words will reach a stable orthographic-phonological state more rapidly than disharmonious words. To test this hypothesis, in Experiment 1, we selected two types of monomorphemic Turkish words: harmonious (containing only front vowels or back vowels) and disharmonious (containing front and back vowels)-a parallel manipulation was applied to the pseudowords. Results showed faster lexical decisions for harmonious than disharmonious words, whereas vowel harmony did not affect pseudowords. In Experiment 2, where all words were harmonious, we found a small but reliable advantage for disharmonious over harmonious pseudowords. These findings suggest that vowel harmony helps the formation of stable phonological codes in Turkish words, but it does not play a key role in pseudoword rejection., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ideophones are believed to exhibit distinct phonotactic patterns compared to regular language, in their expressiveness. Vowel harmony can be observed in ideophones in Modern Korean. However, over time, Korean has gradually lost its regular vowel harmony process, due to the influx of foreign words, especially from Chinese, and historical sound changes like the vowel shift of /ɔ/ to different vowel types. Previous studies have mainly focused on the vowel patterns of ideophones without necessarily comparing the degree of vowel harmony between ideophones and other lexical strata. This lack of comparison makes it challenging to assess the level of corruption in vowel harmony specifically within ideophones, relative to other components of the lexicon. To address this gap, this paper examines vowel patterns extracted from the online dictionary of Korean, developed by the National Institute of the Korean Language (NIKL) with contributions from anonymous users and specialists. The analysis specifically explores vowel patterns across lexical items with varying syllable lengths, focusing on the lexical stratum, adverbial parts of speech, and the semantic meaning of the adverbials. This examination aims to assess the regularity of vowel sequencing and determine the extent of purity in vowel harmony patterns. The quantitative analysis of the compiled dictionary provides valuable insights into the degree of irregular phonotactics and its relationship to sound symbolism in Modern Korean.

Copyright of RumeliDE Journal of Language & Literature Research / RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of RumeliDE Uluslararasi Hakemli Dil & Edebiyat Arastirmalari Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Taking a generative phonology approach, this paper analyzes vowel harmony in verbal prefixes in the speech of middle-aged non-immigrant Mashhadi speakers. For this purpose, nearly ١٢٠ simple verbs were conjugated and phonological alternations in the vowels of imperfective aspect, and subjunctive mood and their negative forms were extracted. Alsothe phonological features of the stem's first vowel and those of the prefixes were analyzed. The results indicate the following: the underlying form of the vowel in the imperfective and subjunctive is the mid, front vowel; harmony occurs in backness, or height or both at the same time; the low, front vowel of the stem does not participate in harmony but the low, back vowel initiates harmony only if the initial consonant of the stem is a non-coronal. It was also found that the vowel of the negative prefix, which comes before the imperfective prefix, harmonizes in backness with the vowel of imperfective prefix. Also studied in the paper are rules operating in vowel harmony in stems with the glide/j/and glottal fricative/h/, where the glide or glottal are omitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study gives a systematic overview of the phenomena labeled as vowel harmony observable in Uralic languages. Here, the different vowel harmony systems are arranged into a loose network due to their holistic similarity instead of following the family tree, the geographical position of languages or arbitrary parameters. The paper suggests distinguishing three groups of vowel harmonies. The most widespread ones are canonical front/back harmonies, typical for many of the Uralic languages (dialects) belonging to different branches. Although they show considerable differences when compared to each other, they are strikingly similar when compared to other vowel harmony systems. The second group includes quasi-canonical harmonies, resembling canonical harmonies in some way but differing both from them and from each other in some other aspects. Finally, there are non-canonical harmonies, which consist of two distinct categories, one of which can be labeled vowel harmony only on historical grounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Eurasian Journal of Philology: Science & Education is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study presents data from Arabic loan word adaptation in Saraiki. The data are analyzed using Optimality Theory. The data show that speakers of a borrowing language sometimes change words of a source language obeying constraints which are neither operative in borrowing language, nor in a source language. Two types of repair strategy are discussed in the loanwords presented in this paper, namely gemination and stress shift. Vowel harmony also emerges in the context as a free ride natural effect. Based onthe evidence from Saraiki loanwords of Arabic origin, it is argued that in some contexts, speakers of a borrowing language develop a third phonology which is different from L1 (borrowing language) and L2 (source language) grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine a hitherto unexplored part of Hungarian loanword phonology, namely, the adaptation of words containing syllabic l, and the role that these words play in Hungarian vowel harmony. In Hungarian, there are no syllabic consonants, and word-final consonant-l clusters are almost completely absent. In a laboratory experiment, we studied how Hungarian speakers pronounce loanwords ending in a syllabic l and how they select suffix alternants. Data was collected from 28 speakers. They were asked to pronounce 6 target words in syntactic contexts that enforced the nominative, superessive (SUE; -on/-En/-øn) and allative (ALL; -hoz/-hEz/-høz) forms. The target words included two surnames of German origin ([i:bl" ], [Stro:bl" ]) and four recent loans ([du:dl" ], [gu:gl" ], [lidl" ], [pazl"]). After the experiment, the vowel quality of the suffixes attached to the target words and the number of realised syllables were examined along with the formant structure and length of l and the inserted vowel. As for results, firstly, speakers pronounced the target words in two syllables. The intonation peak in yes/no questions served as evidence. Secondly, both forms with inserted vowel and syllabic l ([gu:gVl] ~ [gu:gl"]) are present. Insertion is more frequent in SUE forms than in ALL forms. Thirdly, neutral stems select mainly front alternants ([i:bl"-høz], [lidl"-øn]), while in the case of back stems, both back and front suffixes occur ([pazl"-on], [Stro:bl"-høz]). Therefore, syllabic l seems to be hardly transparent to labial harmony. Yet, it is so to palatal harmony to a larger extent. We claim also the emergence of a new harmonic class. However, the harmonic behaviour of the target words cannot be explained by the insertion of a reduced vowel. Only 60% of the forms with the front alternant contained one, and 78% of forms without any did select the front alternant. Thus, other factors may play a role, such as the acoustic similarity of [ø] and the alveolar consonants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Linguistica Uralica is the property of Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present study explores learning phonological alternations that contain exceptions. Participants were exposed to a back/round vowel harmony pattern in which a regular suffix obeyed a vowel harmony rule, varying between /e/ and /o/ depending on the back/round phonetic features of the stem, and a non-alternating suffix that was always /o/ regardless of the features of the stem vowel. Participants in Experiment 1 learned the behavior of both suffixes, but correct performance for the non-alternating suffix was higher when the suffix happened to be in harmony with the stem. Participants in Experiment 2 were exposed to the non-alternating affix in harmonic contexts only, and continued to show a bias towards harmony. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 with minimal training on disharmonic cases of the non-alternating morpheme. However, participants were less likely to learn the alternating affix without exposure to morphological stem, stem + suffix alternations in Experiment 4, suggesting a bias towards morphophonological alternations in learning vowel harmony patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current theories of optionality often take a gradient view of grammaticality: unattested variants are not categorically excluded but rather highly improbable. Vowel harmony in Eastern Andalusian challenges this view. Unstressed vowels optionally harmonize in a coordinated fashion. For example, if one posttonic vowel harmonizes, they all must. Different implementations of noisy harmonic grammar are tested for their ability to account for this pattern. Only the implementation that categorically excludes forms with uncoordinated harmony succeeds; other implementations, which can only make such forms unlikely outputs, provide inferior models. This contrast indicates that there remains a need for a categorical approach to (un)grammaticality alongside a gradient approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to present an Optimality Theoretic (Prince and Smolensky, 1993) analysis of the svara sandhi changes occurring in Odia (An Indo-Aryan language spoken in the eastern state of Odisha, India). Odia, like other major Indian languages such as Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, etc., has been influenced by Sanskrit and has hence subsumed the phenomenon of sandhi occurring in Sanskrit. The phenomena of two sounds combining to form a new sound (/vowels of differing heights combine to result in a sort of Vowel Harmony where instead of one vowel influencing the other, both vowels influence each other and result in a sound which has q b v L G; are some of the processes that will be looked into. This paper uses the Optimality Theoretic framework to explain these processes. Newly developed constraints such as COALESCENE, *Diphthongs, (low, back V + low, back V = /a/) are proposed in this study along with certain other common and well-established faithfulness constraints such as MAX-V and DEP-V. The study analyses the svara sandhi process in Odia which has evolved from Sanskrit and shares the same features in most constructions while simultaneously showing the applicability of Optimality Theory in such a study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores learning phonological alternationsthat contain exceptions. Participants were exposed to aback/round vowel harmony pattern in which a regular suffixfollowed harmony, varying between /e/ and /o/ depending onthe back/round phonetic features of the stem, and anexceptional suffix that was always /o/ regardless of thefeatures of the stem vowel. Participants in Experiment 1learned the behavior of both suffixes, but performance for thenon-alternating suffix was higher when the suffix happened toadhere to vowel harmony. In Experiment 2, participants wereexposed only to the same suffixes as Experiment 1, but thenon-alternating suffix only appeared in harmonic contexts,creating ambiguity between exceptionality and alternation.Participants only correctly selected the non-alternating suffixwhen it appeared in a harmonic context. This suggests thatlearners are biased towards alternating harmony patterns, butrequire concrete evidence of non-alternation to learn the nonalternatingsuffix.

This study investigates whether alternation learning is facilitated by a matching phonotactic generalization. In a series of artificial grammar learning experiments, English learners were trained on artificial languages evincing categorical vowel harmony alternations across morpheme boundaries. These languages differed in the degree of harmony within stems (disharmonic, semiharmonic, and harmonic), and thus the degree of phonotactic support for the alternation. Results indicate that alternation learning was best when supported by matching stem phonotactics (harmonic language; experiment 1). Learners, however, were reluctant to extend a learned phonotactic constraint to novel unseen alternations (experiments 2 and 3). Taken together, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that alternation learning is facilitated by a matching static phonotactic generalization, but that learners are conservative in positing alternations in the absence of overt evidence for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting-small effect is a cognitive advantage in language acquisition when learners begin by generalizing on regularities from structurally simple and shorter tokens in a skewed input distribution. Our study explored this effect as a potential explanation for the biased learning of opaque and transparent vowel harmony. In opaque vowel harmony, feature agreement occurs strictly between adjacent vowels, and an intervening “neutral vowel” blocks long-distance vowel harmony. Thus, opaque vowel harmony could be acquired even if learners start with structurally simpler and more frequent disyllabic tokens. Alternatively, transparent vowel harmony can only be observed in longer tokens demonstrating long-distance agreement by skipping a neutral vowel. Opaque vowel harmony is predicted to be learned more efficiently due to its compatibility with local dependency acquired via starting-small learning. In two artificial grammar learning experiments, learners were exposed to both vowel harmony patterns embedded in an equal number of disyllabic and trisyllabic tokens or a skewed distribution with twice as many disyllabic tokens. In Exp I, learners’ test performance suggests the consistently biased learning of local and opaque vowel harmony with starting-small learning. Furthermore, in Exp II, the acquired vowel harmony patterns varied significantly by working memory capacity with a balanced but not skewed input distribution, presumably because of the ease of cognitive demand with starting-small learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of vowel harmony have wrestled with the formal challenges of transparency, notably the increased expressivity resulting from non-local dependencies. However, experimental work has demonstrated on a number of occasions that ‘transparent’ vowels actually undergo harmony (e.g., Gick, Pulleyblank, Campbell, & Mutaka, 2006), re-establishing the role of locality in the analysis of harmony. Existing work on backness harmony in Uyghur argues that /i/ is transparent to harmony, with some proposing that this falls out from the absence of contrastive /ɯ/ in the language (e.g., Vaux, 2000). This paper examines the distribution of surface [i] and [ɯ] within roots and suffixes to assess their phonological status, as well as their participation in harmony. Results support the case that there are no long-distance dependencies in Uyghur, suggesting that harmony is truly local in the language. Results for root-internal [i] and [ɯ] are less clear; evidence from most speakers supports an allophonic relationship, while some evidence for other speakers suggests the possibility of contrastive /i/ and /ɯ/.

We survey templatic diminutive formation in Hungarian. We conclude that there is an intricate system of endings that are added to bases which are truncated if they contain more than one vowel. Bases are also subject to vowel length changes in both directions, as well as the palatalization of the last consonant. The templatic diminutive forms are not subject to vowel harmony occurring in suffixes which prevails in the regular additive morphology of the language. Nevertheless, these forms conform to the vowel patterns found in disyllabic monomorphemic or disyllabic suffixed word forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Erzya harmony is discussed as a kind of vowel harmony traditionally, suffix alternations show that there is a close interaction between consonants and vowels, therefore we should speak about a consonant-vowel harmony. This paper demonstrates that the palatalizedness of the consonants and the frontness of the vowels are also strongly connected inside stems: first syllable front vowels are quite rare after word-initial non-palatalized dentals but are dominant after palatalized ones; first syllable back vowels are dominantly followed by non-palatalized dentals, while the latter are very rare after front vowels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is well known that the phonetic realization of a segment may differ by position, it is unclear how positional variation interacts with vowel harmony, the imperative that vowels be identical along some phonological dimension. Pearce (2008, 2012) contends that phonological harmony blocks phonetic reduction, suggesting that phonology dictates phonetic realization for this class of assimilatory patterns. This paper investigates harmony and vowel reduction in Kyrgyz, finding that non-initial vowels are more centralized than their initial-syllable counterparts. The potential sources for this reduction, including initial strengthening, supralaryngeal declination, predictability, and undershoot are discussed. The proposed predictability-based analysis provides an analysis of reduction based on phonological knowledge and representations.

General vowel harmony and disharmony rules have comparable formal complexity but differ dramatically in typological frequency and phonetic motivation. Previous studies found no difference in learning between vowel harmony and disharmony; this putative equivalence has been used to discount the view that learners are influenced by substantive learning biases. In the current study, we use a more nuanced test to show that there is a clear difference in learning between vowel harmony and disharmony: learners readily infer a vowel harmony pattern, but not a disharmony pattern. The findings suggest that vowel disharmony is in fact strongly disfavored during learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]