Contextual Neutralization of Vowel Length: Evidence from Dutch

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Abstract
Based on recent experimental studies of word-final devoicing in languages like German and Catalan which show production differences between the neutralized and nonneutralized consonants, it has been claimed that phonological neutralization is ‘incomplete’. It seems, however, that this claim is quite premature given that most studies have considered only the neutralizing phenomenon of word-final devoicing. In this paper, we examine a qualitatively different neutralizing phenomenon – the neutralization of vowel length in open syllables. We compared the duration of Dutch long vowels which are derived by an open-syllable lenghtening rule to those that are underlyingly long (cf. [da:len] < /dal+en/ vs. [ba:len] < /ba:l+en/). Our study shows that there is no difference in the duration between these vowels and that, at least, in this instance, contextual neutralization does lead to identical surface realization of distinct phonological segments.

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