How common is r-Epenthesis?

Recent work on consonant epenthesis has argued that the insertion of [r] as a hiatus breaker is phonologically natural (De Lacy 2006, Uffmann 2007). This claim is argued to derive support from the high cross-linguistic frequency of (intervocalic) r-Epenthesis. The goal of the present article is to i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Folia linguistica 2013-04, Vol.47 (1), p.55-88
Main Author: Hall, T. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
consonant epenthesis
Descriptive studies and applied theories
Dialectology
hiatus
Linguistics
naturalness
Optimality Theory
Phonology
r-Epenthesis
Sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics
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Summary:Recent work on consonant epenthesis has argued that the insertion of [r] as a hiatus breaker is phonologically natural (De Lacy 2006, Uffmann 2007). This claim is argued to derive support from the high cross-linguistic frequency of (intervocalic) r-Epenthesis. The goal of the present article is to investigate the original sources for the languages which are assumed to have a regular synchronic r-Epenthesis rule. It is concluded - on the basis of these sources - that there is very little solid crosslinguistic support for that process. If correct, this finding means that r-Epenthesis in many varieties of English cannot be argued to be phonologically natural on the basis of non-related languages with that process.
ISSN:0165-4004
1614-7308
DOI:10.1515/flin.2013.004