Abstract
This paper seeks to evaluate phonetic (articulatory and acoustic) and phonological explanations of vowel coalescence over intervening consonants, using data mainly drawn from Ryukyuan dialects. Coalescence over an intervening h is attested in Yaeyama, Okinawan, and Amami dialects. This coalescence receives both an acoustic phonetic explanation, and an explanation within a featuregeometrical view of phonology. Also attested in Okinawan and Amami dialects is a coalescence of vowels across an intervening r. It is argued that acoustic phonetics fails to account for this, but a straightforward phonological account is available.
