This introduction to the phonology of present-day English offers a systematic and detailed discussion of the features shared by three varieties of English: "General American," Southern British "Received Pronunciation" and "Scottish Standard English".

This volume is the first to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive history of phonology from the earliest known examples of phonological thinking, through the rise of phonology as a field in the twentieth century, and up to the most recent advances. The volume is divided into five parts. Part I offers an account of writing systems along with chapters exploring the great ancient and medieval intellectual traditions of phonological thought that form the foundation of later thinking and continue to enrich phonological theory. Chapters in Part II describe the important schools and individuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who shaped phonology as an organized scientific field. Part III examines mid-twentieth century developments in phonology in the Soviet Union, Northern and Western Europe, and North America; it continues with precursors to generative grammar, and culminates in a chapter on Chomsky and Halle's The Sound Pattern of English (SPE). Part IV then shows how phonological theorists responded to SPE with respect to derivations, representations, and phonology-morphology interaction. Theories discussed include Dependency Phonology, Government Phonology, Constraint-and-Repair theories, and Optimality Theory. The part ends with a chapter on the study of variation. Finally, chapters in Part V look at new methods and approaches, covering phonetic explanation, corpora and phonological analysis, probabilistic phonology, computational modelling, models of phonological learning, and the evolution of phonology. This in-depth exploration of the history of phonology provides new perspectives on where phonology has been and sheds light on where it could go next.

Edited and with an introduction by Anatoly Liberman Translated by Marvin Taylor and Anatoly Liberman N. S. Trubetzkoy (1890-1939) is generally celebrated today as the creator of the science of phonology. While his monumental Grundzüge der Phonologie was published posthumously and contains a summary of Trubetzkoy's late views on the linguistic function of speech sounds, there has, until now, been no practical way to trace the development of his thought or to clarify the conclusions appearing in that later work. With the publication of Studies in General Linguistics and Language Structure, not only will linguists have that opportunity, but a collection of Trubetzkoy's work will appear in English for the first time. Translated from the French, German, and Russian originals, these articles and letters present Trubetzkoy's work in general and on Indo-European linguistics. The correspondence reprinted here, also for the first time in English, is between Trubetzkoy and Roman Jakobson. The resulting collection offers a view of the evolution of Trubetzkoy's ideas on phonology, the logic in laws of linguistic geography and relative chronology, and the breadth of his involvement with Caucasian phonology and the Finno-Ugric languages. A valuable resource, this volume will make Trubetzkoy's work available to a larger audience as it sheds light on problems that remain at the center of contemporary linguistics.

A clear introduction to English phonetics and phonology, tailored to suit the needs of individual, one-term course modules. Contains exercises, discussion questions, a comprehensive glossary of each term introduced, and has a helpful companion website. An essential text for all those embarking on the study of English sounds at undergraduate level.

A broad range of competing theories, analytical strategies and notational systems are surveyed in a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of sound structure.

Written in a lively and engaging style, this brand new textbook provides students with a friendly yet authoritative introduction to the sounds of language. Divided into six thematic parts, it unpicks the relationship between sound and spelling before showing you how to describe and classify sounds. It then explains how sounds are combined into syllables, morphemes and words, and looks at stress, tone and duration, collectively known as prosody. It concludes with a discussion of a range of phonological features, processes and theories, including Generative Phonology, Optimality Theory and Feature Geometry. Quizzes prompt students to reflect on what they already know about the subject, and end-of-chapter exercises enable them to consolidate their knowledge before moving on. This book will be essential reading for undergraduates studying phonetics and phonology as part of an English language or linguistics degree.

This volume explains the generative approach to phonological analysis and theory through a rigorous examination of data from a diverse sample of languages. It will give students the theoretical background necessary to read the phonological literature critically, and the analytical tools required for describing phonological structure.

Harry van der Hulst's model of Radical CV Phonology has roots in the framework of Dependency Phonology, but proposes a rather different 'geometry', which reduces the set of unary elements to just two: |C| and |V|. The model explains the phonological distinctions that function contrastively in the world's languages rather than presenting it as a 'random' list. Van der Hulst shows how this model accounts for a number of central claims about markedness and minimal specification. He explains how the representational system accounts for phonological rules and shows how this theory can be applied to sign language structure. Through comparison to other models, he also provides insight into current theories of segmental structure, commonly used feature systems, as well as recurrent controversies.

Accessible, succinct, and including numerous student-friendly features, this introductory textbook offers an exceptional foundation to the field for those who are coming to it for the first time. Provides an ideal first course book in phonology, written by a renowned phonologist Developed and tested in the classroom through years of experience and use Emphasizes analysis of phonological data, placing this in its scientific context, and explains the relevant methodology Guides students through the larger questions of what phonological patterns reveal about language Includes numerous course-friendly features, including multi-part exercises and annotated suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter