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ISSUES IN VOWEL HARMONY
STUDIES IN LANGUAGE COMPANION SERIES (SLCS) The SLCS series has been established as a companion series to STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, International Journal, sponsored by the Foundation "Foundations of Language". Series Editors:
John W. M. Verhaar Sophia University Tokyo, Japan
&
Werner Abraham University of Groningen The Netherlands
***
Volume 6
Robert M. Vago Issues in Vowel Harmony
ISSUES IN VOWEL HARMONY Proceedings of the CUNY Linguistics Conference on Vowel Harmony, 14th May 1977
edited by ROBERT M. VAGO Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York
AMSTERDAM / JOHN BENJAMINS B.V. 1980
© Copyright 1980 - John Benjamins B.V. ISSN 0165 7763 / ISBN 90 272 3005 6 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
TO KATI
PREFACE
On May 14, 1977 a Conference on Vowel Harmony was held at The Graduate School and University Center of the City university of New York. The present volume represents the proceedings of that conference inasmuch as most of the contributions are written versions of papers read at the conference. The Keynote Address of the conference was delivered by Stephen Anderson. The following papers were read at the conference but were not submitted for publication: "Vowel Harmony and Metaphony in Akan (Twi-Fante)" by George N. Clements (Harvard University), and "Turkish Vowel Harmony and an Ordering Problem Revisited" by Robert H. Meskill (Brown University). The articles by L. Anderson, Crothers and Shibatani, Hall and Hall, and Hamp were not presented at the conference but are included in the proceedings. The Editor, who organized and directed the conference, wishes to express his appreciation to The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York for financial assistance. Thanks are due to D. Terence Langendoen, then Executive Officer of the Ph.D. Program in Linguistics, and to those students who graciously assisted in the coordination of the conference, most notably Marcia Babbitt, Lorna Feldman, Evelyn Tissier-Nomme, and Penny Willis. Finally, many thanks to Barbara WallaceGadsden for the superb typing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
XI-XX
PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES IN THE DESCRIPTION OF VOWEL HARMONY
.
1
Stephen R. Anderson A FORMAL THEORY OF VOWEL HARMONY
49
Jean-Roger Vergnaud ISSUES IN THE DESCRIPTION OF TURKISH VOWEL HARMONY
63
John Crothers & Masayoshi Shibatani REGULAR DISHARMONY IN KIRGHIZ
89
C. Douglas Johnson MONGOLIAN VOCALIC FEATURES AND THE PROBLEM OF HARMONY
101
Eric P. Hamp THE UNDERLYING REPRESENTATION OF HARMONIZING VOWELS : EVIDENCE FROM MODERN MONGOLIAN
113
Robert I. Binnick A CONCRETE ANALYSIS OF HUNGARIAN VOWEL HARMONY
135
Catherine O. Ringen A CRITIQUE OF SUPRASEGMENTAL THEORIES OF VOWEL HARMONY
155
Robert M. Vago VOICE-QUALITY HARMONY IN WESTERN NILOTIC LANGUAGES
183
Leon C. Jacobson NEZ PERCE VOWEL HARMONY:
AN AFRICANIST EXPLANATION AND
SOME THEORETICAL QUESTIONS Beatrice L. Hall & R.M.R. Hall
201
VOWEL HARMONY AND MORPHOPHONEMIC RULES
237
Marc Picard THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL REALITY OF FINNISH VOWEL HARMONY
245
Lyle Campbell USING ASYMMETRICAL AND GRADIENT DATA IN THE STUDY OF VOWEL HARMONY Lloyd B. Anderson
271
INTRODUCTION
Vowel harmony is a well known phonological phenomenon found in a large number of languages spoken mainly in Eur asia and the African continent. Discussions of vowel har mony in the literature have been live