A01=Matthew Gordon
Author_Matthew Gordon
Category=CFK
closed
Closed Syllables
coda
Coda Consonant
Compensatory Lengthening
consonants
Contour Tones
criteria
cross-linguistic analysis
CV Syllable
distinction
Energy Profile
eq_bestseller
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Fu Ll
Heavy Distinction
language typology research
minimal
Minimal Word
Minimal Word Requirement
Non-high Vowels
Nonhigh Vowels
Obstruent Codas
ONC
open
Phonemic Vowel Length
phonetic variation
Phonological Simplicity
Phonological Weight
process-specific weight criteria
prosodic structure
requirement
Skeletal Slot
Sonorant Codas
stress assignment
Syllable Template
Syllable Types
Syllable Weight
syllables
theoretical linguistics
Weight Criteria
Weight Distinction
Weight Hierarchies
word
Product details
- ISBN 9780415976091
- Weight: 570g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 28 Sep 2006
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The book is the first systematic exploration of a series of phonological phenomena previously thought to be unified under the rubric of syllable weight. Drawing on a typological survey of 400 languages, it is shown that the traditional conception that languages are internally consistent in their weight criteria across weight-based processes is not corroborated by the cross-linguistic survey. Rather than being consistent across phenomena within individual languages, weight turns out to be sensitive to the particular processes involved such that different phenomena display different distributions in weight criteria. The book goes on to explore the motivations behind the process-specific nature of weight, showing that phonetic factors explain much of the variation in weight criteria between phenomena and also the variation in criteria between languages for a single process. The book is unlike other studies in combining an extensive typological survey with detailed phonetic analysis of many languages. The finding that the widely studied phenomenon of syllable weight is not a unified phenomenon, contrary to the established view, is a significant result for the field of theoretical phonology. The book is also an important contribution to the field of phonetically-driven phonology, since it establishes a close link between the phonology of weight and various quantitative phonetic parameters.
Matthew Gordon is an Associate Professor in the Linguistics Department at University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published a number of articles dealing with topics related to the interface between phonetics and phonology, stress and intonation, and the phonetic documentation of endangered languages.
