Understanding Phonology

An introduction to phonology which assumes little or no background in the subject. This volume presents the most recent theories in the field and provides an introduction to optimality theory. Topics covered include: ordered rules; the diminutive suffix in Dutch; representing tone; and stress.

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This skilfully written text provides a broad, yet up-to-date, introduction to phonology. Assuming no previous knowledge of phonology or linguistic theory, the authors introduce the basic concepts and build on these progressively, discussing the main theories and illustrating key points with carefully chosen examples. A wide range of phenomena are covered: speech production, segmental contrasts, tone, quantity, prosodic structure, metrical relations and intonation. The main theories, including feature geometry and Optimality Theory are introduced, and their contributions to our understanding of phonology, as well as their shortcomings, are discussed objectively.



Students will welcome the range of language from which the authors draw their examples and problems, and the originality of the presentations, discussions and examples.