Phonology and phonetics of English stress and vowel reduction

The reduced energy level of unstressed vowels compromises perceptibility of vowel distinctions, leading to the ‘neutralization’ of some of the distinctions. The difference between the collapse of most vowels into [∂] in English, and more restricted effects in other languages is shown to be managed by constraint ranking within OT. The same factors that compromise perceptibility of V-quality are shown to also compromise perceptibility of C-place in a following coda, however, and this is argued to underlie certain failed vowel reductions, as in the final syllable of Àdiróndack. Coronals differ in not comparably blocking reduction, as in Connéctic[∂]t, a property that is attributed to the notoriously ‘unmarked’ character of coronals: since neutralizations are quite generally to ‘unmarked’ values, coronals are – as it were – ‘pre-neutralized’ for place, and are thus insensitive to whether or not a preceding vowel provides good place cues, thus permitting vowel reduction. The account of vowel reduction based on this kind of V-to-C interaction is proved superior to traditional ones based solely on lack of stress, which would not only face serious difficulties in providing just the ‘right’ stresses, but would also miss important links between the distribution of vowel reduction and the structure of word-final clusters, which are correctly captured here.