Latin syllable structure in typological perspective

Abstract

SummaryThree parameters are considered in the typology of Latin syllable structure: 1) phonotaxis of syllable structure; 2) correspondence of syllable structure with morpheme structure; 3) syllable structure processes. With respect to these parameters, Latin may be characterized as follows: 1) Latin allows moderate complexity of the onset, which, during its history, gets further reduced. Similarly, complexity of the nucleus is mostly reduced to a single short vowel. Latin allows relatively complex rhymes, which, however, get reduced in the language history; 2) Latin (as well as Romance languages) goes relatively far in blurring morphological boundaries, even left stem boundaries and, thus, word boundaries, by 'liaison'; 3. Latin phonology is relatively faithful to lexical representations. However, syllable structure is simplified, at the expense of the phonological manifestation of grammatical boundaries.