The phonetics and phonology of contrast : the case of the Romanian vowel system / Margaret E. L. Renwick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Renwick, Margaret E. L., author.

Series:

Phonology and phonetics ; Volume 19.

Phonology and Phonetics, 1861-4191 ; Volume 19

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romanian language--Phonetics.

Romanian language.

Romanian language--Phonology.

Romanian language--Vowels.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (214 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin, [Germany] ; Boston, [Massachusetts] : Mouton de Gruyter, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book proposes that phonological contrast, in particular the robustness of a phonemic contrast, does not depend solely on the presence of minimal pairs, but is instead affected by a set of phonetic, usage-based, and systemic factors. This perspective opens phonology to a more direct interpretation through phonetic analysis, undertaken in a series of case studies on the Romanian vowel system. Both the synchronic phonetics and morpho-phonological alternations are studied, to understand the forces that have historically shaped and now maintain the phonemic system of Romanian. A corpus study of phoneme type frequency in Romanian reveals marginal contrasts among vowels, in which a sharp distinction between allophones and phonemes fails to capture relationships among sounds. An investigation of Romanian /Ɨ/ provides insight into the historical roots of marginal contrast, and a large acoustic study of Romanian vowels and diphthongs is a backdrop for evaluating the phonetic and perceptual realization of marginal contrast. The results provide impetus for a model in which phonology, phonetics, morphology and perception interact in a multidimensional way.

Contents:

Front matter

Foreword

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Relative frequency of Romanian phonemes

3. On the origins of /ᵻ/ in Romanian

4. The distribution of /e̯a/ and /o̯a/ in Romanian

5. Distributional evidence for marginal contrast

6. Acoustics of Romanian monophthongs

7. Acoustics of Romanian diphthongs

8. Perception of vowels in Romanian

9. A multidimensional model of contrast

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed February 11, 2015).

ISBN:

9783110394764

3110394766

9783110362770

3110362775

OCLC:

890981549