Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 1. Evolutionary Phonology and the life cycle of voiceless sonorants

Abstract

In this chapter I examine the phonetic origins of voiceless sonorants cross-linguistically within the general framework of Evolutionary Phonology (Blevins 2004; 2006; 2008b; 2015). In terms of a general hierarchy of contrast, we observe that: voiceless obstruents are common; voiceless sonorant consonants are uncommon; voiceless vowels are extremely rare. One phonetic source of voiceless sonorants is coarticulation in RH and HR and clusters, where R is a sonorant and H is a segment produced with a spread glottal gesture. Voiceless sonorants may also arise when laryngeal spreading gestures are associated with prosodic domains. In this second case, voiceless sonorants can arise as allophones of their voiced counterparts. While a fair number of languages show voiceless sonorant glides, liquids and nasals phonologized as a consequence  of RH/HR coarticulation, voiceless vowels resist phonologization despite their high frequency as phonetic variants of modal vowels. In some cases, voiceless vowels are lost before phonologization can occur. In other cases, resistance to phonologization may be due to effects of analogy, /h/, word phonotactics, or lexical competition.

Abstract

In this chapter I examine the phonetic origins of voiceless sonorants cross-linguistically within the general framework of Evolutionary Phonology (Blevins 2004; 2006; 2008b; 2015). In terms of a general hierarchy of contrast, we observe that: voiceless obstruents are common; voiceless sonorant consonants are uncommon; voiceless vowels are extremely rare. One phonetic source of voiceless sonorants is coarticulation in RH and HR and clusters, where R is a sonorant and H is a segment produced with a spread glottal gesture. Voiceless sonorants may also arise when laryngeal spreading gestures are associated with prosodic domains. In this second case, voiceless sonorants can arise as allophones of their voiced counterparts. While a fair number of languages show voiceless sonorant glides, liquids and nasals phonologized as a consequence  of RH/HR coarticulation, voiceless vowels resist phonologization despite their high frequency as phonetic variants of modal vowels. In some cases, voiceless vowels are lost before phonologization can occur. In other cases, resistance to phonologization may be due to effects of analogy, /h/, word phonotactics, or lexical competition.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Part I. Setting the stage
  4. Synchronic vs. diachronic approaches to typological hierarchies 3
  5. Part II. Foundational issues
  6. Chapter 1. Evolutionary Phonology and the life cycle of voiceless sonorants 31
  7. Chapter 2. The Obligatory Coding Principle in diachronic perspective 59
  8. Chapter 3. Deconstructing teleology 111
  9. Part III. Hierarchical effects and their origins
  10. Chapter 4. The development of referential hierarchy effects in Sahaptian 131
  11. Chapter 5. Diachrony and the referential hierarchy in Old Irish 191
  12. Chapter 6. From ergative case-marking to hierarchical agreement 217
  13. Chapter 7. The direction(s) of analogical change in direct/inverse systems 257
  14. Chapter 8. Are the Tupi-Guarani hierarchical indexing systems really motivated by the person hierarchy? 289
  15. Chapter 9. Incipient hierarchical alignment in four Central Salish languages from the Proto-Salish middle 309
  16. Part IV. Conflicting hierarchical patterns and how to deal with them
  17. Chapter 10. Deictic and sociopragmatic effects in Tibeto-Burman SAP indexation 345
  18. Chapter 11. Morphosyntactic coding of proper names and its implications for the Animacy Hierarchy 377
  19. Chapter 12. Generic person marking in Japhug and other Gyalrong languages 403
  20. Author index 425
  21. Language Index 429
  22. Subject Index 433
Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and Diachrony
This chapter is in the book Typological Hierarchies in Synchrony and Diachrony
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.121.01ble

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Part I. Setting the stage
  4. Synchronic vs. diachronic approaches to typological hierarchies 3
  5. Part II. Foundational issues
  6. Chapter 1. Evolutionary Phonology and the life cycle of voiceless sonorants 31
  7. Chapter 2. The Obligatory Coding Principle in diachronic perspective 59
  8. Chapter 3. Deconstructing teleology 111
  9. Part III. Hierarchical effects and their origins
  10. Chapter 4. The development of referential hierarchy effects in Sahaptian 131
  11. Chapter 5. Diachrony and the referential hierarchy in Old Irish 191
  12. Chapter 6. From ergative case-marking to hierarchical agreement 217
  13. Chapter 7. The direction(s) of analogical change in direct/inverse systems 257
  14. Chapter 8. Are the Tupi-Guarani hierarchical indexing systems really motivated by the person hierarchy? 289
  15. Chapter 9. Incipient hierarchical alignment in four Central Salish languages from the Proto-Salish middle 309
  16. Part IV. Conflicting hierarchical patterns and how to deal with them
  17. Chapter 10. Deictic and sociopragmatic effects in Tibeto-Burman SAP indexation 345
  18. Chapter 11. Morphosyntactic coding of proper names and its implications for the Animacy Hierarchy 377
  19. Chapter 12. Generic person marking in Japhug and other Gyalrong languages 403
  20. Author index 425
  21. Language Index 429
  22. Subject Index 433
Downloaded on 12.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/tsl.121.01ble/html
Scroll to top button