Laryngeal assimilation, markedness and typology

Abstract

Current typologies of voice assimilation between obstruents include languages that exhibit either assimilation to voicelessness (a type of emergence of the unmarked effect) or onset-controlled patterns, where the value controlling the change is in the onset obstruent. In either case, this type of local assimilation is considered to result in (contextually) unmarked structures. This article presents data that highlights a previously unrecognised pattern: assimilation resulting in voicing (an ‘emergence of the marked’ effect). This pattern has implications for how markedness is expressed in grammar. It is argued here that voicing is a privative feature, and that faithfulness constraints regulating the feature [voice] yield a rich typology that includes emergence of both marked and unmarked patterns. In addition, this typology yields benefits that are lost if voicing is considered a binary feature. This is illustrated by extending the dynamics of this voicing typology to other laryngeal features, such as [spread glottis].