Morphophonemic exceptions and phonetic distance

A given morphophonemic alternation set often includes individual alternations where the phonetic distance between the alternants is greater in some pairs than in others. We hypothesize that, where such a difference in phonetic distance exists, the alternation will be more likely to be lost when the phonetic distance is greater. This is illustrated by examples from Welsh (Lenition), Finnish (Consonant Gradation), Hungarian (Palatalization), and Turkish (Velar Softening). Alternative explanations, in particular avoidance of ambiguity, are shown to be insufficient, as is the view that the existence of exceptions to certain pairs in an alternation set necessitates the recognition of distinct rules, one exceptionless and the other violable. The present paper is concerned with exceptions to morphophonemic alternations, with items which exceptionally fail to show some morphophonemic alternation that is the general rule in the language concerned. The data are taken from Welsh, Finnish, and Hungarian, with a brief excursus on Turkish, and the aim of the paper is to demonstrate the general principle that where a given morphophonemic alternation involves greater phonetic distance between the alternants in some instances than in others, then the alternation will be more likely to be lost in the former set. Particular classes of words where alternation is more likely to be absent include (partially or totally) unassimilated loanwords, proper names, and nursery words; however, the emphasis of the present paper is on the relevance of phonetic distance, not on the characterization of which nonphonetically defined classes are particularly likely to be exceptions. For the purposes of the present paper, the phonetic distance between two segments may be defined as the number of features (within some Linguistics 17 (1979), 51-60. © Mouton Publishers.