1. How common is r-Epenthesis?
- Author
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Hall, T. A.
- Subjects
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HIATUS (Linguistics) , *CONSONANTS , *OPTIMALITY theory (Linguistics) , *ENGLISH dialects , *ENGLISH vowels , *PHONOLOGY , *DELETION (Linguistics) , *MORPHEMICS , *ANEITYUM language , *GOKANA language , *BASQUE language , *IRANIAN languages - Abstract
Recent work on consonant epenthesis has argued that the insertion of [r] as a hiatus breaker is phonologically natural (De Lacy 2006, Uffmann 2007). This claim is argued to derive support from the high cross-linguistic frequency of (intervocalic) r-Epenthesis. The goal of the present article is to investigate the original sources for the languages which are assumed to have a regular synchronic r-Epenthesis rule. It is concluded - on the basis of these sources - that there is very little solid cross-linguistic support for that process. If correct, this finding means that r-Epenthesis in many varieties of English cannot be argued to be phonologically natural on the basis of non-related languages with that process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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