CHAPTER 4. SCOTS GAELIC 4.1. Introduction
The case studies in chapters 1 and 2 demonstrate that gestural phasing depends on two factors: the segments involved and the syllable structure. Heterorganic consonant clusters are more likely to have an acoustic release, and sonorants overlap better with vowels than other consonants do. Also, heterosyllabic clusters are often phased differently than tautosyllabic clusters. Scots Gaelic and Hocank, discussed in this and the following chapter, show that gestural phasing is affected by a third factor: constituent structure within the syllable. A sonorant adjacent to a vowel can be placed in one of two structural positions, which differ in the "closeness" of the vowel and the sonorant, and this affects the phasing of the sonorant with respect to the vowel and other consonants. In the closer position, the vowel and the sonorant are adjoined into a single unit that I call , which is essentially equivalent to the traditional idea of the syllable nucleus. Two segments dominated by are treated by certain alignment constraints as if they were in the same position. In effect, the two gestures compete to occupy the same stretch in time, and this causes them to be centered on the same timepoint. The sonorant gesture is roughly in the middle of the vowel gesture, resulting in an intrusive vowel that is unusually long. I call this "symmetrical vowel intrusion". 4.1.1. Background: dialects, transcription conventions This section provides some background facts for the more detailed presentations of data that follow. Scots Gaelic has vowel intrusion, traditionally known as svarabhakti or epenthesis, in many but not all heterorganic RC clusters. A full chart of clusters with and without vowel intrusion is given in the appendix. The clusters that trigger vowel intrusion occur only after initial syllables, which are always stressed. The preceding vowel must be short for intrusion to occur. Vowel intrusion can also occur before hiatus or word boundaries, as discussed in section 3.1. (133) Barra dialect a. / L / b. / N' / → → Borgstrm 1940:153, 212 'hunting' 'hemp'

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