This study outlines the development of Portuguese and Spanish verbal morphology from Latin in the context of the Hispanic branch of Romance, with a focus on the conjugational classes, whose number has been reduced to only three in this branch of Western Romance. It is innovative in approaching the topic as a study of sequential productive grammars…

This dissertation offers new approaches to an old and well-known problem in the study of the development of Romance varieties: duplicate lexis or doublets. Traditional analyses of duplication are narrow in scope both in what qualifies as a doublet (the popular/learned opposition has dominated, to the exclusion of other pairs) and in channels of…

The theory of Analogical and Exemplar Modeling (AEM) suggests renewed discussion of the formalization of analogy and its possible incorporation in linguistic theory. AEM is a usage-based model founded upon Exemplar Modeling (Bybee 2007, Pierrehumbert 2001) that utilizes several principles of the Analogical Modeling of Language (Skousen 1992, 1995,…

Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin, and Romance vowel sounds and their production are discussed. (RM)

Argues that the most important constraints on any proposed sound change are naturalness and minimality. Examples from Western Romance languages are provided to show how these principles can be applied to the best advantage, and a new solution is proposed to the problem of /erk/ from *DW in Armenian. (27 references) (Author/JL)

Drawing on the analogy between the linguistic Romanization of Europe and the Hispanization of America, this paper attempts to investigate the validity of the so-called substream theory to account for the development and diversification of the Romance languages. Phonetic peculiarities of Spanish in America are analyzed, and it is concluded that…

Special issue on "Changing Linguistics." (DD)

Throughout the centuries in Spain, the Castilians and Catalans have shared cultural, social, political, generational, and human experiences. This exchange was bound to have a linguistic influence of the Castilian on the Catalan language. (In Catalonia bilingualism is prevalent, and in Castile it is not.) While there have been lexical changes, the…

This issue contains the following articles: "Resumption and Last Resort" (Joseph Aoun); "Existentials, A-Chains, and Reconstruction" (Norbert Hornstein); "How Long Was the Nineteenth Century" (David Lightfoot); "Formal Features and Parameter Setting: A View From Portuguese Past Participles and Romance Future…

Two questions are central to the controversy in phonological theory: (1) are there empirical differences between morphophonemic alterations and allophonic variation, and (2) what are the universal constraints on the ordering of phonological processes within the phonological rule component. This paper illustrates a Natural Generative Phonology…

Seeking to determine the necessary elements of a grammar for undergraduate students with a strong interest in Old French, the author discusses: (1) sounds, (2) forms, (3) syntax, and (4) poetics. It is felt that the treatment accorded phonology should be different from the traditional approach used in graduate level grammars, since the course is…

This paper discusses the status of word-final "r" and elongated "es" plural forms in Old Provencal as witnessed in the medieval drama "Lo Jutgamen General." Evidence from rhyming is given for pronunciation in cases where the disappearance of word-final "r" would be feasible but where it is nevertheless…