出版社：Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto
摘要：This thesis is a descriptive and theoretical analysis of distributional co-occurrence constraints on consonants, focusing on the Aboriginal languages of Australia. The two phonotactic positions in consonant clusters are found to be positions of neutralisation of feature contrasts which are present in other positions in the word, particularly between vowels. I present a series of generalisations which may be made on the permitted sequences of consonantal place features and manner features in clusters morpheme-internally. These patterns take the form of implicational relationships between segments and clusters, showing that an unmarked core of cluster types is present in all Australian Aboriginal languages, while languages vary in how they elaborate additional, more marked structures. I argue that each phonotactic pattern is phonetically grounded. Unmarked clusters correspond to structures which are gesturally and/or perceptually simple and marked structures are gesturally and/or perceptually complex. I formalise each pattern of neutralisation within a constraints theory of markedness, and propose that constraints are phonetically grounded. The goal of this thesis, then, is twofold. The first is to report the recurring generalisations in the Australian cluster phonotactics. The second is to argue for a relationship between phonotactic markedness and phonetics. I show that a phonetic theory of constraints accurately predicts the attested patterns.
