Foundational concepts in the scientific study of sound change
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Mark Hale
Abstract
This paper sets out to survey, from the perspective of a working historical linguist, some issues which arise when one tries to conceptualize in some rational way the relationship between the two most crucial developments in the study of sound change in the past 150 years: the Neogrammarian hypothesis regarding the regularity of sound change and the ‘phoneticist’ hypothesis, which grounds sound change in the facts of human speech perception and production. In asserting that these are the most significant developments in this area I am of course expressing a firm belief that there is something fundamentally correct about these approaches. If they are both accurate in some deep sense, then it is important that we understand in just which ways they can or cannot be combined into one coherent picture of the world. This paper represents some preliminary consideration of this issue.
Abstract
This paper sets out to survey, from the perspective of a working historical linguist, some issues which arise when one tries to conceptualize in some rational way the relationship between the two most crucial developments in the study of sound change in the past 150 years: the Neogrammarian hypothesis regarding the regularity of sound change and the ‘phoneticist’ hypothesis, which grounds sound change in the facts of human speech perception and production. In asserting that these are the most significant developments in this area I am of course expressing a firm belief that there is something fundamentally correct about these approaches. If they are both accurate in some deep sense, then it is important that we understand in just which ways they can or cannot be combined into one coherent picture of the world. This paper represents some preliminary consideration of this issue.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors and discussion participants ix
- Editors’ introduction 1
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Part I. Perception
- The listener as a source of sound change 21
- Perception grammars and sound change 37
- A phonetic interpretation of the sound changes affecting dark /l/ in Romance 57
- The production and perception of sub-phonemic vowel contrasts and the role of the listener in sound change 77
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Part II. Production
- The coarticulatory basis of diachronic high back vowel fronting 103
- Natural and unnatural patterns of sound change? 123
- The gaits of speech 147
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Part III. Social factors, structural factors and the typology of change
- Prosodic skewing of input and the initiation of cross-generational sound change 167
- Social and personality variables in compensation for altered auditory feedback 185
- Patterns of lexical diffusion and articulatory motivation for sound change 211
- Foundational concepts in the scientific study of sound change 235
- Index of subjects and terms 247
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors and discussion participants ix
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Perception
- The listener as a source of sound change 21
- Perception grammars and sound change 37
- A phonetic interpretation of the sound changes affecting dark /l/ in Romance 57
- The production and perception of sub-phonemic vowel contrasts and the role of the listener in sound change 77
-
Part II. Production
- The coarticulatory basis of diachronic high back vowel fronting 103
- Natural and unnatural patterns of sound change? 123
- The gaits of speech 147
-
Part III. Social factors, structural factors and the typology of change
- Prosodic skewing of input and the initiation of cross-generational sound change 167
- Social and personality variables in compensation for altered auditory feedback 185
- Patterns of lexical diffusion and articulatory motivation for sound change 211
- Foundational concepts in the scientific study of sound change 235
- Index of subjects and terms 247
