Natural Sound Change Research Articles

The typologically rare approximant inventory of Kajkwakhrattxi: A series of natural sound changes

Kajkwakhrattxi, a Northern Jê language spoken by fewer than 30 elders in Mato Grosso, Brazil, exhibits a typologically rare sound inventory, especially with respect to its series of approximants: /w, w̃, ʍ, ɽ, ɽ̃, j/, realized as a total of 17 different surface allophones: [w, w̃͡w, w̃, ʍ, ɥ, ɥ̃͡ɥ, ɥ̃, ɥ̊, ɾ, ɾ̃, ɽ, ɽ̃, ɻ, ɻ̃, ɻ̊, j, j̃]. We propose a novel reconstruction of Proto-Northern-Jê that accounts for this unusually dense inventory of approximants, namely as the result of a series of natural sound changes involving processes of lenition and assimilation. Our analysis makes use of novel fieldwork data on three underdocumented and endangered languages of the family: Kajkwakhrattxi, Panãra, and Kayapô. As a result, our reconstruction is based on a more phonetically detailed and internally coherent data set than was available to previous comparative work on Jê languages. Our results provide evidence for the possible breadth of diversity in the phonological systems of natural languages, both synchronically and diachronically, and advances our knowledge of the sound changes that occurred from Proto-Northern-Jê to its daughter languages.

Charting the rise and demise of a phonotactically motivated change in Scots

AbstractAlthough Old English [f] and [v] are represented unambiguously in Older Scots orthography by <f> and <v> (or <u>) in initial and morpheme-internal position, in morpheme-final position <f> and <v>/<u> appear to be used interchangeably for both of these Old English sounds. As a result, there is often a mismatch between the spellings and the etymologically expected consonant. This paper explores these spellings using a substantial database of Older Scots texts, which have been grapho-phonologically parsed as part of theFrom Inglis to Scots(FITS) project. Three explanations are explored for this apparent mismatch: (1) it was a spelling-only change; (2) there was a near merger of /f/ and /v/ in Older Scots; (3) final [v] devoiced in (pre-)Older Scots but this has subsequently been reversed. A close analysis of the data suggests that the Old English phonotactic constraint against final voiced fricatives survived into the pre-Literary Scots period, leading to automatic devoicing of any fricative that appeared in word-final position (a version of Hypothesis 3), and this, interacting with final schwa loss, gave rise to the complex patterns of variation we see in the Older Scots data. Thus, the devoicing of [v] in final position was not just a phonetically natural sound change, but also one driven by a pre-existing phonotactic constraint in the language. This paper provides evidence for the active role of phonotactic constraints in the development of sound changes, suggesting that phonotactic constraints are not necessarily at the mercy of the changes which conflict with them, but can be involved in the direction of sound change themselves.

Natural Sound Change and Its Patterns: The Case of the Lateral Approximant l

In light of Chinese historical phonology, modern dialects, languages of Chinese minorities and field phonetics, this paper discusses (1) the development of the Yi-initial words from Old Chinese to Middle Chinese, (2) the development of the Lai-initial words from Middle Chinese to modern dialects, (3) the phonological behavior of segment l in different syllabic positions from the perspective of evolutionary phonology. Such evolutionary developments as palatalization, velarization, nasalization, labiodentalization, fricativization, strengthening and so on can be identified for approximant l. This provides an important panchronic and typological perspective for the interpretation of both diachronic changes and synchronic variation.

Palatalized Labials in Polish Dialects: An Evolutionary Perspective

Two types of explanations for typological asymmetries are in current use: synchronic, which rely on phonological filters that make learners more receptive to some patterns than others (e.g., markedness), and diachronic, which appeal to phonetically systematic errors that arise in the transmission of the speech signal. This paper provides a diachronic account of palatalized labials in standard and dialectal Polish. It is shown that the weak perceptibility of the palatal element in a specific phonetic context is a good predictor of depalatalization and that dissimilation arises whenever a phonetic signal can be interpreted in a non-unique manner. The Polish data exemplify three sources of natural sound change: (i) neutralization of perceptually weak contrasts, (ii) phonological reanalysis of ambiguous signals, and (iii) change in the frequency of phonetic variants. Sound change is shown to be non-deterministic and non-optimizing. There is no role for markedness in this account.

Inducing Epenthesis: Phonetic, Phonological and Morphological Considerations

No abstract.

Sprachwandel zwischen Evolution und Normierung. Die e-Apokope als Bruchstelle zwischen dem Niederländischen und dem Deutschen

The e-apocope is a sound change which arose at roughly the same time in both the northwestern Dutch and the southeastern German language areas, steered by the same phonological/prosodic factors. It diffused to the southeast from the Hollandic dialects and to the northwest from the Bavarian ones. The two areas merged in the fifteenth century, but a short time later the Dutch and German paths diverged under the influence of standardization. In German, the further spread of the apocope was retarded by the normative influence of the developing standard language, since the latter was based on a variety in which this feature was only present to a limited extent. In Dutch, however, the apocope was retained, in that the dropping of the -e was an essential characteristic of the Hollandic dialect which formed the basis of the Dutch standard. Language change is balanced between evolution and standardization. A natural sound change can be slowed or arrested by the process of standardi zation and development of a written norm, but this can also reinforce it. The tension between evolution and standardization has led to a grammatical rift between Dutch and German.

New Perspectives on English Sound Patterns

Principles of Evolutionary Phonology are applied to a selection of sound changes and stable sound patterns in varieties of English. These are divided into two types: natural phonetically motivated internal changes and all others, which are classified as unnatural. While natural phonetically motivated sound change may be inhibited by external forces, certain phonotactic patterns show notable stability in English and are only eliminated under particular types of contact with languages lacking the same patterns. Within the evolutionary model, this stability is expected since natural sound changes involving wholesale elimination of these patterns are not known.

Explaining final obstruent voicing in Lezgian: Phonetics and history

Abstract: In Lezgian, a Nakh-Daghestanian language, final and preconsonantal ejectives and voiceless unaspirated obstruents are voiced in certain monosyllabic nouns. This article offers acoustic evidence confirming that the two coda-voicing series are indeed voiced in final position. Based on comparative evidence, it is demonstrated that this phonetically aberrant neutralization pattern is the result of a series of phonetically natural sound changes. Such ‘crazy rules’ () undermine any direct phonetic licensing approach to phonology, such as licensing by cue ().