Feature Geometry of Vowels and Co-occurrence Restrictions in Cantonese

This paper discusses three different co-occurrence restrictions in Cantonese: labial, dorsal and coronal. The labial and dorsal co-occurrence restrictions are dissimilatory in nature while the coronal one is assimilatory. Recent works in Feature Geometry (Clements 1985, Mester 1986 and Sagey 1986) provide a framework to investigate these co-occurrence restrictions. I propose a different feature geometry for vowels and show that this revision together with a mechanism of checking Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) violations, accounts for the co-occurrence restrictions in Cantonese in a unified way. After a brief introduction to the sounds of Cantonese, I discuss the three co-occurrence restrictions in question. I argue that the distinction between fronmess and backness in vowels is due to the presence and absence of the coronal articulator. Moreover, the degree of closure also needs to be specified for vowels. It will be shown that a pair-wise checking from right to left can account for both the labial and dorsal restrictions. I conclude with a discussion of the consequences and implication of this proposal