Re: Two seperate questions: Rhoticity/Topic-Comment

Adam F. skrev:
 > These questions I have are things I've always been curious
 > about. Does anyone know why some languages have the
 > tendency to have weak rhoticity or to drop so-called "r"
 > sounds? The biggest example I know of for this happening
 > are of course many english dialects that drop "r" and I
 > think I've read of certain german ones doing it, and also
 > some romance languages/dialects doing it. But I can never
 > find any good sources explaining reasons why this
 > "phenomenon" may happen. Any information would be much
 > appreciated.

There is a sonority hierarchy or sonority scale of
increasing 'voweliness' in consonants (see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonority_hierarchy>).

Sonority hierarchies vary somewhat in which sounds are
grouped together. The one below is fairly typical (1
indicates lowest sonority):

  1. plosives
  2. fricatives
  3. nasals
  4. liquids
  5. high vowels
  6. non-high vowels

Among sonorant consonants the scale actually looks
something like:

1.    [n]   >  [n=]  >  [A~]  >  [A]
2.    [m]   >  [m=]  >  [u~]  >  [u]
   or        >  [m=]  >  [A~]  >  [Á]
3.    [D]   >  [j]   >  [i]
   or        >  [0]
4.    [L]   >  [j]   >
5.    [5]   >  [w]   >  [u]
   or        >  [M\]  >  [M]
6.    [L\]  >  [w]   >  [u]
   or        >  [M\]  >  [M]
7.    [r]   >  [r\]  >  [@]   >  [0]
8.    [R]   >  [R\]  >  [A]
9.    [G]   >  [M\]  >  [6]
   or        >  [M\]  >  [0]
10.   [j]   >  [i]
11.   [w]   >  [u]
12.   [r\]  >  [@]   >  [0]
13.   [R\]  >  [A]
   or        >  [M\]  >  [6]
                   or >  0
14.   [M\]  >  [6]
   or        >  [0]

i.e. approximant "r"-sounds are the most non-high-vowel-like
consonants, and by way of them so are trilled r-sounds.

BTW [D] > 0 may even score higher than [L] > j.
There is actually a dental approximant which may
be [D\] in CXS, though there is no IPA symbol
(logically it should be upside-down ð), found e.g.
in Danish, and clearly the intermediate stage between
[D] and 0.  [D] > [j] actually beats me, though it is
attested e.g. in Middle Persian and in Danish dialects.

FWIW the only 'non-rhotic' Romance lang I know of is
Catalan, but there probably are others on the dialectal
level.

 > Also, is it possible or common for highly synthetic
 > languages to follow topic-comment patterns and does anyone
 > know of any languages where this is the case?

I can't see why not.

 > Thanks so much, Adam

HTH,

Replies