On the subordinate status of the choice between formal and substantive explanation for sound change

Abstract

This volume brings together thirteen papers on sound change dealing mostly with Romance in general, several Romance languages in particular (French, Italian, Rhaetoromance, Romanian, Spanish) and a few non-Romance languages as well (Basque, K’ichee’). Most papers are about the articulatory and acoustic causes of sound change and how spatiotemporal variation in production affects the perceptual identification of phonetic segments. Other relevant research topics are the relationship between phonetics and phonology and the influence of the speakers’ age and provenance and of word frequency on the speed at which sound changes take place. The contributions of this volume report acoustic and/or articulatory data in support of particular explanatory interpretations which may inspire future work on diachronic phonology.