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The above allophony is well known from Japanese. My current problem
is to describe it for Cabecar (Chibchan, Costa Rica). The
conditioning context is almost the same in these languages: What
appears as [ɸ] before [ɯ] (in Japanese) or [u] (in Cabecar) is [h]
otherwise.<br>
<br>
Intuition would suggest that this is an assimilation of what is
basically an /h/ to the features of the following vowel. However, my
phonetics and phonology are insufficient to answer the two obvious
questions:<br>
<ol>
<li>What is the phonetic motivation for this distribution?</li>
<li>Is there a phonological feature shared by [ɸ], on one hand,
and both [u] and [ɯ], on the other, which could figure in a
formulation of the assimilation?</li>
</ol>
Let it be said that my phonology was shaped a couple of years ago by
Chomsky & Halle 1968; so I am prepared to be told that this is
of no concern anymore and the fruitful approach is entirely
different. Nevertheless, the two questions may make sense even
outside this particular framework.<br>
<br>
I would be very grateful for help from you phonologists (or anybody
else).<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
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<td>Tel.:</td>
<td>+49/361/2113417</td>
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<td>E-Post:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a></td>
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<td>Web:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.christianlehmann.eu">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a></td>
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