DIALECTS*

• Main Authors: Richard Compton, B. Elan Dresher
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: inuit
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.579.3462; http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cla-acl/actes2008/CLA2008_Compton_Dresher.pdf

Inuit dialects that show palatalization all distinguish between ‘strong i ’ and ‘weak i’. This distinction descends from a contrast in the proto-language between */i/, which causes palatalization, and */ə / (the ‘fourth vowel’), which does not. All Inuit dialects that have completely lost the contrast between these vowels also lack palatalization. This raises the question, why are there no /i a u/ dialects in which all i trigger palatalization? We propose that this typological gap is not accidental. According to the Contrastivist Hypothesis, only contrastive features can be active in the phonology. Contrastive features are determined by a contrastive hierarchy. We propose that the Inuit contrastive hierarchy is [low]> [labial]> [coronal]. It follows from these assumptions that i can trigger palatalization only if in contrast with a fourth vowel.