Must sound change be linguistically motivated?
Robert A. Blust | University of Hawai'i
A number of well-documented sound changes in Austronesian languages do not appear to be either phonetically or phonologically motivated. Although it is possible that some of these changes involved intermediate steps for which we have no direct documentation, the assumption that this was always the case appears arbitrary, and is in violation of Occam's Razor. These data thus raise the question whether sound change must be phonetically motivated, as assumed by the Neogrammarians, or even linguistically motivated, as assumed by virtually all working historical linguists.
Keywords: phonetic motivation, linguistic motivation, actuation problem, bizarre reflexes, dissimilation, hypercorrection, sound change, Austronesian languages
Published online: 07 December 2005
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.22.2.02blu
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.22.2.02blu
Cited by
Cited by 17 other publications
Anonby, Erik
Arnold, Laura
BEGUŠ, GAŠPER
Beguš, Gašper
Blevins, Juliette
Blust, Robert
Blust, Robert
Embarki, Mohamed
Eska, Joseph F.
Hall, T. A
Hall, T. A.
JangYoungJun
Operstein, Natalie
Stanford, James N. & Timothy J. Pulju
Trudgill, Peter
Walworth, Mary
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 08 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.