The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Birgit Sievert

Given the linguistically diverse nature of academic institutions in English-speaking contexts, a strong rationale exists for the incorporation of L2 accents of English in academic listening assessment on the grounds of authenticity and construct representation. However large-scale tests have tended to feature only native-speaker varieties in listening test input owing to concerns about the intelligibility of L2 accents, construct validity and acceptability. This book presents a mixed-methods study designed to address these concerns. Versions of the University Test of English as a Second Language (UTESL) featuring Australian English, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese accented speakers were used to explore the potential for a shared-L1 or familiarity advantage, and to investigate test-takers' attitudes towards L2 accents on a listening test. Implications are drawn for test development and for future research.

The book contains a number of studies in Japanese phonology and morphology, all analyses by leading scholars in the field. It presents an overview of the work that has been done in Japan and other countries and offers new solutions to long-standing problems. In the phonology chapters, it focuses on segmental as well as suprasegmental issues, including voicing and tone, approaching these issues from a variety of perspectives, including Optimality Theory and Government Phonology. In the morphology chapters, attention is given to truncation patterns and the possibilities for compound formation.

Introduce students to the fundamentals of linguistic phonetics, designed to help students become proficient in phonetics and phonetic transcription. This clear, systematic, easy-to-understand text provides speech and hearing students with a thorough understanding of phonetics principles through practice. Fundamentals of Phonetics uses in-text exercises and supplemental audio recordings to teach the practical skills necessary to successfully perform phonetic transcription of individuals using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Students learn about the transcription of consonants and vowels, connected speech, and individuals with speech sound disorders. A chapter on speech acoustics introduces spectrograms and the acoustic characteristics of speech sounds. Students also learn how to transcribe individuals who display regional and ethnic dialectal variation of speech, including those who have learned to speak English as a second language. Throughout the text are included chapter objectives, learning exercises, in-class and take-home assignments, online resources, and study questions that will help students learn, process, and practice the material presented in the text. Note: The text does not come with the audio cd. To order the audio CD packaged with the text, use ISBN 0134204816. There are 3 CDs in the package.

This book gives true characters of Japanese speech sounds in reference to European speech sounds. When it was first published in 1931, it was the first book of its kind. There are only 5 Japanese vowel elements as opposed to 18 in English, 13 in French and 8 in German. There are 15 Japanese consonants, 26 in English, 22 in French & 23 in German. Because of the lesser number of elements, it follows that the wider range in vowels and consonants is heard by Japanese ears, so this volume gives average sounds uttered by Japanese in the twentieth century in relation to the English sounds.

Do loanword adaptations apply on a phonological or a phonetic level? This study addresses this issue by investigating the adaptation of German and French loanwords and proper names with front rounded vowels into Japanese. The adaptation forms of front rounded vowels are analysed from a phonological and a phonetic perspective. Both the phonological and the phonetic analysis can account for part of the data, but neither alone is able to account for all the adaptation forms of German and French front rounded vowels in Japanese. It is shown that adaptations are complex processes determined by a variety of factors such as perception, knowledge of the source language, and written forms. Furthermore, it is shown that socio-linguistic factors have a major impact on adaptation processes.

This book represents a step forward into the development of text-setting studies from an Optimality Theory perspective, concentrating on the strong bond between the rhythm of spoken language and that of text set to music. It provides an overview of the prosodic characteristics of spoken English and Spanish (both synchronic and diachronic) as well as the evolution of their standard versification systems in order to explore the systematic application of a number of text-setting Optimality Theory constraints to a large corpus of English and Spanish folk and art songs. The theoretical and empirical analysis of the song corpus is developed to raise interest in the study of suprasegmental phonology from an interdisciplinary point of view, presenting vocal music as a firm locus for the study of prosody, as well as to determine the degree of accuracy of the OT-based theories argued for in the existing literature.

This volume contains the revised texts of talks and posters given at the Nordic Prosody X conference, held at the University of Helsinki, in August 2008. The contributions by Scandinavian and other researchers cover a wide range of prosody-related topics from various theoretical and methodological points of view. Although the history of the conference series is Nordic and Scandinavian, the current volume presents studies that are of mainly Baltic origin in the sense that of the eight languages presented in the proceedings only English is not natively spoken around the Baltic Sea. Research issues addressed in the 25 articles include various aspects of speech prosody, their regional variation within and across languages as well as social and idiolectal variation. Speech technology and modelling of prosody are also addressed in more than one article.

The Iranian languages are a major component of the Indo-European family, and an important link between Asian, European and African languages. They contain features that can provide crucial evidence for synchronic and diachronic typology and other theoretical linguistic issues, but which are widely unknown, and difficult to access. In addition to the descriptions of each language in the family, the volume provides paradigms and syntagms, and systematic comparative-historical and typological statements.

This comprehensive textbook provides a practical introduction to English phonetics and phonology. Assuming no prior background, the author outlines all of the core concepts and methods of phonetics and phonology and presents the basic facts in a clear and straightforward manner. In sections marked as advanced reading it is shown how these concepts and methods are applied in language acquisition and language teaching. The textbook contains exercises, an index, suggestions for further reading and many audio examples on the accompanying CD-ROM. An essential text for students embarking on the study of English sounds at B.A. level and beyond.

Based on an innovative corpus-based approach, this book offers a comprehensive survey of the phonological and phonetic properties of L2 speech in English and German. The first part of the book critically examines current theoretical models and research methodologies in the field of second language acquisition of phonology and describes the advances that have been made in corpus linguistics over the past few years -- in particular, the development of phonological learner corpora. It furthermore presents the first learner corpus of L2 English and L2 German that is fully aligned and has extensive phonological annotations: the LeaP corpus. The second part of the book describes the results of the quantitative and qualitative corpus analyses in the following areas of non-native speech: fluency, final consonant cluster realisation, vowel reduction and speech rhythm, intonation and general foreign accent. In addition, the influence of many non-linguistic factors, including instruction and a stay abroad, on the phonological properties of non-native speech is explored.

The Phonology / Paraphonology Interface and the Sounds of German Across Time is an excursion into the phonology of the German language in the present, the remote prehistoric past (Indo-European and Germanic), and throughout the almost thousand-year historical era. It accordingly addresses all eras pertaining to the study of the German language in its innermost core, namely, its phonology. This book makes accessible to linguists and non-linguists alike the elements of acoustic and articulatory phonetics. It provides the reader with insight into phonological methods from the Prague Structuralism and Chomskyan Generativism of the last seventy-five years to an array of today's non-linear approaches by applying them to given phonological changes that act as leitmotifs in the research of German sounds through time. The dynamic acts that infuse the structure of German phonology, such as ablaut, umlaut, and various other assimilations, diphthongizations, monophthongizations, and consonant shifts, are all woven into the book. In each of the three time frames, the interface with ample paraphonological data allows the reader to experience "flesh and blood" phonology, that is, how it occurs and to what purpose in the mouth / ear of the speaker / listener of the German language. Not least, the reading of a piece of literature, be it a Runic inscription, the Old High German Otfrid, a Middle High German dawn song, the Early New High German Ackermann aus Boehmen, or a Rilke poem, adds delight to the understanding of the sounds that belong to our most vital and prized human possessions.

Social Differentiation in Cameroon English investigates the correlation between some extra-linguistic variables (gender, age, level of education, ethnicity, regionality, occupation, and mood) and phonological variables in a New English setting that is sociolinguistically and culturally different from most Western contexts. The investigation reveals that the type of correlation patterns between linguistic and sociolinguistic variables reported in the Western world are lacking in Cameroon because of contextual factors and the fact that English Language Teaching (ELT) goals in Cameroon continue to be based on Inner Circle English norms. It is therefore predicted that if mainstream Cameroon English is promoted and standardized and Cameroonian speakers of English are evaluated in terms of their knowledge of Cameroon Standard English, some of the correlation patterns reported in the Western world can equally be observable in Cameroon.

The choice of a pronunciation model for the 21st century learner has become a major issue of debate among applied linguists concerned with teaching English. The standard pronunciation models - Received Pronunciation and General American - have recently been confronted with a new proposal of a Lingua Franca Core (LFC) or English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), put forward as a didactic priority in teaching English pronunciation to foreigners. This volume, which includes selected contributions from the Poznań Linguistic Meetings of 2003 and 2004, does not intend to present yet another model, but sets out to place the teaching and learning of English pronunciation in the context of the 21st century. As the needs of English users are clearly changing fast in the globalizing world, the question is to what extent, if at all, models of pronunciation have been able to keep up with them, and whether they in fact should do so. Thus, key issues in the integration of pronunciation into English as L2 curricula are explored.

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.

This book collects the contributions presented at the international congress held at the University of Bologna in January 2007, where leading scholars of different persuasions and interests offered an up-to-date overview of the current status of the research on linguistic universals. The papers that make up the volume deal with both theoretical and empirical issues, and range over various domains, covering not only morphology and syntax, which were the major focus of Greenberg's seminal work, but also phonology and semantics, as well as diachrony and second language acquisition. Diverse perspectives illustrate and discuss a huge number of phenomena from a wide variety of languages, not only exploring the way research on universals - tersects with different subareas of linguistics, but also contributing to the ongoing debate between functional and formal approaches to explaining the universals of language. This stimulating reading for scientists, researchers and postgraduate students in linguistics shows how different, but not irreconcilable, modes of explanation can complement each other, both offering fresh insights into the investigation of unity and diversity in languages, and pointing to exciting areas for future research. * A fresh and up-to-date survey of the present state of research on Universals of Language in an international context, with original contributions from leading specialists in the eld. * First-hand accounts of substantive ndings and theoretical observations in diff- ent subareas of linguistics. * Huge number of linguistic phenomena and data from diffferent languages a- lyzed and discussed in detail.

According to a leading cognitive scientist, we've been teaching reading wrong. The latest science reveals how we can do it right. In 2011, when an international survey reported that students in Shanghai dramatically outperformed American students in reading, math, and science, President Obama declared it a "Sputnik moment": a wake-up call about the dismal state of American education. Little has changed, however, since then: over half of our children still read at a basic level and few become highly proficient. Many American children and adults are not functionally literate, with serious consequences. Poor readers are more likely to drop out of the educational system and as adults are unable to fully participate in the workforce, adequately manage their own health care, or advance their children's education. In Language at the Speed of Sight, internationally renowned cognitive scientist Mark Seidenberg reveals the underexplored science of reading, which spans cognitive science, neurobiology, and linguistics. As Seidenberg shows, the disconnect between science and education is a major factor in America's chronic underachievement. How we teach reading places many children at risk of failure, discriminates against poorer kids, and discourages even those who could have become more successful readers. Children aren't taught basic print skills because educators cling to the disproved theory that good readers guess the words in texts, a strategy that encourages skimming instead of close reading. Interventions for children with reading disabilities are delayed because parents are mistakenly told their kids will catch up if they work harder. Learning to read is more difficult for children who speak a minority dialect in the home, but that is not reflected in classroom practices. By building on science's insights, we can improve how our children read, and take real steps toward solving the inequality that illiteracy breeds. Both an expert look at our relationship with the written word and a rousing call to action, Language at the Speed of Sight is essential for parents, educators, policy makers, and all others who want to understand why so many fail to read, and how to change that.

With close to 100 million speakers, Tai-Kadai constitutes one of the world's major language families. Made up of two national languages, Thai and Lao, and the so-called 'nationality languages' that represent minority 'nationalities' officially recognized in the People's Republic of China, it is a language group of immense interest and significance.

Despite this, no single volume covering the Tai-Kadai languages has existed until now, and both Thai and Lao, as well as the 'nationality languages', lack comprehensive, dependable and up-to-date reference grammars.

Addressing this, The Tai-Kadai Languages provides the clear, grammatical descriptions needed in the area. A one-of-a-kind resource, it presents a particularly important overview of Thai that includes extensive cross-referencing to other sections of the volume, sign-posting to sources in the bibliography, and can be seen as an abridged reference grammar in itself. A parallel grammatical study of Lao is also included, as are discussions of the 'nationality languages', surveys of further languages in the family with smaller numbers of speakers, and sections dealing with topics of comparative interest.

Much-needed and highly useful, The Tai-Kadai Languages is a key work for professionals and students in linguistics, as well as anthropologists and area studies specialists.

Ann Banfield - professor in the Department of English at the University of California, Berkeley - is best known for her groundbreaking contributions to narrative theory. Working within the paradigm of generative linguistics, she argued that the language of fiction is characterized by two "unspeakable sentences", i.e., sentences that do not properly occur in the spoken language: the sentence of "pure narration" and the sentence of "represented speech and thought" (style indirect libre or erlebte Rede). More recently, Banfield offered a major reconsideration of the novels of Virginia Woolf and modernism in light of the philosophy of knowledge developed by G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell, and appropriated by Roger Fry in his critical analyses of impressionism and post-impressionism. The essays gathered here pay tribute to Banfield by addressing those disciplines and topics most closely related to her work, including: narrative theory and pragmatics, the philosophy of language and knowledge, generative syntax, meter and phonology, and modernism.

This volume includes papers by leading figures in phonetics and phonology on two topics central to phonological theory: tones and phonological features. Papers address a wide range of topics bearing on tones and features including their formal representation and phonetic foundation.

Writing Systems and Phonetics provides students with a critical understanding of the writing systems of the world. Beginning by exploring the spelling of English, including how it arose and how it works today, the book goes on to address over 60 major languages from around the globe and includes detailed descriptions and worked examples of writing systems which foreground the phonetics of these languages. Key areas covered include: the use of the Latin alphabet in and beyond Europe; writing systems of the eastern Mediterranean, Greek and its Cyrillic offshoot, Arabic and Hebrew; languages in south and south-east Asia, including Hindi, Tamil, Burmese and Thai, as well as in east Asia, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean; reflections on ancient languages such as Sumerian, Egyptian, Linear B and Mayan; a final chapter which sets out a typology of writing systems. All of the languages covered are contextualised by authentic illustrations, including road signs, personal names and tables, to demonstrate how theoretical research can be applied to the real world. Taking a unique geographical focus that guides the reader on a journey across time and continents, this book offers an engaging introduction for students approaching for the first time the phonetics of writing systems, their typology and the origins of scripts.

Verbindet uns Deutsche zumindest in Deutschland eine gemeinsame innere Vorstellung von einer Aussprache, die wir in allen Landschaften und sozialen Ständen gleichermaßen als vorbildlich anerkennen? Dieser orthoepischen, aber auch sprach-kulturell bedeutsamen Fragestellung widmet sich diese Arbeit. Es werden Probleme zur Entwicklung einer einheitlichen Aussprache in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz behandelt. Die Aussagen zum gegenwärtigen Stellenwert einer überregionalen Standardaussprache in den elektronischen Medien und in der Bildung stützen sich auf eine umfangreiche soziophonetische Erhebung. Sie erfasst Deutschland, berücksichtigt aber dabei dessen sprachlandschaftliche Gegebenheiten. Die von 1731 Akteuren eingeschätzten dialektalen und dialektneutralen Sprechproben können von der beiliegenden CD-ROM gehört werden.