Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
8
PrefaceandAcknowledgments
unrelatedprocesses,suchasvocalization,gliding,epenthesis,anddiphthongi-
zation.Itfollowsthatadiscussionofthemutualinteractionsbetweenlabials
anddorsalsmustencompassvocalicsegments.Theinevitabilityofthismoveis
dictatedbythehighfrequencyoftheprocessesinwhichlabialvowelsinteract
withdorsals.
Theexplanationoftheintimatetriangularrelationshipoflabials,dorsals,
androundedvowelsinescapablyleadstoadiscussionoftheinternalstructure
ofsegmentsand,moregenerally,tothedecisiononthetheoreticalmodelwhich
canbestcapturethisrelationship.ThereareseveraldecisivefactorsmakingEle-
mentTheoryanoptimalchoiceforthetaskaheadofus.Thesefactorsinclude
theabilitytocapturethevowel-consonantunityandthecognitivecharacter
oftheprimes,amongmanyothers.ElementTheoryisamodelofsegmental
structurewhichrejectsfeaturedefinitionsbasedonarticulationorrawacous-
tics.Instead,itholdsthatHthementalrepresentationofspeechsoundsiscon-
stitutednotoftongueheights,(ł)norofformantheights,norforthatmater
ofbasilarstimulationpoints.Ratheritisconstitutedofinformation-bearing
paternswhichhumansperceiveinspeechsignals”(HarrisandLindsey2000:
186).Moreover,thismodelassumesthatphonologicalbehaviorcansaymore
aboutsegmentalstructurethanphonetic(articulatoryandacoustic)details.It
meansthatthephonologicalclassesofsegmentsaremodelledonlinguisticbe-
havior,whichdoesnotalwayscoincidewithplaceofarticulationlabels,like
palatal,labio-dental,andsoon.AsBackley(2011:105)pointsout,itisHfeature
theoriesinwhichaparticulararticulatoryfeatureisuniversallyassociatedwith
aparticularphonologicalplacecategory.Thismaybesufcientfordescribing
articulation,butitdoesnottellusmuchaboutphonology.”Thisstanceexplains
themeaningofthephonologicallybasedperspectiveadoptedinthisstudyand
containedinitstitle.Inshort,theintrasegmentalstructureisestablishedonthe
basisofasegment’sphonologicalbehaviorratherthanonitsacousticproperties.
Andsinceitisfrequentlythehistoricaldatawelookatinthefollowingdiscus-
sion,theHphonologicalapproach”suitsperfectlytheanalysisofthesoundsys-
temsofsomeearlierstagesinlanguagedevelopment.Finally,thepresentstudy
adoptstheviewthatphonologicalrepresentationisorganizedbyaseriesof
alternatingnon-branchingonsetsandnucleicharacteristicoftheStrictCVver-
sionofGovernmentPhonology(Lowenstamm1996;Scheer2004;Cyran2010).
Apreliminaryhypothesisisthatthekeytounderstandingthephonological
activityofvelarsandtheircommoninteractionswithlabialsandroundvowels
liesintheirinternalstructure.Anditistherepresentationofvelarswhichhas
alwaysbotheredphonologists.Thishasledtotheappearanceoftwomainpho-
nologicalcamps.Therepresentativesofonegroupassumevelarstobedefective
segmentsinthattheyareeithernegativelyspecified(classicalGenerativePho-
nology)orempty(RadicalCVPhonology).Ontheotherhand,theproponents
oftheoppositeview,suchasRomanJakobson,AlastairCambell,DavidOden,
