Ühest fonotaktilisest kollisioonist (Kihnu näitel)
On a Phonotactic Collision (on the example of Kihnu subdialect)

Summary/Abstract: a collision of two opposite forces – progressive vowel harmony and regressive palatalization, both at work in the Estonian subdialect of kihnu – is analysed. For the Estonian sound system in general, palatalization is a factor disturbing symmetry and creating disbalance. at kihnu, in particular, we hear methatetic palatalization, which consists in a clear e-segment pronounced between the vowel of a stressed syllable and the consonant to follow the vowel (e.g. suepp, voekk, vaeng etc). the phonotactic conflict concerns words with a diphthongized long a, transcribed by Estonian dialectologists as puät < paat ’boat’; ruäv < kraav ’ditch’; kuäs < kaas ’lid’. as the vowel harmony dominating in kihnu subdialect does not allow for clusters containing both velar and palatal vowels we seem to have a clear case of anomaly. However, interviews with eight local informants reveal that due to an interplay of different linguistic levels no direct conflict is perceived by the speakers. notably, the phonological system of the speaker contains a triphthong /uae/, the phonetic realizations (allophones) of which may sound ua, uae or uä.

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