Ken Lodge

Kalenjin phonology and morphology : A further exemplification of underspecification and non-destructive phonology

Kalenjin, a Southern Nilotic language, has a harmony system normally associated with the vowel system and specifically with the feature [ATR]. This paper demonstrates that [ATR] is not an appropriate description of the phonetic correlates of the harmony system and that the system operates at least at syllable level, and in many cases at word level. In order to avoid having recourse to feature changing and deletion rules phonological representation is conceived of as layered and radically underspecified in the lexical entry forms. Furthermore such representations are non-segmental.

Assimilation, Deletion Paths, and Underspecification.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that underspecification of lexical-entry forms enables us to restrict phonological theory to declarative statements about the structure of lexical items, and to avoid having recourse to feature-changing and deletion rules. The realizations of lexical items are mapped onto their underlying forms by means of filling-in, redundancy rules of two basic types, predictive and default. Predictive rules derive (at least) one feature from (at least) one other feature, given in the lexical entry form, and default rules provide a feature, if no other rule has applied. Rules are both universal and language-specific. Since all filling-in is accounted for by these redundancy rules, there is no need for a post-lexical component of the phonology.

A declarative treatment of the phonetics and phonology of German rhymal /r/

The phonetic exponents of German /r/ in the rhyme of the syllable have long-domain characteristics. For all speakers they are rhymal, for some syllabic. The main characteristic is back resonance in the vocoid portion and any following contoid articulations. At least for some speakers this back resonance can be related to pharynx size, so the phonological distinctions can be characterized by the rhymal features [normal] and [narrow], the latter associated with /r/. A declarative framework has been chosen because firstly it allows no constraint violations and is therefore more restricted than OT, for example, and secondly it allows features to be specified at all levels of foot structure, not just the terminal nodes of onset, nucleus and coda.

Some auditory and acoustic observations on the phonetics of [ATR] harmony in a speaker of a dialect of Kalenjin

Conventional treatments of vowel harmony processes routinely make two important assumptions: first, only vowels are implicated in the harmonic process and second, the phonologically relevant harmony features have a transparent (intrinsic) phonetic interpretation (IPI). Consonants are typically treated only insofar as they interfere with such harmony (van der Hulst & van der Weijer 1995 provide a concise overview of harmony processes and their interpretation). Phonetic data on ‘advanced tongue root’ [ATR] harmony in the Tugen dialect of Kalenjin appears to challenge both these assumptions.

A Stockport teenager

The present article is a preliminary analysis and detailed phonetic description of a taped conversation (between friends) as an example of the everyday linguistic habits of a teenager from Stockport. When the recording was made, she was sixteen years old (August 1975); she is the granddaughter of the main informant for Lodge (1966). She attended a comprehensive school in Stockport. As an example of a more formal style the informant was asked to read a passage from a newspaper.

The acquisition of phonology: A stockport sample

This article has two main aims: to investigate some acquisition data which are in the form of connected speech and of a non-standard type, and to investigate the strategies employed by the child in question at one stage in its development. The former aim is an attempt to counterbalance the type of investigation which is word-based and centred on a middle-class standard variety of the language involved (e.g. Smith 1973). It cannot be emphasized too much that in all but the most artificial circumstances the language used by adults that the child uses as a model is not “typically careful and slow” (cf. Macken and Barton’s comments on their adult Spanish data, 1980b: 455-56). The latter aim is an attempt to discover evidence of change in progress representing the developmental process. In carrying out these two aims I also hope to contribute to other areas of more general interest, such as the applicability of dependency notions in the syllable to acquisition data. A central concept in the discussion of phonological structure is that of process, which has been applied to both child and adult phonology (cf. Stampe 1979; Donegan and Stampe 1978; Vihman 1978). In particular, I am interested here in consonantal harmony and consonant cluster simplification. It is well documented that child language is subject to certain constraints on co-occurience of certain sounds. This applies both to vowels and consonants (see Menn 1978: esp. 160-163). It may be seen in the non-occurrence of certain sounds in comparison with adult forms, e.g. [ae’;1] house, simplification of certain adult combinations, e.g. [t’&‘px?]

Some handy notes on phonology

nature of phonological structure. However, it is hard to see how Blevins can reconcile her astute observation about abstractness in phonology and her discussion of sonority as a crucial factor in determining syllable

Th'interpretation of t'definite article in t'North of England

A non-standard form of the definite article is used by upwards of a million speakers every day and yet it has received little attention in terms of a phonological analysis. The most recent discussions have been a historical and contemporary survey, spectrographic investigations and sociolinguistic surveys. It is clearly a complex issue and has relevance to a number of theoretical questions, some of which are rarely addressed. We need to know the range of phonetic forms; the phonological distribution of the forms; the historical development and whether this helps with a synchronic analysis; and the number and nature of the lexical storage forms. The distribution varies between localities and between speakers; many speakers also use standard English the. The historical development is not at all clear, but does throw some light on what the synchronic grammars should be like. There appears to be a break between those grammars in which the phonetic forms of the definite article are predictable in terms of the phonological environment and those later grammars that have lexically specific forms. The changes that have taken place cannot be explained in terms of simple system-internal mechanisms and some knowledge of the sociohistorical background to the emergence of the new grammars is necessary. This article looks at historical sources from the mid seventeenth century onwards to try to determine the changes that have taken place in the northern dialects concerned, and proposes population movements and expansion as a determining factor in the changes that are in evidence. One possible scenario in terms of new-dialect formation during the nineteenth century is suggested. For the modern variants polysystemic, declarative grammars are proposed, with the possibility of grammar-switching under certain circumstances, such as repair or interaction with outsiders.

Phonological translation and phonetic repertoire

This paper demonstrates some of the limits of the translation of sound effects in poetry from a purely linguistic point of view, as opposed to a literary critical one. Three examples of poetry were recorded in the original language and transcribed phonetically, as were English translations of the same works. These are compared for evidence of transfer of original sound features and of the extent to which equivalent features in the target versions have been utilized. On the basis of phonological structure and phonetic repertoire, some of the limitations of translation of sound effects are suggested. In one case two different accents are used for the English translation to highlight inherent differences between varieties of one and the same language.

Domains of assimilation : alveolars and velars in English

Assimilation phenomena involving lexical alveolars and velars are examined in a Stockport accent. It is suggested that the segment is too narrow a domain of investigation for clues to the differentiation of pairs such as leg kept and lead kept . The vowels either side of the consonantal sequence are involved in any kind of assimilation process that takes place, in many cases producing slight differences in dorsal contact between the alveolars and the velars.