Tra contatto e mutamento: fenomeni di variazione fonetica di una parlata alloglotta

Abstract

This paper investigates the retention of palatal laterals [ʎ] and the reduction of final unstressed vowels in the Occitan variety of Guardia Piemontese, in Calabria. These features were considered of particular interest because they are still attested in some Piedmontese Occitan varieties. Through the analysis of a linguistic corpus and the methodology of sociolinguistic analysis, the study has a twofold objective: (i) to test whether prolonged contact with the Italo-Romance variety has led to an expansion of linguistic variants in terms of specific phonetic features; (ii) whether and how certain types of realization of a linguistic variable are able to direct linguistic change.