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Re: THEORY: Feature geometry for uvulars/pharyngeals

From:Julien Eychenne <je@...>
Date:Friday, June 27, 2003, 17:43
>> The good point is that distinguishing pharyngeals from uvualars is >>then straightforward : the former have just the [pharyngeal] feature, >>while the latter have both [dorsal] and [pharyngeal]. Thus, pharyngeals >>can be more transparent to phonological processes as they have no ORAL >>feature. Maybe it could be what you need ? > > > Ah. The section on this in Clements and Hume is very brief, and if they > mention how to distinguish uvulars from velars I must have missed it. This > does seem like a good solution, as it allows for natural classes of > uvulars and pharyngeals or of uvulars and velars.
Yes it is, there is just a little sentence in the last paragraph (p273) : "[q], though a guttural sound, is [dorsal] as well as [pharyngeal]".
> I have never studied element-based phonology, but my general impressions > of it are negative . . . I'm most likely being unfair.
Well, I think it can lead to simpler and more straightforward description. Julien.