Andrea Calabrese

Syllabic constraints in the phonological errors of an aphasic patient

The Sonority Dispersion Principle (Clements, 1990) states that the sharper the rise in sonority between the beginning of the syllable and the nucleus, the better the syllable. So far evidence in favour of this principle has been derived mainly from the distributional properties of syllable types and, to a lesser extent, from language acquisition. The case of DB, presented in this study, provides strong evidence that the Sonority Dispersion Principle also applies to an explanation of aphasic errors and revives Jakobsons idea that the same principles of complexity can explain the distribution of syllables, language acquisition, and language loss (Jakobson, 1941, 1968). Although some evidence that sonority constraints aphasic errors has been presented before, this is the first study reporting systematic effects of sonority-based complexity in aphasia.

Markedness and economy in a derivational model of phonology

This book proposes a new model of phonology that integrates rules and repairs triggered by markedness constraints in a classical derivational model. In developing this theory, the book offers new solutions to many long-standing problems involving syllabic and segmental phonology with analyses of natural language data, both well-known and relatively unknown. The book also includes a new treatment of Palatalization and Affrication processes, a novel theory of feature visibility as an alternative to feature underspecification and an extensive critique of Optimality Theory.

“Herr Müller vivra’ a Taranto con i suoi colleghi austriaci” Investigations on a Fragment of Italian Phonology

Underlying all linguistic events is the knowledge that speakers and hearers have of a language. To elucidate the nature of this knowledge is the central aim of all linguistic research.