%0 Journal Article %A Egurtzegi, Ander %T Phonetically conditioned sound change: Contact induced /u/-fronting in Zuberoan Basque %D 2017 %J Diachronica %V 34 %N 3 %P 331-367 %@ 0176-4225 %R https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.34.3.02egu %K Basque %K coarticulatory effects %K u-fronting %K sound change %K language contact %K Zuberoan %I John Benjamins %X All modern Basque dialects have at least 5 contrastive vowels /i, e, a, o, u/. One Basque dialect, Zuberoan, has developed a contrastive sixth vowel, the front rounded high vowel /y/. This development is arguably due to sustained contact with neighboring Gallo-Romance languages. This paper supports empirically the historical development of the /u/ vs. /y/ contrast and provides a detailed analysis of the contexts that inhibited the /u/ > /y/ sound change. Fronting was inhibited when the vowel was followed by an apical sibilant, a tap /ɾ/ or an rT cluster (where r is a rhotic, and T an alveolar obstruent), arguably due to coarticulatory effects. Fronting occurred when /s̻/, /r/ or non-coronal rhotic-obstruent clusters followed /u/. Zuberoan /u/-fronting illustrates the importance of language contact and phonetics in the phonological analysis of historical developments. %U https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/dia.34.3.02egu