s > r in Sardinian

[nigel vincent]

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Presumably the development of s > r in Sardinian is a rather different
phenomenon from that in Latin which started this discussion off since the
Latin environment is intervocalic while the Sardinian one is
preconsonantal. Moreover, Michael Jones notes that in Logudorese-Nuorese
there is an interesting complementarity, with r > s before voiceless
consonants (thus 'batos kanes' '4 dogs' beside 'bator gatos' '4 cats'  and
s > r before voiced consonants (see his chapter on Sardinian in M. Harris &
N. Vincent (eds) The Romance Languages, 1988, p. 323). For a lot more
(fascinating) detail, see Michel Contini 'Etude de geographie phonetique et
de phonetique instrumentale du sarde' Alessandria, Edizioni dell'Orso, 2
vols, 1987.
[NB on a terminological note people in the Anglophone world these days
usually call the language 'Sardinian' not 'Sard'. Posner's usage here is
decidedly 'arcaizzante'.]
 
Nigel Vincent                  Tel: +44-(0)161-275 3194
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