Generative phonology has many adherents, and not a few critics, but surprisingly few good expositors. François Dell provides here both a general introduction and a detailed illustration of the operation of the theory in practice, introducing the main concepts of phonology and its place in the grammar of a language. The approach is in the tradition of Chomsky and Halle, emphasizing the interactions between syntax, morphology and phonology, and aiming at the discovery of general principles which shape the sound patterns of all languages. He then applies these concepts to particular case studies, on the maxim that the best way to understand a system of this kind is to use it. This was first published as Part I of Les règles et les sons (Hermann, 1973).

This volume presents a selection of French varieties representing the great diversity of this language along geographical, social, and stylistic dimensions. Twelve illustrations from regions as far removed as Western Canada and Central Africa represent widely divergent social contexts of language use. Each chapter is based on original surveys conducted within the framework of the Phonology of Contemporary French project, described in the Introduction. These surveys constitute an invaluable source of new data for researchers, as many of the varieties included are otherwise undocumented in any systematic way. The chapters follow a similar format: presentation of the survey(s) and the sociolinguistic dimensions of the variety studied; description of the phonological inventory of the system(s), principal allophonic realizations, phonotactic constraints, behavior of schwa, behavior of liaison consonants, and other notable characteristics. The book opens with an informative introduction and closes with a chapter providing a synthesis of the major findings by continent.

Phonology: Critical Concepts, the first such anthology to appear in thirty years and the largest ever published, brings together over a hundred previously published book chapters and articles from professional journals. These have been chosen for their importance in the exploration of theoretical questions, with some preference for essays that are not easily accessible.Divided into sections, each part is preceded by a brief introduction which aims to point out the problems addressed by the various articles and show their relations to one another.-

This volume presents a selection of French varieties representing the great diversity of this language along geographical, social, and stylistic dimensions. Twelve illustrations from regions as far removed as Western Canada and Central Africa represent widely divergent social contexts of language use. Each chapter is based on original surveys conducted within the framework of the Phonology of Contemporary French project, described in the Introduction. These surveys constitute an invaluable source of new data for researchers, as many of the varieties included are otherwise undocumented in any systematic way. The chapters follow a similar format: presentation of the survey(s) and the sociolinguistic dimensions of the variety studied; description of the phonological inventory of the system(s), principal allophonic realizations, phonotactic constraints, behavior of schwa, behavior of liaison consonants, and other notable characteristics. The book opens with an informative introduction and closes with a chapter providing a synthesis of the major findings by continent.

Focuses on French applied linguistics

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.