The retroflexion of /t(˘)r/ clusters in the Sicilian dialect is examined from an acoustic and historical point of view. The topic of consonant retroflexion has been widely investigated by Romance dialectologists and historical linguists, as well as by experimental phoneticians, but the convergence of the two sub-disciplines has only been episodic so far. This research aims at filling this gap by exploiting the resources of experimental phonetics for the purpose of diachronic reconstruction. Most studies on consonant retroflexion in the world’s languages have the explicit purpose of drawing a link between the phonological status of this consonant class and the phonetic invariance that should unambiguously define it. In these approaches, however, the large amount of variation that actually shapes the reality of phonetic events is reduced to bare labels such as ‘apicality’ or ‘falling F3’, that are fairly useless for diachronic purposes. On the other hand, it has been widely demonstrated that the only way to convincingly describe retroflex articulation and capture the multiplicity of phenomena hidden behind this label is to posit a continuum of places of articulation (Ladefoged & Bhaskararao 1983, and subsequent works). Following this latter approach, this research is not aimed at providing a phonetic and phonological description of a sound class, but rather at analyzing processes of sound change that affect retroflex and other close places of articulation.
Rhotic retroflexion in Romance. Acoustic data for an articulation-driven sound change
CELATA C
2010
Abstract
The retroflexion of /t(˘)r/ clusters in the Sicilian dialect is examined from an acoustic and historical point of view. The topic of consonant retroflexion has been widely investigated by Romance dialectologists and historical linguists, as well as by experimental phoneticians, but the convergence of the two sub-disciplines has only been episodic so far. This research aims at filling this gap by exploiting the resources of experimental phonetics for the purpose of diachronic reconstruction. Most studies on consonant retroflexion in the world’s languages have the explicit purpose of drawing a link between the phonological status of this consonant class and the phonetic invariance that should unambiguously define it. In these approaches, however, the large amount of variation that actually shapes the reality of phonetic events is reduced to bare labels such as ‘apicality’ or ‘falling F3’, that are fairly useless for diachronic purposes. On the other hand, it has been widely demonstrated that the only way to convincingly describe retroflex articulation and capture the multiplicity of phenomena hidden behind this label is to posit a continuum of places of articulation (Ladefoged & Bhaskararao 1983, and subsequent works). Following this latter approach, this research is not aimed at providing a phonetic and phonological description of a sound class, but rather at analyzing processes of sound change that affect retroflex and other close places of articulation.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
