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18
PartOne.ContrastiveStudiesofLanguageStructures
phonology,whichingeneralareextremelyscarce,canbefoundin
theexistingliterature.
ThehistoryofVilamovianstartsinthe13thcentury
.However,to-
daythelanguagefacesimminentextinctionasthenumberofitsnative
speakersisdramaticallylowandamountstoabout50people.Through-
outtheages,thelanguagehasbeeninfluencedbyGerman,Dutch,
EnglishorPolish.Somestudies,forexample,Ritchie(2012),pointout
thatVilamovianbelongstotheAnglo-FrisianbranchoftheGermanic
family
,thusbeingasisterlanguageofEnglish,Frisian,andLowGer-
man.Itsoriginraisesthequestionofpossiblesystemicamnityofthe
relatedlanguages.Henceourattentionwillbefocusedonthestructure
ofphonologicaldomainsaswellasthesystem-specificprinciplesof
domainorganizationthataretypicalofVilamovianandEnglish.Asno
phonologicalanalysisofVilamovianhasyetbeenprovided,thismod-
uleofitsgrammaticalsystemcallsforin-depthstudies.Thephonetic
descriptionsofthelanguage(e.g.,Kleczkowski1920),mainlygeneral
andimprecise,makethistaskparticularlychallenging1.
Thearticleisorganizedasfollows.Westartwithabriefoutlineofthe
government-basedapproachtodomainstructure.Thisdiscussionwillbe
followedbyanoutlineofEnglish-specificprinciplesofdomainstructure.
Next,weshallexplorethelegitimateconsonantclustersappearingatthe
edgesofphonologicaldomainsandsuggestaVilamovian-specificparam-
eterondomainstructure.Also,theinternalorganizationofVilamovian
syllabicconstituentswillbeconsidered.Weshallcomparetheresultsof
thisinvestigationwiththecorrespondingaspectsofthephonological
systemsofEnglish.Itisnoteworthythattheconclusionswearriveat
areregardedasanintroductiontoafuturecomplexcomparativestudy
exploringtheefectsoflanguagecontactandestablishingthemajor
principlesofinter-systemrelations.
102Licensing,government,anddomainstructure
ThetheoreticalmodelappliedinthisstudywillbethatofGov-
ernmentPhonologyasdefinedinKaye,Lowenstamm,andVergnaud
1Kleczkowski’s(1920)workwaswritteninthefirsthalfofthe20thcenturywhenno
spectrographicanalysisofthesoundscouldbeproduced.Hencethedescriptionsofthe
soundsheofersarebasicallyfoundedontheauthor’sperceptionswhichcanobviouslybe
imprecise.Luckily
,intheinvestigationfocusedonthestructureofphonologicaldomains
weshallnotneedtorelyonthephoneticdetailsofsoundarticulation.
