Universals of Sound Change in Nasalization

This book is the first detailed study since the 1970s of the characteristics of distinctive nasalization in sound change. Relying on copious cross–linguistic and experimental phonetic data, it evaluates the accuracy of universalist claims about nasalization phenomena, as well as the ability or otherwise of phonological formalism since the 1980s to describe sound change properly. It also examines the extent to which sound change is influenced by prosodic factors. Language data used in the study is drawn from around the world, with special focus given to historical developments in the Romance dialects of Northern Italy.

List of Figures. List of Tables. Note on Transcription and Abbreviations. 1. Sound Change and Language Universals, Representations and Models of Change. 2. The Data Base and Language Sampling, Methodological Issues and Background. 3. Distinctive Vowel Nasalization and Rule Ordering. 4. Universal Features of Vowel Nasalization and N–Deletion: The Effect of Vowel Length, Stress and the Foot. 5. Vowel Height, Vowel Quality and the Development of Distinctive Nasalization. 6. Contextual Ordering of Distinctive Nasalization. 7. Historical Development of Nasal Consonants and the Effect of N Place on Distinctive Nasalization. 8. N–Deletion, Its Manner and Its Motivation. 9. Results and Conclusions. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Dr. John Hajek is currently Lecturer in Italian and is Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Linguistics at the University of Melbourne.

"I recommend this volume strongly to those interested in reintroducing the important role of phonetics into the study of both synchronic variation and diachronic sound change" Joseph Eska, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University "Prominent among recent contributions is the present work, a slightly revised version of the author′s outstanding 1992 doctorial thesis...the present impeccably presented work is to be warmly welcomed as an important contribution to the field. It may be hoped that it will serve as a catalyst for further investigation both in and outside Romance." Rodney Sampson, University of Bristol