Synopses & Reviews
This book deals with final devoicing in German. Specifically, it discusses how this phonological event can be handled in a theoretical framework based on principles and parameters rather than rules. It begins with an outline of the data to be analysed, which is followed by a detailed discussion of earlier work on final devoicing. The author then introduces Government Phonology and develops a Government Phonology analysis which overcomes many of the problems associated with these previous accounts. She argues that final devoicing should be interpreted as a phonological weakening process which consists in the withdrawal of autosegmental licensing from the laryngeal element L (= voicing on obstruents). Finally, the author investigates whether final devoicing results in phonological neutralisation, as is often assumed in the literature.
Synopsis
This book deals with the phonological event of final devoicing in a theoretical framework based on principles and parameters rather than rules. It refers to data coming almost exclusively from German (native and non-native items).
The first chapter presents the 'raw facts', providing an outline of the sort of alternations and distributional restrictions on voicing to be accounted for. Previous treatments of final devoicing in German are discussed and evaluated in the second chapter. Chapters 3 and 4 provide an analysis of final devoicing in German couched in the framework of Government Phonology (GP), a phonological theory operating with principles and parameters. Some of the central tenets of GP are introduced at the beginning of chapter 3, and additional concepts of the theory are explained as they become relevant to the discussion of final devoicing. The author argues that final devoicing should be interpreted as a phonological weakening process involving the withdrawal of autosegmental licensing from the laryngeal element L (which represents voicing in obstruents). This occurs in phonologically 'weak' environments, where, due to clearly definable prosodic conditions, only reduced autosegmental licensing potential is available. This analysis, developed with reference to the prestige variety of German (Hochlautung), is then extended to Northern Standard German, and the phonological differences between the two dialects are identified. In the final chapter, the author investigates whether final devoicing results in phonological neutralisation, as is often assumed in the literature. She observes that the GP account developed in chapters 3 and 4 is incompatible with this traditional view. This is desirable, since, among other things, the conflict between earlier phonological analyses and experimental studies of final devoicing can now be resolved.
Synopsis
Die Buchreihe Linguistische Arbeiten hat mit ber 500 B nden zur linguistischen Theoriebildung der letzten Jahrzehnte in Deutschland und international wesentlich beigetragen. Die Reihe wird auch weiterhin neue Impulse f r die Forschung setzen und die zentrale Einsicht der Sprachwissenschaft pr sentieren, dass Fortschritt in der Erforschung der menschlichen Sprachen nur durch die enge Verbindung von empirischen und theoretischen Analysen sowohl diachron wie synchron m glich ist. Daher laden wir hochwertige linguistische Arbeiten aus allen zentralen Teilgebieten der allgemeinen und einzelsprachlichen Linguistik ein, die aktuelle Fragestellungen bearbeiten, neue Daten diskutieren und die Theorieentwicklung vorantreiben.