A Nonlinear Analysis of the Evolution of Consonant + Yod Sequences in Gallo-Romance

Abstract

In Late Latin the consonantalization of unstressed nonlow front vowels in hiatus gave rise to consonant + yod sequences. These clusters, which were absent in Classical Latin, became subject to a number of phonological processes as diverse as palatalization, affrication, gemination, palatal diphthongization and lenition. Some of these changes occurred in all dialects, others were limited to a number of them. The primary aim of this study is to provide a detailed nonlinear analysis of the above-mentioned processes, which, although well-documented in philological studies, have never received a proper formal treatment.