The closed vowels in West Frisian revisited. On the mismatch between phonetic duration and phonological length

Research output: Chapter in book/volumeChapterScientificpeer-review

Abstract

In most of the literature on West Frisian, it is assumed that this language has a
symmetrical vowel system, consisting of nine short and nine corresponding long
vowels. These vowels all occur in minimal pairs, meaning that this distinction has phonemic value. This traditional view was challenged in De Haan (1999), where an asymmetrical classification is proposed in which the closed vowels /i/, /y/ and /u/, in spite of their short duration, are considered to be long vowels. In this paper, I want to assess the pros and cons of this asymmetrical classification, add some new arguments in favour of it, and come up with a representation of /i/, /y/ and /u/ which captures both their phonological length and phonetic duration.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFrom West to North Frisia A Journey along the North Sea Coast. Frisian studies in honour of Jarich Hoekstra
EditorsAlistair Walker, Eric Hoekstra, Goffe Jensma, Wendy Vanselow, Willem Visser, Christoph Winter
Place of PublicationAmsterdam/Philadelphia
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing
Pages409-422
ISBN (Electronic)978 90 272 5826 7
ISBN (Print)978 90 272 1016 6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Feb 2022

Publication series

NameNOWELE Supplement Series (NSS)
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing
Volume33
ISSN (Print)0900-8675

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