Distinctive features and phonological change : vowel fronting and gravity interactions in Altamurano

Altamurano (a southern Italo-Romance variety) displays a set of phonological processes and/or diachronic changes which are best explained with reference to the gravity of the vowels, glides and consonants involved. These processes (insertion and deletion of a labio-velar glide, back vowel fronting; cf. §1), for which I propose the overall label of gravity interactions, represent a counterpart to the often discussed coronal interactions. While the latter are neatly accounted for within Feature Geometry models (cf. e.g. Hume 1992, Clements & Hume 1995), Altamurano gravity interactions provide a challenge to some basic assumptions underlying mainstream research on phonological processes and change in Generative Phonology. In §2, it is demonstrated that a sensible account of the phonological processes at issue requires direct reference to the acoustic substance linguistic sounds are made of. After developing my account, I move on to discuss alternative analyses of the Altamurano data which have been recently put forward (§§3-4). In the Appendix, I discuss a further process of Altamurano, viz. open syllable diph-thongization, and, based on this discussion, briefly tackle the collateral issue of the relationship between dialectological fieldwork and theoretical speculation in phonology.