New Book: Thomas Cravens

[Paul Peranteau]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
John Benjamins Publishing announces a new work of relevance to historical
linguistics:

Title: Comparative Historical Dialectology
Subtitle: Italo-Romance clues to Ibero-Romance sound change
Series Title: Current Issues in Linguistic Theory

Publication Year: 2002
Publisher: John Benjamins
            http://www.benjamins.com/

Author: Thomas D. Cravens (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Hardback: ISBN: 1588113132, Pages: xii, 166, Price: USD 77.00 (US & Canada)
Hardback: ISBN: 9027247390, Pages: xii, 163, Price: EUR 85.00 (Everywhere Else)

Abstract:

This brief monograph explores the historical motivations for two sets
of phonological changes in some varieties of Romance: restructured
voicing of intervocalic /p t k/, and palatalization of initial /l/ and
/n/. These developments have been treated repeatedly over the decades,
yet neither has enjoyed a satisfactory solution. This book attempts to
demonstrate that both outcomes are ultimately attributable to the loss
of early pan-Romance consonant gemination.  This study is of interest
not only to the language-specific field of historical Romance
linguistics, but also to general historical linguistics. The central
problems examined here constitute classic cases of questions that
cannot be answered by confining analysis solely to the individual
languages under investigation. The passage of time, the indirect
nature of fragmentary and accidental documentation, and the nature of
the changes themselves conspire to deny access to the most essential
facts. However, comparison of closely cognate languages now undergoing
change supplies a perspective for discerning conditions that may
ultimately lead to states achieved in the distant past by the
languages under investigation.

Table of Contents

Dedication  v
Acknowledgements  vii
Chapter 1 Introduction  1
Chapter 2 Substratum  15
Chapter 3 Crucial ingredients: Intervocalic voicing in Latin,
           Assimilation at word boundaries 40
Chapter 4 Voicing in Western Romance  66
Chapter 5 Palatalization of word-initial /l/ and /n/ in Ibero-Romance
           93
Chapter 6 Loose ends: Non-voicing in Rumania and the dialects of the
           Pyrenees, Irregular voicing in Italian 116
Chapter 7 Conclusion  141
References  144
Index of terms and concepts  159
Index of names  161

Lingfield(s):  Historical Linguistics

Language Family(ies): Romance (Subgroup Code: IEJAAA)

Written In:  English (Language Code: ENG)




Paul Peranteau (paul at benjamins.com)
P O Box 27519                   Ph: 215 836-1200
Philadelphia PA 19118-0519      Fax: 215 836-1204
John Benjamins Publishing Co. website: http://www.benjamins.com