Phonology: An Introduction to Basic Concepts

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What is the phonological organisation of natural languages like? What theoretical and analytical approaches are most fruitful? Is there any phonological theory that is 'the best' in all ways? The student of phonology is currently faced with a number of major and apparently competing theories, and the textbook writer who genuinely wishes to confront these questions is faced with the task of assessing the contribution each theory can make, while avoiding the merely fashionable or ephemeral in this contentious and evolving discipline. Roger Lass sees phonology as essentially a problem-centred discipline. Since in his view none of the supposedly comprehensive answers proposed to the questions raised above is really comprehensive or acceptable in all its detail, he concentrates rather on introducing the student to the perennial concerns in the study of sound structure. Hence his book adopts a broad and eclectic framework, unbiased toward any one model or theory. Instead, important aspects of the phenomenology of sound structure are discussed in relation to the particular phonological theory - be it Prague phonology, American structuralism, prosodic phonology, generative phonology - for which they are most salient. The book surveys a wide range of competing theories, analytical strategies, and notational systems, and attempts to provide a coherent intellectual and historical perspective on a discipline which has too often been viewed recently as developing via a series of 'revolutions'. Although this textbook assumes some command of phonetics, little other linguistic background is presupposed, and the author carefully provides the groundwork for each new development before it is introduced. In addition, the book deals in detail with two areas not customarily treated extensively in introductory texts; the phonology of casual speech, and phonological change. This spirited and original synthesis will enable its readers to acquire a real understanding of the fundamentals of phonology.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. xiii)
• To the student (p. xvii)
• 1 Preliminaries: what is phonology? and some related matters (p. 1)
• 1.1 The domain (p. 1)
• 1.2 Areas of agreement (p. 3)
• 1.3 On facts, theories, and 'truth' (p. 6)
• Notes and references (p. 9)
• 2 Foundations: the phoneme concept (p. 11)
• 2.1 Segmentation and classification (p. 11)
• 2.2 Units, realizations, distributions (p. 14)
• 2.3 'Excess' of data: the phoneme as a solution (p. 15)
• 2.4 Criteria for phonemic status (p. 18)
• 2.5 Phonemic analysis and restricting conditions (p. 21)
• 2.6 Simplicity, symmetry, pattern: the 'as-if' argument (p. 25)
• 2.7 Problems, I: biuniqueness and overlapping (p. 27)
• 2.8 Problems, II: linearity violations (p. 30)
• 2.9 Problems, III: separation of levels (p. 31)
• 2.10 Problems, IV: 'failure' of allophonic rules (p. 34)
• 2.11 A salvage operation for separation of levels: 'juncture' phonemes (p. 36)
• Notes and references (p. 38)
• 3 Opposition, neutralization, features (p. 39)
• 3.1 Neutralization and the archiphoneme (p. 39)
• 3.2 The structure of phonological oppositions (p. 41)
• 3.3 Multiple neutralization (p. 46)
• 3.4 Neutralization types and archiphoneme 'representatives' (p. 49)
• 3.5 Neutralization vs. defective distribution: reprise (p. 51)
• Notes and references (p. 53)
• 4 Interfaces: morphophonemic alternations and sandhi (p. 55)
• 4.1 Morphophonemic alternations (p. 55)
• 4.2 Morphophonemics as an 'interlevel' (p. 57)
• 4.3 Process morphophonemics: Bloomfield (p. 59)
• 4.4 The Unique Underlier Condition (p. 63)
• 4.5 The UUC and the Latin consonant-stems (p. 64)
• 4.6 Summary: implications of underlying forms and processes (p. 68)
• 4.7 Sandhi (p. 69)
• Notes and references (p. 73)
• 5 'Ultimate constituents', 1: binary features (p. 75)
• 5.1 Feature theory (p. 75)
• 5.1.1 Jakobsonian distinctive features (p. 75)
• 5.1.2 Distinctiveness and redundancy (p. 78)
• 5.2 Features and 'natural classes' (p. 80)
• 5.3 A tentative set of segmental phonological features (p. 82)
• 5.3.1 Major class features (p. 83)
• 5.3.2 Cavity features (p. 84)
• 5.3.2.1 Primary strictures (p. 84)
• 5.3.2.2 Tongue-body features (p. 85)
• 5.3.2.3 Some problems in vowel specification (p. 86)
• 5.3.3 Multiple articulations (p. 87)
• 5.3.4 Lip attitude (p. 88)
• 5.3.5 Length of stricture (p. 89)
• 5.3.6 Secondary apertures (p. 89)
• 5.3.7 Manner features (p. 89)
• 5.3.8 Source features (p. 90)
• 5.3.9 Aspiration (p. 91)
• 5.3.10 Long vowels, diphthongs, and long consonants (p. 91)
• 5.3.11 Airstreams (p. 92)
• 5.4 Features in phonological description: first steps (p. 93)
• 5.4.1 Segment inventories (p. 95)
• 5.4.2 Phonological rules (p. 97)
• 5.5 Capturing natural classes: the role of acoustic features (p. 97)
• Notes and references (p. 100)
• 6 'Ultimate constituents', 2: non-binary features and internal segment structure (p. 102)
• 6.1 The homogeneity assumption (p. 102)
• 6.2 Dissolving binarity: arguments from vowel height (p. 104)
• 6.3 Non-binary consonantal features (p. 107)
• 6.4 Internal segment structure, 1: sequential values (p. 111)
• 6.5 Internal segment structure, 2: the concept of 'gesture' (p. 113)
• 6.6 A problem: auditory/articulatory asymmetry in vowels (p. 118)
• Notes and references (p. 122)
• 7 Phonological systems (p. 125)
• 7.1 The status of systems (p. 125)
• 7.2 The English Vowel Shift: the argument from non-participation (p. 126)
• 7.3 The argument from cyclical shifts (p. 129)
• 7.4 Phonological universals and markedness (p. 131)
• 7.5 System typology, I: vowel systems (p. 134)
• 7.5.1 Introduction: what phonemes does a language 'have'? (p. 134)
• 7.5.2 Long vowels and diphthongs (p. 135)
• 7.5.3 Basic vowel system types (p. 139)
• 7.6 System typology, II: consonant systems (p. 147)
• 7.6.1 Obstruents, 1: stops (p. 147)
• 7.6.2 Obstruents, 2: fricatives (p. 151)
• 7.6.3 Some generalizations about obstruents (p. 153)
• 7.6.4 Sonorants, 1: nasals (p. 155)
• 7.6.5 Sonorants, 2: 'liquids' (p. 157)
• 7.6.6 Sonorants, 3: 'semivowels' ('glides', vocoid approximants) (p. 159)
• 7.7 What phonemes does a language 'have'? revisited (p. 160)
• 7.8 Polysystematicity and neutralization (p. 163)
• Notes and references (p. 166)
• 8 Phonological processes (p. 169)
• 8.1 The concept of process: terminology, theory, problems (p. 169)
• 8.2 Assimilation and dissimilation (p. 171)
• 8.2.1 Direction and contiguity (p. 171)
• 8.2.2 Basic assimilation and dissimilation types (p. 173)
• 8.2.3 Acoustic assimilation (p. 175)
• 8.3 Phonological strength (p. 177)
• 8.3.1 Lenition and fortition (p. 177)
• 8.3.2 Preferential environments and 'protection' (p. 181)
• 8.3.3 More on strength hierarchies (p. 183)
• 8.4 Whole segment processes: insertion, deletion, reordering (p. 183)
• 8.4.1 Insertion (p. 184)
• 8.4.2 Deletion (p. 186)
• 8.4.3 Reordering (p. 188)
• 8.5 Complex processes and abbreviatory notations (p. 190)
• 8.6 Natural processes, evaluation measures, and explanation (p. 195)
• Notes and references (p. 201)
• 9 The limits of abstraction: generative phonology (p. 203)
• 9.1 The conceptual core: 'relation by mediation' (p. 203)
• 9.2 Abstract analysis: the German velar nasal (p. 205)
• 9.3 'Abstract segments' and absolute neutralization: Hungarian vowel harmony (p. 208)
• 9.4 Some arguments against abstract solutions (p. 211)
• 9.5 Testing abstract analyses: the role of external evidence (p. 214)
• 9.6 Constraining the theory (p. 222)
• 9.7 Abstractness: some conclusions (p. 232)
• Notes and references (p. 233)
• 10 Beyond the segment: prosodies, syllables, and quantity (p. 236)
• 10.1 'Reduction': how primitive are primitives? (p. 236)
• 10.2 Prosodic phonology (p. 238)
• 10.2.1 A first approach to prosodies (p. 238)
• 10.2.2 Types of prosodies (p. 242)
• 10.2.3 The prosodic treatment of vowel harmony (p. 244)
• 10.3 Syllables (p. 248)
• 10.3.1 Preliminaries (p. 248)
• 10.3.2 The reality of the syllable: quantity (p. 250)
• 10.3.3 Canonical quantity and 'compensation' (p. 257)
• 10.3.4 More arguments for the syllable (p. 260)
• 10.3.5 Delimiting syllables (p. 262)
• 10.3.6 Interludes (p. 267)
• Notes and references (p. 268)
• 11 Dependency relations (p. 271)
• 11.1 The concept of dependency (p. 271)
• 11.2 Intrasegmental dependencies: the structure of vowels (p. 274)
• 11.3 Vocalic processes in a dependency framework (p. 279)
• 11.4 The structure of consonants: the categorial gesture (p. 282)
• 11.5 The articulatory gesture (p. 285)
• 11.6 The initiatory gesture (p. 289)
• 11.7 Lenition revisited (p. 291)
• Notes and references (p. 293)
• 12 Non-static phonology: connected speech and variation (p. 294)
• 12.1 Preliminaries (p. 294)
• 12.2 Connected and casual speech (p. 295)
• 12.3 Systemic effects, tempo hierarchies, and rule interactions (p. 298)
• 12.4 Variation and variables: the social dimension (p. 304)
• 12.5 Individual variation: the lexical dimension (p. 310)
• Notes and references (p. 313)
• 13 Phonological change (p. 315)
• 13.1 What changes? Phonetic change and phonologization (p. 315)
• 13.2 Split and merger (p. 318)
• 13.3 Morphophonemic rules, morphologization, and analogy (p. 320)
• 13.4 The mechanism of sound change (p. 322)
• 13.4.1 'Regularity' and reconstructability (p. 322)
• 13.4.2 Lexical diffusion and the origin of regularity (p. 324)
• 13.4.3 Phonetic gradulness: variation and change (p. 329)
• 13.4.4 Phonetic gradualness and 'missing links' (p. 332)
• Notes and references (p. 338)
• Appendix Phonetic and other symbols (p. 339)
• References (p. 343)
• General index (p. 353)
• Index of names (p. 361)