Buriat dorsal epenthesis is not reproduced with novel morphemes

Abstract

In Buriat, the consonant realised contextually as dorsal or uvular alternates with zero at stem-suffix boundaries. This alternation has been analysed as phonological epenthesis and has been known as a challenge to the existing theories of phonological markedness. The analysis of this alternation has also been debated. This paper presents new fieldwork and experimental “wug”-testing evidence addressing the productivity of the reported epenthesis pattern. The results do not fully support the phonological insertion account of the alternation. An alternative analysis of Buriat dorsal-zero alternation in terms of floating features is proposed.