Sound change as nature's speech perception experiment

Abstract

Variation in pronunciation observed in speakers today parallels in many details the documented variation in pronunciation over the centuries (sound change). It is reasonable to conclude that there is some necessary link between the two. I argue that diachronic variation emerges for the most part from synchronic variation thus: universal and timeless physical constraints on speech production and perception leads listeners to misapprehend the speech signal. Any such misapprehension that leads the listener to pronounce things in a different way is potentially the beginning of a sound change. If we study sound change we can gain insights into how speech is produced and perceived. I exemplify this point by considering a variety of sound changes that involved voiceless fricatives: so-called spontaneous nasalization, s-aspiration, and nasal effacement. They suggest that one cue to this class of sounds is a special voice quality on that portion of vowels immediately abutting the fricative.