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<font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">Hi Eduardo,<br>
<br>
Regarding your query:<br>
I have relevant data from the Oceanic languages of north Vanuatu. <br>
We have nothing there parallel to your case in terms of gender
differences. However, these languages have historically gone through a
process of voiceless-stop lenition, which shows some asymmetry.
Interestingly, the asymmetry does not concern the *k but the *t.<br>
<br>
Proto-Oceanic (POc), the ancestor of these languages, is
reconstructed as having had <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto_Oceanic#Phonology">six
voiceless stops</a> </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">*pʷ </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">p </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">t c k q<small>.</small><br>
Since the early stage of POc, these consonants have tended towards
lenition in many (but not all) modern Oceanic languages. Each subgroup
of Oceanic (even each language) shows different configurations, several
of them showing asymmetry in the sense of your query [most voiceless
stops have lenited except one or two...]. <br>
<br>
In the 17<a href="http://alex.francois.free.fr/AF-field.htm"></a>
northernmost languages of Vanuatu<small><small> [<a
href="http://alex.francois.free.fr/AF-field.htm">list here</a>]</small></small>,
a process of lenition (and usually voicing) has affected all voiceless
stops but one:<br>
</font></font>
<ul>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*pʷ became /<b>β</b>/
or /<b>w</b>/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*p </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">is reflected usually as </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">/<b>β</b>/
-- sometimes /w/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*c is reflected as /<b>s</b>/
-- sometimes /h/ or zero<br>
</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*k </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">is reflected usually as </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">/<b>ɣ</b>/
-- sometimes /w/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*q is reflected as zero,</font></font></li>
</ul>
<font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">BUT <font color="#6600cc">*t
remained /<b>t</b>/</font> </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">almost
everywhere <br>
(=in all words for 14 languages; in some words for 3 languages)</font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">. <br>
</font></font>
<ul>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua"><small>In 2 languages
of Vanua Lava, *t has split into /t/ and glottal stop /ʔ/; <br>
in one language of Ureparapara, *t has split into /t/ and /ʧ/. <br>
These splits can be shown to be relatively recent.</small><br>
</font></font></li>
</ul>
<font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">In other terms, these
languages show an asymmetry in voiceless stop lenition like Karajá, but
it does not involve the same point of articulation.<br>
<br>
One possible </font><font face="Book Antiqua">explanation for this
asymmetry, would suggest that the existence already of various
continuants at the alveolar place (clearly visible in the <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto_Oceanic#Phonology">POc
inventory</a>) was a reason why *t has resisted longer as a plosive,
than its fellow voiceless stops. Maybe my fellow Oceanicists can come
up with better hypotheses.<br>
<br>
Final note: If you go further south, you can find closely related
languages where <u>all</u> POc voiceless stops have been lenited. <br>
Thus Araki (8 speakers, south Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu), closely related
to the languages above, shows these reflexes:<br>
</font></font>
<ul>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*pʷ > /<b>β</b>/ or /<b>w</b>/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*p </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">> </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">/<b>β</b>/ or linguolabial/<b>ð̼</b>/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*t </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">> </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">/<b>r</b>/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*c </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">> </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">/<b>s</b>/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*k </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">> </font></font><font size="+1"><font
face="Book Antiqua">/<b>h</b>/</font></font></li>
<li><font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">*q </font></font><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">> <i>zero</i></font></font><i><font
size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua"></font></font></i></li>
</ul>
<font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua">Thus Araki, unlike its
sisters further north, managed to bravely defeat the resistance of *<b>t</b>.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Alex.<br>
</font></font><br>
<hr size="2" width="100%">
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72"><small><small>Dr Alex FRANÇOIS
LACITO - CNRS, France
2009-2011: Visiting Fellow
Dpt of Linguistics
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
ACT 0200, Australia
<small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://alex.francois.free.fr">http://alex.francois.free.fr</a>
<small></small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://alex.francois.free.fr"></a></small>
</small></small></pre>
<br>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><br>
<br>
Eduardo Ribeiro a écrit :
<blockquote
cite="mid:f4bc15f50912042213y10901a2qe4be78c4e32b17f3@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear colleagues,
A comparison between Karajá (Macro-Jê stock, Central Brazil) and
related languages (such as Proto-Jê) reveals that Karajá underwent a
pervasive diachronic process of voiceless-stop lenition; in CrV
clusters, voiceless stops were thoroughly eliminated; in other
positions, *p appears as /w/ and *t as /r/.
*k, however, still occurs as /k/, but with a twist: in male speech, it
may be eliminated altogether (kòhã 'armadillo' > òhã, etc.). Thus, it
seems likely that the genesis of male vs. female speech distinctions
in Karajá may be somehow related to such tendency towards stop
lenition. Notice that if lenition treated all voiceless stops the
same way, *k would show up as a velar approximant in Karajá (a very
marked, unstable phoneme cross-linguistically, as far as I know).
I would appreciate any examples of similar asymmetries in the
diachronic and synchronic behavior of voiceless stops. Examples
illustrating differing reflexes of a sound change between male and
female speakers would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Eduardo
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wado.us">http://wado.us</a>
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