Title : Mimetic gemination in Japanese : A challenge for Evolutionary Phonology

Blevins’s Evolutionary Phonology attempts to derive most if not all synchronic phonological patterns from diachronic changes: “[R]ecurrent synchronic sound patterns are a direct reflection of their diachronic origins, and, more specifically...regular phonetically based sound change is the common source of recurrent sound patterns. Evolutionary Phonology...investigates this hypothesis and explores its consequences for phonological theory” (Blevins 2006: 2). Evolutionary Phonology suggests that, to avoid duplication in linguistic theory, diachronic explanations must take priority over synchronic explanations whenever possible: “[P]rincipled diachronic explanations for sound patterns replace, rather than complement, synchronic explanations, unless independent evidence demonstrates, beyond reasonable doubt, that a separate synchronic account is warranted” (Blevins 2004a: 5).