[Lingtyp] [ɸ] - [h]

[Christian Lehmann]

Dear Miren and everybody,

I find this problem interesting. Nowadays everybody appears to agree 
that syntactic and morphological classes are essentially distribution 
classes although the elements in question have meaning. In the same 
spirit, the distributionalists conceived of the phoneme in terms of the 
distribution of phones although these have physical properties. And the 
basic phonological features like [consonantal] and [syllabic] 
essentially relate to the distribution of segments in phonotactic 
patterns. Questions such as whether [ts] consists of two segments /ts/ 
or is one affricate /ʦ/ are not solvable by phonetics (to the best of my 
knowledge), but are resolved by analyzing the distribution of this 
element. Again, it is true that distribution alone leads to 
unsatisfactory classes. The complementary distribution of [h] and [ŋ] in 
several languages including English is one such example. Apparently a 
distribution class counts as a natural class only if it has a phonetic 
motivation.

My impression is that a full phonological description works with a 
heterogeneous set of features: It does not abide by purely 
distributional phonological features, but  also needs features which are 
essentially phonetic and have no direct relation to the distribution of 
the segments characterized by them. This may concern, in particular, 
features involved in processes of assimilation. If a consonant 
assimilates to an adjacent vowel, it means they share a feature despite 
their appurtenance to distinct distribution classes.

Net result for my initial question: Assuming that I want a rule that 
assimilates a fricative to a following [u], producing [ɸ], I will have 
to accept an articulatory feature like [labial] in my phonology. Does 
this correspond to the state of the art in phonology?

Christian

-- 

Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
Rudolfstr. 4
99092 Erfurt
Deutschland

Tel.: 	+49/361/2113417
E-Post: 	christianw_lehmann at arcor.de
Web: 	https://www.christianlehmann.eu
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