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LINGUIST List 18.1340

Thu May 03 2007

Qs: Sibilants; Systematic & Accidental Gaps

Editor for this issue: Kevin Burrows <kevinlinguistlist.org>

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Directory
        1.    Don Killian, Sibilants
         2.    James Kirby, Systematic & Accidental Gaps
Message 1: Sibilants
Date: 03-May-2007
From: Don Killian <donald.killianhelsinki.fi>
Subject: Sibilants


Hi all,

I'm a current graduate student at the University of Helsinki, and for my
thesis I'll be researching one dialect of Finnish spoken in Helsinki, in
which sibilants tend to be pronounced more sharply, perhaps either as
dental or perhaps as more apical. (I need to research that still). I'll
be comparing phonetic features between standard Finnish /s/ and the
Helsinki-dialect variety.

I was looking for recommendations for any resources anyone might know
regarding research on sibilants in other languages, or also Finnish if you
happen to know of any previous work. Works focusing on more detailed
analysis of sibilants would be preferred, but survey works or comparitive
studies are also of interest.

I'll post a summary afterwards. Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear!

Don Killian
Department of Speech Sciences
University of Helsinki

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics
Message 2: Systematic & Accidental Gaps
Date: 01-May-2007
From: James Kirby <jkirbyuchicago.edu>
Subject: Systematic & Accidental Gaps


Hello,

does anyone know of where, and by whom, the terms ''systemic gap'' and
''accidental gap'' were first used in the literature?

The notion of possible vs. impossible words has been around for some
time, of course, but I'm trying to find a citation for where the above
terminology was first introduced. Halle, for as much as he has discussed
possible and impossible words over the years, has never actually referred
to accidental or systematic gaps as far as I can tell (going back to Halle
1954, ''Why and How Do We Study the Sounds of Speech?'').

Thanks in advance,

James

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
                            Historical Linguistics
                            Phonology


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