Title: The fortis-lenis distinction in Thurgovian, or Where is the syllable in Swiss German?
Abstract: This paper argues that the Swiss German dialect of Thurgovian makes a fortis-lenis distinction based on length, fortis consonants being long or geminates and lenis consonants being short or singletons. With the illustration of relevant empirical data, it is shown that obstruents (stops and fricatives) display a number of systematic differences from consonants (nasals and lateral liquid) with regard to (a) the surface variants of lenes, (b) the syllabification of fortes, and (c) the anchoring mechanism of fortes to syllabic structure. It is argued that the primary source of these differences are the segmental representations, which are assumed to involve both the segmental tier (root node plus dependents) and the syllable tier (terminal positions of syllables). The phrasal syllabification domain of Thurgovian facilitates maintenance of fortis-lenis distinctions not only within words, but also at word edges. The combination of geminate segments plus the phrasal syllabification domain is responsible for non-crisp edges between syllable and segment boundaries as well as between syllable and word boundaries.
Publication Year: 1997
Publication Date: 1997-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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