Recasens (2025). The diachronic evolution of syllable-onset /Cl/ clusters in Romance revisited. An integrated account

Autors:

Daniel Recasens

Títol:

The diachronic evolution of syllable-onset /Cl/ clusters in Romance revisited. An integrated account

Editorial: Diachronica
Data de publicació: 23 de setembre de 2025
Pàgines: 53

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This paper deals with the historical development of the syllable-onset clusters /kl gl pl bl fl/ in Romance languages and dialects and with their articulatory and/or perceptual motivations. Several diachronic pathways are identified which depart from articulatory unstable [Cʎ] sequences, most distinctively lateral vocalization (e.g., [kʎ] > [kj]) and obstruent lenition (e.g., [kʎ] > [çʎ]). Most sound changes are attributed to articulatory variation insofar as they require adjustments in constriction degree and location. In a few cases the replacement of one consonantal sound by another appears to have been induced by acoustic-perceptual equivalence, as for example the substitution of [θ] by [f] in Franco-Provençal and of palatalized labial stops by palatal stops in southern Italy. Of special interest is the one-to-many derivation problem by which a given phonetic outcome may be achieved through more than one pathway as exemplified by the two phonetic developments /kl/ > [kʎ] > [kj] > [c] > [tʃ] > [ʃ] and /kl/ > [kʎ] > [çʎ] > [çj] > [ʃj] > [ʃ].