Syllable and Segment in Latin offers new and detailed analyses of five long-standing problems in Latin historical phonology. In so doing, it clarifies the relative roles of synchronic phonological structure and phonetics in guiding sound change. While the phenomena can predominantly be explained by a reductionist view of diachronic phonology, claiming that demands of speech production and perception alone motivate and constrain historical development, the author shows that synchronic structure played the pivotal role of governing significant (but not immediately apparent) categorical and gradient surface variants, and that some phonetically explicable developments were in fact initiated and constrained by structural analogy. Ranjan Sen considers examines clear and dark /l/; inverse compensatory lengthening; syllabification before stop + liquid in vowel reduction; vocalic epenthesis in stop + /l/; and consonantal assimilations. He ascertains the phonological conditions for each phenomenon, reconstructs the motivations for the changes, and develops a methodology for the appropriate use of evidence from non-current languages to evaluate theories of diachronic phonology. He evaluates the likely phonetic and phonological influences by investigating studies across languages, establishing a secure evidence base through detailed philological examination, and reconstructing the phonetics - through both general principles and pertinent experimental studies - and the relevant phonological structure of the language. The book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in historical linguistics, phonology, Classical philology, and Indo-European linguistics.

Why do we speak the way we do, and what do our voices tell others about us? What is the truth behind the myths that surround how we speak? Jane Setter explores these and other fascinating questions in this engaging introduction to the power and the science of the voice. The book first takes us on a tour of the sounds in our language and how we produce them, as well as how and why those sounds vary in different varieties of English. The origins of our vast range of accents are explained, along with the prejudices associated with them: why do we feel such loyalty to our own accent, and what's behind our attitudes to others? We learn that much of what we believe about how we speak may not be true: is it really the case, for instance, that only young people use 'uptalk', or that only women use vocal fry? Our voices can also be used as criminal evidence, and to help us wear different social and professional hats. Throughout the book, Professor Setter draws on examples from the media and from her own professional and personal experience, from her work on the provenance of the terrorist 'Jihadi John' to why the Rolling Stones sounded American.

How do you pronounce omega, tortoise and sloth? And why? Do charted and chartered sound the same? How do people pronounce the names Charon, Punjab, and Sexwale? In this engaging book, John Wells, a world-renowned phonetician and phonologist, explores these questions and others. Each chapter consists of carefully selected entries from Wells' acclaimed phonetics blog, on which he regularly posted on a range of current and widely researched topics such as pronunciation, teaching, intonation, spelling, and accents. Based on sound scholarship and full of fascinating facts about the pronunciation of Welsh, Swedish, Czech, Zulu, Icelandic and other languages, this book will appeal to scholars and students in phonetics and phonology, as well as general readers wanting to know more about language. Anyone interested in why a poster in Antigua invited cruise ship visitors to enjoy a game of porker, or what hymns can tell us about pronunciation, should read this book.

Originally published in 1932, this book presents a guide to various aspects of English phonetics aimed at foreign students of the language. Illustrative figures and a bibliography are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the teaching of English, linguistics and phonetics.

Auch nach 400 Jahren hat der Tesoro (1611) von Sebastian de Covarrubias nichts von seiner zentralen Bedeutung fur die Erforschung der spanischen Sprache verloren. So kann die Arbeit auf der Grundlage einer selektiv-exhaustiven Analyse der ersten zwei Drittel des Woerterbuchs sowie ausgewahlter Lemmata (e.g. mit den Anfangsbuchstaben I consonantica (= J, S, X und Z) erstmals einen kompletten atiologischen Ansatz entwickeln, der sowohl die Umgestaltung des mittelspanischen Lautsystems zur Aussprache des Neuspanischen auf dem Gebiet der S-Laute als auch die Aussprachedifferenzierung zwischen dem atlantischen Spanisch (Westandalusien, Kanarische Inseln, Lateinamerika) und dem peninsular-europaischen Spanisch schlussig zu erklaren vermag. Hinsichtlich Markierung und Evaluierung des prasentierten Sprachmaterials kann die UEberarbeitung der Bedeutungsprofile von Markern wie corrupto "korrumpiert", oder vulgar "volksprachlich, gemeinsprachlich, umgangssprachlich, vulgar" eine Revision der in der bisherigen Sekundarliteratur verbreiteten, haufig zu sehr vereinfachenden Lesarten leisten und eine Reihe von Interpretationstopoi ausraumen (e.g. Arabismenfeindlichkeit, Zuruckweisung der Volkssprache gegenuber dem Latein etc.). Kognitive Ansatze zu textgrammatischen (Partikelforschung, Schwammwoerter, etc.) und pragmatischen (Hoeflichkeit, performative Sprechakte) sowie wortbildungstechnischen Beobachtungen runden daneben auf dem Gebiet der Konzeptgeschichte unser Wissen zum Erkenntniswert des Tesoro (1611) ab, so dass die Quellenart Woerterbuch auch fur kunftige sprachgeschichtliche Forschungen imperativ bleiben wird.

Word stress has long presented challenges to phonologists, as they have sought to uncover patterns in its distribution, and devise models to account for its behaviour and formal representation both within single languages and cross-linguistically. In this collection, a team of world-renowned researchers present a variety of viewpoints on the methods and problems involved. Offering fresh perspectives on the topic and its study, this book is specifically concerned with basing theoretical work on broad typological surveys and focuses on the collection, selection and use of data in the analysis of word stress and word rhythm, including their phonetic manifestations. An extensive introduction presents a state-of-the-art review of stress research. The contributors also present StressTyp2, a project in an advanced stage of development, which intends to make publicly available information on word stress in a broad sample of languages and will offer new ways of understanding this key research area.

The concept of the 'onset', i.e. the consonant(s) before the vowel of a syllable, is critical within phonology. While phonologists have examined the segmental behaviour of onsets, their prosodic status has instead been largely overlooked. In fact, most previous accounts have stipulated that onsets are insignificant when it comes to the 'heaviness' of syllables. In this book Nina Topintzi presents a new theory of onsets, arguing for their fundamental role in the structure of language both in the underlying and surface representation, unlike previous assumptions. To capture the weight behaviour of onsets, a novel account is proposed that relates their interaction with voicing, tone and stress. Using numerous case-studies and data from a variety of languages and phenomena (including stress, compensatory lengthening, gemination and word minimality), the book introduces a model that reflects the true behaviour of onsets, demonstrating profound implications for syllable and weight theories.

Children often mispronounce words when learning their first language. Is it because they cannot perceive the differences that adults make or is it because they can't produce the sounds involved? Neither hypothesis is sufficient on its own to explain the facts. On the basis of detailed analyses of his son's and grandson's development, Neil Smith explains the everyday miracle of one aspect of first-language acquisition. Mispronunciations are now attributed to performance rather than to competence, and he argues at length that children's productions are not mentally represented. The study also highlights the constructs of current linguistic theory, arguing for distinctive features and the notion 'onset' and against some of the claims of Optimality Theory and Usage-based accounts. Smith provides an important and engaging update to his previous work, The Acquisition of Phonology, building on ideas previously developed and drawing new conclusions with the aid of fresh data.

First published in 1913, this book was originally intended as a manual for students in Scottish training colleges and for teachers of English in Scottish schools. Grant supplies passages from well-known literature translated into the phonetic alphabet for both the declamatory and conversational styles. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of phonetics and the presentation of Scottish accents to an English audience.

Originally published in 1913, this book contains a proposed universal alphabet for all forms of speech. Johnston includes sample sentences from a variety of languages spelled out in his phonetic alphabet at the conclusion of the text. This book will be of value for anyone with an interest in phonetics and the search for a universally applicable writing system.

Designed for students with only a basic knowledge of linguistics, this leading textbook provides a clear and practical introduction to phonology, the study of sound patterns in language. It teaches in a step-by-step fashion the logical techniques of phonological analysis and the fundamental theories that underpin it. This thoroughly revised and updated edition teaches students how to analyze phonological data, how to think critically about data, how to formulate rules and hypotheses, and how to test them. New to this edition: * Improved examples, over 60 exercises and 14 new problem sets from a wide variety of languages encourage students to practise their own analysis of phonological processes and patterns * A new and updated reference list of phonetic symbols and an updated transcription system, making data more accessible to students * Additional online material includes pedagogical suggestions and password-protected answer keys for instructors

As a phonetician and comparative philologist, Henry Sweet (1845-1912) produced work that was regarded as seminal, particularly in Germany, where he received greater academic recognition than in England. His textbooks on Old English have long been considered standard works. As well as theoretical and historical studies, he also became involved in more practical aspects of linguistics, devising a new kind of shorthand, discussing spelling reform, and promoting the teaching and learning of modern languages. He played a role in the early history of the Oxford English Dictionary and edited several works for the Early English Text Society. Shaw's Professor Higgins in Pygmalion is believed to be based at least partly on Sweet. The present work, first published in 1877, inspired European interest in phonetic studies. Sweet presents a general theory of phonetics, illustrated by examples of transcription from various languages. He also formulates the distinction between phonemic and allophonic transcriptions.

Analyzing Sound Patterns is a clear and concise introduction to phonological phenomena, covering a wide range of issues from segmental to suprasegmental problems and prosodic morphology. Assuming no prior knowledge of problem solving, this textbook shows students how to analyze phonological problems with a focus on practical tools, methodology and step-by-step instructions. It is aimed at undergraduate and beginning graduate students and places an instructional focus on developing students' analytical abilities. It includes extensive exercises of various types which engage students in reading and evaluating competing analyses, and involves students in a variety of analytical tasks. This textbook: * is designed around related phonological problems and demonstrates how they are analyzed step by step * presents and compares competing accounts of identical problems, and discusses and evaluates the arguments that distinguish one analysis from another * details how a broad array of sound patterns are identified and analyzed.

Analyzing Sound Patterns is a clear and concise introduction to phonological phenomena, covering a wide range of issues from segmental to suprasegmental problems and prosodic morphology. Assuming no prior knowledge of problem solving, this textbook shows students how to analyze phonological problems with a focus on practical tools, methodology and step-by-step instructions. It is aimed at undergraduate and beginning graduate students and places an instructional focus on developing students' analytical abilities. It includes extensive exercises of various types which engage students in reading and evaluating competing analyses, and involves students in a variety of analytical tasks. This textbook: * is designed around related phonological problems and demonstrates how they are analyzed step by step * presents and compares competing accounts of identical problems, and discusses and evaluates the arguments that distinguish one analysis from another * details how a broad array of sound patterns are identified and analyzed.

Este trabajo constituye una descripcion funcional de una variedad poco estudiada del guarani paraguayo: el guarani "correntino", modalidad tradicional del guarani del nordeste argentino. El estudio presenta las caracteristicas fonologicas y gramaticales de esta variedad en vistas a comprender el grado de su diferenciacion dialectal asi como su posicion dentro de los dialectos del guarani meridional - criollo e indigena - hablado en las tierras bajas sudamericanas. Con una vision comparativa, entablando una discusion permanente con destacados autores de esta larga tradicion de estudios (Emma Gregores y Jorge Suarez, Wolf Dietrich, Aryon Rodrigues, entre otros) este trabajo constituye no solo una aproximacion critica a los estudios de lenguas tupi-guaranies actuales, sino tambien una tesis novedosa e insoslayable en torno a la caracterizacion tipologica del guarani. La rica introduccion historica y sociolinguistica que precede la descripcion linguistica, por otra parte, hace de esta obra un estudio de gran interes no solo para la linguistica funcional, sino tambien para disciplinas afines como la dialectologia, el contacto linguistico, la creolistica y los estudios de lenguas minoritarias.

Humans instinctively form words by weaving patterns of meaningless speech elements. Moreover, we do so in specific, regular ways. We contrast dogs and gods, favour blogs to lbogs. We begin forming sound-patterns at birth and, like songbirds, we do so spontaneously, even in the absence of an adult model. We even impose these phonological patterns on invented cultural technologies such as reading and writing. But why are humans compelled to generate phonological patterns? And why do different phonological systems - signed and spoken - share aspects of their design? Drawing on findings from a broad range of disciplines including linguistics, experimental psychology, neuroscience and comparative animal studies, Iris Berent explores these questions and proposes a new hypothesis about the architecture of the phonological mind.

At the heart of generative phonology lies the assumption that the sounds of every language have abstract underlying representations, which undergo various changes in order to generate the 'surface' representations; that is, the sounds we actually pronounce. The existence, status and form of underlying representations have been hotly debated in phonological research since the introduction of the phoneme in the nineteenth century. This book provides a comprehensive overview of theories of the mental representation of the sounds of language. How does the mind store and process phonological representations? Kramer surveys the development of the concept of underlying representation over the last 100 years or so within the field of generative phonology. He considers phonological patterns, psycholinguistic experiments, statistical generalisations over data corpora and phenomena such as hypercorrection. The book offers a new understanding of contrastive features and proposes a modification of the optimality-theoretic approach to the generation of underlying representations.

The function of language is to transmit information from speakers to listeners. This book investigates an aspect of linguistic sound patterning that has traditionally been assumed to interfere with this function - neutralization, a conditioned limitation on the distribution of a language's contrastive values. The book provides in-depth, nuanced and critical analyses of many theoretical approaches to neutralization in phonology and argues for a strictly functional characterization of the term: neutralizing alternations are only function-negative to the extent that they derive homophones, and most surprisingly, neutralization is often function-positive, by serving as an aid to parsing. Daniel Silverman encourages the reader to challenge received notions by carefully considering these functional consequences of neutralization. The book includes a glossary, discussion points and lists of further reading to help advanced phonology students consolidate the main ideas and findings on neutralization.

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.

In most languages we find 'little words' which resemble a full word, but which cannot stand on their own. Instead they have to 'lean on' a neighbouring word, like the 'd, 've and unstressed 'em of Kim'd've helped'em ('Kim would have helped them'). These are clitics, and they are found in most of the world's languages. In English the clitic forms appear in the same place in the sentence that the full form of the word would appear in but in many languages clitics obey quite separate rules of placement. This book is the first introduction to clitics, providing a complete summary of their properties, their uses, the reasons why they are of interest to linguists and the various theoretical approaches that have been proposed for them. The book describes a whole host of clitic systems and presents data from over 100 languages.

Originally published in 1906, this study by E. C. Quiggin was, as its author put it, 'the first serious attempt at a scientific description of a northern dialect of Irish'. Quiggin maintained that collecting linguistic data from the people who were born before the famine was of immediate concern because their particular grasp of the vernacular would help shed much-needed light on the mysteries of Old and Middle Irish orthography. Drawn primarily from evidence of the speech found in a hamlet called Meenawannia near Donegal, this volume represents a fascinating case study of the Irish language at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Die Autorin geht der Langackerschen Auffassung der Grammatik als Bedeutung nach. Sie uberpruft empirisch am Beispiel der aquivalenten, deutschen und polnischen Formen der Pronomen, wie sich die schemenhaften Bedeutungen grammatischer Einheiten in individuellen Konzeptualisierungsprozessen konkretisieren und welche Bedeutungsinhalte sie in dem gegebenen sprachlichen Ereignis fokussieren. Die introspektiv-intersubjektive Methode ermoeglicht es, die Verarbeitungsarten der untersuchten Formen der Pronomen aufzudecken, die konzeptuelle Vielfalt der von den ProbandInnen aktivierten Bedeutungsinhalte dieser Formen zu beleuchten, und zu zeigen, dass die Formen der Pronomen prozessual individuell-subjektiv emotionsgepragte Einheiten darstellen.

The Substance of Language Volume I: The Domain of Syntax Volume II: Morphology, Paradigms, and Periphrases Volume III: Phonology-Syntax Analogies John M. Anderson The three volumes of The Substance of Language collectively overhaul linguistic theory from phonology to semantics and syntax to pragmatics and offer a full account of how the form/function relationship works in language. Each explores the consequences for the investigation of language of a conviction that all aspects of linguistic structure are grounded in the non-linguistic mental faculties on which language imposes its own structure. The first and third look at how syntax and phonology are fed by a lexical component that includes morphology and which unites representations in the two planes. The second examines the way morphology is embedded in the lexicon as part of the expression of the lexicon-internal relationships of words. Phonology-Syntax Analogies looks at the substantive and structural analogies between phonology and syntax and the factors that cause such analogies to break down. It considers the degree to which analogies between syntax and phonology result from their both being representational subsystems within the overall system of language. At the same time it examines how far semantic and phonetic properties limit such analogies. The book presents a powerful argument against the notion of an ungrounded autonomous syntax, which it sustains and supports by detailed grammatical analyses and a powerfully coherent conceptual understanding of the nature of language The many detailed proposals of John Anderson's fine trilogy are derived from an over-arching conception of the nature of linguistic knowledge that is in turn based on the grounding of syntax in semantics and the grounding of phonology in phonetics, both convincingly subsumed under the notion of cognitive salience. The Substance of Language is a major contribution to linguistic theory and the history of linguistic thought.