Phonetics and Phonology in Gallo-romance Palatalisation

Palatalisation of the velars ⁄k, g ⁄ in Gallo-Romance applied not just before the usual front vowels ⁄ i, e, e ⁄ but also, famously, before the low vowel ⁄a ⁄ . Various scenarios have been proposed regarding the phonetic realisation of ⁄a ⁄ and its relation to palatalisation. I argue that ⁄a ⁄ was allophonically fronted to [æ] in stressed open syllables, where the vowel eventually merged with ⁄ e, e ⁄ . Here the palatalisation was phonetically motivated. But due to the relationship of fronted [æ] to the phonemic category ⁄a ⁄ , the triggering environment was extended to other tokens of ⁄a ⁄ , including non-fronted instances in closed syllables. Here the motivation was the abstract phonological connection between the different surface realisations of ⁄a ⁄ . In this paper I discuss the relationship between two sound changes in Gallo-Romance: the fronting of ⁄a ⁄ in stressed open syllables, and the palatalisation of ⁄k, g ⁄ before ⁄a ⁄ in addition to ⁄ i, e, e ⁄ . I argue that allophonic fronting created the original phonetic conditions for palatalisation, but that the phonological structure of the language led to extension of palatalisation to non-fronted tokens of ⁄a ⁄ , despite the lack of phonetic motivation in that context. The explanation for the change is therefore partly phonetic and partly phonological. Section 1 provides basic background on the relevant sound changes in Romance and French. Section 2 focuses on the reflexes of Latin ⁄a ⁄ , in particular the contexts in which it eventually led to front mid ⁄ e, e ⁄ . Section 3 discusses the palatalisation of velars before this vowel, and theories about the relationship (if any) to the Transactions of the Philological Society Volume 107:1 (2009) 31–65 The author 2009. Journal compilation The Philological Society 2009. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. change in vowel articulation. In section 4 I argue for fronting as the essential cause of palatalisation, with spread to all tokens of the category ⁄a ⁄ . Section 5 includes discussion of other sound changes in which generalisation of an allophone occurs. Section 6 places the Old French palatalisation in dialectal context, and section 7 addresses a somewhat similar process in Modern French. Section 8 is a conclusion.