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Does Gokana really have no syllables? Or: what's so great about being universal?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2011

Larry M. Hyman
Larry M. Hyman
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Abstract

This paper is concerned with syllable universals, especially the claim that all languages have syllables. Expanding beyond my earlier work, I take a new look at Gokana, the major counterexample to the universal syllable, and present overlooked (but ambiguous) evidence for a weight-insensitive bisyllabic trochee. After demonstrating the theory-dependent nature of absolute universals, and distinguishing between analytic vs. descriptive claims, I focus on the latter as a means of ‘normalising’ the discussion of what constitutes evidence for the syllable, both in Gokana and in general. A typological approach is argued for in which languages differ in the nature and extent of the ‘activation’ of phonological properties, with Gokana representing a language which only marginally activates the syllable, if at all. The paper ends by situating the issue within the context of recent discussions of universals and diversity (Evans & Levinson 2009), which have not dealt primarily with phonology.

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Phonology , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , May 2011 , pp. 55 - 85
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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