Contextual labialization in Nawuri
A spectrographic investigation into the non-contrastive labialization of consonants before round vowels in Nawuri (a Kwa language of Ghana) supports the notion that this labialization is the result of a phonological, featurespreading rule and not simply an automatic transitional process. This assump...
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| Format: | article |
| Language: | EN FR |
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LibraryPress@UF
1990
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| Online Access: | https://doaj.org/article/881d8ba4092f49b7a0d7c06f53f678bd |
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| Summary: | A spectrographic investigation into the non-contrastive labialization of consonants before round vowels in Nawuri (a Kwa language of Ghana) supports the notion that this labialization is the result of a phonological, featurespreading rule and not simply an automatic transitional process. This assumption is further warranted in that it allows for a more natural treatment of some other phonological processes in the language. The fact that labialization before round vowels is generally not very audible is explained in terms of a principle of speech perception. A final topic addressed is the question of why (both in Nawuri and apparently in a number of other Ghanaian languages as well) contextual labialization does tend to be more perceptible in certain restricted environments. |
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