Two phonological rarities in Ingrian dialects

• Main Author: Kuznetsova, Natalia
• Other Authors: Hilpert, M., Duke, J., Mertzlufft, Ch., Östman, J.-O., Rießler, M.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2015
• Subjects: Ingrian; phonology; quantity; vowel reduction; Finnic languages; typological rarities; Settore L-LIN/01 - GLOTTOLOGIA E LINGUISTICA; North-Western Russia
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10807/143762; https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110346978.91

The paper considers two typologically rare phonological phenomena related to the development of sound lengthening and reduction that appear in two dialects of the severely endangered Ingrian language in North-Western Russia. The first is attested in the Soikkola dialect, and involves a phonological ternary quantity contrast of consonants. The second exists in the Lower Luga dialect, and involves a phonological opposition of full modal and reduced voiceless vowels. First, brief phonetic, phonological and typological profiles of these contrasts are given. Furthermore, I analyze their probable further evolution against the typological background of similar phenomena in genetically related and unrelated languages. In the end, I discuss the question of stability and maintenance forces of these contrasts, as well as their significance in light of general prosodic development of the Soikkola and Lower Luga dialects.