34 Chapter 2 Phonology
lyses in which the conditioning environment depends on a feature that they refer
to as [lowered larynx] which is manifested in the voiced and voiceless aspirated
consonants.
Given the conditioning environment, the non-high vowels are expected
following [l], [r], [] and [s]. And that is what the data show when considering
only word-initial [l], [r], and [s]. (Recall that [] does not occur syllable initial-
ly.) However, there are data in the previous sets that show instances of high
vowels following [l] and [r]. Consider the data in (28), which also include forms
with [].
(28) non-high V high V
[ɔlɛ] ‘write’ [bilɤ] ‘when’
[məlɛ] ‘buy’ [bɨlli] ‘buy’
[kɛrɛm] ‘send’ [purus] ‘dog’
[kərrɛs] ‘knife’ [ɨrrɤp] ‘belch’
[napaɛ] ‘arrive at’ [ɲabɤi] ‘put on’
The data in (28) indicate that the vowels that follow [l], [r], and [] match the
height of the vowels that immediately precede them. This is true for [l] and [r]
even when geminated. These segments are thus transparent for the determina-
tion of the quality of the vowels that follow them. That non-high vowels follow
[l] and [r] when these consonants occur word-initially can be attributed to the
fact that there is no word-internal conditioning vowel that precedes [l] and [r]
in this environment and so the default non-high vowel occurs. The glides [w]
and [j] show the same effect. However, when internal to a word, it can be ar-
gued that these glides are epenthesized (see section 2.5.1). If so, then the rule
determining vowel height can operate prior to the epenthesis, in which case it is
unnecessary to consider these elements ‘transparent’ in the same sense as [l],
[r], and [].
Finally, [s] behaves differently yet. Internal to a morpheme, [s] is
followed by non-high vowels. This was illustrated for word-initial [s] above,
and is also clear in the following:
(29) [bisa] ‘can’
[t.ɤsar] ‘base/foundation’
[nɛsɛr] ‘pity/love’
[pasar] ‘market’
Regardless of whether or not the vowel of the preceding syllable is high, such as
[i] or [], or non-high, such as [] or [a], the following vowel is non-high. How-
ever, at a morpheme boundary, the height of the vowel following [s] depends on