Elements in Phonology – serie

There is debate about how coarticulation is represented in speakers' mental grammar, as well as the role that coarticulation plays in explaining synchronic and diachronic sound patterns across languages. This Element takes an individual-differences approach in examining nasal coarticulation in production and perception in order to understand how coarticulation is used phonologically in American English. Experiment 1 examines coarticulatory variation across 60 speakers. The relationship between speaking rate and coarticulation is used to classify three types of coarticulation. Experiment 2 is a perception study relating the differences in realization of coarticulation across speakers to listeners' identification of lexical items. The author demonstrates that differences in speaker-specific patterns of coarticulation reflect differences in the phonologization of vowel nasalization. Results support predictions made by models that propose an active role by both speakers and listeners in using coarticulatory variation to express lexical contrasts and view coarticulation as represented in an individual's grammar.

The complexity of tone can only be appreciated through phonological patterning that unveils structures beyond differences in pitch heights and contour profiles. Following an introduction on tone's ability to express lexical and grammatical contrasts, Section 2 explains that phonetically, fundamental frequency profiles make for the best descriptors. From these descriptions, Section 3 explains how, through postulations of subatomic entities that comprise tones, a language's tone inventory can be quite symmetrical. In looking at tone's independence from the syllable and segments, Section 4 establishes tone as an autosegment. Sections 5, 6, and 7 go on to discuss a myriad of complexities where tones interact with one another and with other phonological entities. Here, the authors offer a suggestion on how some of these interactions can be captured within the same analytical umbrella. Section 8 then peeks into tone's phonological properties through music and poetry.

Research over the last few decades has consistently questioned the sufficiency of abstract/ discrete phonological representations based on putative misalignments between predictions from such representations and observed experimental results. The authors first suggest that many of the arguments ride on misunderstandings of the original claims from generative phonology, and that the typical evidence furnished is consistent with those claims. They then focus in on the phenomenon of incomplete neutralisation and show that it is consistent with the classic generative phonology view. The authors further point out that extant accounts of the phenomenon do not achieve important desiderata and typically do not provide an explanation for either the phenomenon itself, or why there are actually at least two different kinds of incomplete neutralisation that don't stem from task confounds. Finally, they present new experimental data and explain that the phenomenon is an outcome of planning using abstract/discrete phonological knowledge.

This Element surveys the various lines of work that have applied algorithmic, formal, mathematical, statistical, and/or probabilistic methods to the study of phonology and the computational problems it solves. Topics covered include: how quantitative and/or computational methods have been used in research on both rule- and constraint-based theories of the grammar, including questions about how grammars are learned from data, how to best account for gradience as observed in acceptability judgments and the relative frequencies of different structures in the lexicon, what formal language theory, model theory, and information theory can and have contributed to the study of phonology, and what new directions in connectionist modeling are being explored. The overarching goal is to highlight how the work grounded in these various methods and theoretical orientations is distinct but also interconnected, and how central quantitative and computational approaches have become to the research in and teaching of phonology.

This Element deals with the interplay between phonology, phonetics and acquisition. It addresses the question of whether and how phonological representations are acquired in adult second language (L2) learners in the face of phonetic variation inherent in speech. Drawing from a large number of empirical studies on the acquisition of L2 speech sounds, the Element outlines how phonetic or phonological representations develop in L2 learners on the basis of input in immersion and instructed language learning contexts. Taking in insights from sociophonetics and clinical linguistics, the Element further discusses how accent variation impacts second language phonological acquisition and what clinical studies on individuals with atypical language development can tell us about the nature of phonological representations. Finally, new avenues in the field of L2 phonology are explored, especially with regard to methodological challenges and opportunities related to the use of spontaneous speech and remote data collection.

Metrical systems differ in patterns of stress assignment, the domains over which those patterns are built, and acoustic manifestations of stress. It has been widely debated in the phonological/phonetic literature how stress should be represented, what mechanisms govern its assignment, and whether the phonetic underpinnings of primary/secondary stress exist independently of other prominence effects (e.g. boundary strengthening, pitch accents). This Element addresses these fundamental issues on the basis of an in-depth study of a hybrid (lexical-grammatical) metrical system of Ukrainian. It synthesizes previous results with new findings, focusing on the phonetic as well as formal description of the Ukrainian system. The lexical-grammatical stress interactions in Ukrainian pose a challenge for current metrical theories, shed light on the relation between the lexical and grammatical stress domains, and the relationship between categorical and gradient aspects of the metrical system. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Metrical systems differ in patterns of stress assignment, the domains over which those patterns are built, and acoustic manifestations of stress. It has been widely debated in the phonological/phonetic literature how stress should be represented, what mechanisms govern its assignment, and whether the phonetic underpinnings of primary/secondary stress exist independently of other prominence effects (e.g. boundary strengthening, pitch accents). This Element addresses these fundamental issues on the basis of an in-depth study of a hybrid (lexical-grammatical) metrical system of Ukrainian. It synthesizes previous results with new findings, focusing on the phonetic as well as formal description of the Ukrainian system. The lexical-grammatical stress interactions in Ukrainian pose a challenge for current metrical theories, shed light on the relation between the lexical and grammatical stress domains, and the relationship between categorical and gradient aspects of the metrical system. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Research over the last few decades has consistently questioned the sufficiency of abstract/ discrete phonological representations based on putative misalignments between predictions from such representations and observed experimental results. The authors first suggest that many of the arguments ride on misunderstandings of the original claims from generative phonology, and that the typical evidence furnished is consistent with those claims. They then focus in on the phenomenon of incomplete neutralisation and show that it is consistent with the classic generative phonology view. The authors further point out that extant accounts of the phenomenon do not achieve important desiderata and typically do not provide an explanation for either the phenomenon itself, or why there are actually at least two different kinds of incomplete neutralisation that don't stem from task confounds. Finally, they present new experimental data and explain that the phenomenon is an outcome of planning using abstract/discrete phonological knowledge.

This Element surveys the various lines of work that have applied algorithmic, formal, mathematical, statistical, and/or probabilistic methods to the study of phonology and the computational problems it solves. Topics covered include: how quantitative and/or computational methods have been used in research on both rule- and constraint-based theories of the grammar, including questions about how grammars are learned from data, how to best account for gradience as observed in acceptability judgments and the relative frequencies of different structures in the lexicon, what formal language theory, model theory, and information theory can and have contributed to the study of phonology, and what new directions in connectionist modeling are being explored. The overarching goal is to highlight how the work grounded in these various methods and theoretical orientations is distinct but also interconnected, and how central quantitative and computational approaches have become to the research in and teaching of phonology.

This Element addresses the challenges and opportunities that arise in the study of sound systems of understudied languages within the context of language documentation, an expanding field that seeks to develop records of the world's languages and their patterns of use in their broader cultural and social context. The topics covered in this Element focus on different elements of language documentation and their relationship to phonological analysis, including lexicography, documentary corpora, music and the verbal arts, as well as grammar writing. For each of these areas, the authors examine methodological and theoretical implications for phonology. With growing concern in the field of language documentation and linguistics more generally for the distribution and implementation of the products of research and its impact for Indigenous language communities, this Element also discusses how phonological documentation may contribute to the development of resources for language communities.

This Element addresses the challenges and opportunities that arise in the study of sound systems of understudied languages within the context of language documentation, an expanding field that seeks to develop records of the world's languages and their patterns of use in their broader cultural and social context. The topics covered in this Element focus on different elements of language documentation and their relationship to phonological analysis, including lexicography, documentary corpora, music and the verbal arts, as well as grammar writing. For each of these areas, the authors examine methodological and theoretical implications for phonology. With growing concern in the field of language documentation and linguistics more generally for the distribution and implementation of the products of research and its impact for Indigenous language communities, this Element also discusses how phonological documentation may contribute to the development of resources for language communities.