Aspiration, Preaspiration, Deaspiration, Sonorant Devoicing and Spirantization in Icelandic

This paper presents a novel analysis of aspiration, preaspiration, and the related phenomena of sonorant devoicing and spirantization in an Optimality Theoretic framework. Central to the analysis are two constraints: one requires that the feature [spread glottis] be shared by adjacent consonants, and another prohibits moraic [spread glottis] stops. Aspirated stops are singleton stops that are specified as [spread glottis]. Unaspirated stops either have no [spread glottis] feature or share a [spread glottis] feature with another consonant. There is no movement of aspiration or the [spread glottis] feature from one segment to another as in earlier analyses. This account is fully in accord with phonetic descriptions and is of theoretical interest because it supports the fission analysis of preaspiration and is consistent with the assumption that geminates are moraic consonants.