A Post-Bailey paradox in Newfoundland English phonology

Abstract

A key principle of variationists such as C.-J. N. Bailey and R.W. Fasold states that phonological change proceeds via variable rules from HEAVIER (i.e. more phonetically favourable) environments to LIGHTER (i.e. less phonetically favourable) environments. The extensive mixing of "clear" /l/ Irish dialects with "dark" /l/ English dialects in Newfoundland generally supports this principle, for in most such mixed lects "clear" (palatalized) allophones of postvocalic /l/ are most frequent after high-front (palatal) vowels. However, our Preliminary Dialect Mapping of Newfoundland reveals a minority of such mixed lects with exactly the opposite distribution. However, this apparent anomaly arises from our exclusive use of articulatory features. If we allow features based on perception, we see that our minority lects could originate naturally enough through the acquisition of "dark" or "clear" allophones in the LIGHTER environments where they are most perceptible, rather than in the HEAVIER environments where they are least perceptible. Perhaps such unusual acquisition results from abnormally conscious efforts to assimilate linguistically. In any case such minority lects throw light on the possible origins of the controversial class of rules called flip-flop rules (or exchange rules, or switching rules) in generative phonology.