Abstract According to the so-called Prosodic Change Hypothesis, sound change may be irregular if it is caused by a change in prosodic features of units to which the relevant segments belong. This theoretically not implausible hypothesis may provide an explanation for the well-known fact that some instances of sound change display what appears to be unexplainable exceptions. The present paper investigates the question of what kind of data can be used to verify the Prosodic Change Hypothesis. The paper establishes criteria which should be applied to potential evidence and demonstrates that, at present, the Prosodic Change Hypothesis has not yet been confirmed by reference to actual instances of sound change.

中文翻译：

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片段的韵律变化和（明显的）不规则发展

摘要根据所谓的韵律变化假说，声音变化如果是由相关段所属单元的韵律特征变化引起的，则可能是不规则的。这种理论上不可行的假设可能为众所周知的事实提供了解释，即某些声音变化实例显示出似乎无法解释的例外。本文研究了什么样的数据可以用来验证韵律变化假说的问题。该文件建立了适用于潜在证据的标准，并证明，目前尚没有通过参考声音变化的实际实例来确认韵律变化假说。