%0 Journal Article
%T Regular sound change; The evidence of a single example
%A Alexander Adelaar
%J -
%D 2018
%R http://dx.doi.org/10.17510/wacana.v19i2.703
%X The Neogrammarians of the Leipzig School introduced the principle that sound changes are regular and that this regularity is without exceptions. At least as a working hypothesis, this principle has remained the basis of the comparative method up to this day. In the first part of this paper, I give a short account of how historical linguists have defended this principle and have dealt with apparent counter evidence. In the second part, I explore if a sound change can be regular if it is attested in one instance only. I conclude that it is, provided that the concomitant phonetic (and phonotactic) evidence supporting it is also based on regularity. If the single instance of a sound change is the result of developments which are all regular in themselves, it is still in line with the regularity principle
%K Historical linguistics
%K sound change
%K western Indonesian languages
%U http://wacana.ui.ac.id/index.php/wjhi/article/view/703