TransWikia.com

What are the phonological rules or constraints for these pairs of words?

Linguistics Asked on October 23, 2021

Mongol-Mongolia
Arab-Arabia
Babylon-Babylonian
Boston-Bostonian
comedy-comedian
colony-colonial

I know that the vowel in the second syllable is lengthened, but what are the rules or constraints for the lengthening?

One Answer

This is the result of rule (20b), p. 181 of Chomsky & Halle 1968 The sound pattern of English, colloquially known as "Abelian lengthening". By that rule, a non-high vowel becomes tense (that was later reanalyzed as length) before one consonant followed by an unstressed front vocoid in turn followed by a vowel (i.e. before CĭV).

Answered by user6726 on October 23, 2021

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP