Voice alternations in Lac Simon Algonquin

• Published in: Journal of Linguistics
• Main Author: Iverson, Gregory K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1983
• Subjects: Linguistics and Language; Philosophy; Language and Linguistics; algonquin
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022226700007490; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022226700007490

A highly unusual set of voice alternations obtains in the Lac Simon dialect of Northern Algonquin (Kaye, 1979, 1981). Here the distribution of voiced and voiceless obstruents reveals phonemic contrast in morpheme-internal positions (e.g. a:sɨbi: ‘net’, a:nɨpi:č ‘when’), but the initial obstruents only of morphemes which may begin the word are invariably voiceless when they do begin the word, voiced when they do not. The peculiar complementation, Kaye (1979: 276–277) reports, is due to the following historical developments affecting the Proto-Algonquian obstruent inventory.