Title
PHRASE-FINAL VOWEL ALTERNATIONS IN CROW
Abstract
In the Siouan language Crow, only a particular set of vowel structures are observed at the end of
the phonological phrase. Phrase-internally, monomoraic vowels, bimoraic vowels and bimoraic
diphthongs with a non-moraic off-glide are observed in free distribution. In inputs ending in a
single-vowel sequence, only bimoraic mid vowels and bimoraic diphthongs are observed phasefinally
in the output. To prevent marked vowel structures from appearing phrase-finally, Crow
vowels undergo processes of lengthening, neutralization and diphthongization. Vowel sequences
in Crow are also restricted phonotactically. Sequences of consecutive long vowels or long
vowels following short vowels are prohibited. Marked sequences undergo processes of
shortening and height dissimilation in order to satisfy these sequence restrictions. In cases where
vowel sequences are phrase-final, restrictions on possible vowel sequences and possible phrasefinal
structures conflict. The result is that structures are observed in the output which are
prohibited by phrase-final restrictions in single vowel sequences. This interaction gives insight
into how phonotactic processes interact and shows that in Crow, phrase-final restrictions are
violable in order to satisfy vowel sequence restrictions, which are undominated in the data. In
my analysis, formulated in Optimality Theory, I model these restrictions and associated
processes by introducing positional markedness constraints and ranking them with respect to
faithfulness constraints. My constraints and analysis provide a model for how the phonotactic
restrictions in Crow are motivated and give insight into the interaction and conflict that takes
place when both sets of restrictions target the same structure.
Suggested Citation
Heuer, Ian.
(2014).
PHRASE-FINAL VOWEL ALTERNATIONS IN CROW.
Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
https://hdl.handle.net/11299/162860.