When speaking, we dynamically coordinate movements of our jaw, tongue, lips, and larynx. To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying articulation, we used direct cortical recordings from human sensorimotor cortex while participants spoke natural sentences that included sounds spanning the entire English phonetic inventory. We used deep neural networks to infer speakers’ articulator movements from produced speech acoustics.
Phonology is a rapidly changing and increasingly varied field, having traveled quite some distance from its original structuralist and generative underpinnings. In this overview I address the status of underlying representations (URs) in phonology, which have been rejected by a number of researchers working in different frameworks. After briefly discussing the current state of phonology, I survey the arguments in favor of vs. against URs, considering recent surface-oriented critiques and alternatives.
In 'Tone: Is it different?' (Hyman 2011a), I suggested that 'tone is like segmental phonology in every way—only more so', emphasizing that there are some things that only tone can do. In this presidential address my focus extends beyond phonology, specifically addressing what tone tells us about the integration (vs. compartmentalization) of grammar. I discuss some rather striking examples that demonstrate problems for the strict separation of phonology, morphology, and syntax, each time posing the question, 'What else is like this outside of tone?'.
Despite earlier work by Trubetzkoy, Jakobson and Greenberg, phonological typologyis often underrepresented in typology textbooks. At the same time, most phonologistsdo not see a difference between phonological typology and cross-linguistic (formal)phonology. The purpose of this book is to bring together leading scholars to addressthe issue of phonological typology, both in terms of the unity and the diversity ofphonological systems.
This article investigates the development of the palatalization contrast in Slavic from diachronic, synchronic, and phonetic perspectives. The diachrony of this contrast is an important test case for theories of the actuation of sound change, since the Slavic language family shows an impressive diversity in the realization of the original contrast, with Russian, for instance, preserving the contrast, Slovak maintaining it only for some consonants, and Slovenian showing complete merger.