Preocclusion in Manx

Abstract

Preocclusion – the insertion of a homorganic stop element before stressed final nasals and laterals – is one of the best-known features of Manx phonology. In written sources the phenomenon is only attested in certain nineteenth-century folksong manuscripts in non-standard orthography, although there is reason to believe it developed significantly earlier. This article examines the phenomenon from synchronic, diachronic and comparative perspectives, evaluates previous hypotheses regarding its origins, and proposes an account which situates preocclusion within wider developments in the liquid consonant inventory and prosody of the modern Gaelic languages. In particular, building on the intuitions of Rhŷ;s (1894), it is argued that the development of preocclusion in Manx is most plausibly to be linked to the reduction of the fortis-lenis contrast in nasals and liquids and loss of gemination. Synchronically, preocclusion can be seen as one of a number of a developments which increase the weight of syllable codas in Gaelic phonology (Iosad 2016). Accounts involving language contact (McDonald 2021) are superficially attractive given the presence of preocclusion in Scandinavian, but it is more likely this is the result of deeper structural similarities in the phonology of northern European languages, perhaps related to much older language contact in the region (Iosad 2016).