Examines advanced approaches to sound change from various theoretical and methodological perspectives, including articulatory variation and modeling, speech perception mechanisms and neurobiological processes, geographical and social variation, and diachronic phonology.

This book provides an integrated account of the phonetic causes of the diachronic processes of palatalization and assibilation of velar and labial stops and labiodental fricatives, as well as the palatalization and affrication of dentoalveolar stops. While previous studies have been concerned with the typology of sound inventories and of the processes of palatalization and assibilation, this volume not only deals with the typological patterns but also outlines the articulatory and acoustic causes of these sound changes. In his articulation-based account, Daniel Recasens argues that the affricate and fricative outcomes of these changes developed via an intermediate stage, namely an (alveolo)palatal stop with varying degrees of closure fronting. Particular emphasis is placed on the one-to-many relationship between the input and output consonant realizations, on the acoustic cues that contribute to the implementation of these sound changes, and on the contextual, positional, and prosodic conditions that most favour their development. The analysis is based on extensive data from a wide range of language families, including Romance, Bantu, Slavic, and Germanic, and draws on a variety of sources, such as linguistic atlases, articulatory and acoustic studies, and phoneme identification tests.

This book provides an integrated account of the phonetic causes of the diachronic processes of palatalization and assibilation of velar and labial stops and labiodental fricatives, as well as the palatalization and affrication of dentoalveolar stops. While previous studies have been concerned with the typology of sound inventories and of the processes of palatalization and assibilation, this volume not only deals with the typological patterns but also outlines the articulatory and acoustic causes of these sound changes. In his articulation-based account, Daniel Recasens argues that the affricate and fricative outcomes of these changes developed via an intermediate stage, namely an (alveolo)palatal stop with varying degrees of closure fronting. Particular emphasis is placed on the one-to-many relationship between the input and output consonant realizations, on the acoustic cues that contribute to the implementation of these sound changes, and on the contextual, positional, and prosodic conditions that most favour their development. The analysis is based on extensive data from a wide range of language families, including Romance, Bantu, Slavic, and Germanic, and draws on a variety of sources, such as linguistic atlases, articulatory and acoustic studies, and phoneme identification tests.

This volume provides an integrated account of the phonetic causes of the diachronic processes of palatalization, assibilation, and affrication. It draws on a variety of historical, dialectological, and phonetic data from a wide range of language families, including Romance, Bantu, Slavic, and Germanic.

A study of English language change around Exeter, this book contributes to the work on urban regional speech. It presents ideas formed by applying modern sociolinguistic research techniques, and is aimed at those concerned with communication across local, social and generational boundaries.

Understanding sound change through contemporary theory and historical evidenceOffers broad linguistic coverage with examples from a wide range of world language families including Germanic, Romance, Mixtec, Tibetan, Hmong, Hebrew, Chinese, Kikuyu, Svan and MenomineeExplores sound change from structural, historical, sociolinguistic and acquisitional perspectivesTakes a data led approach with worked examples in each chapter Includes questions and suggestions for further study at the end of each chapterDownload 'Beyond This Book' from the Resources tab for extra ideas for seminar preparation or self-study Drawing examples from a range of world languages, this textbook introduces the ways in which speech sounds become different over time. It explores how we produce and hear particular sounds and how overall word shapes and the pronunciation of individual words change. The roles of phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntax, traditional formal models and recent exemplar-based work in sound change are all examined. In covering both structural and societal issues, the book integrates different kinds of historical evidence and different theories into a coherent understanding of the full process of sound change.

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.

As of Volume 9 (1994/95) John Benjamins Publishing Company is the official publisher of the Belgian Journal of Linguistics, the annual publication of the Linguistic Society of Belgium. Each volume is topical and includes selected papers from the international meetings organised by the LSB.