Nasalized [õ]-raising in Basque and Gascon Ander Egurtzegi (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU)

In this paper I analyze the raising of the mid back vowel /o/ in Basque and Gascon. In Basque, the contexts of /o/-raising were previously described as “not […] easy to define” (Martínez-Areta 2013b: 62; cf. Zuazo 2008: 44f.). This raising mainly occurs before a nasal obstruent, but other contexts were not appropriately described (see tables 1 and 2). This sound pattern is found in most Gascon varieties. In Basque, it is primarily found in Zuberoan and Roncalese dialects – which are in contact to Bearnese Gascon –, although it is present, to a lesser degree, in other eastern Basque dialects. After compiling examples of this process and specifying its context, I propose that this process is more accurately described as raising of phonetically nasalized [õ]. Following Beddor and colleagues (1982, Beddor et al. 1986, Krakow et al. 1988), this sound change is accounted for by means of the phonetic ambiguity in vowel height inherent to nasalization. This ambiguity is caused by the addition of “nasal formants” to the F1 space and can result in a change in vowel height. In short, this paper analyzes a sound pattern that cannot be easily accounted for by means of phonological description but is straightforwardly explained in phonetic terms, emphasizing the importance of phonetics in historical and phonological research.

Keywords: Vowel Raising, Vowel Nasalization, Basque, Sound Change, Phonology, Phonetics.

References: Beddor, P.S. (1982). Phonological and phonetic effects of nasalization on vowel height. PhD Thesis, University of Minnesota. Beddor, P.S., R.A. Krakow & L.M. Goldstein (1986). “Perceptual constraints and phonological change”, Phonology, 3, 197-217. Egurtzegi, A. (2014). Towards a phonetically grounded diachronic phonology of Basque. PhD dissertation, University of the Basque Country. Kelly, R.C. (1973). A Descriptive analysis of Gascon. Mouton, The Hague-Paris. Krakow, R.A., P.S. Beddor, L.M. Goldstein & C.A. Fowler (1988). “Coarticulatory influences on the perceived height of nasal vowels”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 83, 1146-1158. Martínez-Areta, M. (2013). “Basque Dialects”, in M. Martínez-Areta (ed.), Basque and Proto- Basque. Language-Internal and Typological Approaches to Linguistic Reconstruction [Mikroglottika 5], Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 31-87. Zuazo, K. (2008). Euskalkiak. Euskararen dialektoak, Elkar, Donostia-San Sebastián. Table 1: /o/ raising in nasalized contexts in Zuberoan Basque (Egurtzegi 2014)

Std. Bsq. Zuberoan Trans. Gloss on hun [hun] ‘good’ gizon gizun [gis̻ un] ‘man’ honen hunen [hunen] ‘of this’ hona hunat [hunat] ‘here’ bonet bunet [bunet] ‘hat’ norbait nurbait [nurβ̞ai̯ t] ‘somebody’ komentu khumentü [khumen̪ ty] ‘convent’ moda muda [muð̞ a] ‘style’ molde mulde [mul̪ de] ‘manner, way’ motz mutz [muʦ̻ ] ‘short’ konde kunte [kun̪ te] ‘count’ kontra kuntre [kun̪ tɾe] ‘against’

Table 2: /o/ raising in nasalized contexts in Donzacese Gascon (Kelly 1973: 30ff.)

Gsc. Dzc. Gsc. Trans. French Fr. Trans. Gloss pónder /'punde/ pondre /pɔd̃ ʁ/ ‘to lay’ pont /pun/ pont /pɔ/̃ ‘bridge’ bon /bun/ bon /bɔ/̃ ‘good’ mon /mun/ mon /mɔ/ ‘my’ nom /nun/ nom /nɔ/ ‘name’ son /sun/ son /sɔ/̃ ‘sound’ contunhar /kunty'ɲa/ continuer /kɔtinɥe/̃ ‘to continue’ conduir /kun'dɥi/ conduire /kɔdɥĩ ʁ/ ‘to take, drive’ situacion /sitɥa'sjun/ situation /sitɥasjɔ/̃ ‘situation’ continuèl /kunti'nɥɛl/ continuel /kɔtinɥɛl/̃ ‘abiding’ avion /a'bjun/ avion /avjɔ/̃ ‘airplane’ vagon /ba'gun/ wagon /vagɔ/̃ ‘wagon’ bolhon /bu'ʎun/ bouillon /buʎɔ/̃ ‘broth, stock’ puençon /pwɛn'sun/ poinçon /pwɛsɔ̃ /̃ ‘punch, stamp’ oncle /'unkle/ oncle /ɔkl/̃ ‘uncle’ ombra /'umbro/ ombre /ɔb̃ ʁ/ ‘shade’ non /nu/ non /nɔ/ ‘no’ pomèr /pu'mɛ/ pommier /pɔmje/ ‘apple tree’