Work

Unstable Boundaries: Phonological Change and Morphosyntactic Ambiguity in Contemporary Sardinian

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This paper investigates ongoing phonological changes in Campidanese Sardinian and its morphosyntactic repercussions, focusing on the weakening of word-final codas under increasing pressure from Italian. Sardinian preserves the Latin nominal and verbal endings -s and -t, whose interaction with external sandhi processes traditionally sustains crucial distinctions of person and number. Through a comparison between a conservative variety (Tertenia) and an innovative one (Pula), the study shows that total regressive assimilation of -s and -t is becoming generalized in innovative areas, neutralizing the contrast between second- and third-person singulars. The decline of vowel epenthesis in contexts involving heterosyllabic clusters further destabilizes the system, occasionally generating ambiguity in clitic number and verbal person marking. A Strict CV analysis demonstrates that epenthesis-less outputs are structurally well-formed only if final codas are assumed to be absent at the underlying level, pointing to a deeper restructuring of phonological representations. Overall, the data document a shift from a morphologically transparent system toward one increasingly aligned with Italian phonotactics, with significant consequences for morphosyntactic disambiguation.

Source: Languages

DOI: 10.3390/languages11050085

Author: Rosangela Lai

Institution: University of Pisa

Language: English

Topic: Phonetics and Phonology Research

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,689

Funder: European Commission