Two phonological rarities in Ingrian dialects

The paper considers two typologically rare phonological phenomena related to the development of sound lengthening and reduction that appear in two dialects of the severely endangered Ingrian language in North-Western Russia. The first is attested in the Soikkola dialect, and involves a phonological ternary quantity contrast of consonants. The second exists in the Lower Luga dialect, and involves a phonological opposition of full modal and reduced voiceless vowels. First, brief phonetic, phonological and typological profiles of these contrasts are given. Furthermore, I analyze their probable further evolution against the typological background of similar phenomena in genetically related and unrelated languages. In the end, I discuss the question of stability and maintenance forces of these contrasts, as well as their significance in light of general prosodic development of the Soikkola and Lower Luga dialects.