Syllable structure the limits of variation /

Duanmu, San

Syllable structure the limits of variation / [Texte imprimé] : San Duanmu - Pbk. ed. - Oxford ; New York ; Auckland [etc.] : Oxford University Press, 2010 - 1 vol. (XV-275 p.) : couv. ill. ; 24 cm - Oxford linguistics . - Oxford linguistics (Oxford University Press, Oxford) .

Bibliogr. p. [257]-268

San Duanmu explores and clarifies these and many other related issues through an in-depth analysis of entire lexicons of several languages. Some languages, such as Standard and Shanghai Chinese, have fairly simple syllables, yet a minimal difference in syllable structure has lead to a dramatic difference in tonal behavior. Other languages, such as English, German, and Jiarong, have long consonant clusters and have been thought to require very large syllables: San Duanmu shows that the actual syllable structure in these languages is much simpler. He bases his analyses on quantitative data, paying equal attention to generalizations that are likely to be universal. He shows that a successful analysis of the syllable must take into account several theories, including feature theory, the Weight-Stress Principle, the size of morpheme inventory, and the metrical representation of the syllable

978-0-19-958110-8

Grammar, Comparative and general

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