Distinctive [Voice] Does Not Imply Regressive Assimilation: Evidence from Swedish

In a recent paper, van Rooy & Wissing (2001) distinguish between the "broad interpretation" & the "narrow interpretation" of the feature [voice]. According to the broad interpretation, languages with a two way [voice] contrast may implement this contrast phonetically with any two of the following: voice onset precedes plosive release (prevoicing), voice onset immediately follows plosive release, voice onset substantially lags behind plosive release. According to the narrow interpretation [voice] is employed only in languages with prevoicing in word-initial stops. According to van Rooy & Wissing, languages with prevoicing always have only regressive voice assimilation. The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, we show that Swedish employs the feature [voice] on the narrow interpretation, but does not have regressive voice assimilation. Second, we present an OT account of the Swedish data which involves both features [voice] & [spread glottis]. 2 Appendixes, 33 References. Adapted from the source document