Fundamental Problems in Comparative Phonetics and Phonology: Does Upsid Help to Solve Them?
نویسنده
چکیده
The approach to phonological comparison adopted in UPSID as well as other studies fails to recognize the abstract nature of even the most phonetically based definition of a phonemic system. Phonemes receive a simple phonetic translation based on one allophone. Phonological comparison is therefore carried out using no more than arbitrary selections of the phonetics of the languages involved. Phonemic systems belonging to the phonological level of comparison are being compared in phonetic terms, misrepresenting the abstract relational nature of a phonological system and at the same time grossly oversimplifying the complex phonetic patterns employed in languages to bring about differences in meaning. While the appeal of many aspects of UPSID is recognized, the need for a more complex demarcation of three levels of phonetic and phonological comparison requiring different types and quantities of information is argued.
منابع مشابه
From UPSID to PRUPSID A Phonetic Reanalysis of the UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database
0. Introduction Human language only uses a subset of sounds that are physiologically possible. Within this subset there is a core of widely recurring sounds. The structure and frequency of these speech sounds is extensively described in UPSID – the UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database (Maddieson 1984), a landmark publication in comparative phonology and point of departure for PRUPSID , ...
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