University of Chicago Press, 2018 Cloth: 978-0-226-56245-2 | eISBN: 978-0-226-56259-9 Library of Congress Classification P217.3.S53 2018 Dewey Decimal Classification 414
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Within the past forty years, the field of phonology—a branch of linguistics that explores both the sound structures of spoken language and the analogous phonemes of sign language, as well as how these features of language are used to convey meaning—has undergone several important shifts in theory that are now part of standard practice. Drawing together contributors from a diverse array of subfields within the discipline, and honoring the pioneering work of linguist John Goldsmith, this book reflects on these shifting dynamics and their implications for future phonological work.
Divided into two parts, Shaping Phonology first explores the elaboration of abstract domains (or units of analysis) that fall under the purview of phonology. These chapters reveal the increasing multidimensionality of phonological representation through such analytical approaches as autosegmental phonology and feature geometry. The second part looks at how the advent of machine learning and computational technologies has allowed for the analysis of larger and larger phonological data sets, prompting a shift from using key examples to demonstrate that a particular generalization is universal to striving for statistical generalizations across large corpora of relevant data. Now fundamental components of the phonologist’s tool kit, these two shifts have inspired a rethinking of just what it means to do linguistics.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Diane Brentari is the Mary K. Werkman Professor of Linguistics and director of the Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language at the University of Chicago. She is the editor, most recently, of Sign Languages: A Cambridge Language Survey and coeditor of the Chicago Studies in Linguistics series. Jackson L. Lee is a doctoral student in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago.
REVIEWS
“This unique collection contains outstanding chapters that I am sure will prove influential in the field of linguistics, and phonology in particular. I am impressed at the chapters’ variety—historical surveys, analyses, and theoretical proposals—and by how intensely and profoundly they engage with John Goldsmith’s research. It will be essential for linguists to have access to this book.”
— Paul de Lacy, Rutgers University, editor of "The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology"
“John Goldsmith’s invention of autosegmental phonology was foundational, the coin of the phonologist’s realm. His work opened a door to a new landscape, and this book tells the recent history, after Goldsmith, of phonology, going into many fascinating new subproblems. It will be a kind of watershed. All students of phonology will be required to know it, and to situate themselves with respect to it. Shaping Phonology is an essential book.”
— Haj Ross, University of North Texas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Part One Autosegmental Phonology
A. History
1 The Secret History of Prosodic and Autosegmental Phonology
John Coleman
2 A Brief History of Autosegmental Phonology with Special Reference to Its Founder
William R. Leben
B. Applications to Tone
3 The Autosegmental Approach to Tone in Lusoga
Larry M. Hyman
4 Tonal Melodies in the Logoori Verb
David Odden
C. Extensions of the Theory
5 Autosegments Are Not Just Features
D. Robert Ladd
6 The Importance of Autosegmental Representations for Sign Language Phonology
Diane Brentari
7 Abstract Underlying Representations in Prosodic Structure
Bert Vaux and Bridget D. Samuels
8 Sonority Waves in Syllabification
Caroline Wiltshire
9 Toward Progress in Theories of Language Sound Structure
Mark Liberman
Part Two Computation and Unsupervised Learning
10 On the Discovery Procedure
Jackson L. Lee
11 Model Selection and Phonological Argumentation
James Kirby and Morgan Sonderegger
12 The Dynamics of Prominence Profiles: From Local Computation to Global Patterns
Khalil Iskarous and Louis Goldstein
13 French Liaison in the Light of Corpus Phonology: From Lexical Information to Patterns of Usage Variation
Bernard Laks, Basilio Calderone, and Chiara Celata
14 A Phonological Approach to the Unsupervised Learning of Root-and-Pattern Morphology
Aris Xanthos
University of Chicago Press, 2018 Cloth: 978-0-226-56245-2 eISBN: 978-0-226-56259-9
Within the past forty years, the field of phonology—a branch of linguistics that explores both the sound structures of spoken language and the analogous phonemes of sign language, as well as how these features of language are used to convey meaning—has undergone several important shifts in theory that are now part of standard practice. Drawing together contributors from a diverse array of subfields within the discipline, and honoring the pioneering work of linguist John Goldsmith, this book reflects on these shifting dynamics and their implications for future phonological work.
Divided into two parts, Shaping Phonology first explores the elaboration of abstract domains (or units of analysis) that fall under the purview of phonology. These chapters reveal the increasing multidimensionality of phonological representation through such analytical approaches as autosegmental phonology and feature geometry. The second part looks at how the advent of machine learning and computational technologies has allowed for the analysis of larger and larger phonological data sets, prompting a shift from using key examples to demonstrate that a particular generalization is universal to striving for statistical generalizations across large corpora of relevant data. Now fundamental components of the phonologist’s tool kit, these two shifts have inspired a rethinking of just what it means to do linguistics.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Diane Brentari is the Mary K. Werkman Professor of Linguistics and director of the Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language at the University of Chicago. She is the editor, most recently, of Sign Languages: A Cambridge Language Survey and coeditor of the Chicago Studies in Linguistics series. Jackson L. Lee is a doctoral student in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago.
REVIEWS
“This unique collection contains outstanding chapters that I am sure will prove influential in the field of linguistics, and phonology in particular. I am impressed at the chapters’ variety—historical surveys, analyses, and theoretical proposals—and by how intensely and profoundly they engage with John Goldsmith’s research. It will be essential for linguists to have access to this book.”
— Paul de Lacy, Rutgers University, editor of "The Cambridge Handbook of Phonology"
“John Goldsmith’s invention of autosegmental phonology was foundational, the coin of the phonologist’s realm. His work opened a door to a new landscape, and this book tells the recent history, after Goldsmith, of phonology, going into many fascinating new subproblems. It will be a kind of watershed. All students of phonology will be required to know it, and to situate themselves with respect to it. Shaping Phonology is an essential book.”
— Haj Ross, University of North Texas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Part One Autosegmental Phonology
A. History
1 The Secret History of Prosodic and Autosegmental Phonology
John Coleman
2 A Brief History of Autosegmental Phonology with Special Reference to Its Founder
William R. Leben
B. Applications to Tone
3 The Autosegmental Approach to Tone in Lusoga
Larry M. Hyman
4 Tonal Melodies in the Logoori Verb
David Odden
C. Extensions of the Theory
5 Autosegments Are Not Just Features
D. Robert Ladd
6 The Importance of Autosegmental Representations for Sign Language Phonology
Diane Brentari
7 Abstract Underlying Representations in Prosodic Structure
Bert Vaux and Bridget D. Samuels
8 Sonority Waves in Syllabification
Caroline Wiltshire
9 Toward Progress in Theories of Language Sound Structure
Mark Liberman
Part Two Computation and Unsupervised Learning
10 On the Discovery Procedure
Jackson L. Lee
11 Model Selection and Phonological Argumentation
James Kirby and Morgan Sonderegger
12 The Dynamics of Prominence Profiles: From Local Computation to Global Patterns
Khalil Iskarous and Louis Goldstein
13 French Liaison in the Light of Corpus Phonology: From Lexical Information to Patterns of Usage Variation
Bernard Laks, Basilio Calderone, and Chiara Celata
14 A Phonological Approach to the Unsupervised Learning of Root-and-Pattern Morphology
Aris Xanthos
Contributors
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC