An Effort Based Approach to Consonant Lenition

by Kirchner,Robert

• ISBN13: 9780415937436
• ISBN10: 0415937434
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-16
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The first serious typological survey of the lenition process in modern phonological literature, this book also presents compelling arguments for a theory of phonology in which sound patterns arise directly from conflict between (inter alia) phonetic constraints.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
List of Tables
Introduction	p. 3
Articulatory Effort	p. 29
The Neuromuscular Basis of Effort	p. 30
A Biomechanical Approach to Effort	p. 31
Precision	p. 41
Effort Minimization and Voicing Lenition	p. 43
Representational Issues	p. 47
Smolensky's Challenge to the Standard Model	p. 51
A Definition of Contrastiveness	p. 53
Faithfulness	p. 57
A Language-Specific Predictable Property: Aspiration in English	p. 59
Universally Non-Contrastive Properties: Vowel Duration	p. 61
Generalizing the Result: the Contrastiveness Theorem	p. 65
Categorical Effects with Continuous Representations	p. 67
Lenition or Fortition with Indeterminate UR's	p. 71
Spirantization and Stridency	p. 77
Documenting the Generalization	p. 77
An Effort-Based Explanation	p. 85
Formal Capture of the Phonetic Explanation	p. 89
Lenition of Affricates	p. 90
Analysis of Assibilation	p. 91
Geminates	p. 97
Previous Treatments of Geminate Inalterability	p. 98
Generalizations	p. 102
An Effort-Based Account of the Generalizations	p. 117
Heteromorphemic Geminates	p. 130
Summary and Alternative Approaches	p. 133
Effort-Based Contexts	p. 137
Aperture-Conditioned Lenition	p. 138
Speech Rate and Register	p. 162
Alternative Approaches	p. 168
Tumpisa Shoshone	p. 175
Data	p. 175
Analysis of Spirantization and Flapping	p. 178
Analysis of (De)voicing	p. 183
Analysis of Nasal Weakening	p. 186
Analysis of Laryngeal Elision	p. 189
Florentine Italian	p. 193
Data	p. 194
Effort Values	p. 205
Analysis	p. 208
Conclusion: Stabilization of Lenition Patterns	p. 223
The Stabilization Problem: Tigrinya Spirantization	p. 223
Selection of Phonetic Variants	p. 226
Effort under Canonical Conditions	p. 228
Remaining Questions	p. 230
Survey of Lenition Patterns	p. 231
Notes	p. 245
References	p. 259
Index	p. 291
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