Daniel Recasens i. Vives Livres

The book investigates historical patterns of vowel diphthongization, assimilation and dissimilation induced by consonants – mostly (alveolo)palatals – in Romance. Compiling data from dialectal descriptions, old documentary sources and experimental phonetic studies, it explains why certain vowels undergo raising assimilation before (alveolo)palatal consonants more than others. It also suggests that in French, Francoprovençal, Occitan, Rhaetoromance and dialects from northern Italy, mid low vowel diphthongization before (alveolo)palatal consonants started out with the formation of non-canonical falling diphthongs through off-glide insertion, from which rising diphthongs could emerge at a later date (e. g., Upper Engadinian OCTO ‘eight’ > [ɔc] > [ɔ(ə̯)c] > [wac]). Both diphthongal types, rather than canonical falling diphthongs with a palatal off-glide, could also give rise to high vowels (dialectal French [li] < LECTU, [fuj] < FOLIA). This same Gallo-Romance diphthongization process operated in Catalan ([ʎit], [ˈfuʎə]). In Spanish, on the other hand, mid low vowels followed by highly constrained (alveolo)palatals became too close to undergo the diphthongization process ([ˈletʃo], [ˈoxa]).

The book analyzes the articulatory motivation of several adaptation processes (place assimilations, blending, coarticulation) involving consecutive consonants in heterosyllabic consonant sequences within the framework of the degree of articulatory constraint model of coarticulation. It also shows that the homorganic relationship between two heterosyllabic consonants contributes to the implementation of manner assimilations, while heterorganicity as well as sonorancy and voicing in the syllable-onset C2 are key factors in the weakening of the syllable-coda C1. Experimental and descriptive evidence is provided with production, phonological and sound change data from several languages, and more especifically with tongue-to-palate contact and lingual configuration data for Catalan consonant sequences. The book also reviews critically research on the c-center effect in tautosyllabic consonant sequences which has been carried out during the last thirty years.

Production and Perception Mechanisms of Sound Change Daniel Recasens & Fernando Sánchez-Miret (eds.) Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona / Institut d’Estudis Catalans; Universidad de Salamanca This volume brings together thirteen papers on sound change dealing mostly with Romance in general, several Romance languages in particular (French, Italian, Rhaetoromance, Romanian, Spanish) and a few non-Romance languages as well (Basque, K’ichee’). Most papers are about the articulatory and acoustic causes of sound change and how spatiotemporal variation in production affects the perceptual identification of phonetic segments. Other relevant research topics are the relationship between phonetics and phonology and the influence of the speakers’ age and provenance and of word frequency on the speed at which sound changes take place. The contributions of this volume report acoustic and/or articulatory data in support of particular explanatory interpretations which may inspire future work on diachronic phonology. ISBN 9783862888603. LINCOM Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 60. 224pp. 2018.