Place asymmetry and markedness of labials in Japanese

要旨

The voiceless labial stop has been recognized to be a marked segment in Japanese phonology. For instance, singleton [p] does not occur in Yamato items, and it exhibits a restricted distribution in the Sino-Japanese items. However, less attention has been paid to the place asymmetry in loanwords. In this paper, I explore loanwords and show that special characteristics of labials are indeed found here, too. I further attempt to capture and formalize this property of labials, as compared to the other places of articulation, in the Japanese system as a whole.

主題