earticle

영어

This paper analyzes the dialectal variation of asymmetric coalescences in three dialects of Hiroshima Prefecture within the framework of Optimality Theory. As a type of coalescence of /ai/, three dialects shows variations. Hiroshima Japanese, mainly spoken in western area of Hiroshima Prefecture, coalesces to [a:]. Bingo Japanese, mainly spoken in the eastern area of Hiroshima Prefecture, coalesces to [æ:], Fukuyama Japanese, spoken in Fukuyama city which is central city of Bingo area, coalesces to [ja:]. Coalescences from other vowel sequences show the same patterns. I will analyze the coalescence types of three dialects based on factorial typology with gradient constraint and split of coalesced vowel with positional faithfulness and faith for line association.