Sulle vocali nasali e nasalizzate dell’albanese

Abstract

Nasalization of stressed vowels in Albanian (especially in the northern Albania Geg dialect) is considered by Albanologists as a very problematic phenomenon and a case study difficult to be solved. The current paper proposes an analysis that frames the phenomenon both at a synchronic and diachronic level. The development of vowel nasalization is investigated by taking into account the most accredited theories in the acoustic-coarticulatory field as well as linguistic universals concerning the spreading of nasalization in the vowel systems of various languages of the world. From a diachronic point of view, particular attention is paid to the original conditions of Albanian vocalism and, above all, to the aspects concerning the results of IE * o and and * e (as well as * a and * e from Latin borrowings). The evolution of these sounds helps to determine both the phonetic conditioning which originated nasalization and its periodization: nasalization developed only before a tautosyllabic nasal consonant (except for those cases where it is a result of analogical leveling) and must have been stabilized after the diphthongization of mid vowels *e and * o . Finally, based on the data available today concerning the geographical distribution of nasal vowels in the Albanian speaking area (including Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro), an alternative hypothesis about the diffusion of the phenomenon is offered. Nasalization in Albanian may have had a gradual spreading, relatively to the number of vowels involved, through a process blocked at its initial stage in the southern Tosk area and in some peripheral Geg areas, and not uniformly extended to the whole Albanian speaking region.