Asymmetry in voiceless stop lenition

[natacha at ucla.edu]

Dear Eduardo:

High German Consonant Shift seems to show a similar asymmetry with  
respect to place of articulation of voiceless stops. As part of the  
shift, some voiceless dentals and labials became affricated, cf.  
English ?two? - German Zwei and English ?pepper? - German Pfeffer.  
Voiceless velars, on the other hand, were affricated only in a  
restricted area; cf. English ?corn? - German Korn and English ?cat? -  
German Katze. The failure of velars to undergo the change to the same  
extent as dentals and labials is attributed to the chronology of the  
shift, the assumption being that dentals were the first to undergo it,  
labials next, and velars last. This pattern seems to match the  
diachronic place of articulation asymmetry of voiceless stops in Karajá.

Best regards,
Natalie


> 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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