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Article published In: Journal of Historical Linguistics
Vol. 11:1 (2021) ► pp.102–142

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Modeling gradient processes in Polabian vowel chain shifting and blocking

 | Yale University, USA
Published online: 16 April 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.18021.bur
Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of two interacting sound changes in the extinct West Slavic language Polabian. Polabian is known to have two types of vowel innovations: (i) the incorporation of acoustic properties from consonant secondary co-articulations (either palatalization or velarization) and (ii) a systematic rotation of vowels (Timberlake, Alan. 1995. Mechanisms and Relative Chronology of Polabian Sound Changes. Wiener Slawistischer Almanach 351.281–296.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). This paper argues that the innovation in (ii) is a vowel chain shift similar to those analyzed in Labov, William. 1994. Principles of Linguistic Change: Internal Factors. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Unlike the other languages surveyed in Labov, William. 1994. Principles of Linguistic Change: Internal Factors. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Polabian has phonologically predictable exceptions to the general direction of vowel movement through the acoustic space. Unlike previous work on Polabian, this paper proposes that the vowel chain shift operated simultaneously with the innovation in (i) resulting in phonologically predictable exceptions. This paper tests Timberlake, Alan. 1995. Mechanisms and Relative Chronology of Polabian Sound Changes. Wiener Slawistischer Almanach 351.281–296.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar proposal and the current proposal in a Harmonic Grammar (. 2001. Scalar and categorical phenomena in a unified model of phonetics and phonology. Phonology 181.7–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) which uses Purcell, Edward. 1979. Formant Frequency Patterns in Russian VCV Utterances. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 66:6.1691–1702. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar acoustic data from Russian as a proxy. The model only captures the correct distribution of vowel reflexes under the assumption that co-articulatory based innovations and vowel chain shifting were active at the same time.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The structure of co-articulation as a sound change
  • 2.The Polabian data
    • 2.1From Late Common Slavic to Polabian
    • 2.2Previous accounts of Polabian vowel innovations
    • 2.3Towards a new account
    • 2.4Summary of proposals
  • 3.Modeling vowel chain shifting
    • 3.1Previous chain shift models
    • 3.2A Harmonic Grammar of Polabian
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Harmonic Grammar implementation
    • 4.2Harmonic Grammar summary
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
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