LINGUIST List 12.2211

Mon Sep 10 2001

Books: Phonology

Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Sean Hanrahan, Phonology: Auditory Resperations in Phonology by Edward S. Flemming
2. Sean Hanrahan, Phonology: The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Ejectives

AUDITORY RESPERATIONS IN PHONOLOGY
Edward S. Flemming, Standford University 


This book presents evidence for a model of phonology in
which words have both auditory and articulatory
representations, with different constraints applying to each
type of representation. The main constraints on auditory
representations require contrasting sounds to be auditorily
distinct from each other, i.e. these constraints implement
a preference that contrasts should be easy for listeners to
discriminate. This traditional notion is formalized in
Optimality Theoretic terms as part of a general theory of
the selection of contrasting sounds. The distinctiveness
constraints interact with others (such as effort
minimization and constraints relating to stress) to derive a
variety of phonological phenomena, e.g. allophonic variation
to maintain the distinctiveness of a contrast in different
contexts, and neutralization in contexts where a contrast
would be indistinct. The model is exemplified through the
analysis of such patterns, drawn from a wide variety of
languages. Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics series.

December 2001: 144 pp
Hb: 0815340419: $65.00 �45

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. The Dispersion Theory of Contrast
3. Ways of Maximizing Distinctiveness
4. Consonant-Vowel Assimilation
5. Neutralization
6. Minimization of Allomorphy
7. Conclusions
References
Index

THE SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC PHONOLOGY OF EJECTIVES
Paul D. Fallon, Howard University

With a database of over 180 languages and dialects, this
book proposes a typology of the phonological patterning of
ejectives, drawing together widely-scattered information. A
small number of autosegmental operations in phonology such
as spreading, deletion, fusion, and fission, constrained by
a hierarchical, constriction-based feature geometry,
accounts for the major processes which ejectives undergo.
Individual chapters detail the spread of ejection through
assimilation, the delinking of laryngeal features through
deglottalization, the delinking of place features through
debucallization, the dissimilation of ejectives through
fission. Each chapter includes theoretical issues of
representation, and extensive documentation of both
synchronic alterations and diachronic changes along with a
consideration of the phonetic motivations of the phenomenon
in question. Outstandig Dissertations in Linguistics series.

January 2002: 400 pp
Hb: 0415938007: $80.00 �55

List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Laryngeal and Phonatory Features and Representations
3. Assimilation
4. Deglottalization
5. Debuccalization
6. Dissimilation
7. Ejective Voicing
8. Fission and Fusion
9. Conclusion
Endnotes
References