Phonetic Alternations I by Bruce Hayes Notes

Phonological alternation:
note [not] notable [no flap schwa b horsehoe u l]
Alternate pronunciations mean allophones.
Alternation usually affects segments at the edges of morphemes
Rhythmic Lengthening in Choctaw the vowels of the even syllables (except for the
last one, if even) get lengthened. Or in shorter words, the vowel of the middle
syllable gets lengthened.
Neutralisation of voiceless stops (ptk) at the ends of words in Korean
neutralisation can be defined as the identical phonetic realization of distinct
phonemic forms
Postnasal t deletion in English: plant, stunt, punt -> plan[t]er, stun[t]er, pun[t]er.
These words end up sounding like planner, stunner, punner.
Russian Voicing Assimilation when two obstruents occur in a row, the first one
takes on the voicing of the second. Ot babushki becomes od babushki.
Dynamic neutralizations when theres alteration. Morphemes are actively changed
in order to respect the pattern of contextually limited contrast. i.e. in English you
cant have two final obstruents with different voice. So picked has the d
pronounced more like a t, so it can be unvoiced like the k is. Voicing assimilation
also explains why you have s or z for plural.
Stop final clusters in English can only end in d or t. Like concept or begged. But not
konsetp.
Near-Neutralisation: when the rules map distinct underlying forms into surface
forms that are only barely distinct from each other. The difference may not be
reliably detectable by the ear.
Lets help Russ Schuh to the head of the line.
head of the line.

Lets help rush Schuh to the

Phonologoical Alternation II
Sometimes rules apply to phonemic environments rather than phonetic ones, so
they can look like theyre being applied in the wrong environment when its not the
case. Example: Canadian raising. raId to rIt aI to I when preceding a voiceless
consonant.
Flapping in words with a d is also a thing: reading, edify, Ada, adolescent,
sentiment. When they follow a vowel and precede a stressless vowel. Heating and
heeding are pronounced the same.
Knowing when a rule is based on the phonetic or the phonemic environment is hard
to determine. Especially when which it is can vary by dialect. One can assume that
the difference has to do with the ordering of rules. Depending on which one you do

first, writing and riding will or will not be pronounced differently. (the two rules
in question are tapping and Canadian raising).

Chimwiini is a agglutinative Bantu language. Its verbs (which can garner many
suffixes) undergo preantepenultimate shortening (anything beyond 3 rd from last: 4th,
5th, etc.). The rule in the book says short a vowel when it least three vowels follow
it. Formal rule: [+syllabic] [-long] / _ C0 V C0 V.
To prove that the underlying form of the verb is one that has a long vowel, make
sure to show the versions of it with few enough syllables to reveal the long vowel.
The fact that most forms of the verbs root have the long vowel, but only the really
long versions of the verb have lost it, show that the long vowel form is the
underlying form.
phrase a phonologically cohering sequence of word
Chimwiini is a language where you have word final vowel lengthening, but phrase
final shortening. So the end of the word could be lengthened, only to get shortened
again. Word final lengthening can precede preantepenultimate shortening. pg 83 on
pdf for example.
Pre-long shortening is also a rule in Chimwiini: when you have two syllables with
long vowels in a row, the first one gets shortened.
The order of all these rules is:
Word Final Lengthening
Preantepenultimate Shortening
Phrase-Final Shortening
Pre-Long Shortening