It seems as if the fundamentals of how we produce vowels and how they are acoustically represented have been clarified: we phonate and articulate. Using our vocal chords, we produce a vocal sound or noise which is then shaped into a specific vowel sound by the resonances of the pharyngeal, oral, and nasal cavities, that is, the vocal tract. Accordingly, the acoustic description of vowels relates to vowelspecific patterns of relative energy maxima in the sound spectra, known as patterns of formants. The intellectual and empirical reasoning presented in this treatise, however, gives rise to scepticism with respect to this understanding of the sound of the vowel. The reflections and materials presented provide reason to argue that, up to now, a comprehensible theory of the acoustics of the voice and of voiced speech sounds is lacking, and consequently, no satisfying understanding of vowels as an achievement and particular formal accomplishment of the voice exists. Thus, the question of the acoustics of the vowel - and with it the question of the acoustics of the voice itself - proves to be an unresolved fundamental problem.

This study is the first book-length examination of ejectives and their phonological patterning, deepening the empirical understanding of ejectives and contributing to both phonological theory and to typologies of sound change.

In Expressing Silence: Where Language and Culture Meet in Japanese, Natsuko Tsujimura discusses how silence is conceptualized and linguistically represented in Japanese. Languages differ widely in the specific linguistic and rhetorical modes through which vivid depictions of silence are achieved. In Japanese, sounds coming from insects, small animals, ocean waves, and leaves all evoke silence, and onomatopoeia plays an important role in simulating silent scenes. These linguistic mechanisms mediate the perception of the symbiotic relationship between sound and silence, a perception deeply embedded in the Japanese cultural experience. Drawing from a wide variety of rhetorical samples, Expressing Silence brings the tools of both linguistic and cultural analysis to bear in examining the remarkably rich array of representations of silence in Japanese language and culture. She finds that depictions of silence through language cannot be understood without exploring what sound or silence mean to the speakers. She analyzes a cluster of sounds in nature and onomatopoeic vocabulary for verbal portrayals of silence, consistent with a cultural pattern of practices that value sensate and affective reactions.

This book is a contribution to the study of the linguistic concept of gender. It focuses on the problem of assigning gender to animal nouns. This problem is topical in view of the fact that in present-day English, gender is a marginal grammatical category and therefore recedes into the background in descriptions of today's English. Grammatical gender is a rare topic of research, scientific discussions or papers. The detailed analysis of gender assignment to animal names is based on two subcorpora: the English edition of National Geographic and the English edition of the Journal of Zoology. The book closes with a contrastive analysis of gender markers.

This book is a detailed examination of the phonetics and phonology of consonant strength, drawing data from parallel acoustic and articulatory studies of English and Spanish, as well as a cross linguistic survey of lenition and fortition.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This volume was inspired by the 9th edition of the Phonetik & Phonologie conference, held in Zurich in October 2013. It includes state of the art research on phonetics and phonology in various languages and from interdisciplinary contributors. The volume is structured into the following eight sections: segmentals, suprasegmentals, articulation in spoken and sign language, perception, phonology, crowdsourcing phonetic data, second language speech, and arts (with inevitable overlap between these areas).

Written for students of linguistics, applied linguistics and speech therapy, this dictionary covers over 2,000 terms in phonetics and phonology. In addition to providing a comprehensive, yet concise, guide to an enormous number of individual terms, it also includes an explanation of the most important theoretical approaches to phonology. Its usefulness as a reference tool is further enhanced by the inclusion of pronunciations, notational devices and symbols, earliest sources of terms, suggestions for further reading, and advice with regard to usage. The wide range of topics explained include: * Classical phonology, including American Structuralism and the Prague School * Contemporary approaches, including Autosegmental Phonology, Metrical Phonology, Dependency Phonology, Government Phonology and Lexical Phonology * Prosodic ideas in phonology, both traditional and contemporary ^ * * historical phonology * Intonation and tonology This dictionary devotes space to the various theoretical approaches in proportion to their importance, but it concentrates most heavily on non-theory-bound descriptive terminology. It will remain a definitive reference for years to come.

Data from a variety of languages are offered in support of the claim that although there are several processes by which languages commonly add to an already existing stock of long vowels, there is only one mechanism by which a language without a distinction of vocalic length commonly introduces such a distinction. This mechanism is the coalescence of vowel sequences, typically after loss of intervocalic consonants. This book examines vowels lengths, their differences and their effects on language.

This book presents a description of the phonology and morphology of the nominal class system in Fula, a dialect which displays 21 nominal classes. These are identified by suffixes, which can attach to nominal, verbal and adjectival stems. The main objective of this work is to show, through a lexical analysis, that there are only two monomorphemic marker variants, and that the distribution of these variants is predictable.

Those working on the description of disordered speech are bound to be also involved with clinical phonology to some extent. This is because interpreting the speech signal is only the first step to an analysis. Describing the organization and function of a speech system is the next step. However, it is here that phonologists differ in their descriptions, as there are many current approaches in modern linguistics to undertaking phonological analyses of both normal and disordered speech. Much of the work in theoretical phonology of the last fifty years or so is of little use in either describing disordered speech or explaining it. This is because the dominant theoretical approach in linguists as a whole attempts elegant descriptions of linguistic data, not a psycholinguistic model of what speakers do when they speak. The latter is what is needed in clinical phonology. In this text, Martin J. Ball addresses these issues in an investigation of what principles should underlie a clinical phonology. This is not, however, simply another manual on how to do phonological analyses of disordered speech data, though examples of the application of various models of phonology to such data are provided. Nor is this a guide on how to do therapy, though a chapter on applications is included. Rather, this is an exploration of what theoretical underpinnings are best suited to describing, classifying, and treating the wide range of developmental and acquired speech disorders encountered in the speech-language pathology clinic.

Those working on the description of disordered speech are bound to be also involved with clinical phonology to some extent. This is because interpreting the speech signal is only the first step to an analysis. Describing the organization and function of a speech system is the next step. However, it is here that phonologists differ in their descriptions, as there are many current approaches in modern linguistics to undertaking phonological analyses of both normal and disordered speech. Much of the work in theoretical phonology of the last fifty years or so is of little use in either describing disordered speech or explaining it. This is because the dominant theoretical approach in linguists as a whole attempts elegant descriptions of linguistic data, not a psycholinguistic model of what speakers do when they speak. The latter is what is needed in clinical phonology. In this text, Martin J. Ball addresses these issues in an investigation of what principles should underlie a clinical phonology. This is not, however, simply another manual on how to do phonological analyses of disordered speech data, though examples of the application of various models of phonology to such data are provided. Nor is this a guide on how to do therapy, though a chapter on applications is included. Rather, this is an exploration of what theoretical underpinnings are best suited to describing, classifying, and treating the wide range of developmental and acquired speech disorders encountered in the speech-language pathology clinic.

Describing how people talk requires recording and analyzing phonetic data. This is true for researchers investigating the variant pronunciations of street names in Los Angeles, missionaries translating the Bible into a little-known tongue, and scholars obtaining data from a carefully controlled group in a laboratory experiment. Phonetic Data Analysis examines the procedures involved in describing the sounds of a language and illustrates the basic techniques of experimental phonetics, most of them requiring little more than a tape recorder, a video camera, and a computer. This book enables readers to work with a speaker in a classroom setting or to go out into the field and make their own discoveries about how the sounds of a language are made. Peter Ladefoged, one of the world's leading phoneticians, introduces the experimental phonetic techniques for describing the major phonetic characteristics of any language. Throughout the book there are also comments, written in a more anecdotal fashion, on Ladefoged's own fieldwork.

Prosodies, in the broad Firthian sense, covers phenomena that extend over stretches of segmental and featural units that must be examined with respect to their interaction with other features to fully appreciate their role in the phonetics and phonology of a given language. The papers deal with a wide range of subjects, from intonational prominence and prosodic phrasing to the acoustic properties of segments and features. Prosodies significantly broadens our knowledge of languages and dialect varieties that as yet have not been carefully investigated such as Cairene and Lebanese Arabic, Catalan including Central Catalan and the insular dialects of Majorcan, Minorcan and Alguer Catalan, Galician, Italian, various dialects of Portuguese (Standard European, Northern European, and Brazilian Portuguese), and different varieties of Argentine Spanish as well as Peninsular Spanish. However, well-known West Germanic languages, English, Dutch and German, have not been neglected. Many of the contributions are the first account of the phenomena addressed in the language(s) under consideration thus bringing new data to light. Moreover, most papers take a cross-linguistic or cross-dialectal view favouring a better understanding of language similarities and differences, as well as of language variation and change. This approach is crucial in the case of neighbouring languages/varieties and is an important contribution to the development of language typologies. And as is characteristic of the series, the research presented in Prosodies cover laboratory approaches as well as theoretical investigations.

The series is a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field. General problems are studied from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples. Conclusions are the result of a deepened study of empirical data. Special emphasis is given to little-known languages, whose analysis may shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics.

This dissertation, first published in 1980, is concerned with the role of the syllable in generative grammar. Kahn argues that the syllable is a necessary element in phonological descriptions by identifying aspects of phonology that seem to call for analysis in terms of syllabic structure and demonstrating the superiority of syllabic analyses over possible alternative solutions. This title will be of interest to students of English language and linguistics.

This work, first published in 1980, was a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. This study concerns certain aspects of the relationship between syntax and phonology in English and French. In particular, it represents an investigation of the universal conventions and language-particular readjustment rules which create the proper surface structure input to the phonological rules operating beyond the level of the word in French and English, and it offers a description of those phonological rules. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

This book, first published in 1933, examines the dialect of the people of Byers Green in County Durham. Orton explores the possible reasons behind why the dialect has signs of external influences, and the ways in which it differs to the dialects of other populations in County Durham. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

In 1995 an official reform of German orthography was announced and a new set of rules for spelling and punctuation was introduced into schools between 1998 and 2005. These changes, however, unleashed a wave of public protest such that by the beginning of 1996 the question of how the German language should be written had evolved into a major judicial wrangle requiring the intervention of the Federal Constitutional Court. In this book Sally Johnson explores the linguistic, cultural and political issues underpinning the constitutional challenge brought by various individuals and groups against the reform. Drawing on sociolinguistic theories of language ideology, Johnson critically analyses the conflicting views of language that were produced, reproduced and challenged in the course of this dispute. At the same time her book attempts to situate those ideologies, together with the dispute as a whole, within the wider historical context of state involvement in the standardisation of German orthography from the mid-19th century onwards. Spelling Trouble? will be of interest to speakers and students of German as well as sociolinguists studying language politics, language planning and language ideology.

Rhythm, intonation, exotic and familiar languages as well as computer-sythesized audio-communications, procedures in forensic linguistics, pronunciation lexicography, language change and sociological aspects of speech such as English regional accents and dialects in Britain and other parts of the world are covered in these thirty-eight articles in tribute to Professor J.D. O'Connor by an international list of contributors, including many world famous names. With an invaluable up-to-date bibliography, no university library will be complete without it.

"Generative Phonology" offers an overview of the post-SPE theory of generative phonology and is suitable for linguists not specializing in phonology, who want to keep abreast of the latest developments in the subject. It deals with all the major trends in what has come to be known as "non-linear" phonology, including: particle phonology; dependancy phonology; government and charm phonology. Iggy Roca guides the reader through the developments of the various approaches, justifying their rationale against the background of SPE machinery, and providing the reader with the basic tools necessary to penetrate current problems and debates. This text aims to integrate the modules and proposals of what can seem a fragmentary field, into a cohesive body of living theory.

This volume offers a definitive source for understanding social influences in L2 pronunciation, demonstrating the importance of empirical findings from a number of research perspectives, and outlining the directions that future work can take. The aim is to present a coherent argument for the significance of social factors and how they contribute to phonological acquisition.

This study is an investigation into the comparative phonology and lexicon of six barely-known Bantu varieties spoken in Kenya. These varieties (Imenti, Igoji, Tharaka, Mwimbi, Muthambi and Chuka) belong to the so-called Meru group. The study develops a new classification of these six dialects. Therefore, a dialectological approach is used, which includes the analysis of wordlists and lists of short phrases elicited in the field. From the data, isoglosses and similarities concerning morpho-phonological processes are drawn. The results show in which respects the dialects differ from each other. Thus, the present work contributes to comparative Bantu linguistics.

TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that provide new insights by approaching language from an interdisciplinary perspective. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.