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Phonological versus morphological rules: on German Umlaut and Ablaut

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Richard Wiese
Richard Wiese
Affiliation:
Seminar fur Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Heinrich-Heine- Universität Dusseldorf, Universitätsstr. I, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. E-mail: wiese@ling.uni-duesseldorf.de
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Extract

This paper addresses the relationship between phonology and morphology, using the vowel alternations of Standard German Umlaut and Ablaut as relevant examples. Umlaut is analysed as a completely unified process of vowel fronting which can be found in a wide variety of morphologically derived environments. A number of non-linear phonological analyses of Umlaut, involving a floating feature, are presented and compared. While Umlaut is interpreted, in current analyses, as a morphological rule, the present paper argues for its status as a lexical phonological rule.

Ablaut, on the other hand, is, synchronically, a totally unpredictable vowel change found mostly in the paradigms of so-called strong verbs. On the grounds of its internal and external behaviour, it is argued that this phenomenon must receive a completely different description by means of additional specifications for lexical entries.

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Articles
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Journal of Linguistics , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , March 1996 , pp. 113 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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