Hardening and weakening in Kwakiutl
Date
1976
Authors
Wilson, Peter John
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Abstract
This thesis demonstrates that the Kwakiutl processes known as hardening and weakening are based on two synchronic phonological processes; assimilation and deletion. Hardening sees stem-final voiceless obstruents assimilate glottalization, while weakening sees them assimilate voicing. The following suffix-initial segments that cause this assimilation are subsequently deleted in certain environments. Rules are presented which generate the appropriate hardened or weakened form. To this end, the phonological processes involved in hardening and weakening, particularly assimilation and deletion are examined and analysed.
Previous work, done mainly by Sapir, assumed that hardening and weakening are not based .on synchronic phonological processes. Instead, he hypothesized an historical solution which assumed that assimilation and deletion were the cause of hardening and weakening, but failed to note that the processes are synchronic. This thesis, therefore, furthers previous work by showing that hardening and weakening are based on synchronic processes, and begins the task of constructing an encompassing analysis.
Unfortunately, I am not able to show that every occurrence of hardening or weakening is predictable. In the Conclusion, I speculate that the system of relative phonological strength proposed by Foley may account for this irregularity. It is also possible that the non-predictable data is historically based. In this thesis, however, I concentrate mainly on the predictable forms and leave aside the more obscure and less general problems for later work.