The alleged voicelessness assimilation and the realization of old Basque stops

• Main Author: Ander Egurtzegi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UPV/EHU Press 2018-09-01
• Series: Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo"
• Online Access: https://ojs.ehu.eus/index.php/ASJU/article/view/20198

In Basque, a sequence of an onset voiced stop followed by an onset (aspirated) voiceless stop in the next syllable is resolved with devoicing of the first of these stops. This typologically uncommon sound pattern has been described as assimilation of voicelessness, but I propose that it affects aspiration instead. This approach accounts for the distribution of the aspirated stops as well as for the blocking contexts, and gives rise to new questions regarding the realization of old Basque stops. The modern Basque stop opposition is usually described as voiced vs. plain voiceless. Nevertheless, most authors reconstruct a different system. In this paper, I reconstruct two series of stops: a voiceless aspirated series (specified for [spread glottis]) and an unaspirated series (laryngeally neutral) that is realized as unaspirated voiceless stops word initially and passively voiced stops in medial position.