Approaches to Metaphony in the Languages of Italy

Presents empirical and theoretical approaches to metaphony in the languages of Italy. Besides accurate descriptions of partly new data, this book features a wide variety of formal phonological analyses and evaluates their explanatory adequacy. It concludes with a discussion of the locus of metaphony in grammar. This volume presents current work on a topic in Romance linguistics that still informs linguistic theory to this day: metaphony in the languages of Italy. Papers discuss fundamental research topics such as phonological opacity in the light of chain shifts, post-tonic harmony and consonant transparency, the role of morphosyntax in the typology of metaphony, the explanatory adequacy of feature-based versus element-based analyses, and the locus of metaphony in grammar. Other chapters present new experimental data, thus building a more accurate empirical foundation for the study of metaphony. We envision the volume to become a reference book not only for an updated descriptive survey of metaphonic patterns in Italy but also a thorough discussion of the challenges that metaphony poses for different (morpho)phonological theories. The book bridges the gap between descriptive works and theoretical thinking in the study of metaphony.

Collectif (Auteur) - Verschenen op 06/06/2016 bij De Gruyter Libri