The Phonological Unity of Intervocalic Stop Weakening in Romance (Italian, Spanish, Historical Linguistics)

This dissertation is meant to offer a clearer understanding of the history of the intervocalic stops in Romance, specifically with reference to the differences between Eastern and Western Romance. In the West, original geminates have simplified, single surds have voiced, and voiced stops have been lost or have merged with the results of historical voicing. In the East, geminates remain, voiced stops are mostly maintained, but in Tuscan dialects, and in Tuscan-derived Standard Italian, the outcome of single surds is bifurcated (e.g. Lat. FOCU >/fwoko/ but LOCU >/lwogo/); this last has been a topic of comment for over a century. One major subtype in each group obtains: Rumanian (East) has no voicing of surds, but has undergone degemination; similarly, some dialects of the Pyrenees share degemination with Spanish, but have preserved voiceless stops. Also, many have felt that modern allophonic spirantization of /p t k/ in Tuscan is an odd development.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Italian

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Cravens, Thomas D.

• Language, Linguistics

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8502117

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/70972