A study in synchronic and diachronic phonology

Synopsis: Velar Fronting (VF) is the name for any synchronic or diachronic phonological process shifting the velar place of articulation to the palatal region of the vocal tract. A well-known case of VF in Standard German is the rule specifying that the fricative [x] assimilates to [ç] after front segments. VF also refers to the change from velar sounds like [ɣ k g ŋ] to palatals ([ʝ c ɟ ɲ]). The book provides a thorough investigation of VF in German dialects: Data are drawn from over 300 original sources for varieties that are (or were) spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other countries. VF differs geographically along three parameters: (A) triggers, (B) targets, and (C) outputs. VF triggers (=A) are typically defined according to vowel height: In some systems VF is induced only by high front vowels, in others by high and mid front vowels, and in yet others by high, mid, and low front vowels. Some varieties treat consonants ([r l n]) as triggers, while others do not. VF can be nonassimilatory, in which case the rule applies even in the context of back segments. In many varieties of German, VF targets (=B) consist of the two fricatives [x ɣ], but in other dialects the targets comprise [x] but not [ɣ]. In some places, VF affects not only [x ɣ], but also velar stops and the velar nasal. The output of VF (=C) is typically palatal [ç] (given the input [x]), but in many other places it is the alveolopalatal [ɕ]. A major theme is the way in which VF interacts with synchronic and diachronic changes creating or eliminating structures which can potentially undergo it or trigger it. In many dialects the relationship between velars ([x]) and palatals ([ҫ]) is transparent because velars only occur in the back vowel context and palatals only when adjacent to front sounds. In that type of system, independent processes can either feed VF (by creating additional structures which the latter can undergo), or they can bleed it (by eliminating potential structures to which VF could apply). In other dialects, VF is opaque. In one opaque system, both velars ([x]) and palatals ([ҫ]) surface in the context of front segments. Thus, in addition to expected front vowel plus palatal sequences ([…iç…]), there are also unexpected ones consisting of front vowel plus velar ([…ix…]). In a second type of opaque system, velars and palatals are found in the context of back segments; hence, expected sequences such as […iç…] occur in addition to unexpected ones like […ɑç…]

Velar fronting in German dialects

Velar Fronting (VF) is the name for any synchronic or diachronic phonological process shifting the velar place of articulation to the palatal region of the vocal tract. A well-known case of VF in Standard German is the rule specifying that the fricative [x] assimilates to [ç] after front segments. VF also refers to the change from velar sounds like [ɣ k g ŋ] to palatals ([ʝ c ɟ ɲ]). The book provides a thorough investigation of VF in German dialects: Data are drawn from over 300 original sources for varieties that are (or were) spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other countries. VF differs geographically along three parameters: (A) triggers, (B) targets, and (C) outputs. VF triggers (=A) are typically defined according to vowel height: In some systems VF is induced only by high front vowels, in others by high and mid front vowels, and in yet others by high, mid, and low front vowels. Some varieties treat consonants ([r l n]) as triggers, while others do not. VF can be nonassimilatory, in which case the rule applies even in the context of back segments. In many varieties of German, VF targets (=B) consist of the two fricatives [x ɣ], but in other dialects the targets comprise [x] but not [ɣ]. In some places, VF affects not only [x ɣ], but also velar stops and the velar nasal. The output of VF (=C) is typically palatal [ç] (given the input [x]), but in many other places it is the alveolopalatal [ɕ]. A major theme is the way in which VF interacts with synchronic and diachronic changes creating or eliminating structures which can potentially undergo it or trigger it. In many dialects the relationship between velars ([x]) and palatals ([ҫ]) is transparent because velars only occur in the back vowel context and palatals only when adjacent to front sounds. In that type of system, independent processes can either feed VF (by creating additional structures which the latter can undergo), or they can bleed it (by eliminating potential structures to which VF could apply). In other dialects, VF is opaque. In one opaque system, both velars ([x]) and palatals ([ҫ]) surface in the context of front segments. Thus, in addition to expected front vowel plus palatal sequences ([…iç…]), there are also unexpected ones consisting of front vowel plus velar ([…ix…]). In a second type of opaque system, velars and palatals are found in the context of back segments; hence, expected sequences such as […iç…] occur in addition to unexpected ones like […ɑç…]

An infant's language progress : crying, babbling and first words : a case study

A study has been made on the infant, Sarah, from age 1 month up to 18 months. The main interest of the study was concerned with her phonetic and phonological development in the stages of: Crying, Babbling and First Words.As to the first stage, Crying, I intended to give as much coverage as possible to my subject's crying in the first six months of her life, attempting to analyze and explain it, making clear any differences in structure and content. According to the contextual situations in which they were produced, cries were categorized as:1) Call Cries,2) Protest Cries, and3) Non-call Cries.Vocalizations included in the above categories were tested according to their manner of phonation, temporal patterning and melodic patterning.As to the Babbling stage, Sarah's babblings were tested against the following issues:- Variety of sounds produced,- Relation between babbling and speech,- Are babblings meaningless and playful?, and- Function.Finally, the child's first words were tested against the following issues:- Appearance of the first word,- Holophrases, and- Overextension

A Sociolinguistic Investigation of Two Hōrāni Features in Sūf, Jordan

This study investigates sociolinguistic variation in the traditional dialect of Sūf, a Hōrāni town in northern Jordan. Two variables are examined: (k): depalatalization of /k/; and (l): develarization of /l/, according to internal linguistic constrains and two external social factors: namely age and sex. Conditioned palatlalization of /k/ and the presence of a dark allophone of /l/ are two of the most salient phonological features of the dialects of Hōrān in general. The present study provides a quantitative analysis within the framework of Variationist Theory, using the multiple logistic regression program Rbrul. Palatalization of /k/ is treated at two levels and thus involves two variables: 1. Phonological variable (k); the pool of data for this variable includes tokens of /k/ in the stem of the word. 2. Morphophonemic variable (–ik); the pool of data includes tokens of /k/ in the feminine suffix -ik. Analysis of the data shows that the rate of palatalization in the stem is relatively low (11%), and the palatalized variant [ʧ] may be disappearing, constrained by preceding and following linguistic environments, age and gender. By contrast, the palatalized variant in the suffix shows a relatively high rate of maintenance (70%), and variation in its use in the suffix is constrained by the social variables only. With respect to (l), the study found that dark /l/ is used only in (12%), and Rbrul analysis returned preceding and following linguistic environments, and gender as constraining factors. Overall, the results show that women are more conservative with respect to the usage of both of these traditional features, thus indicating that women preserve the local way of speech more consistently. The thesis adopts a method of interpretation of the results that focuses on local issues, including the social structure of the community, space, the local mode of production and gender roles

The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Nauruan: Towards a Definitive Classification of an Understudied Micronesian Language

Nauruan is a Micronesian language spoken in the Republic of Nauru, a small island nation in the central Pacific. Lack of data and difficulty in analysis has hindered progress in better understanding Nauruan for decades, particularly regarding its phonology and its classification within the Micronesian family. Because of these challenges, earlier researchers have presented their work on Nauruan as highly tentative. This dissertation establishes more confident analyses of Nauruan phonology, sound change and classification, which have been made possible through original fieldwork. Approximately one hundred hours of digital recordings have been collected as part of this research, including wordlists, phrases, narratives, and spontaneous speech and conversation. Seventeen individual Nauruan speakers contributed to this work. This diverse body of data has allowed for much needed insight into the Nauruan language and its relation to the other Micronesian languages. A revised Nauruan phoneme inventory is proposed and a range of associated phonological processes are identified and discussed. Particular attention is paid to the phonetics of Nauruan speech sounds, including articulatory and acoustic properties of consonants and vowels. Also included is an analysis of Nauruan stress and prosody. Nauruan is shown to have a weight-sensitive stress system, as is typical of Micronesian languages. The prevailing view on Nauruan classification has been that it is a Micronesian language that should be classified apart from all other members of the family. This classification is based on little Nauruan data and should be reevaluated. To this end, this dissertation compiles nearly 300 lexical comparisons and shows regular sound correspondences between Nauruan, Proto‑Micronesian and individual Micronesian languages. Additionally, a range of Nauruan morphological paradigms are shown to have parallels across the Micronesian family. The analysis supports classifying Nauruan as a Micronesian language but has produced no compelling evidence for classifying Nauruan apart from the nuclear Micronesian group. As such, the nuclear/non-nuclear distinction within the family appears to be unnecessary. The evidence suggests that all Micronesian languages, including Nauruan, have descended from Proto-Micronesian. Possible classifications for Nauruan within the Micronesian family are discussed and evaluated. Several stages of pre‑Nauruan are also reconstructed, which suggests that Nauruan has undergone a significant degree of internal sound change. This may have contributed to earlier perceptions of Nauruan as a non-nuclear Micronesian language

Rhotic Emphasis And Uvularization In Moroccan Arabic

This study investigates the phonological behavior of secondarily post-velarized (‘emphatic’) consonants in Colloquial Moroccan Arabic, focusing primarily on variant pronunciations of the approximant /r/ and the relationship of pharyngeal to uvular articulation. In certain contexts, /r/ independently exhibits phonetic characteristics similar to those of the primary ‘emphatic’ phonemes /ṭ ḍ ṣ/, and for many speakers a combination of borrowing and analogy has extended the context of emphatic variants outside of the original conditioning environment, resulting in a pattern of contrast that approaches phonemic status. Through analysis of interviews with individual speakers, I establish the parameters of phonetic and phonological variation in /r/ and evaluate the phonemic character of these segments through processes associated with phonological emphasis, as well as investigating how post-velar coarticulations in Moroccan Arabic align with uvular and/or pharyngeal place in phonetic and structural terms. My findings indicate that the rhotic emphasis constrast remains both distributionally and phonetically ambiguous at the level of the individual, and that its variation is not sociolinguistically determined. Furthermore, there is evidence that the ambiguity of the contrast is diachronically stable. I propose that this behavior reflects an underlying representational ambiguity related to the perceptual confusability of uvular and upper pharyngeal place and to the phonetic imprecision of rhotics in general. The document is structured as follows: first, I provide an overview of work on phonological categories, representational frameworks for ambiguous variants, and post-velar place specification (Chapter 1), then proceed to describe and problematize the relevant phonological phenomena in Moroccan Arabic (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 describes the methods used in fieldwork, data collection and preparation, while Chapters 4 and 5 present the results of my speaker analysis for Fessi Arabic with respect to acoustic correlates of post-velarization spread and rhotic emphasis distributions respectively. Finally, Chapter 6 offers a theoretical framework for interpreting these results and suggests some areas for further research

Typological variation in language contact: A phonological analysis of Italiot Greek

This dissertation investigates the phonology of Italiot Greek (IG) from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective, pursuing two core objectives: first, to provide an up-to-date description of the phonological system of IG, highlighting the deviations from Medieval Greek as well as the vast cross- and intra-dialectal variation, and, second, to account for the typological changes IG has undergone and formalize the convergence with the Romance grammatical system. The description of the phonological system of IG is based on original data obtained via fieldwork in the IG-speaking enclaves (Salento and Calabria). The in-depth presentation covers phoneme inventories, phonological processes, the organization of the syllable, sandhi phenomena, and stress properties. Moreover, it focuses attention on the diachronic changes with respect to the consonant inventories and certain phonological processes. Special emphasis is placed on substantial modifications in syllable structure, compared to the Medieval Greek system, and the processes these changes have triggered; specifically, (a) the gradual reduction of place and manner features that are admitted in the coda, which is manifested through diachronic shifts towards less marked values; (b) the licensing of complex onsets at the left edge of the root, which allows long-distance metathesis of liquids. These phenomena not only differentiate contemporary IG from its ancestor as well as from virtually any other Modern Greek dialect, but also constitute crucial points of convergence with Romance dialects due to language contact. Within Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993/2004), the dissertation proposes a novel typological analysis of these major changes in the syllable structure of IG. Following Alber & Prince (2015, in prep.), the analysis places IG within a broader typology of place and manner changes as well as long-distance metathesis and identifies the crucial ranking conditions, i.e. the typological properties, that define each grammar of the typological system. Minimally varying grammars, i.e. grammars that share all but one property value, are shown to constitute chronologically adjacent stages in the history of IG (see Alber 2015; Alber & Meneguzzo 2016). In light of this, stepwise diachronic changes are explained as minimal switches in the property values. Crucially, the divergence of the IG grammar from the Greek system and its converge with Romance is accounted for through the lens of minimal differences in the property values. Thus, the dissertation offers an innovative formal account of contact-induced grammatical change