scholarly journals The lateralization of labio-dorsals in Hmongic

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (s42-s2) ◽  
pp. 493-509
Author(s):  
Guillaume Jacques
Keyword(s):  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Sound Changes

Abstract This paper provides support for Ratliff’s hypothesis of a highly unusual shift from labio-dorsal to lateral affricates in some Hmongic languages. It proposes that this shift, which results from a series of sound changes, constitutes evidence for positing a ‘Tlowic’ subgroup within Hmongic. In addition, it disproves attempts to use correspondences between Chinese labiovelars and Hmongic lateral affricates in borrowings as evidence to revise Chinese historical phonology.

scholarly journals Contributions to a relative chronology of Persian

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Agnes Korn
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
Middle Persian ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Abstract Old Persian shows a change of postconsonantal y, w to iy, uw, respectively. However, if one applies (pre-)Middle Persian sound changes to the Old Persian forms, the result is at variance with certain Middle Persian forms. If one were to assume a syncope reversing the Old Persian change of y, w to iy, uw, this would also affect old cases of iy, uw and likewise yield incorrect results for Middle Persian. The Old Persian change can thus not have operated in the prehistory of Middle Persian, and there is a dialectal difference between attested Old Persian and the later stages of the language, which is to be added to those already noted. The paper also discusses some sound changes that are connected to the Old Persian change in one way or the other. Cases in point are the processes called Epenthesis and Umlaut in previous scholarship, which this article suggests to interpret as occurring in different contexts and in different periods. The former is limited to Vry, which yields Vir and feeds into a monophthongisation that, as shown by some late Old Persian word forms, occurred within Achaemenid times, giving ēr and īr from ary and əry. Epenthesis did not occur in the prehistory of Parthian, whereas the monophthongisation did. The Appendix presents a tentative sequence of the processes discussed in this article, which is intended as a contribution to the relative chronology of Persian historical phonology.

Phonetic explanation without compromise

Diachronica ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliette Blevins
Keyword(s):  
Sound Change ◽  
Close Inspection ◽  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Sound Changes

Blust (2005, 2007a, 2007b) questions the phonetic motivation of a number of well-attested sound changes. One sound change in this class is the purported case of stressed vowel syncope in Mussau, an Oceanic language (Blust 1984, 2001, 2007a). Regular syncopes typically target unstressed vowels. By contrast, loss of stressed vowels is difficult to motivate, due to their inherent prominence. Close inspection of Mussau historical phonology suggests that, at its origins, syncope was limited to unstressed vowels, with subsequent developments obscuring its original phonetic motivation. Under the proposed analysis, the Neogrammarian insistence on phonetically motivated sound change is maintained.

scholarly journals Hauchumsprung and the historical phonology of Greek *h

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-175
Author(s):  
Ollie Sayeed
Keyword(s):  
Sound Change ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Recorded Sound ◽  
Sound Changes

Abstract Ancient Greek underwent a sporadic sound change that copied an *h from the second syllable of a word to the first syllable, applying when the first syllable was vowel-initial, and perhaps also when it was stop-initial; this complements the analyses proposed so far in Greek historical phonology, particularly Sturm (2016, 2017), in accounting for the various sources of Proto-Greek *h. This change, Hauchumsprung, is unusual among recorded sound changes for involving the copying of a consonant over intervening material. Hauchumsprung, the φρουρᾱ́ rule, and Grassmann’s Law can be unified as three different footprints of a single sound change: one that copied aspiration from the middle of a word to the beginning of a word in early Greek.

scholarly journals Die Präferenztheorie in der historischen Phonologie aus junggrammatischer Perspektive

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugen Hill
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Preference Theory ◽  
The Core ◽  
Traditional Notion ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
By Products ◽  
Suggested Modification

AbstractThe paper deals with the so-called Preference Theory developed in the works of Theo Vennemann and Robert Murray within the scope of historical phonology. The first part of the paper examines the constituting assumptions and claims of the theory. The goal of the preference-based historical phonology – uncovering the motivation for sound changes which the Neogrammarian methodology can merely describe – will be achieved only if the universal preferences are reliably established. It is shown that the procedures which are employed to extract the universal preferences from empirical data do not lead to reliable results. The reason for this is the failure of the Preference Theory to distinguish in a non-arbitrary way between the alleged universally preferred structures and the mere by-products of sound changes with different or unknown motivation. The second part of the paper examines a recently suggested modification of the traditional notion of the exceptionlessness of sound changes. According to Vennemann, the traditional exceptionless sound changes are in fact to be considered as non-exclusive tendencies towards universally more preferred phonological structures. The paper shows that this position is neither based on the core assumptions of the Preference Theory nor supported by the adduced empirical evidence.

Odd conditions

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Blust
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Satisfactory Explanation ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Historical Phonology ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Natural Classes

Abstract Since the 19th century linguists have expected to find conditioned sound changes in environments that make phonetic sense: consonants palatalize adjacent to front vowels, back vowels front if a front vowel occurs in the next syllable, stops voice between voiced segments, and so forth. Most conditioned sound changes conform to this expectation, but a surprising number do not. Some of these are well known, as the palatalization of *s before most word-initial consonants in High German. Since there is no obvious explanation for them, such changes are generally ignored in discussions of historical phonology. The result of this practice has been to give the false impression that what appear to be phonetically unmotivated sound changes are rare abnormalities that probably would conform to expectation if we had more information about them. This paper draws attention to examples of conditioning in Austronesian languages in which the phonetic properties of the context appear unrelated to those of the change, and it questions why such changes should occur. Although finding a completely satisfactory explanation has proven difficult, one general conclusion suggested by the data is that native speakers have an intuitive recognition of natural classes that is independent of phonetic motivation.

KIMBALL, S. E.: Hittite Historical Phonology

Kratylos ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-103
Author(s):  
E. Rieken
Keyword(s):  
Historical Phonology

scholarly journals Effect of Auditory Maturation on the Encoding of a Speech Syllable in the First Days of Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 844
Author(s):  
Laís Ferreira ◽  
Piotr Henryk Skarzynski ◽  
Magdalena Beata Skarzynska ◽  
Milaine Dominici Sanfins ◽  
Eliara Pinto Vieira Biaggio
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Auditory Maturation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Neonates And Infants

(1) Background: In neonates and infants, the physiological modifications associated with language development are reflected in their Frequency Following Responses (FFRs) in the first few months of life. (2) Objective: This study aimed to test the FFRs of infants in the first 45 days of life in order to evaluate how auditory maturation affects the encoding of a speech syllable. (3) Method: In total, 80 healthy, normal-hearing infants, aged 3 to 45 days old, participated in this study. The sample was divided into three groups: GI, 38 neonates from 3 to 15 days; GII, 25 infants from 16 to 30 days; and GIII, 17 infants from 31 to 45 days. All participants underwent FFR testing. Results: With age, there was a decrease in the latency of all FFR waves, with statistically significant differences among the groups studied for waves V, A, E, F, and O. The mean amplitudes showed an increase, with a statistically significant difference only for wave V. The slope measure increased over the 45 days, with a statistically significant difference between GIII and GI and between GIII and GII. (4) Conclusions: The encoding of a speech sound changes with auditory maturation over the first 45 days of an infant’s life.

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