The rhyming and segmentation tasks were readministered twelve months after the first experiments. The subject groups showed equivalent development in both tasks and the patterns of significant correlations obtained in the initial experiments were repeated. The results are discussed in relation to models of phonological acquisition and word production. Particular emphasis is given to the child's ability to pay attention to acoustic cues as a possible requirement for successful performance on rhyming and segmentation tasks and in the acquisition of phonology. It is suggested that therapeutic intervention directed towards developing metalinguistic awareness is an appropriate therapeutic strategy for the remediation of phonologically disordered children. The association between metalinguistic awareness and phonological disorder found in this investigation suggest that it is an area worthy of more investigation and possible directions for further research are suggested.

No description available.

Two traditions have arisen from an ongoing debate concerning cross-linguistic laryngeal representations in series of obstruents. The first, ‘traditional’ approach assumes universally identical laryngeal representations: /p, t, k/ are unspecified and /b, d, g/ carry |voice|. The second, Laryngeal Realism (LR), assumes underlyingly different representations between languages: ‘aspiration languages’ have unspecified /b, d, g/, and /p, t, k/ specified for |spread|. ‘Voice languages’ have unspecified /p, t, k/, and /b, d, g/ specified for |voice|. In this thesis, I use historical data in order to determine which of these two traditions is correct. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis subject and places it in the broader context of representational models of theoretical phonology and general historical linguistics. In chapter 2, I discuss the discrepancy between traditional laryngeal features and their cross-linguistic implementation, the basis of the debate outlined above. The two traditions are then discussed in detail. It is shown that evidence for LR is drawn from surface facts in aspiration- and voice languages such as respective presence or absence of aspiration of /p, t, k/, respective absence or presence of voicing in /b, d, g/ and asymmetry in assimilation processes in favour of one of the features. Present-Day English (PDE) is best described in LR when these criteria are taken into account, e.g., [ph]in, [b 0]in, and invariable assimilation to ‘voicelessness’, e.g., cats /t+z/→[ts], sacked /k+d/→[kt]. In the following chapters, I present data from historical laryngeal modifications in English which have never been considered together in this respect before. In Chapter 3, I present new evidence that the laryngeal situation just described for Present-Day English dates back to the very beginning of its recorded history. This is shown in the fact that all laryngeal assimilation throughout the history of English is exclusively assimilation to ‘voicelessness’ or |spread| - as in pre-Old English [pd] > [pt] cepte ‘kept’, [td] > [tt] mette ‘met’, [kd] > [kt] iecte ‘increased’, [fd] > [ft] pyfte ‘puffed’, [sd] > [st] cyste ‘kissed’. LR can easily capture this asymmetry because |spread| is the only active member in the laryngeal opposition. |voice| is unspecified in English and can therefore never partake in phonological processes. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 deal with historical English data traditionally interpreted as ‘voicings’, i.e. addition of |voice|, and ‘devoicings’, i.e. loss of |voice|. Therefore, these data are potentially problematic for LR in that, according to this framework, |voice| is not specified in English. However, I show that LR can unproblematically deal with these phenomena as laryngeal lenition, removal of |spread|, and fortition, addition of |spread|. In fact, some of the lenition processes provide extra back up for LR. Processes in word-initial position, e.g., dialectal [v]ather, and final position, e.g., i[z], knowle[d3], are highly marked when viewed as ‘voicings’. However, when viewed as simple lenitions, as in LR, they are natural processes, which are predicted to be found in languages. Therefore, I show in this thesis that all available data from English historical laryngeal modification support LR, and that LR in its turn sheds an interesting new light on the data. It is superior to traditional accounts in that it can account for otherwise puzzling phenomena such as asymmetric assimilation and initial and final ‘voicings’.

While the present work is far from being a definitive one, it does aim at providing a fairly complete phonology of San Martin Quechua. The author has tried to give a satisfactory account of the descriptive problems and their possible solutions for the dialect. The theoretical principles used to solve the problems are explained, the notions of the theory are defined, and their application to the data is outlined in every case, and explained in some detail in many cases as well. This work is unusual among works on Quechua as regards the space it devotes to explaining and solving problems in the description. Existing descriptions of Quechua may be characterised as supposedly problem-less descriptions. The present work treats Phonology, not as a subsidiary to grammar but as a universe in its own right, with its own problems and solutions. The European background of the work, and the 'axiomatic' approach of Mulder, have undoubtedly contributed in, great measure to the nature of this description, and to what some might call its 'preoccupation' with problems. Without wishing to tag derogatory labels on Bloomfieldian linguistics (enough writers have done so already). I have written the present work as a possible answer to what I believe to be an inadmissable ‘gap’ in Quechua linguistic description as it stands the lack of a rigorous autonomous phonology, which attempts to recognise, state and solve descriptive problems. It is to be hoped that the present work provides a beginning for a fully-fledged discipline of Quechua phonology. [Taken from the forward not from the abstract].

This thesis is an articulatory investigation into phonological variation and change in English /l/-darkening. Although syllable-based accounts of /l/-darkening state that light [l] occurs in onsets (e.g. `leap') and a dark variant in codas (e.g. `peel'), numerous works linking phonology with other subfields of linguistics have shown that this simplified distinction cannot fully account for the variation found. Firstly, /l/-darkening is sensitive to morphosyntactic structure, as shown through overapplication of the process in certain morphosyntactically defined positions: e.g. word-finally in phrases such as `heal it', or stem-finally before a suffix in words such as `healing'. In addition, analyses of /l/-darkening from several phonetic studies have led to some arguing against an allophonic distinction altogether, stating that the difference between light and dark variants is merely two extremes of one continuum. Not only does this interpretation challenge the traditional categorisation of /l/-darkening but, given the clear sensitivity to morphosyntactic boundaries that /l/-darkening displays, it also raises questions for a modular architecture of the grammar if phonetics can be morphologically conditioned. This dissertation is an empirical analysis of /l/-darkening, presenting data from nine varieties of English. Given the difficulty in measuring liquid consonants reliably, ultrasound tongue imaging is used to provide a thorough account of the prime articulatory correlations of darkening processes. The present study provides hitherto absent instrumental evidence confirming the varying degrees of morphosyntactic sensitivity across different dialects. I demonstrate that, rather than being contradictory or chaotic, variation to morphosyntactic boundaries cross-dialectally makes complete sense under an analysis that pays due consideration to the diachronic evolution of phonological processes. Moreover, my data show that the majority of speakers display both categorical allophony of light and dark variants, and gradient phonetic effects coexisting in the same grammar. Therefore, an adequate account of English /l/-darkening presupposes both a theory of the morphosyntax-phonology interface, and the phonetics-phonology interface. I interpret these results by assuming the modular architecture of the life cycle of phonological processes, whereby a phonological rule starts its life as a phonetically driven gradient process, over time stabilising into a phonological process at the phrase level, and advancing through the grammar. Not only does the life cycle make predictions about application at different levels of the grammar, it also predicts that stabilised phonological rules do not replace the phonetic processes from which they emerged, but typically coexist with them. Moreover, the obvious intimate link between /l/-darkening and /l/-vocalisation can be explained in terms of the life cycle, in the way of lenition trajectories. The results here show that, as predicted, the more recent stage of the lenition trajectory is harsher in terms of its phonetic effect, as well as less advanced in the grammar, applying at a lower level than darkening when the two co-occur in the same variety. I conclude by arguing that the proposed analysis demonstrates that a full understanding of /l/-darkening in English requires an approach that considers variation under phonetic, phonological and morphosyntactic terms. The wide range of dialectal diversity, for which this thesis provides only a small subset, shows a great deal of orderliness when paying due consideration to the diachronic evolution of variable phonological processes.

No description available.

I examine those linguistic features of Old English and Old Norse which serve as the basic elements for the metrical systems of those languages. I begin with a critical survey of recent work on Old English metrical theory in chapter 1, which suggests that the four-position and word-foot theories of metre are the most viable current frameworks. A further conclusion of this chapter is that stress is not, as is often claimed, a core element of the metre. In chapter 2, I reassess the phonological-metrical phenomenon of Kaluza's law, which I find to be much more regular and widely applicable within Bēowulf than has previously been recognized. I further argue that the law provides evidence that Old English phonological foot structure is based on a preference for precise bimoraism. In chapter 3, I examine the role of syllables in the Norse Eddic metre fornyrðislag, which supports a view of resolution and phonological feet similar to that found in Old English, though Norse prosody is much more tolerant of degenerate, light feet. I reconsider the other major Eddic metre, ljóðaháttr, in chapter 4, integrating the insights of Andreas Heusler and Geoffrey Russom to propose a new system of scansion for this notoriously recalcitrant verse form. This scansion provides important support for the word-foot theory, and suggests that linguistic elements larger than syllables or phonological feet play a crucial role in early Germanic verse. In the final chapter, I give a diachronic account of Germanic metre and relevant linguistic structures, arguing that the word-foot theory provides the best metrical framework for understanding the development of Germanic alliterative verse. This metrical system is linguistically supported by Germanic word structures and compounding rules, and interacts with bimoraic phonological feet, all of which have a long history in Proto- and pre-Germanic.

Theories of phonological word formation (e.g. Selkirk 1980, 1986; Nespor & Vogel 1986; Lahiri & Plank 2010) assume that prosodic units are not isomorphic with syntactic units. However, the prosodic status of compounds remain uncertain, at least in so far as language planning and phonological encoding is concerned. Theories are not transparent about the prosodic status of compounds: although a noun-noun compound in English consists of two lexical words (and therefore two prosodic words), it can also act as a single prosodic item by exhibiting main stress on the first unit and carrying inflection. Thus the question remains controversial - should these items be treated as a single prosodic unit, similar to a monomorphemic word, or as two distinct units for the purpose of post-lexical representation? Recursive word formation may suggest that compounds are a single unit. Psycholinguistic evidence measuring speech onset latency in native speakers of Dutch and Portuguese also shows compounds being treated as single prosodic units (Wheeldon & Lahiri 1997, 2002; Vigario, 2010). Although recent studies have produced evidence for the prosodification of compounds in native speakers, little is known about the process in non-native speakers. Our research questions are as follows: what is the post-lexical planning unit in English, and how do non-native fluent speakers of English plan these units for the purpose of phonological encoding? To investigate our hypotheses, we focus on the phonological encoding of compounds with and without encliticisation, for native and non-native speakers of English. In a series of delayed priming tasks, we found overwhelming evidence that reaction times reflected the total number of prosodic units in the target sentence. In online tasks, however, speech latencies only reflected the size of the first prosodic unit. Taken together,these results suggest that, despite containing two lexical and prosodic words, English compounds are planned as single prosodic units, exhibiting encliticisation and reaction times similar to those of monomorphemic words. As shown by the results in this study, this naming paradigm has proved extremely beneficial for eliciting data about the structure of prosodic units in speech production. Not only was it successful for native speakers of Dutch, European Portuguese, and English, we also found that it was easily implemented into a study of post-lexical encoding in non-native speakers of English.

No description available.