John Harris
University College London
Release the captive coda: the foot as a domain of phonetic interpretation
I adopt a model of phonological representation in which segmental content is composed of monovalent elements, each of which can be phonetically interpreted in isolation. Amongst other advantages that this model enjoys over traditional SPE-type features, it allows for neutralisation to be uniformly expressed as the suppression of segmental material. Neutralisation effects can be modelled as the exclusion of particular elements from particular prosodic positions.
In keeping with Jakobsonian tradition, I assume that the priority in specifying the phonetic interpretation of segmental elements is to establish how they are mapped onto the acoustic signal. Their articulatory execution and auditory interpretation can then be defined parasitically in terms of how this mapping is achieved. The reduction in representational complexity that implements consonantal neutralisation, it can be argued, translates directly into a reduction in signal complexity. That is, the suppression of an element results in the excising of a particular frequency and/or time-domain pattern from the signal. In the illustrative cases, the following elemental patterns are supported foot-initially but not necessarily foot-internally: an abrupt and sustained drop in overall amplitude, closure release accompanied by noise burst, and voice-onset lead or lag times.
The constraints which deliver these neutralisation effects are fully
expressible over phonological output: there is no sense in which they
need
refer to underlying or canonical representations of segments. In
contrast
to the commonly held input-oriented view of such effects as
`allophonic'
or `low-level', the output-oriented position espoused here gives full
recognition
to their information-rich potential as demarcating cues for prosodic
domains.
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