phonology in context Pre-publication praise for this book Phonology in Context brings together in one volume 11 highly informative, fresh, and readable chapters detailing the multifarious and fascinating ways in which phonology interfaces with other levels of language, as well as in the social and psychological environment surrounding verbal behaviour. In contrast to traditional approaches in which phonology is viewed as static and context-free, in this book sound patterns are studied against the background of brain and cognitive processes, first and second language acquisition, as well as cultural forces. Readers will experience the kind of intellectual excitement that comes with an academic subject being brought back to life for them. It is also a mustread for graduate students and researchers, for whom it will be an indispensable reference. K. K. Luke, University of Hong Kong Phonology in Context presents new research perspectives on phonology and language development, language disorder, literacy and conversation, language variation, language contact and second language learning and teaching. Martha Pennington has gathered here researchers at the cutting edge... enabling a synthesis which marks the vibrancy, theoretical sophistication, and broad applicability of phonology as it is understood today. Common to these new understandings are realizations of how phonology is shaped by dynamic processes of usage. This book will stimulate and inform experts and novices alike. Nick Ellis, University of Michigan
Palgrave Advances in Linguistics Consulting Editor: Christopher N. Candlin, Macquarie University, Australia Titles include: Martha E. Pennington (editor) PHONOLOGY IN CONTEXT Forthcoming: Noel Burton-Roberts (editor) PRAGMATICS Susan Foster-Cohen (editor) LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Monica Heller (editor) BILINGUALISM: A SOCIAL APPROACH Ann Weatherall (editor) LANGUAGE, DISCOURSE AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Palgrave Advances Series Standing Order ISBN 1 4039 3512 2 (Hardback) 1 4039 3513 0 (Paperback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in the case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
phonology in context edited by martha c. pennington
Selection and editorial matter Martha C. Pennington 2007 in chapters the individual authors 2007 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-3536-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-4039-3537-3 ISBN 978-0-230-62539-6 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230625396 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
dedication I dedicate this book to the wonderfully talented and inspirational people from whom and around whom I learned phonology as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1970s. I am most fortunate to have been taught initially by a very fine phonologist, John Fought, who set high standards, nourished a critical attitude, and patiently trained my skills of observation and transcription in classes and in independent study and supervision of my PhD research. I am fortunate as well to have had my knowledge of phonology extended and put to practical use through study and research in historical linguistics with Henry Hoenigswald and in phonetics with Leigh Lisker, both of whom also served on my dissertation committee. Finally, I am fortunate that in my second year at Penn, someone steered me to take a class with our newest professor, William Labov, whose enormous energy, unquenchable curiosity, and passion for his work and for language made learning linguistics from and around him a joyful experience. Taking a course with Labov was a life-changing event; and since that time, I have never stopped learning from him.
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contents notes on contributors preface xi ix 1. the context of phonology 1 martha c. pennington 2. phonology in infancy and early childhood: implications for theories of language learning 25 shelley l. velleman and marilyn m. vihman 3. the description and acquisition of variable phonological patterns: phonology and sociolinguistics 51 paul kerswill and linda shockey 4. contact phonology 76 norval smith 5. second-language phonology: the role of perception 109 paola escudero 6. the visual element in phonological perception and learning 135 debra m. hardison 7. sounds, brain, and evolution: or, why phonology is plural 159 april mcmahon 8. situated phonologies: patterns of phonology in discourse contexts 186 elizabeth couper-kuhlen 9. phonology and literacy 219 keiko koda
viii phonology in context 10. research and practice in developmental phonological disorders 245 fiona e. gibbon 11. technological advances in researching and teaching phonology 279 dorothy m. chun subject index 300 language index 314 author index 316
notes on contributors Dorothy M. Chun is Professor of German and Applied Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen holds the Chair in Present-day English Language and Linguistics at the University of Potsdam. She holds a Doctoral degree from the University of Freiburg and a Postdoctoral degree from the University of Zurich. Paola Escudero is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Phonetic Sciences of the University of Amsterdam. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from Utrecht University. Fiona E. Gibbon is Professor and Head of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh. She is a qualified speech and language therapist and holds a PhD from the University of Luton. Debra M. Hardison is Associate Professor of Linguistics in the MA TESOL and PhD Second Language Studies Programs at Michigan State University. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. Paul Kerswill is Professor of Linguistics at Lancaster University. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from Cambridge University. Keiko Koda is Professor of Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. April McMahon is Forbes Professor of English Language at the University of Edinburgh. She holds a PhD in English Language/Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh. ix
x phonology in context Martha C. Pennington is Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. Linda Shockey is Lecturer in Linguistics at Reading University. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from Ohio State University. Norval Smith is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam. He holds a Doctorate in Letters from the University of Amsterdam. Shelley L. Velleman is Associate Professor of Communication Disorders at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin. Marilyn M. Vihman holds the Chair in Developmental Psychology at the University of Wales, Bangor. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley.
series preface christopher n. candlin This new Advances in Linguistics Series is part of an overall publishing program by Palgrave Macmillan aimed at producing collections of original, commissioned articles under the invited editorship of distinguished scholars. The books in the Series are not intended as an overall guide to the topic or to provide an exhaustive coverage of its various sub-fields. Rather, they are carefully planned to offer the informed readership a conspectus of perspectives on key themes, authored by major scholars whose work is at the boundaries of current research. What we plan the Series will do, then, is to focus on salience and influence, move fields forward, and help to chart future research development. The Series is designed for postgraduate and research students, including advanced level undergraduates seeking to pursue research work in Linguistics, or careers engaged with language and communication study more generally, as well as for more experienced researchers and tutors seeking an awareness of what is current and in prospect in adjacent research fields to their own. We hope that some of the intellectual excitement posed by the challenges of Linguistics as a pluralistic discipline will shine through the books! Editors of books in the Series have been particularly asked to put their own distinctive stamp on their collection, to give it a personal dimension, and to map the territory, as it were, seen through the eyes of their own research experience. In this first book in the Series, Phonology in Context, Martha Pennington admirably fulfils the brief. Eschewing local and traditionally sharp distinctions (and divisions) in her subject as for example between phonetics and phonology she argues from a discussion of the contexts of xi
xii phonology in context phonological research for a strengthening of the descriptive, explanatory and predictive power of phonology within Linguistics as a core discipline central to our understanding of real-world human communicative behaviour: social, cognitive, physical and evolutionary. Christopher N. Candlin Senior Research Professor Department of Linguistics Macquarie University, Sydney