The reality of Rukai Glides

Abstract Prosodic details offer valuable insight into the phonology of languages, but prosodically-grounded analysis alone does not reveal the whole picture. Benjamin Macaulay’s prosodic study into Rukai provides valuable insights into the syllable structure of the language, but phonological alternations, particularly the alternation of glides and fricatives, as well as the historical source of glides, suggests that glides still form an important part of Rukai’s phonology. Rather than doing away wtih glides, as Macaulay suggests, this study proposes a compromise position that acknowledges the utility of Macaulay’s prosodic analysis in many cases but keeps the glides [j] and [w] as part of the phonology of Rukai.