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PrefAceANDAcKNOWLeDgmeNtS
Overthepastseveraldecades,therehasbeenahugeincreaseinthenumberof
studiesoftheconsonantalplacefeatures.Thishasbroughtabouttheaccumula-
tionofalargeamountofnewevidenceandknowledge,andinconsequencehas
contributedtoaprevailingviewthatplacefeaturesareoneofthebeststudied
areasinphonology.Whatismore,thereislitledisagreementaboutthemajor
regionsoflabial,coronal,dorsal,radical,andlaryngeal.However,acloserlook
atthisidyllicpicturerevealssomecracks,anditturnsoutthattherearestill
numerousproblemscallingforexplanation.Forinstance,ithasbeenrepeatedly
pointedoutthateventhoughthemajordivisionofconsonantsintoclassesis
wellestablished,somesoundsdonotappeartofitneatlyintothesecategories,
suchas,labio-dentals,whichinvolvebothalabialandacoronalcomponent,
andsomeguturals,whichpaternwithbothdorsalsandradicals,nottomen-
tionthecontinuingdebatearoundthenatureofthecoronalsub-places.One
suchparticularproblemwillbemadetheobjectofinvestigationinthepresent
study.Specifically,thisbookseekstooferanexplanationforthephonological
paterningoftwoarticulatorilydistantconsonantclasses:labialsanddorsals.
Inthisway,itcontributestothebroaderdiscussionofsegmentalphonologyor,
moreexactly,totheissueoftheconsonantalplacefeatures.Itmustbeclarified
rightattheoutsetthatinthisstudythetermdorsalisusedtocovervelarsand
uvularsonly.Otherdorsalconsonants,suchasradicals(guturalconsonants)
andlaryngeals,arenotincludedinthefollowingdiscussion,andsotheyare
onlybrieflymentionedwhenappropriate.
Thedeepcomplexityoftheissueiscausedbythecuriouslyuniquecharac-
terofthelabial-dorsalmutualinteractions,inthattheyinvolvearadicalchange
intheplaceofarticulation.Morefrequentsoundchanges,bycontrast,involve
achangeonlyinthemannerofarticulation,forexample,[p]>[f],orpossi-
blyachangetoanadjacentplaceofarticulation,forinstance,palatalization.
Labial-velarchangesalsodistinguishthemselvesfromotherchangesbecause
theycantakeplaceinbothdirections.Furthermore,therelationshipbetween
labialsanddorsalsisfrequentlymanifestedindirectlyviavariousapparently
