The 18 th Manchester Phonology Meeting 20-22 May, 2010 1 VARIATION AND VOWEL HARMONY: THE CASE OF HEBREW LOANWORDS Evan-Gary Cohen evan@post.tau.ac.il Tel-Aviv University A. INTRODUCTION (1) Basic assumptions a. Grammatical principles may come from one of two sources: i. The native grammar – L1 grammar ii. Universal principles – UG b. Lexicon structure and grammar i. Lexicons are divided into strata (Itô&Mester 1999) or core-periphery (Paradis&LaCharité 1997). ii. There are productive principles the lexicon's periphery (e.g. loanwords) which might not apply systematically to the native lexicon. iii. This may be evidence that we can access UG when the effects of L1 grammar are weakened (TETU, McCarthy and Prince 1994). (2) Goals a. To show that vowel harmony, a non-native process in Modern Hebrew (henceforth: Hebrew), nevertheless applies to certain areas of the lexicon. This application of vowel harmony supports an approach that vowel harmony is universally motivated, part of UG. b. To demonstrate that UG may apply in a (seemingly) sporadic manner even in what appear to be stable grammatical systems. (3) Structure of this talk a. Is there harmony in the native Hebrew lexicon? (§B) b. Vowel adaptation in Hebrew loanwords (§C) c. Vowel harmony in Hebrew: An ODT (Cole&Kisseberth 1994) analysis (§D) d. Concluding remarks (§E)