LINGUIST List 13.2638

Tue Oct 15 2002

Books: Historical Linguistics: Cravens

Editor for this issue: Marisa Ferrara <marisalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. paul, Comparative Historical Dialectology: Cravens

			
Title: Comparative Historical Dialectology
Subtitle: Italo-Romance clues to Ibero-Romance sound change
Series Title: Current Issues in Linguistic Theory

Publication Year: 2002
Publisher: John Benjamins 
 http://www.benjamins.com/
 
Author: Thomas D. Cravens 

Hardback: ISBN: 1588113132, Pages: xii, 166, Price: USD 77.00
Hardback: ISBN: 9027247390, Pages: xii, 163, Price: EUR 85.00
			
Abstract:

This brief monograph explores the historical motivations for two sets
of phonological changes in some varieties of Romance: restructured
voicing of intervocalic /p t k/, and palatalization of initial /l/ and
/n/. These developments have been treated repeatedly over the decades,
yet neither has enjoyed a satisfactory solution. This book attempts to
demonstrate that both outcomes are ultimately attributable to the loss
of early pan-Romance consonant gemination. This study is of interest
not only to the language-specific field of historical Romance
linguistics, but also to general historical linguistics. The central
problems examined here constitute classic cases of questions that
cannot be answered by confining analysis solely to the individual
languages under investigation. The passage of time, the indirect
nature of fragmentary and accidental documentation, and the nature of
the changes themselves conspire to deny access to the most essential
facts. However, comparison of closely cognate languages now undergoing
change supplies a perspective for discerning conditions that may
ultimately lead to states achieved in the distant past by the
languages under investigation.

Table of Contents

Dedication v 
Acknowledgements vii 
Chapter 1 Introduction 1 
Chapter 2 Substratum 15 
Chapter 3 Crucial ingredients: Intervocalic voicing in Latin,
 Assimilation at word boundaries 40
Chapter 4 Voicing in Western Romance 66 
Chapter 5 Palatalization of word-initial /l/ and /n/ in Ibero-Romance
 93
Chapter 6 Loose ends: Non-voicing in Rumania and the dialects of the
 Pyrenees, Irregular voicing in Italian 116
Chapter 7 Conclusion 141 
References 144 
Index of terms and concepts 159 
Index of names 161

Lingfield(s): Historical Linguistics
			 
Language Family(ies): Romance (Subgroup Code: IEJAAA)

Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)