Nasal Vowel Evolution in Romance

Nasal vowels have attracted a good deal of interest from linguists in recent years. However, the great majority of studies on vowel nasality have used a descriptive approach, whilst diachronic data have received relatively little attention. Nasal Vowel Evolution in Romance seeks to redress the balance somewhat. Drawing on a wide range of philological and linguistic materials, Rodney Sampson provides for the first time a detailed comparative study tracing the rise and pattern of the evolution of nasal vowels in Romance; a family of language in which vowel nasalization has been richly represented. Developments across all the standard varieties and a substantial range of non-standard varieties are considered, enabling broad characteristics of vowel nasalization in Romance to be identified. The findings will be of interest not only to specialists in the Romance languages, but also to general phoneticians and phonologists.