ABSTRACT
Palatalization is generally used as a cover-term to refer to the various assimilations that consonants undergo in the context of front vowels. This chapter illustrates how a feature theory in which front vowels are elucidates such processes, thus building on the proposal originally developed in Clements. Palatalization is an optional rule characteristic of all varieties of Acadian French. Before a front vowel, a velar consonant may be realized as a velar, a palatalized velar or a palato-alveolar affricate. The chapter reviews the assumptions necessary to account for Palatalization and Coronalization within a framework in which front vowels are specified with the tongue body feature. Front vowels form a natural class by virtue of their common specification. To summarize, in Sagey's account, Palatalization is characterized as a common phonological process. The consonant assimilates to the quality of a front vowel by spreading a single feature.
