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THEORY: free variation [was: Re: [OT] Re: Conlangea Dreaming]

From:dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Thursday, October 12, 2000, 3:52
On Wed, 11 Oct 2000, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> <bewildered look> What's free variation?
Relevant example from Shoshoni: in Shoshoni, the occurrence of the vowel [e] is marked by a couple of kinds of variation. First, there are words which may be pronounced with [e] only. Such words include: [ke] 'no' [exo] 'pine cone hook' [kweSi] 'tail' Then there are words which are pronounced only with [ai]: [haintSY] 'friend' ([Y] is a voiceless high central unrounded vowel) [taindy] 'hole' [taiBo] 'white man'. There is a third (large) group of words in which the vowel varies in pronunciation between [e] and [ai]: [maiSo ~ meSo] 'cricket' [paiDy ~ peDy] 'daughter' [tyaippy ~ [tyeppy] 'baby' For this last group, [e] and [ai] are said to be in free variation. For words which are always pronounced with [e], this vowel can range from [e] through [E] to [&]. [ke] [kE] 'no' [k&] Again, the variation is completely free. Dirk -- Dirk Elzinga dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu