The effects of contextual tonal variation on Cantonese tone merging Previous studies on Cantonese tone merging have examined monosyllabic materials so far, yet disyllabic words are common in daily conversation. Sound change often originates from a pool of synchronic v...

Q: How does tonal coarticulation in disyllabic words of #Cantonese contribute to tone merging and inform research on #soundchange? A: The two interact dynamically, with carryover effects in extreme tonal contexts emerging as an important source of change. #LabPhon #openaccess doi.org/10.16995/lab...

Remote data collection in the study of ongoing sound change in Spanish – a comparative analysis In this paper, I look at Canary Islands Spanish /p b/ lenition from a comparative perspective by examining the speech of the same participants produced on different occasions and under different circu...

Can unsupervised self-recordings help researchers capture more naturalistic speech when studying #soundchange? 🎤📱
A study of /p b/ #lenition in Canary Islands #Spanish shows that self-recordings pose some challenges but help reduce the observer’s paradox. #openaccess #LabPhon doi.org/10.16995/lab...

Does anyone have any information on the origins of the pronunciation of the English word "Semitic" (&c.) with the second vowel as /ɛ/?

#langsky #english #semitic #language #soundchange #pronunciation

#soundchange 5 vowel system no length two way obstruent distinction, consonant gem

u o > ɯ ɤ / {p b} _
p b > h ʔ > Ø
pː bː > p b
tː dː > ts dz
k ɡ > tʃ dʒ
Cː > Ø
V{(u o) ɯ ɤ} > Vɤ̈
V{i e} > Vɛ̈
Va > Və

{i u ɯ} {e o ɤ) a > ɯː ɤː ɤ / _ ɤ̈ (ɤ̈ > Ø)
{i u ɯ} {e o ɤ) a > iː eː e / _ ɛ̈ (ɛ̈ > Ø)
Və > Vː

#soundchange
lets say u got a max sylable structure of CVC

r > ɾ / _VC[coda]
(shortening in heavy sylables)
ɾ > l

and then change sylable structure, somehow.
PCV > CV
NP[-v] > P[+] / N & P dont share place of articulation

ə > Ø / {m n s w y}_{CV, #}

#soundchange
/i u e o a/ + length

a aː > ɑ ae > ɑ æ
iː eː > iw ew > y ø
u uː o oː > u uw o ow > ɯ u ɤ o

#soundchange
/p t k q/ CVC¹ C¹ = non-plosive

C¹P > PC¹ > Pː / if both consonant share place of articulation !! C¹ = N
V(ː)F[coda] > Vː
q qː > h ʔ
pː tː kː > ⁿb ⁿd ⁿɡ

r[coda] > l

#soundchange
lenition before high vowel, high vowels get neutralised with some other vowels, making the lenition phonemic

#soundchange
/i iː ɛ ɛː ɑ ɑː o uː/

i ɛ V Vː > jɨ jɨ ɨ V / [-stress]
ɑ ɑː ɛː iː uː > a o jɛ je u
{q h}jɨ {q h}ɨ > {k h}ɛ {k h}o
h q > Ø ʔ
tj dj ðj sj xj kj ʔj > tʃ dʒ ʒ ʃ ʃ j
Cjɨ > Cɛ
ɨ[stress] > Ø / C_CV

#soundchange /i e a o u/
{i e}r[coda] > y: ø:
{i e}w[coda] > y ø
V{r w}[coda] > V:

#soundchange setup:
obstruent system with no distinctions (so only one set), /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/:

P > Pʰ / _ {i e u o}
{e o} > {ɛ ɔ} / {ɛ ɔ} ... _
a ɛ ɔ > ə / [-stress]
e o ɛ ɔ > i u e o
ə > V¹ / V¹... _
ə > a / else

Are you in Taiwan? Come say hi at my talk on 11th December at National Taiwan University's Institute of Linguistics: "Indexicality and Language Change"

#linguistics #sociolinguistics #lvc #variation #soundchange #semiotics #indexicality #Taiwan