Optimality theory (OT) is the latest model of phonology which views the language acquisition process as a way of reordering universal constraints provided by Universal Grammar (UG) according to the language-specific grammar. It, therefore, presents a more promising model towards language universalities. This study aims to utilize the OT framework…

Spoken words vary phonetically along a number of dimensions, such as duration, pitch, and vowel quality. Much of this variation is associated with social factors like the dialect, age, or gender of the speaker -- a type of variation termed 'socio-indexical'. Traditional theories of speech perception have seen this socio-indexical variation as a…

A sociolinguistic style consists of a set of linguistic resources that carry specific meaning within a social context (Campbell-Kibler 2011). One such resource is the use of phonetic variants that do not change the denotative meaning of a word, but are different enough to be recognized as unique. This type of socially constrained phonetic…

The traditional Philadelphia allophonic /ae/ system (henceforth: PHL shown in (1) below) is characterized by a set of complicated conditioning factors and a dramatic acoustic distinction between the two allophones. In recent years, some Philadelphians have begun to exhibit a new allophonic system (NAS, shown in (2) below). Like PHL, NAS is…

Variability in the form of article (i.e., a and the) omissions and stressing has been attributed to a mismatch between first (L1) and second language (L2) prosodic and syntactic structures. An overlap between the L1 and L2 systems, on the other hand, is expected to contribute to native-like article productions. This case study aims to explore the…

This dissertation investigates the effect of phonetically cued emotional information (i.e., emotional prosody) on spoken word recognition. Even words whose meanings are not emotionally laden (e.g., "pineapple") can be uttered in a way that conveys anger, happiness, or sadness through phonetic modulation, and the current work investigates…

The dissertation study aims to contribute mainly to the field of loanword phonology in general and particularly to Indonesian and its phonology that are rarely studied to date. The study investigates what consonantal and syllabic repair strategies are employed by Indonesian in adapting Arabic and Dutch loanwords, whether these adaptation…

Function (i.e., grammatical) words very frequently lack word-level stress and display phonetic reduction relative to content (i.e., lexical) words. However, word-class (function vs . content) may not be the only factor that affects phonetic realization of function words; prosodic and syntactic context can also play a significant role in…

Examined accentuation patterns that appear in Japanese adaptation of French words. Argues that these patterns reflect the default accentuation of Japanese grammar; they correspond to accent patterns found in some marginal sectors of Japanese vocabulary where the accent is predictable. (Author/VWL)

This study investigates whether second language (L2) phonological learning can be characterized as a gradual and systematically patterned replacement of nonnative segments by native segments in learners' speech, conforming to a two-stage implicational scale. We adopt a dynamic approach to language variation based on Gatbonton's (1975, 1978)…

Two articles are included in this issue. The first article, written in Danish, focuses on an incident that occurs in the fourth act of Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt." A theory is put forth on why this particular incident, which involves the misinterpretation of the name Peer Gynt by the German character Begriffenfeldt, takes place. The…

Examines the function of language structure constraints in phonological change, particularly with regard to phonetic and morphological patterns. (Author/AM)

Examines the loss of palatalization assimilation in modern Russian within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT). Shows that this theory offers new explanations for the role of markedness and naturalness in the mechanism of a sound change and argues that OT provides new possibilities for relating quantitative patterns to the principles of…

The textbook, entirely in French, is an introduction to functional phonology. The first six chapters present the basics of functional phonology, insisting on the specific aspects of this approach for the description of languages. Principles and procedures of synchronic analysis are outlined and illustrated through many examples. Chapter 7 is…

Notes that English coronal stop deletion is constrained by the preceding segment, so that stops and sibilants favor deletion more than liquids and nonsibilant fricatives. Suggests the existence of an attractive theoretical integration of categorical and variable processes in the grammar to account for the constraint. (26 references) (Author/CK)