ABSTRACT
Dissimilation, a phonological process which ensures that ‘differences between sounds are enhanced so that sounds become more auditorily distinct’ (Katamba 1989:94), often makes speech perception and, I might add, speech production easier. For example, common non-standard pronunciations of English words with liquids often change one of them, e.g. in library, the first rhotic is deleted. In the sequence of nasals in Latin hominem ‘man’ the alveolar nasal was ultimately changed in Spanish to a rhotic, with a preceding epenthetic stop: hombre. Such changes often give the impression that dissimilation is chaotic and irregular, and it is true that many such changes are (Grammont 1933). However, dissimilation is often rule governed, as seen in the liquid dissimilations of Latin (Steriade 1987), Sundanese (Cohn 1992), and Georgian ( Fallon 1993b ). Laryngeal features are also subject to dissimilation, e.g. for voiced consonants in Japanese (Lyman’s Law), voiceless consonants in Kikuyu (Dahl’s Law), aspirates in Sanskrit and Ancient Greek (Grassmann’s Law), and either pharyngealized consonants or ejectives (the so-called ‘emphatics’) in Akkadian (Geers’ Law). Although not graced with the names of laws, ejective dissimilation is fairly common. Dissimilation of ejectives in a root or word typically results in deglottalization (Chapter 3), but can also result in voicing (Chapter 6). This chapter examines ejective dissimilation and its phonological characterization.
