Features in Phonology and Phonetics


Book Description

This book intends to place Nick Clements’ contribution to Feature Theory in a historical and contemporary context and to introduce some of his unpublished manuscripts as well as new work with colleagues collected in this book.




Distinctive Feature Theory


Book Description

This volume consists of nine articles dealing with topics in distinctive feature theory in various typologically diverse languages, including Acehnese, Afrikaans, Basque, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Navajo, Portuguese, Tahltan, Terena, Tswana, Tuvan, and Zoque. The subjects dealt with in the book include feature geometry, underspecification (in rule-based and in Opti-mality Theoretic treatments) and the phonetic implementation of phonological features. Other topics include laryngeal features (e.g. [voice], [spread glottis], [nasal]), and place features for consonants and vowels. The volume will be of interest to all linguists and advanced students of linguistics working on feature theory and/or the phonetics-phonology interface.




Evolutionary Phonology


Book Description

Evolutionary Phonology is a theory of sound patterns which synthesizes results in historical linguistics, phonetics and phonological theory. In this book, Juliette Blevins explores the nature of sounds patterns and sound change in human language over the past 7000–8000 years, the time depth for which the comparative method is reasonably reliable. This book presents an approach to the problem of how genetically unrelated languages, from families as far apart as Native American, Australian Aboriginal, Austronesian and Indo-European, can often show similar sound patterns, and also tackles the converse problem of why there are notable exceptions to most of the patterns that are often regarded as universal tendencies or constraints. It argues that in both cases, a formal model of sound change that integrates phonetic variation and patterns of misperception can account for attested sound systems without reference to markedness or naturalness within the synchronic grammar.




Where Do Phonological Features Come From?


Book Description

This volume offers a timely reconsideration of the function, content, and origin of phonological features, in a set of papers that is theoretically diverse yet thematically strongly coherent. Most of the papers were originally presented at the International Conference "Where Do Features Come From?" held at the Sorbonne University, Paris, October 4-5, 2007. Several invited papers are included as well. The articles discuss issues concerning the mental status of distinctive features, their role in speech production and perception, the relation they bear to measurable physical properties in the articulatory and acoustic/auditory domains, and their role in language development. Multiple disciplinary perspectives are explored, including those of general linguistics, phonetic and speech sciences, and language acquisition. The larger goal was to address current issues in feature theory and to take a step towards synthesizing recent advances in order to present a current "state of the art" of the field.




The Phonetics and Phonology of Laryngeal Features in Native American Languages


Book Description

This book presents unique insights into laryngeal features, one of the most intriguing topics of contemporary phonetics and phonology. It investigates in detail properties such as tone, non-modal phonation, non-pulmonic production mechanisms (as in ejectives or implosives), stress, and prosody. What makes American indigenous languages special is that many of these properties co-exist in the phonologies of languages spoken on the continent. Taking diverse theoretical perspectives, the contributions span a range of American languages, illustrating how the phonetics and phonology of laryngeal features provides insight into how potential articulatory and aero-acoustic conflicts are resolved, which contrastive laryngeal features can co-occur in a given language, which features pattern together in phonological processes and how they evolve over time. This contribution provides the most recent research on laryngeal features with an array of studies to expand and enrich the fascinating field of phonetics and phonology of the languages of the Americas.




Introducing Phonology


Book Description

Publisher Description




English Phonetics and Phonology


Book Description

The second edition of the popular English Phonetics and Phonology textbook has been extensively updated and expanded to offer greater flexibility for teachers and increased support for non-native speakers studying the sound systems of English. An ideal introduction to the study of the sound systems of English, designed for those with no previous knowledge of the subject Second edition now rigorously updated and expanded to reflect feedback from existing students and to increase support for non-native speakers of English Benefits from a useful introduction to articulatory phonetics, along with coverage of the main aspects of the phonological structure of present-day English Features a completely new chapter on the relationship between English spelling and pronunciation, extended coverage of intonation, and extensive revisions to sections on rhythm, word stress, intonation and varieties of English worldwide Will include invaluable chapter-by-chapter exercises, linked to sound files available on the accompanying website at www.wiley.com/go/carrphonetics (available upon publication)




Practical Phonetics and Phonology


Book Description

Routledge English Language Introductions cover core areas of language study and are one-stop resources for students. Assuming no prior knowledge, books in the series offer an accessible overview of the subject, with activities, study questions, sample analyses, commentaries and key readings—all in the same volume. The innovative and flexible ‘two-dimensional’ structure is built around four sections—introduction, development, exploration and extension—which offer self-contained stages for study. Each topic can also be read across these sections, enabling the reader to build gradually on the knowledge gained. Revised and updated throughout, this third edition of Practical Phonetics and Phonology: presents the essentials of the subject and their day-to-day applications in an engaging and accessible manner covers all the core concepts of speech science, such as the phoneme, syllable structure, production of speech, vowel and consonant possibilities, glottal settings, stress, rhythm, intonation and the surprises of connected speech incorporates classic readings from key names in the discipline including David Abercrombie, David Crystal, Dennis Fry, Daniel Jones, Peter Ladefoged, Peter Trudgill and John Wells includes an audio CD containing a collection of samples provided by genuine speakers of 25 accent varieties from Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore and West Africa gives outlines of the sound systems of six key languages from around the world contains over a hundred activity exercises, many accompanied by audio material is accompanied by a brand new companion website featuring additional guidance, audio files, keys to activities in the book, further exercises and activities, and extra practice in phonemic transcription New features of this edition include an additional reading on teaching pronunciation, phonetic descriptions of three more languages (Japanese, Polish and Italian), expanded material on spelling/sound relationships, more information on acquiring the pronunciation of a foreign language, additional suggestions for further reading and much new illustrative material. Written by authors who are experienced teachers and researchers, this best-selling textbook will appeal to all students of English language and linguistics and those training for a certificate in TEFL.




The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology


Book Description

Phonology - the study of how the sounds of speech are represented in our minds - is one of the core areas of linguistic theory, and is central to the study of human language. This handbook brings together the world's leading experts in phonology to present the most comprehensive and detailed overview of the field. Focusing on research and the most influential theories, the authors discuss each of the central issues in phonological theory, explore a variety of empirical phenomena, and show how phonology interacts with other aspects of language such as syntax, morphology, phonetics, and language acquisition. Providing a one-stop guide to every aspect of this important field, The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology will serve as an invaluable source of readings for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, an informative overview for linguists and a useful starting point for anyone beginning phonological research.




Phonetics and Phonology of Tense and Lax Obstruents in German


Book Description

Knowing that the so-called voiced and voiceless stops in languages like English and German do not always literally differ in voicing, several linguists -- among them Roman Jakobson -- have proposed that dichotomies such as fortis/ lenis or tense/lax might be more suitable to capture the invariant phonetic core of this distinction. Later it became the dominant view that voice onset time or laryngeal features are more reasonable alternatives. However, based on a number of facts and arguments from current phonetics and phonology this book claims that the Jakobsonian feature tense was rejected prematurely. Among the theoretical aspects addressed, it is argued that an acoustic definition of distinctive features best captures the functional aspects of speech communication, while it is also discussed how the conclusions are relevant for formal accounts, such as feature geometry. The invariant of tense is proposed to be durational, and its 'basic correlate' is proposed to be aspiration duration. It is shown that tense and voice differ in their invariant properties and basic correlates, but that they share a number of other correlates, including Fo onset and closure duration. In their stop systems languages constitute a typology between the selection of voice and tense, but in their fricative systems languages universally tend towards a syncretism involving voicing and tenseness together. Though the proposals made here are intended to have general validity, the emphasis is on German. As part of this focus, an acoustic study and a transillumination study of the realization of /p, t, k, f, s/ vs. /b, d, g, v, z/ in German are presented.