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Part of
Sonic Signatures: Studies dedicated to John Harris
Edited by Geoff Lindsey and Andrew Nevins
[Language Faculty and Beyond 14] 2017
► pp. 73–100

Deconstructing tongue root harmony systems

| University of Connecticut

This article discusses various manifestations of tongue root (TR) harmony in African languages. I will propose an account within a model that uses variable elements and licensing. The primary goal is to deconstruct the general label ‘tongue root harmony’ into a number of subtypes, based on the formal treatment of these harmonies. Casali (2003) has shown that dominance of [+ATR] correlates with having an ATR-distinction among high vowels. If such as distinction is present we speak of a 2H system. If such a distinction is missing, we deal with a 1H system and in this case Casali observes [−ATR] dominance. I will discuss this correlation and then show that the RcvP model provides a formal basis, where the crucial point is that in the RcvP model, languages that have a contrast among two series of high vowels necessarily have a different formal representation (namely one that activates the ATR element) than languages that lack this contrast (which do not require this element to be active). This implies that the contrast between [ɛ~e] or [ɔ~o] is phonologically represented in different ways, with the consequence that in the latter (with two series of high vowels), the unary element [ATR] is active (and needs licensing to account for harmony), whereas in the former harmony can only be expressed in terms of ‘head alignment’ for the element |A|. This account suggests that both types of ‘tongue root’ harmony are fundamentally different in formal terms, which may correlate with a difference in the phonetic mechanisms.

Keywords: vowel harmony, unary elements, licensing, tongue root harmony, locality, Radical CV Phonology, Dependency Phonology, Root control harmony, dominant/recessive harmony
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The framework
    • 2.1ATR as headedness
  • 3.Asymmetries in African TR systems
  • 4.Toward an explanatory account
  • 5.Conclusions and unresolved issues
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.14.c5
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