Dr Khalil Iskarous TBA | 18 May 2016
18 May 2016
Time: 3:49pm
Venue: Arts One 1.28
Sound change and the structure of synchronic variability: Phonetic and phonological factors in Slavic palatalization
(with Darya Kavitskaya)
This paper investigates the development of the palatalization contrast in Slavic from diachronic, synchronic and phonetic perspectives. The diachrony of this contrast is an important test case for theories of the actuation of sound change, since the Slavic language family shows an impressive diversity in the realization of the original contrast, with Russian, for instance, preserving the contrast, Slovak maintaining it only on some consonants, and Slovenian showing complete merger. A diachronic study of the contrast reveals a generalization about which consonant pairs are more or less likely to undergo merger, and an acoustic phonetic study on Russian points to the aspects of synchronic phonetic variability that correlate with merger. We then use the methods of the acoustic theory of speech production, synchronic phonology, and the theory of speech perception to further understand the development of the sound change. The results and interpretation point to a cooperative relation between phonetics and phonology in the realization of the change.