Romance sounds

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Mark Gibson ◽  
Juana Gil
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Current Volume ◽  
Universal Properties ◽  
To Come

The study of Romance sounds, and their structure, has for centuries occupied a fundamental position in core phonetic and phonological research. And for good reason. By examining the typological symmetries and asymmetries among the different Romance languages we have learned much about the universal properties of language and the production/perception mechanisms which underscore acquisition and sound change. This provides a rich terrain in which to formulate and test new hypotheses related to sound systems and their development. The commissioned authors in the current volume present recent research in the acoustic, articulatory, phonological, perceptual, and acquisition domains from an array of theoretical foci. The work presented here is sure to have a far-reaching impact in the speech sciences for many years to come.

Preference Laws and Gradient Change: Selected Developments in Romance

1987 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Natural Class ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
High Vowels ◽  
Phonological Change ◽  
Natural Classes ◽  
Gradient Change

This paper has two purposes. The first is to focus attention on the gradient nature of sound change. This characteristic of sound change, although an important one, is often overlooked. King (1969: 122), for example, states: “Phonological changes tend to affect natural classes of sounds (p, t, k, high vowels, voiced stops) because rules that affect natural classes are simpler than rules that apply only to single segments.” This perspective obscures the generalization pattern of phonological processes, for a particular process typically affects a subsection of a natural class and then may (or may not) generalize to other members of the particular class or even to other classes. The second purpose of this paper is to account for selected cases of gradient phonological change in Italian and other Romance languages on the basis of a partial theory of syllable structure preferences.

Palatal sound change in the Romance languages: A unified account

2019 ◽  
pp. 150-199
Author(s):  
André Zampaulo
Keyword(s):  
Sound Change ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Change Events ◽  
Sound Changes

This chapter provides a phonetically based formal account of the diachronic and synchronic sound changes discussed in previous chapters, following the phonetic characterization of palatal sounds and the book’s theoretical assumptions. Specifically, the speaker-listener interaction and the constraint-based model adopted in this book provide the tools to put forth a unified proposal that not only models how and why most of the discussed sound changes could emerge in the first place, but also reveals the mechanisms through which similar change events may reoccur time and again across Romance varieties.

Velar and dental stop consonant softening in Romance

Diachronica ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Recasens
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Production Strategies

Experimental and descriptive evidence from the Romance languages suggests that velar and dental stop consonant softening, i.e., the process by which stops of these places of articulation turn mostly into palatoalveolar or alveolar affricates or fricatives, has proceeded gradually through intermediate (alveolo)palatal stop realizations. Several arguments are adduced in support of this interpretation: the presence of (alveolo)palatal stops and of (alveolo)palatal consonants of other manners of articulation in Romance languages and dialects, whether through gestural blending, gestural strengthening or other production strategies; alternations between (alveolo)palatal stops and affricates in several dialectal areas; variability in closure location for (alveolo)palatal stops in general, which accounts for their confusion with dental or velar stops; experimental evidence from speech production and perception studies. Moreover, there appears to be a plausible relationship between (alveolo)palatal stop realizations differing in closure fronting, and differences in fronting in the affricate and fricative outcomes of original Latin dental and velar stops. Historically, those differences depend mainly on place of articulation and voicing for the original stop as well as on the contextual and position conditions in which the stop occurred. The present investigation reveals that fine articulatory detail needs to be taken into consideration in the formulation of phonetic explanations of sound change.

INCREASING THE VERACITY OF IMPLICITLY BIASED RANKINGS

Episteme ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-517
Author(s):  
Martin L. Jönsson ◽  
Julia Sjödahl
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Epistemological Problem ◽  
Best Estimate ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Way

ABSTRACTIn spite of our good intentions and explicit egalitarian convictions, we habitually disfavor the underprivileged. The rapidly growing literature on implicit bias – unconscious, automatic tendencies to associate negative traits with members of particular social groups – points towards explanations of this dissonance, although rarely towards generalizable solutions. In a recent paper, Jennifer Saul (2013) draws attention to the alarming epistemological problems that implicit bias carries with it; since our judgments about each other are likely influenced by implicit bias, we have good reason to doubt their veracity. In this paper we explore a novel way to come to terms with the epistemological problem as it manifests itself in ranking situations, i.e. how we can know that the way in which we have ranked a group of people for a certain position, reflects their actual competence (or the best estimate of their competence given the evidence). On our approach, rather than attempting to make people less biased, we suggest that biased behavior can sometimes be corrected after the fact. In particular, the veracity of rankings can sometimes be improved by modifying the rankings directly. We investigate three methods that modify biased rankings, and argue that the last of these solves the epistemological problem that we are concerned with.

scholarly journals Verbs of falling and throwing in Basque

2020 ◽  
Vol XVI (1) ◽  
pp. 274-295
Author(s):  
N. Zaika ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
To Come

. The present article analyses verbs of falling and throwing in Basque. The frame-based approach is used to fi nd out the relevant semantic oppositions. Both elicitation and corpus data are used in the study. The dominant Basque verbs of falling are erori ‘to fall’ and its Bizcayan counterpart jautsi, which can be used in most of the frames. Another verb, isuri ‘flow’, can refer to liquids, as well as the dominant verb. The verb etorri ‘to come’ refers to liquids moving horizontally, rather than vertically. Falling of hair and teeth can be expressed with the verb galdu ‘to lose’. The only frame where the dominant verb erori is hardly ever used is falling of rain and snow. The predicate ariizan with progressive meaning and the verbs egin ‘to do’ and bota ‘to throw’ can be used instead. The dominant verb of throwing in Basque is bota ‘to throw’ taking both allative and locative arguments. Intensive throwing is expressed by verbs jaurti, jaurtiki, aurtiki ‘throw, toss, cast’. Some verbs of throwing, such as lurreratu ‘to throw to the ground’ < lur ‘ground’, ureratu ‘to throw to water’ < ur ‘water’, airatu ‘to throw to air’ < aire ‘air’ incorporate the Orienter. The incorporation of a typical Trajector is possible as well, cf.harrikatu ‘to throw stones’ < harri ‘stone’ and dardatu ‘to throw an arrow, a spear’ <dardo ‘arrow, spear’. Metaphorical meanings of verbs of falling and throwing in Basque often have their counterparts in the neighbouring Romance languages — Spanish and French. Thus, the verb erori ‘to fall’, as well as its Spanish counterpart caer can refer to winning something in lottery. The Basque verb bota ‘to throw’, as well as Spanish echar can refer to fi ring an employee, getting rid of an object or showing a film

scholarly journals Odysseus Reborn: Parallelism between Odysseus and The Postmodern Man

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 21-40
Author(s):  
Abdullah Parwaiz
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
To Come ◽  
Analysis And Study

The mythical character of Odysseus has been a recurring figure since his first introductions, in the Great Greek writer, Homer's works around 700 BCE, in the, 'Illiad', and, 'Odyssey'. He has been invoked over the ages to suit the means of the said eras, trans-morphing the character of the Classical Greek Hero to meet the desired ends of the poets, authors and periods. The aim of the paper is to deconstruct the works where he has been mentioned and thus in turn construct the character itself. This will be done through the famous works he has been mentioned in, such as Virgil's 'Aeneid', Dante's 'Inferno', Horkheimer and Adorno's 'Dialectic of the Enlightenment'. In doing so, the paper shall establish the grounds for Odysseus to come out as a character that suits all ages for a good reason. Furthermore, a Psychoanalytical analysis and study shall establish his relevance and stand in the Postmodern age that we live in, which shall aim to decentralise popular notions, moving away from the modernist experimentation towards the postmodern appreciation of the classical character as one, who at the true core had been formed with such intricacy that writers have been forced to adapt him in their works, time and again.

scholarly journals Imperatives and Negation in Romance Languages: Verbalisation, De-verbalisation and Marking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emil Ionescu
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
To Come

The topic of this paper is the expression of negative directives in several Romance languages. The majority of Romance languages do not express negative directives by adding (pre-verbal) negation to the positive imperative form, but by using a different verb form (infinitive, subjunctive or something else), to which negation is attached. The present analysis shows that (some) directive verbal forms in Romance lost some hallmarks of their verbhood. The phenomenon is taken as witnessing different stages of de-verbalisation. De-verbalisation makes directive verb forms similar to interjections. The variation documented in the Romance imperatives with respect to the compatibility/incompatibility with negation may thus seen as tendencies of different degrees of the imperatives to come closer either to the verb, or to the interjection. In the context of these tendencies, the incompatibility between negation and imperatives may be explained through the concept of marking. Put briefly, imperatives require to be marked by negation but negation is or is not able to mark them.

The Perils of Proximity: Rivalries and conflicts in the making of a neighbourhood in Bombay City in the twentieth century

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-393
Author(s):  
RAJNARAYAN CHANDAVARKAR
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Enormous Amount ◽  
Indian City ◽  
Bombay City ◽  
To Come ◽  
The University ◽  
Selection Of

Rajnarayan Chandavarkar—Fellow of Trinity College and Reader in History at the University of Cambridge—passed away on 23 April 2006. In addition to a rich legacy of books and articles that were published in his lifetime, he left behind an enormous amount of manuscript material, much of which was ready for publication. A selection of this material was published in his posthumous History, Culture and the Indian City (Cambridge University Press, 2009), but new manuscripts continue to come to light. His wife, Jennifer Davis, recently found this essay among his effects. There is good reason to believe that Raj felt it was ready for publication. Therefore, we publish this essay almost exactly as it appears in his typescript, only correcting typos and minor errors, and adding a map. The editors would like to thank David Washbrook and Jennifer Davis for proofing this article, Uttara Shahani and Binney Hare for researching and adapting the map, and Francoise Davis for the photograph of Raj.

Shades of Things to Come

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Gordon ◽  
Peter Trudgill
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Early Evidence ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
To Come ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
New Zealanders

In Trudgill's 1983 follow-up of his 1968 urban dialect survey of Norwich, he showed that a labio-dental approximant pronunciation of /r/ which he had formerly dismissed as purely idiosyncratic, was actually early evidence of a sound change. Using this insight, the authors have taken present-day changes in New Zealand English and looked for evidence of them in an archive of recorded English spoken by New Zealanders born between the 1860s and 1890s. In this paper they demonstrate that early examples of present-day changes can be found in the speech of a few New Zealand speakers born as early as the 1860s, showing that some sound changes have their origins much further back than was ever realised. This new evidence raises the interesting question as to why some early variants should later develop into present-day features of New Zealand English and others disappear completely.

Wrongful Life and the Counterfactual Element in Harming

1986 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Harm Principle ◽  
Border Line ◽  
Wrongful Life ◽  
Professional Interest ◽  
Harm To Others ◽  
To Come ◽  
The One

I shall be concerned in this paper with some philosophical puzzles raised by so-called “wrongful life” suits. These legal actions are obviously of great interest to lawyers and physicians, but philosophers might have a kind of professional interest in them too, since in a remarkably large number of them, judges have complained that the issues are too abstruse for the courts and belong more properly to philosophers and theologians. The issues that elicit this judicial frustration are those that require the application to border-line cases of such philosophically interesting concepts as acting, causing, and the one that especially interests me, harming.I first became interested in the concept of harming in my work on the moral limits of the criminal law, where I had to come to terms with John Stuart Mill's famous “harm principle”–the principle that it is always a good reason in support of a criminal prohibition, indeed, the only legitimate reason, that it will prevent harm to persons other than the actor. I could not very well criticize that principle until I decided what the word “harm” must mean in its formulation. I gave what I took to be the requisite analysis of harm in my book Harm to Others. Here I wish to improve that analysis, examine its implications for civil as well as criminal liability, and test it on conceptually hard cases, especially cases of prenatal harming, that is, cases in which the wrongful causative conduct occurs before the victim's birth, and the harmed state that is its upshot consists in being born in an impaired condition.

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