Alan C. L. Yu – författare

This volume brings together an international group of linguists from a diverse range of research backgrounds to explore the cycles of change in the world's languages. Historical linguistics does not solely focus on reconstructing a language's linguistic past and exploring the mechanisms underlying previous language changes; it also addresses broader questions concerning the development and ongoing evolution of language. The chapters in this book draw on data both from languages from the distant past, such as Hittite, Proto-Turkic, and Proto-Bantu, and from present-day languages including Akan, Cantonese, Kuuk Thaayorre, Seliš-Ql'ispé, Nivaclé, and Spanish. The contributions showcase current research in historical linguistics and exemplify the dynamism and inherently interdisciplinary nature of the field.

This book presents the first cross-linguistic study of the phenomenon of infixation, typically associated in English with words like "im-bloody-possible", and found in all the world's major linguistic families. Infixation is a central puzzle in prosodic morphology: Professor Yu explores its prosodic, phonological, and morphological characteristics, considers its diverse functions, and formulates a general theory to explain the rules and constraints by which it is governed. He examines 154 infixation patterns from over a hundred languages, including examples from Asia, Europe, Africa, New Guinea, and South America. He compares the formal properties of different kinds of infix, explores the range of diachronic pathways that lead to them, and considers the processes by which they are acquired in first language learning. A central argument of the book concerns the idea that the typological tendencies of language may be traced back to its origins and to the mechanisms of language transmission. The book thus combines the history of infixation with an exploration of the role diachronic and functional factors play in synchronic argumentation: it is an exemplary instance of the holistic approach to linguistic explanation.Alan Yu's pioneering study will interest phonologists and morphologists of all theoretical persuasions, as well as typologists and historical linguists.

This book presents the first cross-linguistic study of the phenomenon of infixation, typically associated in English with words like "im-bloody-possible", and found in all the world's major linguistic families. Infixation is a central puzzle in prosodic morphology: Professor Yu explores its prosodic, phonological, and morphological characteristics, considers its diverse functions, and formulates a general theory to explain the rules and constraints by which it is governed. He examines 154 infixation patterns from over a hundred languages, including examples from Asia, Europe, Africa, New Guinea, and South America. He compares the formal properties of different kinds of infix, explores the range of diachronic pathways that lead to them, and considers the processes by which they are acquired in first language learning. A central argument of the book concerns the idea that the typological tendencies of language may be traced back to its origins and to the mechanisms of language transmission. The book thus combines the history of infixation with an exploration of the role diachronic and functional factors play in synchronic argumentation: it is an exemplary instance of the holistic approach to linguistic explanation.Alan Yu's pioneering study will interest phonologists and morphologists of all theoretical persuasions, as well as typologists and historical linguists.

Explanations for sound change have traditionally focused on identifying the inception of change, that is, the identification of perturbations of the speech signal, conditioned by physiological constraints on articulatory and/or auditory mechanisms, which affect the way speech sounds are analyzed by the listener. While this emphasis on identifying the nature of intrinsic variation in speech has provided important insights into the origins of widely attested cross-linguistic sound changes, the nature of phonologization - the transition from intrinsic phonetic variation to extrinsic phonological encoding - remains largely unexplored.This volume showcases the current state of the art in phonologization research, bringing together work by leading scholars in sound change research from different disciplinary and scholarly traditions. The authors investigate the progression of sound change from the perspectives of speech perception, speech production, phonology, sociolinguistics, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, computer science, statistics, and social and cognitive psychology. The book highlights the fruitfulness of collaborative efforts among phonologists and specialists from neighbouring disciplines in seeking unified theoretical explanations for the origins of sound patterns in language, as well as improved syntheses of synchronic and diachronic phonology.

The Handbook of Phonological Theory, second edition offers an innovative and detailed examination of recent developments in phonology, and the implications of these within linguistic theory and related disciplines. Revised from the ground-up for the second edition, the book is comprised almost entirely of newly-written and previously unpublished chaptersAddresses the important questions in the field including learnability, phonological interfaces, tone, and variation, and assesses the findings and accomplishments in these domainsBrings together a renowned and international contributor teamOffers new and unique reflections on the advances in phonological theory since publication of the first edition in 1995Along with the first edition, still in publication, it forms the most complete and current overview of the subject in print

The fully updated new edition of the essential single-volume reference, covering the full fields of linguistics and phonetics Now in its seventh edition, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics remains the definitive resource work for students of linguistics and phonetics. Originally created by David Crystal and revised for the new seventh edition with Alan C. L. Yu, this dictionary features a wealth of new entries by a team of experts in phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics. Throughout the text, most pre-existing entries have been updated to reflect the current body of knowledge in the areas of linguistics and phonetics. Covering more than 5,100 terms, the new seventh edition reflects the latest state of the field and accounts for evolutions in research and theory since the publication of the prior edition. The entries provide clear and authoritative definitions of each term and are supported by additional information such as the historical context in which a term was used or the relationship between a term and others from associated fields. This useful work: Features new and updated entries reflecting the way established terms are now perceived in light of changes in the fieldIntegrates ideas from the minimalist program, situating linguistic theory in the broader cognitive sciencesIncludes tables of abbreviations, symbols, and the International Phonetic AlphabetOffers unique insights into the historical development of linguisticsIdentifies major lexical variants as separate headwords, enabling readers to quickly find the location of a termProvides word-class identifiers and usage examples for single-word headwords, especially useful for non-native English speakersA Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Seventh Edition is an invaluable reference work for professionals, students, and general readers alike, and remains an essential resource for anyone studying linguistics or phonetics at the university level.