Phonological Architecture
A Biolinguistic Approach
ISBN13: 9780199694358ISBN10: 0199694354
Hardback,
272 pages
Also available:
Paperback
Dec 2011,
In Stock
Price:
$125.00 (06)Description
Phonological Architecture bridges linguistic theory and the biological sciences, presenting a comprehensive view of phonology from a biological perspective. Its back-to-basics approach breaks phonology into primitive operations and representations and investigates their possible origins in cognitive abilities found throughout the animal kingdom.Bridget Samuels opens the discussion by considering the general properties of the externalisation system in a theory-neutral manner, using animal cognition studies to identify which components of phonology may not be unique to humans and/or to language. She demonstrates, on the basis of behavioural and physiological studies on primates, songbirds, and a wide variety of other species, that the cognitive abilities underlying human phonological representations and operations are present in creatures other than Homo sapiens (even if not to the same degree) and in domains other than phonology or, indeed, language proper. The second, more linguistically technical half of the book explores what is necessarily unique about phonology. The author discusses the properties of the phonological module which are dictated by the interface requirements of the syntactic module of Universal Grammar as well as different components of the human sensory-motor system (ie audition, vision, and motor control). She proposes a repertoire of phonological representations and operations which are consistent with Universal Grammar and human cognitive evolution. She illustrates the application of these operations with analyses of representative phonological data such as vowel harmony, reduplication, and tone spreading patterns. Finally, the author addresses the issue of cross-linguistic and inter-speaker variation.
Features
- No other title addresses phonology from a biological perspective
- Accessible to a broad reader base (linguists, cognitive scientists, biologists), and -- designed for non-specialists and specialists alike
- Brings phonological theory in contact with Minimalist Syntax and Distributed Morphology
- Discusses the origins of language change and variation
About the Author(s)
Bridget Samuels is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park. She currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Biolinguistics and, with Kleanthes K. Grohmann, is co-founder of the Linguistic Society of America Special Interest Group on Biolinguistics. She received her doctorate in linguistics from Harvard University.
