GDE syllabification – A generalization of Dell and Elmedlaoui's syllabification algorithm

Abstract

This article shows how Dell and Elmedlaoui's well-known analysis of syllabification in Imdlawn Tashlhiyt Berber can be generalized so that it can be successfully applied in a much wider range of languages. Khalka Mongolian, which has extensive epenthesis and complex codas, could be a textbook example of templatic syllabification. Nevertheless, it is successfully analyzed by the generalization, with coda sonority sequencing derived as a consequence the basic idea of building syllable structure at sonority maxima, which is the heart of Dell and Elmedlaoui's analysis. The ultimate aim is to extend the theory to a universal theory of syllabification, supplanting templatic derivational analyses. This article should be viewed as a contribution towards developing such a universal theory.