Synopses & Reviews
This skillfully written text provides a broad, yet up-to-date, introduction to phonology. Assuming no previous knowledge of phonology or linguistic theory, the authors introduce the basic concepts and build on these progressively, discussing the main theories and illustrating key points with carefully chosen examples. A wide range of phenomena are covered: speech production, segmental contrasts, tone, quantity, prosodic structure, metrical relations and intonation. The main theories, including feature geometry and optimality theory are introduced, and their contributions to our understanding of phonology, as well as their shortcomings, are discussed objectively.
This new edition has been updated and revised to meet the needs of today's students. Difficult points are given fuller explanation, references have been updated, and new exercises have been introduced to enable students to consolidate their learning.
Review
Reviews of a previous edition
"Gives a clear and accurate picture of current phonological theory in a small number of pages."--Nina Groennum, University of Copenhagen
"This is an excellent book. Clear, concise and explicit about problem areas. The exercises are very good and extremely useful."--Josh Goldsmith, University of Chicago
"Excellent course book!"--Carsten Naeher, University of Bonn
"Readers will appreciate an introduction to phonology which requires time and effort to allow a consolidation of acquired knowledge for students and for those who are new in the field."--Chantal Paboudjian, The Phonetician
About the Author
Carlos Gussenhoven is Professor of General and Experimental Phonology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
Haike Jacobs is Professor of French Language and Linguistics, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
Table of Contents
Preface to the third edition
Acknowledgements
IPA chart
1. Structures in languages
2. The production of speech
3. Some typology: sameness and difference
4. Making the form fit
5. Underlying and surface representations
6. Distinctive features
7. SPE. A case study: the diminutive suffix in Dutch
8. Transparency and opacity with rules and constraints
9. Levels of representation
10. Representing tone
11. Between the segment and the syllable
12. Feature geometry
13. Exploiting the feature tree
14. Stress and feet
15. Further constraining stress
16. Phonology above the word
Epilogue
Key to questions
References
Language index
Subject index