ABSTRACT
Sekani, like many other Athsbaskan languages, contains a phonological rule of Epenthesis. This chapter justifies the rule of Epenthesis. It provides a preliminary analysis of the domain and formulation of the rule. The chapter discusses the interaction of Epenthesis with an additional rule, Stray n Deletion. The syllabic element added by Epenthesis is present only when no syllabic levels 2-4 prefixes are added. To capture this generalization, Rice (1983) has proposed a syllable-based version of this rule to account for data in Slave which are analogous to these Sekani facts. Epenthesis applies in verbal forms which lack syllabic level 2-4 prefixes. Rice suggests that Epenthesis was originally a post-lexical phonological rule. There is good evidence for analyzing Epenthesis as a level 5 rule. This analysis eliminates the need for ordering Epenthesis after many level 2 rules. Moreover, if Epenthesis is a level 5 rule, it can follow Stray n Deletion, which clearly follows all prefixation.
