Concreteness In Generative Phonology

This study deals with four related topics in Modern French phonology and morphology: (i) the status of nasal vowels, (ii) the nature of [0] - [C] alternations, (iii) the question of final schwas, and (iv) the treatment of h-aspire words. The theoretical framework is that of generative phonology. These topics have already received considerable attention in the context of generative phonology, most notably in the works of Schane, Dell, and Selkirk, but the analyses proposed here constitute a radical departure from the views advocated by these authors.

Concreteness in Generative Phonology presents major topics in French phonology and morphology within the theoretical framework of generative grammar. The concrete analyses advocated in Bernard Tranel’s study constitute a radical departure from the abstract solutions proposed in previous generative treatments. Abundant internal and external evidence anchors the concrete approach, which is based on the recognition of the lexical nature of nasal vowels, the absence of protective schwas, and the necessity of a rule-feature analysis for h-aspire words. French phonology has been a well-known subject of controversy, both because French is an influential Indo-European language and because the complexity of the data has made it difficult to decide certain issues. This integrated account brings to bear data generally omitted from consideration, demonstrates the critical role that substantive evidence plays as a tool of investigation, and provides a data-based comparison between two approaches within the same broad generative framework. Taking advantage of certain theoretical developments, Tranel presents each problem set of data alongside previous and logical possible analyses and clearly lays out the arguments for and against each analysis. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.

"This book offers a welcome contribution to phonology and morphology, which have been understudied in cognitive linguistics. A detailed account of Russian verbs illustrates the efficacy of Cognitive Grammar as an insightful approach to abstract phonology that uses a restricted set of cognitively motivated theoretical constructs. The book is relevant for phonologists, morphologists, Slavists and cognitive linguists."--BOOK JACKET.

This book provides a clear and accessible evaluation of generative phonology, an area which has produced both rival interpretations and models to account for it. It presents a detailed overview of the main models, revealing that they are often complimentary rather than contradictory, and how these can interconnect and be used together to explore the subject.

No detailed description available for "Methodological Aspects of Transformational Generative Phonology".

The architecture of the human language faculty has been one of the main foci of the linguistic research of the last half century. This branch of linguistics, broadly known as Generative Grammar, is concerned with the formulation of explanatory formal accounts of linguistic phenomena with the ulterior goal of gaining insight into the properties of the 'language organ'. The series comprises high quality monographs and collected volumes that address such issues. The topics in this series range from phonology to semantics, from syntax to information structure, from mathematical linguistics to studies of the lexicon.