<OT> New Posting: ROA-558

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ROA 558-1102

Labial palatalization in Polish Dialects: A gestural account of phonetic
implementation

Alexei Kochetov <kochetov@haskins.yale.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=558


Abstract:
In several northeastern dialects of Polish palatalized 
labials show a range of surface realizations: they are 
attested as labials with secondary palatal 
articulation, sequences labial + palatal glide, labial 
+ palatal fricative, or labial + alveopalatal 
fricative. These realizations are additionally 
complicated by gradiency and free variation effects 
(dialects of Mazovia, Varmija and Mazury: Basara et al. 
1959, Zdunska1965, Stieber 1968).

In this paper I present an analysis of these 
realizations by I adopting a gestural approach to 
phonetic implementation (Zsiga 1997; Browman & 
Goldstein 1989) and an Optimality Theoretic approach to 
enhancement as maximizing perceptual contrastiveness 
(Flemming 1995, Ní Chiosáin & Padgett 1997). The 
account has two parts: First, I demonstrate that the 
attested gradiency and variability in realization of 
palatalized labials result from dialect-specific 
gestural interpretations of the same phonological 
representation. Then, I show that these patterns of 
realizations are motivated by the need to preserve and 
enhance the phonemic contrast. 

Keywords: contrast, features, gestures, mapping, enhancement, palatalization,
Polish

Areas: Phonology, Phonetics

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=558