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Synchronic alternations between monophthongs and diphthongs in Franconian tone accent dialects: a metrical approach

From the book Segmental Structure and Tone

  • Björn Köhnlein

Abstract

This paper proposes a synchronic analysis of vowel splits between diphthongs and monophthongs in Franconian tone accent dialects (spoken in parts of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands). In some dialects, the tonal contrasts between Accent 1 and Accent 2 are accompanied by vocalic oppositions. On the basis of data from Maastricht and Sittard Franconian, I argue that a unified phonological analysis of these related phenomena (tone, vowel quality) is possible if we assume that the accents differ in their metrical structure: Accent 1 is represented as a disyllabic foot, Accent 2 as a monosyllabic foot.

© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston
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