Sound changes in languages of western and central Victoria∗

We would like to thank Bob Dixon for making available his files on Victorian languages. We would also like to thank Gavan Breen, Luise Hercus and Geoff O'Grady for additional information and comments on an earlier draft, and also Paul Sidwell and participants in the International Workshop on Australian Aboriginal Languages, University of Melbourne, 31 May 1997, for their comments. Luise Hercus and Jane Simpson also provided additional useful information in their capacity as readers for AJL. This paper derives from a project supported by the Australian Research Council.

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to plot sound correspondences in languages of central and western Victoria using material recorded by Hercus (1986) and amateur notations from the nineteenth century. It is hypothesized that original intervocalic retroflex stops developed in some languages into laminal stops and in other languages into rhotics. It is also suggested that intervocalic retroflex nasals developed into laminal nasals in some languages. Recognizing correspondences and establishing a direction of change is important for reconstructing something of the relationship between Australian languages, and it seems that those Victorian languages that have intervocalic retroflexes retain important relics.

Notes

We would like to thank Bob Dixon for making available his files on Victorian languages. We would also like to thank Gavan Breen, Luise Hercus and Geoff O'Grady for additional information and comments on an earlier draft, and also Paul Sidwell and participants in the International Workshop on Australian Aboriginal Languages, University of Melbourne, 31 May 1997, for their comments. Luise Hercus and Jane Simpson also provided additional useful information in their capacity as readers for AJL. This paper derives from a project supported by the Australian Research Council.