The Historical Phonology of Vowel Length (RLE Linguistics C: Applied Linguistics)
The Historical Phonology of Vowel Length (RLE Linguistics C: Applied Linguistics)

Author: Brent de Chene

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 1317933192

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Data from a variety of languages are offered in support of the claim that although there are several processes by which languages commonly add to an already existing stock of long vowels, there is only one mechanism by which a language without a distinction of vocalic length commonly introduces such a distinction. This mechanism is the coalescence of vowel sequences, typically after loss of intervocalic consonants. This book examines vowels lengths, their differences and their effects on language.

Historical Phonology of English
Historical Phonology of English

Author: Donka Minkova

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2013-12-10

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 0748677550

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This book covers the historical development of the English phonological system from its earliest reconstructed and recorded forms to its most recent variations.

A Phonological History of Chinese
A Phonological History of Chinese

Author: Zhongwei Shen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-06-04

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 1107135842

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A one-stop, comprehensive account of the key developments in the phonological history of Chinese.

The Historical Phonology of Vowel Length
The Historical Phonology of Vowel Length

Author: Brent Eugene De Chene

Publisher:

Published: 1979

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13:

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Data from a variety of languages are offered in support of the claim that although there are several processes by which languages commonly add to an already existing stock of long vowels, there is only one mechanism by which a language without a distinction of vocalic length commonly introduces such a distinction. This mechanism is the coalescence of vowel sequences, typically after loss of intervocalic consonants. Conversely, it is argued that such coalescence always leads to the development of a length contrast unless the language is subject at the time of coalescence to a rule distributing length as a function of some other variable, typically stress. Development of a situation in which length is a function of stress is claimed, equally, to account for most cases of loss of a Jong-established length contrast. The chapter closes with a consideration of three cases in which surface contrasts of vowel length may be claimed to be the result of incipient phonologization of phonetically conditioned length.

A History of English Phonology
A History of English Phonology

Author: Charles Jones

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 131550412X

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This is an attempt to view historical phonological change as an ongoing, recurrent process. The author sees like events occurring at all periods, a phenomenon which he considers is disguised by too great a reliance upon certain characteristics of the scholarly tradition. Thus he argues that those innovations arrived at by speakers of the English language many years ago are not in principle unlike those that can be seen to be happening today. Phonological mutations are, on the whole, not to be regarded as unique, novel, once only events. Speakers appear to present to speech sound materials, a limited set of evaluative and decoding perceptions, together with what would seem to be a finite number of innovation producing stratagems in response to their interpretation. It is stressed that this interpretation may itself be a direct product of the kinds of data selected for presentation in traditional handbooks and Jones notes the fact that phonological change is often "messy" and responsive to a highly tuned ability to perceive fine phonetic detail of a type which, by definition, rarely has the opportunity to surface in historical data sources.

Issues in Scottish Vowel Quantity
Issues in Scottish Vowel Quantity

Author: Stawomir Zdziebko

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2011-10-18

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1443834785

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This book primarily provides a detailed description and interpretation of one of the most fascinating and poorly understood processes in English accentology, i.e. Aitken’s Law, also known as the Scottish Vowel Length Rule by which vowel quantity in Scottish English is fully predictable, as opposed to the other regional accents of English speakers. The research also contributes to the understanding of the working of long-short vowel distinctions in the languages of the world and argues that all phenomena observed in connection with the presence and absence vowel quantity contrasts are a direct consequence of the working of a relatively small set of universal and inviolable principles of grammar.

A Historical Phonology of Central Chadic
A Historical Phonology of Central Chadic

Author: H. Ekkehard Wolff

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-06-02

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1009021443

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Of all of the African language families, the Chadic languages belonging to the Afroasiatic macro-family are highly internally diverse due to a long history and various scenarios of language contact. This pioneering study explores the development of the sound systems of the 'Central Chadic' languages, a major branch of the Chadic family. Drawing on and comparing field data from about 60 different Central Chadic languages, H. Ekkehard Wolff unpacks the specific phonological principles that underpin the Chadic languages' diverse phonological evolution, arguing that their diversity results to no little extent from historical processes of 'prosodification' of reconstructable segments of the proto-language. The book offers meticulous historical analyses of some 60 words from Proto-Central Chadic, in up to 60 individual modern languages, including both consonants and vowels. Particular emphasis is on tracing the deep-rooted origin and impact of palatalisation and labialisation prosodies within a phonological system that, on its deepest level, recognises only one vowel phoneme */a/.

Historical Phonology of English
Historical Phonology of English

Author: Donka Minkova

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2013-12-10

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 074863469X

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A thorough and fascinating exploration of the evolution of English' phonological structure, this book traces the history of individual sounds and their representation through Old, Middle, Early Modern and Present Day English.Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book covers the sounds of English, consonantal histories, Middle English dialects, vowel quality and quantity in Early Modern English, the English stress system and Early English verse forms to demonstrate how the present form of the language is indebted to its past.Key Features: Places linguistic findings into historical, literary and social contextsExplains Modern English's phonological features in terms of its developmentAdditional exercises, references and suggestions for further reading will be available on the book's webpage

The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics
The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics

Author: Merja Kytö

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-05-03

Total Pages: 1092

ISBN-13: 1316472914

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English historical linguistics is a subfield of linguistics which has developed theories and methods for exploring the history of the English language. This Handbook provides an account of state-of-the-art research on this history. It offers an in-depth survey of materials, methods, and language-theoretical models used to study the long diachrony of English. The frameworks covered include corpus linguistics, historical sociolinguistics, historical pragmatics and manuscript studies, among others. The chapters, by leading experts, examine the interplay of language theory and empirical data throughout, critically assessing the work in the field. Of particular importance are the diverse data sources which have become increasingly available in electronic form, allowing the discipline to develop in new directions. The Handbook offers access to the rich and many-faceted spectrum of work in English historical linguistics, past and present, and will be useful for researchers and students interested in hands-on research on the history of English.