Consonantalized Nasal and Lateral Vowel /ə/ Versus Nasal and Lateral Syllabic Consonants

Abstract

The present paper aims, firstly, to investigate the phonological change that takes place to the unstressed vowel in the closed syllable CVC without onset + /ə/ + (lateral/nasal consonant). In this regard, I will explain the distinctive feature of /ə/, /l/ and /n/ as actual phonemes, and describe their distinctive feature in phonological patterns expressed by the syllable structure rule CVC, regardless of onset. In other words, the research focus will be on the rhyme of the CVC, where V stands for /ə/ and C stands either for /l/ or /n/. Secondly, I will demonstrate the cause of the phonological change that occurs in the rhyme of the syllable. Thirdly, I intend to establish which phoneme has power over the other phoneme in the rhyme of syllable CVC (/ə/+/l/or /n/). Fourthly, I will construct a proper definition for the rhyme of the syllable involving the phonological change occurring to the unstressed vowel in this rhyme. The most important results are: firstly, /ə/ is assimilated (consonantalized) by lateral and nasalized features within the rhyme context (-/ə/ +/n/ or -/ə/+/l/), secondly, there is no evidence for the elision of /ə/ in the same phonological context. The term consonantalization is proposed as a result of similarities between /ə/, /n/ and //ə/ and /l/ in the rhyme of syllable CVC (/ə/+/l/or /n/).