The Margi vowel system and labiocoronals

Abstract

The vowel system of Margi, described by Hoffman [1963] as containing three high vowels and one low vowel, is reinterpreted as a two-vowel system with underlying contrast only of high versus low. A pervasive contrast of secondary articulations on consonants spreads features of rounding and backness to contiguous vowels, giving rise to the different high vowel qualities recognized by Hoffman. A morphological role for the secondary articulations can be identified. Given this new understanding of the vowel system, the claim that "labio-coronal" elements in Margi are single complex segments requires reevaluation. Arguments advanced by Sagey [1986] are shown to proceed from a wrong interpretation of a syncope process and an assumed underlying contrast between high vowels. Phonetic data and the absence of phonological arguments to the contrary suggest that the labiocoronal elements are consonant sequences. 1.

Keywords

• Margi
• vowel system
• spreading
• labio-coronals
• phonetics
• phonology