34 research outputs found
Supplementary materials for "Primal consonants and the evolution of consonant inventories" by Joan Bybee and Shelece Easterday, published in LDC (2022).
No full textThese are the supplementary materials for an article published in Language Dynamics and Change, entitled "Primal consonants and the evolution of consonant inventories" by Joan Bybee and Shelece Easterday, with DOI: 10.1163/22105832-bja10020. Lindblom and Maddieson (1988) observe that “basic” consonants occur in all consonant inventories, but that larger inventories additionally include “elaborated” consonants, which depart from neutral phonation modes, places, and manners of articulation. The hypothesis that larger inventories arise from the smaller ones via sound change is tested here using a database of phonetic processes cataloged from a sample of 81 genealogically diverse languages. The database contains processes that create a large majority of the proposed articulatory elaborations, strongly supporting this hypothesis. We further examine the question of whether the basic consonants are also created by sound change. Our somewhat surprising finding is that certain basic consonants (/p t k b d g m n ŋ s l/) are very rarely created anew, raising questions about how they come to be common in consonant inventories and how they survive processes of sound change and lexical replacement over long periods of time. These materials contain a list of the languages in AlloPhon and references consulted in this study, as well as the phonetic and allophonic processes used and the analyses presented. </p
Kala Phonology in a Typological and Regional Context
Full text linkThe Kala language is a Western Oceanic (Austronesian) language spoken in Papua New Guinea. This dissertation provides a phonological sketch of all four dialects of Kala, as well as detailed quantitative acoustic phonetic and phonological studies performed on three dynamic processes found in Southern Kala. These include vowel deletion, vowel laxing, and nasality and nasalization of vowels. All of these processes show unusual and unpredicted characteristics that place them in liminal spaces between cross-linguistic categories. Finally, a wider context is provided through a phonological typology survey of 50 nearby languages, illuminating Kala phonology's unique position amongst its relatives and neighbors.Ph.D
Preservation and loss of a rare contrast: palatalization of rhotics in Slavic
Full text linkThis chapter discusses the rise and development of the cross-linguistically rare contrast between plain and palatalized rhotics in Slavic. We observe that the contrast, which developed as a result of yod-palatalization (jotation) in Common Slavic, has been preserved only in languages which introduced additional palatalized rhotics as a result of palatalization before front vowels. We argue that this correlation is not coincidental, but that the functional load of the contrast as well as its integration into a correlation of plain and palatalized consonants were instrumental for the preservation of the rare contrast. However, only a few of the languages which had originally preserved the contrast still have palatalized rhotics today. In others we find either loss or stabilization of the contrast by altering the palatalized rhotic. The proposed analysis sheds light on the factors potentially involved in the development of rare contrasts
Phonotactic complexity in interaction with other systems of language structure: some crosslinguistic patterns
No full textInternational audienceThis study investigates the relationship between the phonotactic patterns of word-initial biconsonantal sequences and morphological complexity. In a sample of 32 unrelated languages, the common claim that the phonotactic patterns of heteromorphemic and tautomorphemic consonant clusters are structurally different from one another is tested. Specifically, the manner of articulation patterns of heteromorphemic and tautomorphemic word-initial biconsonantal sequences are analyzed and compared.While some crosslinguistically frequent shapes are more likely to occur in heteromorphemic contexts, heteromorphemic patterns are in fact more restricted than tautomorphemic patterns in a number of other ways. They are less numerous and diverse, both within and across languages. Additionally, typologically rare and purportedly "dispreferred" word-initial consonant sequences are likely to occur in solely tautomorphemic contexts in the sample. Four general language types are identified according to interactions between the patterns of word-initial CC inventories and morphological complexity
Highly complex syllable structure: a typological study of its phonological characteristics and diachronic development
Full text linkThe syllable is a natural unit of organization in spoken language. Strong cross-linguistic tendencies in syllable size and shape are often explained in terms of a universal preference for the CV structure, a type which is also privileged in abstract models of the syllable. Syllable patterns such as those found in Itelmen qsaɬtxt͡ʃ ‘follow!’ and Tashlhiyt tsskʃftstt ‘you dried it (f)’ are both typologically rare and theoretically marginalized. This dissertation is an investigation of the properties of languages with highly complex syllable patterns. The aims are (i) to establish whether these languages share other linguistic features in common such that they constitute a distinct linguistic type, and (ii) to identify possible diachronic paths and natural mechanisms by which these patterns come about over time. These issues are investigated in a diversified sample of 100 languages, 24 of which have highly complex syllable patterns.
Languages with highly complex syllable structure are characterized by a number of phonological and morphological features which serve to set them apart from languages with simpler syllable patterns: these include specific segmental and suprasegmental properties, a higher prevalence of vowel reduction processes, higher rates of morphologically complex clusters, and higher average morpheme/word ratios. The results suggest that highly complex syllable structure is a linguistic type distinct from but sharing some characteristics of other proposed holistic language types. The results also point to word stress and specific patterns of gestural organization as playing important roles in the development of these patterns out of simpler syllable structures
A typological and diachronic study
Full text linkThe syllable is a natural unit of organization in spoken language whose strongest cross-linguistic patterns are often explained in terms of a universal preference for the CV structure. Syllable patterns involving long sequences of consonants are both typologically rare and theoretically marginalized, with few approaches treating these as natural or unproblematic structures. This book is an investigation of the properties of languages with highly complex syllable patterns. The two aims are (i) to establish whether these languages share other linguistic features in common such that they constitute a distinct linguistic type, and (ii) to identify possible diachronic paths and natural mechanisms by which these patterns come about in the history of a language. These issues are investigated in a diversified sample of 100 languages, 25 of which have highly complex syllable patterns
Phonotactic complexity in interaction with other systems of language structure: some crosslinguistic patterns
No full textInternational audienceThis study investigates the relationship between the phonotactic patterns of word-initial biconsonantal sequences and morphological complexity. In a sample of 32 unrelated languages, the common claim that the phonotactic patterns of heteromorphemic and tautomorphemic consonant clusters are structurally different from one another is tested. Specifically, the manner of articulation patterns of heteromorphemic and tautomorphemic word-initial biconsonantal sequences are analyzed and compared.While some crosslinguistically frequent shapes are more likely to occur in heteromorphemic contexts, heteromorphemic patterns are in fact more restricted than tautomorphemic patterns in a number of other ways. They are less numerous and diverse, both within and across languages. Additionally, typologically rare and purportedly "dispreferred" word-initial consonant sequences are likely to occur in solely tautomorphemic contexts in the sample. Four general language types are identified according to interactions between the patterns of word-initial CC inventories and morphological complexity
Highly complex syllable structure
Full text linkThe syllable is a natural unit of organization in spoken language whose strongest cross-linguistic patterns are often explained in terms of a universal preference for the CV structure. Syllable patterns involving long sequences of consonants are both typologically rare and theoretically marginalized, with few approaches treating these as natural or unproblematic structures. This book is an investigation of the properties of languages with highly complex syllable patterns. The two aims are (i) to establish whether these languages share other linguistic features in common such that they constitute a distinct linguistic type, and (ii) to identify possible diachronic paths and natural mechanisms by which these patterns come about in the history of a language. These issues are investigated in a diversified sample of 100 languages, 25 of which have highly complex syllable patterns
Consonant strengthening: A crosslinguistic survey and articulatory proposal
No full textInternational audienceAbstract Given the common intuition that consonant lenition occurs more often than fortition, we formulate this as a hypothesis, defining these sound change types in terms of decrease or increase in oral constriction. We then test the hypothesis on allophonic processes in a diverse sample of 81 languages. With the hypothesis confirmed, we examine the input and output of such sound changes in terms of manner and place of articulation and find that while decrease in oral constriction (weakening) affects most consonant types, increase in oral constriction (strengthening) is largely restricted to palatal and labial glides. We conclude that strengthening does not appear to be the simple inverse of weakening. In conclusion we suggest some possible avenues for explaining how glide strengthening may result from articulatory production pressures and speculate that strengthening and weakening can be encompassed under a single theory of sound change resulting from the automatization of production
