Summary Details
| Query: |
/f/ to /theta/ Sound Changes
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| Author: | Ryan Bennett | |
| Submitter Email: | click here to access email | |
| Linguistic LingField(s): |
Historical Linguistics
Phonetics |
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| Summary: |
Some months ago I posted a query on The LINGUIST List asking for
any attested instances of a historical /f/ > /theta/ change, or for any dialect variation between /f/ and /theta/ in which /f/ has become /theta/ in the innovative dialect. Many thanks to the following people for responding to my query: James Brookes Ronald Cosper Inge Genee Lauren Hall-Lew Patrick Honeybone Mark Jones Martin K��mmel Kelly Lynne Maynard Daniela M��ller Pamela Munro Boyan Nikolaev Emerson Odango Mikael Parkvall Joseph Salmons Gary Taylor R��my Viredaz I also have responded to each of these people individually. I apologize to them (and all other interested folks) for not posting this summary sooner. The responses were of four types, and are grouped below. ---------- (I) Attested /f/ > /theta/ changes: Mikael Parkvall and Emerson Odango noted that in Pulo-Annan (Chuukic), Proto-Micronesian *f became /��/ (orthographic becoming /f/ in all other Chuukic languages. The motivation for this change is unclear, though it may have been influenced by areal contact with Palauan, which has /��/. The Chuukic language Ulithian also has /��/, but as a regular reflex of Proto- Micronesian *d. Joseph Salmons and Gary Taylor also pointed out an example of a conditioned /f/ > /theta/ change: Gothic reflexes of early Germanic /fl-/ often show up as /theta+l/. References: (a) Schiko Oda���s thesis ���The Syntax of Pulo Annan��� (b) pp. 4-5 of Bender, Byron, Ward Goodenough, Frederick Jackson, Jeffrey Marck, Kenneth Rehg, Ho-min Sohn, Stephen Trussel & Judith Wang (2003): Proto-Micronesian Reconstructions 1. Oceanic Linguistics 42 (1), pp 1-110. (c) Joseph Salmons and Gregory Iverson (1993) "Gothic /��l-/ ~ /fl-/ Variation as Lexical Diffusion." Diachronica 10.87-96. (d) Jones, Mark J. (2002). "More on the instability of interdental fricatives." Word 53(1): 1-8. ---------- (II) Reconstructed (but unattested) /f/ > /theta/ changes: James Brookes, citing Stuart-Smith (2004), suggested that Proto-Indo- European /dh/ may have passed through /f/ on its way to becoming Latin /d/. I repeat the argument more or less verbatim: "...in Latin and Sabellian the PIE so-called voiced aspirated stop /dh/ went through a lenition stage in medial positions, /dh/ > /d/ > /theta/ > /f/. In Sabellian, the lenition remained, so /f/ is found in words like mefia�� '(in the) middle' < PIE *medh-yos. In Latin, /f/ is not the actual medial reflex of PIE /dh/, but rather /d/, so the lexical equivalent of Sab. mefia�� is Lat. medius. Smith therefore supposes that in Latin /f/ underwent some kind of re-fortition to /d/ in the medial position; the only way to account for fortition is through a stepwise reversal, which should naturally involve a /theta/ stage." References: (a) Jane Stuart-Smith (2004). "Phonetics and philology: sound change in Italic." Oxford University Press. ---------- (III) Lexically isolated /f/ > /theta/ changes In his own extensive diachronic work, Martin K��mmel found only one potential case of a /v/ > /��/ change, localized to the Eastern Iranian Pamir languages of the Shughni group (including Yazghulami) and neighbouring Sanglichi. This was a conditioned change, with "voiced /v/ [becoming] the corresponding dental fricative before /m/ from /n/" in a single form. The word for 'sleep,' which "originally must have had /fn/ voiced to /vn/," ultimately reaching /��m/, with "the labial feature...gone over to the nasal." The diachronic trajectory of this change might then have been /fn/ > /vn/ (> /vm/) > /��m/. Martin speculated that this final stage may have been dissimilatory in nature. Martin also notes that (unsurprisingly) /theta/ > /f/ changes were widespread in his survey (p.193f). Daniela M��ller found a single case of /f/ > /th/ in a dialect of Occitan: Latin /febrem/ 'fever' is realized as /ther/. However, this may not represent a true /f/ > /th/ change, but rather a mediated /f/ > ... > /fth/ > /th/ change. As Daniela writes: "...it is an /fj/-cluster that developed into the interdental fricative, because of the diphthongisation of the Latin short /e/. The palatal glide in stop+palatal onset clusters sometimes develops into /th/ in those dialects, so that in the word for 'fever,' the evolution /fjer/ > /fther/ > /ther/ is more likely. (Only the /f/ is phonemic in general Occitan.)" References: (a) p.220 of M. J. K��mmel, Konsonantenwandel: Bausteine zu einer Typologie des Lautwandels und ihre Konsequenzen f��r die vergleichende Rekonstruktion. Wiesbaden: Reichert 2007. (b) Point 9 of the Atlas Linguistique du Limousin et de l'Auvergne (La Chapelle-Marcousse (Puy-de-D��me)) ---------- (IV) /f/ ~ /theta/ dialect variation Kelly Lynne Maynard reported that some sub-dialects of Albanian show conditioned /f/ ~ /th/ variation. The varieties in question are two North Gheg dialects (Borgo Erizzo/Arbanasi and Peshter). In Borgo Erizzo/Arbanasi, f > �� / _ t, e.g. [prift] > [pri��t] 'priest'. In Peshter, Standard Albanian /ferra/ 'thorny bush' is realized as /therra/. This change is not due to a general ban on /fe/ sequences in Peshter: cf. Peshter /i fell/ vs. Standard Albanian /thell/ 'deep.' All Albanian dialects have phonemic /f v �� ��/, so these changes are (potentially) neutralizing. Again, Kelly notes that the opposite shift (/th/ > /f/) is quite common in Albanian dialects, as the above forms for 'deep' illustrate. Finally, R��my Viredaz suggested that Tsakonian Greek underwent a conditioned /f/ > /th/ change. R��my writes that "a change of /f/ to /theta/ (sometimes /khi/) [occurred] in Tsakonian, however only before syllabic and asyllabic /i/ (from Ancient Greek /iota/ as well as /eta/, though not from /ypsilon/, which is known to have merged with /i/ only later, and not before /e/); this change does not affect recent loans from mainstream Modern Greek." R��my points out that this change is likely linked to palatalization, as "Tsakonian also changes the sequences /ti/ and /pi/ to /ki/ (so written, but obviously with palatalized /k/; /k/ is palatalized before /e i/ in modern Standard Greek)." He also observes that this potential /f/ > /theta/ change is not the result of a pull-chain or 'slot-filling' shift: though "Ancient Greek /theta/ shifted to /s/ already in Antiquity (Laconian), Tsakonian nevertheless possesses /theta/, e.g. /tha/ (future tense) or /tha���ssa/ (mainstream Greek /tha���lassa/, ���sea���)," independently of the /f/ > /th/ change. References: (a) Weigand, Gustav. (1911) Der Gegische dialect von Borgo Erizzo bei Zara in Dalmatien. (b) Tagliavini, Carlo. (1937) L���albanese di dalmazia contributi alla conoscenza del dialetto Ghego di Borgo Erizzo presso Zara. (c) p.104 of Latif Mulaku and Medhi Bardhi (1972) "Mbi t�� folmen Shqipe t�� Peshterit," in Gjurmime Albanologjike. (d) G.P. Anagnostopulos (1926). Tsakonische Grammatik, Berlin��� Athen. Once again, many thanks to those of you who replied. My deepest apologies if I have misrepresented any of your responses. |
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| LL Issue: | 21.2719 | |
| Date Posted: | 25-Jun-2010 | |
| Original Query: | Read original query | |
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