Semitic Phonology and Preference Laws for Syllable Structure

Lutz E. Edzard

The theory of sound change according to preference laws for syllable structure has recently been firmly established and successfully applied to Germanic (with reference to other Indo-European) languages (cf. Vennemann 1988). An application of this theory to Semitic (and other Afro-Asiatic language families) seems attractive as an explanation of sound change which highlights the motivation behind the processes involved. In this paper I propose an analysis of a range of issues including vowel-epenthesis, syncope, assimilation, haplology in Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, Semitic languages of Ethiopia, Sidamo (Cushitic) and Tamazight Berber. I hope to show that the phonological concept of "improvement" -tendencies with respect to syllable structure in tandem with the research done so far in Autosegmental and Lexical Phonology yields important results.

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