Phonology and Language Use

by Joan Bybee

• ISBN13: 9780521583749
• ISBN10: 0521583748
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-07-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

A research perspective that takes language use into account opens up new views of old issues and provides an understanding of issues that linguists have rarely addressed. Referencing new developments in cognitive and functional linguistics, phonetics, and connectionist modeling, this book investigates various ways in which a speaker/hearer's experience with language affects the representation of phonology. Rather than assuming phonological representations in terms of phonemes, Joan Bybee adopts an exemplar model, in which specific tokens of use are stored and categorized phonetically with reference to variables in the context. This model allows an account of phonetically gradual sound change which produces lexical variation, and provides an explanatory account of the fact that many reductive sound changes affect high frequency items first. The well-known effects of type and token frequency on morphologically-conditioned phonological alterations are shown also to apply to larger sequences, such as fixed phrases and constructions, solving some of the problems formulated previously as dealing with the phonology-syntax interface.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	xiii
List of Tables	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
Language Use as Part of Linguistic Theory	1	(18)
Substance and Usage in Phonology	1	(5)
Some Basic Principles of a Usage-Based Model	6	(2)
The Creative Role of Repetition	8	(2)
Frequency Effects	10	(4)
Phonology as Procedure, Structure as Emergent	14	(2)
Organization of the Book	16	(1)
Language as a Part of Human Behavior	17	(2)
A Usage-Based Model for Phonology and Morphology	19	(16)
Introduction	19	(1)
The Rule/List Fallacy	20	(1)
Organized Storage	21	(2)
Morphological Structure Is Emergent	23	(3)
Rules and Schemas Compared	26	(2)
Frequency Effects	28	(1)
Units of Storage	29	(2)
Phonological Units	31	(1)
From Local to General Schemas	31	(2)
Conclusion	33	(2)
The Nature of Lexical Representation	35	(28)
Introduction	35	(1)
The Phonemic Principle	35	(2)
A Cognitively Realistic Model of Phonological Representation	37	(3)
Linguistic Evidence for Detailed and Redundant Storage	40	(9)
Usage-Based Categorization versus Phonemic Representation	49	(5)
Phonetic Detail in the Lexicon---Variation and the Early Involvement of the Lexicon and Morphology in Change	54	(3)
A Model for Sound Change	57	(3)
Special Reduction of High-Frequency Words and Phrases	60	(2)
Conclusion	62	(1)
Phonological Processes, Phonological Patterns	63	(33)
Introduction	63	(2)
Phonetic Etiology and Its Limits	65	(4)
Articulatory Gestures	69	(8)
Patterns of Change and Constraints on Processes	77	(8)
Segments as Emergent Units	85	(1)
Generalization over Syllable-Initial and Syllable-Final Position	86	(2)
Phonotactics	88	(7)
Conclusion	95	(1)
The Interaction of Phonology with Morphology	96	(41)
Introduction	96	(1)
Morphological versus Phonological Conditioning	97	(12)
Lexical Storage of Complex Forms, Both Regular and Irregular	109	(4)
Lexical Strength	113	(4)
Paradigmatic Relations Expressed as Lexical Connections	117	(1)
Lexical Classes: Productivity Due to Type Frequency	118	(6)
The Interaction of Lexical Strength and Lexical Connection	124	(2)
Product-Oriented Schemas	126	(4)
Phonological Similarity in Gangs	130	(5)
Conclusion	135	(2)
The Units of Storage and Access: Morphemes, Words, and Phrases	137	(30)
Introduction	137	(1)
Phonological Representations of Words	138	(6)
Morphemes within Words	144	(13)
Phrases and Constructions with Alternations	157	(9)
Conclusion	166	(1)
Constructions as Processing Units: The Rise and Fall of French Liasion	167	(22)
Introduction	167	(1)
Final Consonant Deletion in French	168	(3)
Grammatical Constructions and Liaison	171	(6)
Loss of Liaison as Regularization	177	(8)
Syntactic Cohesion as Frequency of Co-occurrence	185	(1)
Taking the Phonology Seriously	185	(2)
Conclusion	187	(2)
Universals, Synchrony and Diachrony	189	(28)
Universals and Explanation	189	(2)
Searching for Universals	191	(6)
Phoneme Inventories	197	(2)
Two Main Mechanisms for Phonological Change	199	(5)
Syllable Structure	204	(7)
More Evidence against Universals as Purely Synchronic	211	(1)
Diachronic Sources for Formal Universals: The Phonemic Principle and Structure Preservation	212	(5)
References	217	(14)
Author Index	231	(4)
Subject Index	235	(3)
Languages Index	238