Vowel-zero alternations in Government Phonology and Strict CV Theory

According to strict CV syllable theory, all coda-onset clusters are CVC sequences,where V is an empty nucleus. This hypothesis sharply distinguishes Strict CV from other autosegmental theories and has significant consequences on a theory of empty categories. In particular, the CVCV representation of ‘vowel-zero’ alternations must distinguish between two kinds of empty nuclei, the invisible one, contained in coda-onset clusters, and the one that surfaces in alternation sites. By looking at the ‘syncope-epenthesis’ phenomena of Emilian Italian dialects, this paper argues that such distinction is not empirically well founded and defends a more restrictive hypothesis about empty nuclei.