Fw: Asymmetry in voiceless stop lenition

[Eduardo R. Ribeiro]

Prezados,

Enviei a mensagem abaixo para as listas de tipologia e lingüística 
histórica. Portanto, minhas desculpas àqueles que já a receberam.

Estou interessado em exemplos de assimetrias no comportamento sincrônico e 
diacrônico de oclusivas surdas (como no caso Karajá mencionado abaixo), bem 
como em diferenças em reflexos de uma mudança fonológica de acordo com o 
gênero do falante. Já venho recebendo várias respostas pertinentes e, em 
breve, devo enviar um resumo para as três listas.

Desde já, muito obrigado por qualquer informação.

Abraços,

Eduardo

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eduardo Ribeiro" <kariri at gmail.com>
To: <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>; <histling-l at mailman.rice.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 1:13 AM
Subject: Asymmetry in voiceless stop lenition


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
http://wado.us 

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