Ongoing Phonologization of Word-Final Voicing Alternations in Two Romance Languages: Romanian and French

Phonologization is a process whereby phonetic substance becomes phonological structure [1]. The process involves at least two steps: (i) a universal phonetic (‘automatic’) variation becomes a language-specific (‘speaker-controlled’) pattern, (ii) the language-specific pattern becomes a phonological (‘structured’) object. This paper will focus on the first step and ask the question of whether three universal phonetic variations of the laryngeal feature of word-final codas (final devoicing, voicelessness assimilation and voicing assimilation) are becoming language-specific patterns in two Romance languages, Romanian and French. Our results suggest that neutralization processes (final devoicing) might be beginning their phonologization process in both French and Romanian whereas assimilation processes (regressive assimilation of voicing and voicelessness) remain universal phonetic tendencies.