Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-plnhv Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2025-08-21T21:43:21.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Old French nasalization and universals of sound change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

John Hajek
John Hajek
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Changing patterns of assonance in early Old French texts have traditionally provided the basis for the claim that vowel height has a universally predictable effect on the development of distinctive nasalization over time. However, the results of recent studies cannot be accounted for by such a hypothesis. Furthermore, an alternative hypothesis suggests that the same patterns of assonance reflect modifications in vowel quality rather than nasality. Additional cross-linguistic and phonetic data examined here further undermine the purportedly universal character of the development of distinctive nasalization in Old French.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , September 1993 , pp. 145 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Al-Bamerni, A. (1983). Oral, velic and laryngeal coarticulation across languages. D.Phil, dissertation, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Bédier, J. (1927). La Chanson de Roland, commentée. Paris: H. Piazza.Google Scholar
Bernardelli, G. (1989). Metrica francese. Brescia: Editrice La Scuola.Google Scholar
Brault, G. J. (1978). The Song of Roland. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Carton, F. (1974). Introduction à la phonétique du français, 2nd edn.Paris: Bordas.Google Scholar
Chaussée, F. de la (1982). Initiation à la phonétique historique de l'ancien français, 2nd edn.Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Chen, M. (1973). Predictive power in phonological description. Lingua, 32: 173–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, M. (1974). Metarules and universal constraints in phonological theory. In Heilmann, (ed.), 909–924.Google Scholar
Chen, M. (1975). An areal study of nasalization in Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 3: 16–59.Google Scholar
Chen, M. and Wang, W.-S. (1975). Sound change: actuation and implementation. Language, 51: 255–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clumeck, H. (1976). Patterns of soft palate movement in six languages. Journal of Phonetics, 4: 337–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dees, A. (1980). Atlas des formes et des constructions des chartes françaises du 13e siécle. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dees, A. (1987). Atlas des formes linguistiques des textes littéraires de l'ancien français. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delattre, P. (1970). Rapports entre la physiologie et la chronologie de la nasalité distinctive. In Graur, A. (ed.), Actes du xe Congrès International des Linguistes. Bucharest: Editions de l'Académie de la République Socialiste de Roumanie, 221–227.Google Scholar
Elliott, A. G. (1983). The Vie de Saint Alexis in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries: an Edition and Commentary. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Elwert, W. T. (1965). Traité de versification française. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Entenman, G. (1977). The Development of Nasal Vowels. Austin: Department of Linguistics, University of Texas.Google Scholar
Ewert, A. (1943). The French Language, 2nd edn.London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A. (1974). Universals of nasality. Working Papers in Language Universals, 14: 1–16.Google Scholar
Foley, J. (1977). Foundations of Theoretical Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fouché, P. (1958). Phonétique historique du français. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Haden, E. F. and Bell, E. A. Jr, (1964). Nasal vowel phonemes in French. Lingua. 13: 62–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hajek, J. (1991). The effect of nasality on vowel height: the allophonic and phonological relationship in Romance: a case study in northern Italian. Progress Reports from Oxford Phonetics, 4: 23–28.Google Scholar
Hajek, J. (1992). The interrelationship between vowels and nasal consonants: a case study in northern Italian. D.Phil, dissertation, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Heilmann, L. (ed.) (1974). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Linguists, Bologna-Florence, Aug. 28–Sept. 2, 1972. Bologna: II Mulino.Google Scholar
Hombert, J.-M. (1986). The development of nasalized vowels in the Teke language group (Bantu). In Bogers, K. and van der Hulst, H. (eds.), The Phonological Representation of Suprasegmentals. Dordrecht: Foris, 359–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
House, A. S. and Stevens, K. N. (1956). Analog studies of the nasalization of vowels. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 21: 218–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, T. A. (1924). La Chanson de Roland; Oxford Version. Boston.Google Scholar
Koschwitz, E. (1920). Les Plus Anciens Monuments de la langue française. 9th edn.Leipzig: O. R. Reisland.Google Scholar
Lightner, T. A. (1973). Remarks on universals in phonology. In Gross, M., Halle, M. and Schützenberger, M.-P. (eds.), The Formal Analysis of Natural Languages. The Hague: Mouton, 13–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lote, G. (1940–1943). La nasalisation des voyelles françaises. Annales de la Faculté des Lettres d'Aix, 23: 145–170.Google Scholar
Maeda, S. (1989). The distance between two nasal spectral peaks as an acoustic measure for vowel nasalization. In Recueil de Publications et Communications 1988 en Traitement Automatique de la Parole, part 2, Lannion: Centre national d'études des télécommunications, 275–304.Google Scholar
Matte, E. J. (1982). Histoire des modes phonétiques du français. Geneva: Droz.Google Scholar
Matte, E. J. (1984). Réexamen de la doctrine traditionnelle sur les voyelles nasales du français. Romance Philology, 38: 15–31.Google Scholar
Ohala, J. J. (1975). Phonetic explanations for nasal sound patterns. In Ferguson, C. A., Hyman, L. M. and Ohala, J. J. (eds.), Nasálfest, Papers from a Symposium on Nasals and Nasalization. Stanford: Language Universals Project, Department of Linguistics, University of Stanford, 289–316.Google Scholar
Paris, G. (1872). La Vie de Saint Léger, texte revu sur le MS de Clermont-Ferrand. Romania, 1: 303–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierret, J.-M. (1981). Phonétique du français. Louvain-la-Neuve: Cabay.Google Scholar
Pope, M. K. (1952). From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman, 2nd edn.Manchester: University of Manchester Press.Google Scholar
Posner, R. (1971). On synchronic and diachronic rules: French nasalization. Lingua, 27: 184–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reenen, P. Van (1982). Phonetic Feature Definitions: their Integration into Phonology and their Relation to Speech, a Case Study of the Feature Nasal. Dordrecht: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reenen, P. Van (1985). La fiabilité des données linguistiques (à propos de la formation des voyelles nasales en ancien français). In Moll, A. (ed.), xvi congrés internacional de lingülistica i filologia romàniques, Actes vol. ii. Palma de Mallorca: Moll, 37–51.Google Scholar
Reenen, P. Van (1987). La formation des voyelles nasales en ancien français d&après le témoignage des assonances. In Kampers-Manhe, B. and Vet, C. (eds.), Etudes de linguistique française offertes à Robert de Dardel par ses amis et collègues. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 127–141.Google Scholar
Reenen, P. Van (1988). ANIEN en ancien français: distributions (géo)graphiques. In Landheer, R. (ed.), Aspects de linguistique française. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 141–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rochet, B. (1974). About a pseudo-linguistic universal: that nasal vowels have a tendency to lower. In Heilmann, (ed.), 727–730.Google Scholar
Rochet, B. (1976). The Formation and Evolution of the French Nasal Vowels. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruhlen, M. (1973). Nasal vowels. Working Papers in Language Universals, 12: 1–36.Google Scholar
Ruhlen, M. (1974). Some comments on vowel nasalization in French. Journal of Linguistics, 10: 271–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruhlen, M. (1979). On the origin and evolution of the French nasal vowels. Romance Philology, 32: 321–335.Google Scholar
Sampson, R. (1980). Early Romance Texts, an Anthology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schourup, L. C. (1973). A cross-language study of vowel nasalization. Working Papers in Linguistics, 15: 190–221.Google Scholar
Segre, C. (1971). La Chanson de Roland. Milan: Riccardo Ricciardi.Google Scholar
Stebbins, C. E. (1974). A Critical Edition of the 13th and 14th Centuries Old French Poem Versions of the ‘Vie de Saint Alexis’. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storey, C. (1968). La Vie de Saint Alexis, texte du Manuscript de Hildesheim (L). Geneva: Droz.Google Scholar
Straka, G. (1955). Remarques sur les voyelles nasales, leur origine et leur évolution en fran´ais. Revue de Linguistique Romane, 19: 245–274.Google Scholar
Suchier, H. (1906). Les Voyelles toniques du vieux français. Paris: Honoré Champion.Google Scholar