Melodic Complexity Evidence from Arabic

Asst. Lec. Kareem Ashoush Mahdi, By

	Melodic Complexity Evidence from Arabic
Journal of Al-qadisiya in arts and educational sciense
Article 1, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 1-11 PDF (0 K)
Author
By Asst. Lec. Kareem Ashoush Mahdi
Abstract
In this paper, a new lenition trajectory and a new element are added to the Element Theory by John Harris 1990 to support its role in the phonological government. The new trajectory ’Deemphasisation’ proposed by the researcher is used to throw some light upon the internal structure of four emphatic consonant sounds /ŧ/,/dˁ/,/ɚˁ/and/ȿ/ to be lenited into /t/,/d/,/ ɚ/and/s/ and the element ’E’ is for the phonological representation of the mentioned sounds. Since both, the emphasized and deemphasized couple of the four Arabic consonant phonemes, are of the same place of articulation, manner of articulation and the same state of vocal cords, deemphasisation is considered a new phenomenon which is proposed as a new trajectory different from ’debuccalisation’, ’spirantisation’ and ’vocalisation’ by John Harris and ’E’ is a new element different from labial U, palatal I, none V, coronal R, occluded ?, noise h, nasal N, stiff vocal cords H and slack vocal cords L proposed by Kaye , lowenstamm and Vergnaud (1985). THEORETICAL BACKGROUND In government phonology, phonological constituents are hierarchically organized and binary branching. The relationship between adjacent segments is asymmetrical and segment in governed position is no more complex than its governor, KLV.1985-1990. Element Theory by John Harris, 1990 expresses these segments in terms of univalent elements each of which has an independent phonetic interpretation and there is a direct relationship between the complexity of these segments and the governing role assumed by the position it occupies. Elements of a segment are of marked and unmarked attributes with charm values (+,-, o) to specify their ability to occupy a particular position ( U˚ labial ,I˚ Palatal, V˚ none , R˚ coronal , ?˚ occluded, h˚ noise, nasal ,H stiff vocal cords , slack vocal cords . The complexity of a segment is measured by calculating the number of elements a segment has. A governed segment may face some sort of pressure to reduce its complexity by losing elements from its internal structure, Decomposition or it may receive elements to increase its complexity which means Composition. The theory does not have redundant rules or underspecified values

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