A Diachronic Account of Exceptional Progressive Nasalization Patterns in Guarani Causatives

Bibliographic Data

ID3126435
AuthorsBruno Estigarribia (0000-0003-3988-2795, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume87
Issue2
Pages203-241
Publication date2021-04-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of American Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7071 • E-ISSN: 1545-7001
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/712976
OpenAlexW3145477592
LanguageEN
References cited10

Nasal harmony in Paraguayan Guarani spreads mostly leftward in a morphological word. This regressive nasalization is triggered by a phonologically nasal consonant or stressed nasal vowel and does not affect voiceless stops. A limited process of progressive nasalization affects morpheme-initial voiceless stops across a morpheme boundary. Many forms that include a causative prefix show this kind of progressive nasalization. However, this nasal spread lacks any obvious nasal trigger and does not occur consistently. In this paper, I propose an explanation of these cases as vestiges of earlier phonological rules from pre-Proto-Tupi-Guarani but not active in Paraguayan Guarani, followed by the emergence of a regressive oralization rule and ending in a reanalysis of the basic form of the causative prefix. In so doing, I will provide a revised sequence of changes involving contour allophones in the reconstruction of Proto-Tupi-Guarani (PTG

Linguistics · Morpheme · Morphophonology · Nasalization · Phonological rule · Phonology · Prefix · Vowel · Vowel harmony · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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