ABSTRACT
In Maltese Arabic, the imperfective form of the triliteral verb is formed by the addition of a prefix CV- to the verb stem. The quality of this vowel is typically identical to the underlying vocalism of the imperfective stem. It is proposed that default assignment for place of articulation in Maltese reduces to a single default rule which assigns the feature regardless of whether the segment in question is a consonant or vowel. This chapter discusses the realization of the prefix vowel before stem-initial coronal obstruents. It shows why assuming that the quality of this vowel is the result of default assignment is problematic. The chapter describes the rule of Vowel Coronal Assimilation, and focuses on the rule of Consonant Coronal Assimilation and the default consonant in Maltese. It discusses the parallelisms between the rules of Consonant and Vowel Coronal Assimilation and between the realizations of the default consonant and vowel in Maltese.
