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9 - Typologically Exceptional Phenomena in Romance Phonology

from Part Two - Phonetics and Phonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2022

By
Eulàlia Bonet  and
Francesc Torres-Tamarit
Edited by
Adam Ledgeway  and
Martin Maiden
Adam Ledgeway
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Martin Maiden
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

This chapter on Romance phonology reviews several phenomena that can be qualified as typologically rare. Some of the phenomena examined are rarely documented within Romance but are relatively common in other language families, while others are hardly attested in the world’s languages but are present to some degree in Romance. Their relative frequency across languages and geographical distribution have been assessed with the help of three online databases that are publicly available: PHOIBLE, WALS, and the World Phonotactics Database. In addition, the challenges that these phenomena represent for phonological theory are also briefly considered. The topics examined in this chapter concern (i) phoneme inventories; (ii) syllable structure, with a focus on consonantal clusters; (iii) segmental processes involving glides, nasal place neutralization, lenition and fortition, and metathesis, among others; and (iv) issues at the morphology–phonology interface involving suprasegmentals.

Keywords

typologyexceptional phenomenaphoneme inventoriesconsonantal clustersdeletionlenition/fortitionneutralizationmetathesissuprasegmentalsmorphology-phonology interface
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Romance Linguistics , pp. 292 - 318
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Selected References

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