Variation in the realization of Ukrainian back fricatives as onset lenition and non-markedness reducing coda neutralization: a 3D/4D ultrasound study

Abstract

A 3D/4D ultrasound analysis of Ukrainian back fricatives provides evidence for onset lenition (debuccalization) and non-markedness reducing place neutralization in the coda (neutralization to the uvular place of articulation). These findings impinge on the role of markedness in predicting synchronic alternations and the direction of sound change. Analyses that rely on markedness as a motivating factor for synchronic patterns of alternations allow for the possibility of coda lenition, but not of onset lenition. However, the analyzed data instantiate debuccalization, a type of lenition, in the onset. Moreover, the observed retraction of place in the coda, resulting in uvular fricatives, is similarly difficult to derive from markedness principles. These findings are not compatible with the view that synchronic alternations must be driven by markedness reduction and suggest that (i) models of synchronic phonology must be designed in such a way as to accommodate segmental alternations that are arbitrary from the point of view of markedness principles, and (ii) reduction of representational complexity cannot be reliably viewed as the driver of neutralization processes.