Ohar batzuk bokal batez: zubereraren [y]

Abstract

The diachronic evolution from /u/ to /y/ in the Souletin dialect of Basque has traditionally been considered a borrowed sound change. Researchers have mostly focused on the issue of the environments impeding the change, which seems to be a specificity of Basque. This paper criticizes the traditional analysis via a diachronic chain of diphthongizations and monophthongizations, based on the theory of vocalic processes developed by Patricia Donegan. From that hypothesis, it follows that conditions motivating (or blocking) the change might have been prosodic factors nowadays opaque. Whether Basque shares with other languages those prosodic factors remains an open question. At any rate, given that the new sound results from older Souletin /u/ in native non-borrowed forms (also corresponding to /u/ in other modern varieties of the language), it seems clear that the evolution from /u/ to /y/ must have taken place throughout the history of Souletin Basque. Phonetic motivations should therefore be sought within Basque.