Procesos fonológicos como rasgos areales: el caso de la palatalización en las lenguas chaqueñas

This article examines palatalization in the languages of the Chaco, a geographic and cultural region of South America within which the extended contact among the indigenous population has resulted in the convergence of linguistic structures. Specifically, it examines (i) the segments that trigger palatalization, (ii)the segments targeted by palatalization, (iii) the segments that result from this process, (iv) the (regressive or progressive) direction of the process, and (v) the (lexical-postlexical) level in which it is applied. With these data, we hope to contribute to the postulation of the Chaco as a linguistic area, while contributing to typological and phonological theory, through the description and analysis of sound classes phonologically active in phonological systems of little documented and endangered languages.