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- Title
Unexpected obstruent loss in initial obstruent–sonorant clusters: an apparent example from Basque.
- Authors
Blevins, Juliette; Egurtzegi, Ander
- Abstract
The apparent loss of initial obstruents in Basque borrowings from Romance (e.g. laru ≪ Lat. claru) is striking. While Proto-Basque is generally reconstructed as lacking initial clusters, the expected repair in loans, based on typology, phonology and phonetics, is copy-vowel epenthesis, not obstruent loss. Indeed, there is evidence for a vowel-copy process in Basque in other loans with obstruent–sonorant clusters (e.g. gurutze ≪ Lat. cruce). We suggest that initial obstruent loss before /l/ but not /r/ is related to Romance developments. In the Romance varieties in contact with Basque, /fl pl bl kl gl/ all show evidence of neutralisation to /ʎ/ word-initially. We hypothesise that obstruent loss in words like Basque laru reflects influence from local Romance languages at a time when Basque lacked /ʎ/. In contrast, vowel copy conforming to Basque syllable structure was the norm in Romance loanwords with clusters not affected by this process.
- Subjects
BASQUE language; ROMANCE languages; PAMA-Nyungan languages; OBSTRUENTS (Phonetics); PHONETICS
- Publication
Phonology, 2017, Vol 34, Issue 3, p507
- ISSN
0952-6757
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0952675717000264