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Syllable Structure
The Limits of Variation
San Duanmu
304 pages
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234x156mm
978-0-19-926759-0
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Hardback
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16 October 2008
Price:
£68.00 £17.00
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- Presents a simple and general theory of syllable structure
- Challenges long-standing assumptions and theories
- Incorporates exhaustive data analysis of Chinese, English, German, and Jiarong
- Explores implications for innateness, parameters, and language variation
This book looks at the range of possible syllables in human languages. The syllable is a central notion in phonology but basic questions about it remain poorly understood and phonologists are divided on even the most elementary issues. For example, the word city has been syllabified as ci-ty (the 'maximal onset' analysis), cit-y (the 'no-open-lax-V' analysis), and cit-ty (the 'geminate C' analysis).
San Duanmu explores and clarifies these and many other related issues through an in-depth analysis of entire lexicons of several languages. Some languages, such as Standard and Shanghai Chinese, have fairly simple syllables,
yet a minimal difference in syllable structure has lead to a dramatic difference in tonal behavior. Other languages, such as English, German, and Jiarong, have long consonant clusters and have been thought to require very large syllables: San Duanmu shows that the actual syllable structure in these languages is much simpler. He bases his analyses on quantitative data, paying equal attention to generalizations that are likely to be universal. He shows that a successful analysis of the syllable must take into account several theories, including feature theory, the Weight-Stress Principle, the size of morpheme inventory, and the metrical representation of the syllable.
San Duanmu's clear exposition will appeal to phonologists and advanced students and will provide a
new benchmark in syllabic and prosodic analysis. He also offers an answer to the intriguing question: how different can human languages be?Readership: Advanced students and above in linguistics, and especially phonologists.
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San Duanmu, Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan
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"The author's arguments... are logical, clear, systematic, persuasive, and convincing. Inspiring for scholars and worthwhile for all advanced students of phonology.
" - Renata Gregova, SKASE journal 29/12/2009
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1: Introduction
2: Features, Sounds, Complex Sounds, and the No Contour Principle
3: Theories of Syllable Structure
4: Syllable Structure in Chinese
5: Standard Chinese
6: Shanghai
7: Syllable and Tone
8: English I: The Maximal Syllable Size
9: English II: Syllable-internal Constraints
10: German
11: Jiarong (rGyalrong)
12: Theoretical Implications
References
Index
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