THE DRIFT TOWARDS FINAL OPEN SYLLABLES IN SULAWESI

While removal of consonants from word-final position is common in Oceania, it is relatively rare in Western Malayo-Polynesian languages. An exception is the island of Sulawesi where final consonants have either been eliminated or considerably reduced in number in most languages. Strategies for achieving this have included loss, retention by means of a paragogic syllable, reduction to glottal stop, and velarization of nasals. While there are significant differences among these processes, with most of them not actually resulting in open syllables, there are compelling reasons for regarding them all as having the same target, and it is argued that they are all part of a drift towards final open syllables in this linguistic area. In a number of language groups, several of the processes occurred together and appear to have been in competition as methods for "dealing with" final consonants. Of particular interest is the fact that addition of a support or paragogic syllable became the most favored method in this respect, replacing other processes in a number of linguistic groups. Even in languages in which all final consonants were earlier lost, borrowings are now regularized by addition of a paragogic vowel rather than by loss of the consonant. Despite the strength of the tendency towards final open syllables, there are changes counter to the general drift in some Sulawesi languages, in which closed final syllables have been reintroduced.