The Phonology of Classical Latin

Cser, András

doi:10.1111/1467-968x.12184

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 94 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As is explained in much greater detail elsewhere (Cser 2015(Cser , 2020, the highly varied allomorphic patterns one finds in Latin verbal as well as nominal inflection can be reduced to a series of binary alternations conditioned by the sonority of the stem-final segment. In verbal inflection nearly all cases of allomorphy fall into one of two types.…”

Section: The General Patternmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…One is that there are so many problems surrounding it (presented below in section 2) that even its reality has been seriously doubted by some. The other is that pervasive vocalic alternations in the Latin morphological system (presented below in section 3.1 and, more fully, in Cser 2015Cser , 2020 appear to derive from it. It is therefore the goal of this paper to critically review the various descriptions of this putative change in order to understand how exactly it unfolded and how it relates to the attested morphophonological alternations; but, more importantly, it is also my goal here to explain why the alternations in question are not uniform in terms of the relation between environments and alternants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The lowering of high vowels before [r] in Latin

Cser¹

2020

PiHPh

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper discusses a putative sound change in the early history of Latin and synchronic alternations apparently related to it. The lowering of short high vowels before the rhotic is problematic on several counts; so much so that serious doubt has been cast on its reality. On the other hand, due to widespread alternations in the morphophonology of Classical Latin it is reasonable to assume that such a lowering operated as a synchronic rule at that stage. A minor asymmetry in the relevant alternations of verbal affixes in infectum-based vs. perfectum-based formations presents an interesting problem to which I suggest two tentative explanations.

show abstract

Section: The General Patternmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The lowering of high vowels before [r] in Latin

Cser¹

2020

PiHPh

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A different phonological explanation was proposed by Cser (1998), who examined the loss of nasals before fricatives in the history of Ingvaeonic languages like Old English (see example (6a) above), with an application to Latin in Cser (2016). He argues that the deletion of nasals before fricatives is an example of continuancy assimilation: the feature ' [continuant] is delinked from the Root-node of the nasal and [+continuant] spreads on it from the following fricative'.…”

Section: Phonological Account Of Vnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Representation of the deletion of a pre‐fricative nasal with the coalescence of the nasal feature onto the preceding vowel (Cser 2016: 104).…”

Section: Phonological Account Of Vnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Phonetics of Nasal‐fricative Sequences in Latin

DeLisi

2021

Trans of the Philol Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Inscriptional material and descriptions by grammarians from the classical period indicate that vowels were regularly lengthened before -ns-and -nf-sequences in Latin, e.g., c onsul andīnfēlīx. Additionally, nasals were often lost in this environment. The nasal deletion was driven by articulatory mechanisms, namely the difficulty of articulating a nasal directly before an anterior fricative. Diverting air to the nasal cavity reduces oral air pressure; however, the articulation of fricatives requires high air pressure at the point of constriction in order for frication of the air stream to occur. Speakers of Latin reduced the articulatory burden of these sequences by reducing nasal air flow, and over time the nasals were deleted. Preceding vowels were then lengthened to compensate for the lost mora associated with the deleted nasal. The articulatory explanation for the development of nasal-fricative sequences will be supported by the facts of sociolinguistics: the reintroduction of nasals in -ns-and -nf-sequences is associated with elite speech and formal contexts, where the coarticulation between these two segments can be closely monitored by speakers.

show abstract

“…As principais fontes usadas como referência sobre o inventário sonoro latino foram McCullagh (2011) e Meiser (2002). Obras que foram usadas como fonte de informação sobre pontos mais específicos da fonologia latina foram Cser (2016), Graur (1929 e Pope (1952).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Tipologia e marcação das obstruintes latinas, com foco especial no vozeamento

Souza

Silva

2022

RAbralin

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Examinar as obstruintes do latim clássico com um olhar tipológico, e também levando em consideração os fatores fonéticos que explicam o que é comum e o que é raro nos revela que o inventário latino de obstruintes tinha características bastante comuns em termos tipológicos. O inventário de oclusivas e fricativas contém algumas das obstruintes mais comuns nas línguas em geral, e suas propriedades com relação ao vozeamento e os contextos em que ele se neutraliza se baseiam em propriedades fonéticas. Existe contraste de vozeamento, mas só entre as oclusivas. As fricativas são apenas surdas. Isso está de acordo com a tendência tipológica de maior raridade do vozeamento entre as fricativas, já que cerca de dois terços das línguas apresentam contraste de vozeamento entre as oclusivas, mas só cerca de um terço apresenta esse contraste entre as fricativas. Os contextos em que se neutraliza o contraste de vozeamento total ou parcialmente têm uma motivação fonética. Neste artigo são analisados dois desses contextos: a geminação e o final de palavras.

show abstract

The Phonology of Classical Latin

Cited by 5 publications

References 94 publications

The lowering of high vowels before [r] in Latin

The lowering of high vowels before [r] in Latin

The Phonetics of Nasal‐fricative Sequences in Latin

Tipologia e marcação das obstruintes latinas, com foco especial no vozeamento

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About