LINGUIST List 21.3508 Fri Sep 03 2010 Qs: Typology of Vocalic Fricativization Editor for this issue: Danielle St. Jean <daniellelinguistlist.org> We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate. In addition to posting a summary, we'd like to remind people that it is usually a good idea to personally thank those individuals who have taken the trouble to respond to the query. To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.    Matthew Faytak, Typology of Vocalic Fricativization Message 1: Typology of Vocalic Fricativization Date: 01-Sep-2010 From: Matthew Faytak <mfaytakuchicago.edu> Subject: Typology of Vocalic Fricativization E-mail this message to a friend I am a fourth-year student at the University of Chicago currently performing research that will be put toward writing my honors thesis. In the course of this research, I aim to investigate potential correlations between a type of vocalic fricativization and various other aspects of language (lexical tone, isolating morphology, the presence of complex consonants, etc). The type of vocalic fricativization I hope to investigate defines what Bell (1977), in his study of syllabic consonants, dubs an "apical [vowel] system". This phenomenon is present when a language *consistently* realizes some vowel phoneme, frequently from the close front/central set /i ɨ y ʉ/, as a fully-voiced syllabic coronal obstruent in a given set of conditions. As I see it, it is crucial to differentiate this sort of phonological pattern from other lower-level phenomena: in an "apical" vowel system, the relevant fricativization does not vary with rate of speech, and voicing is retained. This excludes phonetic processes along the lines of vowel elision and alternation of high devoiced vowels with fricatives (as in some Central Asian Turkic languages, see Kaisse 1992, in Language), which tend to vary with rate of speech. Additionally, spirantization processes (phonological though they may be) are not of interest here. I hope to include additional types of fricativization in my eventual analysis, moving beyond Bell's limited "apical" system: labiodentalized vowels, for instance, have been reported in the Grassfields Bantu languages of West Africa (see Connell 2000, "Fricative Vowels in Mambila"). The languages I plan to analyze, then, include such examples as Mandarin Chinese, with its syllabic alveolar and retroflex fricatives consistently realized in place of *[i] when preceded by alveolar or retroflex fricates, and Len, where a "fricative vowel" identified with /ɨ/ is realized consistently as [v̩] before "a subset of consonants" that "have labiodentality associated with them" (see Connell 2000: 237). I would like to request, then, that any of you familiar with any and all languages fitting (or nearly seeming to fit) the above specifications point out their existence. One of the problems I have begun to confront (and the reason for this query) is that no typology of fricativization in general exists. Furthermore, the genetic location of such languages is somewhat unpredictable beyond an abundance of examples in the Sino-Tibetan family, Ngiti and Lendu among the Nilo-Saharan languages, and the aforementioned Grassfields Bantu languages. I hope to take steps toward a typology of phonological fricativization in the course of this research, and any and all suggestions as to the contents of this typology would be greatly appreciated. Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics                             Phonology                             Typology Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 03-Sep-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.