LINGUIST List 17.2717

Fri Sep 22 2006

Diss: Phonology: Shiraishi: 'Topics in Nivkh Phonology'

Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales <hannahlinguistlist.org>

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Directory         1.    Hidetoshi Shiraishi, Topics in Nivkh Phonology

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Message 1: Topics in Nivkh Phonology
Date: 22-Sep-2006
From: Hidetoshi Shiraishi <hidesgu.ac.jp>
Subject: Topics in Nivkh Phonology


Institution: University of Groningen Program: The Sound Pattern of the Arctic Languages Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2006

Author: Hidetoshi Shiraishi

Dissertation Title: Topics in Nivkh Phonology

Dissertation URL: http://ext-web.edu.sgu.ac.jp/hidetos/HTML/diss.htm

Linguistic Field(s): Phonology
Subject Language(s): Gilyak (niv)
Dissertation Director:
Dicky Gilbers John Nerbonne Tjeerd de Graaf
Dissertation Abstract:

Nivkh (also called Gilyak) is a language isolate (or microfamily) spoken onthe island of Sakhalin and on the lower reaches of the Amur River in theRussian Far East. The thesis consists of descriptive and theoreticalparts. The descriptive parts are Chapter 2 and the introductory sectionsof Chapter 3 and 4. These parts aim to familiarize the reader with thebasic phonology of Nivkh, and to provide background information in order todiscuss the phonological issues in Chapter 3 and 4. In these descriptivesections, special emphasis is put on i) those aspects of Nivkh phonologywhich have been hitherto unknown, and ii) those characteristics in whichthe West Sakhalin dialect of Nivkh deviates from other dialects of Nivkh.Chapters 3 and 4 discuss two phonological topics: Chapter 3 deals withlaryngeal phonology and Chapter 4 with Consonant Mutation. In thesechapters I will first give a descriptive sketch of the issues and reviewthe way previous works dealt with them. For both issues, I proposealternative approaches and show how the proposed analyses succeed indescribing complicated phonology on the surface from a restricted number ofphonological principles and generalizations.