Aspectos da difusão lexical

Abstract

ln this text we discuss the rôle of the phonetic context in sound changes. Our position is that the phonetic context will act only a posteriori, as a possible stabilizer of innovations, and not a priori, as a trigger of sound changes. This being the case we argue that we can deal with phonetic effects even in a diffusionist approach to sound changes. Finally, we suggest that this approach leads to a considerable reduction of the scope of variation.