Types and degrees of vowel neutrality
This paper argues that neutrality in a harmony system is a gradient property since it is due to a vowel’s participation in different patterns that are considered to be indicators of neutral behaviour in harmony. We examine three of these patterns of neutrality (transparency, affixal invariance and a...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
2016-12-01
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| Series: | Linguistica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uni-lj.si/linguistica/article/view/7209 |
| _version_ | 1797949300637958144 |
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| author | Péter Rebrus Miklós Törkenczy |
| author_facet | Péter Rebrus Miklós Törkenczy |
| author_sort | Péter Rebrus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper argues that neutrality in a harmony system is a gradient property since it is due to a vowel’s participation in different patterns that are considered to be indicators of neutral behaviour in harmony. We examine three of these patterns of neutrality (transparency, affixal invariance and antiharmony) and show that a scale of neutrality can be defined on the basis of these patterns (their occurrence and variability) and the neutrality of harmony systems can be characterized with reference to this scale. We describe a tentative quantification of neutrality and then develop an explicit measure of neutrality based on relative word type frequency. This explicit measure is applied to the behaviour of neutral vowels in Hungarian front/back harmony where the different neutral vowels represent different degrees of neutrality in all three neutrality patterns. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:57:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2c15f730f79d45ad9f3e65c9bac25345 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0024-3922 2350-420X |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:57:22Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Linguistica |
| spelling | doaj.art-2c15f730f79d45ad9f3e65c9bac253452023-01-18T09:49:46ZdeuUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Linguistica0024-39222350-420X2016-12-0156110.4312/linguistica.56.1.239-252Types and degrees of vowel neutralityPéter Rebrus0Miklós Törkenczy1Hungarian Academy of SciencesHungarian Academy of SciencesThis paper argues that neutrality in a harmony system is a gradient property since it is due to a vowel’s participation in different patterns that are considered to be indicators of neutral behaviour in harmony. We examine three of these patterns of neutrality (transparency, affixal invariance and antiharmony) and show that a scale of neutrality can be defined on the basis of these patterns (their occurrence and variability) and the neutrality of harmony systems can be characterized with reference to this scale. We describe a tentative quantification of neutrality and then develop an explicit measure of neutrality based on relative word type frequency. This explicit measure is applied to the behaviour of neutral vowels in Hungarian front/back harmony where the different neutral vowels represent different degrees of neutrality in all three neutrality patterns.https://journals.uni-lj.si/linguistica/article/view/7209vowel harmonyneutral vowelsgradienceHungarian front/back harmonyvariation |
| spellingShingle | Péter Rebrus Miklós Törkenczy Types and degrees of vowel neutrality Linguistica vowel harmony neutral vowels gradience Hungarian front/back harmony variation |
| title | Types and degrees of vowel neutrality |
| title_full | Types and degrees of vowel neutrality |
| title_fullStr | Types and degrees of vowel neutrality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Types and degrees of vowel neutrality |
| title_short | Types and degrees of vowel neutrality |
| title_sort | types and degrees of vowel neutrality |
| topic | vowel harmony neutral vowels gradience Hungarian front/back harmony variation |
| url | https://journals.uni-lj.si/linguistica/article/view/7209 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT peterrebrus typesanddegreesofvowelneutrality AT miklostorkenczy typesanddegreesofvowelneutrality |